The Conversation -- December 10, 2023

Don't know what happened here, but SNL's Weekend Update somehow changed to a Japanese woman teaching children how to color or something. Sweet, but not topical.

Marie: digby posts answers to the central question I had when I read about Hunter Biden's nine-count indictment: how come it included details of how Hunter spent money on frivious and/or illegal things when all tax evaders spend money on things that are not tax payments, some of those other things often being frivolous or even illegal? Former prosecutor Harry Litman answers: "Huge chunks of the 56-page indictment of Hunter Biden are about his 'extravagant lifestyle,' drugs escorts etc. The relevance of this info to non-payment of taxes is tenuous in the extreme. But it certainly dirties him up."

And former prosecutor Shan Wu concludes, "... Weiss' indictment includes gratuitous digs at what can only be construed as Hunter Biden's character rather than his alleged tax evasion.... Weiss' rhetorical flourish seems silly since I suspect most people who fail to pay the taxes also spend their money on things other than paying their taxes. Weiss' focus on the more sensationalistic aspects of the spending seems to be a result of his wanting to play in the echo chamber of the holier-than-thou conservative right. But Biden isn't being prosecuted for being a drug addict or engaging in prostitution. He's being prosecuted for tax evasion." Read the whole post, as the former prosecutors may answer your questions, too, about an indictment that looks to me like a travesty of justice. Thanks to RAS for the link.

Chris Walker of Truthout: "A newly inaugurated school board president in a Philadelphia suburb took an oath of office Monday evening by placing her hand on a stack of books that have been targeted by book bans. Karen Smith, an incumbent member of the Central Bucks School District board, won reelection in November, helping to lead Democrats in taking control of the board from Republicans who had sought to implement restrictions in the district's libraries." One of the banned books: Night, by Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace prize winner Elie Wiesel. MB: Um, isn't it antisemitic to ban a memoir about the horrors of the Holocaust, especially when the narrative covers a period when Wiesel was still a teenager, so, you know, age-appropriate? ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) was wondering on the teevee this morning why Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) is so exercised about antisemitism on campus when she supports a presidential* candidate who dines with a Holocaust denier (Nick Fuentes). And I'm wondering the same thing when you consider that most of the on-the-ground "generals" in the Trump insurrection were white supremacists of the sort who like to chant, "Jews will not replace us." It would seem Rep. Stefanik's "principles" are mighty selective.

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I became leader when we took the minority [in 2019], and this was a turning point for me. I go into the State of the Union.... And in the State of the Union, one side stands up, and then the other side stands up. I'd just become leader and I'm excited and President Trump's there. And I look over at the Democrats and they stand up. They look like America. We stand up. We look like the most restrictive country club in America. -- Kevin McCarthy, a few months ago

McCarthy was first elected to the House in 2006. It is not entirely clear from his syntax here -- nothing is ever entirely clear from My Kevin's syntax -- but it appears he is saying that the first time he had an inkling that the Democratic party was markedly more diverse than the GOP was a dozen years after he became a Member of Congress. -- Marie Burns (Thanks to RAS for the link.)

Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Special counsel Jack Smith on Saturday sharply rejected Donald Trump's contention that foreign governments may have changed votes in the 2020 election, laying bare new details about his team's extensive probe of the matter and its access to a vast array of senior intelligence officials in Trump's administration. In a 45-page filing, Smith's team describes interviewing more than a dozen of the top intelligence officials in Trump's administration -- from his director of national intelligence to the administrator of the NSA to Trump's personal intelligence briefer -- about any evidence that foreign governments had penetrated systems that counted votes in 2020. 'The answer from every single official was no,' senior assistant special counsel Thomas Windom writes in the filing. The filing was part of the special counsel's opposition to a bid by Trump to access a broad swath of classified intelligence as part of his defense.... Trump has argued that foreign governments fueled his supporters' concerns about election integrity and that some classified evidence revealed potential meddling that justified his own professed fears about fraud.... Windom also contended that Trump's repeated effort to describe partisan bias in intelligence about the election belied that those making the assessments were his own appointees...."

Rashad Simmons of the Hill: "Former President Trumps attorney Alina Habba claimed Friday that her client would take the stand on Monday in his civil fraud trial, despite the judge's gag order and discouragement from his legal team.... The attorney explained that while she didn't want to block the former president from speaking on his behalf, he wouldn't be able to give his testimony 'fully and completely' under the gag order, which bars Trump and his counsel from speaking about the staff of the judge overseeing the case." MB: Gosh, I'm having trouble figuring out why Trump needs to dox & diss the court staff (which is all the so-called gag order prohibits) in order to "fully and completely" defend his dodgy business practices.

Presidential Race 2024

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "When a historian wrote an essay the other day warning that the election of ... Donald J. Trump next year could lead to dictatorship, one of Mr. Trump's allies [-- Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) --] quickly responded by calling for the historian to be sent to prison. It almost sounds like a parody: The response to concerns about dictatorship is to prosecute the author. But Mr. Trump and his allies are not going out of their way to reassure those worried about what a new term would bring by firmly rejecting the dictatorship charge. If anything, they seem to be leaning into it. If Mr. Trump is returned to office, people close to him have vowed to 'come after' the news media, open criminal investigations into onetime aides who broke with the former president and purge the government of civil servants deemed disloyal. When critics said Mr. Trump's language about ridding Washington of 'vermin' echoed that of Adolf Hitler, the former president's spokesman said the critics' 'sad, miserable existence will be crushed' under a new Trump administration....

"Mr. Trump once expressed no regret that a quote he shared on social media came from Mussolini and adopted the language of Stalin in calling journalists the 'enemies of the people.' He told his chief of staff that 'Hitler did a lot of good things' and later said he wished American generals were like Hitler's generals. Last December, shortly after opening his comeback campaign, Mr. Trump called for 'termination' of the Constitution to remove Mr. Biden immediately and reinstall himself in the White House without waiting for another election."

Trump Campaign Worries Voters Will Find Out He Will Be a Dictator. Marianne Levine & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "Top officials in Donald Trump's campaign sought Friday to quell discussions about his possible second term in the White House, amid alarms about authoritarianism and reports about personnel. "... unless a message is coming directly from President Trump or an authorized member of his campaign team, no aspect of future presidential staffing or policy announcements should be deemed official,' Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita said in a written statement to the media.... A Trump campaign official ... said Friday's statement came in response to a report that Axios published the previous day that offered a list of potential members of a second Trump administration.... Trump, however, has at times undercut [his campaign's] message...." (Also linked yesterday.)

