The Conversation -- February 12, 2024

Richard Fausset & Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "An Atlanta judge said on Monday that he would go forward with a hearing later this week delving into a romantic relationship between the two prosecutors leading an election interference case against ... Donald J. Trump and a number of his allies.... The defense is seeking to disqualify the two prosecutors -- Fani T. Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, and Nathan J. Wade, who she hired to run the case. 'It's clear that disqualification can occur if evidence is produced demonstrating an actual conflict or the appearance of one,' the judge, Scott McAfee of Fulton County Superior Court, said at a hearing on Monday afternoon."

Adam Liptak & Amy VanSickle of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump asked the Supreme Court on Monday to pause an appeals court's ruling rejecting his claim that he is absolutely immune from criminal charges based on his attempts to subvert the 2020 election. Unless the justices issue a stay while they consider whether to hear his promised appeal, proceedings in the criminal trial, which have been on hold, will resume. The filing was Mr. Trump's last-ditch effort to press his claim of total immunity, which has been rejected by two lower courts. The Supreme Court is now poised to determine whether and how fast his federal trial on charges that he tried to subvert the 2020 election will proceed. Unless the justices move quickly, the trial could be pushed into the heart of the 2024 campaign, or even past the election."

Here is some of the garbled gobbledygook the Stable Genius let fly just over this past weekend. And he had a teleprompter:

Putin's Useful Idiots. Digby in Salon: "It is no coincidence that Trump made his biggest threat against NATO right after Tucker Carlson sat with Putin[.]... As it turns out the interview ended up mostly being a twisted history lesson from Putin with Carlson sitting there like a potted plant with a feigned fascinated expression on his face. The point of Putin's tutorial was to explain why Russia has every right to invade Ukraine and anywhere else he might fancy.... I find it hard to believe that Trump slogged through that tedious conversation or understood what Putin was talking about. But you can bet that Putin heard Trump and rubbed his hands together with glee. If only the American people heard him just as clearly." ~~~

~~~ "Call and Response." Marcy Wheeler: "Over the weekend, Putin and Donald Trump seem to have come to public agreement that, if elected in November, Trump would help Putin pursue Greater Russia. In his session with Tucker Carlson, after all, Putin corrected the propagandist, informing him that, no, he didn't invade Ukraine because of concerns about NATO expansion, but because he considers Ukraine -- and much of Eastern Europe -- part of Greater Russia.... And then, within a day, Trump told a fabricated story that served to promise that not only wouldn't he honor America's commitment to defend NATO states, but would instead encourage Russia to do 'whatever they hell they want.'"

Katherine Faulders, et al., of ABC News: "... Donald Trump has arrived for a hearing Monday in his classified documents case that is being held in a special secure facility due to the sensitive nature of the materials involved. The hearing, in Fort Pierce, Florida, is being held under seal in a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility or SCIF -- a specially-equipped secure room for viewing highly classified materials. Trump's co-defendants in the case, aide Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira, are not attending the hearing as they do not have clearance to access classified information. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon ... is hearing arguments from attorneys for Trump and his two co-defendants on their 'defense theories of the case' and how 'any classified information might be relevant or helpful to the defense,' according to a court filing detailing the schedule.... Judge Cannon previously ruled that Smith's team must file a cache of documents on the public docket, but in a motion last week [Jack] Smith urged Cannon to reconsider her ruling, saying that doing so would, among other things, reveal the names of potential witnesses in the case, 'exposing them to significant and immediate risks of threats, intimidation, and harassment.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Two questions. (1) How come Loose Lips McDonald still has security clearance? (2) And didn't Trump show up at this hearing about witness intimidation in order to intimidate Judge Aileen?

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The Athletic: "The Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII -- just like [as!] the President jokingly claims he planned. United States President Joe Biden posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, following the conclusion of overtime: 'Just like we drew it up.' The post was a reference and contained an image from a TikTok posted earlier in the day by Biden's campaign where he joked about rigging the Super Bowl in favor of the Chiefs. In the clip, Biden was asked if he rigged the Super Bowl or if the Chiefs were just that good. He replied: 'I'd get in trouble if I told you.'" MB: The Athletic is a NYT publication and is firewalled. ~~~

     ~~~ Ted Johnson of Deadline: "The X/Twitter post was a reference to a Super Bowl conspiracy theory involving game-rigging and a Taylor Swift endorsement. ~~~

Just like we drew it up. pic.twitter.com/9NBvc5nVZE

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) February 12, 2024

Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "President Biden warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Sunday that a ground offensive in southern Gaza should not proceed without a plan to protect the more than 1.4 million Palestinians clustered there, the latest sign of frustration by the White House over rising civilian deaths from Israel's military assault. During the call on Sunday, according to a description from the White House, the two leaders also discussed ongoing negotiations with Hamas to release Israeli hostages in Gaza in exchange for a cease-fire and the release of Palestinians being held in Israeli jails. Last week, Mr. Netanyahu bluntly rejected as 'ludicrous' a response from Hamas in the negotiations that called for Israel's withdrawal from Gaza and the freeing of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the release of more than 100 Israeli hostages in Gaza. But both American and Israeli officials have said subsequently that there is still room for compromise in the negotiations."

Yasmeen Abutaleb, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden and his top aides are closer to a breach with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu than at any time since the Gaza War began, no longer viewing him as a productive partner who can be influenced even in private, according to several people familiar with their internal discussions. The mounting frustration with Netanyahu has prompted some of Biden's aides to urge him to be more publicly critical of the prime minister over his country's military operation in Gaza, according to six people familiar with the conversations.... The president, a staunch supporter of Israel who has known Netanyahu for more than 40 years, has been largely reluctant to take his private frustrations public so far, according to the people. But he is slowly warming to the idea, they said, as Netanyahu continues to infuriate Biden officials with public humiliations and prompt rejections of basic U.S. demands." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Bibi, Joe wants you to read this "leaked" report. More on the Israel/Hamas war linked below.

Edward Wong of the New York Times: "The Pentagon announced on Sunday that Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III had been taken to a military hospital to be treated for 'symptoms suggesting an emergent bladder issue,' and doctors at the hospital later said it was not clear how long he would remain there. Mr. Austin was taken to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., at 2:20 p.m., a Pentagon spokesman, Maj. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder, said in the military's initial statement. He added that the deputy defense secretary and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had been notified, as well as the White House and members of Congress. In a second statement on Sunday evening, General Ryder said that Mr. Austin, 70, had 'transferred the functions and duties' of his office to the deputy defense secretary, Kathleen H. Hicks, at about 4:55 p.m. Another statement, issued late Sunday by two senior doctors at Walter Reed, said that Mr. Austin had been admitted to the hospital's critical care unit that night after a series of tests."

Karoun Demirjian of the New York Times: "The Senate on Sunday pushed a $95 billion emergency aid bill for Ukraine and Israel past a critical hurdle, with a bipartisan vote that kept it on track for passage within days. The vote was 67-27 to move forward on the package, which would dedicate $60.1 billion to helping Kyiv in its war against Russian aggression, send $14.1 billion to Israel for its war against Hamas and fund almost $10 billion in humanitarian assistance for civilians in conflict zones, while addressing threats to the Indo-Pacific region. In a rare Sunday session, 18 Republicans joined Democrats to advance the measure, which leaders hope the Senate will approve as early as Tuesday.... But steep hurdles still remain for the bill in the Republican-led House, where it faces staunch opposition fueled by the 'America First' stance of ... Donald J. Trump." ~~~

     ~~~ Katherine Tully-McManus & Ursula Perano of Politico: "Donald Trump spent the weekend telling senators they should not pass more unconditional U.S. foreign aid. More than a dozen Republicans ignored him Sunday, moving forward on a bill to send $95 billion in aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.... 'From this point forward, are you listening U.S. Senate (?),' Trump wrote on Truth Social. 'No money in the form of foreign aid should be given to any country unless it is done as a loan, not just a giveaway.'... 'I know it's become quite fashionable in some circles to disregard the global interests we have as a global power. To bemoan the responsibilities of global leadership,' [Senate Republican leader Mitch] McConnell said. 'This is idle work for idle minds. And it has no place in the United States Senate.'"

The Report

In case you missed it yesterday: Andrew Weissmann & Ryan Goodman in Just Security on the "Real" Hur report: "The Special Counsel Robert Hur report has been grossly mischaracterized by the press. The report finds that the evidence of a knowing, willful violation of the criminal laws is wanting. Indeed, the report, on page 6, notes that there are 'innocent explanations' that Hur 'cannot refute.' That is but one of myriad examples we outline in great detail below of the report repeatedly finding a lack of proof. And those findings mean, in DOJ-speak, there is simply no case. Unrefuted innocent explanations is the sine qua non of not just a case that does not meet the standard for criminal prosecution -- it means innocence. Or as former Attorney General Bill Barr and his former boss would have put it, a total vindication (but here, for real)."

Marie: Contributor Patrick spent a part of his Super Bowl Sunday editing the nearly-400-page special counsel Robert Hur's report on President Biden's retention of a few classified documents. As a public service, I am republishing Patrick's entire edition of the report. Do read it in full:

There is no evidence that improper storage of these documents was not sloppy filing. We could obtain no evidence showing who did that. Case closed. -- Full Report on President Biden's Retention of Classified Documents, Patrick's edition

The most important thing to remember, though, is the president was found to have been engaged in no wrongdoing. Unlike President Trump, [who] has 91 felony counts pending against him. And, by the way, in over all the depositions that President Trump has taken in those cases, it says he doesn't remember or doesn't know, over 1,000 times. -- Mitch Landrieu, Biden campaign co-chair, Sunday on "Meet the Press"

Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "White House officials and Democrats fanned out to defend President Biden's mental fitness on Sunday, reflecting the rising anxiety in the president's administration over a special counsel report that fueled concern about his age. 'This is a report that went off the rails,' Bob Bauer, Mr. Biden's personal lawyer, said on CBS's 'Face the Nation.' 'A shabby work product.'... Democrats have gone on the offensive to discredit what they say is a partisan hit that potentially violated Justice Department policy, specifically taking issue with the descriptions questioning Mr. Biden's memory."

... at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory. -- Robert Hur, Special Counsel

At trial, Mr. Trump would likely present himself to a jury, as he does every day, as an unsympathetic, narcissistic, vicious, elderly man with a poor memory, poor judgment, no morals, no impulse control, and as a danger to democracy and international stability. -- Marie, Special Report

Charles Pierce of Esquire: Merrick Garland "needs to be thanked for his service and then shown the door. He is not equipped to use all the tools god gave the Department of Justice to thwart the genuine threat to the Republic that is El Caudillo del Mar-A-Lago, and the dangerous political climate he has created. The former president* should have been charged federally with insurrection literally years ago.... The DOJ should have gone hammer-and-tongs after all the members of Congress who had the slightest connection with the insurrection. Somebody higher than the bear spray crowd should have been arrested and held until trial.... This business ... should have been the very first item on Garland's plate when he walked in the door.... Thursday was the end for me. Appointing a Republican hack like Robert Hur to 'investigate' the non-crimes of the president was bad enough, but then to allow Hur to pile on a political hit piece about the president's memory, thereby normalizing one of the former president*'s attack lines on DOJ stationery, is not admirably fair-minded, it's constitutionally suicidal." (Firewalled.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: And let's not forget that it is very unlikely Merrick the Unready ever would have brought charges against Trump if not for the January 6 committee, which put the DOJ to shame by gathering and presenting enough evidence to prove to most of us that Trump was guilty of fomenting and leading the insurrection. Congress embarrassed Garland into appointing a special counsel to investigate and charge Trump. And so far, there's no sign the DOJ has investigated other participants in the coup plot: Mark Meadows, Jungle Gym Jordan, etc.

Presidential Race

Marie: It is not only our democracy that is on the line in the upcoming presidential election. It's all of them. Even Peter Both-Side Baker has the sense to be alarmed: ~~~

Peter Baker of the New York Times: Donald Trump "took [his antipathy to NATO] to a whole new level over the weekend, declaring at a rally in South Carolina that not only would he not defend European countries he deemed to be in arrears from an attack by Russia, he would go so far as to 'encourage' Russia to do whatever the hell they want' against them. Never before has a president of the United States -- even a former one aspiring to reclaim the office -- suggested that he would incite an enemy to attack American allies.... Mr. Trump's rhetoric foreshadows potentially far-reaching changes in the international order if he wins the White House again in November with unpredictable consequences. What's more, Mr. Trump's riff once again raised uncomfortable questions about his taste in friends. Encouraging Russia to attack NATO allies ... is a stunning statement that highlights his odd affinity for President Vladimir V. Putin, who has already proved his willingness to invade neighboring countries that do not have the protection of NATO.... Just the suggestion that the United States could not be depended on would negate the value of [U.S.] alliances, prompt longtime friends to hedge and perhaps align with other powers and embolden the likes of Mr. Putin and Xi Jinping of China." ~~~

David Sanger of the New York Times: "Long before Donald J. Trump threatened over the weekend that he was willing to let Russia 'do whatever the hell they want' against NATO allies that do not contribute sufficiently to collective defense, European leaders were quietly discussing how they might prepare for a world in which America removes itself as the centerpiece of the 75-year-old alliance.... The larger implication of his statement is that he might invite President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to pick off a NATO nation, as a warning and a lesson to the 30 or so others about heeding Mr. Trump's demands.... [Trump's] statement stunned many in Europe, especially after three years in which President Biden, attempting to restore the confidence in the alliance lost during Mr. Trump's four years in office, has repeatedly said that the United States would 'defend every inch of NATO territory.' Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, which comprises Europe's heads of government and defines their common policies, wrote that 'reckless statements' like Mr. Trump's 'serve only Putin's interest.'... In a statement on Sunday, [outgoing NATO Secretary General Jens] Stoltenberg said, 'Any suggestion that allies will not defend each other undermines all of our security, including that of the U.S., and puts American and European soldiers at increased risk.'" A related BBC News report is here. And another BBC News report is here. ~~~

