The Conversation -- November 9, 2024

A Gentleman & a Scoundrel. Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Biden will host ... Donald J. Trump at the White House on Wednesday, extending a presidential tradition to his onetime rival that Mr. Trump did not offer four years ago after Mr. Biden defeated him.... [Although in 2016, he said he would do so,] Mr. Trump did not seek his predecessor's counsel and spent much of his time in office insulting Mr. Obama and seeking to undo the former president's agenda." ~~~

~~~ We've heard about the following before, but just a reminder that Trump is screwing up from way before the get-go. The sphere of this particular failing is hardly surprising. Moreover, this "oversight" is without any doubt a mere speck in the coliseum of corruption that will follow. But it's all hunky dory -- because Supremes. ~~~

~~~ Ken Bensinger of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump has not yet submitted a legally required ethics pledge stating that he will avoid conflicts of interest and other ethical concerns while in office, raising concerns that his refusal to do so will hamper the smooth transition to power. Mr. Trump's transition team was required to submit the ethics plan by Oct. 1, according to the Presidential Transition Act. While the transition team's leadership has privately drafted an ethics code and a conflict-of-interest statement governing its staff, those documents do not include language, required under the law, that explains how Mr. Trump himself will address conflicts of interest during his presidency. Since Mr. Trump created his transition team in August, it has refused to participate in the normal handoff process, which typically begins months before the election. It has missed multiple deadlines for signing required agreements governing the process. That has prevented Mr. Trump's transition team from participating in national security briefings or gaining access to federal agencies to begin the complicated work of preparing to take control of the government on Jan. 20, 2025."

⭐ Heather Cox Richardson on Substack: "Social media has been flooded today [Saturday] with stories of Trump voters who are shocked to learn that tariffs will raise consumer prices.... There are also stories that voters who chose Trump to lower household expenses are unhappy to discover that their undocumented relatives are in danger of deportation.... Meanwhile, Trump's advisors told Jim VandeHei and MIke Allen of Axios that ... they plan to hit the ground running with tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, deregulation, and increased gas and oil production.... In The New Republic today, Michael Tomasky reinforced that voters chose Trump in 2024 not because of the economy or inflation, or anything else, but because of how they perceived those issues -- which is not the same thing." Read on. Richardson draws a parallel between the way the right-wing media conned the nitwits and the way white supremacists conned the goobers during the decades before and after the Civil War. Thanks to laura h. for the link. ~~~

~~~ Amanda Marcotte of Salon: "Millions of people who desperately want more progressive policies cast their ballots for a man whose agenda is exactly the opposite of what they want.... In state after state, voters backed both Trump and ballot initiatives that advanced and protected progressive goals.... The problem wasn't Democratic policy or messaging. It's ignorance.... When voters have factual information about the candidates, they prefer Democrats.... Increasing numbers of Americans have a media diet that is mostly a bunch of lies, conspiracy theories, irrelevant diatribes and other such bunkum.... When it looked like Project 2025 might hurt him politically, Trump, shameless as usual, said he knew nothing about it.... [But Steve Bannon said the other day,] 'Now that the election is over, I think we can finally say that, yeah, actually, Project 2025 is the agenda.'" Thanks to laura h. for the link.

~~~~~~~~~~

We have fought the good fight,
We have finished the race,
We have kept the faith.
Now there is in store for us
The crown of righteousness.

Marie: The question now is how we wear our crowns. Uneasy rests the head. There are a number of courses we can take. The test for each of us will be how we balance our possibilities, as they are not all mutually exclusive. Revolution and resistance may be best reserved for the young. But perhaps not. Perhaps some of us will show the resilience of children, the strength of young people, the wisdom of the aged. Absent evil, there are no heroes. For many of us, adjustment may be the best route. Maybe we can learn from those who have survived and even thrived in totalitarian states. In any event, I aim to find a place in this new world order.

Barak Ravid of Axios: "Donald Trump's phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday included two surprises: Elon Musk was also on the line, and Zelensky was somewhat reassured by what he heard from the president-elect, two sources with knowledge of the call tell Axios.... Three sources briefed on the call all told Axios that Zelensky felt the call went well and that it did not increase his anxiety about Trump's victory.... Musk also weighed in during the call to say he will continue supporting Ukraine through his Starlink satellites, the sources said." (Also linked yesterday.)

Ben Rhodes in a New York Times op-ed: In this century, "the playbook for transforming a democracy into a soft autocracy was clear: Win power with a populist message against elites. Redraw parliamentary districts. Change voting laws. Harass civil society. Pack courts with judges willing to support power grabs. Enrich cronies through corruption. Buy up newspapers and television stations and turn them into right-wing propaganda. Use social media to energize supporters. Wrap it up in an Us versus Them message: Us, the 'real' Russians or Hungarians or Americans, against a rotating cast of Them: the migrants, the Muslims, the liberals, the gays, George Soros and on and on.... Republican policies from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush did far more than Democrats to create this mess. But Mr. Trump's crusade against the past elites of his own party -- from the Bush family to Mitch McConnell -- credentialed him with a public hungry for accountability, while the Harris campaign's embrace of Dick Cheney conveyed the opposite message." Rhodes has some suggestions for Democratic-led reform, but they don't seem much different from what Democrats have been attempting all along. (Also linked yesterday.)

Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "Representative Nancy Pelosi ... suggested this week that it would have been better for the Democratic Party if President Biden had abandoned his re-election campaign sooner and the party had then held a competitive primary process to replace him. In an interview on Thursday with The New York Times, Ms. Pelosi said what was widely reported around the time Mr. Biden dropped out: that she believed it was implicitly understood that his exit would be followed by an internal party competition for a new nominee, instead of an anointment of Vice President Kamala Harris.... '... I think she would have done well in that and been stronger going forward. But we don't know that.... And because the president endorsed Kamala Harris immediately, that really made it almost impossible to have a primary at that time. If it had been much earlier, it would have been different.'" An ABC News report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Marie: Akhilleus, in yesterday's Comments, reminds me that here's something we should know:

Lauren Aratani of the Guardian: "Business leaders were swift to offer their congratulations to Donald Trump on his election victory, less than four years after they criticized him for his role in the January 6 insurrection. Some of tech's business leaders, including Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and Apple's Tim Cook all publicly congratulated Trump for his win." Read on. The list is long and nauseating. These people who prostrate themselves before him should know he is a rapidly-metastisizing malignancy, and they are doing their bit to grow the cancer. (Also linked yesterday.)

