The Conversation -- December 29, 2024

President Jimmy Carter Dies at 100

Washington Post: "Jimmy Carter, a no-frills and steel-willed Southern governor who was elected president in 1976, was rejected by disillusioned voters after a single term and went on to an extraordinary post-presidential life that included winning the Nobel Peace Prize, died Sunday at his home in Plains, Georgia, according to his son James E. Carter III, known as Chip. He was 100 and the oldest living U.S. president of all time." ~~~

~~~ The New York Times is live-updating news related to President Carter's life & death. ~~~

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Tyler Pager of the Washington Post writes about Joe Biden's presidency. Read it, & you may be more convinced than ever that Biden should never have put himself up for re-election. ~~~

~~~ Nicholas Wu of Politico: "Dean Phillips has some regrets. Not about his decision to launch a quixotic primary challenge to President Joe Biden. He stands by that move, which alienated him from his party even as it proved prescient after Biden's disastrous debate with Donald Trump. But in an exit interview with Politico Magazine, the retiring Minnesota Democrat said he wished he had been more successful at fixing what he says is a deeply broken Congress and that he could have delivered more for his constituents. And he made clear he was leaving Capitol Hill extraordinarily frustrated with his party. 'We are totally devoid of leadership. We are rudderless,' he said."

Ken Bensinger of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump appeared to weigh in on Saturday on a heated debate among his supporters over the role of skilled immigrant workers in the U.S. economy, saying he had frequently used the visas for those workers and backed the program. 'I have many H-1B visas on my properties,' he told The New York Post. 'I've been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times. It's a great program.' But his comments -- which were enthusiastically embraced by the technology industry as an endorsement -- may muddy the waters because Mr. Trump appears to have only sparingly used the H-1B visa program, which allows skilled workers like software engineers to work in the United States for up to three years and can be extended to six years.

"Instead, he has been a frequent and longtime user of the similarly named, but starkly different, H-2B visa program, which is for unskilled workers like gardeners and housekeepers, as well as the H-2A program, which is for agricultural workers. Those visas allow a worker to remain in the country for 10 months. Federal data show Mr. Trump's companies have received approval to employ over 1,000 workers through the two H-2 programs in the past 20 years.... While campaigning in 2016, Mr. Trump spoke out against the H-1B program, calling it 'very bad for workers' and stating that 'we should end it.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Megan Lebowitz of NBC News: "During his first term, the Trump administration implemented rules that would have cut the number of H-1B visas issued each year. The rules, however, were ultimately struck down in court." An AP story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If you check yesterday's news, you'll learn that Donald has a tremendous -- but perhaps partially unrequited -- crush on Elon. So my guess is that Trump is siding with Musk, not because he has flip-flopped on H-1B visas, but because he hopes to lure Elon to return to him at Mar-a-Lardo. As for his misstatement about his frequent use of the H-1B program, my guess is that he's not lying this time; he just doesn't know the difference between a program for skilled workers and one for housemaids. Trump's confusion is understandable; he no doubt helped Melania obtain an "Einstein visa" (EB-1), a type of visa reserved for people who are "highly-acclaimed in their field." At the time, Miss Melanie's claim to fame, according to this BBC News report, was limited: "She appeared on the cover of British GQ on a fur rug in Mr Trump's private jet, and in the swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated in the US. She was not a top international model." So you can see where he would confuse somebody who codes AI with somebody who mows his greens. ~~~

~~~ Tom Sullivan of Hullabaloo, citing an Axios post (Axios is now requiring sign-ins): "Just before midnight Friday, Musk once again defended the H-1B program in vulgar, all-caps terms, saying the program was the key to the success of his (and other big American) companies. 'Take a big step back and F--K YOURSELF in the face. I will go to war on this issue the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend,' Musk wrote. In a separate post, he pledged to 'fight to my last drop of blood' to keep America a meritocracy". ~~~

~~~ In any event, it's easy to see why Trump has a crush on Musk. For instance: ~~~

Christopher Schuetze of the New York Times: "Elon Musk ... shocked many in Germany last week by endorsing its far-right Alternative for Germany party, which is under surveillance by domestic intelligence for being extremist. This week, Mr. Musk entangled himself even more in the country's snap election, explaining in a newspaper opinion essay why he believes the far-right party is the 'last spark of hope' for Germany. 'The traditional parties have failed in Germany,' Mr. Musk wrote in comments published online by the daily Welt on Saturday.... Mr. Musk's opinion piece comes as Germany girds itself for an intense winter election after Chancellor Olaf Scholz's three-party coalition collapsed in November. On Friday President Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany officially announced the disbandment of Parliament and set Feb. 23 as the date for new elections....

