The Conversation -- March 26, 2024

Marie: I've got power! I absolutely am not corrupt.

** Ronna Fired After One Day on the Job. Jeremy Barr of the Washington Post: "Amid a chorus of on-air protest from some of the network's biggest stars, NBC announced Tuesday night that former Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel will no longer be joining the network as a paid contributor. In a memo, NBCUniversal News Group Chairman Cesar Conde told staff that he had listened to 'the legitimate concerns' of many network employees.... In his memo to employees, Conde apologized to employees 'who felt we let them down' and said he took responsibility for the botched hiring.... One by one, [MSNBC hosts] took to the airwaves to deliver that message to their bosses in front of their live audiences Monday.... NBC delivered the news of its course correction to its employees before informing McDaniel...."

** Ben Protess & William Rashbaum of the New York Times: [Juan Merchan,] "the New York judge presiding over one of Donald J. Trump's criminal trials, imposed a gag order on Tuesday that prohibits him from attacking witnesses, prosecutors and jurors, the latest effort to rein in the former president's wrathful rhetoric about his legal opponents.... Mr. Trump cannot make, or direct others to make, statements about witnesses' roles in the case. Mr. Trump is also barred from commenting on prosecutors, court staff and their relatives -- if he intended to interfere with their work on the case. Any comments whatsoever about jurors are banned as well, the judge ruled.... Mr. Trump is not prohibited from attacking [Manhattan District Attorney Alvin] Bragg, who has received numerous death threats in recent months....

In a rambling and angry post on his social media site on Tuesday, Mr. Trump made an ominous reference to [Michael] Cohen..., one of Mr. Bragg's main witnesses..., claiming without explanation that his former fixer was 'death.' He also referred to one of Mr. Bragg's prosecutors in pejorative terms. Both comments would now arguably violate the gag order.... Justice Merchan is just the latest judge to impose a gag order on the former president.... In a separate order Tuesday, Justice Merchan issued a stern warning to Mr. Trump's lawyers as well. He reminded them to behave professionally, or risk being held in contempt." ~~~

     ~~~ CNN's report is here. Judge Merchan's order, via the New York court system, is here.

     ~~~ Marie: Nearly every day of every year since Donald Trump became a candidate for president* in 2015, this depraved mobster-monster has proved again that he is remarkably unqualified to hold any public office, including janitor at a local jail.

Trump: Too Many Tuesdays, Not Enough Crime. Ed Mazza of the Huffington Post: "President Joe Biden's campaign on Monday released an unusually blunt statement tearing into Donald Trump as 'feeble, confused, and tired' after an appearance marked by verbal stumbles as well as a bizarre social media post in which he likened himself to Christ. 'He spent the weekend golfing, the morning comparing himself to Jesus, and the afternoon lying about having money he definitely doesn't have,' the statement said.... [Trump made] a rambling appearance..., which included several gaffes, including an odd moment when the former president insisted that 'you can't have an election in the middle of a political season.' The former president added: 'We just had Super Tuesday, and we had a Tuesday after Tuesday already.' Trump also vowed to 'bring crime back to law and order.'" MB: Well, he's certainly done that.

Drew Harwell of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump's social media start-up surged in its first day of trading as a public company Tuesday, a stock-market debut that helped deliver the Republican presidential candidate a multibillion-dollar fortune. The newly merged Trump Media & Technology Group, which owns the social network Truth Social, saw its share price climb roughly 35 percent in its first morning on the Nasdaq exchange.... Trump owns 60 percent of Trump Media, or roughly 78 million shares, a stake now worth more than $5 billion. The company's valuation, however, stands at odds with its business performance."

Texas. This. Irritates. Me. David Goodman of the New York Times: "Nearly nine years after his indictment on charges of felony security fraud, Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general, reached a deal with prosecutors on Tuesday to avoid a criminal trial that had been set to begin next month. The deal, announced by the prosecutors and lawyers for Mr. Paxton during a hearing in Houston, does not involve any admission of guilt but requires Mr. Paxton to pay nearly $300,000 in restitution, take legal ethics classes and perform 100 hours of community service. At the hearing, the judge in the case, Andrea Beall, asked questions but observed that the agreement had been made between the parties and the court could not block it.... For Mr. Paxton, a three-term Republican incumbent, the agreement amounted to another victory over opponents who have long hoped that his legal troubles would lead to his political undoing."

