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To keep the Conversation going, please help me by linking news articles, opinion pieces and other political content in today's Comments section.

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OR here's a link generator. The one I had posted died, then Akhilleus found one, but it too bit the dust. He found yet another, which I've linked here, and as of September 23, 2024, it's working.

OR you can always just block, copy and paste to your comment the URL (Web address) of the page you want to link.

Note for Readers. It is not possible for commenters to "throw" their highlighted links to another window. But you can do that yourself. Right-click on the link and a drop-down box will give you choices as to where you want to open the link: in a new tab, new window or new private window.

Thank you to everyone who has been contributing links to articles & other content in the Comments section of each day's "Conversation." If you're missing the comments, you're missing some vital links.

The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

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."

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Publisher & Editor: Marie Burns


Friday
Nov242023

The Conversation -- November 24, 2023

** Sherrilyn Ifill, in a Washington Post op-ed, explains the Fourteenth Amendment to dummies, and that includes judges and Supreme Court "justices": "... post-Reconstruction courts have rarely upheld or applied in full the ambitious demands of the 14th Amendment. Instead, its guarantees have been watered down to accommodate the political forces of the day, or repurposed to serve powerful interests (such as the dubious determination that corporations are 'persons' entitled to its protections), or treated like an a la carte menu, in which some items -- such as the guarantee of privileges and immunities and all of Section 2 (which would reduce state representation as punishment for voter suppression) -- are essentially ignored." MB: Contributor Ken W. says Ifill's essay is well-worth a read. I concur.

Patrick Kingsley of the New York Times: "Twenty-five hostages held in Gaza, including 12 Thai nationals and 13 other women and children, were released on Friday, the Egyptian government said, the first people to be freed under a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas that took effect hours earlier.... The cease-fire that took effect Friday morning has already enabled the delivery of aid supplies to Gaza, where roughly two-thirds of its 2.2 million people have been displaced by the war. By the afternoon, dozens of trucks carrying humanitarian aid had entered Gaza from Egypt, a spokesman for the border crossing ... said by phone. Israel said that eight aid trucks contained fuel and cooking gas, a small but significant amount for a territory that has all but run out of fuel." This is part of a liveblog. ~~~

     ~~~ UPDATE from the CNN liveblog, also linked below: "An initial group of 24 hostages has been released as a truce between Israel and Hamas -- the first in weeks of fighting -- appears to be holding. The released hostages released include 13 Israelis, 10 Thai citizens and 1 Filipino citizen, according to Qatar's foreign ministry. The hostages are now in Israel, where they have undergone and initial medical assessment.... An Israeli official said a total of 39 Palestinian prisoners will be freed in return on Friday."

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Who Could Have Seen This Coming? Luke Broadwater, et al., of the New York Times: "Speaker Mike Johnson's decision to publicly release thousands of hours of Capitol security footage from Jan. 6, 2021, has fueled a renewed effort by Republican lawmakers and far-right activists to rewrite the history of the attack that day and exonerate the pro-Trump rioters who took part.... Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, the hard-right Georgia Republican, was among the first lawmakers to post false information about the newly released videos.... [She said an insurrectionist holding a vape pen was holding a law enforcement badge and was 'disguised as a Trump supporter.'] Senator Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, recirculated the same clip and false allegation that the man pictured had flashed a badge, adding that he looked forward to questioning Christopher S. Wray, the F.B.I. director, about the matter.... Still others, such as Donald Trump Jr., have shared video of rioters walking through the Capitol hallways doing nothing violent, suggesting that those who entered the building were entirely peaceful."

Presidential Races 2016 -- 2024

Two Corinthians Are Back in the News. Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "In the heat of the Republican primary of 2016, Donald Trump called evangelical supporters of his rival Ted Cruz 'so-called Christians' and 'real pieces of shit', a new book says.... The new book, The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism, by Tim Alberta, an influential reporter and staff writer for the Atlantic, will be published on 5 December.... Early in the book, Alberta describes fallout from an event at Liberty University, the evangelical college in Virginia, shortly before the Iowa vote in January 2016.... Trump was asked to name his favourite Bible verse. Attempting to follow the advice of Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council..., [Trump] introduced it as 'Two Corinthians', rather than 'Second Corinthians'.... 'The laughter and ridicule were embarrassing enough for Trump,' Alberta writes. 'But the news of Perkins endorsing Ted Cruz, just a few days later, sent him into a spiral. He began to speculate that there was a conspiracy among powerful evangelicals to deny him the GOP nomination.... Alberta adds that 'in private over the coming years', Trump 'would use even more colourful language to describe the evangelical community'."

