The Conversation -- December 11, 2024
Marie: Still don't have my new computer, but it's my fault (and the weather's), not Best Buy's.
Life Lesson of the Week. Recently I saw an Amazon ad that urged people who receive packages to turn on their outside lights at night to help delivery people who bring packages after dark. I thought that was a good idea, and I've been doing it. Isn't it great that it turns out billionaire Jeff Bezos -- infamous for union-busting and for working employees to exhaustion in terrible conditions before firing them -- does care about his employees, after all? Oh, but at your expense, not his.
Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "White House officials on Tuesday said President Biden would veto a bipartisan measure creating 66 new federal judicial seats over the next three presidential administrations, stating that the measure the House is set to take up this week is 'unnecessary to the efficient and effective administration of justice.' In a new statement, the officials, from the Office of Management and Budget, also noted that the legislation, which passed the Senate with no opposition in August, would create new vacancies in states where senators have dragged their feet on filling vacancies during the Biden administration. 'Those efforts to hold open judicial vacancies suggest that concerns about judicial economy and caseload are not the true motivating force behind passage of this bill now,' the statement said.... The bill sat idle in the Republican-controlled House until Donald J. Trump won, providing the G.O.P. with new incentive to pass it even as Senate Democrats are racing to fill as many judicial vacancies as possible...."
Cecilia Kang & David McCabe of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump on Tuesday named Andrew Ferguson to lead the Federal Trade Commission, installing a current Republican member of the agency who has promised to ease up on the policing of powerful American companies — except for the biggest technology firms. Mr. Trump also picked Mark Meador, a former Senate antitrust aide, to join the agency, creating a Republican majority on the five-person commission and squeezing out the current Democratic chair, Lina Khan. Ms. Khan became a political lightning rod for aggressively challenging mergers like Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of video game maker Activision Blizzard, and filing lawsuits to break up tech titans Amazon and Meta. Mr. Ferguson, a veteran Congressional aide and former Supreme Court clerk, joined the F.T.C. as a minority party member in the spring, and does not need to be confirmed." ~~~
~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "But don’t worry, Ferguson will pursue one 'anti-corporate' agenda — i.e. attacking social media companies that don’t provide a firehose of Nazi content to users who don’t want it — and that will be enough for Josh Hawley and Matt Stoller to describe him as Khan’s worthy heir while the FTC retreats to a laissez-faire position on all mergers and acquisitions unless they involve companies Donald Trump wants to punish personally." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Here's the Wikipedia page on Matt Stoller. If I have ever heard of him, I forgot.
David Nakamura & Maeve Reston of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump’s nomination of a fierce loyalist who has accused Democrats of election fraud to a key Justice Department position has alarmed prominent civil rights leaders, who warned Tuesday that her ideological views would take precedence over the enforcement of legal protections for marginalized groups. Harmeet K. Dhillon, Trump’s pick for assistant attorney general in charge of the civil rights division, is a California-based attorney and former state Republican Party official who has championed conservative opposition to corporate diversity initiatives, transgender rights and coronavirus lockdown policies.... Through a private law firm she founded in 2006, Dhillon has been involved in cases challenging states over voting right laws, redistricting and other election-related issues on behalf of Republicans. She emerged as a fierce advocate of Trump’s baseless assertions of widespread election fraud in 2020 while serving as a legal adviser to his presidential campaign, calling on the Supreme Court to intervene in favor of his attempts to overturn the results in several key swing states." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Don't know why anyone is "alarmed." There was a 99.9 percent chance (and I'm giving Trump the benefit of the doubt here -- you probably think I should have made that 100 percent) that Trump would appoint someone who opposes civil rights to head the Civil Rights Division of DOJ.
Say, what should you do if your son cheats on his loudmouthed fiancee? (a) tell her these things happen and wish her well; (b) keep your distance; it's none of your business; (c) get rid of her by making her ambassador to a country far, far away. If you chose (c), your name might be Donald. ~~~
~~~ Jesse McKinley of the New York Times: "... It was an announcement made amid a swirl of tabloid speculation: Kimberly Guilfoyle, a loyalist of ... Donald J. Trump and — more pointedly — the fiancée of his son Donald Jr. had been named ambassador to Greece. The timing of the move — early Tuesday evening — would have been unremarkable except for what preceded it: rumors that the president-elect’s eldest son was dating a socialite, Bettina Anderson. The new relationship was seemingly documented in a series of photos published earlier on Tuesday by the British tabloid The Daily Mail, which described them as 'incontrovertible proof the soon-to-be First Son has moved on with a 'stunning "it girl."’” Politico has an item here.