Kevin Collier, et al., of NBC News: "Bomb threats sent to polling places and ballot-counting locations in at least five battleground states across the U.S. Tuesday targeted mostly Democratic counties, an NBC News analysis has found. The full extent of who received the bomb threats is not clear. None are believed to have been deemed credible. NBC News compiled a list of 67 locations in 19 counties, based on local news reports and state and local election officials' statements, all of which appear to have received similar threats. Of the 67 locations, 56 were in 11 counties that voted for Joe Biden in the 2020 election, including the eight most populated."

Eric Tucker & Larry Neumeister of the AP: "The Justice Department on Friday disclosed an Iranian murder-for-hire plot to kill Donald Trump, charging a man who said he had been tasked by a government official before this week's election with planning the assassination of the Republican president-elect. Investigators learned of the plan to kill Trump from Farhad Shakeri, an accused Iranian government asset who spent time in American prisons for robbery and who authorities say maintains a network of criminal associates enlisted by Tehran for surveillance and murder-for-hire plots. Shakeri told investigators that a contact in Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard instructed him this past September to ... assemble a plan within seven days to surveil and ultimately kill Trump, according to a criminal complaint unsealed in federal court in Manhattan.... Shakeri is at large and remains in Iran. Two other men were arrested on charges that Shakeri recruited them to follow and kill prominent Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad, who has endured multiple Iranian murder-for-hire plots foiled by law enforcement." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ The DOJ's press release, which makes what is alleged to have gone down slightly clearer than does the AP report, is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Maegan Vazquez of the Washington Post: "Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Florida) said in a statement on Friday that he was recently notified by police that he was the target of a potential assassination plot and that a suspect was arrested near his Florida residence.... 'The individual in question was arrested not far from my home; he is a former felon who was in possession of a rifle, a suppressor, and body armor,' Moskowitz's statement said. 'Found with him was a manifesto that, among other things, included antisemitic rhetoric and only my name on the "target" list. There are many other details that I will not disclose as I do not want to interfere with an ongoing investigation.'"

Roger Cohen of the New York Times: "Disillusionment with the world that emerged from the Cold War has fueled a long-gathering revolt against the established order.... More dangers abound than when Mr. Trump won in 2016. In a world of rival powers where the post-1945 order seems largely dead, wars rage in Europe and the Middle East.... To this mire will now be added the chaotic, impulsive, high-risk approach to foreign policy described with near unanimity by Mr. Trump's top aides during his first term, as well as his expressed contempt for NATO and the European Union, anchors of postwar Western security and stability, and his threats of confrontation with China in the form of punishing tariffs. A turbulent world and a turbulent personality make for a dangerous mix." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Cohen's "explanation" for the rise of autocrats, including Trump, may seem to fit the what we're experiencing largely because part of that "explanation" is, "In the absence of a shared reality, or shared facts, or a shared threat, reason had no weight beside emotion," according to a French political scientist. But that excuse for stupid notwithstanding, how could millions upon millions of people say to themselves, "What would be best for me and and my family would be to relinquish the few rights and privileges we have"? Perhaps they think that having the ability to mow down their neighbors with their personal arsenals of assault weapons is the only right they need. But are they so dense that it does not occur to them that not only the neighbors but also the strongman have arsenals as well? Do they not understand that the strongman is far more likely to turn on them than to protect them once they have given him permission to dominate them?

