The Conversation -- December 17, 2024
How Not to Treat a Neighbor & Close Ally. Matina Stevis-Gridneff of the New York Times: "Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada and his government were in serious trouble well before Donald J. Trump was re-elected in November.... Opinion polls show that, in national elections that must take place by the fall under Canadian electoral rules, Mr. Trudeau is unlikely to win a fourth term as prime minister. Mr. Trump has tapped into this brewing trouble, even before taking office. He has threatened to slap tariffs on Canadian goods, sending the country into panic mode. He has trolled Mr. Trudeau as the 'governor' of the 'Great state of Canada,' putting his disdain on public display and triggering debates about how or whether Mr. Trudeau should respond. And on Monday, Mr. Trump offered gleeful, acerbic commentary on the bombshell resignation of a top Canadian minister he had long disliked, showing that he is happy to mine this fraught moment in Canadian politics." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Sure, we can attribute a lot of Trump's disgusting behavior to little quirks like racism, misogyny and xenophobia, but a lot of it comes down to this: he's just uncouth. He doesn't know how to behave in polite company; he has never been polite company. He's a lout and a philistine, and at some level he knows it; at some level he's ashamed of it. And he deals with that secret shame with a continual bullying, bad-ass performance. He's pathetic.
Here's the New York Times story on Trump's suing the Des Moines Register..., Gannett, and its pollster Ann Selzer.
Deep state traitors are coming after me, using their paid shills in legacy media.... I prefer not to start fights, but I do end them ... -- Elon Musk, in a post on his failing social media platform, after the NYT article linked next was published ~~~
~~~ Kirsten Grind, et al., of the New York Times: "Elon Musk and his rocket company, SpaceX, have repeatedly failed to comply with federal reporting protocols aimed at protecting state secrets, including by not providing some details of his meetings with foreign leaders, according to people with knowledge of the company and internal documents. Concerns about the reporting practices -- and particularly about Mr. Musk, who is SpaceX's chief executive -- have triggered at least three federal reviews, eight people with knowledge of the efforts said. The Defense Department's Office of Inspector General opened a review into the matter this year, and the Air Force and the Pentagon's Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security separately initiated reviews last month. The Air Force also recently denied Mr. Musk a high-level security access, citing potential security risks associated with the billionaire. Several allied nations, including Israel, have also expressed concerns that he could share sensitive data with others, according to defense officials....
For years, SpaceX workers responsible for upholding disclosure rules grudgingly allowed Mr. Musk to disregard many of the reporting procedures, as they did not want to lose their jobs.... Some SpaceX workers have become concerned about Mr. Musk's ability to handle sensitive information, especially as he posts openly on X.... It is unclear why Mr. Musk did not report some of this information to the government, especially since he sometimes posts on X about matters that he does not relay to the Defense Department.... As a matter of constitutional law, Mr. Trump could grant a security clearance to anyone after his inauguration, even if others in the government object." Thanks to laura h. for the link.
~~~ Marie: "Aye, there's the rub." Until Donald turns on Elon, Elon will do what he wants and Trump will facilitate his flouting the law & passing secrets to foreigners when he's high or whatever. And just as Trump did in 2018 when he ordered John Kelly to grant a top-secret security clearance to young Jared when numerous officials "expressed concern" about it, he will grant clearance to old Elon. "The very rich are different from you and me."
Matthew Bigg of the New York Times: "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday met with military officers in territory Israel recently took control of in Syria, and vowed that Israeli troops would remain in the country for the foreseeable future. In a statement issued from Mount Hermon, about six miles from the border of the Israeli-held Golan Heights, Mr. Netanyahu said Israeli forces would remain on the mountain 'until another arrangement is found that guarantees Israel's security.' The prime minister's trip was likely to be viewed as provocative by Syria's new leadership, which has criticized Israel's expanded military presence across the de facto border since rebels toppled President Bashar al-Assad." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Today, Mount Hermon may be the site of a ski resort, but it figured into a number of Old Testament stories, & it is the source of the Jordan River. It is considered a sacred mountain, and you can bet its significance was not lost on Bibi. (Some Christians place the supernatural Transfiguration there, too, so that should ensure that King Donald will support Israel's continued occupation of the area.)
