The Conversation -- October 7, 2023

The New York Times has maps showing where Hamas hit Israel and where Israeli retalitory strikes hit Gaza.

How George "Got Rich" Quick. Josh Kovensky & Hunter Walker of TPM have figured out how Rep. George Santos increased his annual income from $55,000 to more than $700,000 in just a few months & how he amassed a $1MM bank balance. According to his FEC filings, Santos lent his campaign more than $500,000 from these sources. But prosecutors' filings related to Santos campaign treasurer Nancy Marks, who pleaded guilty this week to conspiracy fraud, "accused Santos and Marks of falsely filing documents that showed their family members made donations to the campaign that were not actually received." The filings also alleged that Santos never the lent the half-million dollars to his campaign, and he "did not have the funds necessary to make such loans at the time." The reason for claiming the fake campaign donations was to qualify for a Republican Congressional Committee program that helps GOP candidates who bring in at least $250,000. MB: You don't have to be rich to say you're rich. See also "Trump, Donald & Co. New York Fraud Case."

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Michael Shear of the New York Times: "... a massive surge of migration in the Western Hemisphere has scrambled the dynamics of an issue that has vexed presidents for decades, and radically reshaped the political pressures on [President] Biden and his administration. Instead of becoming the president who quickly reversed his predecessor's policies, Mr. Biden has repeatedly tried to curtail the migration of a record number of people -- and the political fallout that has created -- by embracing, or at least tolerating, some of Mr. Trump's anti-immigrant approaches." ~~~

~~~ Marie: Yesterday, I linked to a New York Times story that said, "... Donald J. Trump said undocumented immigrants were 'poisoning the blood of our country' in a recent interview, language with echoes of white supremacy and the racial hatreds of Adolf Hitler." If you look in the right-hand column, you'll see a link to a Washington Post story about how archaeologists had discovered footprints at White Sands, New Mexico, that may be as old as 29,000 years; that is, roughly 28,900 years before Donald Trump's family got to this continent. Most of the migrants coming across the U.S.-Mexico border are Indios or mostly Indio. So I'd like to know who's "poisoning" whose blood? Anyhow, Happy Indigenous People's Day, Donald.

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "As a co-founder of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, Representative Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio, once antagonized his party's leadership so mercilessly that former Speaker John A. Boehner, whom he helped chase from his position, branded him a 'legislative terrorist.' Less than a decade later, Mr. Jordan -- a fast-talking Republican often seen sans jacket, known for his hard-line stances and aggressive tactics -- is now one of two leading candidates to claim the very speakership whose occupants he once tormented. Mr. Jordan's journey from the fringe of Republican politics to its epicenter on Capitol Hill is a testament to how sharply his party has veered to the right in recent years, and how thoroughly it has adopted his pugilistic style.... His candidacy for speaker has drawn a stark warning from former Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who was the No. 3 Republican and vice chair of the Jan. 6 committee, who said that if he prevailed, 'there would no longer be any possible way to argue that a group of elected Republicans could be counted on to defend the Constitution.'" ~~~

~~~ Igor Bobic of the Huffington Post: "... one critical aspect of [Jim] Jordan's history that has been omitted by most Beltway publications is the prominent role he played in spreading lies about the 2020 election and rallying supporters to contest the results.... 'Jim Jordan knew more about what Donald Trump had planned for Jan. 6 than any other member of the House of Representatives,' former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who co-chaired the House Select Committee tasked with investigating the insurrection, said in a speech at the University of Minnesota this week. 'Jim Jordan was involved, was part of the conspiracy in which Donald Trump was engaged as he attempted to overturn the election,' she added. Jordan ... refused to cooperate with the select committee regarding his communications with Trump as the attack was occurring, defying subpoenas for testimony. Trump spoke on the phone with Jordan for 10 minutes on the morning of Jan. 6. Jordan has never divulged the nature of the conversation, saying only that he had spoken to Trump 'a number of times' that day." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: There much more than Bobic mentions to Jordan's integral role in Trump's attempt to overthrow the election. For instance, he "attended a Dec. 21 White House meeting focused on efforts to pressure former Vice President Mike Pence to help overturn the 2020 election, according to the Jan. 6 committee." When Trump told the DOJ to "just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen," he was talking about Jordan & the other 146 GOP members of Congress who voted to challenge certain states' Biden electors -- after the insurrection. (Had DOJ done as Trump demanded & made a false claim that the election was corrupt, the number of challengers most certainly would have been larger.)

Potential House "Leaders" Have No Idea What They're Doing. Melanie Zanona & Jeremy Herb of CNN: "House speaker candidates have pulled out of a planned joint interview on Fox News next week just hours after it was announced amid fierce blowback from GOP lawmakers, the latest sign of how simmering tensions within the conference are boiling over as Republicans scramble to find a new leader following Kevin McCarthy's stunning ouster. Both of the leading Republican candidates for speaker -- Rep. Jim Jordan and Majority Leader Steve Scalise -- backtracked from the plan to be interviewed jointly on Fox News with anchor Bret Baier from the Capitol next Monday after it had been announced by the network Friday morning. A third potential speaker candidate also said he would not participate in the forum." (Also linked yesterday.)

Former House "Leader" Has No Idea What He's Doing. Olivia Beavers of Politico: "Kevin McCarthy is considering resigning from the House before the end of his term, two people familiar with the matter told Politico. The deposed former speaker has made clear he plans to stay at least through the speakership election that begins next week before ending his House career, these people said, in order to help the party steady itself after a seismic shakeup." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. BUT this CNN story by Melanie Zanona & others, which originally said My Kevin was leaving Congress, perhaps in a few weeks, now leads with, "Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is denying reports that he is expected to step down from Congress before the end of his term -- telling reporters on Friday that he still has 'work to do,' after sending signals in private conversations that he could step down early from Congress. 'No, I am not resigning,' he told reporters." (Also linked yesterday.)

** House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries in a Washington Post op-ed: "Over the past several weeks, when it appeared likely that a motion to vacate the office of speaker was forthcoming, House Democrats repeatedly raised the issue of entering into a bipartisan governing coalition with our Republican counterparts, publicly as well as privately.... Regrettably, at every turn, House Republicans have categorically rejected making changes to the rules designed to accomplish two objectives: encourage bipartisan governance and undermine the ability of extremists to hold Congress hostage. Indeed, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) publicly declared more than five hours before the motion to vacate was brought up for a vote that he would not work with House Democrats as a bipartisan coalition partner.... Things further deteriorated from there.... [Republicans'] decision to strip Speaker Emerita Pelosi and Leader Hoyer of office space was petty, partisan and petulant....

"The rules of the House should reflect the inescapable reality that Republicans are reliant on Democratic support to do the basic work of governing. A small band of extremists should not be capable of obstructing that cooperation.... Traditional Republicans need to break with the MAGA extremism that has poisoned the House of Representatives since the violent insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, and its aftermath -- when the overwhelming majority of House Republicans continued to promote the 'big lie' and voted not to certify the presidential election." (Also linked yesterday.)

Ryan Lizza & Rachel Bade of Politico: "Just hours after Kevin McCarthy was deposed as House speaker, the 'draft Trump' movement began. 'I called him and I said, "Sir, I'm nominating you for the speaker of the House,"' said Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas), describing a Tuesday call to ... Donald Trump. 'I said, "I think that you would do a great job fixing the brokenness we see in the Congress."' So began a wild 48-hour scramble that saw Trump openly pondering a quixotic bid to become the first nonmember to be elected speaker before his political advisers and House allies managed to convince him it was a terrible idea. The Trump-for-speaker bubble officially popped early Friday morning, when he took sides in the brewing battle between Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.)." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The remarkable news here is that someone claimed he really did address Trump as "Sir."