Dan Lamothe & Alex Horton of the Washington Post: "The Pentagon said Friday that it will send 'a small number' of U.S. defense contractors to Ukraine, where they will repair advanced American-made weapons, including F-16 fighter jets, Bradley fighting vehicles and air defense systems, donated by Western allies amid Russia's invasion. The development comes in the closing weeks of the Biden administration while there is deep uncertainty over ... Donald Trump's intent to sustain the extensive military and economic assistance Washington has provided the government in Kyiv over nearly three years of conflict. [President] Biden has steadfastly opposed putting Americans in harm's way to aid Ukraine, while Trump, who spoke with Ukraine's president after securing reelection Wednesday, has objected to the expense and vowed to bring the war to an end -- possibly on terms unfavorable to Kyiv. The U.S.-funded contractors will be far from the front lines and won't be fighting Russian forces, defense officials said...."

~~~~~~~~~~

Illinois. John O'Connor & Corey Williams of the AP: "A federal judge on Friday overturned Illinois' ban on semiautomatic weapons, leaning on recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings that strictly interpret the Second Amendment right to keep and bear firearms. U.S. District Judge Stephen P. McGlynn, of the Southern District of Illinois, issued a permanent injunction he said applies universally, not just to the lawsuit's plaintiffs. He decided, however, that the injunction would not take effect for 30 days. Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul responded speedily, filing a notice of appeal Friday evening. The Protect Illinois Communities Act, signed into law in January 2023 by Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, took effect Jan. 1. It bans AR-15 rifles and similar guns, large-capacity magazines and an assortment of attachments largely in response to the 2022 Independence Day shooting at a parade in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park." McGlynn is a Trump appointee.

News Lede

New York Times: "About 100 firefighters were working to put out a brush fire in a heavily wooded section of Prospect Park in Brooklyn on Friday night, prompting officials to warn residents to stay away as they used drones to identify hot spots.... Mayor Eric Adams said in a post on X that the city was under a red flag warning for fire risk on Friday night because of dry conditions and strong winds."

The Conversation -- November 8, 2024

Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "Representative Nancy Pelosi ... suggested this week that it would have been better for the Democratic Party if President Biden had abandoned his re-election campaign sooner and the party had then held a competitive primary process to replace him. In an interview on Thursday with The New York Times, Ms. Pelosi said what was widely reported around the time Mr. Biden dropped out: that she believed it was implicitly understood that his exit would be followed by an internal party competition for a new nominee, instead of an anointment of Vice President Kamala Harris.... '... I think she would have done well in that and been stronger going forward. But we don't know that.... And because the president endorsed Kamala Harris immediately, that really made it almost impossible to have a primary at that time. If it had been much earlier, it would have been different.'" An ABC News report is here.

Ben Rhodes in a New York Times op-ed: In this century, "the playbook for transforming a democracy into a soft autocracy was clear: Win power with a populist message against elites. Redraw parliamentary districts. Change voting laws. Harass civil society. Pack courts with judges willing to support power grabs. Enrich cronies through corruption. Buy up newspapers and television stations and turn them into right-wing propaganda. Use social media to energize supporters. Wrap it up in an Us versus Them message: Us, the 'real' Russians or Hungarians or Americans, against a rotating cast of Them: the migrants, the Muslims, the liberals, the gays, George Soros and on and on.... Republican policies from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush did far more than Democrats to create this mess. But Mr. Trump's crusade against the past elites of his own party -- from the Bush family to Mitch McConnell -- credentialed him with a public hungry for accountability, while the Harris campaign's embrace of Dick Cheney conveyed the opposite message." Rhodes has some suggestions for Democratic-led reform, but they don't seem much different from what Democrats have been attempting all along.

Barak Ravid of Axios: "Donald Trump's phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday included two surprises: Elon Musk was also on the line, and Zelensky was somewhat reassured by what he heard from the president-elect, two sources with knowledge of the call tell Axios.... Three sources briefed on the call all told Axios that Zelensky felt the call went well and that it did not increase his anxiety about Trump's victory.... Musk also weighed in during the call to say he will continue supporting Ukraine through his Starlink satellites, the sources said."

Eric Tucker & Larry Neumeister of the AP: "The Justice Department on Friday disclosed an Iranian murder-for-hire plot to kill Donald Trump, charging a man who said he had been tasked by a government official before this week's election with planning the assassination of the Republican president-elect. Investigators learned of the plan to kill Trump from Farhad Shakeri, an accused Iranian government asset who spent time in American prisons for robbery and who authorities say maintains a network of criminal associates enlisted by Tehran for surveillance and murder-for-hire plots. Shakeri told investigators that a contact in Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard instructed him this past September to ... assemble a plan within seven days to surveil and ultimately kill Trump, according to a criminal complaint unsealed in federal court in Manhattan.... Shakeri is at large and remains in Iran. Two other men were arrested on charges that Shakeri recruited them to follow and kill prominent Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad, who has endured mulitple Iranian murder-for-hire plots foiled by law enforcement." ~~~

     ~~~ The DOJ's press release, which makes what is alleged to have gone down slightly clearer than does the AP report, is here.

Marie: Akhilleus, in today's Comments, reminds me that here's something we should know:

Lauren Aratani of the Guardian: "Business leaders were swift to offer their congratulations to Donald Trump on his election victory, less than four years after they criticized him for his role in the January 6 insurrection. Some of tech's business leaders, including Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and Apple's Tim Cook all publicly congratulated Trump...." Read on. The list is long and nauseating. These people who prostrate themselves before him should know he is a rapidly-metastisizing malignancy, and they are doing their bit to grow the cancer.

~~~~~~~~~~

Maggie Haberman & Jonathan Swan of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump on Thursday named Susie Wiles, the Florida strategist who has run his political operation for nearly four years, as his White House chief of staff for his incoming administration.... In Ms. Wiles, Mr. Trump turned to an aide he knows well and who has worked closely with him, understands how he operates, is close with his family and to whom most of his current team is loyal. She will be the first woman ever to hold the job." MB: Ms. Wiles, the daughter of well-known sportscaster Pat Summerall, is -- like all those who have worked for Mr. Trump -- a pathetic masochist. Perhaps to compensate for fetish, Ms. Wiles says she enjoys spending her weekends combing local Facebook Marketplace and Craigslists ads for free kittens which she takes home and drowns in her Jacuzzi bathtub. Her daughters are grown with lives of their own, and her husband Lenny left her shortly after she went to work for Mr. Trump in 2016, making her, she says with a laugh, "a childless cat lady." Politico's story is here.

Matt Viser of the Washington Post: "President Joe Biden walked into the Rose Garden on Thursday morning to concede his party's defeat, expressing confidence in the American electoral system and vowing to oversee a peaceful transfer of power. But underlying his remarks was a funereal mood, as cabinet members and staffers were escorted to their seats, exchanging hugs and sober glances before rising for a standing ovation when the president emerged.... Biden is now forced to welcome and legitimize a man he condemned, a man whose ouster -- as he has said repeatedly over the past five years -- was the entire reason he ran for president in the first place, and a man he has called a fascist and an existential threat to democracy. Biden is now pledging to honor and accept Trump in a way that Trump did not and would not do for him. Biden's fealty to democratic traditions requires him to courteously pave the way for a man who often dismisses them -- but whom the voters chose." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

Ben Casselman of the New York Times: "Would Jerome H. Powell, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, step aside if asked to do so by ... Donald J. Trump? Mr. Powell had a one-word answer on Thursday: 'No.' Could Mr. Trump fire or demote him if he refuses to go? Same answer. Mr. Trump appointed Mr. Powell to his post in 2018 but soon soured on him when he resisted the then-president's calls to lower interest rates. He considered firing or demoting Mr. Powell, but his advisers concluded that doing so would be difficult if not impossible. Since leaving office, Mr. Trump has continued to criticize the Fed, leading to speculation that he could try again to fire Mr. Powell -- or pressure him to resign.... His term as chair ends in May 2026."

Guardian Editors: "This is an exceptionally bleak and frightening moment for the United States and the world. Donald Trump swept the electoral college and is on course to take the popular vote -- giving him not merely a victory, but a mandate.... Presented with a choice between electing the first black, female president on a promise of a sunnier future, and a racist, misogynist, twice-impeached convicted felon hawking hatred and retribution, [the voters] picked Mr Trump." (Also linked yesterday.)