Old, White Male GOP Senators Refuse to Do Their Constitutional Duty. Annie Karni of the New York Times: "The debate over [Pete] Hegseth’s fitness to be confirmed [as Secretary of Defense] has revealed a gender divide in the Senate, where a tiny group of Republican women have emerged as some of the only skeptics. They have done so even as their male colleagues have rushed to sweep aside allegations against Mr. Hegseth of sexual assault, sexual impropriety in the workplace, public drunkenness and fiscal mismanagement. Senator Rick Scott of Florida told CNN’s Jake Tapper that he was 'disgusted' that the woman who alleged that Mr. Hegseth sexually assaulted her was not 'willing to go on your show or some show and have you ask them all the questions.' (Mr. Tapper pointed out that as part of a financial settlement Mr. Hegseth struck with the woman who accused him of raping her in 2017, she signed a nondisclosure agreement that would prevent her from doing that.)... There are currently nine Republican women serving in the Senate, which is still made up mostly of old men. And there are even fewer women who have been willing to voice any potential concerns. Those who might be inclined to are further isolated by both the politics of the moment and the math of their newly won majority.”
Marie: In Tuesday's Comments, RAS linked to a bizarre post by Donald Trump, embedded in a Bluesky post by Josh Marshall. I put up Marshall's post here, and it worked until it didn't. Anyway, it's worth your checking out RAS's link because ... WTF?
Hannah Rabinowitz, et al., of CNN: "The Justice Department secretly obtained phone records from two members of Congress and 43 staffers – including Kash Patel..., Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI – during sweeping leak investigations during Trump’s first term, according to a watchdog report released Tuesday. [The MOCs the DOJ targeted were California Democrats Adam Schiff & Eric Swalwell.] The new report from the Justice Department’s inspector general raises concerns about how the department tried to root out reporters’ sources from a sprawling and bipartisan list of federal employees who had access to classified information because of their job.... Prosecutors also sought records including emails from journalists at CNN, The Washington Post and The New York Times, according to the report.... Seeking records based only on 'the close proximity in time between access to classified information and subsequent publication of the information… risks chilling Congress’s ability to conduct oversight of the executive branch,' the inspector general wrote.... The inspector general did not recommend charges against anyone in their review and did not find any indication that the career prosecutors assigned to the leak investigation were motivated by politics." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Right. And we're all sure Trump has learned his lesson from this embarrassing report, and will never allow the DOJ to get involved in any similar invasive activity ever, ever again. Oh, wait, Trump fired at least five inspectors general in 2020, and there's a big question about what he's gonna do during what is shaping up to be a totally lawless "administration." Here's the NBC News story, which RAS linked yesterday. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Kerry Picket of the (right-wing) Washington Times: "FBI Director Christopher A. Wray plans to resign on or before Inauguration Day, The Washington Times has learned. Mr. Wray is calling it quits because he doesn’t want to get fired by ... Donald Trump, according to sources inside the bureau who are familiar with the director’s thinking." MB: Wray, a Republican, is falling on his sword for the Dear Leader. A principled director would make Trump fire him. (Also linked yesterday.)
Adam Cancryn of Politico: "President Joe Biden on Tuesday took direct aim at ... Donald Trump’s economic agenda, denigrating his plan to impose sweeping tariffs and cut taxes as a 'major mistake' that will weaken the economy. In a speech at the Brookings Institution, Biden warned that Trump’s plans would largely benefit the wealthy, reversing what he described as progress made over the last four years toward strengthening the working class.... The remarks represented the president’s sharpest and most extensive criticism of Trump since the November election, with his attacks growing more direct as he got deeper into the nearly 40-minute speech." (Also linked yesterday.)