Marie: Sorry I missed this: ~~~

Robert Kagan in a Washington Post op-ed (Dec. 7): "Our options today [for avoiding becoming a dictatorship] are harder and fewer because we have passed up so many better and easier alternatives in the past.... Here are several things people could do to save the country but almost certainly won't do, because they selfishly refuse to put their own ambitions at risk to save our democracy. he first step is to consolidate all the anti-Trump forces in the Republican Party behind a single candidate, right now. It is obvious that candidate should be Nikki Haley.... The way to beat Trump is to make him seem unelectable, and the way to make him seem unelectable is to show that he is unacceptable.... [Yet] Haley and other Republicans ... are helping Trump by continually affirming his acceptability as president.... The formula for defeating Trump in November is simple enough: Unite the Democrats, and split the Republicans. That is why all the third-party candidacies now under consideration are disastrous."

Meryl Kornfield, et al., of the Washington Post: "Democrat Dean Phillips is accusing President Biden of being a threat to democracy, as the long-shot primary challenger ramps up attacks that have exasperated some Biden allies anticipating a 2024 showdown with Donald Trump.... A wealthy entrepreneur who flipped a Minneapolis suburban congressional district in 2018 and had previously backed Biden, Phillips has sharpened his denunciations after gaining little traction against an incumbent heavily favored to win renomination.... Phillips's attacks this week are part of a broader escalation against Biden, as Phillips has increasingly spoken out against Biden's handling of issues where he's struggled with younger and liberal voters. In remarks arguing the necessity of a cease-fire in Gaza and the hypocrisy of continued marijuana criminalization, Phillips has sought to set himself apart, although he has consistently voted for Biden's legislative agenda." MB: Phillips' claim about Biden's threat to democracy is that the Democratic party has rejected New Hampshire's early primary and has not initiated a Democratic primary election at all in Florida.

Marie: Why do most Republicans so blatantly oppose democracy? Why do they limit the votes of minorities, deprive women of bodily autonomy (and mock "feminism" in general), exacerbate the inequities inherent in the Constitutional framework (like the decidedly undemocratic Senate where Wyoming and California hold equal power). Or why so many reactionary jurists described themselves as "originalists": serious, scholarly folks who mean to interpret the Constitution as its "original" authors intended. This citation by Tom Sullivan in Hullabaloo of a book by Robert Calhoon helps answer those questions: "'Historians' best estimates,' [Calhoon] wrote, 'put the proportion of adult white male loyalists [to the British Crown] somewhere between 15 and 20 percent,' a figure not far removed from the Republican base. As many as 500,000 colonists among a population of 2.5 million never bought the founders' 'created equal' nonsense. They remained committed to a system of government by hereditary royalty and landed gentry. Powdered wigs supported by loyal subjects also carries echoes today. Even after the Treaty of Paris, most loyalists remained on these shores. Their progeny and like-minded continentals who arrived later are with us still. It is a personality type committed to maintaining the 'natural' order." Thanks to RAS for the link.

Stephanie Saul & Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "The president of the University of Pennsylvania, M. Elizabeth Magill, resigned on Saturday, four days after her testimony at a congressional hearing in which she seemed to evade the question of whether students who called for the genocide of Jews should be disciplined. The announcement, in an email sent to the Penn community from Scott L. Bok, the chairman of the board of trustees, followed months of intense pressure from Jewish students, alumni and donors, who claimed that she had not taken their concerns about antisemitism on campus seriously." The AP's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ CNN ran a liveblog about the crisis at UPenn: "Scott Bok, chairman of the board of trustees at the University of Pennsylvania, submitted his resignation effective immediately.... In his statement, Bok acknowledged that Magill erred during her disastrous testimony, describing a 'dreadful 30-second sound bite' following a lengthy hearing. 'Former President Liz Magill last week made a very unfortunate misstep -- consistent with that of two peer university leaders sitting alongside her -- after five hours of aggressive questioning before a Congressional committee,' Bok said.... 'She is not the slightest bit antisemitic.... Worn down by months of relentless external attacks, she was not herself last Tuesday,' Bok said. 'Over prepared and over lawyered given the hostile forum and high stakes, she provided a legalistic answer to a moral question, and that was wrong.'" Clearly, the presidents could have used advice from a few lawyers with less elitist creds. When your inquisitors are scoundrels, get you a scoundrel lawyer. Not for nothing, in an article on the origins of the term "white shoe," the Economist wrote in 2010, "he term used to hint at WASPishness, the kind of place that didn't promote Jews...." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Bok is probably right. Lauren Hirsch of the New York Times: "Two of the school presidents, Claudine Gay of Harvard and Elizabeth Magill of Penn, prepared separately for the congressional testimony with teams from [white-shoe law firm] WilmerHale.... WilmerHale also had a meeting with M.I.T.'s president, Sally Kornbluth.... Lawyers for WilmerHale sat in the front row at the hearing on Tuesday.... Steven Davidoff Solomon, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, said that the college presidents appeared to be 'prepared to give answers in the court -- and not a public forum.' But the responsibility of university presidents, Mr. Solomon said, is 'not to give legal answers, it's to give the vision of the university.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Marie: Maureen Dowd of the New York Times hit on exactly the same point I did the other day in assessing the performances of the three Ivy League presidents who flunked Congress 101. But she goes on to make a larger point: "I don't understand why I have to keep making the case on matters that should be self-evident. Why should I have to make the case that a man who tried to overthrow the government should not be president again? Why should I have to make the case that we can't abandon Ukraine to the evil Vladimir Putin? Why should I have to make the case that a young woman -- whose life and future ability to bear children are at risk -- should not be getting persecuted about an abortion by a shady Texas attorney general? Why should I have to make the case that antisemitism is abhorrent?" IOW, What Is wrong with you people??? (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

New York Times: "On Tuesday, the presidents of three leading American universities -- Claudine Gay of Harvard, Sally Kornbluth of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Elizabeth Magill of the University of Pennsylvania -- were at the center of a contentious congressional hearing on antisemitism on college campuses. In one of the most notable exchanges, the leaders of the schools were pressed on whether they discipline students calling for the genocide of Jews. Their responses -- 'It is a context-dependent decision,' Ms. Magill answered at one point -- drew widespread criticism. But the administrators faced a barrage of other pointed questions at the hearing of the House Education and Workforce Committee, mainly from Republicans, who adopted a prosecutorial tone as they pushed for more definitive answers. Here are some of those exchanges[.]" (Also linked yesterday.)

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: The ACLU will represent the National Rifle Association in a First Amendment case coming before the Supreme Court. MB: I have been making substantial contributions to the ACLU over the past several years. I wrote to them and told them why they should not expect a penny from me this year.

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Texas. David Goodman of the New York Times: "John Whitmire, a moderate Democrat who has served in the Texas State Senate since 1983, won a runoff election on Saturday to become mayor of Houston, according to The Associated Press, defeating Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, a prominent congressional Democrat, in the nonpartisan race. Mr. Whitmire had been considered a front-runner from the moment he entered the race last year, prevailing in a city known for its diversity by creating a coalition that included Republicans and moderate white Democrats as well as Hispanic and Asian voters. He made public safety the focus of his messaging, following a strategy that has proved successful for moderate Democrats in recent big city mayoral races around the country." The Texas Tribune's report is here.