~~~ Party of Putin. Maggie Haberman & Jonathan Swan of the New York Times: "Republican Party elites have become so practiced at deflecting even Mr. Trump's most outrageous statements that they quickly batted this one away.... The defense of Mr. Trump by several Republican officials such as [Sen. Lindsey] Graham reflected the trajectory of a party that the former president has largely bent to his will.... Several former national security and foreign policy officials in the Trump administration declined to speak about the anecdote that Mr. Trump told about threatening a NATO member nation's head of state with encouraging Russian aggression. But they said they recalled no such meeting actually taking place. Mr. Trump is fond of outright falsehoods in relaying stories to make himself look like a tough negotiator."

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Israel/Palestine, et al. The Washington Post's live updates of developments Monday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "Israel's military said it rescued two hostages from the southern Gazan city of Rafah early Monday morning while carrying out a wave of strikes, which Gaza's Health Ministry said killed at least 67 people. Hamas condemned Monday's strikes as 'horrific massacres against defenseless civilians' as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would use 'continued military pressure' to return the remaining hostages.... Gazans reported violent bombardment overnight from all directions in Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians have sought shelter to escape intense fighting. The situation is so dire that families are sleeping on streets and eating grass to survive, aid groups say. The two rescued hostages, Fernando Simon Merman, 60, and Luis Har, 70, both dual Israeli-Argentinian citizens, were abducted from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak on Oct. 7. Israel's military said both were in 'good medical condition' and were taken for further medical examination in Israel." ~~~

     ~~~ CNN's live updates for Monday are here.

News Lede

NPR: "Bob Edwards, the veteran broadcaster and longtime host of Morning Edition who left an indelible mark on NPR's sound, has died. He was 76 years old. NPR's Susan Stamberg says Edwards' voice became part of the morning routine for millions of Americans. 'He was Bob Edwards of Morning Edition for 24 1/2 years, and his was the voice we woke up to,' she says." Edwards' New York Times obituary is here.

The Conversation -- February 11, 2024

I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Truth is, I don't wanna know. Some things are best left unsaid. I want to think they were singing about something so beautiful it can't be expressed in words and makes your heart ache because of it. I tell you, those voices soared higher and farther than anybody in a great place dares to dream. It was like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made those walls dissolve away. And for the briefest of moments, every last man at Shawshank felt free. -- Red Redding (Morgan Freeman), "Shawshank Redemption" ~~~

     ~~~ Thanks to RAS for the greetings. ~~~

~~~ Things to Do Today Having Nothing to Do with the Super Bowl: Bake a cake; Mix yourself an elaborate cocktail; Catch up on a Netflix series; Go out to a movie; Go sledding, skiing or ice-skating; Go out to dinner at a normally-crowded restaurant; Make a Valentine's card; Take a walk, if weather allows; Go for a drive; Curl up with a book; Take down the last of the holiday decorations; Go shopping, virtually or really; Phone a distant friend who would never watch the Super Bowl; Do a jigsaw or NYT crossword puzzle; Do a craft project; Tidy up a spare room, closet, kitchen cupboard, whatever; Start gathering your tax papers; Work on that scrapbook you put down in 2019; Watch an opera (play a YouTube video on your TV & open English subtitles).

~~~~~~~~~~

Karoun Demirjian of the New York Times: "The Senate on Sunday pushed a $95 billion emergency aid bill for Ukraine and Israel past a critical hurdle, with a bipartisan vote that kept it on track for passage within days. The vote was 67-27 to move forward on the package, which would dedicate $60.1 billion to helping Kyiv in its war against Russian aggression, send $14.1 billion to Israel for its war against Hamas and fund almost $10 billion in humanitarian assistance for civilians in conflict zones, while addressing threats to the Indo-Pacific region. In a rare Sunday session, 18 Republicans joined Democrats to advance the measure, which leaders hope the Senate will approve as early as Tuesday.... But steep hurdles still remain for the bill in the Republican-led House, where it faces staunch opposition fueled by the 'America First' stance of ... Donald J. Trump."

Yasmeen Abutaleb, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden and his top aides are closer to a breach with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu than at any time since the Gaza War began, no longer viewing him as a productive partner who can be influenced even in private, according to several people familiar with their internal discussions. The mounting frustration with Netanyahu has prompted some of Biden's aides to urge him to be more publicly critical of the prime minister over his country's military operation in Gaza, according to six people familiar with the conversations.... The president, a staunch supporter of Israel who has known Netanyahu fo more than 40 years, has been largely reluctant to take his private frustrations public so far, according to the people. But he is slowly warming to the idea, they said, as Netanyahu continues to infuriate Biden officials with public humiliations and prompt rejections of basic U.S. demands." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Bibi, Joe wants you to read this "leaked" report.

Marie: It is not only our democracy that is on the line in the upcoming presidential election. It's all of them. Even Peter Both-Side Baker has the sense to be alarmed: ~~~

Peter Baker of the New York Times: Donald Trump "took [his antipathy to NATO] to a whole new level over the weekend, declaring at a rally in South Carolina that not only would he not defend European countries he deemed to be in arrears from an attack by Russia, he would go so far as to 'encourage' Russia to do whatever the hell they want' against them. Never before has a president of the United States -- even a former one aspiring to reclaim the office -- suggested that he would incite an enemy to attack American allies.... Mr. Trump's rhetoric foreshadows potentially far-reaching changes in the international order if he wins the White House again in November with unpredictable consequences. What's more, Mr. Trump's riff once again raised uncomfortable questions about his taste in friends. Encouraging Russia to attack NATO allies ... is a stunning statement that highlights his odd affinity for President Vladimir V. Putin, who has already proved his willingness to invade neighboring countries that do not have the protection of NATO.... Just the suggestion that the United States could not be depended on would negate the value of [U.S.] alliances, prompt longtime friends to hedge and perhaps align with other powers and embolden the likes of Mr. Putin and Xi Jinping of China." ~~~

David Sanger of the New York Times: "Long before Donald J. Trump threatened over the weekend that he was willing to let Russia 'do whatever the hell they want' against NATO allies that do not contribute sufficiently to collective defense, European leaders were quietly discussing how they might prepare for a world in which America removes itself as the centerpiece of the 75-year-old alliance.... The larger implication of his statement is that he might invite President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to pick off a NATO nation, as a warning and a lesson to the 30 or so others about heeding Mr. Trump's demands.... [Trump's] statement stunned many in Europe, especially after three years in which President Biden, attempting to restore the confidence in the alliance lost during Mr. Trump's four years in office, has repeatedly said that the United States would 'defend every inch of NATO territory.' Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, which comprises Europe's heads of government and defines their common policies, wrote that 'reckless statements' like Mr. Trump's 'serve only Putin's interest.'... In a statement on Sunday, [outgoing NATO Secretary General Jens] Stoltenberg said, 'Any suggestion that allies will not defend each other undermines all of our security, including that of the U.S., and puts American and European soldiers at increased risk.'" A related BBC News report is here. And another BBC News report is here.