"Mr. Musk's commentary was printed in the Sunday edition of the Welt, a conservative daily owned by the Axel Springer media group, which also owns Politico in the United States. Many of the paper's journalists protested the printing of the commentary, according to reports. Eva Marie Kogel, who had been the paper's head of opinion, resigned from her post after the printing, she confirmed on X.... The AfD ... [is] considered so far right as to be anti-democratic. All other political parties in Germany have precluded working with the AfD." MB: Similarly, no real U.S. president or pro-democracy American political party would have anything to do with Musk. The Guardian's story is here.

~~~ Marie: Krugman is as upset as I am about the MAGA feud: ~~~

     ~~~ ⭐Paul Krugman in a Substack essay titled, "MAGA is already eating its own. Pass the popcorn": "Every political movement is a coalition made up of factions with different goals and priorities.... What's different about MAGA is that I'm pretty sure that almost all of the movement's activists (as opposed to the low-information voters who put Trump over the top) knew that he was a con man, without even concepts of a plan to reduce prices. But each faction believed that he was their con man, putting something over on everyone else. But now the two most important factions -- what we might call original MAGA, motivated largely by hostility to immigrants, and tech bro MAGA, seeking a free hand for scams low taxes and deregulation -- have gone to war, each apparently fearing that they may themselves have been marks rather than in on the con." Read on. MB: Krugman gets everything right. (He's so smart, I'm going to check to see if he was born & reared in India.)

Azi Paybarah of the Washington Post (Dec. 27): "A bipartisan Senate report released Friday faulted the CIA's response to the mysterious ailment known as 'Havana syndrome,' saying many employees 'faced obstacles to timely and sufficient care' after experiencing symptoms. The report from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence did not shed new light on what may be behind the mysterious ailment -- formally known as Anomalous Health Incidents (AHIs) -- which was first reported by CIA employees in late 2016. But it did say the lack of a clear definition of this affliction, its cause and the 'CIA's evolving organizational position have greatly complicated CIA's ability to consistently and transparently facilitate medical care, provide compensation and other benefits' to those affected." ~~~

     ~~~ You can read the report here, via the Senate.

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New York. Daniel Wu of the Washington Post: "New York corrections officers pummeled a shackled inmate in a state prison hours before he died in early December, according to body-camera footage released Friday by the New York Attorney General's office.... Robert Brooks died Dec. 10, a day after he was transferred to Marcy Correctional Facility in Oneida County, according to New York Attorney General Letitia James. The night he arrived, video shows corrections officers took Brooks to a medical examination room and struck him repeatedly. In the video, Brooks appears limp and bloodied." The article is topped with a still photograph. Even that is too difficult for me to look at. ~~~

     ~~~ Jan Ransom of the New York Times: "At least three of the New York prison guards implicated in the savage beating death of a handcuffed man had been accused of participating in similar attacks on prisoners across the state. Two of the corrections officers and a sergeant accused in the death of Robert Brooks, an inmate at the Marcy Correctional Facility in central New York, were previously named in federal lawsuits filed by prisoners accusing them of brutal attacks that left one man disfigured and another in a wheelchair."

Geoff Mulvihill & Kevin Vinys of the AP: "Abortion has become slightly more common despite bans or deep restrictions in most Republican-controlled states...." The article includes summaries of many statistics on changing practices re: abortion. MB: This is not surprising. Women who can afford to travel or use other extraordinary means to get safe abortions may be inclined to do so because of the very difficulties being imposed upon them. Some women who might have decided a few weeks later in their pregnancies to carry to term may have "rushed into" abortions, knowing their choices would be limited later. Furthermore, I suspect all of the discussion surrounding Dobbs and its consequences have made abortion more acceptable to the public rather than less so (I'm basing this on a gut feeling). *

     * Update. Marie: Oh, looky here. The Pew Research Center says my gut was right.

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Russia/Azerbaijan/Kazakhstan. Anatoly Kurmanaev of the New York Times: "President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Saturday apologized for the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane this past week, breaking the Kremlin's three-day silence on the accident that killed 38 people. He did not explicitly acknowledge Russia's responsibility for the crash. Mr. Putin 'offered his apologies' for the crash in a phone call to his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, the Kremlin said in a statement. Mr. Putin initiated the phone call, according to the statement, and told Mr. Aliyev 'that the tragic incident took place in Russian airspace.' Mr. Putin said that as the plane approached its scheduled destination of Grozny, in southern Russia, Russian air defenses had begun to repulse an attack by Ukrainian drones on the Grozny airport and others nearby, according to the Kremlin....

"The Kremlin statement stopped short of attributing the crash to a Russian missile, but in its own statement acknowledging the apology, Azerbaijan's presidential office suggested that was indeed the cause.... Mr. Aliyev called for a thorough investigation and for 'ensuring those responsible are held accountable.'... Mr. Aliyev's more accusatory, strongly worded statement on Saturday presents the first challenge from Russia's allies to Moscow's attempts to control the narrative.... The Kremlin's apology without accepting responsibility complicates [Azerbaijan's & KKazakhstan's] efforts to maintain friendly relations with Russia without appearing weak to their citizens and the world, analysts said." CNN's report is here.

News Lede

New York Times: "A passenger plane carrying 181 people crashed while landing at an airport in southwestern South Korea on Sunday. Officials said most of the people on board were presumed dead, even as two survivors were found and search efforts continued. The plane, operated by South Korea's Jeju Air, had taken off from Bangkok and was landing at Muan International Airport when it crashed, local fire department officials said. Footage of the accident shows a white-and-orange plane speeding down a runway on its belly until it overshoots the runway, hitting a barrier and exploding into an orange fireball.Officials were investigating what caused the plane, a Boeing 737-800, to crash land, including why the landing gear malfunctioned, whether the plane had been struck by birds, or if it had been experiencing bad weather." This is a liveblog.

The Conversation -- December 28, 2024

Here We Go Again. Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen informed Congress on Friday that if lawmakers do not act to raise or suspend the nation's debt limit as soon as Jan. 14 she would most likely need to begin using 'extraordinary measures' to prevent the United States from defaulting on its debt.... Ms. Yellen in 2021 called the debt limit 'destructive' and said it should be eliminated. Her immediate predecessor as Treasury secretary, Steven T. Mnuchin, expressed similar sentiments in 2017 when he described it as a 'somewhat ridiculous concept' that did not limit spending." The AP report is here.

Meryl Kornfield, et al., of the Washington Post: "Homelessness in the United States surged by 18 percent from January 2023 to January 2024, climbing to the highest level on record, according to an estimate published Friday by the Department of Housing and Urban Development as part of an annual count.... The report attributed the historically high number to several factors, including a multiyear surge in home prices and fast-rising rent costs, a reduction in covid-era assistance, stagnating wages and overburdened homeless service systems -- the latter at times exacerbated by influxes of migrants." The AP story is here. MB: Now who thinks Donald Trump, his billionaire/multi-millionaire entourage & his Congressional lackeys will be mitigating the circumstances that have got us here? ~~~