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News of the Felon Who Will Be President*. Ben Protess & Kate Christobek of the New York Times: New York Justice& Juan M. Merchan "on Monday rejected Donald J. Trump's argument that a recent Supreme Court ruling had nullified his criminal case in New York, upholding the former and future president's felony conviction for falsifying records to cover up a sex scandal.... If the decision withstands an appeal, Mr. Trump could become the first felon to serve as president. The ruling, which addressed the Supreme Court's decision to grant presidents broad immunity for their official actions, thwarted only the first of several legal maneuvers Mr. Trump has concocted to clear his record of 34 felonies before returning to the White House." Reuters' story is here.
Donald Trump gave a press conference Monday afternoon and here's some of the stuff he said, via a New York Times liveblog: ~~~
Michael Shear: "In his first wide-ranging news conference since the election..., Donald J. Trump cited debunked data linking vaccines and autism, vowed to slash taxes and resume construction of his border wall, and accused the Biden administration of hiding the truth about recent drone sightings. Speaking from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Mr. Trump announced a $100 billion investment from SoftBank, a Japanese technology company. But he used the appearance before reporters to jump from one topic to another....
"Speaking directly to the reporters, he called the press 'very corrupt' and promised to continue pursuing legal action against news organizations that he believes have not quoted him correctly. He said he planned to sue the Des Moines Register for having a poll before the election that turned out to be wrong. And he said he was pursuing legal action against '60 Minutes' for what he said was a misquote.... Mr. Trump also said that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will cut $2 trillion out of the $6.8 trillion annual federal budget and 'it'll have no impact on people.' In fact, if you rule out cuts to Social Security, Medicare and defense, as Mr. Trump has, cutting $2 trillion would require shutting down almost the entire federal government."
Peter Baker: "Trump cites the horrors of the war in Ukraine and says he is working on it, but makes no mention of his promise to resolve it in 24 hours and to do so before he is sworn in."
Zolan Kanno-Youngs: "As he talks about migration, Trump repeats misleading claims about Latin American nations sending their prisoners to the United States. Most migrants crossing the border are those fleeing poverty, persecution and violence."
Baker: "Trump says Russia wouldn't have invaded Ukraine on his watch. In fact, Russia had already invaded Ukraine's eastern sections in 2014, during the Obama administration, and Trump did nothing to stop the war, which then expanded with the full-scale invasion in 2022.... Trump again throws out numbers about autism that have been debunked. Time magazine fact-checked his answer to the question during its interview.... 'We won in a landslide,' Trump claims, again. In fact, he won the popular vote by just 1.5 percentage points, one of the smallest margins of victory since the 19th century."
Maggie Haberman: "Trump says he would consider pardoning Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City, who has praised Trump repeatedly." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Isaac Schorr of Mediaite: "Donald Trump warned Republican senators who oppose his Cabinet nominees that they would likely face primary challenges at a press conference on Monday.... 'If they're unreasonable, if they're opposing somebody for political reasons or stupid reasons, I would say -- has nothing to do with me -- I would say they probably would be primaried'." (Also linked yesterday.)
Rules for Thee Are Not for Me. Curt Devine of CNN: "... Donald Trump vowed on the campaign trail to do everything in his power to benefit American workers. 'We will build American, buy American and hire American,' he said during a rally in August. Despite that pledge, Trump's own businesses sought to hire more foreign guest workers this year than any other year on record according to a CNN review of government labor data. Companies linked to some of Trump's top political backers and administration picks also have been given the green light to use guest workers this year. Trump's businesses, including the Mar-a-Lago Club, some of his golf courses and a Virginia winery, have collectively increased their reliance on temporary foreign laborers over the years. Just this year, Trump's businesses received approval from the US government to hire 209 foreign workers, nearly double the number of such laborers his companies received permission to hire about a decade ago." (Also linked yesterday.)