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Israel/Palestine. The Washington Post's live updates of developments Friday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "A cessation of violence in the Gaza Strip went into effect Friday, according to social media reports from within Gaza.... Fifty hostages and 150 Palestinian prisoners are expected to be released during the pause, as part of a deal to release hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israel. Qatar, which has acted as a mediator, said Thursday that Hamas is set to release an initial group of 13 hostages.... Hamas is expected to release civilian women and children hostages, and Israel to release women and minors detained in Israeli prisons." ~~~

     ~~~ CNN's live updates are here.

The Netherlands. More Bad News for Democracy. Claire Moses of the New York Times: "The Netherlands, long regarded as one of Europe's most socially liberal countries, woke up to a drastically changed political landscape on Thursday after a far-right party swept national elections in a result that has reverberated throughout Europe. Geert Wilders's Party for Freedom, which advocates banning the Quran, closing Islamic schools and entirely halting the acceptance of asylum seekers, won 37 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives, making it by far the biggest party, in a clear rebuke of the country's political establishment. The results, tabulated overnight after Wednesday's voting, give Mr. Wilders enough support to try to form a governing coalition. Centrist and center-right parties long wary of the firebrand have left the door ajar to a possible partnership, giving Mr. Wilders a chance to become the Netherlands' first far-right prime minister." The AP's story is here.

News Lede

New York Times: "Charles Peters, the founding editor of The Washington Monthly, a small political journal that challenged liberal and conservative orthodoxies and for decades was avidly read in the White House, Congress and the city's newsrooms, died on Thursday at his home in Washington. He was 96. His death was confirmed by The Washington Monthly, which reported that Mr. Peters 'had been in declining physical health for several years, mainly from congestive heart failure.' Often called the 'godfather of neoliberalism,' the core policy doctrine of the magazine, Mr. Peters was The Monthly's editor from 1969 until his retirement in 2001. He also wrote five books on politics, government and history, and a column, 'Tilting at Windmills,' offering pithy thoughts on politics and current events, from 1977 to 2014."

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Thursday
Nov232023

Thanksgiving Day 2023

~~~ Ah, that's inspiring! But scarcely realistic. The first Thanksgiving was a three-day harvest festival, likely held in late September or October. Those Pilgrim women seated at the table? Probably not. Though the only four white married women to survive may have done most of the cooking, this first Thanksgiving was a men-only event, and the "guest list" included about 50 male colonists and 90 Wampanoag Indians. It was a political gathering, and in the middle of it, the colonists "exercised arms" to show the Wampanoag how powerful they were. The main course was venison; the Wampanoag brought five deer. The colonists probably offered water fowl but not turkey, as well as sea food like clams and lobsters. As for cranberry sauce & pumpkin pies: nope. The colonists didn't have sweetener readily available. Thanksgiving dinner was a 19th-century invention, promoted by Abraham Lincoln as a national holiday and by ladies' cookbooks, which mentioned turkey as only one of several possible main courses -- after pork, mutton, goose, duck and chicken pot pie. 


Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Contributor Jeeves brings us driftglass's discourse on both-sider "journalism," which continues apace.

Kara Scannell of CNN: “The New York judge overseeing Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial and his law clerk have received hundreds of harassing messages that court security has deemed 'serious and credible' since the former president began publicly criticizing court staff. Since October 3, when Trump posted on social media a baseless allegation about Judge Arthur Engoron’s law clerk, threats against the judge 'increased exponentially' and were also directed to his clerk, according to Charles Hollon, a court officer-captain in New York assigned to the Judicial Threats Assessment unit of the Department of Public Safety, who signed a sworn statement.... The ... details made public in the Wednesday filing ... reveal the extent of that contact, including dozens of messages daily, phone doxing and the increased use of antisemitic language.” See also Akhilleus' related comment below.

Judge Aileen's Very Long Game. Josh Gerstein of Politico: “On paper, [Judge Aileen Cannon] has scheduled a trial to open next May in the case charging Donald Trump with hoarding national security secrets at Mar-a-Lago. In reality, she has run the pretrial process at a leisurely pace that will make a postponement almost inevitable, according to experts on criminal prosecutions related to classified information. Delaying Trump’s trial until after the November election would have a momentous implication: It might mean the trial never happens at all. If Trump wins the election and the case is still pending, he’s expected to order the Justice Department to shut it down.”

Presidential Race 2024

Thomas Edsell of the New York Times: “Brian Klaas, a political scientist at University College London, captured the remarkable nature of the 2024 presidential election in an Oct. 1 essay, 'The Case for Amplifying Trump’s Insanity.' Klaas argued that the presidential contest now pits 'a 77-year-old racist, misogynist bigot who has been found liable for rape, who incited a deadly, violent insurrection aimed at overturning a democratic election, who has committed mass fraud for personal enrichment, who is facing 91 separate counts of felony criminal charges against him and who has overtly discussed his authoritarian strategies for governing if he returns to power against 'an 80-year-old with mainstream Democratic Party views who sometimes misspeaks or trips.'... In Klaas’s view, newspapers and television have succumbed to what he called the 'banality of crazy,' ignoring 'even the most dangerous policy proposals by an authoritarian who is on the cusp of once again becoming the most powerful man in the world — precisely because it happens, like clockwork, almost every day.'” ~~~

     ~~~ Ignore Him at Your Peril. Reid Epstein of the New York Times notes that Democrats are getting interested in more coverage of Trump. “'The more the American people are confronted with who Donald Trump is — a dangerous, extreme and erratic man who only cares about using the power of the government to help himself and his friends — the more they reject him,' said Ammar Moussa, a Biden campaign spokesman. 'We will continue to highlight for voters what’s at stake if Trump and his cronies are allowed anywhere near the Oval Office.'” ~~~

