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New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~
~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”
New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”
Click on photo to enlarge.
~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI."
Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”
New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”
Washington Post: “An early Titian masterpiece — once looted by Napolean’s troops and a part of royal collections for centuries — caused a stir when it was stolen from the home of a British marquess in 1995. Seven years later, it was found inside an unassuming white and blue plastic bag at a bus stop in southwest London by an art detective, and returned. This week, the oil painting 'The Rest on the Flight into Egypt' sold for more than $22 million at Christie’s. It was a record for the Renaissance artist, whom museums describe as the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice. Ahead of the sale in April, the auction house billed it as'the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in more than a generation.'”
Washington Post: The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., which houses the world's largest collection of Shakespeare material, has undergone a major renovation. "The change to the building is pervasive, both subtle and transformational."
At any other time in the last century or more, this Washington Post headline would have appeared to be a hoax. One would wonder if a hacker from the Onion planted it. But this is real. ~~~
"White House rebukes Trump's suggestion to suspend Constitution over 2020 election" ~~~
~~~ Karoun Demirjian & Toluse Olorunnipa of the Washington Post: "The White House issued a stern rebuke on Saturday after ... Donald Trump suggested suspending the Constitution in his ongoing crusade to discredit the results of the 2020 election. 'Attacking the Constitution and all it stands for is anathema to the soul of our nation and should be universally condemned,' White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement, calling the Constitution a 'sacrosanct document.'... Trump's message on the Truth Social platform reiterated the baseless claims he has made since 2020 that the election was stolen. But he went further by suggesting that the country abandon one of its founding documents. 'A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,' Trump wrote. The post came a day after Twitter's new owner, Elon Musk, claimed he would expose how Twitter engaged in 'free speech suppression' in the run-up to the 2020 election. But his 'Twitter Files' did not show that the tech giant bent to the will of Democrats. 'UNPRECEDENTED FRAUD REQUIRES UNPRECEDENTED CURE!' Trump followed up in another post on Saturday afternoon on Truth Social." CNN's report is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Here's the presidential oath of office: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." IMO, Congress should (1) verify that the remarks cited came from Trump himself & not from someone who has obtained access to his social media account; (2) if determined in the affirmative, Congress should immediately pass a law disqualifying Trump from holding any public office. Ever. ~~~
~~~ Cat Zakrzewski & Faiz Siddiqui of the Washington Post: "... Elon Musk, after rifling through his new company's internal files, [announced on Twitter that he] would finally expose how Twitter engaged in 'free speech suppression' in the critical run up to the 2020 election.... But by the time the dust settled Saturday, even some conservatives were grumbling that it was a dud. Musk's Twitter Files produced no smoking gun showing that the tech giant had bent to the will of Democrats. A handful of screenshots from 2020, posted over the course of two hours Friday evening in a disjointed, roughly 40-tweet thread, show the San Francisco company debating a decision to restrict sharing of a controversial New York Post story about the son of then Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.
The Twitter thread, based on internal communications posted by Substack writer Matt Taibbi, showed the company independently decided to limit the spread of the article, without Democratic politicians, the Biden campaign or FBI exerting control over the social media network. In fact, the only input from a sitting politician that Taibbi noted was from Silicon Valley Rep. Ro Khanna (D), who told Twitter executives they should distribute the story.... In the process, Musk took the extraordinary step of promoting the leak of internal company communications to Taibbi, exposing the names of several rank-and-file workers and Khanna's personal email address.:
Julian Mark of the Washington Postexplains why railroad employees got stiffed on paid sick leave benefits. It all relates to "the switch in recent years to 'precision scheduled railroading,' a system designed to improve efficiency and cut costs.... From November 2018 to December 2020, the rail industry lost 40,000 jobs, according to a report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The bureau described precision scheduling as possibly the 'most widely accredited reason for the decrease in rail transportation employment,' although the pandemic, uncertainties in trade and a decline U.S. coal usage also hurt the industry." The new systems allows for no room for getting precisely sick. MB: Seems to me the basis for this system is to assume workers are nothing more than cogs in the wheel & not human beings who have the disadvantage of succumbing for to a virus or an impacted wisdom tooth.