... at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory. -- Robert Hur, Special Counsel

At trial, Mr. Trump would likely present himself to a jury, as he does every day, as an unsympathetic, narcissistic, vicious, elderly man with a poor memory, poor judgment, no morals, no impulse control, and as a danger to democracy and international stability. -- Marie, Special Report

Marie: Contributor Patrick spent a part of his Super Bowl Sunday editing the nearly-400-page special counsel Robert Hur's report on President Biden's retention of a few classified documents. As a public service, I am republishing Patrick's entire edition of the report. Do read it in full:

There is no evidence that improper storage of these documents was not sloppy filing. We could obtain no evidence showing who did that. Case closed. -- Full Report on President Biden's Retention of Classified Documents, Patrick's edition

Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "White House officials and Democrats fanned out to defend President Biden's mental fitness on Sunday, reflecting the rising anxiety in the president's administration over a special counsel report that fueled concern about his age. 'This is a report that went off the rails,' Bob Bauer, Mr. Biden's personal lawyer, said on CBS's 'Face the Nation.' 'A shabby work product.'... Democrats have gone on the offensive to discredit what they say is a partisan hit that potentially violated Justice Department policy, specifically taking issue with the descriptions questioning Mr. Biden's memory."

The most important thing to remember, though, is the president was found to have been engaged in no wrongdoing. Unlike President Trump, [who] has 91 felony counts pending against him. And, by the way, in over all the depositions that President Trump has taken in those cases, it says he doesn't remember or doesn't know, over 1,000 times. -- Mitch Landrieu, Biden campaign co-chair, Sunday on "Meet the Press"

Charles Pierce of Esquire: Merrick Garland "needs to be thanked for his service and then shown the door. He is not equipped to use all the tools god gave the Department of Justice to thwart the genuine threat to the Republic that is El Caudillo del Mar-A-Lago, and the dangerous political climate he has created. The former president* should have been charged federally with insurrection literally years ago.... The DOJ should have gone hammer-and-tongs after all the members of Congress who had the slightest connection with the insurrection. Somebody higher than the bear spray crowd should have been arrested and held until trial.... This business ... should have been the very first item on Garland's plate when he walked in the door.... Thursday was the end for me. Appointing a Republican hack like Robert Hur to 'investigate' the non-crimes of the president was bad enough, but then to allow Hur to pile on a political hit piece about the president's memory, thereby normalizing one of the former president*'s attack lines on DOJ stationery, is not admirably fair-minded, it's constitutionally suicidal." (Firewalled.)

~~~~~~~~~~

Andrew Weissmann & Ryan Goodman in Just Security on the "Real' Hur report: "The Special Counsel Robert Hur report has been grossly mischaracterized by the press. The report finds that the evidence of a knowing, willful violation of the criminal laws is wanting. Indeed, the report, on page 6, notes that there are 'innocent explanations' that Hur 'cannot refute.' That is but one of myriad examples we outline in great detail below of the report repeatedly finding a lack of proof. And those findings mean, in DOJ-speak, there is simply no case. Unrefuted innocent explanations is the sine qua non of not just a case that does not meet the standard for criminal prosecution -- it means innocence. Or as former Attorney General Bill Barr and his former boss would have put it, a total vindication (but here, for real)."

Presidential Race

The Latest from the Treasonous Narcissist. Marianne Levine of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump ramped up his attacks on NATO on Saturday, [at a rally in South Carolina,] claiming he suggested to a foreign leader that he would encourage Russia to do 'whatever the hell they want' to member countries he views as not spending enough on their own defense. 'One of the presidents of a big country stood up and said, "Well, sir, if we don't pay and we're attacked by Russia, will you protect us?,"' Trump said during a rally at Coastal Carolina University. 'I said, "You didn't pay. You're delinquent." He said, "Yes, let's say that happened." No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want.'... 'Encouraging invasions of our closest allies by murderous regimes is appalling and unhinged -- and it endangers American national security, global stability, and our economy at home,' White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a statement....

"At one point in the speech, he attacked [former S.C. Gov. Nikki] Haley's husband, a service member who is currently deployed overseas. 'Where's her husband? Oh he's away' Trump said. 'He's gone. He knew, he knew.'" CNN's report on Trump's NATO remarks is here. The New York Times story is here. The NBC News report about Michael Haley is here.

Someone who continually disrespects the sacrifices of military families has no business being commander in chief. -- Nikki Haley, responding, in a statement, to Trump's remarks about her husband

     ~~~ Marie: (1) Do you think "the president of a big country" would address Trump as "sir"? (2) And here we were wondering, "Where's Melanie?" I don't think the lovely Mrs. Trump has showed up on the campaign trail once this campaign season. And she is not serving the country; as far as we know, she's gone shopping.

Before That. Bidensylvania? Joeland? Tom Boggioni of the Raw Story: "During his speech Friday night in Harrisburg, [Pa., Donald Trump] ... told the crowd that a President Joe Biden win in November would be bad news for the state. 'We're not going to have Pennsylvania. They'll change the name,' Trump stated. 'They're going to change the name of Pennsylvania.'"

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New Jersey Senate Race. Daniel Han of Politico: "Rep. Andy Kim on Saturday won by a wide margin in New Jersey's first Democratic convention in the Senate primary to replace indicted Sen. Bob Menendez, handing first lady Tammy Murphy a stinging defeat in her home county. Murphy has been presumed the frontrunner because of her high-profile status as the first lady, her massive fundraising capabilities and, most importantly, the early support she's received from county party leaders in the state's most Democratic-rich areas. But she failed to lock up support in Monmouth County, located along the Jersey Shore. Kim won the contest in a blowout, winning 56.8 percent of the vote. Murphy won 38.8 percent while another candidate, progressive labor activist Patricia Campos-Medina, won 4.2 percent.... Kim, speaking with reporters after the vote, said he came into the contest and 'legitimately did not know' what the outcome would be." MB: You have to read most of the article to figure out that Kim's win is only in Monmouth County, not in the whole state.

North Carolina/Florida. Lori Rozsa of the Washington Post: A bookstore in Asheville, North Carolina, accepted eight tons of books banned in Florida for discussing race, gender & sexual orientation. Firestorm Books "is now sending them to anyone who requests them. Many of the books are heading back to Florida."

Oklahoma. Emily Schmall of the New York Times: "A judge in Oklahoma who exchanged 500 text messages with her bailiff while presiding over the murder trial of a man accused of beating a toddler to death resigned on Friday. Traci Soderstrom stepped down from her position as a district judge in Lincoln County ahead of a special court trial that was scheduled to begin on Monday, according to a resignation letter distributed to local news outlets. Ms. Soderstrom faced removal from the bench for gross neglect of duty, gross partiality in office and other judicial conduct prohibited by the state's Constitution.... Ms. Soderstrom and the bailiff 'called murder trial witnesses liars, admired the looks of a police officer who was testifying, disparaged the local defense bar, expressed bias in favor of the defendant and displayed gross partiality against the state,' M. John Kane IV, the chief justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court, wrote in the petition.... The judge's cellphone use came to public attention in July, after The Oklahoman published more than 50 minutes of courtroom security footage and reported that it showed the judge texting and scrolling Facebook during Mr. Martzall's trial."

AND the GOP becomes one rep more MAGA. ~~~