~~~ Marie: Here's a media lapse: Trump made his claim he had received a "Hannival Lecter endorsement" in early October; I'm just hearing about it now: ~~~

~~~ Donald Trump Is Still Crazy, Ctd. Tommy Christopher of Mediaite: “MSNBC host Ali Velshi cracked up his crew while roasting ... Donald Trump for bragging about getting the coveted — and entirely made-up — Hannibal Lecter endorsement....

VELSHI: Then there was this at a rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, this month.

TRUMP: Has anybody seen Silence of the Lambs? Hannibal Lecter. How great an actor was he? You know why I like him? Because he said on television on an — one of the — 'I love Donald Trump!' So I love him! I love him!

VELSHI: Hannibal Lecter said that.... It does seem that Trump got mixed up about the actor who played the cannibal in the 1991 film. But who really knows? Because Anthony Hopkins never actually publicly supported Trump. Neither did Mads Mikkelsen or Brian Cox, the other actors who portrayed Hannibal Lecter in the past. In fact, Cox is on record calling Donald Trump a, quote, 'effing a-hole and, quote, “so full of” rhymes with spit.'” Thanks to Akhilleus for the lead. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: No sane person would boast that a fictional serial killer admires him; neither is a sane person unable to disguish between an actor (who never said anything positive about Trump) & the evil character he played on screen. Trump's Hannibal Lecter boast is the ranting of a madman -- and one who doesn't even enjoy a nice Chianti.


Alexandra Marquez of NBC News: "More than half of American voters -- 52% -- say they or someone in their household owns a gun, per the latest NBC News national poll. That's the highest share of voters who say that they or someone in their household owns a gun in the history of the NBC News poll, on a question dating back to 1999." MB: So, umm, I guess that's a true Thanksgiving tradition. Sweet.

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Iowa. Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: “Kim Phuong Taylor was convicted Tuesday of 52 counts of voter fraud, the Justice Department announced.... Taylor carried out a scheme to fraudulently generate votes for her husband, Woodbury County Supervisor Jeremy Taylor, who was challenging Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) in the June 2020 GOP congressional primary election. After Jeremy Taylor finished a distant third in that race, Kim Phuong Taylor again engaged in ballot fraud to help her husband’s successful reelection campaign as county supervisor, prosecutors say.” The Iowa Public Radio story is here.