The New York Times is liveblogging oral arguments "over the availability of a commonly used abortion pill, raising the possibility that it could sharply curtail access to the drug -- even in states where abortion access remains legal.... The current challenge involves mifepristone, a drug approved by the F.D.A. more than two decades ago that is used in nearly two-thirds of abortions in the country. At issue is whether the agency acted appropriately in expanding access to the drug in 2016 and again in 2021." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Here's something I learned from the liveblog: Erin Hawley, who represents the anti-abortion doctors, is married to Running Man Josh Hawley (R-Mo.).

~~~~~~~~~~

The Trials of Trump, Etc.

Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "At 11 a.m. Monday, a New York appeals court made Donald J. Trump's day, rescuing him from financial devastation in a civil fraud case. By noon, the New York judge overseeing his criminal case had nearly ruined it, setting Mr. Trump's trial for next month and all but ensuring he will hold the dubious distinction of becoming the first former American president to be criminally prosecuted.... Unfolding in rapid succession in his hometown courts, the day's events captured the disorienting reality of having a candidate who is also a defendant. And they showed that nothing about the months until Election Day will be easy, linear or normal -- for Mr. Trump or the nation."

Of Course This Happened. Ben Protess & William Rashbaum of the New York Times: "... a New York appeals court appears to have handed [Donald Trump] a lifeline on Monday, saying it would accept a ... bond of $175 million. The ruling by a five-judge panel of appellate court judges was a crucial and unexpected victory for the former president, potentially staving off a looming financial disaster.... Mr. Trump has 10 days to secure the bond, and two people with knowledge of his finances said he should be able to do so by then.... A spokeswoman for the attorney general, Letitia James, noted that Mr. Trump was 'still facing accountability for his staggering fraud' and that the judgment 'still stands.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Jennifer Peltz & Michael Sisak of the AP: "A New York appeals court on Monday agreed to hold off collection of ... Donald Trump's more than $454 million civil fraud judgment if he puts up $175 million within 10 days. If he does, it will stop the clock on collection and prevent the state from seizing the presumptive Republican presidential nominee's assets while he appeals. The appeals court also halted other aspects of a trial judge's ruling that had barred Trump and his sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., the family company's executive vice presidents, from serving in corporate leadership for several years. In all, the order was a significant victory for the Republican ex-president as he defends the real estate empire that vaulted him into public life." (Also linked yesterday.)

Michael Sisak, et al., of the AP: "... Donald Trump will stand trial starting April 15 on charges related to hush money payments meant to cover up claims of marital infidelity, a New York judge ruled Monday in tersely swatting aside defense claims of prosecutorial misconduct.... [Judge Juan] Merchan, who earlier this month postponed the trial until at least mid-April, told defense lawyers that they should have acted much sooner if they believed they didn't have all the records they felt they were entitled to.... 'You're accusing the Manhattan district attorney's office and the people involved in this case of prosecutorial misconduct and of trying to make me complicit in it. And you don't have a single cite to support that position,' [Merchan said.] Outside the courtroom, Trump complained about the ruling, characterizing the case -- as he has done repeatedly -- as an act of 'election interference' in the midst of his presidential campaign." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It is rich to hear a man who tried to overturn a presidential election complaining he's the victim of election interference.

Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "Almost any other defendant would have to face the consequences of coming to court empty-handed [instead of posting the required bond in the civil fraud case he lost].... Although Trump is entitled to an appeal, which he is pursuing, it still feels outrageous that the former president would get this unexplained courtesy after years of willfully defrauding the public.... If there seems to be a different set of rules for Trump..., that's because for all intents and purposes, there is. At no point during his long career as a celebrity real estate mogul and businessman has Trump faced any meaningful consequences for his fraudulent, even criminal, behavior. He has operated, for decades, with a shield of impunity crafted from his shamelessness, his celebrity and his craven willingness to intimidate critics with litigation or even just the threat of litigation. What is striking is the extent to which this shield of impunity has only been strengthened by the political and legal institutions of the United States.... The American people have been the single most reliable obstacle to Trump's effort to impose himself, and his will, over our institutions. Let us hope that they have not given up the fight."

Matthew Goldstein of the New York Times: Donald Trump's "social media company, Trump Media & Technology Group, will start trading on the Nasdaq on Tuesday, under the ticker DJT. Trump Media -- the parent of Truth Social ... -- closed its merger with a cash-rich public shell company on Monday. The shell company's stock surged ahead of the deal, in a frenzied trade that has fueled the company since it proposed the merger with Mr. Trump's firm in 2021. Monday's trading suggested that the market valuation of the new company could be well over $6 billion.... The biggest beneficiary of the market action is Mr. Trump, who owns about 60 percent of Trump Media's shares. At the close of trading on Monday, his stake was worth nearly $4 billion.... By most traditional measures, Trump Media's valuation is inordinately high. The company took in just $3.3 million in revenue during the first nine months of last year, all from advertising on Truth Social, and recorded a loss of $49 million. That means Trump Media's market value is more than 1,000 times its estimated annual revenue." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Unless DJT makes some brilliant investments in or acquisitions of other companies (and it won't if Trump has anything to say about it), expect this venture to crash & burn. However, I expect Trump himself will make at least millions out of it before the coming crash, so it's all good. According to Trump. ~~~

     ~~~ Matt Egan of CNN: "Wall Street is assigning Trump Media an eye-popping valuation of around $9 billion -- a price tag that experts warn is untethered to reality.... 'The underlying business doesn't seem to be worth much. There is no evidence this is going to become a large, highly profitable company,' [Jay Ritter, a finance professor,] said.... The ... valuation is a massive windfall for Trump, who owns a dominant stake of 79 million shares.... Truth Social faces real challenges and is still dwarfed by its rivals.... Beyond the valuation concerns, there are other risks involved in Trump Media. For example..., 'There is a unique keyman risk because Donald Trump is the chairman, top shareholder and the most popular user. He is one man, and he's 77 years old,' said [Matthew] Kennedy[, an IPO strategist].... Not only does Trump himself face reputational issues, but his companies have a history of going bankrupt.... Another question is what happens when the lock-up restrictions on Trump and other key insiders lapse in the coming months. Trump's legal troubles could give him a reason to sell his commanding stake, an outcome that would threaten Trump Media's share price.... Kennedy said that in many ways, Trump Media going public amounts to a 'mutli-billion dollar bet' on a second Trump term, a return to the White House that could be lucrative for his social media network."