The Trials of Trump

Surprise, Surprise! Alex Nguyen of the Daily Beast, republished by Yahoo! News: "A federal judge has gifted Donald Trump a step toward getting his classified documents case delayed until after the 2024 presidential election. On Friday, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon granted a temporary stay on a filing deadline for Trump as she deliberates whether to postpone the entire schedule of pre-trial proceedings. Her order didn't, however, address whether the May 2024 trial date will be moved. Trump's legal team had requested in a Wednesday filing that Cannon push back the trial from May to 'until at least mid-November 2024.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Ella Lee of the Hill: "Attorneys for former President Trump are seeking to temporarily pause his civil fraud trial, along with the enforcement of a ruling issued before the trial started that found Trump and his business liable for fraud, until after the case has been appealed. Trump's legal team wrote in a 1,154-page court filing that Judge Arthur Engoron's decision imposed 'unauthorized, undemanded, overbroad relief' to the New York attorney general's office, which will result in 'significant, irreparable harm' to the former president and his business." MB: Curious that Trump's lawyers didn't file this tome before the trial started Monday. I supposed Trump had one of his hissy-fits and ordered his lawyers to make this mess go away. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Lauren del Valle & Kara Scannell of CNN: "A New York appeals court judge on Friday rejected Donald Trump's attempt to stop the ongoing $250 million civil fraud trial, but temporarily halted the process of breaking up the former president's businesses. Associate Justice Peter Moulton issued the ruling after a brief hearing Friday afternoon. It leaves Trump's empire untouched for at least another month and perhaps offers the former president and his family a glimmer of hope.... Trump's legal team believes the appellate court could eventually reverse at least part of Engoron's bombshell order and gut New York Attorney General Letitia James' case by dismissing a majority of the lawsuit's claims.... The New York attorney general's office opposed the request to delay the trial, saying Trump and the other defendants are attempting'to sow chaos by disrupting an ongoing trial that has now been going for a week. Yet defendants fail to point to any purported irreparable harm from proceeding with a trial that has already begun.' The attorney general's office also criticized Trump's team for waiting days into trial testimony to file the stay request." (Also linked yesterday.) The Washington Post's story is here. ~~~

~~~ Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "Donald Trump has dropped a last-resort lawsuit against the judge overseeing his New York fraud trial. The former president's attorneys withdrew their lawsuit against Justice Arthur Engoron, which had been seen as a long-shot attempt to stop his real estate empire from being dismantled after he found that Trump and his adult sons had filed fraudulent financial statements, reported The Daily Beast." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "Donald Trump has been raging against the New York judge who will decide his financial fate, but his attorneys botched a crucial deadline that could have put the case in a jury's hands.... 'I wish I'd had a jury trial,' Trump grumbled to his lawyers in court, after [Judge Arthur] Engoron reminded him that he alone would decide his fate. A Daily Beast reporter was present in court when Trump attorney Alina Habba requested a jury trial, but neither she or anyone else on the former president's defense team ever followed up, and they blew a 15-day deadline to respond when New York attorney general Letitia James' office alerted the court they were ready for trial." (Also linked yesterday.)

Lauren del Valle & Kara Scannell of CNN: "The former controller of the Trump Organization says that Eric Trump directed him to make certain decisions that led to the inflated valuations of several Trump properties. Jeff McConney, also a co-defendant of ... Donald Trump, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., testified Friday as the first week of the civil fraud trial came to an end. Internal Trump Org. spreadsheets shown in court Friday show notations by McConney that say Eric Trump directed McConney in phone conversations about certain property valuations that would later appear on the financial statements the judge in this case has ruled fraudulent." The article outlines some of the schemes McConney, Eric Trump & Allen Weisselberg used to inflate the values of Trump properties, like including the value of structures that had not been built yet & ignoring deed restrictions that lowered a property's value.

Trump Choir Boy Sentenced to Seven Years. Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "A man who joined a nightly performance of the national anthem inside the D.C. jail that has been promoted by ... Donald Trump and his allies was sentenced to seven years in prison for assaulting police and obstructing Congress on Jan. 6. Shane Jenkins, 46, acknowledged in D.C. federal court that he had an 'extensive' criminal history and apologized 'for all the pain and suffering I've caused.'... Using a tomahawk he brought with him from Texas, Jenkins was the first to smash a window on the West Terrace of the U.S. Capitol, and was caught on video shouting: 'We paid for it, it's our f---ing building.' That breach gave rioters access to senators" offices, which were trashed and ransacked."

Tracey Tully, et al., of the New York Times: "The New Jersey attorney general's office seized records on Thursday from Bergen County law enforcement agencies to review whether the investigation of a fatal 2018 car crash involving the soon-to-be wife of Senator Robert Menendez was handled properly.... The attorney general's office began its inquiry a day after details of the collision were reported publicly for the first time by The New York Times and The Record of New Jersey, nearly five years after it happened. A review by The Times of police reports, dashcam footage, 911 call recordings and a video of the collision raises new questions about the rigor of an investigation that [the victim's] relatives have long believed was inadequate." (Also linked yesterday.)

Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "A former U.S. Army soldier who fled to Hong Kong has been charged with trying to deliver classified secrets to the Chinese government, according to federal court documents unsealed on Friday. Joseph D. Schmidt, 29, who served in a military intelligence battalion in Washington State, was indicted in Seattle on two counts of violating the Espionage Act. He was arrested this week after flying from Hong Kong to San Francisco and appeared in federal court on Friday." An NPR story is here. MB: Other than committing treason, Schmidt's big mistake was not becoming president* before he started hawking U.S. classified secrets. You don't see Donald Trump in jail, do you? And Trump stole hundreds of secrets which he may or may not sell but definitely doles out as party favors.

Gary Grumbach & Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: "Hunter Biden will seek to dismiss the federal indictment against him that included three charges he was arraigned on earlier this week, according to a new court filing. The president's son 'maintains' that the original plea deal, or diversion agreement, 'remains in force,' Abbe Lowell, Hunter Biden's lawyer, wrote in the filing on Thursday.... Under the terms of the original agreement, the younger Biden would have pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges over his failure to pay income taxes, and prosecutors had agreed to a related agreement that could have resulted in the gun charges being dismissed. But the deal collapsed in federal court on the day of his arraignment ... and he wound up pleading not guilty on the tax charges." (Also linked yesterday.)

Presidential Races

Tyler Pager & Michael Scherer of the Washington Post: "The Democratic Party officially dislodged Iowa from its prized status as the first state in the presidential nominating process Friday, approving the state Democratic Party's plan to release their results on Super Tuesday next year. The decision ends a nearly two-year fight over Iowa's place in selecting a Democratic nominee, which resulted in a complete overhaul of the calendar. President Biden and his aides elevated South Carolina to the first spot, followed by New Hampshire and Nevada a week later, and then Michigan. The original plan called for Georgia holding a primary just before Michigan, but Democrats in that state were unable to move up their date, because of Republican opposition."

Ramaswamny Makes Up Stuff About Protesters. Kierra Frazier of Politico: "Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy's campaign claimed Thursday that protesters ran into their parked car at a campaign stop in Grinnell, Iowa. But local police later said that's not what really happened. Ramaswamy's car, with no one inside it, was struck by another car in a parking lot outside a coffeehouse. His campaign told Politico Thursday that two protesters hit Ramaswamy's car, but police say that the accident involved a driver unconnected to the protest. 'Our investigation has revealed no evidence to substantiate' the claim that protesters hit Ramaswamy's car on purpose and fled, police said in a statement Thursday night. Instead, police say that a woman had eaten lunch at a deli and backed out of a parking spot into the campaign's rental vehicle. A report was taken and the driver was released with a summons for unsafe backing. '[The driver] stated she was not in the area to protest, she did not know who the vehicle she struck belonged to, she did not intentionally back into the vehicle, and she did not flee the scene of the accident,' police said in a statement." (Also linked yesterday.)"

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It turns out that hawking Donald Trump's Miracle Covid Cure can land you in jail for quite a spell: ~~~

~~~ Florida Man et Fils. Orlando Mayorquin of the New York Times: "A Florida man and three sons who used a business masquerading as a church to sell more than $1 million of a deadly bleach solution that they claimed was a 'miracle' cure for Covid-19 and other diseases were each sentenced on Friday to several years in prison, federal prosecutors in Miami said. Mark Grenon, 66, of Bradenton, Fla., and one of his sons, Joseph Grenon, 36, were sentenced to five years in prison for conspiring to defraud the government, while the two other sons, Jonathan Grenon, 37, and Jordan Grenon, 29, were sentenced to 12 years and seven months in prison for defrauding the government and contempt of court, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida said in a news release."

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** Israel/Palestine. Isabel Kershner of the New York Times: "Israel and Gaza were at war on Saturday after Palestinian militants fired barrages of rockets into southern and central Israel in a surprise morning attack that was among the biggest from Gaza in years, and the Israeli military said that armed gunmen had crossed the border fence in several locations and infiltrated Israeli communities.... The assault began without any warning about 6:30 a.m. on the Jewish Sabbath and the morning of a festival, the last of the series of Jewish high holidays. It was almost 50 years to the day after the surprise attack by Egyptian and Syrian forces over Israel's northern and southern borders at the opening of the 1973 war that traumatized the nation. Within the first hour of the attack, salvos of rockets had slammed relentlessly into Israeli towns and cities, striking as far north as Rishon LeZion, about 10 miles south of Tel Aviv, and Ramla, near Israel's international airport. At 8:15 a.m. sirens also sounded in central Jerusalem, and loud booms could be heard." This is a liveblog. ~~~

     ~~~ CNN's live updates are here: "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Israel is at war following an early morning surprise attack from Gaza that left at least 22 people dead. Hamas claimed to have captured several Israeli soldiers near the border after its militants entered Israel by land, sea and air using paragliders. The assault came after thousands of rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel. The Israel Defense Forces said its troops are fighting in at least a half-dozen locations. Some residents in Israel said militants were trying to break into their homes."

News Lede

Afghanistan. New York Times: "Two 6.3-magnitude earthquakes killed nearly 200 people in western Afghanistan on Saturday, officials said, the second major quake to hit the country in less than two years. At least 180 people were killed and around 600 injured, according to the chief of the regional hospital in Herat Province, where the quake struck hardest. The number of casualties is expected to rise as search and rescue efforts continue, officials said."

The Conversation -- October 6, 2023

Potential House "Leaders" Have No Idea What They're Doing. Melanie Zanona & Jeremy Herb of CNN: "House speaker candidates have pulled out of a planned joint interview on Fox News next week just hours after it was announced amid fierce blowback from GOP lawmakers, the latest sign of how simmering tensions within the conference are boiling over as Republicans scramble to find a new leader following Kevin McCarthy's stunning ouster. Both of the leading Republican candidates for speaker -- Rep. Jim Jordan and Majority Leader Steve Scalise -- backtracked from the plan to be interviewed jointly on Fox News with anchor Bret Baier from the Capitol next Monday after it had been announced by the network Friday morning. A third potential speaker candidate also said he would not participate in the forum."

Olivia Beavers of Politico: "Kevin McCarthy is considering resigning from the House before the end of his term, two people familiar with the matter told Politico. The deposed former speaker has made clear he plans to stay at least through the speakership election that begins next week before ending his House career, these people said, in order to help the party steady itself after a seismic shakeup." ~~~

     ~~~ Update. BUT, since House GOP "leaders" have no idea what they're doing, this CNN story by Melanie Zanona & others, which originally said My Kevin was leaving Congress, perhaps in a few weeks, now ledes with, "Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is denying reports that he is expected to step down from Congress before the end of his term -- telling reporters on Friday that he still has 'work to do,' after sending signals in private conversations that he could step down early from Congress. 'No, I am not resigning,' he told reporters."