~~~ Wisconsin Congressional Race. Karoun Demirjian of the New York Times: "Representative Mike Gallagher, Republican of Wisconsin, announced on Saturday that he would not run for re-election, just days after breaking with his party to cast a decisive vote against impeachment charges for Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary. Mr. Gallagher, who is in his fourth congressional term, is joining dozens of other lawmakers who have decided to call it quits. But the timing of his decision was striking nonetheless, coming on the heels of his impeachment vote -- which had already earned him a primary challenger -- and his relative youth, compared with others who are planning to retire from Congress." The AP story is here.

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Hungary. Andrew Higgins of the New York Times: "The president of Hungary, a loyal and largely powerless ally of the country's authoritarian prime minister, Viktor Orban, resigned on Saturday amid a public outcry over her pardoning of a man implicated in a sex abuse scandal at a children's home. President Katalin Novak, an outspoken champion of traditional values and Hungary's former minister of family affairs, announced her resignation on television, the latest in a series of prominent figures in Mr. Orban's conservative governing Fidesz party felled by sex scandals."

Pakistan. Christina Goldbaum of the New York Times: "The party of the imprisoned former prime minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, won the most seats in parliamentary elections this week, delivering a strong rebuke to the country's powerful generals and throwing the political system into chaos. While military leaders had hoped the election would put an end to the political turmoil that has consumed the country since Mr. Khan's ouster in 2022, it has instead plunged it into an even deeper crisis, analysts said. Never before in the country's history has a politician seen such success in an election without the backing of the generals -- much less after facing their iron fist."

The Conversation -- February 10, 2024

The Report

I'm well-meaning, and I'm an elderly man, and I know what the hell I'm doing. I've been president and I put this country back on its feet. -- President Joe Biden, White House remarks, Thursday evening

Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury ... as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory. -- Special Counsel Robert Hur, report

When the markets crashed, Franklin Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed. -- Senator Joe Biden, to Katie Couric, 2008 ~~~

     ~~~ For a free subscription to Reality Chex, find two errors in Biden's 2008 remark. Yeah, fractured history is a Biden specialty. -- Marie

Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "The White House on Friday called the special counsel's report into President Biden's handling of classified material politically motivated, escalating its attempts to discredit a document that characterized the president as elderly and forgetful. Vice President Kamala Harris suggested that the report was more of a political attack than an unbiased legal document. Ian Sams, a spokesman for the White House Counsel's Office, said the report was 'inappropriate' and 'troubling.'...

"'The way the president's demeanor in that report was characterized could not be more wrong on the facts and clearly politically motivated,' Ms. Harris said in response to questions from reporters at the White House. She also said Mr. Biden had sat down for in-person interviews with the special counsel's office just a day after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. 'It was an intense moment for the commander in chief of the United States of America,' Ms. Harris said. 'He was in front of it all, coordinating and directing leaders who are in charge of America's national security.'"

Kierra Frazier of Politico: "Former Attorney General Eric Holder slammed Special Counsel Robert Hur's report that contained observations on President Joe Biden's memory. 'Special Counsel Hur report on Biden classified documents issues contains way too many gratuitous remarks and is flatly inconsistent with long standing DOJ traditions,' Holder said in a post on X early Friday morning. 'Had this report been subject to a normal DOJ review these remarks would undoubtedly have been excised.'... Tommy Vietor, a former Obama White House aide who now co-hosts Pod Save America, said the report was filled with 'ad hominem attacks' and was 'just a right-wing hit job from within Biden's own DOJ.' 'Hur, a lifelong Republican and creature of DC, didn't have a case against Biden, but he knew exactly how his swipes could hurt Biden politically,' said Jim Messina, Barack Obama's 2012 campaign manager."

Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post: Robert Hur's "extensive discussions of [President Biden's cognitive condition] were not merely gratuitous -- they constituted an egregious transgression of prosecutorial boundaries.... [Hur's] portrayal of Biden as a doddering old man is inconsistent with what I hear from those who have frequent interactions with him. But assuming its accuracy, the details go far beyond what is appropriate to explain the decision to decline prosecution, and far beyond Hur's brief.... Prosecutors are supposed to remain above the partisan fray, not embroiled in it.... A responsible prosecutor would have taken care to avoid what Hur has done, which is to let his report become a potent -- perhaps even lethal -- weapon in the coming campaign." ~~~

~~~ Marie: Yes, but if you credit Hur with writing, not a report, but a rambling, incoherent novel of the Look Homeward, Angel genre, then maybe it's a coming-of-aging story about a protagonist whom Hur decides to call "Joe Biden": ~~~

~~~ Marcy Wheeler: "Hur spent a year trying to find facts that would allow him to charge Joe Biden, charge a President, doing backflips with the evidence along the way, and then writing up a report that provides far more evidence about 40 year old documents covered by Speech and Debate than we'll ever learn about the stolen documents at Mar-a-Lago. This was never an ethical prosecutorial pursuit. It was always about writing a novel for a rabid audience." MB: This is one of Wheeler's long proofs, but Hur gives her a lot of material to work through.

Paul Campos in LG&$: "It's difficult to overstate what an absolutely astonishing own goal Merrick Garland scored by appointing Robert Hur to lead the Biden documents case.... So why did Merrick Garland do this incredibly stupid and reckless thing?... Because Robert Hur was Executive Editor of the Stanford Law Review, and clerked for the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, and was a partner at Gibson Dunn, and somebody with that kind of impeccable legal pedigree wouldn't ever be a partisan hack, because if he was that would call into question the impeccable judgment of the other Elite Lawyers who anointed appointed him to those exalted offices, where Objective Legal Analysis always wins out over Partisan Political Considerations, because only the Very Best People get those kinds of jobs, because ... OK I can't do this any more.