~~~ Thom Hartmann: has an idea of one thing we could do to alleviate the chasm of lifestyles of the rich and poor: "We are literally the only developed country in the world with an entire multi-billion-dollar for-profit industry devoted to parasitically extracting money from us to then turn over to healthcare providers on our behalf. The for-profit health insurance industry has attached itself to us like a giant, bloodsucking tick.... I found two major barriers to our removing that tick from our backs. The early opposition, more than 100 years ago, to a national healthcare system came from southern white congressmen (they were all men) and senators who didn't want even the possibility that Black people could benefit, health-wise, from white people's tax dollars. (This thinking apparently still motivates many white Southern politicians.)... [The other major reason: health insurance executive who get rich] from saying 'No!' to people who file claims for payment of their healthcare costs.... Medicare For All, like Canada has, would save American families thousands every year immediately and do away with the 500,000+ annual bankruptcies in this country that happen only because somebody in the family got sick. But it would kill the billions every week in profits of the half-dozen corporate giants that dominate the health insurance industry."

AND we could stop allowing/encouraging police throughout the country to abuse the unfortunate: ~~~

David Nakamura of the Washington Post: Police abuses of vulnerable people "are documented in exhaustive Justice Department reports that followed sweeping police misconduct investigations in ... [Worcester, Massachusetts; Phoenix, Arizona; Lexington, Mississippi;] Minneapolis; Louisville; Memphis; Trenton, New Jersey; and Mount Vernon, New York.... Beyond the most shocking examples of police violence, the reports have highlighted ... the pernicious ways that other patterns of unlawful policing can disrupt and cause deep harm to local communities. Investigators detailed how officers sexually assaulted women, mistreated the homeless, exploited poor people, threatened and abused minors, taunted and arrested people suffering from mental and behavioral health episodes and punished protesters exercising their constitutional rights to free speech -- especially those who denounced police violence....

"Federal authorities said the findings provide a road map for police accountability plans that could help reduce abuses and improve community trust. But the Justice Department has nearly run out of time to enter legally binding consent decrees that would require jurisdictions to change use-of-force policies, officer training, disciplinary procedures, data collection and public disclosure. Members of the incoming Trump administration have vowed to reverse federal oversight of local policing, and some cities have aggressively opposed the Justice Department's intervention."

One Hundred Years of Soli ... d Waste. Dennis Overby of the New York Times: "It took roughly four billion years for the first living bit of protoplasm, bred perhaps in an undersea volcanic vent or a warm pond, to grow and evolve into the 1.1 trillion tons of biomass that inhabit Earth today. But all of that is outweighed by the plastic, concrete and other material that humans have produced in the last century alone in the form of everything from roads and skyscrapers to cars, cellphones, paper towels and bobblehead dolls.... There are now 1.3 trillion tons of man-made stuff on the planet, almost all of it built in the 20th century. The biggest portion of it is more than 600 billion tons of concrete, followed by about 400 billion tons of sand, gravel and other aggregate materials used in construction.... Humans use 100 times their own mass in plastic." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'm happy to say I've never owned a "non-stick" pan (stainless steel, IMO, is as easy to clean as "non-stick"), and the dishes I'll have dinner on today have been in my family for more than 100 years. But I confess I do have too much stuff, much of which will wind up in a landfill. In fairness to Republicans, there is an upside to the poverty & hardship they impose upon the hoi polloi: people who can't afford too much stuff often don't buy it.

Hiroko Tabuchi of the New York Times: "In early 2000, scientists at 3M, the chemicals giant, made a startling discovery: High levels of PFAS, the virtually indestructible 'forever chemicals' used in nonstick pans, stain-resistant carpets and many other products were turning up in the nation's sewage.... The data suggested that the toxic chemicals, made by 3M, were fast becoming ubiquitous in the environment. The company's research had already linked exposure to birth defects, cancer and more. That sewage was being used as fertilizer on farmland nationwide, a practice encouraged by the Environmental Protection Agency. The presence of PFAS in the sewage meant those chemicals were being unwittingly spread on fields across the country. 3M didn't publish the research, but the company did share its findings with the E.P.A. at a 2003 meeting, according to 3M documents reviewed by the The New York Times. Today, the E.P.A. continues to promote sewage sludge as fertilizer and doesn't require testing for PFAS, despite the fact that whistle-blowers, academics, state officials and the agency's internal studies over the years have also raised contamination concerns." (Also linked yesterday.)

President Trump alone possesses the consummate deal-making expertise, the electoral mandate and the political will to negotiate a resolution to save the platform.... President Trump is one of the most powerful, prolific and influential users of social media in history. Consistent with his commanding presence in this area, President Trump currently has 14.7 million followers on TikTok with whom he actively communicates, allowing him to evaluate TikTok's importance as a unique medium for freedom of expression, including core political speech. -- From a brevis in braggadocio (new Latinish legal term), filed by Donald J. Trump, in one of the goofiest screeds ever submitted to the Supreme Court of the United States ~~~

~~~ Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump filed an unusual brief on Friday asking the Supreme Court to block a law that requires TikTok to be sold or shut down by Jan. 19. The deadline falls a day before Mr. Trump is to be inaugurated, and the brief asks the justices for the delay so that he may address the matter. 'President Trump opposes banning TikTok in the United States at this juncture,' the brief said, 'and seeks the ability to resolve the issues at hand through political means once he takes office.' The brief took no position on the legal question that the justices are set to consider when they hear arguments in the case next month: whether Congress violated the First Amendment by effectively banning TikTok. Adopting a distinctive tone at odds with the sober and measured arguments more typical in Supreme Court advocacy, the brief instead touted Mr. Trump's expertise." ~~~

~~~ Here's a very fine example of Trump's incomparable social media expertise: ~~~

     ~~~ Aaron Pellish & Alayna Treene of CNN: "In a message that appeared to be intended as a private communication to Elon Musk..., Donald Trump said in a social media post Friday that Microsoft founder Bill Gates had asked to meet with him. 'Where are you? When are you coming to the "Center of the Universe," Mar-a-Lago. Bill Gates asked to come, tonight. We miss you and x! New Year's Eve is going to be AMAZING!!! DJT,' Trump wrote in the Truth Social post." MB: Pathetic. On the same day he makes a legal declaration that he's a social media expert, he shows he doesn't even know how to send a private message (DM) over his own failing social media platform. Moreover, his pining for Elon is grotesque and sad.