Josh Gerstein & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg says Donald Trump’s imminent return to the presidency is not a reason to throw out the 34-count conviction that jurors delivered in the hush money case earlier this year. Bragg conceded in a court filing that Trump cannot be sentenced while he is president. But he said Justice Juan Merchan has a variety of options to put the case on hold during Trump’s second term — and then issue a sentence after he leaves office in January 2029." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Bragg's filing opposing Trump's Motion to Dismiss is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Kevin Breuninger of CNBC: "The New York Attorney General’s Office on Tuesday rejected a demand from Donald Trump’s lawyer to drop the massive civil business fraud case that has put the president-elect on the hook for more than $480 million in fines. 'This Office will not stipulate to vacate the final judgment already entered by Supreme Court, New York County, in this action or otherwise seek to dismiss the action,' Deputy Solicitor General Judith Vale wrote in a letter to Trump defense attorney John Sauer." (Also linked yesterday.)
Trump Skates, His Lawyers & Aide Face Additional Criminal Charges. Scott Bauer of the AP: "Wisconsin prosecutors filed 10 additional felony charges Tuesday against two attorneys and an aide to ... Donald Trump who advised Trump in 2020 as part of a plan to submit paperwork falsely claiming that the Republican had won the battleground state that year. Jim Troupis, who was Trump’s attorney in Wisconsin, Kenneth Chesebro, an attorney who advised the campaign, and Mike Roman, Trump’s director of Election Day operations in 2020, all initially faced a single felony forgery charge in Wisconsin. Those charges were filed in June. But on Tuesday, two days before the three are scheduled for their initial court appearances, the Wisconsin Department of Justice filed 10 additional felony charges against each of them. The charges are for using forgery in an attempt to defraud each of the 10 Republican electors who cast their ballots for Trump that year.... None of the [fake Wisconsin] electors have [has!] been charged. The 10 Wisconsin electors, Chesebro and Troupis all settled a lawsuit that was brought against them in 2023."
Dream On. Shia Kapos of Politico: "Donald Trump’s choice to lead border security efforts promised a hard line on enforcement in a speech Monday to Chicago Republicans, with apparently little room for leniency even for the U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants. Tom Homan, who has been picked to serve as 'border czar' in the new administration, said the children of non-citizens would be part of the wave of deportations promised by the incoming administration.... His remarks showed none of the flexibility that Trump himself seemed to suggest in a weekend interview, when he said that he favored some kind of resolution for the status of people brought to the country long ago as children by illegal immigrants — so-called 'dreamers.' 'We have to do something about the dreamers because these are people that have been brought here at a very young age,' Trump said in an interview with NBC News’ 'Meet the Press with Kristen Welker.'” (Also linked yesterday.)
Kipp Jones of Mediaite: "U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy covered his ears during a tense exchange with Rep. Rich McCormick (R-GA) on Tuesday in protest as the two sparred about the efficiency of the Postal Service. DeJoy addressed members of the House Oversight Committee during a hearing about the efficiency of the USPS when McCormick ripped the agency. The Georgia Republican said the USPS had tanked its reputation in recent years, specifically under DeJoy’s leadership.... As McCormick continued to criticize DeJoy, the postmaster general covered his ears and said, 'You’re talking to yourself.'” MB: DeJoy is a shady character/Republican donor (here's his Wikipage) effectively appointed by Donald Trump because Trump appointed all the members of the USPS Board of Governors who selected DeJoy as Postmaster General.
Allison Pecorin of ABC News: "Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell fell during the Senate Republican lunch on Tuesday. It was initially unclear if McConnell, 82, was injured or what the severity of the fall was. Two medical responders were seen briefly entering his office and then departed. Shortly afterward, McConnell's office put out a statement that he had sustained a 'minor cut' to the face and a 'sprained wrist' from the incident. 'Leader McConnell tripped following lunch. He sustained a minor cut to the face and sprained his wrist. He has been cleared to resume his schedule,' his spokesperson said." (Also linked yesterday.)
Annals of Fake Journalism. Bad News for the News. Benjamin Mullin & Elizabeth Williamson of the New York Times: "A judge late Tuesday night said he would not approve the sale of Infowars, the website founded by the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, to the Chicago-based satirical publication The Onion, prolonging a messy tug of war between two high-profile suitors. The ruling, by Judge Christopher M. Lopez in federal bankruptcy court in Houston, poses a roadblock for The Onion’s plan to take possession of the Infowars site and its associated assets after it won an auction last month. The Onion’s bid was backed by the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting, who in 2022 won a $1.4 billion defamation lawsuit against Mr. Jones." The AP report is here.