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Israel/Palestine. CNN's live updates of developments Sunday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "Qatar's PM says he is not seeing the 'same willingness' in Israel or Hamas as before last month's week-long truce to resolve the war. He was speaking as fierce fighting raged in Khan Younis, southern Gaza's main city. The Israel military has urged residents to evacuate much of Khan Younis. It wants them to move to Al-Muwasi, a strip of land along the coast that aid agencies warned cannot function as a safe zone. Israel's national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said Israel has so far killed 7,000 Hamas fighters, calling it a 'minimal estimate'. But Palestinian PM Mohammad Shtayyeh said Israel's goal of destroying Hamas was 'not going to happen.' In the past 24 hours, Israel's military said it struck more than 250 targets, including a military communications site. The Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza says about 17,700 people have been killed since the conflict began." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Sunday are here.

News Lede

Washington Post: "Six people were killed and nearly two dozen injured after tornadoes touched down around Nashville on Saturday, according to local authorities, who feared the death toll could rise as rescue efforts continued late Saturday night." CNN's report is here.

The Conversation -- December 9, 2023

Stephanie Saul & Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "The president of the University of Pennsylvania, M. Elizabeth Magill, resigned on Saturday, four days after her testimony at a congressional hearing in which she seemed to evade the question of whether students who called for the genocide of Jews should be disciplined. The announcement, in an email sent to the Penn community from Scott L. Bok, the chairman of the board of trustees, followed months of intense pressure from Jewish students, alumni and donors, who claimed that she had not taken their concerns about antisemitism on campus seriously." The AP's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ CNN is running a liveblog about the crisis at UPenn: "Scott Bok, chairman of the board of trustees at the University of Pennsylvania, submitted his resignation effective immediately.... In his statement, Bok acknowledged that Magill erred during her disastrous testimony, describing a 'dreadful 30-second sound bite' following a lengthy hearing. 'Former President Liz Magill last week made a very unfortunate misstep -- consistent with that of two peer university leaders sitting alongside her -- after five hours of aggressive questioning before a Congressional committee,' Bok said.... 'She is not the slightest bit antisemitic.... Worn down by months of relentless external attacks, she was not herself last Tuesday,' Bok said. 'Over prepared and over lawyered given the hostile forum and high stakes, she provided a legalistic answer to a moral question, and that was wrong.'" Clearly, the presidents could have used advice from a few lawyers with less elitist creds. When your inquisitors are scoundrels, get you a scoundrel lawyer. Not for nothing, in an article on the origins of the term "white shoe," the Economist wrote in 2010, "The term used to hint at WASPishness, the kind of place that didn’t promote Jews...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Bok is probably right. Lauren Hirsch of the New York Times: "Two of the school presidents, Claudine Gay of Harvard and Elizabeth Magill of Penn, prepared separately for the congressional testimony with teams from [white-shoe law firm] WilmerHale.... WilmerHale also had a meeting with M.I.T.'s president, Sally Kornbluth.... Lawyers for WilmerHale sat in the front row at the hearing on Tuesday.... Steven Davidoff Solomon, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, said that the college presidents appeared to be 'prepared to give answers in the court -- and not a public forum.' But the responsibility of university presidents, Mr. Solomon said, is 'not to give legal answers, it's to give the vision of the university.'" ~~~

~~~ Marie: Maureen Dowd of the New York Times hit on exactly the same point I did the other day in assessing the performances of the three Ivy League presidents who flunked Congress 101. But she goes on to make a larger point: "I don't understand why I have to keep making the case on matters that should be self-evident. Why should I have to make the case that a man who tried to overthrow the government should not be president again? Why should I have to make the case that we can't abandon Ukraine to the evil Vladimir Putin? Why should I have to make the case that a young woman -- whose life and future ability to bear children are at risk -- should not be getting persecuted about an abortion by a shady Texas attorney general? Why should I have to make the case that antisemitism is abhorrent?" IOW, What Is wrong with you people??? ~~~

New York Times: "On Tuesday, the presidents of three leading American universities -- Claudine Gay of Harvard, Sally Kornbluth of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Elizabeth Magill of the University of Pennsylvania -- were at the center of a contentious congressional hearing on antisemitism on college campuses. In one of the most notable exchanges, the leaders of the schools were pressed on whether they discipline students calling for the genocide of Jews. Their responses -- 'It is a context-dependent decision,' Ms. Magill answered at one point -- drew widespread criticism. But the administrators faced a barrage of other pointed questions at the hearing of the House Education and Workforce Committee, mainly from Republicans, who adopted a prosecutorial tone as they pushed for more definitive answers. Here are some of those exchanges[.]"

Trump Campaign Worries Voters Will Find Out He Will Be a Dictator. Marianne Levine & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "Top officials in Donald Trump's campaign sought Friday to quell discussions about his possible second term in the White House, amid alarms about authoritarianism and reports about personnel. '... unless a message is coming directly from President Trump or an authorized member of his campaign team, no aspect of future presidential staffing or policy announcements should be deemed official,' Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita said in a written statement to the media.... A Trump campaign official ... said Friday's statement came in response to a report that Axios published the previous day that offered a list of potential members of a second Trump administration.... Trump, however, has at times undercut [his campaign's] message...."

So people are picking on Ron DeSantis for the self-coaching he likely engaged in just before the very last RNC-sponsored 2024 Republican debate began. Marie: But I read a headline someplace that said Rhonda won the debate although almost nobody watched. So those practical thoughts worked! (to the extent that your aria is a sensational hit when you sing it in the shower). Thanks to RAS for the link:

The Daily Show providing us with Ron Desantis’s internal thoughts. pic.twitter.com/ZGD6rL0yU1

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) December 8, 2023

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Maegan Vazquez of the Washington Post: "resident Biden privately met with University of Nevada-Las Vegas students and community members Friday after a shooting there this week that left three people dead. Biden participated in the meeting at the site where he later delivered a speech on federal high-speed rail investments. He addressed the shooting at the start of his remarks from the podium, saying, 'This is not normal and we can never let it become normal.'" More on President Biden's visit to Las Vegas linked under "Presidential Race 2024."

John Blake in a CNN opinion piece: "Tyranny of the Minority...' [a book] by Steve Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt ... argues that the US must reform its Constitution and political institutions because they are dangerously antiquated.... The book's authors say the Founding Fathers were progressive and even radical for their time, but they birthed a now-outdated political system that allows a partisan minority in the US to thwart the popular will and rule over popular majorities.... They direct some of their most pointed criticisms at contemporary politicians who they describe as 'semi-loyal' to democracy because they refuse to work with ideological rivals even when democracy is on the line.'... 'Many of the politicians who preside over a democracy's collapse are just ambitious careerist trying to stay in office or perhaps win a higher one,' they write." Thanks to Ken W. for the link.

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post -- after excoriating Speaker Mike Johnson with some obscure details you may not know -- gets to "the Three Stooges of the House's Biden investigations... Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan is Moe, thundering and blundering in his repeated failures to prove Biden's 'weaponization' of the government. Jason Smith, the in-over-his-head chairman of Ways and Means, is Larry, brainlessly reciting whatever script is in front of him. And Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer is Curly, perpetually getting a pie in the face when the 'evidence' he produces is immediately debunked." Latest smoking gun? Joe Biden helped his son buy a pickup truck, and Hunter repaid his dad in shockingly incriminating "monthly payments." MB: Totally impeachable. (Also linked yesterday.)

Dareh Gregorian of NBC News: "A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. on Friday upheld but narrowed the gag order that had been imposed on ... Donald Trump in his D.C. election interference case prohibiting him from making critical comments about potential witnesses and prosecutors." The story has been substantially updated and extended: "The new version of the gag order bars Trump and his lawyers from making 'public statements about known or reasonably foreseeable witnesses concerning their potential participation in the investigation or in this criminal proceeding,' but also allows him some leeway if a high-profile witness makes disparaging comments about him.... 'Mr. Trump is a former President and current candidate for the presidency, and there is a strong public interest in what he has to say. But Mr. Trump is also an indicted criminal defendant, and he must stand trial in a courtroom under the same procedures that govern all other criminal defendants. That is what the rule of law means,' [the order reads]." MB: And of course Trump responded by lying about the content of the order. It's what he does. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "A federal appeals court narrowed an order limiting what ... Donald Trump can say about people involved in the criminal case alleging that he tried to subvert the 2020 election results, saying he cannot talk about witnesses' involvement or single out other individuals in ways likely to interfere with the case.... The ruling upholds a ban on Trump speaking about the participation of witnesses in the investigation and likely testimony. But it removes from the gag order Special Counsel Jack Smith. Commentary on other lawyers involved in the case, as well as court staff and both groups' family members, are barred 'if those statements are made with the intent to materially interfere with, or to cause others to materially interfere with, counsel's or staff's work in this criminal case, or with the knowledge that such interference is highly likely to result.'" The story has been substantially updated. (Also linked yesterday.)