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: Donald Trump's "fitness regimen: a grueling circuit of backpedals, climbdowns and walkbacks.... The next event in Trump's backpedaling decathlon: his beloved tariffs. His pick for commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, has already called Trump's oft-threatened tariffs a mere 'bargaining chip' to start negotiations. 'When you're running for office, you make broad statements so people understand you,' Lutnick told CNBC. And Trump, after a campaign of China-bashing, is back to exalting Xi Jinping. 'He's an amazing guy,' Trump said of the Chinese dictator.... [Trump's] allies are apparently shocked to discover that Trump does not always keep his word.... The $2 trillion in annual spending cuts promised by Elon Musk, the replacement of renewable energy with 'drill, baby, drill,' and Trump's call for the biggest tax cut in history simply aren't going to happen. At the same time, it's a safe bet that Trump won't shock the economy by deporting millions of people, nor will he launch a trade war with across-the-board tariffs of 100 percent.... The menace of Trump is less in the policies he has announced than in the impulsive and inexplicable things he will do, without forewarning or any apparent forethought." Milbank also lists some of Trump's "ordinary, day-to-day outrages of the past couple of weeks." (Also linked yesterday.)

Ian Austen & Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "Two top Canadian ministers met on Friday with members of ... Donald J. Trump's circle in Florida about a border security plan that Canada hopes will ward off Mr. Trump's threats to impose economically damaging tariffs on imports from the country. But the ministers returned home without any assurances." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: O Canada, O Canada, Stop Doing This, Canada. You're a proud nation. You've got, like, maple syrup and crude oil and Mounties and hockey players -- and Medicare for All. Quit humiliating your people with your repeated pilgrimages to bow & scrape before the Count of Mar-a-Lardo. Show some diplomatic dignity and tell him to fuck off.

Ben Berkowitz & Zachary Basu of Axios: "A MAGA-world civil war erupted over Christmas when a social media post on American culture turned into a pitched battle over race, immigration and billionaires versus the working class.... The fight exposes one of the MAGA movement's deepest contradictions: It came to prominence chiefly via the white, less-educated, working class but is now under the full control of billionaire technologists and industrialists, many of them immigrants.... The skirmishes started Sunday when Trump named venture capitalist Sriram Krishnan as his adviser on AI policy. Krishnan's appointment triggered an anti-Indian backlash on social media, particularly given his past advocacy for lifting caps on green cards. Vivek Ramaswamy escalated the conflict into a full-blown war Thursday morning with a post on X blaming an American culture that 'venerated mediocrity over excellence' for the growth in foreign tech workers." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Funny, but none of these feuding MAGA folks seems to be mentioned all the undocumented & documented workers the Trump Organization hires to work on its properties -- and most of them are not highly-skilled engineers who necessarily hail from lands Vivek would describe as having "superior cultures." ~~~

~~~ Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha. Charlie Nash of Mediaite: "Several conservative critics of billionaire Trump surrogate Elon Musk were stripped of their verification badges on X after publicly challenging Musk's stance on immigration. Trump ally Laura Loomer, New York Young Republican Club president Gavin Wax, InfoWars host Owen Shroyer, and the pro-Trump ConservativePAC were all stripped of their verification badges after criticizing Musk's controversial remarks about American workers and foreign H-1B visa holders.... Several of the affected accounts appear to be affiliated with the pro-Trump ConservativePAC, which also expressed opposition to Musk's remarks on immigration." (Also linked yesterday.) MB: Wait, wait! I thought X was supposed to be Free Speech Central. Apparently, "free speech" does not include criticism of the Petit Billionaire.~~~

~~~ Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "... Steve Bannon came down hard against tech billionaire Elon Musk in the battle that flared up this week between right-wing businessmen and the MAGA activist class, The New Republic reported on Friday. Bannon, who lauded Musk for helping Trump win the election but just a year prior was blasting him as selling 'snake oil,' made it clear which side he is on in a new tirade in his 'War Room' show on Friday. 'H-1B visas? That's not what it's about. It's about taking American jobs and bringing over essentially what have become indentured servants at lower wages,' said Bannon. 'This thing's a scam by the oligarchs in Silicon Valley to basically take jobs from American citizens, give them to what become indentured servants from foreign countries, and then pay 'em less. Simple....'" ~~~