Danielle Kaye of the New York Times: "The biggest grocery store merger in U.S. history was dealt a double blow on Tuesday: Within less than two hours, both a federal and a state judge moved to block the deal. Judge Adrienne Nelson of U.S. District Court in Oregon sided with the Federal Trade Commission in its lawsuit seeking to halt Kroger’s $24.6 billion acquisition of Albertsons, a rival grocery chain. It was a win for federal regulators who have argued that the merger would risk reducing competition at the expense of consumers and workers. The grocery chains 'engage in substantial head-to-head competition and the proposed merger would remove that competition,' Judge Nelson said in her decision, calling the merger 'presumptively unlawful.' Her preliminary injunction placed the merger on shaky ground as it heads to the final step to determine the deal’s fate: the F.T.C.’s internal administrative process. About an hour after the federal ruling, a judge in Washington State also blocked the deal on the grounds that it could substantially lessen competition. Another state challenge in Colorado is still pending." CNN's report is here.
Todd Richmond of the AP: "U.S. wildlife officials announced a decision Tuesday to extend federal protections to monarch butterflies after years of warnings from environmentalists that populations are shrinking and the beloved pollinator may not survive climate change. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to add the butterfly to the threatened species list by the end of next year following an extensive public comment period." MB: That's good for me because I'm such an excellent lepidopterist that monach is the only butterfly species I can name (and of course I know only the common name, not the "real" [Greek] species name).
The New York Times is liveblogging developments in the case of Luigi Mangione, accused of murdering United HealthCare CEO Brian Thompson: "A suspect charged with murder in New York in the assassination of the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare in Midtown Manhattan will fight extradition to New York to face murder charges, potentially keeping him in custody in Pennsylvania for weeks.... The suspect, Luigi Mangione, 26, was charged late Monday in Manhattan with second-degree murder, forgery and three gun charges.... The suspect saw the killing as a 'symbolic takedown,' according to a New York Police Department internal report that detailed parts of a three-page manifesto found with him at the time of his arrest. As he arrived at his extradition hearing Tuesday at the Blair County Courthouse in Hollidaysburg, Pa., near Altoona, he struggled against officers leading him toward an entrance. Before he disappeared into the building, he turned toward reporters and shouted. Hours later, he was led out of the courthouse in handcuffs and brought into the police car that would bring him back to a state prison." ~~~
~~~ Life in a Land of Nitwits. Kipp Jones of Mediaite: "The Pennsylvania McDonald’s where police arrested the man suspected of gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson has been flooded with negative reviews online since Monday, according to CNN. Per the network, the Altoona, Pennsylvania, location where police detained Luigi Mangione is being smeared on Yelp and Google as employees are being branded 'rats and snitches' by people unabashedly sympathetic to the 26-year-old’s alleged murder." MB: It's a safe bet than a huge majority of the rat connoisseurs voted for Trump and other Republicans; they're so stupid that they think murdering an odious health insurance exec is a good way to solve the gross deficiencies in our national healthcare "system" when in fact voting against their favorite greed enablers could get them a Bernie Sanders-style healthcare system. ~~~
~~~ Paul Waldman on Substack: "You want a 'kitchen table issue' that will help Democrats 'connect to regular people where they live' and 'show what their values are'? Well here you go.... It took the murder of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare to bring home the fact that Americans are filled with a barely contained fury over the way this system works, even if it could be worse.... Despite the tremendous good the ACA accomplished (the elimination of preexisting conditions denials, tens of millions more with coverage), ours is still by most standards the worst health care system in the industrialized world. Not only do we pay far, far more than citizens of any other advanced democracy, we have middling health outcomes, we still have millions of uninsured, and we’re slaves to a system in which every consideration is secondary to the pursuit of private profit....
"Meanwhile, Donald Trump is desperately hoping everyone stops talking about health care, because he’s trapped by his own history and his party salivating at the thought of tossing tens of millions off their coverage.... So this is the moment for Democrats to do two things: First, make a relentless push on health care, attacking the Trump administration, Republicans in Congress, and insurance companies as all one entity, a collection of villains whom voters can blame for everything that’s bad about our health care system. Second, they need to start developing the framework for the next phase of reform and sell their politicians on what emerges." Thanks to Ken W. for the link.