Lisa Rubin, et al., of NBC News: "An expert witness in the $250 million civil fraud trial against Donald Trump said in court Friday that the former president's political action committee has paid for a portion of his fees to testify on behalf of the defense. Eli Bartov, an accounting professor at New York University, said that his $900,000 in compensation was split between the Trump Organization and Trump's Save America PAC. While it's not unusual for a defendantin a trial to pay expert witness fees -- in this case, the Trump Organization -- the use of campaign-oriented funds underscores the large amount of money being spent by Trump's PAC on his legal battles."

Presidential Race 2024

Anjali Huynh of the New York Times: "Just a few months ago, President Biden rarely said the name of his likely opponent in the 2024 presidential election.... But speaking in Las Vegas on Friday, Mr. Biden didn't hold back.... 'He likes to say America is a failing nation. Frankly, he doesn't know what the hell he's talking about.' Mr. Biden was in Las Vegas to announce $8.2 billion in funding for passenger rail projects, and he used the opportunity to criticize his predecessor's approach to infrastructure, saying that 'the last administration tried to cancel' a rail project in California and that his [own] latest investments 'stand in stark contrast.' 'He always talked about "infrastructure week," four years of "infrastructure week," but it failed -- he failed,' Mr. Biden said, referring to Mr. Trump. 'On my watch, instead of infrastructure week, America's having "infrastructure decade."'"

CNN Announces Top Secret GOP Debate Plans! Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: "With great fanfare this week, CNN announced it would host the network's first debate of the 2024 presidential campaign, gathering the Republican candidates for a marquee event on Jan. 21 at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire.... Saint Anselm had no idea what CNN was talking about. 'We were surprised to be included on a press release by a network about a debate which we had not planned or booked,' Neil Levesque ... of Saint Anselm said in a statement on Friday. The chairman of New Hampshire's Republican Party, Chris Ager..., said in an interview. 'I'm still scratching my head. And I still haven't been contacted by CNN at all.' There is, however, a competing debate scheduled to take place three days earlier, hosted by CNN's rivals at ABC News. The ABC debate, on Jan. 18, is set to be held at Saint Anselm, and it has the approval of both the college and state Republican officials." (Also linked yesterday.)

Whatever Donald Wants ... Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "The Republican National Committee is pausing its participation in 2024 GOP primary debates, the organization decided Friday. The RNC's decision, made by a 16-member internal body, means that any forthcoming debates will be hosted by networks independently of the committee. Two outlets -- ABC and CNN -- have announced plans to host future debates in Iowa and New Hampshire ahead of early state voting.... Donald Trump has refused to participate in any of the RNC-sponsored debates. He has aggressively pressured RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel to forgo hosting debates, arguing that he has a wide lead in the polls and that the committee should be focused on preparing for the general election."

Maria Sacchetti of the Washington Post: "A federal judge in San Diego on Friday approved a settlement that prohibits U.S. officials from separating migrant families for crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally and offers aid to thousands of parents and children forced apart under the Trump administration. The settlement involves a 2018 lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union to block the Trump administration's 'zero tolerance' policy, which called for separating parents from their children to prosecute the adults for crossing the border illegally. Officials sent parents to detention centers and children to shelters, without a plan to reunite them, under the policy. Some were apart for months, some for years.... Trump ... has continued to praise his administration's zero-tolerance policy." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. An AP story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, and thanks to you, Jeff Sessions & Stephen Miller, you racist slimeballs. I couldn't understand why the Biden administration continued to defend Trump's policy, but it appears there was a strategy: by opposing the ACLU, the administration managed to effect a settlement outcome that may be better for Trump's victims and for the government than what was in the original ACLU ask.

Matthew Cullen of the New York Times: "The Food and Drug Administration announced [Friday] that it had approved a gene editing treatment for sickle cell disease, the debilitating blood disorder caused by a single mutated gene. The therapy, called Casgevy, will become the first available treatment for humans in the U.S. to use the revolutionary gene editing tool CRISPR. The approval -- which was announced alongside a second gene therapy that does not use gene editing -- offers hope for the 100,000 Americans, most of them Black, who live with the disease. But the one-time treatments -- so effective in clinical trials that they have been hailed as cures -- come with both technical and financial obstacles that limit their reach." The ABC News report is here.

Alan Blinder & Anemona Hartocolis of the New York Times: "Harvards president apologized for her testimony before Congress about how she responded to antisemitism on campus -- another sign that the controversy over her remarks and similar comments by the presidents of M.I.T. and the University of Pennsylvania was not going away. 'I am sorry,' Claudine Gay, Harvard's president, said in an interview that the campus newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, published on Friday. 'Words matter.'" CNN's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Oh, Look. The Federal Government Can Be Good for the Economy. Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post: "Americans might be loath to believe it, but on paper, the U.S. economy is doing pretty well. So well, in fact, that we're outperforming forecasts made even before the pandemic began.... Overall employment is now 2 million jobs higher than was expected by now in forecasts made way back in January 2020 by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office[.]... The overall size of the economy, as measured by gross domestic product, is larger than it was expected to be.... The International Monetary Fund says that U.S. gross domestic product is higher today, in inflation-adjusted terms, than it had expected at the beginning of 2020.... Forecasters obviously did not anticipate the pandemic. They also did not anticipate the unprecedentedly enormous government response to the coronavirus.... Such stimulative measures helped get people back to work sooner, and avoided the long, painful slog back to normal that had followed the Great Recession. Hence, faster job growth. They also massively stoked consumer demand...."

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Texas. Ashley Killough & Ed Lavandera of CNN: "Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has petitioned the Texas Supreme Court to intervene in the case of a pregnant woman who was granted permission by a lower court judge on Thursday to obtain an emergency abortion. A Texas judge ruled Kate Cox, who sued the state seeking a court-ordered abortion, can legally terminate her pregnancy." The story has been updated to reflect the Texas Supremes' decision to block court approval for Ms. Cox's abortion. MB: Early Friday, D in MD & others came up with some novel -- and surely well-intentioned -- ideas about how to instill some empathy in Ken Paxton. We'll have to up the ante now. (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Maegan Vazquez of the Washington Post: "The Texas Supreme Court on Friday temporarily halted an order allowing a woman who is 20 weeks pregnant to get an abortion -- reversing a lower-court ruling that marks the first case of a pregnant woman seeking a court order for the procedure since Roe v. Wade was overturned last year. The order was issued Friday night." MB: We are just going to have to get us a warren-full of dead rabbits and some extra porcupine quills. Seriously, what is the matter with these people? Allow that hapless women to get her necessary abortion and pull your fat chins over it later.

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Europe. Adam Satariano of the New York Times: "European Union policymakers agreed on Friday to a sweeping new law to regulate artificial intelligence, one of the world's first comprehensive attempts to limit the use of a rapidly evolving technology that has wide-ranging societal and economic implications. The law, called the A.I. Act, sets a new global benchmark for countries seeking to harness the potential benefits of the technology, while trying to protect against its possible risks, like automating jobs, spreading misinformation online and endangering national security. The law still needs to go through a few final steps for approval, but the political agreement means its key outlines have been set. European policymakers focused on A.I.'s riskiest uses by companies and governments, including those for law enforcement and the operation of crucial services like water and energy. Makers of the largest general-purpose A.I. systems, like those powering the ChatGPT chatbot, would face new transparency requirements. Chatbots and software that creates manipulated images such as 'deepfakes' would have to make clear that what people were seeing was generated by A.I...."

Israel/Palestine

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Saturday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "The United States on Friday blocked a U.N. Security Council draft resolution that called for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, as well as the unconditional release of all hostages. It had near-unanimous support from member states. Israel's ambassador to the United Nations praised the move, calling the resolution 'distorted,' while Human Rights Watch said it puts the United States at risk of 'complicity in war crimes.'... Friday's vote was the third time the United States vetoed a Security Council recommendation calling for a cease-fire since the war in Gaza began following the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. A U.S. envoy defended the vote, calling the resolution, introduced by the United Arab Emirates, divorced from reality.'... The Israel Defense Forces on Friday reported a new round of battles in Khan Younis, southern Gaza's largest city. Commanders said the IDF hit 450 targets from air, sea and land. They described close-quarters fighting." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Saturday are here.