What? No Voter Fraud After All? Clarissa-Jan Lim of MSNBC: "In the months leading up to the election, Donald Trump and his Republican allies warned relentlessly of widespread voter fraud. Trump ... repeatedly refused to commit to accepting the election results unless he won. On Election Day, Trump ... suggested that there was voter fraud in Philadelphia and Detroit, two major cities in battleground states. Elon Musk's 'Election Integrity Community' discussion page on X was also rife with conspiracy theories about Democrats cheating. Yet on election night, as the results looked to be in Trump's favor, the claims tapered off.... Posts on X's 'election integrity' page grew self-congratulatory and 'the urgency to investigate wrongdoing subsided,' The Washington Post reported. Far-right channels on the Telegram platform ... suddenly grew quiet as well, according to The New York Times. And, most significantly, there was no more talk of voter fraud from Trump, who spent months sowing doubt about the integrity of the 2024 presidential election -- and who, to this day, refuses to concede the 2020 election."

Daniel Wu & Joseph Menn of the Washington Post: "The FBI and authorities in several states are investigating racist text messages sent to Black people nationwide this week saying they would be brought to plantations to work as enslaved people and pick cotton. People in at least a dozen states and D.C. have received the messages according to authorities and local media. The texts have spread alarm in the aftermath of a presidential election marked by ... Donald Trump and his campaign's use of inflammatory language against minorities." NPR's story is here.

Rebecca Solnit of the Guardian: "Our mistake was to think we lived in a better country than we do. Our mistake was to see the joy, the extraordinary balance between idealism and pragmatism, the energy, the generosity, the coalition-building of the Kamala Harris campaign and think that it must triumph over the politics of lies and resentment. Our mistake was to think that racism and misogyny were not as bad as they are, whether it applied to who was willing to vote for a supremely qualified Black woman or who was willing to vote for an adjudicated rapist and convicted criminal who admires Hitler. Our mistake was to think we could row this boat across the acid lake before the acid dissolved it.... The principal problems that got us to this bleakest moment in American history are intertwined. They are the crisis of masculinity, the failure of the mainstream news media and the rise of Silicon Valley...." Read on. (Also linked yesterday.)

Anton Troianovski & Valerie Hopkins of the New York Times: "President Vladimir V. Putin on Thursday congratulated and lavished praise on Mr. Trump in his first comments on the U.S. election result, a sign that the Kremlin would move quickly to try to capitalize on the president-elect's apparent fondness for Russia and its autocratic ruler. Mr. Putin, speaking at a conference in Sochi, Russia, said Mr. Trump acted 'like a man' after surviving the assassination attempt in Butler, Pa., last summer, adding that Mr. Trump's stated desires to improve ties with Russia and end the Ukraine war 'deserve attention.' And he suggested that he expected Mr. Trump to act more freely in his second term, signaling a hope that Mr. Trump would finally follow through on his Russia-friendly rhetoric." MB: But who will be president of the Dictators' Club? (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Marie: It looks as if the U.S. may have more friends in Europe than I've let on: ~~~

~~~ A Coalition of the Horribles? Ishaan Tharoor of the Washington Post: "Far-right parties comprise the biggest parliamentary factions in the Netherlands, France, Austria and Italy; they are ascendant in Germany and Portugal, kingmakers in Sweden and Finland. Further to the east, in countries like Slovakia and Hungary, right-wing nationalism fuels the governments in power.... Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, long admired by the American right, saw in Trump's 'shining victory' a pathway to advance a more illiberal agenda in the West.... 'We have won,' said Alexander Dugin, an influential Russian ideologue credited with helping articulate the imperialist agenda underscoring Russia's war in Ukraine and for having supported disinformation efforts against [Vice President] Harris's campaign. 'The world will be never ever like before. Globalists have lost their final combat.'"

Stefanos Chen & Olivia Bensimon of the New York Times: "On Thursday, [Judge Lewis Liman] set the latest 'final' deadline [for Rudy Giuliani to turn over assets to Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss], brushing aside repeated arguments that the possessions should remain with Mr. Giuliani while the case was under appeal. By the end of next week, he said, Mr. Giuliani had to either hand over all the items, or he could face civil contempt, a charge that could carry severe penalties, including possible jail time.... Those items ... were supposed to be handed over last week...."

Tom Jackman of the Washington Post: During the January 6, 2021, insurrection, "Zachary J. Alam ... punch[ed] the glass windows leading to the Speaker's Lobby. Using a helmet to finish smashing the glass, he created the space into which Ashli Babbitt then climbed, where she was fatally shot by a Capitol Police officer. At his sentencing on Thursday, Alam told a federal judge ... his actions were justified because he believed the 2020 election was stolen, pointing to Donald Trump's victory in this year's presidential race as he quipped, 'four years later Americans were able to rectify the situation.' U.S. District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich pointed to his 'lack of remorse' as she sentenced him to eight years in prison, among the longest terms for a Jan. 6 defendant not affiliated with the Oath Keepers or Proud Boys groups. The sentence could be short-lived: Trump has promised to pardon Jan. 6 rioters.... 'But I will not accept a second-class pardon,' Alam said. 'I want a full pardon with all the benefits that come with it, including full compensation.'"

Christopher Rugaber of the AP: "The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Thursday by a quarter-point in response to the steady decline in the once-high inflation that had angered Americans and helped drive Donald Trump's presidential election victory this week. The rate cut follows a larger half-point reduction in September, and it reflects the Fed's renewed focus on supporting the job market as well as fighting inflation, which now barely exceeds the central bank's 2% target. Thursday's move reduces the Fed's benchmark rate to about 4.6%, down from a four-decade high of 5.3% before September's meeting. The Fed had kept its rate that high for more than a year to fight the worst inflation streak in four decades. Annual inflation has since fallen from a 9.1% peak in mid-2022 to a 3 1/2-year low of 2.4% in September." (Also linked yesterday.)

Keeping Families Separated. Hamed Aleaziz of the New York Times: "A federal judge in Texas on Thursday struck down a new Biden administration program that sought to provide a path to U.S. citizenship for hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants married to American citizens. The ruling, issued by Judge J. Campbell Barker of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, came months after 16 Republican-led states, led by Texas' attorney general, Ken Paxton, filed a lawsuit claiming that the administration lacked the legal authority to enact the program. In August, Judge Barker temporarily blocked the initiative, just days after it had gone into place. On Thursday, in a 74-page decision, he explained that the Biden administration did not have the authority to create the program, which would have been unlikely to remain in place after President-elect Trump took office in January." The CBS News story is here. MB: Barker is a Trump appointee. If Republicans can think of something cruel, they will do it.