Gabriella Killett of the New Orleans Times-Picayune: "After getting forced off an airplane for asking passengers who appeared to her to be Latino whether they were drug mules, a niece of former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie bit, kicked and spit on Jefferson Parish sheriff's deputies trying to detain her on Thanksgiving Day at Louis Armstrong International Airport, authorities said. Shannon Epstein, 25..., asked a family who were near her and whom she perceived to be Latino if they were 'smuggling cocaine,' said Capt. Jason Rivarde, a Sheriff's Office spokesperson. Airline workers requested Epstein be removed from the plane as she became increasingly irate, and the plane, which had started to taxi to the runway, returned to the gate.... When deputies ... tried to arrest her, she became 'extremely combative,' Rivarde said. In the scuffle, she injured six deputies, biting one of the arm and breaking the skin, and kicking another in the groin, Rivarde said." MB: Sounds like a lovely lady.
Beyond the Beltway
Georgia Senate Race. Sahil Kapur of NBC News: "Georgia has set new records for early voting again as the two Senate candidates blitz the state ahead of Tuesday's runoff election. And the contest is drawing new voters, too. More than 1.85 million Georgians have voted early, according to the office of Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, breaking two single-day records in about a week.... Democrats are outpacing Republicans among early in-person and mail votes by a heavy margin of 52% to 39%, according to data provided by TargetSmart."
Way Beyond
Ukraine, et al., The Washington Post's live briefings of developments Sunday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "The United States expects the 'reduced tempo' in fighting in Ukraine to continue over the coming months, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said. Her assessment comes as the Washington-based Institute of War said that mud has hindered large vehicles from traversing eastern Ukrainian terrain during much of the past week, though the weather is likely to become more conducive to combat in the winter. Meanwhile, Russia and Ukraine criticized a Western plan to cap the price of Russian oil to $60 a barrel, with Moscow saying it went too far and Kyiv saying it didn't go far enough." ~~~
~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Sunday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.
China. Emma Graham-Harrison of the Guardian/Observer: "In the face of the most widespread national protests since the bloody crackdown on Tiananmen Square demonstrators in 1989, the Chinese government has abruptly abandoned its flagship zero-Covid policy. In Beijing, people prepared to go into shopping malls or on public transport without a recent negative test. Elsewhere, they were allowed to enter parks and supermarkets without checks, or told they could quarantine at home -- rather than a government facility -- if they had come into contact with a case.... Xi [Jinping] told visiting European Council president Charles Michelthat China could look at easing restrictions because [the prevailing] Omicron [variant] is less dangerous than the Delta variant, which was most common before. The problem, epidemiologists warn, is that Beijing's stance does not reflect studies on the impact of Omicron, and the country is ill-prepared for a wave of deadly Covid infections that it may soon face."
News Lede
New York Times: “Bob McGrath, who played the sweater-clad neighborhood music teacher and general advice-giver on 'Sesame Street' for almost half a century, died at his home in New Jersey on Sunday morning. He was 90."
Zolan Kanno-Youngs & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "President Biden signed legislation on Friday to impose a labor agreement between rail companies and workers who had been locked in a bitter dispute, averting a strike that could have upended the economy just before the holiday season. 'Without freight rail, many U.S. industries would literally shut down,' Mr. Biden said before signing the bill, adding that many communities would not have received crucial resources during the strike. 'Thanks to the bill Congress passed and what I'm about to sign, we spared the country that catastrophe.' Mr. Biden had called on Congress earlier this week to intervene in the stalemate and avoid the work stoppage that could have cost the economy $2 billion a day. It was a significant move for Mr. Biden, a staunch union backer who has previously argued against congressional intervention in railway labor disputes, arguing that it unfairly interferes with union bargaining efforts.: (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "President Biden met Prince William of Wales, the future king of Britain, for a gaze over the Boston harbor on Friday, capping an unusually glamorous week for a president who takes pride in the humble moniker of 'Scranton Joe.'... The prince and his wife, Catherine, Princess of Wales, were in town to celebrate the Earthshot Prize, the award they created to encourage work addressing climate change.... After chatting with the prince, Mr. Biden made sure to nod to the blue-collar workers of the Bay State. He visited the University of Massachusetts Boston for a phone bank organized by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers to support Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia...."
"Silence Is Complicity." Kelly Hooper of Politico: "President Joe Biden on Friday called on political leaders to reject antisemitism 'wherever it hides,' just a day after the rapper Ye, better known as Kanye West, went on a tirade praising Adolf Hitler and Nazis. 'I just want to make a few things clear: The Holocaust happened. Hitler was a demonic figure,' Biden said in a tweet. 'And instead of giving it a platform, our political leaders should be calling out and rejecting antisemitism wherever it hides. Silence is complicity.'... [People] close to the White House framed the president's tweet as an effort to combat political forces being elevated by ... Donald Trump, who dined with Ye and the white nationalist Nick Fuentes shortly before Thanksgiving.
Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "The Pentagon and defense contractor Northrop Grumman unveiled the U.S. military's bomber of the future on Friday, showcasing an aircraft cloaked in secrecy for years and set to serve as a backbone of Air Force combat operations for decades to come. The B-21 Raider, with a distinctive batwing shape, was pulled forward out of a hangar [in Palmdale, Calif.,] while awash in blue light as cinematic music played and Northrop Grumman employees cheered. The ceremony was held at the company's facility at Air Force Plant 42, a heavily guarded, government-owned manufacturing facility north of Los Angeles, where some of the military's most highly classified work occurs."
Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "As Republicans prepare to take over the House, they clearly see one of their highest missions as transforming >the lower chamber into Donald Trump's 24/7 personal shield against accountability. They are signaling plans for 'investigations' next year designed chiefly to discredit revelations about Trump's effort to destroy U.S. democracy.... In a letter dripping with a contrived, ominous tone, [Rep. Kevin McCarthy] ... instructed [January 6] committee chair Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) to 'preserve all records collected and transcripts of testimony taken,' suggesting Republicans intend to scrutinize those findings in the majority.... McCarthy wrote that Republicans want those materials preserved 'with an eye toward encouraged enforcement of 18 USC 1001,' with no further comment.... That statute criminalizes lying to Congress. From that, I think, we can glean what might be one of the House GOP's coming schemes: Dig through transcripts and other material to twist committee findings into 'proof' that key elements of the anti-Trump testimony were deceptive, or even perjury."
Kyle Cheney & Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Two of Donald Trump's top White House lawyers appeared before at least one grand jury Friday, visiting the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C. amid multiple criminal probes involving the former president. Former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone exited the courthouse just before 2:30 p.m., spending about six hours behind closed doors. His former deputy, Pat Philbin, departed just after 4 p.m., spending about four hours with the grand jury.... For Trump, Cipollone's appearance marks the latest setback in an extraordinary run of catastrophic legal and political developments.... Several other former Trump White House advisers have appeared before the grand jury in recent weeks, including Trump social media aide Dan Scavino and two former aides to ex-vice president Mike Pence."
Fascist Fabulist & Seditionist Leader Endorses Violent Insurrectionists. John Wagner of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump expressed solidarity with the mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, sending a video of support to a fundraising event Thursday night hosted by a group called the Patriot Freedom Project that is supporting families of those being prosecuted by the government. 'People have been treated unconstitutionally, in my opinion, and very, very unfairly, and we're going to get to the bottom of it,' he said in the video.'... 'It's the weaponization of the Department of Justice, and we can't let this happen in our country.'... Trump repeatedly has made clear that he stands with the mob that stormed the Capitol to stop Congress from counting the electoral votes for Joe Biden's win in the 2020 presidential election." (Also linked yesterday.)
Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post: "Donald Trumpknew about a 15-year tax fraud carried out by longtime executives at his namesake company, a prosecutor argued Friday, saying the illegal activity ended when the company cleaned up its business practices around the time Trump entered the White House.... 'This whole narrative that Donald Trump was blissfully ignorant was just not real,' Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass said during his summation. He asked jurors, who are likely to begin deliberations in the case on Monday, to dismiss the idea that executives who committed crimes had simply gone 'rogue.'... In a Truth Social post earlier this week, Trump appeared to refute any suggestion he knew what [Trump CFO Allen] Weisselberg and [comptroller Jeffrey] McConney had done, writing that there 'was no gain for "Trump"' and that 'we had know knowledge of it.'" MB: The royal we had know knowledge. Nitwit. (Also linked yesterday.)