U.S. v. Peace. Farnaz Fassihi, et al., of the New York Times: "The United States on Friday vetoed a United Nations resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has launched hundreds of strikes, relief efforts were faltering and people were growing so desperate for basic necessities that some were stoning and raiding aid convoys. The U.N. secretary general, António Guterres, and most members of the Security Council had backed the measure, saying that the humanitarian catastrophe in the coastal enclave where 2.2 million Palestinians live could threaten world stability. But the United States, which is one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, blocked the resolution, arguing that Israel has the right to defend itself against Hamas attacks. The vote was 13 to 1, with Britain abstaining and some U.S. allies like France voting for a cease-fire." The AP's story is here.

News Ledes

New York Times: "Bystanders stopped a 26-year-old woman from setting fire to the home where Martin Luther King Jr. was born after she poured gasoline on it, the authorities said. Two visitors from Utah interrupted the woman as she was pouring gasoline on the porch and on the door of the home, Darin Schierbaum, the Atlanta police chief, told reporters on Thursday. Two off-duty New York Police Department officers who had been visiting the house then chased her down and detained her until the officers from the Atlanta Police Department arrived, he said. 'That action saved an important part of American history tonight, he added." An ABC News story is here.

New York Times: "The teenager who committed the deadliest high school shooting in Michigan history, killing four students and injuring seven other people, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Friday. Ethan Crumbley was a 15-year-old sophomore at Oxford High School in suburban Detroit on Nov. 30, 2021, when he pulled a 9 millimeter Sig Sauer handgun out of his backpack. He had persuaded his father to purchase the gun for him just days earlier. Killed in the attack were Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Tate Myre, 16; Justin Shilling, 17; and Hana St. Juliana, 14. Michigan does not have the death penalty, so the sentence imposed by Judge Kwamé Rowe was the harshest available. In September, he ruled that despite being a minor, and despite his difficult life, Ethan was eligible for a sentence of life without parole. He had pleaded guilty to 24 charges, including first-degree murder." CNN's report is here.

The Conversation -- December 8, 2023

Texas. Ashley Killough & Ed Lavandera of CNN: "Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has petitioned the Texas Supreme Court to intervene in the case of a pregnant woman who was granted permission by a lower court judge on Thursday to obtain an emergency abortion. A Texas judge ruled Kate Cox, who sued the state seeking a court-ordered abortion, can legally terminate her pregnancy." MB: Earlier today, D in MD & others came up with some ideas about how to deal with Paxton. We'll have to up the ante now.

Alan Blinder & Anemona Hartocolis of the New York Times: "Harvard's president apologized for her testimony before Congress about how she responded to antisemitism on campus -- another sign that the controversy over her remarks and similar comments by the presidents of M.I.T. and the University of Pennsylvania was not going away. 'I am sorry,' Claudine Gay, Harvard's president, said in an interview that the campus newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, published on Friday. 'Words matter.'" CNN's report is here.

Dareh Gregorian of NBC News: “A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. on Friday upheld but narrowed the gag order that had been imposed on ... Donald Trump in his D.C. election interference case prohibiting him from making critical comments about potential witnesses and prosecutors." The story has been substantially updated and extended: "The new version of the gag order bars Trump and his lawyers from making 'public statements about known or reasonably foreseeable witnesses concerning their potential participation in the investigation or in this criminal proceeding,' but also allows him some leeway if a high-profile witness makes disparaging comments about him.... 'Mr. Trump is a former President and current candidate for the presidency, and there is a strong public interest in what he has to say. But Mr. Trump is also an indicted criminal defendant, and he must stand trial in a courtroom under the same procedures that govern all other criminal defendants. That is what the rule of law means,' [the order reads]." MB: And of course Trump responded by lying about the content of the order. It's what he does. ~~~

     ~~~ Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "A federal appeals court narrowed an order limiting what ... Donald Trump can say about people involved in the criminal case alleging that he tried to subvert the 2020 election results, saying he cannot talk about witnesses' involvement or single out other individuals in ways likely to interfere with the case.... The ruling upholds a ban on Trump speaking about the participation of witnesses in the investigation and likely testimony. But it removes from the gag order Special Counsel Jack Smith. Commentary on other lawyers involved in the case, as well as court staff and both groups' family members, are barred 'if those statements are made with the intent to materially interfere with, or to cause others to materially interfere with, counsel's or staff's work in this criminal case, or with the knowledge that such interference is highly likely to result.'" The story has been updated.

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post -- after excoriating Speaker Mike Johnson with some obscure details you may not know -- gets to "the Three Stooges of the House's Biden investigations... Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan is Moe, thundering and blundering in his repeated failures to prove Biden's 'weaponization' of the government. Jason Smith, the in-over-his-head chairman of Ways and Means, is Larry, brainlessly reciting whatever script is in front of him. And Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer is Curly, perpetually getting a pie in the face when the 'evidence' he produces is immediately debunked." Latest smoking gun? Joe Biden helped his son buy a pickup truck, and Hunter repaid his dad in shockingly incriminating "monthly payments." MB: Totally impeachable.

CNN Announces Top Secret GOP Debate Plans! Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: "With great fanfare this week, CNN announced it would host the network's first debate of the 2024 presidential campaign, gathering the Republican candidates for a marquee event on Jan. 21 at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire.... Saint Anselm had no idea what CNN was talking about. 'We were surprised to be included on a press release by a network about a debate which we had not planned or booked,' Neil Levesque ... of Saint Anselm said in a statement on Friday. The chairman of New Hampshire's Republican Party, Chris Ager..., said in an interview. 'I'm still scratching my head. And I still haven't been contacted by CNN at all.' There is, however, a competing debate scheduled to take place three days earlier, hosted by ... ABC News. The ABC debate, on Jan. 18, is set to be held at Saint Anselm, and it has the approval of both the college and state Republican officials."

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Glenn Thrush & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "A federal grand jury charged Hunter Biden on Thursday with a scheme to evade federal taxes on millions in income from foreign businesses, the second indictment against him this year and a major new development in a case Republicans have made the cornerstone of a possible impeachment of President Biden. Mr. Biden, the president's son, faces three counts each of evasion of a tax assessment, failure to file and pay taxes, and filing a false or fraudulent tax return, according to the 56-page indictment -- a withering play-by-play of personal indulgence with potentially enormous political costs for his father.... Many of the facts laid out in Thursday's indictment were already widely known, and the litany of Mr. Biden's actions tracks closely with a narrative he drafted with prosecutors in the plea deal that collapsed over the summer under the withering scrutiny of a federal judge in Delaware." CNN's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Not mentioned in the NYT report: Hunter has paid the taxes owed. But from the CNN report: Hunter Biden's attorney Abbe Lowell said in a statement, "First, U.S. Attorney Weiss bowed to Republican pressure to file unprecedented and unconstitutional gun charges to renege on a non-prosecution resolution. Now, after five years of investigating with no new evidence -- and two years after Hunter paid his taxes in full -- the U.S. Attorney has piled on nine new charges when he had agreed just months ago to resolve this matter with a pair of misdemeanors." Former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance essentially agreed with Lowell: she said on MSNBC that it was highly unusual for a prosecutor to waste time prosecuting a tax evader who has made restitution.

Kayla Guo of the New York Times: "The Republican-led House on Thursday formally rebuked Representative Jamaal Bowman, Democrat of New York, for setting off a false fire alarm in a House office building in September, the latest in a series of partisan reprisals using a once-rare form of congressional punishment. The censure resolution, which was introduced by Representative Lisa McClain, Republican of Michigan, passed 214 to 191, largely along party lines, with five members voting 'present.' After the vote, Mr. Bowman stood in the well of the House floor to be officially reprimanded. Democrats lined up in support behind him, with Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts each placing a hand on his shoulders." The AP report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Washington Post: "Donald Trump filed notice on Thursday saying he will appeal [Judge Tanya Chutkan's] ruling that he was not immune from being charged with federal crimes for his efforts to undo the outcome of the 2020 election, either by his former role as president or the Constitution's rules for impeachment. The notice is a minor procedural step. But it sets in motion one of the most potentially consequential parts of Trump's legal saga as the first former president to be charged with crimes. How and when the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and the Supreme Court handle his appeal could have a huge impact on whether Trump -- who is again running for president -- goes on trial before voters go to the polls in 2024, or ever.... Since the Supreme Court has never grappled with some of the legal questions at issue in Trump's claims -- particularly whether a president is immune from indictment and criminal prosecution for actions undertaken while in office, even after he has left office -- many lawyers say they believe the courts will have to wrestle with those aspects of the Trump case. The key issue, according to legal experts, is how long will the higher courts consider that question." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: That would be the ruling where Judge Chutkan cited George Washington warning against "cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men" like Trump. See Akhilleus' commentary in yesterday's thread. ~~~