Daniel Dale of CNN: "... Donald Trump told a story on Monday in which he claimed that he decided not to list the Trump Media & Technology Group on the New York Stock Exchange, even though the exchange 'badly' wanted the company, because businesspeople are 'treated too badly in New York' and 'don't want to be attacked by a thug like this horrible attorney general that we have in New York.' There is one problem. The story does not make any sense.... The stock exchange on which the Trump Media & Technology Group is being listed, the Nasdaq, is also headquartered in New York.... All of the New York laws and political oversight that would have applied to the company if it was listed on the NYSE will apply to the company when it is listed on the Nasdaq.... [Trump] claimed that 'the top person [at the NYSE] is mortified, can't believe it.... He said, "I'm losing business because of New York -- because people don't want to be in New York and they don't want to go on the New York Stock Exchange."'...The 'top person' at the NYSE, however, is not a 'he.' The president of the NYSE since 2022, Lynn Martin, is a woman, as is her predecessor Stacey Cunningham. And the NYSE board is chaired by a woman, Sharon Bowen."

How an Oligarchy Works. Ja'han Jones of MSNBC: "Billionaire investor Jeff Yass is playing his Trump card. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Friday that the right-wing megadonor and major TikTok investor is a part owner of the company that merged with Donald Trump's media company, which owns Truth Social, the former president's struggling social media platform.... Yass' name recently started popping up in news reports after Trump denounced legislation in Congress that could ban TikTok unless the social media outlet is sold from its China-based parent company. This was a major reversal of Trump's previous opposition to TikTok and came after Yass met with Trump in Florida, with the backdrop of the former president's mounting legal fees only adding to suspicion that Yass essentially could be purchasing a presidential candidate.... It certainly looks like Trump is under Yass' thumb now."

Unlike the Democrats, who are KILLING SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE by allowing the INVASION OF THE MIGRANTS, I will NOT, under any circumstance, allow either of these two precious GEMS to be even touched under a Trump Administration. Biden is killing them both with the INVASION, while at the same time destroying our Country! -- Donald Trump, social media post, March 21

Undocumented immigrants improve the health of Social Security and Medicare by paying payroll taxes without receiving benefits. -- Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post

About Those Immigrants. Maria Sacchetti of the Washington Post: "Melania Trump sponsored her mother to immigrate to the United States through a family-based process that ... Donald Trump aggressively sought to end, according to federal immigration records released Monday. The records detail for the first time the full path that the former first lady's mother, Amalija Knavs, followed from Slovenia to the United States -- and how the Trump administration's policies would have made that far more difficult for others. Knavs died in January at age 78.... Melania Trump used a legal pathway that her husband and his top advisers had repeatedly disparaged as 'chain migration,' the right of U.S. citizens to bring their parents to the United States."

Yvonne Sanchez & Perry Stein of the Washington Post: "Justice Department officials said reports of widespread threats against officials running the 2020 and 2022 elections have resulted in charges against roughly 20 people, with more than a half dozen receiving sentences between one and 3½ years. But the federal officials said at a news conference in Arizona on Monday that it remains to be seen if the stiff sentences will serve as an effective deterrent to would-be-criminals in future election cycles.... When Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election and falsely claimed that Joe Biden wasn't the true winner because of widespread voter fraud, election workers across the country -- from rank-and-file employees who helped process ballots to top state officials who certified or defended the results -- came under attack. In June 2021, Attorney General Merrick Garland launched the Election Threats Task Force to combat violent threats facing election workers." ~~~

     ~~~ An NBC News story is here. Related AP story linked below under ";Arizona/Ohio."

Ben Schreckinger of Politico: "Federal investigators in South Florida recently probed transactions linked to Jim Biden as part of a criminal investigation, according to two people familiar with the matter. The investigation remains open, according to one of them. Meanwhile, Justice Department officials prosecuting an ongoing Medicare fraud case in Pennsylvania were seeking information about the activities of President Joe Biden's brother as recently as last year, according to a third person familiar with that case.... Both investigations have scrutinized a troubled hospital chain, Americore, that Jim Biden worked with in the years after President Joe Biden left the Obama administration."

** Abbie VanSickle of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court is expected on Tuesday to weigh the availability of a commonly used abortion pill, raising the possibility that it could sharply curtail access to the drug -- even in states where abortion access remains legal.... A decision by the justices, expected by late June, could cut off prescriptions by telemedicine and pills sent by mail, two changes in recent years that broadened distribution. It could also have implications for the regulatory authority of the Food and Drug Administration, potentially calling into question the agency's ability to approve and distribute other drugs. The current challenge involves mifepristone, a drug approved by the F.D.A. more than two decades ago that is used in nearly two-thirds of abortions in the country. At issue is whether the agency acted appropriately in expanding access to the drug in 2016 and again in 2021. The court is also expected to consider whether the plaintiffs, a group of anti-abortion doctors and organizations, can show that they will suffer concrete harm if the pill remains widely available."

A New Clarence & Ginni for Our Time. Alex Henderson of AlterNet, republished by the Raw Story: "The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled Tuesday to hear oral arguments in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine -- a case in which far-right Christian fundamentalists and anti-abortion activists are challenging access to the abortion drug mifepristone. Those fundamentalists are claiming that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration should never have approved mifepristone -- a claim that far-right Judge James C. Ho, a Donald Trump appointee to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, agreed with when he ruled to restrict the drug. Judge Ho ... is married to Allyson Ho, an anti-abortion activist." Here's the Guardian's story. (Also linked yesterday.)

Annals of Journalism, Ctd.

Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: "Leadership at NBC raced to contain an escalating revolt on Monday as some of the country's best-known television anchors took the extraordinary step of criticizing their network on its own airwaves for hiring Ronna McDaniel, the former chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, as a political analyst. One by one, MSNBC stars lined up to berate their bosses on live television. Rachel Maddow, the biggest star and highest-rated anchor at MSNBC, opened her 9 p.m. show with a 29-minute monologue that described Ms. McDaniel's hiring as 'inexplicable.' 'I want to associate myself with all my colleagues, both at MSNBC and NBC News, who have voiced loud and principled objections to our company putting on the payroll someone who hasn't just attacked us as journalists, but someone who is part of an ongoing project to get rid of our system of government,' she said. 'Someone who still is trying to convince Americans that this election stuff, it doesn't really work.' Ms. Maddow then implored company executives to reverse their decision....

"And Nicolle Wallace all but accused her employer of enabling authoritarianism by granting Ms. McDaniel a platform. She told viewers that NBC News, 'wittingly or unwittingly,' had signaled to 'election deniers' that they could spread falsehoods 'as one of us, as badge-carrying employees of NBC News, as paid contributors to our sacred airwaves.' Also joining in were Joy Reid, Jen Psaki, Lawrence O'Donnell and the veteran NBC News anchor Chuck Todd, who stunned executives by denouncing Ms. McDaniel's appointment on Sunday's 'Meet the Press.'... Ms. McDaniel's deal is worth about $300,000 a year, one of the people with knowledge of the conversations said." ~~~

