The Conversation -- May 11, 2025
Wafaa Shurafa & Samy Magdy of the AP: "Hamas said Sunday that the last living American hostage in Gaza, Edan Alexander, will be released as part of efforts to establish a ceasefire, reopen crossings into the Israeli-blockaded territory and resume the delivery of aid. Two Hamas officials told The Associated Press they expect the release in the next 48 hours. The announcement of the first hostage release since Israel shattered a ceasefire in March comes shortly before ... Donald Trump visits the Middle East this week. It highlighted the willingness of Israel's closest ally to inject momentum into ceasefire talks for the 19-month war as desperation grows among hostages' families and Gaza's over 2 million people under the new Israeli blockade. Alexander is an Israeli-American soldier who grew up in New Jersey. He was abducted from his base during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack that ignited the war in Gaza."
Troy Closson of the New York Times: "As Newark Liberty International Airport, one of the nation's busiest airports, struggled with technological disruptions and staffing shortages, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned in a television interview on Sunday that more U.S. airports could face similar disruptions as the busy summer travel season approached. Mr. Duffy, who recently announced a multibillion-dollar proposal to modernize and overhaul the country's air traffic control system, said in the interview that he would meet with the leaders of major airlines on Wednesday in Washington, D.C., to create a plan for scaling back flights at Newark. It was not clear by how much flights could be reduced.... The troubles at the nation's airports have created significant havoc for travelers, stranding some far from their destinations. [Besides the mounting troubles in Newark,] in Georgia, an equipment outage on Sunday led to a ground stop for more than an hour at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the area's largest airport, according to the F.A.A."
Elisabetta Povoledo of the New York Times: "Pope Leo XIV returned to the balcony where he was presented to the world as the new leader of the Roman Catholic church just days ago, using his first Sunday address to the faithful to call for peace. 'Never again war,' he said to a roar from the tens of thousands who had gathered in St. Peter's Square at noon. Leo's appeal was addressed to the world's most powerful leaders, and he noted that it had been almost 80 years to the day since the 'immense tragedy' of World War II had ended. He quoted Pope Francis, his predecessor, who often referred to the current global wave of violence as 'a third world war in pieces.'"
... And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State. -- U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 9, Clause 8
⭐~~~ Extraordinary Graft. Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The Trump administration plans to accept a luxury Boeing 747-8 plane as a donation from the Qatari royal family that will be upgraded to serve as Air Force One, in possibly the biggest foreign gift ever received by the U.S. government, a senior official ... said. The plane will then be donated to ... [Donald] Trump's presidential library when he leaves office, the official said, allowing him to continue using it as a private citizen. The plan raises substantial ethical issues, given the immense value of the lavishly-appointed plane and the fact that Mr. Trump plans to use it after he leaves office. Sold new, a commercial Boeing 747-8 costs in the range of $400 million.... The plane being donated by Qatar is expected to be retrofitted by a military contractor called L3Harris, in Texas, and that work can begin once the government approves how the plane is being acquired, the official said. It is expected to be finished being equipped with military capabilities by the end of the year, the official said, allowing Mr. Trump to use it while in office." ~~~
~~~ Here's the last graf: "The current plan has been signed off on by government lawyers who concluded it does not violate the emoluments clause of the Constitution and that the Defense Department can accept the gift, the official said." MB: Yeah, I'll bet those government lawyers signed off. Wouldn't we like to know who they were: Pam Bondi & Emil Bove?? And who will be doing the extensive remodeling and upkeep of Trump's plane? You and I, of course. ~~~
~~~ Oh, wait. This is from the ABC News report, which broke the story: "... Attorney General Pam Bondi and Trump's top White House lawyer David Warrington concluded it would be 'legally permissible' for the donation of the aircraft to be conditioned on transferring its ownership to Trump's presidential library before the end of his term.... Bondi provided a legal memorandum addressed to the White House counsel's office last week after Warrington asked her for advice on the legality of the Pentagon accepting such a donation.... Both the White House and DOJ concluded that because the gift is not conditioned on any official act, it does not constitute bribery, the sources said. Bondi's legal analysis also says it does not run afoul of the Constitution's prohibition on foreign gifts because the plane is not being given to an individual, but rather to the United States Air Force and, eventually, to the presidential library foundation, the sources said." MB: I was mostly kidding about Bondi. I should have known she would not even consider standing between Trump and a $400MM thing. ~~~
~~~ Marie: And on Mother's Day, let's not forget that while Trump is flying around in his "palace in the sky," he is cutting services and programs for young families, cutting R&D for medical and other scientific advancement that help us all, AND is raising the prices of everything that struggling young families need, especially safe products for babies and children like car seats & strollers (or as Trump would have it, "the thing you carry the baby around in").