Surprise, Surprise! Alex Nguyen of the Daily Beast, republished by Yahoo! News: "A federal judge has gifted Donald Trump a step toward getting his classified documents case delayed until after the 2024 presidential election. On Friday, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon granted a temporary stay on a filing deadline for Trump as she deliberates whether to postpone the entire schedule of pre-trial proceedings. Her order didn't, however, address whether the May 2024 trial date will be moved. Trump's legal team had requested in a Wednesday filing that Cannon push back the trial from May to 'until at least mid-November 2024.'"

Tracey Tully, et al., of the New York Times: "The New Jersey attorney general’s office seized records on Thursday from Bergen County law enforcement agencies to review whether the investigation of a fatal 2018 car crash involving the soon-to-be wife of Senator Robert Menendez was handled properly.... The attorney general's office began its inquiry a day after details of the collision were reported publicly for the first time by The New York Times and The Record of New Jersey, nearly five years after it happened. A review by The Times of police reports, dashcam footage, 911 call recordings and a video of the collision raises new questions about the rigor of an investigation that [the victim's] relatives have long believed was inadequate."

** House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries in a Washington Post op-ed: "Over the past several weeks, when it appeared likely that a motion to vacate the office of speaker was forthcoming, House Democrats repeatedly raised the issue of entering into a bipartisan governing coalition with our Republican counterparts, publicly as well as privately.... Regrettably, at every turn, House Republicans have categorically rejected making changes to the rules designed to accomplish two objectives: encourage bipartisan governance and undermine the ability of extremists to hold Congress hostage. Indeed, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) publicly declared more than five hours before the motion to vacate was brought up for a vote that he would not work with House Democrats as a bipartisan coalition partner.... Things further deteriorated from there.... [Republicans'] decision to strip Speaker Emerita Pelosi and Leader Hoyer of office space was petty, partisan and petulant....

"The rules of the House should reflect the inescapable reality that Republicans are reliant on Democratic support to do the basic work of governing. A small band of extremists should not be capable of obstructing that cooperation.... Traditional Republicans need to break with the MAGA extremism that has poisoned the House of Representatives since the violent insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, and its aftermath -- when the overwhelming majority of House Republicans continued to promote the 'big lie' and voted not to certify the presidential election."

Ryan Lizza & Rachel Bade of Politico: "Just hours after Kevin McCarthy was deposed as House speaker, the 'draft Trump' movement began. 'I called him and I said, "Sir, I'm nominating you for the speaker of the House,"' said Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas), describing a Tuesday call to ... Donald Trump. 'I said, "I think that you would do a great job fixing the brokenness we see in the Congress."' So began a wild 48-hour scramble that saw Trump openly pondering a quixotic bid to become the first nonmember to be elected speaker before his political advisers and House allies managed to convince him it was a terrible idea. The Trump-for-speaker bubble officially popped early Friday morning, when he took sides in the brewing battle between Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.)." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The remarkable news here is that someone claimed he really did address Trump as "Sir."

Ella Lee of the Hill: "Attorneys for former President Trump are seeking to temporarily pause his civil fraud trial, along with the enforcement of a ruling issued before the trial started that found Trump and his business liable for fraud, until after the case has been appealed. Trump's legal team wrote in a 1,154-page court filing that Judge Arthur Engoron's decision imposed 'unauthorized, undemanded, overbroad relief' to the New York attorney general's office, which will result in 'significant, irreparable harm' to the former president and his business." MB: Curious that Trump's lawyers didn't file this tome before the trial started Monday. I supposed Trump had one of his hissy-fits and ordered his lawyers to make this mess go away. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Lauren del Valle & Kara Scannell of CNN: "A New York appeals court judge on Friday rejected Donald Trump's attempt to stop the ongoing $250 million civil fraud trial, but temporarily halted the process of breaking up the former president's businesses. Associate Justice Peter Moulton issued the ruling after a brief hearing Friday afternoon. It leaves Trump's empire untouched for at least another month and perhaps offers the former president and his family a glimmer of hope.... Trump's legal team believes the appellate court could eventually reverse at least part of Engoron's bombshell order and gut New York Attorney General Letitia James' case by dismissing a majority of the lawsuit's claims.... The New York attorney general's office opposed the request to delay the trial, saying Trump and the other defendants are attempting 'to sow chaos by disrupting an ongoing trial that has now been going for a week. Yet defendants fail to point to any purported irreparable harm from proceeding with a trial that has already begun.' The attorney general's office also criticized Trump's team for waiting days into trial testimony to file the stay request."

Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "Donald Trump has dropped a last-resort lawsuit against the judge overseeing his New York fraud trial. The former president's attorneys withdrew their lawsuit against Justice Arthur Engoron, which had been seen as a long-shot attempt to stop his real estate empire from being dismantled after he found that Trump and his adult sons had filed fraudulent financial statements, reported The Daily Beast." ~~~

~~~ Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "Donald Trump has been raging against the New York judge who will decide his financial fate, but his attorneys botched a crucial deadline that could have put the case in a jury's hands.... 'I wish I'd had a jury trial,' Trump grumbled to his lawyers in court, after [Judge Arthur] Engoron reminded him that he alone would decide his fate. A Daily Beast reporter was present in court when Trump attorney Alina Habba requested a jury trial, but neither she or anyone else on the former president's defense team ever followed up, and they blew a 15-day deadline to respond when New York attorney general Letitia James' office alerted the court they were ready for trial."

Gary Grumbach & Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: "Hunter Biden will seek to dismiss the federal indictment against him that included three charges he was arraigned on earlier this week, according to a new court filing. The president's son 'maintains' that the original plea deal, or diversion agreement, 'remains in force,' Abbe Lowell, Hunter Biden's lawyer, wrote in the filing on Thursday.... Under the terms of the original agreement, the younger Biden would have pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges over his failure to pay income taxes, and prosecutors had agreed to a related agreement that could have resulted in the gun charges being dismissed. But the deal collapsed in federal court on the day of his arraignment in July and he wound up pleading not guilty on the tax charges."

Ramaswamny Makes Up Stuff About Protesters. Kierra Frazier of Politico: "Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy's campaign claimed Thursday that protesters ran into their parked car at a campaign stop in Grinnell, Iowa. But local police later said that's not what really happened. Ramaswamy's car, with no one inside it, was struck by another car in a parking lot outside a coffeehouse. His campaign told Politico Thursday that two protesters hit Ramaswamy's car, but police say that the accident involved a driver unconnected to the protest. 'Our investigation has revealed no evidence to substantiate' the claim that protesters hit Ramaswamy's car on purpose and fled, police said in a statement Thursday night. Instead, police say that a woman had eaten lunch at a deli and backed out of a parking spot into the campaign's rental vehicle. A report was taken and the driver was released with a summons for unsafe backing. '[The driver] stated she was not in the area to protest, she did not know who the vehicle she struck belonged to, she did not intentionally back into the vehicle, and she did not flee the scene of the accident,' police said in a statement."

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Biden Builds the Wall, Ctd. Miriam Jordan, et al., of the New York Times: "The Biden administration on Thursday said it would expand ... Donald Trump's wall on the Mexican border and begin deporting thousands of Venezuelans in an effort to cut down on the migrant surge that shows no signs of abating. The moves are an about-face by the White House, which is under political pressure to stem the flow of people. Criticism is intensifying among Republicans as well as Democratic leaders in New York, Chicago and elsewhere who say the influx is overwhelming their ability to house and feed the migrants.... In announcing that the U.S. government would begin deporting Venezuelans who enter the United States unlawfully, the Biden administration was reversing a policy of not sending migrants back to the troubled South American country, where years of political unrest and economic turmoil have driven millions of people to flee. Last month alone, 50,000 migrants from that country crossed the southern border, a record number, and they now represent the second largest nationality group, dwarfed only by Mexicans."

Priscilla Alvarez of CNN: "President Joe Biden said Thursday that he doesn't believe border walls work, even as his administration said it will waive 26 laws to build additional border barriers in the Rio Grande Valley amid heightened political pressure over migration.... The administration was under a deadline to use [the funds] or lose them.... Biden -- who, as a candidate, vowed that there will 'not be another foot' of border wall constructed on his watch -- defended the decision to reporters Thursday, saying that he tried to get the money appropriated for other purposes but was unsuccessful. 'I'll answer one question on the border wall: 'The ... money was appropriated for the border wall. I tried to get them to reappropriate it, to redirect that money. They didn't, they wouldn't. And in the meantime, there's nothing under the law other than they have to use the money for what it was appropriated. I can't stop that,' Biden told reporters in the Oval Office. Asked whether he believes the border wall works, Biden answered, 'No.'" (This is a follow-up to this AP story, also linked yesterday.) (Also linked yesterday.)

Yasmeen Abutaleb, et al., of the Washington Post: "White House officials are urgently strategizing on the best way to salvage U.S. aid to Ukraine, debating whether to push for a larger funding package or seek a smaller one that may have a better chance of passing now that support for Kyiv in Congress has been thrown into doubt by House Republicans' ouster of their leader this week.... President Biden expressed concern Wednesday about what the tumult in the House means for Ukraine aid and said he would be delivering a 'major speech' on the issue soon. 'It does worry me,' Biden said. 'There are a majority of members of both parties that have said they are for Ukraine aid,' he added, but 'the dysfunction always concerns me.'... The White House has not yet settled on a new approach to bolstering funding for Ukraine."

Trumpity-Doo-Dah, Trumpity-Day

Paul Farhi of the Washington Post: "Last week, the Republican Party's leading presidential candidate proposed executing suspected shoplifters.... Trump's advocacy of extrajudicial killings was widely covered by newspapers and TV stations in California but generally ignored by the national press.... CNN and MSNBC mentioned it during panel discussions over the next few days. The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, NPR and PBS didn't report it at all. The New York Times wrote about it four days later, playing the story on Page 14 of its print edition. The Anaheim speech was part of a pattern of increasingly aggressive rhetoric by Trump -- and a somewhat muted response by the news media to his repeated exhortations to violence....

"'Bombarded by a constant stream of deranged authoritarian extremism from a man who might soon return to the presidency, [journalists] have lost all sense of scale and perspective,' [Brian] Klaas wrote in the Atlantic last week, in a headline that felt both jarring and unsurprising: 'Trump Floats the Idea of Executing Joint Chiefs Chairman Milley.' Klaas continued: 'But neither the American press nor the public can afford to be lulled. The man who, as president, incited a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol in order to overturn an election is again openly fomenting political violence while explicitly endorsing authoritarian strategies should he return to power.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

Nobody has any idea where these people are coming from, and we know they come from prisons. We know they come from mental institutions and insane asylums. We know they're terrorists.... It's poisoning the blood of our country. It's so bad, and people are coming in with disease. People are coming in with every possible thing that you could have. -- Donald Trump, in an interview last week ~~~