     ~~~ Ahmad Austin of Mediaite: "... Bannon has been critical of Musk for similar issues in the past. Back in 2023, he ... [said of Musk,] '... You're a war profiteer. You're sleeping with the enemy, brother, and you've been doing it because all you -- you're not an American nationalist. You're not even an American. All you are is a globalist, OK, a globalist; and you will go where everybody -- anybody writes you a check and you would take it from Adolf Hitler himself because you're taking it from people that are as bad as Adolf Hitler -- the murderous regime of the Chinese Communist Party, which you praised on their 100th anniversary.'" ~~~

~~~ Alex Griffing of Mediaite: "Elon Musk hit back on Friday at the 'contemptible fools' that he argued must be removed from the Republican Party amid a MAGA civil war over immigration."

Larry Neumeister of the AP: "A federal judge is signaling that Rudy Giuliani's contempt hearing next Friday might not end so well for ... [him] as two Georgia election poll workers try to collect a $148 million defamation award they won against him. Judge Lewis J. Liman in Manhattan issued an order Friday in which he was dismissive of what he described as attempts by Giuliani and his lawyer to dodge providing information to the election workers' lawyers. And he said the litigants should be ready at the contempt hearing to explain why he should not grant a request by lawyers for the two election workers that he make adverse inferences from evidence in the case that would put Giuliani's Palm Beach, Florida, condominium in danger of being surrendered to satisfy the defamation award."

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Texas. Molly Hennessey-Fiske of the Washington Post: "A quarter century ago, prompted by a spate of abandoned babies in Houston, this state became the first in the country to pass a safe haven law allowing parents to relinquish newborns at designated places -- without questions or risk of prosecution. Yet 'Baby Moses' surrenders remain rare in Texas, and another series of abandoned infants since spring in the Houston area has prompted much soul-searching.... Statewide, according to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, at least 18 babies have been abandoned this year.... They're happening in a state with one of the nation's most restrictive abortion bans -- with no exceptions for rape or incest -- and one of the highest birth rates.Critics argue that's no coincidence. Texas is ranked next to last for women's health and reproductive care, according to the nonprofit Commonwealth Fund...."

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Russia, et al. Mary Ilyushina & Missy Ryan of the Washington Post: "Evidence suggests the Azerbaijan Airlines flight that crashed in Kazakhstan on Christmas Day was brought down by Russia, the White House said Friday.... National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters ... the evidence went beyond widely circulated images of the wreckage but did not provide details." (MB: Would a Trump White House make a similar report implicating Russia? I doubt it.) (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Max Boot of the Washington Post: "Russia has a history of downing passenger planes -- and covering it up.... It makes eminent sense that Flight 8243 could have been downed by Russian air defenses at a time when the Grozny region was under attack by Ukrainian drones. It's easy to imagine a Russian air-defense crew mistaking the civilian aircraft for a drone and opening fire. Such accidents, admittedly, happen in wartime everywhere.... But when civilized nations commit such offenses, they apologize and make reparations. They don't refuse to admit what they did or try to blame someone else for their actions. That, however, has been the Kremlin's reprehensible pattern dating from the 1983 downing of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 -- making its protestations of innocence in Wednesday's case all the more dismissible." (Also linked yesterday.)

Ukraine, et al. Lolita Baldor & Matthew Lee of the AP: "The United States is expected to announce that it will send $1.25 billion in military assistance to Ukraine, U.S. officials said Friday, as the Biden administration pushes to get as much aid to Kyiv as possible before leaving office on Jan. 20. The large package of aid includes a significant amount of munitions, including for the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems and the HAWK air defense system. It also will provide Stinger missiles and 155 mm- and 105 mm artillery rounds, officials said."

The Conversation -- December 27, 2024

One Hundred Years of Soli ... d Waste. Dennis Overby of the New York Times: "It took roughly four billion years for the first living bit of protoplasm, bred perhaps in an undersea volcanic vent or a warm pond, to grow and evolve into the 1.1 trillion tons of biomass that inhabit Earth today. But all of that is outweighed by the plastic, concrete and other material that humans have produced in the last century alone in the form of everything from roads and skyscrapers to cars, cellphones, paper towels and bobblehead dolls.... There are now 1.3 trillion tons of man-made stuff on the planet, almost all of it built in the 20th century. The biggest portion of it is more than 600 billion tons of concrete, followed by about 400 billion tons of sand, gravel and other aggregate materials used in construction.... Humans use 100 times their own mass in plastic." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'm happy to say I've never owned a "non-stick" pan (stainless steel, IMO, is as easy to clean as "non-stick"), and the dishes I'll have dinner on today have been in my family for more than 100 years. But I confess I do have too much stuff, much of which will wind up in a landfill. In fairness to Republicans, there is an upside to the poverty & hardship they impose upon the hoi polloi: people who can't afford too much stuff often don't buy it.

Hiroko Tabuchi of the New York Times: "In early 2000, scientists at 3M, the chemicals giant, made a startling discovery: High levels of PFAS, the virtually indestructible 'forever chemicals' used in nonstick pans, stain-resistant carpets and many othe products were turning up in the nation's sewage.... The data suggested that the toxic chemicals, made by 3M, were fast becoming ubiquitous in the environment. The company's research had already linked exposure to birth defects, cancer and more. That sewage was being used as fertilizer on farmland nationwide, a practice encouraged by the Environmental Protection Agency. The presence of PFAS in the sewage meant those chemicals were being unwittingly spread on fields across the country. 3M didn't publish the research, but the company did share its findings with the E.P.A. at a 2003 meeting, according to 3M documents reviewed by the The New York Times. Today, the E.P.A. continues to promote sewage sludge as fertilizer and doesn't require testing for PFAS, despite the fact that whistle-blowers, academics, state officials and the agency's internal studies over the years have also raised contamination concerns."

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: Donald Trump's "fitness regimen: a grueling circuit of backpedals, climbdowns and walkbacks.... The next event in Trump's backpedaling decathlon: his beloved tariffs. His pick for commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, has already called Trump's oft-threatened tariffs a mere 'bargaining chip' to start negotiations. 'When you're running for office, you make broad statements so people understand you,' Lutnick told CNBC. And Trump, after a campaign of China-bashing, is back to exalting Xi Jinping. 'He's an amazing guy,' Trump said of the Chinese dictator.... [Trump's] allies are apparently shocked to discover that Trump does not always keep his word.... The $2 trillion in annual spending cuts promised by Elon Musk, the replacement of renewable energy with 'drill, baby, drill,' and Trump's call for the biggest tax cut in history simply aren't going to happen. At the same time, it's a safe bet that Trump won't shock the economy by deporting millions of people, nor will he launch a trade war with across-the-board tariffs of 100 percent.... The menace of Trump is less in the policies he has announced than in the impulsive and inexplicable things he will do, without forewarning or any apparent forethought." Milbank also lists some of Trump's "ordinary, day-to-day outrages of the past couple of weeks."

Ben Berkowitz & Zachary Basu of Axios: "A MAGA-world civil war erupted over Christmas when a social media post on American culture turned into a pitched battle over race, immigration and billionaires versus the working class.... The fight exposes one of the MAGA movement's deepest contradictions: It came to prominence chiefly via the white, less-educated, working class but is now under the full control of billionaire technologists and industrialists, many of them immigrants.... The skirmishes started Sunday when Trump named venture capitalist Sriram Krishnan as his adviser on AI policy. Krishnan's appointment triggered an anti-Indian backlash on social media, particularly given his past advocacy for lifting caps on green cards. Vivek Ramaswamy escalated the conflict into a full-blown war Thursday morning with a post on X blaming an American culture that 'venerated mediocrity over excellence' for the growth in foreign tech workers." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Funny, but none of these feuding MAGA folks seems to be mentioned all the undocumented & H-1B visa-carrying workers the Trump Organization hires to work on its properties -- and most of them are not highly-skilled engineers who necessarily hail from lands Vivek would describe as having "superior cultures." ~~~