Stephanie Loder of NJ.com: "The mounting air traffic control problems at Newark Liberty International Airport caused aviation officials to implement a ground stop for flights on Sunday morning, the third such incident in the past two weeks. The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed Sunday that there was a telecommunications outage that impacted communications and radar display at the Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control center known as TRACON, which manages air traffic control in the airspace surrounding the Newark airport. 'The FAA briefly slowed aircraft in and out of the airport while we ensured redundancies were working as designed," the FAA said in a statement. 'Operations have returned to normal." FAA advisories show the ground stop lasted for about 45 minutes, according to a CNN report."
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Bigmouth. Anupreeta Das, et al., of the New York Times: "India and Pakistan abruptly declared a cease-fire on Saturday after four days of rapidly escalating drone volleys, shelling and airstrikes that appeared to bring the old enemies to the brink of outright war. Hours later, each country accused the other of violating the deal.... Adding to the bewilderment many people felt at the breakneck pace of events, the truce was initially announced not by India or Pakistan but by [... Donald] Trump on social media. And it was not clear, as night fell on Saturday, that the cease-fire would take hold in Kashmir, where a terrorist attack last month on the Indian-controlled side killed 26 people and set off the crisis." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Trump's tweet, as usual, is hilariously stupid. Here's the text:
After a long night of talks mediated by the United States, I am pleased to announce that India and Pakistan have agreed to a FULL AND IMMEDIATE CEASEFIRE. Congratulations to both Countries on using Common Sense and Great Intelligence. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
~~~ "I am pleased to announce...."? That's what you write in promoting your son-in-law to junior vice-president in charge of procurement. AND "Thank you for your attention to this matter!"??? Minus the exclamation point, that's what the son-in-law writes to remind the letter's recipient that it's time to fill the paper-clip order. My god, what an embarrassment. ~~~
~~~ Wherein Marco Is the Hero. David Sanger, et al., of the New York Times: "As a conflict between India and Pakistan escalated, Vice President JD Vance told Fox News on Thursday that it was 'fundamentally none of our business.' The United States could counsel both sides to back away, he suggested, but this was not America's fight. Yet within 24 hours, Mr. Vance and Marco Rubio, in his first week in the dual role of national security adviser and secretary of state, found themselves plunged into the details.... It is unclear whether there was American intelligence pointing to a rapid, and perhaps nuclear, escalation of the conflict. So U.S. officials decided that Mr. Vance, who had returned a couple weeks earlier from a trip to India with his wife, Usha, whose parents are Indian immigrants, should call Prime Minister Narendra Modi directly. His message was that the United States had assessed there was a high probability of a dramatic escalation of violence that could tip into full-scale war. Mr. Modi listened but did not commit to any of the [de-escalation] ideas [Mr. Vance suggested]. Mr. Rubio, according to the State Department, talked with [a number of Pakistani officials]....
"The constant stream of calls from Friday evening into early Saturday appeared to lay a foundation for the cease-fire.... On Saturday morning..., [Donald] Trump announced that the two countries had agreed to a cease-fire.... A senior Pakistani intelligence official ... credited the involvement of the Americans over the last 48 hours, and in particular Mr. Rubio's intervention, for sealing the accord.... India, in contrast, did not acknowledge any U.S. involvement." MB: Right, because likely they absolutely, positively cannot stand that smart-mouthed punk JayDee. (Also linked yesterday.)