Guardian & Agencies: "Emmanuel Macronsaid he had a 'clear and honest' discussion with Elon Musk about Twitter's content moderation policies, just a day after the French president had flagged his concerns on the issue. 'Transparent user policies, significant reinforcement of content moderation and protection of freedom of speech: efforts have to be made by Twitter to comply with European regulations,' Macron said in a tweet after his meeting with Musk on Friday afternoon.... On Thursday, Macron ... said in an interview with television show Good Morning America that he believed there were 'responsibilities and limits' to free speech." ~~~
~~~ Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "On Friday, Rolling Stone reported that under Elon Musk's new Twitter policies, one of the world's most notorious neo-Nazi activists has had his account restored to the platform: Andrew Anglin, the founder of the infamous website Stormfront.... 'Anglin is a staunch supporter of Nazi ideology and regularly espouses Holocaust denial. In 2018, Anglin wrote that he '[hates] women. I think they deserve to be beaten, raped and locked in cages."'" ~~~
~~~ Brandy Zadrozny of NBC News: "Elon Musk's Twitter is beginning to take shape. A 'general amnesty' has restored hundreds of accounts of right-wing activists and QAnon adherents, according to data reviewed by NBC News. The reinstatement of far-right accounts has coincided with a series of bans of left-wing accounts, leaving users unsure of how the company is now applying its rules." ~~~
~~~ Hate Tweets Soar. Sherra Frenkel & Kate Conger of the New York Times: "Before Elon Musk bought Twitter, slurs against Black Americans showed up on the social media service an average of 1,282 times a day. After the billionaire became Twitter's owner, they jumped to 3,876 times a day. Slurs against gay men appeared on Twitter 2,506 times a day on average before Mr. Musk took over. Afterward, their use rose to 3,964 times a day. And antisemitic posts referring to Jews or Judaism soared more than 61 percent in the two weeks after Mr. Musk acquired the site. These findings -- from the Center for Countering Digital Hate, the Anti-Defamation League and other groups that study online platforms -- provide the most comprehensive picture to date of how conversations on Twitter have changed since Mr. Musk completed his $44 billion deal for the company in late October. While the numbers are relatively small, researchers said the increases were atypically high." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Elizabeth Williamson of the New York Times: "The Infowars fabulist Alex Jones filed for Chapter 11 personal bankruptcy on Friday, citing nearly $1.5 billion in damages juries awarded this year to the families of Sandy Hook shooting victims, who won a series of defamation cases against Mr. Jones after he lied for years about the school shooting. The filing in the Southern District of Texas in Houston comes atop the bankruptcy filing by Free Speech Systems, Infowars' parent company, in late July. The new filing could further delay payment of the verdicts for the families, who would need to seek payment through the bankruptcy courts alongside other creditors. But it could also force a greater degree of scrutiny on the finances of Mr. Jones's empire." The Texas Tribune's report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Andrew Roth of the Guardian: "Edward Snowdenhas received a Russian passport after swearing an oath of allegiance to the country that has sheltered him from US authorities since 2013, his lawyer has said. Snowden, 39, a former intelligence contractor who leaked secret files that were reported on by the Guardian, was granted Russian citizenship in an order signed by Vladimir Putin in September."
2024 Presidential Election. Katie Glueck of the New York Times: "Over objections from some Democratic leaders, the Democratic National Committee on Friday moved one step closer to enacting President Biden's vision for drastically overhauling the party's 2024 presidential primary process, as a key committee voted to recommend sweeping changes to the calendar. At a daylong gathering of the D.N.C.'s Rules and Bylaws Committee in a Washington hotel ballroom, members voted to recommend supporting a 2024 Democratic presidential primary calendar that would begin in South Carolina on Feb. 3, followed by New Hampshire and Nevada on Feb. 6, Georgia on Feb. 13 and then Michigan on Feb. 27. That plan reflected a framework Mr. Biden delivered to the committee on Thursday that emphasized racial and geographic diversity. Representatives from Iowa and New Hampshire voted against the proposal.: (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Beyond the Beltway
New York. Jeffery Mays, et al., of the New York Times: Ibrahim Khan, "the longtime chief of staff to Letitia James, the New York attorney general, has resigned amid an investigation into at least two separate sexual harassment allegations, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.... Mr. Khan, who has been one of Ms. James's closest political advisers for nearly a decade, was accused of inappropriate touching and unwanted kissing by at least one woman.... One of the women who filed a complaint was told on Friday that her allegation of inappropriate touching and unwanted kissing had been substantiated." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Way Beyond
Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefings of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "The Biden administration is prepared to restart talks with Russia over a nuclear arms treaty despite the Kremlin's decision to postpone negotiations planned for earlier this week, the State Department said Friday. The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty is the sole remaining strategic nuclear arms control treaty between Washington and Moscow, but its future has been called into question as tensions rise over the war in Ukraine. Also Friday, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said it was nearing a deal between Ukraine and Russia to protect the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Russia seized the facility soon after it invaded, and repeated shelling at and around the site has raised fears of a global nuclear catastrophe.... The European Union, Group of Seven nations and Australia all agreed Friday to limit the price of Russian oil, a measure the Biden administration called 'welcome news' that will take effect Monday. It remains unclear whether the move will seriously hit Moscow's finances in the near term, since the $60-per-barrel cap is so close to current prices. The Kremlin dismissed the idea of talks between Russian leader Vladimir Putin and President Biden to end the war.... Russian authorities are calling on residents in some occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia to register with authorities, potentially for 'possible evacuation,' Ivan Fedorov, the exiled Ukrainian mayor of the occupied city of Melitopol, said Friday."