     ~~~ Rebecca Beitsch of the Hill: "Former President Trump filed a motion seeking to halt activity in his election interference case after filing a notice of appeal Thursday seeking to override a decision from a federal judge who denied his motion to toss the case. The back-to-back motions ask Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the Jan. 6 case, to pause 'all district court proceedings in this case' as a higher court considers Trump's appeal of the motion to toss the entire case." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "The request to freeze the case as the appeal goes forward was part of a long-planned strategy to delay any trial on the election interference charges from starting on schedule, in March.... While Mr. Trump has sought to slow down all of his cases, he has pursued the strategy most vigorously in the election case in Federal District Court in Washington, if only because it is likely to be the first to go before a jury." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: As Lawrence O'Donnell pointed out Thursday night, the judicial system is simply not ready to deal with Donald Trump. He also noted that when they wanted to, judges could get off their asses: the Supremes decided Bush v. Gore -- which determined who would be the next POTUS -- within a day.

Carl Gibson of Alternet: "... Donald Trump was dealt a major blow by the New York Court of Appeals on Thursday in the midst of his ongoing civil fraud trial.... On Thursday afternoon, MSNBC legal reporter Lisa Rubin tweeted that appellate judges denied Trump's request to stay (or halt) Judge Arthur Engoron's ruling in favor of New York Attorney General Letitia James, who won a summary judgment in September in her initial claim that Trump committed 'pervasive, widespread fraud in financial statements.'" MB: As far as I can tell, this story has not been reported elsewhere, which seems odd.

See Ken Flip. Zachary Cohen & Marshall Cohen of CNN: "The pro-Trump lawyer who helped devise the 2020 fake electors plot and already pleaded guilty to the conspiracy in Georgia is now cooperating with Michigan and Wisconsin state investigators in hopes of avoiding more criminal charges, multiple sources told CNN. In a dramatic turnaround from 2020 -- when the lawyer, Kenneth Chesebro, was at the center of efforts by ... Donald Trump to subvert the Electoral College and overturn his defeat -- Chesebro is now helping investigators in at least four states who are looking into the scheme."

Ryan Reilly of NBC News: "A former California police chief who called for the execution of Donald Trump's political enemies, joined the U.S. Capitol attack and then spread conspiracy theories about Jan. 6 was sentenced to more than 11 years in federal prison Thursday. Alan Hostetter was found guilty in July on charges of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of an official proceeding, entering or remaining on restricted grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon and disorderly or disruptive conduct on restricted grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon. He represented himself at a bench trial before U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, a Ronald Reagan appointee, who sentenced him to 135 months Thursday.... Like GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and many far-right members of Congress, Hostetter has spread conspiracy theories about the attack on Jan. 6, 2021. Ramaswamy said, without evidence, during the Republican debate Wednesday night that Jan. 6 'now does look like it was an inside job,' while Hostetter said during his trial that he believed 'that the entire thing was staged.' Hostetter, who was found to have carried a hatchet during the attack, brought up Ramaswamy's debate comments at his sentencing hearing Thursday."

Presidential Race 2024

Steve M. is not all that exercised about Donald the Dictator. He acknowledges that he might be wrong and that Trump will place in key posts a coterie of "awfully Khmer Rouge-y [lackies], and they don't seem to suffer from Trump's attention deficit disorder." But, as for Trump himself, Steve figures, "... he's much more likely to spend a typical Tuesday trying to punish CNN for something it broadcast on Monday night than avenging some slight he experienced in 2019."

David French of the New York Times: "To understand why [Christian fundamentalists] support Trump, it's important to understand fundamentalism more broadly and to understand how Trump fits so neatly within the culture of fundamentalist Christianity.... The true distinction between fundamentalism and mainstream beliefs isn't what fundamentalists believe but how fundamentalists believe.he true distinction between fundamentalism and mainstream beliefs isn't what fundamentalists believe but how fundamentalists believe.... Certainty is the key building block.... To fundamentalists, their opponents aren't just wrong but evil.... Certainty breeds ferocity. Indeed, ferocity -- not piety -- is a principal trait of every truly fundamentalist movement I've ever encountered.... Solidarity ... [is] the sense of shared purpose and community that makes any form of fundamentalism truly potent.... Why do so many fundamentalists love Trump? Because in his certainty, ferocity and demands of loyalty, he's a far more culturally familiar figure than a person of restraint and rectitude such as ... Mitt Romney...."

David Gilbert of Wired: "For months, GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has been dog-whistling to supporters of extremist far-right ideologies and wild conspiracy theories like QAnon. On Wednesday night, at the fourth Republican presidential debate, Ramaswamy went full tilt: After blasting the three other debaters for turning on ... Donald Trump, Ramaswamy argued, without evidence, that the January 6 Capitol riot was an inside job, the 2020 presidential election was stolen, the government had lied about 9/11, and the 'deep state' was responsible for all these things. Then, Ramaswamy claimed that the 'great replacement theory is not some grand right-wing conspiracy theory, but a basic statement of the Democratic Party's platform.' Immediately, white supremacists online celebrated the reference to the racist and antisemitic conspiracy." This page is firewalled, but it takes a couple of minutes to disappear. So speed-read.

Marie: Yesterday, I mentioned in a comment that university presidents were expected to know how to handle & persuade donors and that three major US university presidents failed to appreciate their audience during Congressional testimony about antisemitism on campus. So then there was this: ~~~

     ~~~ Miranda Nazzarro of the Hill: "The University of Pennsylvania (Penn) lost a major $100 million donation on Thursday amid the fallout from Penn President Liz Magill's comments at a recent House hearing on campus antisemitism. In a letter to Penn Senior Vice President Wendy White, lawyers for Ross Stevens, the founder and CEO of Stone Ridge Asset Management, said Stevens would be withdrawing his gift, now valued at about $100 million, that was expected to fund the Stevens Center for Innovation in Finance.... 'Mr. Stevens and Stone Ridge are appalled by the University's stance on antisemitism on campus,' Stevens's lawyers wrote. 'Its permissive approach to hate speech calling for violence against Jews and laissez faire attitude toward harassment and discrimination against Jewish students would violate any policies or rules that prohibit harassment and discrimination based on religion, including those of Stone Ridge.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Matt Egan of CNN: "The walls appear to be caving in on the University of Pennsylvania's president, Liz Magill, who faces scathing criticism over her performance at a House hearing earlier this week. Prominent donor Ross Stevens threatened to claw back a $100 million donation. The university's board of trustees held an emergency meeting Thursday. And the powerful Wharton Board of Advisors that leads the university's prominent business school called for a leadership change at the university. Magill remained president after the hastily arranged board gathering concluded Thursday, a source familiar with the proceedings told CNN. But Magill faced a rebellion from Wharton's Board of Advisors, and a growing coalition of donors, politicians and business leaders who denounced her testimony.... The Wharton Board of Advisors, comprised of a who's who group of business leaders..., specifically cite[d] Magill's disastrous testimony [in a letter to her]. The strong criticism comes from an influential group of Penn alumni. Its members include billionaire NFL owner Josh Harris, former Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky, Related Companies CEO Jeff Blau, Blackstone exec David Blitzer and BET CEO Scott Mills...." ~~~

     ~~~ Washington Post: "The president of the University of Pennsylvania released a video walking back some of her testimony at a congressional hearing this week about antisemitism on campus after calls for her resignation followed her remarks. In the video late Wednesday, Liz Magill said she should have responded differently to questions Tuesday from Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) about whether calls for the genocide of Jewish people would violate university policies. 'I was not focused on, but I should have been, the irrefutable fact that a call for genocide of Jewish people is a call for some of the most terrible violence human beings can perpetrate,' Magill said Wednesday. 'It's evil, plain and simple.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Alan Blinder, et al., of the New York Times: "Harvard, M.I.T. and the University of Pennsylvania on Thursday faced threats from donors, demands that their presidents resign and a congressional investigation as repercussions mounted over the universities' responses to antisemitism on campus.... Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Democrat of New York, said all three presidents should leave their posts. 'You cannot call for the genocide of Jews, the genocide of any group of people, and not say that that's harassment,' she told Fox News. And Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, denounced the university leaders at the National Menorah Lighting in Washington." The Congressional "investigation" will be led by Virginia Foxx (R-NC), who continues her quest to be named Dumbest Member of Congress (even though she holds advanced college degrees). ~~~