~~~ When Reductio ad Hitlerum Is Not a Fallacy. Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump said undocumented immigrants were 'poisoning the blood of our country' in a recent interview, language with echoes of white supremacy and the racial hatreds of Adolf Hitler. Mr. Trump made the remark in a 37-minute video interview with The National Pulse, a right-leaning website, that was posted last week. It drew broader scrutiny on Wednesday after the liberal MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan surfaced the quote in a post on X. Other commentators went on to point out that Mr. Trump's attack invoked a theme of Hitler's autobiographical manifesto 'Mein Kampf,' in which the Nazi Party leader railed about what he claimed was the impurity of immigrants, Jews and interracial couples.... At campaign rallies, Mr. Trump has repeated that leaders of unspecified South American countries were releasing patients from mental hospitals to send as migrants to the United States, but fact checkers have found no evidence for the claim."

Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Dan Froomkin of Press Watch has an idea of how to cover Trumpolini: "... when he says something that illustrates his continued descent into fascist rhetoric, the real news is not so much the particular thing he said, it's that he said it and that Republican leaders and Republicans generally still aren't renouncing him. The thrust of these stories should be that the current state of American politics is such that he isn't being roundly condemned by his party even as he threatens core American values like the rule of law and freedom of the press."

** Alan Feuer, et al., of the New York Times: "Shortly after he left office..., Donald J. Trump shared apparently classified information about American nuclear submarines with an Australian businessman during an evening of conversation at Mar-a-Lago.... The businessman, Anthony Pratt, a billionaire member of Mar-a-Lago who runs one of the world's largest cardboard companies, went on to share the sensitive details about the submarines with several others, the people said. Mr. Trump's disclosures, they said, potentially endangered the U.S. nuclear fleet. Federal prosecutors working for the special counsel, Jack Smith, learned about Mr. Trump's disclosures of the secrets to Mr. Pratt, which were first revealed by ABC News, and interviewed him as part of their investigation into the former president's handling of classified documents.... Mr. Pratt is now among more than 80 people whom prosecutors have identified as possible witnesses who could testify against Mr. Trump at the classified documents trial...." Thanks to RAS for the ABC News link. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I recall speculating a while back, only somewhat facetiously, that Trump was probably sharing nuclear secrets with random Mar-a-Lardo guests. Turns out that's what he did. And don't kid yourself that Mr. Pratt there is the only fellow hanging out at the pool who got a classified earful.

~~~ Your Move, Judge Aileen. Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Lawyers for ... Donald J. Trump have again asked a federal judge to postpone until after the 2024 election his trial on charges of mishandling classified documents. In a court filing on Wednesday night, Mr. Trump's legal team proposed moving the start of the trial to mid-November from May 20, the date set by Judge Aileen M. Cannon. It was not the first time Mr. Trump has sought to push back the trial, in which he stands accused of illegally holding onto dozens of classified documents after leaving office and conspiring with two aides to obstruct the government's repeated effort to retrieve them." (Also linked yesterday.)

** "When the President Does It..., It Is Not Illegal." Alan Feuer & Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "Lawyers for ... Donald J. Trump asked [Judge Tanya Chutkan] on Thursday to throw out a federal indictment accusing him of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election and claimed that because the charges relate to actions he took as president, he should be 'absolutely immune from prosecution.' The request to dismiss the election interference indictment, which came in a 52-page briefing filed in Federal District Court in Washington, was breathtaking in its scope. It argued that Mr. Trump could not be held accountable in court for any actions he took as president, even after a grand jury had returned criminal charges against him.... His ... remarkable ... motion to dismiss was certain to result in a pitched legal battle with prosecutors in the office of the special counsel, Jack Smith, if only because the idea that a president cannot be prosecuted for actions undertaken in his official capacity as commander in chief has never before been tested.... Over and over in his motion, [Trump lawyer John] Lauro sought to flip the story told by the indictment and portray the various steps that Mr. Trump took to subvert the election as official acts designed to protect its integrity."

All His Trials

Ella Lee of the Hill: "The judge overseeing former President Trump's fraud trial in New York Thursday issued an order barring Trump or any other defendants in the sweeping case from transferring any assets or creating a new entity to acquire them without disclosure first. The order, which came via the case's online docket, was delivered on the fourth day of the trial, which was prompted after Judge Arthur Engoron found Trump liable for fraud, ruling that New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) had proved the crux of her case. As part of that decision, Engoron ordered the selection of an independent monitor of Trump's businesses. On Thursday, Engoron said that appointed monitor -- former Judge Barbara Jones -- must be informed if the defendants intend to move their assets or create a new entity that isn't a defendant in the case to acquire them." (Also linked yesterday.)

Congressman Has a Good Idea. Sahil Kapur & Summer Concepcion of NBC News: "A Democratic House member is asking Palm Beach County, Florida, to tax Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago property at the rate the former president claims it is worth amid his ongoing civil fraud trial in New York.... Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., issued the request to Dorothy Jacks, Palm Beach County's property appraiser.... Trump has raged against [New York Judge Arthur] Engoron's ruling [that Trump committed fraud], insisting that his Florida resort is worth '50 to 100 times' what prosecutors in the New York civil case have said, or 'closer to $1.5 billion.' 'Between 2011 and 2021, you value the Mar-a-Lago property between $18 million and $28 million,' Moskowitz wrote in the letter to the Palm Beach County appraiser. 'Mar-a-Lago was listed as worth $490 million in financial documents given to banks,' he wrote. "... Will you be amending the property value in line with the Trump family's belief that the property is worth well over a billion dollars?'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Erica Orden of Politico: “Lawyers for Donald Trump asked a Manhattan judge to throw out the criminal charges related to Trump's hush money payments to a porn star, arguing in court filings that the case 'has prejudiced President Trump and the public by interfering with his presidential campaign.' 'After a five-year meandering, halting, and roving investigation that entailed inexplicable and unconstitutional delay, the District Attorney's Office filed a discombobulated package of politically motivated charges marred by legal defects, procedural failures, discovery violations, and a stubborn refusal to provide meaningful particulars regarding its theory of the case,' the lawyers, Todd Blanche and Susan Necheles, wrote." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Trump must choose lawyers based on tests of their ability to write in the style of a Trump tweet. In this filing, they did fault Hillary Clinton for commissioning the so-called Steele Dossier via an attorney for her campaign, but they forgot to call Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg a racist. So B+ effort, Todd & Susan.

Fin Gomez, et al., of CBS News: "... Donald Trump moved Thursday to dismiss his $500 million lawsuit against his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, without prejudice, allowing him to refile the suit again in the future. Trump's campaign issued a statement to CBS News, claiming that the civil and criminal battles he's waging, along with his 2024 presidential campaign, are currently occupying too much of his time to pursue the lawsuit at this time.... In a statement to CBS News, Cohen called the lawsuit 'nothing more than a retaliatory intimidation tactic, and his attempt to hide from routine discovery procedures confirms as much.'" MB: Fortunately, Trump's campaign statement was conciliatory & circumspect: ~~~

Given that President Trump is required to sit for deposition in a civil matter on Columbus Day, when he is scheduled to be in the Great State of New Hampshire, and while the President is fighting against the meritless claims that have been lodged against him in New York, Washington D.C., Florida, and Georgia, as well as continuing his winning campaign, where he is leading the Republicans by 60 points and Crooked Joe Biden by 11 points, to serve as our next President of the United States, President Trump has decided to temporarily pause his meritorious claims against Michael Cohen.

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The two leading candidates to become the next Republican speaker of the House worked the phones and the halls of the Capitol on Thursday, vying for support from within their party's fractured ranks as the chamber remained in a state of paralysis after the ouster of Representative Kevin McCarthy of California. Representatives Steve Scalise, the majority leader, and Jim Jordan, the Judiciary Committee chairman, had each landed more than a dozen endorsements by the afternoon as they raced toward a vote of Republicans tentatively scheduled for Tuesday. An election on the House floor could follow the next day, though the process could stretch much longer if no consensus can be reached.... Donald J. Trump, whose far-right acolytes in Congress helped lead the rebellion that has plunged the House into chaos, threatened to weigh in himself in what could become an epic struggle.... Some right-wing Republicans are encouraging Mr. Trump to make a run for speaker himself, though the party's current conference rules would block him from doing so because he is under multiple felony indictments and facing the possibility of significant prison time." ~~~

     ~~~ The story has been updated to include this news: "'Congressman Jim Jordan has been a STAR long before making his very successful journey to Washington, D.C.,' Mr. Trump wrote in a Truth Social message that was posted at 12:13 a.m. on Friday. 'He will be a GREAT Speaker of the House, & has my Complete & Total Endorsement!'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Although House rules say individuals under indictment cannot serve as speaker, "these rules aren't legally binding and aren't always followed." As speaker, Trump would be third in line to the presidency, after President Biden & Vice President Harris. If Trump should accept the speakership, my advice to the Secret Service is to immediately remove Biden and Harris to undisclosed locations. Just saying. ~~~

~~~ Trump Not Likely to Return to Scene of Crime, After All. Kristen Holmes, et al., of CNN: "... Donald Trump said Thursday that, if needed, he would be open to serving as speaker of the House for a 'short period of time' until Republican lawmakers settle on a candidate who could garner enough votes to serve as their leader. However, a source close to Trump told CNN later Thursday that the former president has privately told those around him that he wants to endorse Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio for speaker, and believes he is the best person for the job. Separately, a source who has discussed the speaker's race with Trump said he is expected to endorse Jordan in the near future. The former president is not expected to go to Capitol Hill, the source close to Trump said. He had been considering a visit to speak with Republicans in the coming days as they weigh a new speaker, a source familiar with discussions told CNN earlier in the day." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Wait, wait! Trump doesn't have time to attend his criminal trial for stealing & hoarding classified documents. He doesn't even have time to sue Michael Cohen because it would mean he'd have to testify under oath in a deposition. BUT he has time to be speaker of the house????

