;)
The Conversation -- November 10, 2024
Marie: Here's a wacky idea I love. ~~~
~~~ Jennifer Bahney of Mediaite: "Jamal Simmons, former communications director for Vice President Kamala Harris, made a bold suggestion Sunday that shocked the CNN panel discussing Donald Trump's transition to the White House. 'Joe Biden's been a phenomenal president, he's lived up to so many of the promises he's made. There's one promise left that he could fulfill, being a transitional figure,' Simmons said. 'He could resign the presidency in the next 30 days, make Kamala Harris president of the United States -- ... It would absolve her from having to oversee the January 6th transition, right, of her own defeat. And it would make sure, it would dominate the news, at a point where Democrats have to learn, drama and transparency and doing things the public want to see -- this is the time, this is the moment for us to change the entire perspective of how Democrats operate.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: AND it would mess with all the MAGA nitwits who bought 47 merch.
Ellen Nakashima, et al., of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday.... During the call, which Trump took from his resort in Florida, he advised the Russian president not to escalate the war in Ukraine and reminded him of Washington's sizable military presence in Europe, said a person familiar with the call.... The two men discussed the goal of peace on the European continent and Trump expressed an interest in follow-up conversations to discuss 'the resolution of Ukraine"s war soon.'..." ~~~
~~~ Oh, yeah? Seems maybe Putin is ignoring Trump: ~~~
~~~ Julian Barnes, et al., of the New York Times: "The Russian military has assembled a force of 50,000 soldiers, including North Korean troops, as it prepares to begin an assault aimed at reclaiming territory seized by Ukraine in the Kursk region of Russia, according to U.S. and Ukrainian officials. A new U.S. assessment concludes that Russia has massed the force without having to pull soldiers out of Ukraine's east -- its main battlefield priority -- allowing Moscow to press on multiple fronts simultaneously.
Ben Davis, in a Guardian op-ed: "Despite the trauma and death of Covid and the isolation of lockdowns, from late 2020 to early 2021, Americans briefly experienced the freedom of social democracy. They had enough liquid money to plan long term and make spending decisions for their own pleasure rather than just to survive. They had the labor protections to look for the jobs they wanted rather than feel stuck in the jobs they had. At the end of Trump's term, the American standard of living and the amount of economic security and freedom Americans had was higher than when it started, and, with the loss of this expanded welfare state, it was worse when Biden left office, despite his real policy wins for workers and unions. This is why voters view Trump as a better shepherd of the economy.... [President] Biden wanted to continue many of these policies, but there wasn't a political pathway. Instead, they quietly expired. To voters, however, the material reality is that when Trump left office, this safety net existed, and by the time of the 2024 election, it had evaporated." ~~~
~~~ Marie: This essay is a good example of burying the lede. But I think Davis is onto something I missed, probably because I took the economic effects of the pandemic too personally. Trump raised my taxes even as Covid lowered my income, so the Trump years were far from a boon for me. But for many working people, as Davis points out, the social safety net enhancements forced upon Republicans by the Covid crisis was a boon. As a number of opinionators have noted, many voters chose Trump at the same time they chose Democrats' policies where that was an option. Davis' theory fits into that picture.
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Marie: The Googles know who I am. Unprompted by any hits I made on YouTube, up popped a "recommended for you" video titled, "It's Time to Move Out." The video cover shows what I guess is supposed to be a ruined American city street, and the content of the video is advising what countries are most amenable to accepting American ex-pats. I'm too old to manage an international move, but maybe you'd like to relocate to someplace like No. 2 choice Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago between Norway & the North Pole. In fairness, I'm sure 24 continuous hours of darkness in Svalbard is more pleasant than 24 hours in a Trump detention camp.
Maxine Joselow of the Washington Post: "Across the federal government, Trump's election has set off a scramble among political appointees and career bureaucrats alike to lock in [President] Biden's landmark environmental initiatives.... Environmentalists said they expect the [EPA] to take several major actions in the coming weeks touching everything from electric vehicles to toxic chemicals. At the top of the list: Trump-proofing California's transition to EVs. Under the Clean Air Act, California can receive a waiver from the EPA to set tougher vehicle emissions rules than those of the federal government. More than a dozen other states follow California's stricter rules, collectively accounting for about 40 percent of the U.S. auto market. Before Trump takes office, the EPA plans to grant California a waiver to enforce its rule aimed at banning sales of new gasoline-powered cars in the state by 2035...."
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." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ 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." (Also linked yesterday.)
⭐ 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. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ 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. (Also linked yesterday.)
Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "The voters who put Trump in the White House a second time expect lower prices -- cheaper gas, cheaper groceries and cheaper homes. But nothing in the former president's policy portfolio would deliver any of the above.... And then there is the rest of the agenda.... I'm going to guess that they don't know [what they voted for]. But they'll find out soon enough."