Michael Birnbaum & Matt Viser of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump plans to leave Monday for a four-day trip to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, a mission that is expected to focus heavily on business deals and new investments from the oil-rich region. The swing through deep-pocketed Middle East monarchies, Trump's first major international travel of his second term, is a marker of the president's priorities and another sign of his intention to de-emphasize the traditional U.S. allies that typically serve as the first foreign destinations for new presidents. It also reflects his affection for the region, its wealth, and the pageantry that the host countries plan to roll out for him.... Unusually, Trump does not plan to visit Israel during the trip despite its proximity, a snub to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.... The trip follows in the footsteps of the president's son, Eric Trump, who with his brother leads the Trump Organization."
Scott McFarlane of CBS News: "The Trump administration has fired the head of the U.S. Copyright Office.... The firing of Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter came after Perlmutter and her office earlier this week issued part three of a lengthy report about artificial intelligence and expressed some concerns and questions about the usage of copyrighted materials by AI technology. 'It is an open question, however, how much data an AI developer needs, and the marginal effect of more data on a model's capabilities,' the report read.... Perlmutter had held the position since October 2020, during the first Trump Administration. She was appointed to the post by now former Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, who herself was fired by ... [Donald] Trump on Thursday. Democratic Rep. Joe Morelle of New York, ranking member of the Committee on House Administration..., speculated that there was 'surely no coincidence he acted less than a day after she refused to rubber-stamp Elon Musk's efforts to mine troves of copyrighted works to train AI models,' in reference to the report released by the Copyright Office this week."
How Trump Controls the Congress. Theodore Schleifer & Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: Donald “Trump is harnessing the Republican Party's all-encompassing deference to him to exert even greater control over the G.O.P. big-money world, which had long been one of the party's final remaining redoubts of Trump skepticism.... He is quickly bringing [the House & Senate super PACs] inside his sphere of influence.... Both super PACs, the Congressional Leadership Fund and the Senate Leadership Fund, have new leaders this year, and they are working closer than ever with the White House, overhauling their boards of directors and installing veteran Trump strategists in senior positions. At the same time, Mr. Trump's super PAC, MAGA Inc., and its allied nonprofit group have already amassed roughly $400 million since the 2024 election.... The changes -- both in personnel and financial firepower -- amount to a fundamental reordering of Republican finance, and an extraordinary expansion of Mr. Trump's already overwhelming sway."
The Know-Nothing President*. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "One of the major themes of ... Donald Trump's 2024 campaign was the idea that Joe Biden had no idea what was happening around him.... But less than four months after taking over from Biden, it's Trump who, in his own telling, is often unaware of major events surrounding him and directly involving his administration. At other times, Trump has distanced himself or appeared distant from his administration's major and consequential decisions, as if he had little or nothing to do with them.... There's certainly a question about how much Trump actually is out of the loop and how much he's just saying that. Trump's record for dishonesty is nearly without compare.... In one of the most puzzling instances, Trump in March claimed that he hadn't actually signed the controversial proclamation -- which has since been struck down by the courts -- that the administration used to deport migrants under the Alien Enemies Act without due process. This despite his signature being on it...." Blake cites numerous other examples. See also Akhilleus' commentary on this in yesterday's thread.