~~~~~~~~~

California. Heather Knight of the New York Times: "London Breed, San Francisco's first Black woman mayor who steered the city through the pandemic but also saw its quality of life sink, conceded her re-election race on Thursday. Ms. Breed said in a news conference at City Hall that she had called Daniel Lurie, an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune who has never held elected office, to congratulate him on his win.... Both Mr. Lurie and Ms. Breed are Democrats and San Francisco natives who grew up mere miles from each other, he in luxury and she in poverty."

California. Tran Nguyen of the AP: "California's Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, a fierce critic of ... Donald Trump, on Thursday called for lawmakers to convene a special session ahead of another Trump presidency to safeguard the state's progressive policies. Meanwhile, attorneys general in blue states across the country announced they were also gearing up for a legal fight. The move ... effectively reignited California's resistance campaign against conservative policies that state Democratic leaders started during the first Trump administration. 'The freedoms we hold dear in California are under attack -- and we won't sit idle,' Newsom, who reportedly has ambitions on the national stage, said in a statement."

Illinois. Lauren Irwin of the Hill: "Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) held a press conference Thursday to discuss the aftermath of the election, issuing a warning that if anyone tries to come for my people,' they will have to 'come through me.'... The governor noted that in his state, he will continue working to protect all people, no matter what a second Trump term looks like. 'Perhaps this time may be different. But if it isn't, Illinois will remain a place of stability and competent governance,' Pritzker said."

Mississippi. Isabelle Taft of the New York Times: "The mayor of Jackson, Miss., a City Council member and the local district attorney have been indicted on federal corruption charges, with court documents unsealed on Thursday detailing a scheme in which F.B.I. agents posing as real estate developers paid tens of thousands of dollars in bribes to city officials. Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, a Democrat first elected to lead the state's capital in 2017, and the City Council member, Aaron Banks, were indicted on conspiracy and bribery charges. The Hinds County district attorney, Jody Owens, faces similar charges and was also accused of making false statements. All three men pleaded not guilty on Thursday in their first court appearances."

New Jersey. Ry Rivard of Politico: "New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy [D] forged a unique relationship with ... Donald Trump that could help the blue state when Trump returns to the White House.... 'If it's contrary to our values, we will fight to the death,' Murphy said in a Wednesday press conference on the election. 'If there's an opportunity for common ground, we will seize that as fast as anybody.'"

~~~~~~~~~

Israel/Palestine, et al. The Washington Post's live updates of developments Friday in Israel's wars are here: "The Israel Defense Forces on Thursday attacked Hezbollah targets throughout Lebanon and a school in Gaza that it said was being used as a command center by Hamas militants. The IDF also said that its ground troops in southern Gaza had completed an operation on Thursday in which two Hamas militants who had taken part in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel were killed, and that its troops in northern Gaza had expanded operations in Beit Lahia. Hezbollah militants in Lebanon launched 125 projectiles at Israel, the IDF said. The recent fighting has killed dozens in Gaza, according to health officials there, while Lebanese officials said 52 people had been killed and 161 wounded on the previous day. Neither agency distinguishes between combatants and civilians."

News Lede

Washington Post: French Resistance fighter Madeleine "Riffaud ... died Nov. 6 at her home in Paris at 100.... As part of the Resistance, she collected guns, organized sabotage missions, recruited fighters and once shot and killed a German officer on a Sunday afternoon on a bridge over the Seine as crowds watched." She was among the Resistance fighters who, backed by Free French units & U.S. forces, freed Paris from the Germans in August 1944. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Now, Trump will do his best to render meaningless the sacrifices & suffering of Riffaud & millions of others. And who cares? After all, those who gave of themselves for freedom and self-governance are suckers and losers.

The Conversation -- November 7, 2024

Matt Viser of the Washington Post: "President Joe Biden walked into the Rose Garden on Thursday morning to concede his party's defeat, expressing confidence in the American electoral system and vowing to oversee a peaceful transfer of power. But underlying his remarks was a funereal mood, as cabinet members and staffers were escorted to their seats, exchanging hugs and sober glances before rising for a standing ovation when the president emerged.... Biden is now forced to welcome and legitimize a man he condemned, a man whose ouster -- as he has said repeatedly over the past five years -- was the entire reason he ran for president in the first place, and a man he has called a fascist and an existential threat to democracy. Biden is now pledging to honor and accept Trump in a way that Trump did not and would not do for him. Biden's fealty to democratic traditions requires him to courteously pave the way for a man who often dismisses them -- but whom the voters chose." ~~~

Guardian Editors: "This is an exceptionally bleak and frightening moment for the United States and the world. Donald Trump swept the electoral college and is on course to take the popular vote -- giving him not merely a victory, but a mandate.... Presented with a choice between electing the first black, female president on a promise of a sunnier future, and a racist, misogynist, twice-impeached convicted felon hawking hatred and retribution, [the voters] picked Mr Trump."

Rebecca Solnit of the Guardian: "Our mistake was to think we lived in a better country than we do. Our mistake was to see the joy, the extraordinary balance between idealism and pragmatism, the energy, the generosity, the coalition-building of the Kamala Harris campaign and think that it must triumph over the politics of lies and resentment. Our mistake was to think that racism and misogyny were not as bad as they are, whether it applied to who was willing to vote for a supremely qualified Black woman or who was willing to vote for an adjudicated rapist and convicted criminal who admires Hitler. Our mistake was to think we could row this boat across the acid lake before the acid dissolved it.... The principal problems that got us to this bleakest moment in American history are intertwined. They are the crisis of masculinity, the failure of the mainstream news media and the rise of Silicon Valley...." Read on.

Christopher Rugaber of the AP: "The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Thursday by a quarter-point in response to the steady decline in the once-high inflation that had angered Americans and helped drive Donald Trump's ... victory this week. The rate cut follows a larger half-point reduction in September, and it reflects the Fed's renewed focus on supporting the job market as well as fighting inflation, which now barely exceeds the central bank's 2% target. Thursday's move reduces the Fed's benchmark rate to about 4.6%, down from a four-decade high of 5.3% before September's meeting. The Fed had kept its rate that high for more than a year to fight the worst inflation streak in four decades. Annual inflation has since fallen from a 9.1% peak in mid-2022 to a 3 1/2-year low of 2.4% in September."

Anton Troianovski & Valerie Hopkins of the New York Times: ?President Vladimir V. Putin on Thursday congratulated and lavished praise on Mr. Trump in his first comments on the U.S. election result, a sign that the Kremlin would move quickly to try to capitalize on the president-elect's apparent fondness for Russia and its autocratic ruler. Mr. Putin, speaking at a conference in Sochi, Russia, said Mr. Trump acted 'like a man' after surviving the assassination attempt in Butler, Pa., last summer, adding that Mr. Trump's stated desires to improve ties with Russia and end the Ukraine war 'deserve attention.' And he suggested that he expected Mr. Trump to act more freely in his second term, signaling a hope that Mr. Trump would finally follow through on his Russia-friendly rhetoric." MB: But who will be president of the Dictators' Club?