AND Alexandra Petri of the Washington Post offers her assistance by providing a free subscription-required job ad: "Help wanted! We are in urgent need of a new speaker for the House of Representatives! Our most recent speaker, Kevin, had to leave unexpectedly, and we are shorthanded with a lot of important business coming up!... What does the job entail? You have one job: Make all the laws for the entire country. This includes passing a budget so the government can keep running! If this sounds too overwhelming, just impeach the president." ~~~

~~~ Chris Hayes does a good job of putting Speaker Trump in context:

Note from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.): RINOs attacked & booed me. Send money. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Marie: Thankfully, Republican senators are a lot more thoughtful than the crass GOP clowns in the House. Here's a report on the philosophical musings of the junior senator from Oklahoma: ~~~

     ~~~ Ben Blanchet of the Huffington Post: "Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) accused Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) of openly detailing his sexual experiences to fellow lawmakers in a bonkers interview with CNN on Wednesday....'He bragged about how he would crush E.D. [erectile dysfunction] medicine and chase it with energy drinks so he could go all night. This is obviously before he got married,' Mullin told CNN's Manu Raju.... 'There's a reason why no one in the conference came and defended him ― because we had all seen the videos he was showing on the House floor that all of us had walked away, of the girls he had slept with,' Mullin said.... [Gaetz replied,] This is a lie from someone who doesn't know me and who is coping with the death of the political career of his friend Kevin. Thoughts and prayers.'... Mullin's claims arrive on the same day Marc Short, chief of staff for former Vice President Mike Pence, said Gaetz more likely came to Washington 'for the teenage interns on Capitol Hill' than to be a 'fiscal crusader.'" (Also linked yesterday.) Plus this: ~~~

Sen. Markwayne Mullin dishes some more on Matt Gaetz's behavior in Congress, claiming his first interaction with Gaetz involved him drooling over Kristi Noem and calling her a "fine b-word." pic.twitter.com/KACrBdIwES

— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) October 5, 2023

      ~~~ Marie: Careful there, Matt. Cory Lewandowski, who reportedly is having a years-long affair with Kristi (married with children), might beat the crap out of you if you hit on his lady friend.

Uh-oh, Georgie. Grace Ashford & Michael Gold of the New York Times: "The treasurer who oversaw the finances of Representative George Santos's political campaigns surrendered to federal prosecutors on Thursday afternoon and admitted to her role in fraudulently reporting a fictional $500,000 loan that Mr. Santos claimed to have made to his campaign. The bookkeeper, Nancy Marks, pleaded guilty to one felony count of conspiracy to defraud the United States. She also admitted to falsifying and inflating financial numbers and making numerous false statements in conjunction with Mr. Santos, a Republican from New York. Under the terms of her deal, she faces a recommended sentence of between three and four years in prison.... According to court documents, the $53,200 in false donations boosted the campaign's total to $251,549.68, just above the $250,000 threshold ... that would allow Mr. Santos to get logistical and financial support [from the Republican party committee].... Ms. Marks's lawyer told reporters that Ms. Marks had not formally agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in their case against Mr. Santos." (This is an update of a story linked yesterday.)

Daniel Strauss of the New Republic (April 2023): For years, Clarence Thomas BFF (just ask Clarence) & billionaire Harlan Crow "was doling out donations and referring friends to No Labels, the outside group that claims to offer an avowedly nonpartisan approach to politics.... Between 2019 and 2021, Crow donated over $130,000 to No Labels.... Crow referred other donors to No Labels.... By 2021, Crow had steered nearly two dozen other donors to No Labels, the information provided to The New Republic shows.... No Labels has been torched by Democrats and Democratic-leaning groups, including the moderate Third Way, for mounting an effort that's almost bound to hurt Biden" Thanks to Jack M. & Ken W. for the link. TNR is subscriber-firewalled, but I don't have a subscription, and I was able to access the article through the link above, perhaps because it's an old story. (Also linked yesterday.)

Heather Knight of the New York Times: "'Millions of girls my age and long after me have grown blissfully free of the yokes our grandmothers wore because Dianne Feinstein wrestled them off,' [San Francisco] Mayor London Breed, 49, told the crowd who had gathered in her city under unusually hot temperatures to honor the late senator. 'She showed the way.' The memorial for Ms. Feinstein, who died on Sept. 29 at age 90, was by turns a celebration of her long and unwavering efforts around gun control and opposition to wartime torture, a deeply personal remembrance by her granddaughter, and a testament to her love of all things San Francisco.... Almost everyone on the stage outside San Francisco's City Hall on Thursday afternoon was a woman: the vice president [Kamala Harris], the former speaker of the House [Nancy Pelosi], the city's mayor and more."

Uh-oh, Rudy. Chris Cameron of the New York Times: "The I.R.S. has placed a lien on a Florida property owned by Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and lawyer for Donald J. Trump, because he owes roughly $550,000 in income taxes, according to a court filing. The property, a lakeside condominium in Palm Beach, sits less than three miles from Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump's private club and residence. Mr. Giuliani and his ex-wife had tried to sell it for $3.3 million in 2019, but never found a buyer, according to The Palm Beach Daily News.... The action by federal officials over Mr. Giuliani's 2021 income taxes is the latest sign of his growing financial troubles."

Presidential Race 2024. Cornel West & Other Pains in the Ass. Amy Wang & Michael Scherer of the Washington Post: "Cornel West, a liberal activist who launched a presidential bid in June, announced Thursday that he will leave the Green Party and run as an independent instead.... This is the second time West has changed his mind about how he will approach his campaign. When he launched his effort, West said he would run for the People's Party nomination, then abandoned that strategy to focus on the Green Party, which already had greater ballot access.... Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is mounting a long-shot challenge to President Biden in the 2024 Democratic primary, has suggested that he is considering a pivot to a third-party campaign. Self-help guru Marianne Williamson also is running as a Democrat."

~~~~~~~~~~

Alabamy. Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "A federal court on Thursday ordered Alabama to use a new congressional map that could lead the state to elect two Black representatives for the first time in its history by creating a second district with close to a majority of Black voters. The order, the culmination of a nearly two-year fight over the Republican-dominated state's illegal dilution of Black voting power, could also lead to Democrats picking up another seat at a moment when control of the House of Representatives hinges on a thin conservative margin. A three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama signed off on a map that increases the percentage of Black voters in one of the state's six majority-white congressional districts to 48.7 percent, up from about 30 percent, while preserving the state's lone existing majority-Black district." The NPR story is here. Thanks to Ken W. for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)