Keir Simmons, et al., of NBC News: "... Donald Trump's special envoy broke with long-standing protocol by not employing his own interpreter during three high-level meetings with Russia's Vladimir Putin, opting instead to rely on translators from the Kremlin, a U.S. official and two Western officials with knowledge of the talks told NBC News. Steve Witkoff, who has been tasked with negotiating an end to the war in Ukraine, met with Putin in Moscow for several hours on Feb. 11, on March 13, and in St. Petersburg on April 11, and 'used their translators,' one of the Western officials said. 'If they speak to each other in Russian, he doesn't know what they are saying,' the official added, referring to Putin and the interpreters." Thanks to RAS for the link. See also RAS's commentary near the end of yesterday's thread. MB: I recall my mother's telling me that Averell Harriman, who served as U.S. ambassador to Russia in 1943, could read Russian upside-down, so when he sat across the desk from some Russian muckamuck, he would glean intel by reading the correspondence on the fellow's desk. Now we have a Trumpity "diplomat" who can't even tell when Russians insult him to his face.
Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "The White House has ordered federal agencies to stop considering the economic damage caused by climate change when writing regulations, except in cases where it is 'plainly required' by law. The directive effectively shelves a powerful tool that has been used for more than two decades by the federal government to weigh the costs and benefits of a particular policy or regulation. The Biden administration had used the tool to strengthen limits on greenhouse gas emissions from cars, power plants, factories and oil refineries. Known as the 'social cost of carbon,' the metric reflects the estimated damage from global warming, including wildfires, floods and droughts. It affixes a cost to the economy from one ton of carbon dioxide pollution, the main greenhouse gas that is heating the planet."
Hannah Natanson & Maxine Joselow of the Washington Post: "Across the federal government, Trump officials are halting a wide range of operations by declining to approve key funds. This unofficial hold on many activities has incapacitated many agencies' divisions, even though they remain technically intact. This account of how the administration and DOGE are stalling government operations is based on interviews with more than a dozen federal employees across eight agencies, as well as several internal emails and documents.... The effects are especially pronounced at the EPA.... At the Commerce Department, all contracts and grants costing $100,000 or more have been placed on hold pending the personal review of [Secretary Howard] Lutnick.... Donald Moynihan, a professor of public policy at the University of Michigan, said the Trump administration and DOGE appear to be 'deliberately embedding red tape into government' by instituting 'needless additional reviews of already-approved grants.... This makes sense if you assume that the purpose of DOGE is not to make government work better,' Moynihan said in an email, 'but to stop government from working at all.'" ~~~
~~~ Tyler Kingkade of NBC News: "... hundreds, if not thousands, of academics nationwide [have] lost funding in a variety of fields since ... Donald Trump came to office, due to a mix of new executive orders limiting what government money can support and the sweeping grant cancellations ordered by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency." Kingkade focuses on a three-decade project at Cornell aimed at producing & testing "a device that boosts blood flow in infants with heart defects.... The Defense Department sent [the project leader] a stop-work order on April 8...." MB: You can bet nobody in the Trump administration knows anything about that.
Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Top economic officials from the United States and China will meet on Sunday in Geneva for their second day of high-stakes negotiations, discussions that are aimed at easing tensions stemming from ... [Donald] Trump's trade war."
Steve M., in writing about Stephen Miller's threat to end habeas corpus, morphs into a discourse on the mindset of the Trumposphere: "Fox was intended to mislead ordinary Americans about what's really important, but it wasn't intended to mislead the people who run our government. Now, however, our government is run by people who also have Fox brain.... Trump, Patel, and others in the administration -- Pete Hegseth, Kristi Noem -- have such severe cases of Fox brain that they don't even seem to believe it's their job to do the tedious, non-headline-grabbing grunt work that their predecessors prioritized. They think their job is to provide blood-stirring content, whether it's Noem posing in front of shirtless caged men with tattoos in El Salvador or Hegseth doing push-ups with troops while boasting that the troops are 'tough, disciplined, ready to fight.'" Definitely worth a read. ~~~
~~~ Oh, and speaking of Steve M., here's a fun post on the new acting U.S. attorney for D.C., Jeanine Pirro, or as RAS prefers, Judge Boxwine.