~~~~~~~~~~

Israel/Palestine

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Thursday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "A swap of Palestinian prisoners in Israel for Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza would not begin earlier than Friday, Tzachi Hanegbi, Israel’s National Security Council director, said in a statement overnight. The first part of the agreement, a four-day pause in fighting, is set to begin earlier. The deal, which involves the first major pause since Israel launched an air and ground assault on the Gaza Strip after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, is set to allow the exchange of at least 50 Israeli hostages, civilian women and children, for 150 Palestinian women and teenagers held in Israeli prisons. Israel has said it could extend the pause by a day for every additional 10 hostages released after the initial group."

Alexander Ward, et al., of Politico: “Some Biden administration officials quietly say the hostage exchange agreement is the clearest signal yet its strategy toward the Israel-Hamas war is working.... Three U.S. administration officials ... suggested President Joe Biden shouldn’t shy away from what the policy has accomplished to date. 'It’s vindication,' said one of the officials earlier Tuesday before the deal was finalized, 'but there’s more to do.'... The Biden administration insists that Israel has an obligation to defend itself but should minimize civilian harm in the process. Over recent weeks, the U.S. worked to get 100 aid trucks a day into Gaza from Egypt and is in touch with humanitarian groups on how to further alleviate the suffering of Palestinians in the enclave. But the administration remains wary about Netanyahu’s endgame and seeming lack of a plan for what to do once Hamas is defeated.”

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Tuesday
Nov212023

The Conversation -- November 22, 2023

Marie: I couldn't access the photo Forrest M. linked below of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg & his apparently adorable son as they attended President Biden's turkey pardon, but to make up for it, I'm reprising the historic Sarah Palin Turkey Slaughter. Whatta gal! ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Update. Here's the link to the photo, which looks exactly like the link Forrest M. provided below, so I would guess the problem is on my end.

Donald Trump Is Still Crazy, Ctd. Tommy Christopher of Mediaite: "MSNBC host Ali Velshi cracked up his crew while roasting ... Donald Trump for bragging about getting the coveted -- and entirely made-up -- Hannibal Lecter endorsement....

VELSHI: Then there was this at a rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, this month.

TRUMP: Has anybody seen Silence of the Lambs? Hannibal Lecter. How great an actor was he? You know why I like him? Because he said on television on an -- one of the -- 'I love Donald Trump!' So I love him! I love him!

VELSHI: Hannibal Lecter said that.... It does seem that Trump got mixed up about the actor who played the cannibal in the 1991 film. But who really knows? Because Anthony Hopkins never actually publicly supported Trump. Neither did Mads Mikkelsen or Brian Cox, the other actors who portrayed Hannibal Lecter in the past. In fact, Cox is on record calling Donald Trump a, quote, 'effing a-hole and, quote, "so full of" rhymes with spit.'” Thanks to Akhilleus for the lead. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: No sane person would boast that a fictional serial killer admires him; neither is a sane person unable to distinguish between an actor (who never said anything positive about Trump) & the evil character he played on screen. Trump's Hannibal Lecter boast is the ranting of a madman -- and one who doesn't even enjoy a nice Chianti.

President Joe Biden's statement on the 60th anniversary of the assassination of President John Kennedy.

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Who Killed JFK?

Marie: Yesterday, Forrest M. & Jack M. discussed the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Forrest remarked that today (Wednesday) is the 60th anniversary of JFK's assassination, and Jack M. expressed his skepticism of the single-shooter theory. Jack reminded me of the Warren Commission, a Congressionally-authorized commission of eminences grises appointed by President Lyndon Johnson, whose mandate was to investigate the assassination. The commission determined that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in shooting President Kennedy & Texas Gov. John Connolly, who was a passenger in the front seat of Kennedy's open car. The commission also concluded that Jack Ruby acted alone in killing Oswald. The value of the commission's report, to me, was that it shocked me out of my youthful fairytale world where eminences grises were indeed eminent & deserving of the deference I had accorded them. My second thought yesterday was that, even 60 years on, we will not find out who really was responsible for the assassination.

BUT. Come now filmmaker Rob Reiner & journalist Soledad O'Brien with a ten-part podcast which promises to answer the big question of the 20th century. I think you can pick up this podcast "wherever you get your podcasts," but in the right-hand column, I've published one source that currently contains the first two episodes.