~~~ Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha. Charlie Nash of Mediaite: "Several conservative critics of billionaire Trump surrogate Elon Musk were stripped of their verification badges on X after publicly challenging Musk's stance on immigration. Trump ally Laura Loomer, New York Young Republican Club president Gavin Wax, InfoWars host Owen Shroyer, and the pro-Trump ConservativePAC were all stripped of their verification badges after criticizing Musk's controversial remarks about American workers and foreign H-1B visa holders.... Several of the affected accounts appear to be affiliated with the pro-Trump ConservativePAC, which also expressed opposition to Musk's remarks on immigration."

Mary Ilyushina & Missy Ryan of the Washington Post: "Evidence suggests the Azerbaijan Airlines flight that crashed in Kazakhstan on Christmas Day was brought down by Russia, the White House said Friday.... National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters ... the evidence went beyond widely circulated images of the wreckage but did not provide details." (MB: Would a Trump White House make a similar report implicating Russia? I kinda doubt it.) ~~~

~~~ Max Boot of the Washington Post: "Russia has a history of downing passenger planes -- and covering it up.... It makes eminent sense that Flight 8243 could have been downed by Russian air defenses at a time when the Grozny region was under attack by Ukrainian drones. It's easy to imagine a Russian air-defense crew mistaking the civilian aircraft for a drone and opening fire. Such accidents, admittedly, happen in wartime everywhere.... But when civilized nations commit such offenses, they apologize and make reparations. They don't refuse to admit what they did or try to blame someone else for their actions. That, however, has been the Kremlin's reprehensible pattern dating from the 1983 downing of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 -- making its protestations of innocence in Wednesday's case all the more dismissible."

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For the last time as your president, it's my honor to wish all of America a very Merry Christmas.... My hope for our nation, today and always, is that we continue to seek the light of liberty and love, kindness and compassion, dignity and decency. -- President Joe Biden, on X, hours before Trump began posting his own Christmas messages ~~~

~~~ Michael Levenson & Emmett Lindner of the New York Times: "'Merry Christmas to the 'wonderful soldiers of China' and to Governor Justin Trudeau of Canada' and 'the people of Greenland.' As for the 37 men on federal death row who recently received commutations from President Biden? 'GO TO HELL!' The messages, posted online by ... Donald J. Trump on Christmas..., veered sharply from the standard holiday ideals of unity delivered from the White House." The writers then provide examples of what real presidents have said, even in times of significant upheaval. For instance: "Standing alongside Winston Churchill ... on Dec. 24, 1941, just over two weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ... said..., 'Our strongest weapon in this war is that conviction of the dignity and brotherhood of man which Christmas Day signifies -- more than any other day or any other symbol.'... On Dec. 14, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon noted that, instead of many lights, there would be only a single illuminated star on the national Christmas tree, as the United States faced an energy crisis. 'And in a way, I suppose one could say with only one light on the tree, this will be a very dreary Christmas, but we know that isn't true, because the spirit of Christmas is not measured by the number of lights on a tree,' he said. 'The spirit of Christmas is measured by the love that each of us has in his heart for his family, for his friends, for his fellow Americans, and for people all over the world.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Obviously the quality of a presidency is not determined by the quality of a man's Christmas greetings, but anyone can see that Trump's messages are a strong indication that he is the worst president in U.S. history. In Krugman's & Rampell's essays linked below, however, we do see why Trump was/will be the worst president ever.

MAGA Wars. Griffin Eckstein of Salon: "Billionaire Tesla and X owner Elon Musk..., Donald Trump's chief financier, on Wednesday sparked MAGA backlash after defending visas for foreign tech workers. South African-born Elon Musk was once an immigrant to the U.S., illegally overstaying his visa to build a future here. He employs hundreds of foreign-born engineers at his Tesla and SpaceX companies and says they fill a shortage of American-born workers.... But his plea for more immigrant talent has triggered some of Trump's right-wing supporters.... Laura Loomer, a close ally of Trump's with a history of racist comments, denied the suggestion that the U.S. needed skilled immigrant laborers. 'Our country was built by white Europeans, actually. Not third world invaders from India,' Loomer tweeted on Tuesday. 'We didn't create it so that it could be exploited by pro open border techies.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Julia Shapero of the Hill: "Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, co-chairs of ... Trump's new 'Department of Government Efficiency,' are defending the tech industry's reliance on foreign-born engineers as the incoming Trump administration prepares to crack down on immigration.... When another user suggested the Tesla and SpaceX CEO was denying opportunities to Americans, Musk argued that the poster's understanding of the situation was 'upside-down and backwards.'... [Ramaswamy wrote on X,] 'Our American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long (at least since the 90s and likely longer).... A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian, will not produce the best engineers.'" See also RAS's commentary below.