~~~ Jeremy Barr has the Washington Post's story. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Maddow spent a good deal of her monologue comparing Trump to earlier fascists who ran for president on the premise that democracy was so flawed that what the country needed was them -- running the country as a dictatorship. Although Trump and these now largely-forgotten others had the same project, none of them was supported by a major U.S. political party. Enter Ronna.

Ryan Lizza of Politico: "The uproar inside NBC over Ronna McDaniel's hiring spilled into Monday morning as more of the network's top personalities denounced the deal with the former RNC chair, escalating a battle over the relationship between powerful media companies and Donald Trump's loyalists. The decision to hire McDaniel, which was unanimously supported by top network executives, has already divided and destabilized one of America's most storied news organizations, with internal dismay flaring on text chains and Slack channels since the deal was announced late last week.... 'We weren't asked our opinion of the hiring but, if we were, we would have strongly objected to it for several reasons,' Joe Scarborough said Monday at the top of 'Morning Joe'..., with co-host Mika Brzezinski adding, 'We hope NBC will reconsider its decision. It goes without saying that she will not be a guest on "Morning Joe" in her capacity as a paid contributor.' They then played a reel of McDaniel's various comments questioning the outcome of the 2020 election.... It's yet unclear whether the NBC-McDaniel relationship can survive the uproar.... The McDaniel deal was unanimously supported by leaders of all their networks, according to an NBC insider, including by Rashida Jones, president of MSNBC." (Also linked yesterday.)

Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post: "I believe ... NBC thought it had found one of the unicorns that virtually all leading media outlets have been hunting for years now: commentators who can articulate the Republican Party's point of view in a way that is consistent with responsible standards and practices. The problem is that since Trump's takeover of the party, the mainstream GOP position -- on any given topic, at any given moment -- is his position. This is true even if it means Republicans must say the opposite of what they said yesterday, and even if it means saying things that demonstrably are untrue.... I should note that I am paid to appear on those NBC platforms and do so several times a week. Unlike McDaniel, however, I have never claimed that a presidential election was 'rigged' even after dozens of recounts and court cases proved it was not. Nor have I ever tried to trivialize the violent, bloody Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection by calling it 'legitimate political discourse,' as McDaniel has." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The truth is that, like Logan Roy's adult children who also are media moguls in the fictional series "Succession," the NBC suits "are not serious people." I suspect few of them have backgrounds or any interest in the liberal arts; rather, their educational background is in business and "communications," and they don't know the difference between Ronna Romney McDaniel and Jamie Raskin.

Christine Zhu of Politico: "An NBC union accused the network of valuing former RNC chair Ronna McDaniel over its own journalists, in social media posts shared Monday. 'Two weeks before [NBC News] proudly announced the hiring of Ronna McDaniel, execs illegally terminated 13 union journalists,' NBC Guild posted on X, writing that NBCUniversal News Group Chair Cesar Conde never offered an explanation for the layoffs. 'Ronna encouraged a lie that many of our own journalists have spent countless hours debunking,' the Guild continued. 'Our journalism is tarnished by @NBCNews execs elevating a liar over the workers who have spent years delivering the kind of reporting that our newsrooms are typically known for.'... The Guild wrote on X that it filed another charge with the National Labor Relations Board after 'repeated violations of federal labor law' by NBC."

~~~~~~~~~~

Arizona/Ohio. Jacques Billeaud of the AP: "An Ohio man who acknowledged making death threats in voicemails left for then-Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs during the 2022 election season was sentenced Monday to 2 1/2 years in prison. Joshua Russell of Bucyrus, Ohio, had pleaded guilty in late August to a federal charge of making an interstate threat against Hobbs, a Democrat who, as secretary of state, was Arizona's chief elections officer in 2022 and now serves as the states governor. U.S. District Judge Steven Logan commended Russell for undergoing substance abuse treatment and other counseling since his arrest and getting his life in order, but concluded Russell must spend time in prison.... The judge, who read Russell's profanity-laden threats aloud in court, said Russell had accused the victim of being a terrorist, while he was threatening her life. He rejected Russell's characterization of his actions as immature."

Florida. Owen Girard of Florida's Voice: "Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill on Monday barring minors under 14 from creating accounts on social media platforms that employ addictive features and data collection software. The legislation allows for 14 and 15-year-olds to create accounts on the apps with parental consent. Additionally, the bill requires adequate age verification measures for internet sites that contains obscene or 'harmful' content, unsuitable for minors.... The legislation will go into effect Jan. 1, 2025."

Ohio. Michael Wines of the New York Times: "A former speaker of the Ohio State House of Representatives, now serving a 20-year federal prison sentence, was indicted on 10 more state felony charges on Monday in connection with a sprawling bribery scheme that handed a $1.3 billion bailout to a major regional energy utility.... The charges against the former speaker, Larry Householder, followed an inquiry by the Ohio Organized Crime Commission that also produced indictments last month of two former executives of the Akron-based utility, FirstEnergy Corporation. The two men -- Chuck Jones, a former FirstEnergy chief executive officer, and Michael Dowling, a senior vice president -- were charged with funneling $4.3 million in bribes to the former chairman of the Ohio Public Utility Commission, Sam Randazzo. They and Mr. Randazzo, who was also indicted, have pleaded not guilty to a total of 27 charges."