Wisconsin. Patrick Marley of the Washington Post: "A man with a handgun showed up at the Wisconsin Capitol demanding to see Gov. Tony Evers (D) on Wednesday, was arrested, posted bail, returned to the Statehouse with a rifle and was taken into protective custody, according to police. The shirtless man had a holstered handgun and leashed dog with him when he appeared at the security desk outside of the governor's office Wednesday afternoon demanding to see the governor, according to a statement from the state police. An officer arrested him for openly carrying a firearm. The man was booked into jail and posted bail. He returned to the outside of the Capitol with a loaded AK-47 around 9 p.m., three hours after the Statehouse closed.... He asked to see the governor again. Officers ... asked to search his backpack. He agreed and they found a police baton, which they said violated state law...." The AP report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

~~~~~~~~~~

Mithil Aggarwal of NBC News: "Jailed Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for her fight against women's oppression in Iran and advocating for human rights. Berit Reiss-Andersen, head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said in a news conference in Oslo that 'her brave struggle has come with tremendous personal cost.'"

Scotland. Mark Landler of the New York Times: "Britain's opposition Labour Party won back a parliamentary seat in Scotland on Friday by a thumping margin, after a closely watched race that had been viewed as a barometer of the party's national appeal before a general election next year.... The result was striking evidence of a Labour revival in Scotland. But the broader significance is for the party's looming national contest with the governing Conservative Party.... It also dramatizes the collapsing fortunes of the Scottish nationalists, for many years a hugely powerful force in Scottish politics, led by the charismatic Nicola Sturgeon. Her sudden resignation in February plunged the party into division, and within months it was hit by a financial scandal that undermined voter confidence."

News Lede

CNBC: "Job growth was stronger than expected in September, a sign that the U.S. economy is hanging tough despite higher interest rates, labor strife and dysfunction in Washington. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 336,000 for the month, better than the Dow Jones consensus estimate for 170,000 and more than 100,000 higher than the previous month, the Labor Department said Friday in a much-anticipated report. The unemployment rate was 3.8%, compared to the forecast for 3.7%."

The Conversation -- October 5, 2023

Biden Builds the Wall, Ctd. Priscilla Alvarez of CNN: "President Joe Biden said Thursday that he doesn't believe border walls work, even as his administration said it will waive 26 laws to build additional border barriers in the Rio Grande Valley amid heightened political pressure over migration.... The administration was under a deadline to use [the funds] or lose them.... Biden -- who, as a candidate, vowed that there will 'not be another foot' of border wall constructed on his watch -- defended the decision to reporters Thursday, saying that he tried to get the money appropriated for other purposes but was unsuccessful. 'I'll answer one question on the border wall: 'The ... money was appropriated for the border wall. I tried to get them to reappropriate it, to redirect that money. They didn't, they wouldn't. And in the meantime, there's nothing under the law other than they have to use the money for what it was appropriated. I can't stop that,' Biden told reporters in the Oval Office. Asked whether he believes the border wall works, Biden answered, 'No.'"

Paul Farhi of the Washington Post: "Last week, the Republican Party's leading presidential candidate proposed executing suspected shoplifters.... Trump's advocacy of extrajudicial killings was widely covered by newspapers and TV stations in California but generally ignored by the national press.... CNN and MSNBC mentioned it during panel discussions over the next few days. The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, NPR and PBS didn't report it at all. The New York Times wrote about it four days later, playing the story on Page 14 of its print edition. The Anaheim speech was part of a pattern of increasingly aggressive rhetoric by Trump -- and a somewhat muted response by the news media to his repeated exhortations to violence....

"'Bombarded by a constant stream of deranged authoritarian extremism from a man who might soon return to the presidency, [journalists] have lost all sense of scale and perspective,' [Brian] Klaas wrote in the Atlantic last week, in a headline that felt both jarring and unsurprising: 'Trump Floats the Idea of Executing Joint Chiefs Chairman Milley.' Klaas continued: 'But neither the American press nor the public can afford to be lulled. The man who, as president, incited a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol in order to overturn an election is again openly fomenting political violence while explicitly endorsing authoritarian strategies should he return to power.'"

Your Move, Judge Aileen. Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Lawyers for ... Donald J. Trump have again asked a federal judge to postpone until after the 2024 election his trial on charges of mishandling classified documents. In a court filing on Wednesday night, Mr. Trump's legal team proposed moving the start of the trial to mid-November from May 20, the date set by Judge Aileen M. Cannon. It was not the first time Mr. Trump has sought to push back the trial, in which he stands accused of illegally holding onto dozens of classified documents after leaving office and conspiring with two aides to obstruct the government's repeated effort to retrieve them."

Ella Lee of the Hill: "The judge overseeing former President Trump's fraud trial in New York Thursday issued an order barring Trump or any other defendants in the sweeping case from transferring any assets or creating a new entity to acquire them without disclosure first. The order, which came via the case's online docket, was delivered on the fourth day of the trial, which was prompted after Judge Arthur Engoron found Trump liable for fraud, ruling that New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) had proved the crux of her case. As part of that decision, Engoron ordered the selection of an independent monitor of Trump's businesses. On Thursday, Engoron said that appointed monitor -- former Judge Barbara Jones -- must be informed if the defendants intend to move their assets or create a new entity that isn't a defendant in the case to acquire them."

Congressman Has a Good Idea. Sahil Kapur & Summer Concepcion of NBC News: "A Democratic House member is asking Palm Beach County, Florida, to tax Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago property at the rate the former president claims it is worth amid his ongoing civil fraud trial in New York.... Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., issued the request to Dorothy Jacks, Palm Beach County's property appraiser.... Trump has raged against [New York Judge Arthur] Engoron's ruling [that Trump committed fraud], insisting that his Florida resort is worth '50 to 100 times' what prosecutors in the New York civil case have said, or 'closer to $1.5 billion.' 'Between 2011 and 2021, you value the Mar-a-Lago property between $18 million and $28 million,' Moskowitz wrote in the letter to the Palm Beach County appraiser. 'Mar-a-Lago was listed as worth $490 million in financial documents given to banks,' he wrote. '... Will you be amending the property value in line with the Trump family's belief that the property is worth well over a billion dollars?'"

Uh-oh, Georgie. Grace Ashford of the New York Times: "The accountant who oversaw the finances of Representative George Santos's political campaigns has agreed to plead guilty to one or more federal felony charges, according to court papers and an official with the Eastern District of New York. The accountant, Nancy Marks, has handled the finances of some of New York's most powerful Republicans over the years, and has been dogged by allegations of wrongdoing. She is expected to appear in federal court in Central Islip, N.Y., on Thursday to formally enter a guilty plea, according to the court official.... It is unclear how the case against Ms. Marks will affect Mr. Santos, who in May was indicted and charged with 13 counts of wire fraud, money laundering, stealing public funds and lying on federal disclosure forms." The AP's story is here. MB: Unclear, maybe, but looks a lot like a flip to me.

Note from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.): RINOs attacked & booed me. Send money. ~~~

~~~ Marie: Thankfully, Republican senators are a lot more thoughtful than the crass GOP clowns in the House. Here's a report on the philosophical musings of the junior senator from Oklahoma: ~~~

     ~~~ Ben Blanchet of the Huffington Post: "Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) accused Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) of openly detailing his sexual experiences to fellow lawmakers in a bonkers interview with CNN on Wednesday....'He bragged about how he would crush E.D. [erectile dysfunction] medicine and chase it with energy drinks so he could go all night. This is obviously before he got married,' Mullin told CNN's Manu Raju.... 'There's a reason why no one in the conference came and defended him ― because we had all seen the videos he was showing on the House floor that all of us had walked away, of the girls he had slept with,' Mullin said.... [Gaetz replied,] This is a lie from someone who doesn't know me and who is coping with the death of the political career of his friend Kevin. Thoughts and prayers.'... Mullin's claims arrive on the same day Marc Short, chief of staff for former Vice President Mike Pence, said Gaetz more likely came to Washington 'for the teenage interns on Capitol Hill' than to be a 'fiscal crusader.'"

Alabamy. Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "A federal court on Thursday ordered Alabama to use a new congressional map that could lead the state to elect two Black representatives for the first time in its history by creating a second district with close to a majority of Black voters. The order, the culmination of a nearly two-year fight over the Republican-dominated state's illegal dilution of Black voting power, could also lead to Democrats picking up another seat at a moment when control of the House of Representatives hinges on a thin conservative margin. A three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama signed off on a map that increases the percentage of Black voters in one of the state's six majority-white congressional districts to 48.7 percent, up from about 30 percent, while preserving the state's lone existing majority-Black district." The NPR story is here. Thanks to Ken W. for the link.

Wisconsin. Patrick Marley of the Washington Post: "A man with a handgun showed up at the Wisconsin Capitol demanding to see Gov. Tony Evers (D) on Wednesday, was arrested, posted bail, returned to the Statehouse with a rifle and was taken into protective custody, according to police. The shirtless man had a holstered handgun and leashed dog with him when he appeared at the security desk outside of the governor's office Wednesday afternoon demanding to see the governor, according to a statement from the state police. An officer arrested him for openly carrying a firearm. The man was booked into jail and posted bail. He returned to the outside of the Capitol with a loaded AK-47 around 9 p.m., three hours after the Statehouse closed.... He asked to see the governor again. Officers ... asked to search his backpack. He agreed and they found a police baton, which they said violated state law...." The AP report is here.

Daniel Strauss of the New Republic (April 2023): For years, Clarence Thomas BFF (just ask Clarence) & billionaire Harlan Crow "was doling out donations and referring friends to No Labels, the outside group that claims to offer an avowedly nonpartisan approach to politics.... Between 2019 and 2021, Crow donated over $130,000 to No Labels.... Crow referred other donors to No Labels.... By 2021, Crow had steered nearly two dozen other donors to No Labels, the information provided to The New Republic shows.... No Labels has been torched by Democrats and Democratic-leaning groups, including the moderate Third Way, for mounting an effort that's almost bound to hurt Biden." Thanks to Jack M. & Ken W. for the link. TNR is subscriber-firewalled, but I don't have a subscription, and I was able to access the article through the link above, perhaps because it's an old story.

Ooh, AOC is so mean. Thanks to RAS for the link: ~~~

Contrary to how McCarthy’s defenders are behaving, men failing up is not a Constitutionally protected right.

The man made risky decisions and faced the natural consequences of them. I am not his mom, and my job is not to put pool noodles around hard corners for Republicans.

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 4, 2023

~~~~~~~~~~

Zach Montague of the New York Times: "President Biden canceled an additional $9 billion in student debt on Wednesday as repayments started up again this month after a three-year pause. The move affects 125,000 people who qualify under existing programs, including for public-service workers such as teachers and firefighters and for people on permanent disability, according to a White House statement.... The announcement comes as Mr. Biden tries to find workarounds to offer some debt relief after the Supreme Court struck down his more ambitious plan over the summer.... 'The money was literally about to go out the door, but Republican elected officials and special interests stepped up and sued us,' [the President] said [of his original plan]. 'The Supreme Court sided with them, snatching from the hands of millions of Americans thousands of dollars in student debt relief that was about to change their lives.'... The money [cancelled in this order] comes through 'fixes' the Education Department made to several debt relief programs, including the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program." A CNBC story is here. ~~~

~~~ Tara Bernard of the New York Times: "Here are five things to know as the monthly bills [for student loan repayment] arrive again[.]"

About Time. Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Biden's dog Commander is no longer living in the White House after a series of biting incidents involving staff members and Secret Service personnel, according to a spokeswoman for Jill Biden, the first lady. Elizabeth Alexander, Dr. Biden's communications director, said the dog was no longer living with the first family.... The move came days after Commander, a 2-year-old German shepherd, bit a Secret Service officer. It was the 11th episode of 'aggressive behavior' by the president's pets, many of them involving Commander and the officers and agents who protect the president." An NBC News story is here.