"Merrick Garland should be fired immediately. He has one of the most important jobs in the United States, and he's absolutely terrible at it, which is a bad combination, especially when there's a little light sedition in the air.... This guy might as well be a Republican plant, but the really sad part is that I don't doubt for a second that he's as sincere as Linus in the pumpkin patch, waiting for the Spirit of the Law to bring presents to all the good little boys and girls...." ~~~

~~~ Marie: Yesterday I wrote, "If Merrick Garland had any balls, he would make a public statement condemning the tenor of the so-called report." Apparently, President Biden thinks Garland should have gone further: ~~~

Jonathan Lemire & Sam Stein of Politico: "Joe Biden has told aides and outside advisers that Attorney General Merrick Garland did not do enough to rein in a special counsel report stating that the president had diminished mental faculties, according to two people close to the president, as White House frustration with the head of the Justice Department grows.... Biden and his closest advisers ... put part of the blame [for 'gratuitous and misleading' descriptions of Biden in the report] on Garland, who they say should have demanded edits to Hur's report, including around the descriptions of Biden's faltering memory.... Frustration within the White House at Garland has been growing steadily. Last year, Biden privately denounced how long the probe into his son was taking.... And the elder Biden, the people said, told ... confidants that Garland should not have eventually empowered a special counsel to look into his son, believing that he again was caving to outside pressure. In recent weeks, President Biden has grumbled to aides and advisers that had Garland moved sooner in his investigation into ... Donald Trump's election interference, a trial may already be underway or even have concluded, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss private matters." The story recount anonymous DOJ reactions. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This looks like one of those anonymously-sourced reports that the White House wants out there. "Confidants" don't rat on the President.

Adam Nagourney of the New York Times: "For veterans of Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign for president, [Thursday] brought back painful memories. The special counsel's report on the handling of classified documents by President Biden instantly recalled how James Comey, then the F.B.I. director, concluded his investigation of Clinton for her handling of classified documents when she was secretary of state.... Hur and Comey -- both Republicans investigating Democrats -- ... adorn[ed] their exonerations with harsh and damaging criticisms. Comey called Clinton 'extremely careless' in her actions. That fueled a flood of critical media coverage, including in The New York Times, and handed a cudgel to her opponent, Donald Trump. To this day, many Democrats blame Comey -- who went on to reopen briefly, and then shut down, that investigation 11 days before Election Day -- as well as the news media for her loss.... Hur ... appeared to offer a cudgel to Trump, and fueled fears among Democrats about Biden's fitness as a candidate."

David McAfee of the Raw Story: "Donald Trump Friday was hit with a stream of criticism for several verbal slip-ups at an event for the NRA in Pennsylvania. The former president slurred when saying the word 'subsidies,' said 'dino-dollars' instead of 'dollars'" and even said he doesn't like being frontpage news every time he 'said one word a little bit mispronunciation.' He also said that three years ago things were great, despite that being when Joe Biden became president, and he claimed twice there were no terror attacks during his tenure as president. He also said that Biden hasn't spoken in months despite him addressing press last night.... Trump also appeared to mistake what day it was, saying, 'If I wasn't here, I'd be having a nice Saturday afternoon.' He said that, of course, on a Friday. This one was also picked up by Biden-Harris HQ. 'It is Friday night,' the account wrote." ~~~

~~~ Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Marie: For a while yesterday (Friday), the New York Times' top online story, by Shane Goldmacher & others, was about this: "... at a last-minute news conference on Thursday night..., a visibly angry Mr. Biden made the exact type of verbal flub that has kept Democrats so nervous for months, mistakenly referring to the president of Egypt, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, as the 'president of Mexico' as he tried to address the latest developments in the war in Gaza." But Biden did not "try to address" developments in Gaza. Rather, he addressed them at length, correctly as far as I know, and off-the-cuff as this was not a topic slated to be discussed at the presser. The story is 35 paragraphs long (albeit the grafs are short). Nowhere in those 35 paragraphs do the reporters mention Biden's recitation of the status of Gaza, a series of remarks that make it abundantly clear Biden knew exactly what he was talking about & that he had full command of the facts. (The report does, however, refer again to "Mr. Biden's mix-up of Egypt and Mexico.") Biden did not "mix up" Egypt & Mexico. He spoke lucidly about Egypt's, not Mexico's, participation in the Gaza crisis. He misspoke. Biden has been famous for misspeaking/making gaffes for decades. This is not a sign of old age; it's a sign of a persistent Biden quirk. ~~~

~~~ The next day (being Friday), Donald Trump -- the leader of the Insurrectionist/Putin party -- gave a prepared address to the NRA, where he "bragged ... that he 'did nothing' about guns during his term in the White House despite 'great pressure.'" So Trump didn't know what day it was and Biden said "Mexico" when he meant "Egypt." Biden was not confused. Trump was confused. But that is not worthy of so much as a NYT mention even in a story about Trump's NRA speech (also linked below) co-authored by the reporter who wrote the lead NYT story Thursday on Hur's report on how addled Biden is. ~~~

     ~~~ Oh, wow. This morning's online top-o'-the-page NYT story: Peter Both-Sides Baker asks, "How Old Is Too Old to Be President? An Uncomfortable Question Arises Again." In fairness to Mr. Both-Sides, he does also address Trump's cognitive impairment: "Mr. Trump, too, will have to quell concerns about his cognitive health, something that was a serious enough worry while he was in office that many of his aides privately believed he was not fit." And the Times' lead editorial?: "The Challenges of an Aging President." ~~~

~~~ digby: Joe Biden "has always been a gaffe machine. Always. Now it's attributed to his age, a lie promulgated by the right and aided and abetted by the media jackels, as we saw at the press conference [Thursday] night.... Biden's mental faculties are fine. he's no different than he always was in that way, which is a garrulous, rambling speaker whose mouth gets ahead of his brain. But he looks old and that's what people are reacting to. It's not relevant because all you have to do is look at his presidency to see that he is perfectly capable of doing the job. The Republicans know that which is why they are relying almost exclusively on this attack to neutralize the obvious problem they have with a corrupt, half-wit rapist at the top of their ticket.... I don't know what to say about the political press. They are beyond hope I'm afraid. Their performance [Thursday] night was as bad as any I've ever seen."

Marie: In today's Comments, Ken W. posits that Biden has made more misstatements about history than has Trump. Maybe. But there's this:

Robert Draper & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "A lawyer for the chief witness against Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, said on Friday that the witness was cooperating with a House Ethics Committee investigation into whether Mr. Gaetz had sex with an underage girl while he was serving in Congress. Fritz Scheller, a lawyer for Mr. Gaetz's former friend and political ally Joel Greenberg, said he provided documents to the committee related to claims Mr. Greenberg has made about Mr. Gaetz. Mr. Greenberg previously told federal investigators that he had witnessed Mr. Gaetz having sex with a 17-year-old girl. 'Mr. Greenberg has and will cooperate with any congressional request,' Mr. Scheller said in an email on Friday."