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Massachusetts. Jenna Russell of the New York Times: "A two-year investigation by the Justice Department found patterns of 'outrageous' conduct by the police in Worcester, Mass., including excessive use of force and sexual contact between undercover officers and women suspected of prostitution. In a report released on Monday, the department’s civil rights division detailed police misconduct dating back at least five years in Worcester, a city of 207,000 in central Massachusetts. It corroborated repeated reports by women’s advocates in the city that officers had 'tricked or misled' women suspected of being prostitutes into providing sex acts and 'offered less, or no, punishment in exchange for sex.'”
~~~~~~~~~~
Israel, et al.
Jack Nicas of the New York Times: "As soon as it became clear on Sunday that there would be regime change in neighboring Syria, Israel began a sweeping aerial campaign. By Tuesday, at least 350 airstrikes had leveled military assets across Syria, taking out the Navy, fighter jets, drones, tanks, air-defense systems, weapons plants and a wide array of missiles and rockets, according to the Israeli military. Israeli officials said they were destroying weapons and military facilities to keep them out of the hands of Islamist extremists. The rebel group that led the toppling of the president, Bashar al-Assad, was formerly linked to Al Qaeda and is still designated as a terrorist group by the United States and the United Nations.... The Israeli campaign over the past two days has been exceptional in force and scope, trying to ensure that whoever ends up in power in Syria will be significantly disarmed." More on Syria linked below.
Forget Human Rights. Ephrat Livni of the New York Times: "Dozens of wounded patients in a hospital in the northern Gaza Strip are in danger of dying because of a dire absence of basic supplies like food and water, according to local health authorities. The health ministry in Gaza said in a statement late on Tuesday that 60 wounded people in the Indonesian Hospital in the enclave’s north were 'at risk of death due to a lack of food and water' exacerbating their conditions..... The appeal came as the United Nations was marking the 75th anniversary of Human Rights Day, commemorating the date in 1948 when the U.N. General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."
South Korea. Jin Yu Young of the New York Times: "South Korean police raided the office of President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday as part of an investigation whether his declaration of martial law last week, which plunged the country into a political crisis, was insurrection. At a parliamentary hearing, Jung Chung-rae, a legislator from the opposition Democratic Party, said 'the police are conducting a raid on the presidential office.' Mr. Jung is also chairman of the parliamentary committee that deals with judicial matters. A police special investigation unit in charge of the investigation confirmed the raid and said it had also carried out search and seizure operations at several other offices: the Korean National Police Agency, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency and the National Assembly Police Guards.The authorities have barred Mr. Yoon from leaving the country, as prosecutors and the police try to determine whether he and his supporters in the military and the government committed insurrection when they ordered soldiers to enter the National Assembly." ~~~
~~~ Michelle Lee of the Washington Post: "The chief prosecutor leading a criminal investigation into South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said Wednesday that he wouldn’t hesitate to have Yoon arrested for insurrection, if warranted, over his extraordinary decision to declare martial law last week. This came the same day as a special police unit attempted to raid the presidential office, but their efforts led to a standoff with security services for three hours.... The opposition will make another attempt to impeach Yoon this Saturday.... Yoon’s former defense minister Kim Yong-hyun, who was detained on Sunday and formally arrested Wednesday, attempted to take his own life in the detention center, Shin Yong-hae, head of the South Korean Correctional Service, told lawmakers Wednesday. He survived and has since been moved to a hospital."
Syria
The Washington Post's live updates of developments Wednesday in Syria regime change are here: "The Syrian rebel coalition that ousted Bashar al-Assad, led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), said Wednesday that it had further consolidated control over the country’s east as it seeks to build a new political order in the country. Mohammed al-Bashir, who previously led the HTS-backed governing body in Syria’s Idlib province, said he will serve as Syria’s caretaker prime minister until March, with the backing of the rebel coalition. Bashir told Al Jazeera it was time for 'stability and calm.' Rebel forces claimed Wednesday that they had taken control of Deir al-Zour, the largest city in Syria’s east. The Washington Post could not immediately verify the claim."
John Hudson, et al., of the Washington Post: "A U.S. group is traveling to Syria this week in search of long-missing journalist Austin Tice, after the surprise ouster of President Bashar al-Assad revived hopes that he will be found alive 12 years after his abduction while documenting the country’s brutal civil war. The head of the Washington-based nonprofit Syrian Emergency Task Force, Mouaz Moustafa, reached the Syria-Turkey border Tuesday and is scheduled to arrive in Damascus, the capital, on Wednesday, he told The Washington Post in a phone interview."