Rick Hasen of Election Law Blog republished a portion of a Fox "News" story: "... Donald Trump is suing the Des Moines Register and its top pollster J. Ann Selzer for 'brazen election interference' and fraud over its final 2024 presidential poll showing Vice President Kamala Harris leading him in Iowa, despite his ultimate victory in the state by more than 13 percentage points, Fox News Digital has learned. The lawsuit was filed Monday night in Polk County, Iowa under the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act and related provisions." Hasen writes, "I don't expect this lawsuit to go anywhere." Well, yes but there's ~~~
~~~ "The Great Capitulation." Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "Since Trump won re-election -- this time with the popular vote -- many of the most influential people in America seem to have lost any will to stand up to him as he goes about transforming America into the sort of authoritarian oligarchy he admires.... Displays of submission aren't limited to tech [Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman, Jeff Bezos, Time's owner Marc Benioff, L.A. Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong] and media [ABC/Disney]. Christopher Wray, the head of the F.B.I., agreed to step aside before the end of his 10-year term rather than make Trump fire him. Several Democrats have signaled their willingness to work with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy...." ~~~
~~~ Marie: What you are witnessing in all of these dickheads is the calculated fear of irrelevance. All of them did something bold once, and now they (even the youngish ones) are petrified they have passed their prime. People who maintain their liberal values -- Elizabeth Warren, Marc Elias, Paul Krugman -- even when it may not be convenient to do so, are the real heroes. Musk, Zuck, & Co. -- they have proved they are meek, hollow has-beens. And no matter how many billions of bucks they amass now cannot cure the injury to the knee they have bent to the most despicable one of them all. ~~~
~~~ Erik Wemple of the Washington Post: "ABC News will never live down this capitulation. Never.... The posture of ABC News progressed from unreasonably dismissive (rejecting legitimate demands for correction) to unreasonably accommodating (giving away the store to Trump via $15 million, a note of contrition and so on)." Wemple provides considerable detail on the case. ~~~
~~~ Richard Tofel in the Columbia Journalism Review: The ABC News case "is the only one against a media defendant of which I am aware in which Donald Trump either prevailed or settled for a cash payment.... I -- and every experienced press lawyer not involved in the case with whom I have discussed it -- considered the case one in which ABC was likely to eventually prevail." Tofel also goes into some detail on the particulars of the case. He then asks questions which ABC has refused to to answer. A number are of a technical legal nature but some are not. Like, "Have any ABC employees been disciplined with respect to this segment?"
Dave Philipps & Sharon LaFraniere of the New York Times: "When Pete Hegseth visited senators on Capitol Hill this month in an effort to show that he has the qualifications and judgment to lead the Defense Department, he was escorted by a security guard with a dark episode in his past. The guard, a former Army Special Forces master sergeant named John Jacob Hasenbein, left the military after a 2019 training event in which witnesses said he beat a civilian role player -- kicking him, punching him and leaving him hogtied in a pool of his own blood. Mr. Hegseth's choice of Mr. Hasenbein as a security escort is the latest instance in which he has stood by soldiers accused of crimes. He has repeatedly criticized military leaders as being too 'woke' and waging a 'war on warriors.'" Read on. A military jury convicted Hasenbein of assault, but the judge declared a mistrial, & it appears Hasenbein left the military in order to avoid a second trial. The reporters write, "It is unclear whether Mr. Hegseth ... knew of Mr. Hasenbein's record when he hired him. But some details of his case have been online for years."
Joe DePaolo of Mediaite: "In a speech at the New York Young Republican Club's gala on Sunday night, Steve Bannon ... floated the prospect of Trump making a fourth consecutive run for the White House in 2028.... 'Since [the Constitution] doesn't actually say consecutive, I don't know, maybe we do it again in '28?' Bannon said, to cheers from the crowd." (Also linked yesterday.)