~~~~~~~~~

Marie: As a card-carrying member of "The Enemy Within" (or "the enemy from within," as Trump prefers to say), I fully expect Trump to do what he can to ruin my life, both generally with his anti-normal-people preferences, and personally, because of his hatred of those who oppose him. In the meantime, I think we all should figure out ways to minimize his disruption of our lives and well-being. So I'm taking suggestions.

Nicholas Nehemas & Erica Green of the New York Times: "Vice President Kamala Harris formally acknowledged her loss to ... Donald J. Trump on Wednesday in a defiant and emotional speech, defending her campaign as a fight for democracy that she would continue, even if not from the Oval Office. 'While I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign,' Ms. Harris said. 'Hear me when I say, the light of America's promise will always burn bright,' she added. 'As long as we never give up. And as long as we keep fighting.'"

~~~ Washington Post Editors: "Vice President Kamala Harris delivered a crisp concession speech on Wednesday afternoon at Howard University. The 60-year-old acknowledged, with grace, dignity and a dash of hope, that she had lost the presidency to ... Donald Trump. She didn't make excuses. Instead, she set the tone for how Democrats can responsibly approach Mr. Trump in the coming four years -- defending their core values while cooperating for the best interests of the country." MB: In the wake of these editors' refusal to endorse Harris, I see no irony at all in their celebrating a concession speech made necessary, in some small part, by their own cowardice.

Michelle Stoddart of ABC News: "President Joe Biden spoke to ... Donald Trump on the phone Wednesday to congratulate him on winning the presidency, the White House said in a statement.... Biden invited Trump to meet with him at the White House, the statement said."

This appears to be the final Electoral College tally, based on the AP's projections: ~~~

Shane Goldmacher & Lisa Lerer of the New York Times: Trump's "win ushers in an era of uncertainty for the nation.... To roughly half the country, Mr. Trump's rise portends a dark turn for American democracy, whose future will now depend on a man who has openly talked about undermining the rule of law. Mr. Trump helped inspire an assault on the Capitol in 2021, has threatened to imprison political adversaries and was denounced as a fascist by former aides. But for his supporters, Mr. Trump's provocations became selling points rather than pitfalls.... Republicans also picked up at least three Senate seats, in Ohio, Montana and West Virginia, to give the party a majority in the Senate. Control of the House of Representatives was still too close to call.... His election raises questions about the future of N.A.T.O. and the American backing of Ukraine; Mr. Trump has long spoken glowingly about President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This much is true: the POTUS* will no longer be A/K/A "the leader of the free world," because the U.S. will no longer be a part of what most people think of as "the free world"; that is, this country will no longer be a version of a liberal democracy.

Lisa Lerer of the New York Times: "Donald Trump told Americans exactly what he planned to do. He would use military force against his political opponents. He would fire thousands of career public servants. He would deport millions of immigrants in military-style roundups. He would crush the independence of the Department of Justice, use government to push public health conspiracies and abandon America's allies abroad. He would turn the government into a tool of his own grievances, a way to punish his critics and richly reward his supporters. He would be a 'dictator' -- if only on Day 1. And, when asked to give him the power to do all of that, the voters said yes. This was a conquering of the nation not by force but with a permission slip. Now, America stands on the precipice of an authoritarian style of governance never before seen in its 248-year history." Read on. (Also linked yesterday.)

New York Times Editors: "Over the next four years, Americans must be cleareyed about the threat to the nation and its laws that will come from its 47th president and be prepared to exercise their rights in defense of the country and the people, laws, institutions and values that have kept it strong.... Americans should now be wary of an incoming Trump administration that is likely to put a top priority on amassing unchecked power and punishing its perceived enemies, both of which Mr. Trump has repeatedly vowed to do. All Americans, regardless of their party or politics, should insist that the fundamental pillars of the nation's democracy -- including constitutional checks and balances, fair-minded federal prosecutors and judges, an impartial election system and basic civil rights -- be preserved against an assault that he has already begun and has said he would continue." (Also linked yesterday.)

Sarah Ellison of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump's return to the White House signals a significant breakdown of an already battered democracy, experts say. Almost as dangerous, they contend, much of the electorate sees him as democracy's savior.... It is not Trump's individual policy proposals that worry history and democracy scholars as much as his continued denial of reality that he lost the 2020 presidential election and his role in encouraging his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, who violently stormed the U.S. Capitol. The failure of the courts and Congress to hold him accountable for those actions signals an unofficial takeover of the levers of government by a charismatic, strongman figure who has remade the Republican Party in his image, these democracy scholars say. He is poised to start a second term with broad legal immunity, granted by a reshaped Supreme Court upon which he has exerted significant influence." MB: Ellison cram-packs quite a few sweeping ideas into a short space. A useful read.

This election was a CAT scan on the American people, and ... what it revealed, at least in part, is a frightening affinity for a man of borderless corruption. Donald Trump is no longer an aberration; he is normative. -- Peter H. Wehner, a former strategic adviser to President George W. Bush ~~~