~~~~~~~~~~

Israel/Palestine, et al.

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Tuesday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is set to meet with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in Washington on Tuesday, despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's abrupt cancellation of a visit by another high-level delegation to the United States.... Gallant met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Monday. Blinken, in his meeting with Gallant, 'reiterated the United States' support for ensuring the defeat of Hamas, including in Rafah, while reiterating opposition to a major ground operation in Rafah,' according to the State Department." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Tuesday are here. CNN's live updates are here.

Edith Lederer of the AP: "The United Nations Security Council on Monday issued its first demand for a cease-fire in Gaza, with the U.S. angering Israel by abstaining from the vote. Israel responded by canceling a visit to Washington by a high-level delegation in the strongest public clash between the allies since the war began. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the U.S. of 'retreating' from a 'principled position' by allowing the vote to pass without conditioning the cease-fire on the release of hostages held by Hamas.... The 15-member council approved the resolution 14-0 after the U.S. decided not to use its veto power on the measure, which also demanded the release of all hostages taken captive during Hamas' Oct. 7 surprise attack in southern Israel. The chamber broke into loud applause after the vote." (Also linked yesterday.)

Russia. Valerie Hopkins & Neil MacFarquhar of the New York Times: "The four men accused of carrying out Russia's deadliest terror attack in decades appeared in a Moscow court on Sunday night bandaged and battered. One entered with his partially severed ear covered. Another was in an orange wheelchair, his left eye bulging, his hospital gown open and a catheter on his lap.... Since Saturday, videos of the men being tortured during interrogation circulated widely on social media.... How the videos began circulating was not immediately clear, but they were spread by nationalistic, pro-war Telegram channels that are regarded as close to Russia's security services.... Analysts said the flagrant display of the tortured demonstrated ... the extent to which Russian society has become militarized, and tolerant of violence, since the war in Ukraine began."

News Lede

** Washington Post: "A major bridge in Baltimore collapsed after being hit by a freighter Tuesday. Rescuers were searching for as many as 20 people believed to be in the water near the Francis Scott Key Bridge, a fire official said, after a large part of the structure snapped and fell into the Patapsco River. The Baltimore City Fire Department described it as a 'mass casualty incident' early Tuesday.... Wind, frigid temperatures and murky waters made rescue conditions difficult, said Kevin Cartwright, the fire department's communications director. No rescues were immediately confirmed. It was not clear how many people were on the bridge when it fell. A Singapore-flagged vessel, the 948-foot Dali, crashed into the Key Bridge about 1:30 a.m. Eastern time, said Matthew West, a Coast Guard petty officer first class in Baltimore. Coast Guard assets were on their way to the scene, he said." This is a liveblog. ~~~

     ~~~ CNN's live updates are here.

Comments

[ForrestMorris]

"Grown men, big important men came up to me with tears in their
eyes, saying 'Sir, won't you please list your new stock with us on the
NY Stock Exchange' but I told them that New York is full of crooks
who take advantage of me, so I'll go with Nasdaq.
Says he who thinks Nasdaq must be in New Jersey or someplace.

[Akhilleus]

The idea that NBC suits and bean counters seek a “responsible” voice of the Republican Party is ludicrous. First, there is no Republican Party anymore. There is just a ragbag collection of supporters, to varying degrees, of treason, bizarre conspiracy theories, violent insurrection, phony patriotism, hyper partisan kangaroo courts, greed, misogyny, Christian nationalism, fascistic folderol, authoritarianism, racism, gun violence, child labor, book banning, greed, personal enrichment, and whatever farts out of Donald Trump’s substantial butthole at any given moment.