Katie Glueck of the New York Times: "Over objections from some Democratic leaders, the Democratic National Committee on Friday moved one step closer to enacting President Biden's vision for drastically overhauling the party's 2024 presidential primary process, as a key committee voted to recommend sweeping changes to the calendar. At a daylong gathering of the D.N.C.'s Rules and Bylaws Committee in a Washington hotel ballroom, members voted to recommend supporting a 2024 Democratic presidential primary calendar that would begin in South Carolina on Feb. 3, followed by New Hampshire and Nevada on Feb. 6, Georgia on Feb. 13 and then Michigan on Feb. 27. That plan reflected a framework Mr. Biden delivered to the committee on Thursday that emphasized racial and geographic diversity. Representatives from Iowa and New Hampshire voted against the proposal."
Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post: "Donald Trumpknew about a 15-year tax fraud carried out by longtime executives at his namesake company, a prosecutor argued Friday, saying the illegal activity ended when the company cleaned up its business practices around the time Trump entered the White House.... 'This whole narrative that Donald Trump was blissfully ignorant was just not real,' Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass said during his summation. He asked jurors, who are likely to begin deliberations in the case on Monday, to dismiss the idea that executives who committed crimes had simply gone 'rogue.'... In a Truth Social post earlier this week, Trump appeared to refute any suggestion he knew what [Trump CFO Allen] Weisselberg and [comptroller Jeffrey] McConney had done, writing that there 'was no gain for "Trump"' and that 'we had know knowledge of it.'" MB: The royal we had know knowledge. Nitwit.
New York. Jeffery Mays, et al., of the New York Times: Ibrahim Khan, "the longtime chief of staff to Letitia James, the New York attorney general, has resigned amid an investigation into at least two separate sexual harassment allegations, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.... Mr. Khan, who has been one of Ms. James's closest political advisers for nearly a decade, was accused of inappropriate touching and unwanted kissing by at least one woman.... One of the women who filed a complaint was told on Friday that her allegation of inappropriate touching and unwanted kissing had been substantiated."
Zolan Kanno-Youngs & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "President Biden signed legislation on Friday to impose a labor agreement between rail companies and workers who had been locked in a bitter dispute, averting a strike that could have upended the economy just before the holiday season. 'Without freight rail, many U.S. industries would literally shut down,' Mr. Biden said before signing the bill, adding that many communities would not have received crucial resources during the strike. 'Thanks to the bill Congress passed and what I'm about to sign, we spared the country that catastrophe.' Mr. Biden had called on Congress earlier this week to intervene in the stalemate and avoid the work stoppage that could have cost the economy $2 billion a day. It was a significant move for Mr. Biden, a staunch union backer who has previously argued against congressional intervention in railway labor disputes, arguing that it unfairly interferes with union bargaining efforts." ~~~
Elizabeth Williamson of the New York Times: "The Infowars fabulist Alex Jones filed for Chapter 11 personal bankruptcy on Friday, citing nearly $1.5 billion in damages juries awarded this year to the families of Sandy Hook shooting victims, who won a series of defamation cases against Mr. Jones after he lied for years about the school shooting. The filing in the Southern District of Texas in Houston comes atop the bankruptcy filing by Free Speech Systems, Infowars' parent company, in late July. The new filing could further delay payment of the verdicts for the families, who would need to seek payment through the bankruptcy courts alongside other creditors. But it could also force a greater degree of scrutiny on the finances of Mr. Jones's empire." The Texas Tribune's report is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: "Fabulist"? Okay Then. ~~~
~~~ Fascist Fabulist & Seditionist Leader Endorses Violent Insurrectionists. John Wagner of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump expressed solidarity with the mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, sending a video of support to a fundraising event Thursday night hosted by a group called the Patriot Freedom Project that is supporting families of those being prosecuted by the government. 'People have been treated unconstitutionally, in my opinion, and very, very unfairly, and we're going to get to the bottom of it,' he said in the video.'... 'It's the weaponization of the Department of Justice, and we can't let this happen in our country.'... Trump repeatedly has made clear that he stands with the mob that stormed the Capitol to stop Congress from counting the electoral votes for Joe Biden's win in the 2020 presidential election."