~~~ Peter Baker of the New York Times: "No longer can the political establishment write off Mr. Trump as a temporary break from the long march of progress, a fluke who somehow sneaked into the White House in a quirky, one-off Electoral College win eight years ago. With his comeback victory to reclaim the presidency, Mr. Trump has now established himself as a transformational force reshaping the United States in his own image.... Mr. Trump's testosterone-driven campaign capitalized on resistance to electing the first woman president.... For the first time in history, Americans have elected a convicted criminal as president. They handed power back to a leader who tried to overturn a previous election, called for the 'termination' of the Constitution to reclaim his office, aspired to be a dictator on Day 1 and vowed to exact 'retribution' against his adversaries." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Baker goes on to complain that Biden & Harris "failed to unite the country." Oh, boo-hoo-hoo. I suppose one could argue that their sales pitch was wanting, but they more-or-less delivered on what they promised, and very few politicians do that. We live in a country full of whiney-babies who not only think they deserve to have riches bestowed upon them but also have no idea what government policies might help them get those riches. For all but those in the top one percent, it sure isn't Donald Trump who will feather their nests. Trump is through with the sheeples.

Adam Cancryn of Politico: "Democrats are directing their rage over losing the presidential race at Joe Biden, who they blame for setting up Kamala Harris for failure by not dropping out sooner.... They are livid that they were forced to embrace a candidate who voters had made clear they did not want -- and then stayed in the race long after it was clear he couldn't win.... By the time he decided to pass the torch, he had saddled Harris with too many challenges and far too little time to build a winning case for herself.... Any gains Harris made during her abridged campaign were swamped on Tuesday by the enduring backlash against the Biden administration over inflation and cost-of-living concerns -- and a president who proved incapable of selling the electorate on his accomplishments and whose apparent overconfidence kept him in the campaign despite growing signs that he wasn't up for the job." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: As some of us have expressed here, Biden didn't pull out of the race too late. He never should have got in it in the first place. He implied back during the 2020 campaign that he would be a one-term president -- a "bridge" president to a new generation. He was a bridge all right -- from Trumpland to New Trumpland. I blame not only Joe Biden, but also the people around him, including his wife, who protected him when it must have been clear to them that he wasn't up to running both the country and a rigorous campaign against a dangerous megalomaniac. How is it possible that any intelligent, experienced adult thinks he is the only person capable of -- something? A responsible old guy who became a "bridge" president would spend part of nearly every work day grooming a stable of potential replacements, then letting them run a race for the job.

David Gilmour of Mediaite: "CNN contributor David Axelrod called on analysts to remain 'clear-eyed' about 'racism' and 'sexism' as one reason for Vice President Kamala Harris's defeat to .. Donald Trump in the presidential election.... 'There were appeals to racism in this campaign, and there is racial bias in this country and there is sexism in this country, and anybody who thinks that that did not in any way impact on the outcome of this race is wrong.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Erica Green & Maya King of the New York Times: Donald Trump's “affirmed the worst of what many Black women believed about their country: that it would rather choose a man who was convicted of 34 felonies, has spewed lies and falsehoods, disparaged women and people of color, and pledged to use the powers of the federal government to punish his political opponents than send a woman of color to the White House.... Nearly the entire country shifted sharply to the right as it returned him to power. Democrats watched as he won alarmingly high shares of the vote in blue states: 47 percent in Virginia and New Jersey. 44 percent in New York. 43 percent in Connecticut." The reporters are both Black women, so they know whereof they write. But they should know -- to the extent that we can be, we are all Black women now.

Marie: Quite a few post mortems in today's media are dedicated to "understanding" Trump's voters. Okay, yeah. Look 'em up yourself. IMO, Trump voters are either stupid, ignorant, hateful, cruel, violent, vengeful, careless, greedy, self-absorbed, disgruntled, xenophobic, racist, misogynistic, fascistic, and celebrity-obsessed or some combination thereof. You can probably think of a number of other appropriate adjective. Perhaps not enough attention has been paid to "celebrity-obsessed." When you think of the voters' choices since televisions came into most homes, they almost always chose the candidate who was the bigger celebrity or the more TV-ready: Kennedy v. Nixon, Reagan (a Hollywood B-movie start & TV personality) v. Mondale, Clinton v. Bush I, Obama v. McCain, Trump (also a teevee personality) v. Clinton the Female. In fact, the glaring exception has been Trump v. Biden.

David Gilmour of Mediaite: "Steve Bannon warned the federal government that it would 'pay the price for trying to destroy this country' and that as soon as President-elect Donald Trump takes office entire agencies will be 'swept out.'... [Bannon] was himself sent to federal prison over his refusal to cooperate with subpoenas from the congressional subcommittee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riots."

Tess Owen of Wired: "... the same far-right extremists emboldened by [Trump's] first administration are celebrating his win with violent memes and threats. Many of the social media posts reviewed by Wired reveled in fantasies of Trump locking up and even executing his political opponents in revenge. 'Build the gallows!!' urged a post on Gab, a social media platform that caters to the far right. 'There has to be as many traitors executed as he has days in office,' urged another Gab post. 'Build the gallows, restore the REPUBLIC.'" MB: I find this rather heartening. Of course Trump may extend his term of office if he isn't dead by 2029, but there are only 1,461 days in a 4-year term. So if the goal is to hang 1,461 "enemies within," I don't think they'll get to me, as there are surely 1,500 bigger fish to fry. Sure, I could end my days in a dank Trump "detention center" holding tank. But, hey, no noose!

Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "... I expect the next few months to be a period of mourning rather than defiance. My own instinct -- which conflicts with the demands of my job -- is to retreat into my family, to look for solace in time with friends, in theater and in novels, to block out the humiliating truth about what my country has decided to become.... But eventually, mourning either starts to fade or curdles into depression and despair. When and if it does, whatever resistance emerges to the new MAGA will differ from what came before. Gone will be the hope of vindicating the country from Trumpism, of rendering him an aberration. What's left is the more modest work of trying to ameliorate the suffering his government is going to visit on us.... The work of the next four years [will be] saving what we can and trying to imagine a tolerable future."