Paul Krugman on Substack: "Most Americans who supported Donald Trump probably thought they were voting for lower grocery prices; now he says never mind, let's seize Greenland instead. Also the Panama Canal and maybe Canada.... Once upon a time imperialism was, in fact, a path to power.... The only way a state, be it monarchy or republic, could enrich itself was by seizing territory and resources from other states. But all that changed with the coming of industrialization and globalization.... [After defeating the Axis powers in World War II,] America did something unprecedented in the history of warfare. Instead of trying to extract reparations or tribute from our vanquished foes, we helped them get back on their feet.... Which brings us back to Trump.... Trump's capriciousness will make America weaker...." Thanks to laura h. for the link. ~~~

     ~~~ BTW, if you're looking for Krugman in general, you'll find him at https://paulkrugman.substack.com

Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post: "Trump based his 2024 campaign on an seductive promise: He'll bring prices down. Alas, it is virtually impossible to reduce prices.... However..., this is [not] intuitive to non-economists. And Trump has taken advantage. Only after winning last month did Trump fess up, belatedly acknowledging he can't bring prices down. 'I'd like to bring them down,' he told Time magazine. 'It's hard to bring things down once they're up. You know, it's very hard.'... Got that? There was no plan, there is no plan, and there was never going to be any plan to reduce prices. The only thing surprising about this admission is that he said it out loud. One thing Trump didn't acknowledge, however, is how his economic agenda -- tariffs, deportations, tax cuts and kneecapping the Federal Reserve -- could worsen the problem that voters hired him to solve.

"But Americans seem to be catching on anyway.... They seem to have a growing sense -- 'vibes,' if you will -- that a second Trump term could bring more uncertainty to the U.S. economy.... Meanwhile, some U.S. companies are already pulling forward purchases and stockpiling imported goods.... These factors are already driving up shipping prices, and forcing U.S. companies to absorb the costs of purchasing and warehousing inventory they're not yet sure they'll need. Some of those costs will likely get passed along to consumers." Emphasis added. MB: Some of you will remember Gerald Ford's "Whip Inflation Now" initiative. It was (1) a joke, (2) a publicity stunt, and (3) a disaster. ~~~

~~~ Not All Trump Voters Get It: Meet the Gullibles. Tim Craig of the Washington Post: ". Network exit polls suggest [Trump] erased the advantage Democrats had with low-income voters across the country.... Now, low-income Americans who voted for Trump say they are counting on him to keep their benefits intact even while his Cabinet picks and Republican lawmakers call on him to reduce federal spending. Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy -- whom Trump has chosen to lead a new ... 'Department of Government Efficiency' -- have said they want to trim $2 trillion from the government;s annual budget, a cut that some experts say could be accomplished only by slashing entitlement programs. Trump's pick for White House budget director was a key architect of Project 2025, a plan drawn up by conservatives to guide his second term that calls for steep cuts to programs such as food stamps. And GOP leaders in Congress and Trump advisers are considering significant changes to Medicaid, food stamps and other federal aid." ~~~

     ~~~ MB: Looks like the WashPo reporters ventured out of diners & into low-income neighborhoods for this "Get to Know Your Trump Voters" article. Some of the people they interviewed cannot afford to frequent diners. ~~~

     ~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "Economically struggling Trump voters hopeful that Trump will not enact Republican policies.... The thing is that the House Republican majority is so narrow that Trump and his legislative allies may well find it impossible to enact the savage spending cuts they would prefer. Democrats would be rewarded for their united opposition by further erosion in their working class support. And at this point, I don't even know if Republicans succeeding in gutting Medicaid and school lunches would turn things around -- they're nothing if not good at getting people to blame anyone else for economic decline." ~~~

     ~~~ MB: Lemieux is right -- which raises the perennial questions, "Why can't Democrats effectively convey that they are the party that is saving the (admittedly insufficient) programs & policies that help the poor & working class?" And/or "Why are Republican lies to effective?"

~~~ These Big Shots with Plenty of Lettuce (Actually & Metaphorically) Don't Get It, Either. Camille Von Kaenel of Politico: "California farmers could soon enjoy bumper crops thanks to ... Donald Trump's pledge to lift water restrictions. But who will pick them if he follows through on his deportation threats? The country's largest agricultural constituency backed Trump in November, bucking California's deep-blue electorate over his campaign promises to 'open the faucet' and deliver more water to the state's parched, conservative-leaning Central Valley. But now it's reckoning with an uncomfortable contradiction: Trump also campaigned on mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, who make up at least half of the state's agricultural workforce.... Dave Puglia, the ... CEO of the Western Growers Association, called the prospect of sweeps on farms 'very troubling.'" ~~~

     ~~~ digby: Trump "was planning to run on closing the border until Biden pretty much did that and the Congress came up with that bipartisan draconian bill he ordered the Republicans to tank. Mass deportation was a relatively late campaign message. So, who knows how serious they really are beyond providing some thrilling visuals of abject cruelty toward migrants for their slavering cult members to enjoy.... If it weren't for all the human suffering involved, I'd say that all these Trump voting fools should have to get a taste of his toxic medicine.... Oh, and Trump can't 'open the faucet' either. And they, of all people, know that. It's absurd. They believe what they want to believe about his policies but they backed him for the same reason all his voters did -- he owns the libs. It's what they all have in common, rich and working class alike. That's what makes MAGA tick."

The American Nightmare: in Debt for Student Loans Their Entire Adult Lives. Danielle Douglas-Gabriel of the Washington Post: "There are 2.8 million federal student loan borrowers aged 62 and older with a total of $121.5 billion in debt, more than 726,300 of them over the age of 71, according to the Education Department. Older borrowers are one of the fastest-growing segments of the government's student loan portfolio, and their Social Security benefits are subject to garnishment.... In the waning days of the Biden administration, activists are urging the Education Department to discharge the student debt of older borrowers who they say are in no position to repay. They say the department could use a little-known federal statute that considers a person's ability to pay within a reasonable time and the inability of the government to collect the debt in full.... Activists are making an impassioned plea to an administration that has fought to ease the burden of student debt, even as those efforts have been thwarted in court by conservatives.... Donald Trump has been hostile toward President Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness policies, leading activists to believe their best chance to secure relief lies with Biden."