Another Speaker Makes a Pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lardo. Annie Karni of the New York Times: "Speaker Mike Johnson on Monday night visited ... Donald J. Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, according to a person familiar with the meeting.... Mr. Johnson, who defended the former president in two Senate impeachment trials and played a lead role in trying to help him invalidate the 2020 election results, is positioning himself as the first speaker to be in complete lock step with the former president.... Last week, Mr. Johnson officially endorsed Mr. Trump -- a move former Speaker Kevin McCarthy resisted...." (Also linked yesterday.)

Andrew Kaczynski & Curt Devine of CNN: "... CNN's review of more than 100 of [House Speaker Mike] Johnson's interviews, speeches and public commentary spanning his decades-long career as a lawmaker and attorney paints a picture of his governing ideals: Imprisoning doctors who perform abortions after six weeks; the Ten Commandments prominently displayed in public buildings; an elimination of anti-hate-crime laws; Bible study in public schools. From endorsing hard labor prison sentences for abortion providers to supporting the criminalization of gay sex, his staunchly conservative rhetoric is rooted in an era of 'biblical morality,' that he says was washed away with the counterculture in the 1960s."

George Conway, Michael Luttig & Barbara Comstock in a New York Times op-ed: "... we need an organization of conservative lawyers committed to the foundational constitutional principles we once all agreed upon: the primacy of American democracy, the sanctity of the Constitution and the rule of law, the independence of the courts, the inviolability of elections and mutual support among those tasked with the solemn responsibility of enforcing the laws of the United States. This new organization must step up, speak out and defend these ideals.... To that end, we have formed a nonprofit organization, the Society for the Rule of Law Institute, to bring sanity back to conservative lawyering and jurisprudence.... Our country ... is in a constitutional emergency, if not a constitutional crisis. We all must act accordingly, especially us lawyers." (Also linked yesterday.)

Danny Hakim & Richard Fausset of the New York Times: "In a fiery courtroom presentation, the prosecutor overseeing the Georgia racketeering case against ... Donald J. Trump argued on Tuesday that one of Mr. Trump's co-defendants had intimidated potential witnesses on social media and should be sent to jail. But Judge Scott McAfee of Fulton County Superior Court chose not to revoke the bond of Harrison Floyd, the co-defendant. Instead, he signed off on modified terms prohibiting Mr. Floyd from posting further comments about witnesses in the case. Fani T. Willis, the district attorney of Fulton County, Ga., took the unusual step of personally arguing on behalf of the prosecution, a few days after she filed a motion accusing Mr. Floyd of intimidating an elections worker and other witnesses for the state -- including Georgia's secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger -- through his posts on X...."

Presidential Race 2024. Colorado. Chris Cameron of the New York Times: "The Colorado Supreme Court agreed on Tuesday to take up an appeal of a state judge's ruling allowing ... Donald J. Trump to remain on the state's primary ballot, in a nationwide battle over his eligibility to run for president again. Plaintiffs, citing Mr. Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election, argued that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment disqualifies anyone who 'engaged in insurrection or rebellion' against the Constitution after having taken an oath to support it."

According to someone who claims to be Donald Trump's doctor, Donald's "cognitive health" is "exceptional." (Story linked yesterday.) RAS speculated on the nature of the cognitive test the alleged doctor conducted: "I'm guessing that Trump's cognitive test didn't include questions like 'who won the 2020 presidential election?' or 'who is the current US President?' or 'how many feet are in a 10,000 square foot loft?'"