Hate Tweets Soar. Sheera Frenkel & Kate Conger of the New York Times: "Before Elon Musk bought Twitter, slurs against Black Americans showed up on the social media service an average of 1,282 times a day. After the billionaire became Twitter's owner, they jumped to 3,876 times a day. Slurs against gay men appeared on Twitter 2,506 times a day on average before Mr. Musk took over. Afterward, their use rose to 3,964 times a day. And antisemitic posts referring to Jews or Judaism soared more than 61 percent in the two weeks after Mr. Musk acquired the site. These findings -- from the Center for Countering Digital Hate, the Anti-Defamation League and other groups that study online platforms -- provide the most comprehensive picture to date of how conversations on Twitter have changed since Mr. Musk completed his $44 billion deal for the company in late October. While the numbers are relatively small, researchers said the increases were atypically high."
~~~~~~~~~~
Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "The first official state dinner of Mr. Biden's presidency marked the latest step in the return of post-pandemic normalcy, as celebrities joined politicians, business leaders and big donors to honor America's oldest ally at the White House.... The Macrons were treated to caviar; an American cheese course, including Oregon-based Rogue River Blue, the winner of the 2019-20 World Cheese Awards; and butter-poached Maine lobster. The crustaceans proved somewhat contentious. On Monday, Whole Foods said it planned to stop buying lobster from the state, citing concerns from environmental groups that say endangered North Atlantic right whales have become entangled in fishing gear.... While squashes for the meal were picked from the White House garden, the plates were rented. (The official White House china is not permitted to leave the building to prevent it from getting damaged.)...
"Before arriving, Mr. Biden gave Mr. Macron a custom vinyl record collection of great American musicians and an archival facsimile print of Thomas Edison's 1877 patent of the American phonograph. Mr. Macron gave Mr. Biden and a vinyl and original soundtrack to 'Un Homme et une Femme,' a film the Bidens saw on their first date." CNN's story is here. ~~~
The guest list for the state dinner, via the New York Times,here. ~~~
Kevin Freking & Josh Funk of the AP: "The Senate moved quickly Thursday to avert a rail strike that the Biden administration and business leaders warned would have had devastating consequences for the nation's economy. The Senate passed a bill to bind rail companies and workers to a proposed settlement that was reached between the rail companies and union leaders in September. That settlement had been rejected by some of the 12 unions involved, creating the possibility of a strike beginning Dec. 9. The Senate vote was 80-15. It came one day after the House voted to impose the agreement. The measure now goes to President Joe Biden's desk for his signature." The New York Times story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court agreed on Thursday to decide whether the Biden administration had overstepped its authority with its plan to wipe out billions of dollars in student debt. The justices put the case on an unusually fast track, saying they would hear arguments in February. In the meantime, though, they left in place an injunction blocking the program. The court's brief order gave no reasons and did not note any dissents." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
The law is clear. We cannot write a rule that allows any subject of a search warrant to block government investigations after the execution of the warrant. Nor can we write a rule that allows only former presidents to do so. -- Three-Judge Panel, 11th Circuit Appeals Court ~~~
~~~ So Much Losing. Alan Feuer & Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "A federal appeals court on Thursday removed a major obstacle to the criminal investigation into ... Donald J. Trump's hoarding of sensitive government documents, ending an outside review of thousands of records the F.B.I. seized from his home and freeing the Justice Department to use them in its inquiry. In a unanimous but unsigned 21-page ruling, a three-member panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta shut down a lawsuit brought by Mr. Trump that has hindered the inquiry into whether he illegally kept national security records at his Mar-a-Lago residence and also obstructed the government's repeated efforts to retrieve them. The appeals court was sharply critical of the decision in September by Judge Aileen M. Cannon, a Trump appointee, to intervene in the case. It said that Judge Cannon never had legitimate jurisdiction to order the review or bar investigators from using the files, and that there was no justification for treating Mr. Trump differently than any other target of a search warrant.... All three of the judges on the panel that ruled on Thursday were appointees of Republican presidents -- and two of them, Andrew L. Brasher and Britt Grant, had been placed on the bench by Mr. Trump himself." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) CNN's report is here.
Sara Murray, et al., of CNN: "A federal judge has ordered former top Trump White House lawyers to provide additional grand jury testimony, rejecting ... Donald Trump's privilege claims in the Justice Department's criminal investigation of his effort to overturn the 2020 election, people briefed on the matter said. Pat Cipollone, the Trump White House counsel, and his deputy, Patrick Philbin, appeared in September before the grand jury in Washington, DC, as part of the Justice Department probe, which is now being overseen by newly appointed special counsel Jack Smith. Cipollone and Philbin declined to answer some questions at that time, citing Trump's claims of executive and attorney-client privilege."