That’s not a political party. If anything, it more closely resembles one of those 17th and 18th century pirate enclaves like Port Royal or Tortuga. Hideouts for criminals, prostitutes, buccaneers, barbarians, and refugees from all legal and ethical guardrails, wild dens of debasement, douchebaggery, indecency, and superstition, run by scoundrels and murderers. The difference is that there seems to have been some kind of pirate code. With the PoT, the only code is “Don’t piss off the fat king.” This means that even historical maniacs like Blackbeard and Henry Morgan had more personal honor and integrity than Trump. And pirate enclaves were better run and more responsible than the Republican Party.

Since there really is no Republican Party anymore, what’s the point of hiring a Ronna McDaniel? For NBC, it’s not about news, or journalism, or informative discussion. These people don’t give a watery hangover crap about any of that.

It’s all about the Spectacle. What they’re hoping for is fireworks, shouting matches, outrageous opinions, mano a mano tangling and mangling. In other words, wrestling. They want to attract eyeballs, not brain stems. Punched guts, not inquisitive minds. Wrestling. Steel cage matches. Blood on the floor.

“In this corner, in the blue trunks, weighing 128 lbs of liberal leanings…Jen Psaki! And in the red trunks, 145 lbs of wingnut whackiness…Ronna McDaniel! Now ladies, we want plenty of eye gouging, cursing, below the belt wallops, and dirty tricks. Ready? GO!”

Spectacle. Eyeballs. MONEY.

Bullshit.

And worst of all, an equal footing for the sickest sorts of lies and conspiracy mongering.

Ding, ding, dong. NBC.

[Marie Burns]

Lawrence O'Donnell made the point last night that he had never seen a successful interview of Trump or a Trumpy liar. An interviewer just can't keep up with the lies & conduct instant fact checks to cover them all. So in @Akhilleus' scenario there, the bout was rigged before it began, and Ronna is bound to win even if she doesn't do it by sitting on the slimmer Psaki.

Of course the big joke on the clueless NBC suits' big "get" in Ronna is that she won't attract a single new viewer and she likely will cost the network plenty of current viewers. MAGAts think she's a traitor, so they won't tune in. Anti-Trump conservatives/Republicans see her as a disgraceful, brainwashed Trumpbot. And sensient liberal viewers will be appalled & tune out. It's a lose-lose situation.

But, hey, those guys are making the big bucks for coming up with these brilliant ideas, and I'm not. So pardon me for questioning their well-paid wisdom.

[Jack Mahoney]

Marie, as we say here in coastal Maine where the trees seem to leap into the air every time the wind blows, "Intermittent power corrupts intermittently."

[Ken Winkes]

Serious people on the Right? Seriously flawed perhaps? Seriously wrong? Seriously sinful more likely.

There hasn't been a serious voice on the Right since who knows?

Maybe Reagan, who had a serious smile, and that was about it.

The Right used to be seriously funny, what with their silly ideas about the economy, the environment and their notions about history and science.

I used to laugh, but no more, as the Reagan smiley face was replaced over the years by the anger, the contempt, and the arrant stupidity that brought us to the present where the sneering scowl of the Pretender is the face of his party.

Once again, John McEnroe's classic petulance comes to mind.

As Akhilleus says, they can't be serious. It's not in their nature.

[laura hunter]

This piece is dated today but sounds familiar so it might have been linked previously -  
Dr. John Gartner on impact of court trials on "Trump’s fragile brain"

Chauncey DeVega interviews Dr. John Gartner in Salon
"For the American news media and other gatekeepers and agenda-setters to deny the obvious about Donald Trump is a willful decision to ignore the facts and reality."

[laura hunter]

Just in time for Easter, Trump hawks the The God Bless The USA Bible

[Akhilleus]

Ken,

At least McEnroe never tried to overturn the results at Wimbledon (contested some calls maybe, but…), he never conspired to steal a title, and he was, unlike Fatty, exceptionally skilled at what he did. When he won, he won on his own. He didn’t have some Russian line judge help him out with bogus calls.

Whiny? Yes. A cheater? No.

But that sneering scowl you mention is the ubiquitous face of that party now.

[Monoloco]

Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley's wife is arguing before SCOTUS that ER doctors are being "forced to choose between helping a woman with a life-threatening condition and violating their conscience,”

How would you like to be a patient in the ER with a life-threatening condition and be told that the doctor in charge refuses to treat you FOR REASONS OF CONSCIENCE?