Marie: Someone will have to explain to me why, for the past several weeks, the fortunes of Sam Altman have so often been the top story in the New York Times & other papers. Anyhoo, after no end of melodrama, Sam got his old job back. ~~~

~~~ Maybe This? Eric Lipton of the New York Times: "... swarms of killer robots that hunt down targets on their own and are capable of flying in for the kill without any human signing off ... is [a scenario] approaching reality as the United States, China and a handful of other nations make rapid progress in developing and deploying new technology that has the potential to reshape the nature of warfare by turning life and death decisions over to autonomous drones equipped with artificial intelligence programs. That prospect is so worrying to many other governments that they are trying to focus attention on it with proposals at the United Nations to impose legally binding rules on the use of what militaries call lethal autonomous weapons."

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Pennsylvania. Chris Cameron of the New York Times: "A federal judge in Pennsylvania ruled on Monday that mail-in ballots that are received on time but are undated should be counted, arguing that a state law rejecting such votes violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The ruling was an opening victory for voting rights groups in a case with national implications heading into the 2024 election, as Republicans and conservative advocacy groups continue to push for stricter voting laws.... In a 77-page opinion, Judge Susan Paradise Baxter of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania said that the law violated the voting protections of the Civil Rights Act because the requirement that voters date their ballots was not 'material to the act of voting.'... The ruling is likely to be appealed all the way to the Supreme Court, where the court's most conservative members have previously supported the state law that requires voters to write the date on the return envelope when sending in their ballots."

Utah Congressional Election. Marianna Alfaro of the Washington Post: "Republican Celeste Maloy, an attorney, is projected to win the special election for Utah's 2nd Congressional District, according to the Associated Press. Maloy will replace Republican Rep. Chris Stewart, who resigned his seat in September because of his wife's health. Maloy -- who served as Stewart's chief congressional counsel -- defeated Democratic state Sen. Kathleen Riebe and five other independent or third-party candidates. Stewart's seat was the last remaining vacancy to be filled in the House." Politico's story is here.

~~~~~~~~~~

Israel/Palestine

The New York Times' live updates of developments Wednesday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "The Israeli government and Hamas agreed to a brief cease-fire in Gaza to allow for the release of 50 hostages captured during Hamas's assault last month on Israel and the release of 150 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, Qatar said early Wednesday. The cease-fire's start will be announced within the next 24 hours, and it will last for at least four days, said the government of Qatar, which helped lead the negotiations. It added that the pause in fighting would also allow for more aid and fuel to reach civilians in Gaza." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Wednesday are here. CNN's live updates are here.

Jacob Magid & Tal Schneider of the Times of Israel: "In an unprecedented vote early Wednesday morning, Israel's cabinet approved an agreement to secure the release of roughly 50 hostages who were abducted into Gaza during the October 7 terror onslaught.... Despite expressing earlier opposition to the agreement, the far-right Religious Zionism party voted in favor, with only members of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir's ultranationalist Otzma Yehudit faction voting against. Not all details of the agreement have been formally released to the public, but an Israeli government official briefing reporters on Tuesday said the deal is expected to see the release of 50 living Israeli citizens, mostly women and children, in groups of 12-13 people per day."


Matt Seyler of ABC News: "United States fighter jets struck two sites in Iraq used by Iran-linked militants on Wednesday morning local time, according to U.S. Central Command and defense officials. This is the fourth round of American retaliatory airstrikes in response to a near-daily spate of attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria by Iran-backed groups. The attacks began in mid-October, 10 days after Hamas' deadly terror attack on Israel. The Pentagon counts more than five dozen such attacks since then."

News Ledes

CNN: "Federal authorities in Buffalo, New York, say they are investigating a 'vehicle explosion' at the Rainbow Bridge border crossing between the US and Canada, adding that the 'situation is very fluid.' Two occupants of the vehicle are dead, a law enforcement source told CNN. Portions of three ports of entry between Canada and the US near Niagara Falls are closed according to the Niagara International Transportation Technology Coalition. The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force is working with New York State Police to 'monitor all points of entry,' New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said." This is a liveblog. CNN & MSNBC are covering developments live. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: According to PM Justin Trudeau, who spoke briefly at a Parliamentary session, four U.S.-Canada crossings have been closed. CNN is reporting that the vehicle sped up & exploded after being directed to a "secondary inspection site." Authorities have not said publicly whether or not they are viewing this as a terrorist attack. ~~~

~~~ New York Times Update: "The United States and Canadian governments went into high alert, four international bridges were closed and cross-border train travel came to a halt after a car exploded on the American side of a Niagara Falls bridge, upending travel plans and sowing fear on the busiest travel day of the year. Two people died Wednesday in the crash after hitting a median at the Niagara Falls International Rainbow Bridge in New York, and a customs officer was slightly injured, but Gov. Kathy Hochul said investigators found no indications of terrorism. The speeding car flew over an eight-foot fence before it burst into a cloud of flames and oily smoke, she said. The crash, which happened around 11:30 a.m. on the day before Thanksgiving, set off a race to protect residents and discover what happened."

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