John Yoon of the New York Times: "Elon Musk, Twitter's chief executive, said late Thursday that Kanye Westwould be suspended from Twitter after the rapper and fashion designer tweeted an image of a swastika inside the Star of David. Mr. Musk said the post violated the social media outlet's rule against the incitement of violence. The tweet was deleted shortly before Mr. West's account became no longer accessible. His page was soon replaced with a label: 'Account suspended.'" The Guardian's story is here.
What Are Trump's Friends Saying Today? Anthony Adragna of Politico: “A virulently antisemitic Thursday interview with Ye by right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jonesis sparking new GOP condemnation of the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, nine days after Ye brought a white supremacist to dine with Donald Trump. Ye appeared on Jones' 'InfoWars' show with Nick Fuentes, his guest during the Trump dinner -- a known racist and antisemite -- and made a host of antisemitic comments with his face covered by a black mask, repeating the lie that the Holocaust did not happen and praising Adolf Hitler. The Republican Jewish Coalition slammed the Ye-Fuentes appearance with Jones ... as a 'horrific cesspool of dangerous, bigoted Jew hatred.'" MB: Ah, so far, not much "GOP condemnation." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The Washington Post's story is here. MB: Still not seeing much "GOP condemnation."~~~
~~~ Peter Baker of the New York Times: "The conviction of the leader of the far-right Oath Keepers militia this week placed a president at the spiritual heart of a seditious conspiracy to illegitimately keep power in a way that is unparalleled in American history.... The unanswered question remains what, if any, responsibility Mr. Trump had for the conspiracy, an issue to be addressed by Jack Smith, the newly appointed special counsel investigating the former president for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and the events that led to it. But if nothing else, the trial made clear that this was more than a peaceful protest that simply got out of hand. It also underscored how much the former president has aligned himself with forces that used to be outside the mainstream of American politics.... His use of music sounding like a QAnon theme song at recent rallies and his dinner last week with Kanye West ... and Nick Fuentes ... illustrated Mr. Trump's increasing embrace of extremist elements."
Yeah But. Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "The Internal Revenue Service's inspector general said in a report on Thursday that highly invasive audits of two of ... Donald J. Trump's chief enemies -- the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey and his deputy, Andrew G. McCabe -- happened after their tax returns were randomly selected for inclusion in the initial pools from which the agency drew to carry out the examinations. But the 19-page report said there appeared to be some deviations from the I.R.S.'s rigorous rules for random selection when the agency winnowed down the initial pools to make the final selections of the returns that would be audited. That created a risk, the report said, that someone could have had the chance to have a return from the larger pool chosen for the smaller group that would be audited. As a result, the report said, the inspector general, known as the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, or TIGTA, would continue to look into what happened.
Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "... allegations against ... several ... firms are laid out in a sprawling, roughly 120-page report released Thursday by the House Select Committee on the Coronavirus Crisis, a congressional watchdog tasked to oversee roughly $5 trillion in federal pandemic aid. The 18-month probe -- spanning more than 83,000 pages of documents ... -- contends there was rampant abuse among a set of companies known as fintechs, which jeopardized federal efforts to rescue the economy and siphoned off public funds for possible private gain. Some of the companies involved had never before managed federal aid, the report found. At the height of the pandemic, they failed to hire the right staff to thwart fraud. They amassed major profits from fees generated from the loans -- large and small, genuine and problematic -- that they processed and reviewed. And they repeatedly escaped scrutiny from the Small Business Administration, putting billions of dollars at risk, the probe found. The trouble began under the Trump administration, after Congress first authorized the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) in 2020." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Eric Adelson & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "A Florida tax collector who has been cooperating with the Justice Department in its sex trafficking investigation into Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, was sentenced on Thursday by a federal judge to 11 years in prison. The tax collector, Joel Greenberg, had faced up to nearly three decades in prison for a litany of crimes he had committed, including trafficking a 17-year-old girl, stalking a political rival and stealing $400,000 in taxpayer money to buy cryptocurrencies and sports memorabilia. But in the hope of receiving a lesser sentence, he had cooperated with the government in a series of investigations, including into Mr. Gaetz." The AP story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
2024 Presidential Election. Michael Scherer & Tyler Pager of the Washington Post: "President Biden has asked leaders of the Democratic National Committee to mak South Carolina the nation's first primary state, followed by New Hampshire and Nevada a week later, and hold subsequent weekly primaries in Georgia and Michigan, according to Democrats briefed on the plans. The tectonic decision to remake his party's presidential nominating calendar for 2024 came as a shock to party officials and state leaders who had been lobbying hard in recent weeks to gain a place in the early calendar, which historically attracts millions of dollars in candidate spending and attention.... The proposal is likely to win approval from the Democratic officials.... Biden's move is meant to signal his party's commitment to elevating more variety -- demographic, geographic and economic -- in the early nominating process. Iowa, a largely White state that historically held the nation's first Democratic caucus and experienced embarrassing problems tabulating results in 2020, would have no early role in the Biden plan." Politico's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Alex Seitz-Wald, et al., of NBC News: President Biden "has set off a frenzied scramble among competing early states that are apoplectic over the proposal [to re-order early primary states].... The plan drew howls from New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley, who first told NBC News that his state would be the first primary contest no matter what. The Democratic National Committee 'did not give New Hampshire the first-in-the-nation primary,' Buckley said. 'It is not theirs to take away. We will be holding our primary first.'... Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., called the White House plan 'short-sighted' and vowed Thursday to stay the course on the state's tradition of holding a first-in-the-nation primary, citing a state statute dictating that New Hampshire must hold its primary seven days before any other state.... Final ratification will not take place until the next meeting of the full DNC early next year...."