"Trick" Wording in CR Slashes IRS Funding. Jacob Bogage & Shannon Najmabadi of the Washington Post: "Congress revoked an additional $20 billion from the Internal Revenue Service last week when lawmakers averted a government shutdown, a cut that may undo many of President Joe Biden's efforts to improve customer service at the tax agency and train fresh scrutiny on wealthy tax cheats. Biden and congressional Democrats gave the IRS $80 billion in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, but Congress rescinded $20 billion as part of a 2023 budget deal.... And because of the way lawmakers extended government funding into March, an additional $20 billion in cuts came automatically. When Congress approved a stopgap funding bill, called a continuing resolution, all the existing policy from the previous fiscal year was carried forward unless new text was specifically added to the bill to change it. There was no language in the bill to undo last year's cut, so it repeated in the new law."

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Azerbaijan/Russia/Kazakhstan. Mary Ilyushina of the Washington Post: "Authorities are investigating what caused an Azerbaijan Airlines flight to crash Wednesday in Kazakhstan, killing at least 38 people, as speculation mounts over why the plane went down. Russian officials cited bad weather and a collision with birds as possible causes, while some aviation experts and news reports suggest that the damage to the fuselage, as seen in videos and images posted by authorities, could be the result of a surface-to-air missile impact. Azerbaijan Airlines Flight J2-8243 was en route Wednesday from the Azerbaijani capital of Baku to Grozny, in Russia's southern region of Chechnya, when it diverted and attempted an emergency landing in the Kazakh city of Aktau -- some 270 miles from its initial destination, on the other side of the Caspian Sea.

"There were 67 people on board, 29 of whom survived, according to Kazakh officials and Azerbaijani media reports. Most of the survivors were seated at the back of the plane.... Azerbaijan, Russia and Kazakhstan have all launched criminal investigations into the crash.... Reuters, Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency and other outlets reported Thursday, citing anonymous Azerbaijani officials, that Azerbaijan's preliminary findings were that Russian air defenses caused the crash." MB: The article includes a map. The CBS News report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Euronews: "Azerbaijani government sources have exclusively confirmed to Euronews on Thursday that a Russian surface-to-air missile caused the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash in Aktau on Wednesday. According to the sources, the missile was fired at Flight 8432 during drone air activity above Grozny, and the shrapnel hit the passengers and cabin crew as it exploded next to the aircraft mid-flight. Government sources have told Euronews that the damaged aircraft was not allowed to land at any Russian airports despite the pilots' requests for an emergency landing, and it was ordered to fly across the Caspian Sea towards Aktau in Kazakhstan. According to data, the plane's GPS navigation systems were jammed throughout the flight path above the sea. The missile was fired from a Pantsir-S air defence system, Baku-based international outlet AnewZ reported, citing Azerbaijani government sources. According to Russian sources, at the time the Azerbaijan Airlines flight was passing over the territory of Chechnya, Russian air defence forces were actively attempting to shoot down Ukrainian UAVs."

Finland/Russia. Johanna Lemola & Lynsey Chutel of the New York Times: "The Finnish authorities seized an oil tanker on Thursday on the suspicion that it was involved in cutting vital undersea cables and said the ship might have been part of Russia's 'shadow fleet,' aimed at evading Western sanctions. In a statement, the police in Finland said the authorities had boarded the Eagle S tanker in Finnish waters. The ship, which is registered in the Cook Islands in the South Pacific, had been sailing from St. Petersburg, Russia, to Port Said, Egypt, when it was detained. The police said they were investigating whether the vessel was involved in the latest suspected act of sabotage on undersea infrastructure: the cutting on Wednesday of the Estlink 2 submarine cable, which carries electricity between Finland and Estonia. The Finnish authorities said Thursday that four other cables carrying data also had been damaged. The police called the latest cable cuts 'aggravated vandalism.'"

Israel, et al. The Washington Post's live updates of developments Friday in Israel's wars are here: "United Nations chief António Guterres called on Israel and militants in Yemen to cease their military actions and use restraint, after an Israeli strike hit the international airport in Sanaa just as World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was about to board a flight there. The attack killed at least three people at the airport, according to local media, and injured a World Food Program-contracted aircrew member among dozens of others.... Four newborn babies died from cold within 72 hours in Gaza as temperatures drop in the enclave, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Relief agencies have raised the alarm in recent days over the risk of winter rains when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled their homes have minimal shelter."

Isabel Kershner & Ismaeel Naar of the New York Times: "The Israeli military on Thursday unleashed a significant air assault on parts of Yemen controlled by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia in retaliation for the group's missile attacks against Israel, striking back at an adversary more than a thousand miles away. The Israeli assault comes after a week of the Houthis' near-nightly launches of ballistic missiles and drones against Israel.... On Thursday after the Israeli strikes, [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu said in an interview with an Israeli TV station of the Houthis: 'We are just getting started with them.' At least four people were killed and 21 others injured in the attack on Thursday after Israel struck the international airport in Sana and the city of Al Hodeidah, the Saba state news agency said, citing Yemen's Health Ministry."

South Korea. Jin Yu Young of the New York Times: "South Korea's leadership crisis deepened on Friday after lawmakers voted to oust a second head of state, the acting president [Han Duck-soo], in less than two weeks. The move prolonged the political vacuum that has gripped South Korea since President Yoon Suk Yeol shocked the country this month by briefly putting it under military rule for the first time in decades.... South Korea continue[s] to be without a strong elected leader who could take charge of the government and military in one of Washington's most important allies, at a time when the country is grappling with North Korea's nuclear threats and economic challenges at home. The political uncertainty has pushed business and consumer confidence lower and caused the currency, the won, to plunge." The CBS News report is here.