Any other medical conditions where this standard applies in the ER?

In such cases, is treatment limited to "thoughts and prayers?"

[Ken Winkes]

Akhilleus,

You're right about McEnroe, of course. My wife and I loved watching him play, and while some of his spoiled brat court antics made us uncomfortable, over time they became an expected and entertaining part of the McEnroe package.

But no one will ever top the way he delivered his "You can't be serious" line. For all the reasons you can guess, it has occurred to me often.

[Monoloco]

Not sure whether this fits under "Annals of Journalism" or "(Slightly) Beyond the Beltway." Or nowhere at all, since it's not political.

The major news outlets are all describing the Baltimore bridge event as a collision. In maritime terminology, a collision occurs when two moving objects strike each other; for example, two passing ships. If only one of the objects is moving, what occurs is an allision; for example, when a moving boat runs into a stationary bridge.

Come to think of it, maybe the distinction does apply in politics, as in a collision between two candidates with opposing views, versus an allision between a candidate and reality.

[Marie Burns]

@Monoloco: You're right. It isn't just today's newscasters who have described a ship hitting a stationary bridge as a "collision." Physicists do so, too, if my brief Googles exploration is an indication.

BUT. You'd be happy to see this headline from WorkBoat, a site for "commercial maritime professionals": "Ship allision causes Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore."

[Patrick]

I don't know the technicalities of investment accounting or strategies, beyond buy low sell high. Nor tax strategy. But what if:

-- DiJiT's new BFF Yass wants to give DiJiT a big ol' bribe, but without that pesky court- and jail- time that the quid and the quo can get you
-- and he wants a little reduction in the bribe price, but also wants to ensure DiJiT gets the full amount
-- so he "buys" $1B worth of DiJiT's stock in the newly listed DJT commo stock -- using the word "worth" here very loosely
-- DiJiT gets his Billion, free and clear (his basis was about $0); he pays no taxes because he's DiJiT and has already generated paper real estate offset losses over decades of his tax scam
-- Yass gets pieces of paper (actually, some rearranged electrons in his broker's computer)
-- When the stock tanks, Yass gets a "loss" that he can use to offset capital gains, avoiding tax on the latter
-- DiJiT is aware that Yass gave him $1B, and, simulataneously, that Yass wants (TikTok? Boeing? Putin to eat Ukraine? Gaza eliminated from the face of the earth? Whatever.) I was about to say that "DiJiT is grateful" to Yass, but, that sounded too unreal. Let's just say that if he is again Prezdet he'll help Yass do whatever Yass wants the US to do for Yass.)

"Per se" bribery? Of course not. Just business and politics.

[Marie Burns]

@Patrick: Not only does your scenario seem plausible, it occurs to me that the whole public company may have been set up to operate in more-or-less the way you suggest, not just for Yass, of course, but for other Friends-of-Trump stock purchasers. AND the big purchases will prop of the value of DJT stock. It's one way a Trumpy oligarchy could keep on humming.

It's a form of money laundering that only works, of course, if Trump is in a position to return favors. So he HAS TO win this election. By any means necessary.

[Ken Winkes]

Let's call it the Patrick Plan (or not...).

Reminded me of a favorite book with a catchy title, which I may have mentioned here before. "The Scarlet Woman of Wall Street," a how-to manual of Wall Street stock manipulation practiced by some of its early, very successful practitioners.

Crooks? Awful human beings? Sure.

But at least some of them did good works, founded universities and such, before they died.

Oh, that's right. The Pretender already founded his own...

[Akhilleus]

This whole McDaniel clusterfuck was a huge self inflicted head wound for NBC. As Marie pointed out earlier, no MAGAts were all of a sudden going to tune in to that network to hear what Ronna was thinking. She was booted by the Orange Monster. He blamed her for all those bad election results (even though they were mostly his fault). They hated her. But now she can run back to the Trumpy troglodytes, a hero of sorts, a martyr for the cause of election denial and treason, “unfairly” canceled by the woke, liberal mob.

NBC got no props for hiring her. Their biggest names on the news side called them out for bowing down to the traitors, likely tons of regular viewers were ready to swear them off forever, and now, the idiots they hoped to appease hate them even more.

This is the media version of scoring on your own goal. Will anyone be fired for such a monumentally stoopid idea?

Not likely. One of those idiots responsible for this stunt is probably thinking “Gee, maybe we should have hired Jared instead…”