Lindsay Whitehurst of the AP: "The Supreme Court turned back an appeal Monday from Peter Navarro, the former White House official who is set to return in Donald Trump's second term after serving prison time on contempt of Congress charges. The court declined to hear the appeal in a brief order without explanation, as is typical. It comes after the Justice Department sued Navarro, saying he had retained presidential records on an unofficial email account he used during his previous White House tenure under Trump. The government says the records must be turned over to the National Archives. Lower courts have agreed, but Navarro argues that the Presidential Records Act doesn't allow the federal government to search email accounts and retrieve records. He indicated in court documents that he expects to file additional appeals in the case." MB: Gosh, even the Trumpist Supremes are sick of Whiney Pete.
Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: "A bipartisan framework to put off a government shutdown appeared to hit snags over the weekend, and lawmakers continued bickering Monday over a federal funding bill that will lay the groundwork for the early days of the incoming Trump administration. Without new legislation, government agencies will shutter just after midnight Saturday. Lawmakers are on the cusp of approving a stopgap bill to extend federal funds into mid-March, but new disputes over farm aid and disaster recovery spending have stalled progress near the final stages.... During last-minute negotiations, the speaker [Mike Johnson] attempted to tack on more financial assistance for farmers, according to two people familiar with the talks who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. Democrats responded by seeking federal funds to reconstruct Baltimore's collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge. Maryland's congressional delegation, which holds outsize sway on the appropriations process, issued additional demands, too, related to negotiations over the future home of the Washington Commanders." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Ah, what could be more quintessentially American than shutting down the government at Christmas-time because of a dispute over a football stadium?
The Gentlemen of the Senate Take Umbrage. Anthony Adragna of Politico: A few "federal judges who previously announced retirements are pulling back those decisions. Most prominent among the federal jurists to reverse a retirement announcement is Judge James Wynn of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. His name vanished from a list of pending vacancies over the weekend, joining two district court judges in North Carolina -- Algenon Marbley and Max Cogburn -- in pulling back their decisions once it became clear President Joe Biden would not be able to appoint their successors.... All three were appointed by Democratic presidents.... 'Never before has a circuit judge unretired after a presidential election,' [Minority Leader Mitch] McConnell said on the Senate floor on Dec. 2. 'It's literally unprecedented. And to create such a precedent would fly in the face of a rare bipartisan compromise on the disposition of these vacancies.'... '"When I hear the senator [McConnell] come to the floor -- and talk about whether there is any gamesmanship going on..., I can tell you we saw it at the highest possible level in filling the vacancy on the Supreme Court when Antonin Scalia passed away,' said Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) on the floor following McConnell's remarks/" Read on, if only for the staement by Adeel Mangi. ~~~
~~~ Well, here's more on Manji: ~~~
This unfortunate fact remains: We have a fundamentally broken process for choosing federal judges.... This is no longer a system for evaluating fitness for judicial office. It is now a channel for the raising of money based on performative McCarthyism before video cameras, and for the dissemination of dark-money-funded attacks that especially target minorities.... I entered this nomination process as a proud American and a proud Muslim. I exit it the same way, unbowed. -- Adeel Manji, to President Biden ~~~
~~~ Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "The first Muslim American to be nominated for a federal appellate court judgeship lashed out at senators and the judicial confirmation process in a letter to President Biden on Monday, saying he had been the victim of a bigoted smear campaign. Adeel Mangi, a New York lawyer picked for a spot on the Philadelphia-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, wrote the letter after Democratic senators cut a deal that in effect left him and other Biden appeals court nominees with no path to confirmation.... The nomination of the Pakistani-born Mr. Mangi stalled under withering assault from Republicans.... But the insurmountable obstacle was the refusal of at least three Democrat to support him, leaving him short of the votes needed for confirmation." ~~~
~~~ Hulse's article has a link to Manji's letter. Or you can read it here, on an NJ.com page.
Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Three Democratic senators unveiled a constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College system Monday, just more than a month after President-elect Trump stunned the Democrats by sweeping all seven battleground states, knocking off three Senate Democratic incumbents in the process. Sens. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii,) Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.), three leading progressive Senate voices, say it's time to 'restore democracy' by allowing for the direct election of presidents through the popular vote alone." MB: I don't know why they're introducing this bill now, when it has no chance of getting through Congress before the term ends -- this week. The bill is essentially "dead" and would have to be refiled in the new Congress.
Betsy Klein of CNN: "Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is making an all-out push in the waning days of the Biden administration that she believes could bolster reproductive rights, calling on the president to certify the Equal Rights Amendment and enshrine its protections into the Constitution. The move, the New York Democrat wrote in a memo to interested parties, gives Joe Biden a way to 'codify women's freedom and equality without needing anything from a bitterly divided and broken Congress' in the aftermath of the 2022 Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Biden has taken some executive actions to protect abortion rights following the decision, but the White House has essentially exhausted its options short of Congress codifying Roe's protections, which remains unlikely. Gillibrand contends Biden could simply direct the archivist of the United States, Dr. Colleen Shogan, to certify and publish the ERA, a bill approved by Congress in 1972 that enshrines equal rights for women.... But legal experts contend it isn't that simple: Ratification deadlines lapsed and five states [of the Constitutionally-required 38] have rescinded their approval, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University's law school...."
Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "The Justice Department has charged two men with illegally supplying parts used in an Iranian-backed militia's drone attack in January that killed three U.S. service members and injured more than 40 others at an American military base in Jordan, federal prosecutors in Boston announced on Monday. Mahdi Mohammad Sadeghi, 42, a dual U.S.-Iranian national of Natick, Mass., and Mohammad Abedini, 38, of Tehran, were charged with conspiring to export sophisticated electronic components to Iran, violating American export control and sanctions laws. Mr. Abedini was also charged with providing material support, resulting in death, to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a branch of the Iranian military that the U.S. has designated a foreign terrorist organization. Mr. Sadeghi was arrested on Monday and made an initial appearance in the federal court in Boston. Mr. Abedini was arrested, also on Monday, in Italy by Italian authorities at the request of the United States."
Nobody Loves Clarence. Or John or Sam. Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "Public confidence in the American legal system has plunged over the past four years, a new Gallup poll found, putting it in the company of nations like Myanmar, Syria and Venezuela. 'These data on the U.S. courts are stunning,' said Tom Ginsburg, an authority on comparative and international law at the University of Chicago. After the Supreme Court's decision overturning Roe v. Wade and the several prosecutions of Donald J. Trump, Professor Ginsburg said, 'there is a perception that the judiciary has become inexorably politicized.'... Public confidence in the judiciaries of other developed nations has remained stable."
That didn't take long. Krugman is on Substack: ~~~
~~~ "Crypto Is for Criming." Paul Krugman: "The tech bros who helped put Trump back in power expect many favors in return; one of the more interesting is their demand that the government intervene to guarantee crypto players the right to a checking account, stopping the 'debanking' they claim has hit many of their friends. The hypocrisy here is thick enough to cut with a knife. If you go back to the 2008 white paper by the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto that gave rise to Bitcoin, its main argument was that we needed to replace checking accounts with blockchain-based payments because you can't trust banks; crypto promoters also tend to preach libertarianism, touting crypto as a way to escape government tyranny. Now we have crypto boosters demanding that the evil government force the evil banks to let them have conventional checking accounts.... The real reason banks don't want to be financially connected to crypt is that they believe, with good reason, that to the extent that cryptocurrencies are used for anything besides speculation, much of that activity is criminal.... [And] what [Elon] Musk and [Marc] Andreesen are demanding could be seen as a call for the U.S. government to intervene to make life easier for criminals. And if you think such a thing would be inconceivable under the second Trump administration, you haven't been paying attention." (Also linked yesterday.)