¡Qué va! Biden Builds the Wall??? Valerie Gonzalez of the AP: "The Biden administration announced it waived 26 federal laws in South Texas to allow border wall construction on Wednesday, marking the administration's first use of a sweeping executive power employed often during the Trump presidency. The Department of Homeland Security posted the announcement on the U.S. Federal Registry with few details outlining the construction in Starr County, Texas, which is part of a busy Border Patrol sector seeing 'high illegal entry.' According to government data, about 245,000 illegal entries have been recorded so far this fiscal year in the Rio Grande Valley Sector which contains 21 counties. 'There is presently an acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers and roads in the vicinity of the border of the United States in order to prevent unlawful entries into the United States in the project areas,' Alejandro Mayorkas, the DHS secretary, stated in the notice."

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "There was a time, not that long ago, when the United States ... held itself up as a model of a stable, predictable democracy.... Instead, it has become an example of disarray and discord, one that rewards extremism, challenges norms and threatens to divide a polarized country even further.... The institutions that were already strained during Donald J. Trump's presidency now face a series of profound stress tests.... Outside the courtroom in New York on Wednesday, the former president proved undaunted by the gag order as he attacked the judge who imposed it. 'He's run by the Democrats,' Mr. Trump claimed. 'Our whole system is corrupt. This is corrupt. Atlanta is corrupt. And what's coming out of D.C. is corrupt.'... What is different now, according to some scholars, is that Republicans under Mr. Trump have directly attacked the foundation of the democratic system by refusing to accept an election that they lost and by tolerating if not encouraging political violence, most notably the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol."

Stephen Collinson of CNN: Kevin "McCarthy's short speakership underscored how the Republican Party in the age of Donald Trump has turned into one of the great forces of instability in American life, and potentially the world, with the ex-president dominating the 2024 GOP primary as he takes aim at a wrecking ball second term. A party that once defined conservatism as preserving a traditional sense of steadiness and strength has evolved over the last three decades into a haven for chaos agents, stunt politics and a perpetual ideological revolution that keeps driving it to new extremes. The party's willingness to accept the outrageous was also on display Tuesday in New York, where Trump ranted in a corridor outside a courtroom hearing his fraud trial and was slapped with a gag order for attacking a judge's clerk on social media.... In a party in which trying to break the cherished chain of peaceful transfers of presidential power, being criminally indicted four times and cozying up to some of the world's most bloodthirsty dictators is not a disqualification (see Trump), McCarthy's reluctant search for compromise [with Democrats] was unpardonable."

Amber Phillips of the Washington Post: Speakers of the House "call the House to order; they allow members of Congress to deliver remarks in one-minute floor speeches; they decide whether there's a quorum to allow business to be conducted; they decide what bills get voted on; they appoint key House staff members.... Most recently, the past two House speakers have announced an impeachment inquiry into the sitting president. None of that can be done by the ... Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick T. McHenry (R-N.C.).... Under ... rules [adopted after September 11, 2001], the temporary speaker can only preside over floor debate and voting about the election of a new speaker, said Charles Johnson, the former parliamentarian for the House during the [9/11] attacks.... Committees can probably continue holding hearings and votes without a speaker. But if they move legislation, there's no one to bring it to the floor. The speaker is also second in the line for president after the vice president. A temporary speaker does not fall in the line of succession, scholars say. So next up would be the acting president of the Senate, who is Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.)."

Now that Kevin McCarthy is out as Speaker, we can expect more reasonable people to run for the job. Like these guys: ~~~

~~~ (a) Hill: "Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) on Wednesday announced he would seek the Speakership." Great! Everything should go very smoothly. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ (b) Trump Won't Rule Out Accepting Speakership. Matt Dixon of NBC News: "'A lot of people have been calling me about speaker,' [Donald] Trump said Wednesday morning outside a New York City courthouse for the third day of New York Attorney General Letitia James' $250 million civil fraud trial against him. 'All I can say is we will do whatever is best for the country and other Republican Party and people.... The current rules of the Republican House conference actually prohibit someone charged with a felony from serving in leadership. Trump is facing dozens of felony charges." MB: Time to change the rules! (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ (c) Rebecca Beitsch of the Hill: "House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) formally threw his hat into the ring to replace ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), pushing the need for unity in a letter to colleagues." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So you're a Republican member of Congress. Would you choose as speaker (a) the guy who, while a college wrestling coach, (allegedly!) covered for the team doctor who reportedly sexually abused numerous team members; (b) a twice-impeached, 91-times indicted, financial fraudster, rapist & compulsive liar; OR (c) a guy who used to pal around with KKK grand wizard David Duke? It's almost like a better choice is the guy over in the Senate who (allegedly!) accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes, one of which is associated with a possible cover-up of his girlfriend's committing vehicular manslaughter (see links to stories below).

     ~~~ Marie: Did I mention that besides dumping their speaker, these yahoos did so without having any sort of plan -- as far as we know -- about how to replace him. So far it looks as if they're just going for holding vote after vote where GOP members vote for various candidates, with none receiving a majority, while Democrats all vote for Hakeem Jeffries.

Marie: Oh, call me the Oracle of D.C. As I speculated earlier Wednesday... ~~~

~~~ Annie Grayer, et al., of CNN: "Kevin McCarthy was behind interim Speaker Patrick McHenry's move to kick former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former Majority Leader Steny Hoyer out of their office spaces, two Republican sources told CNN. GOP Rep. Garret Graves told reporters on Wednesday that McCarthy is getting the office that McHenry has ordered her to vacate.... Sources close to Pelosi and Hoyer say it was retaliation for Democrats siding against McCarthy in voting to vacate the speaker's chair Tuesday. The unofficial offices are located near the House floor.... House Republican leadership also kicked Hoyer out of his Capitol hideaway office, his office confirmed to CNN on Wednesday." (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story, by Robert Draper, is here.

What Happened on National Kevin Day: ~~~

It's the Democrats' Fault. David Moye of the Huffington Post (Oct. 3): "... even though the Republican House is facing a dumpster fire to try to figure out who can get elected as the next speaker, GOP politicians and pundits decided the Democrats were at fault. Ari Fleischer, a White House press secretary in the George W. Bush administration, seemed to accuse the House Democrats of masterminding [Kevin] McCarthy's political demise 'with the help of Matt Gaetz,' even though it was the other way around. Others [MB: including McCarthy himself and his designated temporary replacement, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.)] chimed in with their own blame game." MB: I also saw clips of Fox personalities blaming Democrats; "You can't trust the Democrats," they told viewers.)~~~

~~~ Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "Why, particularly for the past decade or so, has it consistently been up to Democrats to be the line of defense [against GOP bad behavior]?... In a letter to his colleagues, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) detailed occasions in which [Kevin] McCarthy had broken agreements or refused consensus. (He also reminded Democrats that [Matt] Gaetz's ability to seek McCarthy's ouster followed a rules change to which McCarthy had agreed.) Even when it came to Tuesday's question on whether he should get to serve as speaker McCarthy told his caucus in private and said publicly in an interview on CNBC that he wasn't going to reach a compromise with Democrats. There was just the expectation -- or McCarthy would later claim such an expectation -- that the Democrats would side ... with tradition and stability.... [Throughout his tenure,] McCarthy's party gave [Donald] Trump and his supporters space -- and encouragement -- to shred Washington and to undercut the functions of democracy."

This 400-pound Guy Working Out of His Basement Foments GOP Chaos. Annie Karni of the New York Times: "From [a] cavelike studio not far from where Congress meets, [Steve] Bannon, the former Trump adviser, has been stoking the chaos now gripping the Republican Party, capitalizing on the spectacle to build his own following and using his popular podcast to prop up and egg on the G.O.P. rebels.... With [Kevin] McCarthy's historic downfall this week, his wing of the party has claimed its most prominent trophy.... He is a vital part of a feedback loop of red-meat media hits and social media posts, online fund-raising and unfettered preaching to an often angry and fervently right-wing base that rewards disruptions and detests institutions.... For weeks, Mr. Bannon has been strategizing with Mr. Gaetz on the bid to take down Mr. McCarthy, offering himself up as a sounding board as Mr. Gaetz plotted his moves."

Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Facing a pileup of spending bills and a possible government shutdown, 20 Republican senators led by Sen. Rick Scott (Fla.) say they will delay any legislation moving on the Senate floor that does not relate directly to funding the government. Scott circulated a letter at the Senate Republican lunch Wednesday warning Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) that GOP lawmakers will not tolerate further delay to the annual appropriations bills, none of which has yet passed the Senate..., because they fear that letting the spending legislation pile up until December will inevitably lead to Congress passing another massive omnibus spending package."

** How Nadine Menendez Got a New Mercedes After Killing a Man with the Old One. Nicholas Fandos, et al., of the New York Times: "... in December 2018..., Nadine Arslanian, the soon-to-be wife of Senator Robert Menendez, was zipping through the darkened streets of suburban New Jersey in a black Mercedes-Benz sedan [when she hit a pedestrian crossing the street].... The crash that ensued just after 7:30 p.m. killed the man, Richard Koop, 49, almost instantly. His body was thrown to the curb just steps from his home and badly mangled, according to the Bergen County medical examiner. After brief questioning, the police concluded that Ms. Menendez, who was alone in the vehicle, was 'not at fault.' She was released without a summons. What happened that night in the borough of Bogota outside New York City was not reported for years.... But now..., the episode adds a startling dimension to [the Menendez] scandal.... Prosecutors said in ... charging papers that Ms. Menendez needed a car so badly after a December 2018 'accident' that the senator, a Democrat, was willing to try to suppress an unrelated criminal prosecution for a New Jersey businessman in exchange for a $60,000 Mercedes convertible. [Emphasis added.]...

"Interviews, police reports, dashcam footage, audio of 911 calls and other records reviewed by The New York Times also raise additional questions about the inquiry into the collision itself, which was reported earlier Wednesday by The Record of New Jersey.... One witness at the scene said in an interview that officers appeared to know who Ms. Menendez was and treated her with striking deference. Police recordings captured the voice of a man who identifies himself as a retired police officer from a nearby department. He can be heard saying he came to the scene as 'a favor' to a friend whose wife knew Ms. Menendez.... The police reports indicate [Ms. Arslanian] was never tested for drugs or alcohol, and was allowed to leave the scene...." Politico's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Here are ABC News "highlights" of Day 3 of the Trump fraud trial.

AP Compares Trump to Putin & Li'l Kim. Michelle Price & Nicholas Riccardi of the AP: "From his earliest days in public life as a New York real estate tycoon, [Donald] Trump has favored language that makes him appear tough and scrappy, particularly when it comes to crime and retribution for his perceived enemies. But the rhetorical escalation on display in recent weeks is notable for its parallels to the hardline approaches that are hallmarks of authoritarian regimes that he has occasionally praised, such as the rule of Russian President Vladimir Putin or North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un. 'Violence is his political project now,' said Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a historian at New York University. 'It is the thing, besides his own victimhood, that he brings up the most.'... Trump's words also can rile up his supporters and have direct consequences, most glaringly in the case of Jan. 6, 2021.... They can also rile up Trump's own party, which then incorporates the former president's vendettas and impulses into its own agenda."

Matt Flegenheimer & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "For more than a decade, friends conceded grimly, [Rudolph] Giuliani's drinking had been a problem. And as he surged back to prominence during the presidency of Donald J. Trump, it was getting more difficult to hide it.... Now, prosecutors in the federal election case against Mr. Trump have shown an interest in the drinking habits of Mr. Giuliani -- and whether the former president ignored what his aides described as the plain inebriation of the former mayor referred to in court documents as 'Co-Conspirator 1.'... The office of the special counsel, Jack Smith, has questioned witnesses about Mr. Giuliani's alcohol consumption as he was advising Mr. Trump, including on election night.... Mr. Smith's investigators have also asked about Mr. Trump's level of awareness of his lawyer's drinking as they worked to overturn the election.... The answers to those prompts could complicate any efforts by Mr. Trump's team to lean on a so-called advice-of-counsel defense.... Privately, Mr. Trump, who has long described himself as a teetotaler, has spoken derisively about Mr. Giuliani's drinking...." ~~~

     ~~~ Kelly Garrity of Politico: "... Rudy Giuliani vehemently denied having a drinking problem Wednesday, following a report [linked above] from the New York Times.... 'I do not have an alcohol problem. I have never had an alcohol problem,' Giuliani said during a press conference in Concord, New Hampshire in response to questions about the Times report. '[If] I have an alcohol problem, I should be in the Guinness Book of World Records,' Giuliani said, citing his various accomplishments and his job history as evidence refuting the report. 'Nobody could have achieved that if they did [have a drinking problem].... I was working 24 hours a day. It's a big damn lie,' Giuliani told reporters, who had gathered outside Merrimack County Superior Court to hear the former mayor announce his plans to sue President Joe Biden over a comment Biden made about him during the 2020 presidential race." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Rudy was standing right in my path to Lowe's, so I'm thankful I decided against going to town to buy mortar mix yesterday, as I had sorta planned to do. Sometimes there's a reward for procrastination. ~~~