Perry Stein, et al., of the Washington Post: Trump's win "prompted special counsel Jack Smith to start discussing how to wind down the two federal prosecutions of the president-elect.... The possible slowing down of the federal cases -- which could in theory barrel forward until Inauguration Day -- could give Smith time to deliver a final report detailing the findings of his two probes to Attorney General Merrick Garland before Trump becomes the 47th president.... In New York, meanwhile, Trump's lawyers were expected to try to delay his upcoming sentencing in state court on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment to an adult-film actress." NPR's story is here. Politico's report is here. ~~~

⭐ ~~~ Ankush Khardori of Politico Magazine: "We have just witnessed the greatest failure of federal law enforcement in American history.... At the root of it all are the considerable and truly historic legal missteps by the Biden administration and Attorney General Merrick Garland, as well as a series of decisions by Republicans throughout the political and legal systems in recent years that effectively bailed Trump out when the risks for him were greatest.... It is now clearer than ever that Garland was a highly questionable choice to serve as attorney general from the start.... [Garland's reluctance to prosecute Trump, however, does not excuse] the Republican political and legal class for their role in all this as well. In fact, Trump could not have pulled it off without a great deal of help from them too. Start with Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans in 2021. They could -- and should -- have voted to convict Trump after his second impeachment, which would have prevented him from running again for the presidency.... Last but most certainly not least: The Republican appointees on the Supreme Court bailed Trump out this year -- in the heart of the general election campaign and when it mattered most." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Years ago, and maybe a few times since, Akhilleus predicted that there was no way Trump was ever going to jail. At time, I thought there was a glimmer of hope Akhilleus was wrong. You know, maybe six weeks at Rikers for the 34 felonies?? Something. I do think New York Justice Juan Merchan should order Trump to spend a few weekends in Rikers between now and January 20. I don't see how Trump's frittering his time away in a rat-invested shithole (so he could find out what a shithole really is) would hurt the nation any more than would his spending that same time at some Trump golf resort.

Charlie Warzel of the Atlantic, writing avant le déluge, asserts that what Elon Musk did to Twitter is the blueprint for what Trump will do to the federal government: "Fire everyone. Turn it into a personal political weapon. Let chaos reign." Warzel has evidence of the plan. If my link doesn't work, see yesterday's ("Presidential Race") Comments for the gift link from laura h. ~~~

~~~ Peter Baker & Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "Over the course of the campaign, Mr. Trump outlined a set of policies for his second term that would be far more sweeping than what he enacted in his first. Without establishment Republicans and military veterans surrounding him to resist his more drastic ideas, Mr. Trump may find it easier to move ahead, particularly if his party completes its sweep by winning the House.... His version of ['saving our country'] involves an expansive agenda that would reshape government, foreign policy, national security, economics and domestic affairs as dramatically as any president in modern times.... Having promised to devote his next four years in office to 'retribution,' Mr. Trump plans to quickly shield himself from legal scrutiny, end criminal investigations against himself, pardon supporters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and turn the power of federal law enforcement against his adversaries.... Once Mr. Trump has ... curb[ed] the professional ranks of civil servants in government..., many other changes would in theory be that much easier to enact." They go on.

Maxine Joselow of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration moved Wednesday to narrow the scope of an oil-and-gas lease sale in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge that was mandated under ... Donald Trump. The plan underscores how the Biden administration is racing to cement its environmental legacy mere hours after Trump secured a second term. Trump has vowed to boost oil drilling in the refuge, as part of broader plans to expand fossil fuel production on public lands across the country."

~~~~~~~~~~

New York Times reporters assess what Trump's 2nd presidency* may mean to some other countries around the world.

Continental Sclerosis. Steven Erlanger of the New York Times: "The victory of Donald J. Trump will test the ability of America's European allies to maintain solidarity, do more to build up their own militaries and defend their economic interests. In anticipation of a Trump victory, there have already been efforts to try to ensure continued support for Ukraine, continuity in NATO and to craft a response should Mr. Trump make good on his threat to apply blanket tariffs on goods imported into the United States. But the Europeans have a long way to go. A second Trump presidency could serve as a catalyst for Europe to fortify itself in the face of a more undependable America. But it is far from clear the continent is prepared to seize that moment. With both the French and German governments weakened by domestic politics, a strong European response may be difficult to construct. And even after one term of Mr. Trump and a war in Ukraine, Europeans have been slow to change." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Frankly, I don't see the developed democracies as our allies anymore. Trump spent most of his firm term denigrating NATO countries & cozying up to autocrats. We just became friends of Putin, Orban & Little Kim. I think the U.S. is about to become the most important piece of a newly-conceived "Axis of Evil."

Germany. Kate Brady of the Washington Post: "Germany's governing coalition collapsed Wednesday, as Chancellor Olaf Scholz fired his finance minister and announced a confidence vote that is widely expected to fail and to pave the way to early elections in the spring. The news from Europe's largest economy added a huge jolt of uncertainty on a day when much of the world's attention was focused on the outcome of the U.S. election. 'I would have liked to have spared you this difficult decision,' Scholz said at the chancellery Wednesday night. 'Especially in times like these, when uncertainty is growing.'"

Israel, Palestine, et al. Shira Rubin, et al., of the Washington Post: "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejoiced over Donald Trump's election victory, as he banked on resetting relations with Washington and following through on his maximalist aims in the country's multifront war.... 'It's time for total victory,' crowed Itamar Ben Gvir, Netanyahu's far-right national security minister, in an address to the Knesset on Wednesday.... Israel Ganz, head of a council representing Israeli settlers across the occupied West Bank, celebrated the moment as a historic 'opportunity for the settlement movement,' which has already made significant gains since Netanyahu returned to power in 2022."

Ukraine, et al. David Stern & Serhiy Morgunov of the Washington Post: "Ukrainian troops have clashed with North Korean forces for the first time, according to senior Ukrainian officials -- a development that would open a 'new page of instability in the world,' President Volodymyr Zelensky said.... Russian forces had provided the North Korean troops with 'training of a one-month period,' which is now being shortened, sometimes to one week, 'so that they can get engagement on the battlefield,' [Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem] Umerov said."

Marie: Thank you to everyone who sent birthday greetings. I truly was not fishing for them when I mentioned my birthday in connection with the election.