Rachel Maddow says it's up to us to save our democracy from the Dear Leader and his minions. Thanks to RAS for the link: ~~~
Rachel Nostrant & Christopher Flavelle of the New York Times: "An employee with the Federal Emergency Management Agency has been fired after reports that in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, the employee told relief workers in Florida to pass over houses with signs supporting Donald J. Trump, the agency said Saturday.... FEMA said the employee, whose name was not revealed, has now been terminated. It said that it believed this was an isolated incident, which is now under investigation.... In a post on X, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida said state officials were seeking answers for what he said were 'partisan activists in the federal bureaucracy.'" A CBS News story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Both stories report that FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell called the employee's conduct "reprehensible." No, it wasn't reprehensible. It was unlawful and unfair, but it was understandable. FEMA employees obviously are under a lot of pressure during the aftermath of a disaster. And what did Trump do to support them? He told lie after lie, accusing FEMA and its employees of failing to help victims of Hurricanes Helene & Milton. The employee reacted -- badly -- to the false accusations. S/he shouldn't be on the job because s/he can't handle the pressure, but a blanket condemnation is over the top.
Adeel Hassan of the New York Times: "Two founders of a militia group who were plotting a trip to the U.S.-Mexico border to shoot at immigrants and the authorities who might try to stop them were convicted on Thursday by a federal jury in Missouri of attempting to murder federal agents, prosecutors said. A jury in Jefferson City, Mo., convicted the men, Jonathan S. O'Dell, 34, of Warsaw, Mo., and Bryan C. Perry, 39, of Clarksville, Tenn., of multiple felony counts. Most of the counts were linked to the men shooting at F.B.I. agents who arrived with a search warrant at Mr. O'Dell's home. Among other charges, Mr. O'Dell and Mr. Perry were also convicted of conspiracy to murder officers and employees of the United States government, prosecutors said. They each face a minimum of 10 years in prison and up to a life sentence. Under federal statutes, neither would be eligible for parole."
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Netherlands. Jim Tankersley, et al., of the New York Times: "Amsterdam banned demonstrations over the weekend under an emergency order and mobilized additional police officers after what city officials described as antisemitic attacks on Israeli soccer fans during the week. The order prohibited the wearing of face masks or face coverings and stepped up security at Jewish institutions. It also gave police the power to stop and search people. This week's violence unfolded over days around a soccer match on Thursday between Ajax, a Dutch team, and Maccabi Tel Aviv, an Israeli team.... The tensions had been building up in the city before Thursday's match." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Looks like a blueprint for how Trump, et al., will ban demonstrations in the U.S. Amsterdam is one of the most liberal cities in the world, so banning protests there is a radical move, one that, you know, could begin an "international trend." All the Trumpies have to do is arrange a demonstration in which they attribute violence to the left, then ban protests under an emergency order or martial law or whatever. The Women's March organization is thinking about thinking about doing a "comeback tour." Putting the onus on liberal women sounds kinda perfect, doesn't it?
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Reader Comments (6)
YouTube is interesting. I have not logged into my google account on my phone YT app. Until recently, it kept the history going and would feed me things to watch. The most recent version of the app seems to keep turning off the Save History, I think to get me to log in, so I am faced with a blank search page each time I open the app.
The downside of this is that I have been getting some rather interesting videos suggested along with my search items. Many of them these days are along the lines of "Megyn Kelly Watches Libs Melt Down."
I am spending a lot less time on YT.
Baseline for the price hikes
John Mulaney “Horse In A Hospital”
Guardian
"A new era dawns. America’s tech bros now strut their stuff in the corridors of power
Carole Cadwalladr
In hindsight, 2016 was the beginning of the beginning. And 2024 is the end of that beginning and the start of something much, much worse.
It began as a tear in the information space, a dawning realisation that the world as we knew it – stable, fixed by facts, balustraded by evidence – was now a rip in the fabric of reality. And the turbulence that Trump is about to unleash – alongside pain and cruelty and hardship – is possible because that’s where we already live: in information chaos.
Then come with me into the information sewers, where we will wade through the shit everyone else consumes. Trump is cholera. His hate, his lies – it’s an infection that’s in the drinking water now. Our information system is London’s stinking streets before the Victorian miracle of sanitation. We fixed that through engineering. But we haven’t fixed this. We had eight years to hold Silicon Valley to account. And we failed. Utterly.
Elections are downstream from white men talking on platforms that white men built, juiced by invisible algorithms our broligarch overlords control. This is culture now."
As for the "move out and move on" videos it's not going to be fun for those who are in the "can't afford to go, can't afford to stay" category.
@Bobby Lee: That's true. Any country that would be desirable to live in has asset & income requirements, especially for retirees. Like any responsible government, they aren't welcoming foreigners who will cost more than they can contribute to the economy.
And so far at least, no country is welcoming U.S. citizens as political refugees.