~~~ Most Frivolous Lawsuit Ever. Zach Schonfeld of the Hill: "Rudy Giuliani sued President Biden for defamation Wednesday over his comments calling the former New York City mayor a 'Russian pawn' during a 2020 presidential debate." This is the same Rudy Giuliani who admitted he "mounted a sustained smear campaign against [two private citizens who were low-level election workers] by repeatedly accusing them of committing voter fraud to change the outcome of the 2020 election in Georgia' and claimed the women were passing back and forth USB sticks passing around USB ports "as if they were vials of heroin or cocaine." Moreover, the evidence developed so far indicates Rudy did serve as what could accurately be characterized as a "Russian pawn," when he bought into false conspiracy theories pressed by pro-Russian Ukrainians, efforts that led to Donald Trump's first impeachment. (Also linked yesterday.)

Lawrence Hurley of NBC News: "The Supreme Court appeared unlikely Tuesday to scuttle a federal agency set up to protect consumers from predatory lenders and other unlawful financial services practices as the justices considered a constitutional challenge backed by business groups. Both conservative and liberal justices seemed skeptical of the theory pushed by the plaintiffs that the mechanism allowing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB, to be funded directly by the Federal Reserve is unconstitutional.... The legal question before the Supreme Court on Tuesday rests squarely on the conclusion reached by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled in October of last year that the bureau's funding mechanism was unlawful. The court concluded that the funding structure, whereby Congress does not directly appropriate funding, runs afoul of the Constitution's directive requiring it to do so. That is despite the fact that Congress itself set up the CFPB and approved the current funding structure when it passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in 2010." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Ian Millhiser of Vox weighs in: "By the end of the argument, even Justice Clarence Thomas ... appeared fed up with [former Trump solicitor General Noel] Francisco's inability to articulate a coherent argument [against CFPB funding]." (Also linked yesterday.)

Although "Justice" Clarence Thomas recused himself from a case brought by his former clerk John Eastman AND in which Thomas's wife Ginni was involved, Jessica Corbett of Common Dreams notes that Thomas thought it was fine to weigh in on a New York City rent-control case in which Thomas's benefactor Harlan Crow has a vested interest. Revolving Door Project executive director Jeff Hauser said, "Crow's industry lobbyist of choice, the National Multifamily Housing Council, filed an amicus brief urging the 2nd Circuit to take up the challenge to New York City's rent control law in 2021.... While the NMHC did not file a brief for the case before the Supreme Court, there should be little doubt that Thomas and his clerks are aware of NMHC's, and therefore Crow's, interest in the case." Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)

MEANWHILE, Thomas-Crow matchmaker Leonard Leo has determined he also is above following normative laws and practices: ~~~

~~~ Heidi Przybyla of Politico: "Judicial activist Leonard Leo is not cooperating with an investigation by Washington D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb for potentially misusing nonprofit tax laws for personal enrichment, his attorney confirmed. David Rivkin, Leo's attorney, said in a statement to Politico that Schwalb has 'no legal authority to conduct any investigatory steps or take any enforcement measures' because Leo's multi-billion-dollar aligned nonprofits -- which poured millions into campaigning for the nominations of conservative Supreme Court justices and advocating before them -- were organized outside of D.C. Leo's consulting firm, CRC Advisors is registered in D.C. and his main aligned nonprofit, The 85 Fund, used a D.C. mailing address for at least a decade." (Also linked yesterday.)

Samantha Delouya of CNN: "On Wednesday, more than 75,000 unionized employees of Kaiser Permanente, one of the nation's largest not-for-profit health providers, walked off the job, marking the largest health care worker strike in US history. The striking employees, who work across California, Colorado, Washington, Virginia, Oregon and Washington, DC, are represented by a coalition of eight unions that comprise 40% of Kaiser Permanente's total staff. The vast majority of the striking workers are in West Coast states. The strike began at 6 am local time, and will run through Saturday morning." Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)

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** Republicans Are Killing You. Lauren Weber, et al., of the Washington Post: "Americans are more likely to die before age 65 than residents of similar nations, despite living in a country that spends substantially more per person on health care than its peers. Many of those early deaths can be traced to decisions made years agoby local and state lawmakers over whether to implement cigarette taxes, invest in public health or tighten seat-belt regulations, among other policies, an examination by The Washington Post found. States' politics -- and their resulting policies -- are shaving years off American lives.... Today, people in the South and Midwest, regions largely controlled by Republican state legislators, have increasingly higher chances of dying prematurely compared with those in the more Democratic Northeast and West, according to The Post's analysis of death rates.... [For instance,] many of [Ohio]'s [poor] public health outcomes are a direct result of political decisions..., experts say, pointing to differences in Medicaid and safety net funding, as well as tobacco taxes and highway safety laws between Ohio and its neighbors. They note that Republicans' stranglehold on the legislature, after defying repeated court orders to redraw state voting maps, has protected those politicians from the consequences of their votes."

Colorado. Déjà Vu All Over Again. Colleen Slevin & Jesse Bedayn of the AP: "On the heels of a U.S. Supreme Court victory this summer for a graphic artist who didn't want to design wedding websites for same-sex couples, Colorado's highest court said Tuesday it will now hear the case of a Christian baker who refused to make a cake celebrating a gender transition. The announcement by the Colorado Supreme Court is the latest development in the yearslong legal saga involving Jack Phillips and LGBTQ+ rights. Phillips won a partial victory before the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018 after refusing to make a gay couple's wedding cake.... The key issue in the case is whether the cakes Phillips creates are a form of speech and whether forcing him to make a cake with a message he does not support is a violation of his First Amendment right to free speech."

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Brazil. Diana Duran of the Washington Post: "More than 150 ... [pink river dolphins] have died in [Lake Tefé] in Brazil's Amazonas state, alarming scientists and wildlife advocates. The cause is unknown, but scientists say the likeliest culprit is extreme heat and drought, possibly linked to climate change and the El Niño phenomenon. The water temperature in Lake Tefé has reached 102 degrees Fahrenheit -- 59 degrees more than the average for a body of water in the Amazon -- and water levels have fallen dramatically. When the water is that warm, dolphins become disoriented, said Claudia Sacramento, head of the Environmental Emergencies Division at the governmental Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation. The loss of oxygen triggers an increase in their cell metabolism, and they die of asphyxia."

News Lede

New York Times: "The Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded on Thursday to the Norwegian novelist and playwright Jon Fosse 'for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable.'"