~~~ Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "... while it might seem hard to believe that there's any context that could make the responses of the college presidents OK, watching the whole hearing at least makes them more understandable. In the questioning before the now infamous exchange, you can see the trap [Rep. Elise] Stefanik [R-N.Y.] laid.... When Stefanik again started questioning [the university presidents during a second round] about whether it was permissible for students to call for the genocide of the Jews, she was referring, it seemed clear, to common pro-Palestinian rhetoric and trying to get the university presidents to commit to disciplining those who use it. Doing so would be an egregious violation of free speech.... Finding themselves in a no-win situation, the university presidents resorted to bloodless bureaucratic contortions, and walked into a public relations disaster.... The anguished and furious reaction of many Jews to [a] viral clip [of Stefanik's questioning] is understandable.... But it seems to me that it is precisely when people are legitimately scared and outraged that we're most vulnerable to a repressive response leading to harmful unintended consequences." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Goldberg's column is in line with an item Paul Campos posted Wednesday in LG&$ and which RAS linked in yesterday's Comments.

Nuns v. Guns. Washington Post: "A coalition of Catholic nuns has filed a lawsuit against gunmaker Smith & Wesson, calling for the company to stop producing AR-style rifles, which the women claim are 'the weapon of choice for numerous mass murderers. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in a Nevada district court, alleges that Smith & Wesson has repeatedly ignored 'red flags' and failed to respond appropriately to mass shootings in the United States. The lawsuit references some of the deadliest mass killings in recent U.S. history.... Jeffrey Norton, an attorney representing the nuns, said in a statement to The Washington Post that his clients are 'activist investors,' meaning they buy stock in a company to pursue a certain goal."