Tortured to Death. Liz Sly of the Washington Post: "... Mazen al-Hamada, the ... 47-year-old Syrian activist, who suffered unimaginable torture in the [Assad] regime’s brutal prisons, escaped to Europe in 2014. There, he set about telling his story, reliving the horrors he had been subjected to in vivid detail to statesmen, legislatures and anyone who would listen.... Then in 2020, he went back to Syria, telling friends he was convinced it was pointless to continue sharing his torment with a world that didn’t care.... He was detained upon arrival at Damascus International Airport, and disappeared into the prison system once again. On Tuesday, relatives in Damascus identified his body among around 40 corpses found wrapped in bloodied sheets and dumped at the military hospital in the Damascus suburb of Harasta. They appeared to have been freshly killed, perhaps in the last hours before Assad fled and the rebels took over, said Mouaz Moustafa of the Syrian Emergency Task Force, who worked closely with Hamada. Gruesome photos of his body posted online, too gruesome to describe, suggested he died an agonizing death, under torture to the end."
Ukraine/Russia, et al. Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "The Biden administration transferred $20 billion to Ukraine on Tuesday, providing an urgently needed economic lifeline in the form of a loan that will be repaid using interest earned from Russia’s frozen central bank assets. The transfer of the funds comes as Ukraine is facing a period of grave uncertainty with ... Donald J. Trump poised to take office next month and Russia’s war continuing unabated."
17 Comments
Reader Comments (17)
Re: Christopher Wray’s impending resignation. I read where some PoT hack (doesn’t matter who, there are thousands on them, all scratching and clawing for a chance to lick the boots of a fat traitor and rapist in hopes of getting a plum position at the trough) whined that if Wray had any decency, he’d resign.
Did you get that? Decency. As if that quality has any meaning or force in Trump World, a heart of darkness place where ignorance, greed, violence and inhumanity reign supreme.
Decency.
Jesus.
A headline coming soon:
Crime rates have dropped precipitously! Crime is down everywhere! Mirabile dictu! As soon as Trump took command, he miraculously ordered criminals to cease their dastardly deeds on pain of a Big Mac fart in their general direction.
Why, look at the FBI statistics! Crime has ceased to be a big issue!
Funny how no one seems to have noticed that this has been the case for most of the Biden years. Except that Fox and Fatty and the rest of the slavish far-right media mishegas mess insisted we were the crime capital of the world.
Thank you, Donald!
@Akhilleus: Yeah, I just saw where Hugh Hewitt -- a usual suspect -- was among the whiners. Hugh went on Fox to advise Wray his stepping aside "would be the gentlemanly thing to do."
If the Washington Times is right, it appears Director Wray is the perfect GOP gentleman. I hope he doesn't expect that falling on his sword for Trump will get him anyplace but dead-to-MAGA. Perhaps he should ask Justin Trudeau what a good idea it is to bow to Trump.
Test.
Trumpy Time, and the grifting is easy… (Apologies to Ira Gershwin.)
“This is simply jaw dropping. They aren’t even pretending anymore. The presidency and Donald Trump’s personal finances are fully merged:
Eric Trump flew across the world to headline a cryptocurrency conference in the United Arab Emirates this week and told thousands of enthusiastic attendees that he and his father, the U.S. president-elect, were effectively working in tandem to push crypto, a business sector the family is directly invested in.”
Why crypto? Because Kleptocurrency is perfect for scam artists like the Trump Crime Family.
‘Member a couple’a years ago when the Orange Monster said crypto was a con? He was right (stopped clocks, etc.).
But he has since changed his mind (huge checks from the klepto world will do that), because somewhere, someone pointed out to him and his criminal idiot spawn kids, that it’s perfect for the grift. Sam Bankman-Fried, anyone?
Get in early, go in hot, come out rich and leave the suckers to pay the bill. The Trump Way.
This is gonna be a loooong four years. And it hasn’t even started yet!
To anyone worried about Putin using the A-bomb, or the H-bomb on
us, check out a 2024 book by M. B. Sheftall, 'Hiroshima.'
I'm doubly worried now after reading only about half of the book.
I live upwind from Chicago, so there's that.
"MB: Wray, a Republican, is falling on his sword for the Dear Leader. A principled director would make Trump fire him."
A principled FBI Director would have stood up for FBI agents when they were were attacked by the president* and Republicans during the previous administration. Wray showed back then that he would not stand up to Trump even to protect the members of the organization he leads.