The Trials of Trump

"Selective Persecution." Michael Gold & Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump ... blasted on Friday a special counsel's decision not to charge President Biden for his handling of classified material, accusing prosecutors of an unfair double standard. 'You know, look, if he's not going to be charged, that's up to them. But then I should not be charged,' Mr. Trump said at an event in Harrisburg, Pa. 'This is nothing more than selective persecution of Biden's political opponent: me.'... Mr. Trump said he had cooperated 'with the very hostile and unfriendly feds' more than Mr. Biden, a claim unsupported by any evidence.... Mr. Hur's report said the president fully cooperated with his investigation...."

Smith to Cannon: You Don't Know WTF You're Doing. Katherine Doyle of NBC News: "The special counsel prosecuting Donald Trump has asked the judge in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case to reconsider an order the government argues could identify more than two dozen witnesses and threaten their safety and testimony. Trump's lawyers have asked for unredacted documents to be turned over, which lawyers for special counsel Jack Smith want to block. In a 24-page filing in federal court in Florida, prosecutors for Smith said the court applied the wrong legal standard when U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who is overseeing the case, ordered the unsealing of materials.... Smith argued that making the filings public would disclose the identities of witnesses prepared to testify against Trump, including career civil servants and former Trump advisers, and what they said to federal investigators and the grand jury.... Trump has lashed out at 'the Gestapo' agents who conducted the 'raid,' and at the time of the search.... Cannon issued an order in response on Friday that delayed her initial decision." Emphasis added. ~~~

     ~~~ Joyce Vance said on MSNBC that "Smith may be on track to go to the 11th Circuit & request a writ of mandamus ordering Cannon to reverse her decision to expose these witnesses." ~~~

~~~ Zoe Richards of NBC News: "A Texas woman accused of making death threats against the judge presiding over ... Donald Trump]s classified documents case was sentenced Friday to three years in prison. Tiffani Shea Gish, of Houston, was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release, the Justice Department said in a news release.... According to court documents, Gish had admitted to federal marshals that she left messages for [Judge Aileen] Cannon, warning the judge that she was 'marked for assassination' and that she planned to shoot her in front of her family.... [Another] Texas woman was charged last year in connection with threats to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing Trump's federal election interference case."

Brandi Buchman of Law & Crime: "In a new motion, special counsel Jack Smith shredded Donald Trump's latest attempt to indefinitely delay the classified documents case in Florida before U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, urging the court to resist the former president's efforts to 'stop at nothing' to delay facing a jury. '... the tactics they deploy are relentless and misleading -- they will stop at nothing to stall the adjudication of the charges against them by a fair and impartial jury of citizens...,' Smith wrote in the 9-page brief filed in Florida late Thursday.... Trump's lawyers were either simply unprepared or were flatly ignoring court orders, according to the special counsel, and now, three months on, as Trump's team has filed requests to adjourn the case completely, they still come asking for more time to file pretrial documents.... Most offensive to the special counsel is Trump's attempt to dismiss the 40-some charges he faces for alleged illegal retention of sensitive and classified documents by attempting to advance an argument of 'presidential immunity.' The conduct charged took place after Trump left office, Smith wrote."

Richard Fausset of the New York Times: "A lawyer for one of ... Donald J. Trump's co-defendants in the Georgia election case suggested on Friday that the two prosecutors leading the case had lied about when their romantic relationship started. The defense lawyer, Ashleigh Merchant, said that a witness she hoped to put on the stand could testify that the romantic relationship between Fani T. Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, and the special prosecutor managing the Trump case, Nathan J. Wade, had begun before Ms. Willis hired Mr. Wade. That would contradict Mr. Wade, who said in a recent affidavit that his relationship with Ms. Willis had not begun until 2022, after his hiring. The affidavit was attached to a court filing made by Ms. Willis. Ms. Merchant identified the witness as Terrence Bradley, a lawyer who once worked in Mr. Wade's law firm and for a time served as Mr. Wade's divorce lawyer.... Ms. Merchant, on Friday, wrote that Mr. Bradley had 'obtained information about the relationship between Wade and Willis directly from Wade when Wade was not seeking legal advice from Bradley.'... [Judge] Scott McAfee of Fulton County Superior Court, has scheduled a hearing on the allegations for Thursday." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Seems to me that if Merchant can establish that Wade lied in an affidavit & if Willis did not correct the lie, McAfee should remove them both from the case.

Presidential Race

Dan Balz of the Washington Post: "A single day rarely encapsulates the fundamental issues of a presidential campaign, but the events of Thursday came close. Over a period of 12 hours, Election 2024 was vividly displayed as a choice between one candidate accused of criminal misconduct and the subversion of democracy, and another battling public concerns about his age and mental acuity.... After Thursday's events, it was also clear, as if it weren't before, that this campaign will be fought almost entirely on negative turf, a dispiriting prospect for an already sour electorate." MB: I don't often say this of Balz, but I do think he gets the basic points right, except for his claim that Biden "confused the president of Egypt with the president of Mexico."

Neil Vigdor of the New York Times: "In a federal election complaint filed on Friday, the Democratic National Committee accused Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and a super PAC backing his independent presidential bid of illegally coordinating on a $15 million petition drive intended to qualify him for the ballot in several states that could be crucial to President Biden's re-election prospects. The 11-page complaint to the Federal Election Commission described the arrangement as an in-kind contribution to Mr. Kennedy's campaign by the super PAC, American Values 2024, one that violated federal campaign finance laws and breached long-established financial barriers between candidates and outside groups." A CBS News report is here.

Wisconsin. Alyce McFadden & Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "Elections officials in Wisconsin voted that the Green Party is eligible to appear on presidential election ballots, a move that could affect the result in a critical battleground state where the winner has been decided by narrow margins. At a meeting of the Wisconsin Elections Commission on Thursday, the commissioners voted unanimously to grant the party's petition, so long as the final paperwork requirements are met. Wisconsin state law guarantees ballot access to parties that receive 1 percent of total votes in a previous election and submit a petition to the elections commission.... Recent polls suggest a close race between President Biden and ... Donald J. Trump.... In 2016, the Green Party candidate Jill Stein won just more than 31,000 votes in Wisconsin, a total that left her fourth in the state but was more than the difference in votes between ... Hillary Clinton and Mr. Trump, who won by a margin of less than 1 percent and took all ten of the state's electoral delegates. In the 2020 presidential election, no Green Party candidate appeared on ballots in Wisconsin. Mr. Biden won the state by less than 1 percent. Ms. Stein has announced that she will seek the Green Party's nomination again this year." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If Green party members care about this country, they will select "None of the Above" and bow out of battleground contests.

News About the Terrible Biden Economy. Edward Moreno & Joe Rennison of the New York Times: "Stocks rose on Friday, with the S&P 500 index closing above 5,000 for the first time amid a rally fueled by better-than-expected earnings reports. The move comes less than a month after the index returned to record territory, surpassing a high set in January 2022. The benchmark, which tracks the stock performance of the largest companies in America, is the foundation of many portfolios and retirement plans and is the most common gauge of sentiment on Wall Street. The rally in the stock market has come with inflation cooling, corporate profits growing and lower borrowing costs on the horizon." The NBC News report is here. ~~~

~~~ Jeff Cox of CNBC: "The prices consumers pay in the marketplace rose at an even slower pace than originally reported, according to closely watched revisions the government released Friday. Updates to the consumer price index showed that the broad basket of goods and services measured increased 0.2% on the month, less than the originally reported 0.3%, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said. While the change is only modest, it helped confirm that inflation was moderating as 2023 ended, giving more leeway to the Federal Reserve to start cutting interest rates later this year."