Tracey Tully & Alyce McFadden of the New York Times: "A spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security suggested on Saturday that three Democratic members of Congress might face assault charges after a confrontation outside an immigration detention facility in Newark during the arrest of the city's mayor, even as new details emerged that appeared to contradict the Trump administration's account of th surrounding events. The three lawmakers -- Representatives Bonnie Watson Coleman, Rob Menendez and LaMonica McIver of New Jersey -- were inside the facility on Friday for what they described as a congressional oversight visit, which they have the right to conduct under federal law. The facility, Delaney Hall, received its first detainees last week and is eventually expected to hold as many as 1,000 migrants at a time." This is a gift link. Read the details and decide for yourself. (Also linked yesterday.) Politico's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: I watched some of the video, and from what I saw, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and the three members of Congress showed remarkable restraint as armed, masked officials manhandled them in a public area, eventually cuffing the Mayor. Rep. McIver repeated again and again, "Don't touch us," as (presumably) officers definitely touched them. In fact, it appears to me that the scrum of officers pushed the mayor, McIver & Menendez from the public side of the gate onto the prison property. By coincidence, I also watched a bit of Kristi Noem's so-called "testimony" given during a Senate hearing held last week. I thought she should have been held in contempt for refusing to answer the senators' questions. (She spouted talking points, instead.) ~~~
Angie Hernandez of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department will investigate whether a planned real estate development around one of North Texas's largest mosques violates federal law, Sen. John Cornyn (R) said Friday after weeks of calling the project antisemitic and anti-Christian. Attacks over the development outside Dallas have been amplified by Cornyn, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), Gov. Greg Abbott and right-wing bloggers who baselessly claim it would create a Muslim-only community and impose Islamic law on residents. Leaders for the East Plano Islamic Center, the mosque that is backing the project dubbed EPIC City, have repeatedly denied the accusations and called the attacks on their planned development Islamophobic. If built, EPIC City would span about 400 acres and create housing, day-care facilities, medical clinics and schools, according to marketing material.... 'I am grateful to Attorney General Bondi and the Department of Justice for hearing my concerns and opening an investigation,' Cornyn said in a statement." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Gee, I wonder why Pam Bondi, who was Florida's attorney general, didn't go bananas and "investigate" when Tom Monaghan, the founder of Domino's Pizza was building the town of Ave Maria, Florida. "Monaghan's goal was for the town to be especially attractive for Catholics to move to. Many of the street names are Catholic in nature, and the center of town is anchored by a large Catholic church."
This is an anti-Trump vote by the globalists that run the Curia -- this is the pope Bergoglio and his clique wanted.... [He is] the worst pick for MAGA Catholics. -- Steve Bannon (referring to Pope Francis by his family name) ~~~
~~~ Megan Messerly, et al. of Politico (May 8): "When the late Pope Francis challenged Donald Trump on immigration, climate change and poverty during the president's first term, the White House and its allies responded with a collective shrug. But with Catholic Cardinals choosing an American to lead the Church for the first time in its history, that will change. The Chicago-born Robert Prevost, [MB: North] America's first pope, has a worldview that appears to be at odds with 'America First.' Elected on just the second day of voting, Pope Leo could become a global rival to the president, one who has the homegrown credibility to sway Catholic Republicans more than his predecessor did and speak with a voice that has a louder boom here in the U.S."
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Ukraine/Russia, et al. Isobel Koshiw & Mary Ilyushina of the Washington Post: "Leaders of Western nations including the United States demanded Saturday that Moscow implement an unconditional 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine starting Monday or they would strengthen sanctions against Russia's banking and energy sectors. 'We together demand this from Russia,' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said. 'We know that the United States supports us in this.' Russian President Vladimir Putin countered late Saturday with a proposal to start direct talks in Istanbul next week.... British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz ... met with Zelensky in Kyiv on Saturday and said Russia must stop all attacks by ground, sea and air starting Monday. The U.S. envoy to Ukraine, retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, reposted a picture of the five leaders on a call Saturday with ... Donald Trump and said a 30-day ceasefire would start the process of ending the largest and longest war in Europe since World War II."
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