Slate
Poor Winners
"A Court Called Out Clarence Thomas’ Gun Extremism. He Didn’t Take It Well.
Last February, the Hawaii Supreme Court dared to call out the U.S. Supreme Court’s Second Amendment jurisprudence for what it is: unworkable law built on bogus history and pro-gun fanaticism. It now appears the critique has gotten under some justices’ skin. In an opinion on Monday, Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Justice Samuel Alito, railed against the Hawaii Supreme Court’s top-to-bottom evisceration of his own gun-rights opinions. But Thomas and Alito protest too much: Their grousing is pure projection, accusing the Hawaii Supreme Court of committing the same sins at the heart of their own Second Amendment rulings. Given an opening to defend their Second Amendment views, the conservative justices whiffed—and, in their anger, fabricated a new rule that would make it even easier for law-breaking citizens to challenge gun regulations. It has never been more apparent that, as the Hawaii Supreme Court charged, SCOTUS’s gun enthusiasts are making it up as they go along."
2024 Patriot Awards
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/12/11/albertsons-kroger-lawsuit-merger-termination/?
A breakup before a marriage. Looks like Albertsons and Kroger are no longer BFF.
Another win for the Biden administration?
@Marie: I'm sure it was the PR or advertising team that came up with the "Turn the light on" campaign. Bezos is too busy meeting important people like Trump and jet setting around the world on his permanent vacation to give any consideration to the lowly overworked delivery driver. I'm sure he still gives his workers the same lack of consideration as he always has. Bezos's care or lack thereof for his Washington Post employees during the campaign shows that he hasn't changed.
Not Covering the Stories that Matter
"Cable news is barely covering Trump and GOP plans to slash Medicaid
CNN and Fox News almost completely ignored the Republicans’ plans
Since November 14, CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC have given the Republicans’ potential plans only 40 minutes of coverage. MSNBC led networks with over 33 minutes coverage. However, both CNN and Fox News largely failed to cover the story. CNN devoted just 6 minutes to the potential Medicaid cuts, while Fox News devoted less than a minute of coverage."
40 minutes out of nearly a month on three 24 hour networks worth of coverage.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/12/10/russia-economy-rates-central-bank/
Don't worry, oligarchs.
The Pretender will soon be riding to the rescue.
Charlie Warzel, in The Atlantic, ..."has spent time reporting on NFTs and crypto-token-based decentralized autonomous organizations" ...and
"The aftermath of the presidential election, however, has left me thinking about crypto’s influence differently.
....
Whether he [trump] understands crypto beyond the basic notion that it’s a good way to win votes and get rich off the backs of his most fanatical supporters is not clear. But the alliance between Trump and the crypto constituency makes sense philosophically. Trump is corrupt, and he loves money. For supporters, the appeal of his administration revolves in part around his promises to gut the federal government, seek retribution against his political enemies, and remake American institutions.
Crypto’s Legacy Is Finally Clear
Marie and RAS,
Another aspect of this “Turn the light on” idea is the fact that Amazon delivery people will be working well after dark making money for the B Man, and not everyone will be turning the lights on. Delivering packages in some rural areas, in the dark, can be daunting enough. Making deliveries at night in many cities could be even more so. Are these people getting extra pay for doing this? I doubt it. But this is why guys like B Man and the Musk Ox are so firmly against unionization. Unions would likely insist on additional compensation for delivering packages in the dark.
Test…again.
"Mace had a pro-trans foster-care-youth activist arrested for shaking her hand.
Last night the Rayburn House Office Building hosted an event celebrating the 25th anniversary of a good law: the Foster Care Independence Act of 1999
That welcome ended badly when James McIntyre, an advocate for foster youth and respected government consultant on foster care policy, shook Mace’s hand after her remarks and asked her to support trans youth. If you know Nancy Mace, who thinks about trans penises more than Mark Robinson does, you know that didn’t go over well. She left the room and called the Capitol Police to report an assault — and a short time later, McIntyre was arrested outside the building, last seen calling for any random nearby lawyer to help out.
Witnesses’ descriptions of what happened were positively bland. From The Imprint:
Elliott Hinkle, a former foster youth and advocate for LGBTQ rights, said McIntyre shook her hand, and made a comment about how many transgender youth are in foster care, adding: “They need your support.”"