Pam Belluck of the New York Times: "An academic journal publisher this week retracted two studies that were cited by a federal judge in Texas last year when he ruled that the abortion pill mifepristone should be taken off the market. Most of the authors of the studies are doctors and researchers affiliated with anti-abortion groups, and their reports suggested that medication abortion causes dangerous complications, contradicting the widespread evidence that abortion pills are safe. The lawsuit in which the studies were cited will be heard by the Supreme Court in March.... The publisher, Sage Journals, said it had asked two independent experts to evaluate the studies, published in 2021 and 2022 in the journal Health Services Research and Managerial Epidemiology, after a reader raised concerns. Sage said both experts had 'identified fundamental problems with the study design and methodology, unjustified or incorrect factual assumptions, material errors in the authors' analysis of the data, and misleading presentations of the data that, in their opinions, demonstrate a lack of scientific rigor and invalidate the authors' conclusions in whole or in part.'"

Marie: It's fair to say the odds were mighty low that I would link a Daily Mail column by Boris Johnson. But here ya go: ~~~

~~~ Boris Johnson in the Daily Mail: "Putin's interview with his fawning stooge Tucker Carlson was straight out of Hitler's playbook.... In his fawning, guffawing, slack-jawed happiness at having a ‘scoop’, [Carlson] betrayed his viewers and listeners around the world. He didn’t ask tough questions.... Not once did he even try to dam the flow of lies from Putin. Instead he gasped fanboyishly at Putin’s alleged erudition, boneheadedly accepting the Russian leader’s mixture of semi-masticated Wikipedia and outright falsehood...."

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Maryland Senate Race. Michael Bender of the New York Times: “Larry Hogan, the popular Republican former governor of Maryland, announced on Friday that he would run for the state’s open Senate seat, a surprising move that immediately made the state a top battleground for control of the chamber.... Mr. Hogan has been one of his party’s most vocal critics of ... Donald J. Trump and has endorsed former Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina for the Republican nomination.... Senator Steve Daines, a Montana Republican and the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, welcomed Mr. Hogan into the race....”

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Israel/Palestine, et al.

Reid Epstein & Erica Green of the New York Times: “In a closed-door meeting with Arab American leaders in Michigan this week, one of President Biden’s top foreign policy aides acknowledged mistakes in the administration’s response to the war in Gaza, saying he did not have 'any confidence' that Israel’s government was willing to take 'meaningful steps' toward Palestinian statehood.... The remarks came after months of public and private admonitions from the Biden administration for Israel to take a more surgical approach in a conflict that has killed more than 27,000 Palestinians, according to health authorities in Gaza.... The Biden aide, Jon Finer, a deputy national security adviser, offered some of the administration’s clearest expressions of regret for what he called 'missteps' it had made from the beginning of the violence, and he pledged that it would do better.”

Aaron Boxerman, et al., of the New York Times: “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the Israeli military to draw up plans to evacuate Rafah, a Gazan city packed with more than a million people, in advance of an expected ground offensive that has set off international alarm.... Many civilians in Rafah are sheltering in rickety tents made of plastic and wood and say there is nowhere left in Gaza to avoid Israeli shelling.... On Friday, UNICEF warned against any escalation in Rafah, where, it said, more than 600,000 children and their families had been displaced.”

Ukraine, et al.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs & David Sanger of the New York Times: “President Biden and Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany used a meeting at the Oval Office on Friday to pressure Congress to pass billions more in aid for Ukraine, as legislative dysfunction and opposition among some Republicans have left the critical package in limbo. 'Hopefully Congress, the House, will follow you and make a decision on giving the necessary support because without the support of the United States and without the support of European states, Ukraine will not have a chance to defend its own country,' Mr. Scholz said in opening remarks before their meeting. Mr. Biden had a more blunt assessment of the congressional gridlock. 'The failure of the United States Congress, if it occurs, not to support Ukraine is close to criminal neglect,' Mr. Biden said. 'It is outrageous.'” ~~~

~~~ Before Likely Senate Passage, GOP Senators Demand Stunt Amendments. Karoun Demirjian of the New York Times: “The long-stalled emergency national security package to send aid to Ukraine and Israel is back on track in the Senate and headed toward passage within days — but not before Republican senators try to take a few partisan shots at the legislation. The senators are slowing progress on the $95 billion measure as they seek votes on proposed revisions, particularly concerning border security — despite having voted this week to kill a version of the bill that included a bipartisan deal to crack down on immigration.... [Senate Republicans] are settling for staging a series of votes that aim to show the right-wing Republican base, the G.O.P.-led House and ... Donald J. Trump that they tried to muscle through tough new border policies — and blame Democrats for blocking them. Senators planned a rare weekend session to work through the bill, with a critical vote on the legislation expected Sunday. Senator Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican and minority leader who has been a vocal champion of aiding Ukraine in its war against Russian aggression, urged his colleagues to either fall in line behind the bill or at least allow it to advance to a final vote.” The Hill's report is here.

U.K. Your Royal Gossip Fix, Ctd. Mark Landler of the New York Times: “Prince Harry has settled his privacy claims against a British tabloid publisher, his lawyer told a London court on Friday, two months after a judge found the publisher guilty of 'widespread and habitual' hacking of the prince’s cellphone. The settlement with Mirror Group Newspapers — which his lawyer said would amount to at least 400,000 pounds, or $504,000 — brings to an end one battle in Harry’s long-running war against the press over its intrusive coverage of his private life.... In addition to paying for the costs of the case, the Mirror Group would pay additional “significant” damages, the prince’s lawyer, David Sherborne, said.... In his statement, Harry singled out Piers Morgan, a prominent TV personality and a former editor of The Daily Mirror, saying Mr. Morgan 'knew perfectly well what was going on.' Mr. Morgan’s 'contempt for the court’s ruling and his continued attacks ever since demonstrate why it was so important to obtain a clear and detailed judgment,' Harry said.”