Beyond the Beltway
Arizona. Charles Homans & Alexandra Berzon of the New York Times: "An Arizona county whose Republican supervisors had refused to certify last month's election results relented on Thursday under court order, ending an unusual standoff that had threatened to delay the formal end of the election in the closely watched battleground state. In a hastily arranged meeting, the board of supervisors in Cochise County voted 2 to 0 to approve the final canvass of votes in the largely rural county in the southeast corner of the state. The move came hours after Judge Casey F. McGinley of Pima County Superior Court ordered members of the board of supervisors to take action by the end of the day."
Georgia Senate Race. Maya King & Lisa Lerer of the New York Times: "... former President Barack Obamavisited Georgia for the second time in just over a month to campaign with Senator Raphael Warnock, the Democratic incumbent facing Herschel Walker, the Republican former football star. Hours before the evening rally, Mr. Walker's campaign was the focus of attention after a woman who had been in a long-term relationship with Mr. Walker said that he had attacked her in a rage in 2005 after she caught him with another woman.... The discordant split screen on the campaign trail on Thursday illustrated the stark differences between the imagery of the two campaigns in a race that polls show remains within the margin of error." ~~~
Way Beyond
Ukraine, et al.
The New York Times' live updates of developments Friday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates for Friday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here. ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Friday are here: "In Washington, President Biden and French President Emmanuel Macronreaffirmed their support for Ukraine on Thursday during Macron's state visit. Biden said he had no plans to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin but would be prepared to meet if Moscow indicated a willingness to end the invasion. Macron has faced criticism for holding one-on-one conversations with Putin without preconditions and insisting that diplomacy should continue.... Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for 'spiritual independence' in Ukraine as he lambasted churches with Russian links. He said in his nightly address he met with national security and defense officials regarding the 'connections of certain religious circles in Ukraine with the aggressor state.' A draft law is also being prepared, he added, to make it 'impossible for religious organizations affiliated with centers of influence in the Russian Federation to operate in Ukraine.'"
Dan Lamothe & Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post: "Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and other top Pentagon officials are weighing a major expansion in training for the Ukrainian military, a move that could significantly enhance its ability to evict Russian forces from occupied areas.... The plan, under discussion for weeks, according to senior U.S. defense officials, would build on the billions of dollars in weaponry and other aid Washington has provided Ukraine by showing its military how to wage a more sophisticated campaign against the struggling Russian army. It would see Ukrainian combat units with hundreds, or possibly even thousands of troops, training together in Grafenwoehr, Germany, where the U.S. military has instructed Ukrainian forces in smaller numbers for years. Austin is keen to boost Ukraine's ability to maneuver on the battlefield with a more modern style of warfare that relies less on launching thousands of rounds of artillery per day at Russian troops in what has become a grinding, bloody war of attrition."
News Lede
CNBC: "Job growth was much better than expected in November despite the Federal Reserve's aggressive efforts to slow the labor market and tackle inflation. Nonfarm payrolls increased 263,000 for the month while the unemployment rate was 3.7%, the Labor Department reported Friday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for an increase of 200,000 on the payrolls number and 3.7% for the jobless rate. The monthly gain was a slight decrease from October's upwardly revised 284,000."
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