You may wonder about WashPo stories linked above, "What? No byline?" There's a reason for that: ~~~

~~~ Washington Post: "More than 750 Washington Post staffers said they had walked off the job Thursday, refusing to work for 24 hours in the biggest labor protest at the company in nearly half a century. Workers marched in a picket line outside The Post's offices in downtown Washington, waving 'Strike' signs, ringing bells, blowing horns, beating drums and chanting 'Hey, hey, ho, ho, our salary floor is much too low!' But even as strikers asked readers to abstain from the newspaper and its website for the day in solidarity, editors and other managers carried on with many of the tasks that go into producing a daily news report, from writing articles to operating printing presses." The Hill's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

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North Dakota. Kate Santaliz, et al., of NBC News: "North Dakota Sen. Kevin Cramer's son has been charged with manslaughter after his alleged involvement in a police chase that resulted in the death of a sheriff's deputy Wednesday night. Ian Cramer, 42, faces manslaughter, fleeing an officer and other charges in connection with the incident in Mercer County, North Dakota, according to court records.... A police pursuit of Cramer ended in a crash that killed sheriff deputy Paul Martin, who had taken cover behind his vehicle after laying a tire deflation device in the road, court documents said. In a statement Wednesday, the Republican senator said that his son suffers from 'serious mental disorders which manifest in severe paranoia and hallucinations,' and that his family is grieving the death of the sheriff's deputy." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This is a family tragedy. Somehow I don't think Republicans will treat Ian's problems -- which caused loss of life -- with the same umbrage they have taken in Hunter Biden's myriad mistakes.

Texas. David Goodman of the New York Times: "A Texas judge on Thursday granted a request to allow an abortion despite the state's strict bans, in the case of a pregnant woman whose fetus was diagnosed with a fatal condition. The judge, Maya Guerra Gamble of Travis County district court, sided with the woman, Kate Cox, who is 20 weeks pregnant, issuing a temporary restraining order to permit her doctor to perform an abortion without facing civil or criminal penalties under the state law. The judge, a Democrat, agreed with Ms. Cox's lawyers that the procedure was necessary to protect Ms. Cox from a potentially dangerous birth, and to preserve her future fertility. The ruling applied only to Ms. Cox, whose case was believed to be among the first attempts to seek a court-approved abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year and allowed states to enact their own abortion restrictions." An NBC News story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Brendan Pierson of Reuters: "Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Thursday threatened to prosecute any doctors involved in providing an emergency abortion to a woman, hours after she won a court order allowing her to obtain one for medical necessity. Paxton said in a letter that the order by District Court Judge Maya Guerra Gamble in Austin did not shield doctors from prosecution under all of Texas's abortion laws, and that the woman, Kate Cox, had not shown she qualified for the medical exception to the state's abortion ban." MB: In a free country, no patient in dire need of medical care would have to go through any of this. If you are wondering what it would be like to live in a totalitarian state, you probably are not a young woman living in a red state.

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Israel/Palestine

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Friday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "Humanitarian relief efforts in Gaza are 'in tatters,' the U.N.'s emergency aid chief Martin Griffiths said, saying the pace of Israel's military assault in southern Gaza left 'no place safe for civilians.' However, he expressed hope that the Kerem Shalom crossing between southern Gaza and Israel -- which had been a key route for aid entering Gaza before the war -- would reopen soon.... U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Israel needed to do more to reduce civilian casualties, describing 'a gap' between 'the intent to protect civilians, and the actual results that we're seeing on the ground.' The United Arab Emirates is seeking a U.N. Security Council vote Friday on a draft resolution that demands an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza. It comes after U.N. Secretary General António Guterres invoked a rarely used power, Article 99, this week, to warn the Security Council of an impending 'humanitarian catastrophe' in Gaza." ~~~

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

Matthew Bigg & Hwaida Saad of the New York Times: "An Oct. 13 strike that killed a videographer for the Reuters news agency and injured six others in southern Lebanon was carried out by the Israeli military and appeared to be a deliberate attack, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday. The watchdog group said that evidence it had reviewed -- including dozens of videos of the incident, photographs and satellite images, and interviews with witnesses and military experts -- showed that the journalists were not near areas where fighting was taking place and that there was no military objective near their position. 'The attack on the journalists'; position directly targeted them,' the report said, labeling the attack a war crime."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Ryan O'Neal, who became an instant movie star in the hit film 'Love Story,' the highest-grossing movie of 1970, but who was later known as much for his personal life and health problems as for his acting in his later career, died on Friday. He was 82."

CNBC: "Job creation showed little signs of a let-up in November, as payrolls grew even faster than expected and the unemployment rate fell despite signs of a weakening economy. Nonfarm payrolls rose by a seasonally adjusted 199,000 for the month, slightly better than the 190,000 Dow Jones estimate and ahead of the unrevised October gain of 150,000, the Labor Department reported Friday. The unemployment rate declined to 3.7%, compared to the forecast for 3.9%, as the labor force participation rate edged higher to 62.8%. A more encompassing unemployment rate that includes discouraged workers and those holding part-time positions for economic reasons fell to 7%, a decline of 0.2 percentage point."

AP: "The man suspected of fatally shooting three people and wounding another at a Las Vegas university Wednesday was a professor who unsuccessfully sought a job at the school, a law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press.... The suspect previously worked at East Carolina University in North Carolina, according to the official...."