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Stargazing in Maryland. You know those drones over New Jersey, mose of which seem to be small planes or little hobby drones? Well, down in Maryland, former Gov. Larry Hogan (R-Natch) is seeing stars: ~~~
~~~ Victor Tangermann of Futurism, republished by Yahoo! News: "Former governor of Maryland Larry Hogan shared a video on Friday, claiming to have 'personally witnessed (and videoed) what appeared to be dozens of large drones in the sky above my residence in Davidsonville, Maryland.'... A community note appended to Hogan's original tweet notes that the 'stars at the 39-second mark are recognizably the constellation Orion.... From this, you can determine that the bright lights behind the trees are the stars Sirius and Procyon.... No anomalous objects are apparent in this video.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: This "official" sighting, however, is not quite as moronic (or knee-jerk violent) as the assessment of the person (R-Natch) who will soon have the power to decide what to do about UFOs: "Can this really be happening without our government's knowledge. I don't think so.... Let the public know, and now.... Otherwise, shoot them down!!!" Yeah, when in doubt, shoot.
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Canada. Ian Austen & Matina Stevis-Gridneff of the New York Times: "Chrystia Freeland, the deputy prime minister who led Canada's response to the first Trump administration, resigned abruptly on Monday from her cabinet role in a stinging rebuke to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, marking the first open dissent from any cabinet member and raising questions about his hold on power. The revelation, in a letter of resignation, came hours before Ms. Freeland, who had been the finance minister, was scheduled to outline the government's commitments to improve border security with the United States. Mr. Trudeau's cabinet, which was meeting in Ottawa soon after the letter was made public, seemed stunned by the development.... In her resignation letter, Ms. Freeland indicated that Mr. Trudeau had attempted to force her out of the position on Friday." (Also linked yesterday.)
Germany. Christopher Schuetze & Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a confidence vote in the German Parliament on Monday, a defeat that effectively ended the increasingly unpopular government he has led since 2021 and set the stage for elections early next year. The collapse of the government just nine months before elections had been scheduled was an extraordinary moment for Germany. This will be only the fourth snap election in the 75 years since the modern state was founded, and it reflected a new era of more fractious and unstable politics in a country long known for durable coalitions built on plodding consensus. German lawmakers voted to dissolve the existing government by a vote of 394 to 207, with 116 abstaining." (Also linked yesterday.)
Israel/Palestine, et al. Miriam Berger & Hazem Balousha of the Washington Post: "With its military power depleted and its political influence on the wane, Hamas is under growing public pressure to help bring the war in Gaza to an end.... Last week, Hamas publicly softened its negotiating position with Israel. A new proposal for a 60-day pause in hostilities and the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners includes key concessions from Hamas, which relented on its demands for a complete halt to the war and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces, a Hamas official told The Washington Post."
Ukraine/Russia. Anton Troianovski & Constant Méheut of the New York Times: "A general in charge of the Russian military's nuclear and chemical weapons protection forces was killed by a bomb on a Moscow street on Tuesday, the Russian authorities said, in one of the most brazen assassinations since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago. The general, Igor Kirillov, died along with an aide after an explosive device planted in a scooter was detonated on Tuesday morning near the entryway to a residential building, Russia's Investigative Committee, a law enforcement agency, said in a statement. An official with Ukraine's security service, known as the S.B.U., said that Ukraine was responsible for the killing.... A day before his killing, the S.B.U. had charged General Kirillov in absentia, saying he was responsible for the 'massive use of banned chemical weapons' in Ukraine."
News Lede
New York Times: "The shooter who killed at least two people on Monday at a Christian school in Madison, Wis., was identified as Natalie Rupnow, a 15-year-old student who later died from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the police said. The shooter, who went by 'Samantha,' opened fire in a study hall classroom with students from several grades at Abundant Life Christian School, said Shon F. Barnes, the Madison police chief. Officers arrived after a second-grade student placed a 911 call to report the shooting. A teacher and a teenage student were killed, and five students and another teacher were injured, the authorities said. The shooter was found with a gunshot wound inside the school when police officers arrived and was pronounced dead soon after."
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