The Commentariat -- December 21, 2020

A Solstice to Remember. New York Times: Today "we will be treated to no fewer than three astronomical occurrences on the same day: a great alignment of our solar system's largest planets, the winter solstice and a meteor shower at its peak."

A Very Special Solstice. Charles Choi in Scientific American: "On December 21, Jupiter and Saturn will meet in a 'great conjunction,' the closest they could be seen in the sky together for nearly 800 years.... 'If you have a telescope, you'll be able to see both the rings of Saturn and the Galilean moons of Jupiter close together at the same moment,' says astronomer Jackie Faherty at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.... 'But the best part about it is we'll be able to watch it with the naked eye.'... The last time Jupiter and Saturn appeared so close was July 16, 1623, back when Galileo was still alive, a little more than a decade after he first used a telescope to discover Jupiter's four largest moons that now collectively bear his name. The odds are low, however, that Galileo or anyone else on Earth managed to witness that great conjunction, which was virtually impossible to see because of its apparent position near the sun. The last great conjunction to appear as close and as visible as the upcoming one occurred on March 4, 1226." (Also linked yesterday.)

~~~~~~~~~~

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

The Saboteur. Toluse Olorunnipa, et al., of the Washington Post: "When President-elect Joe Biden is sworn into office on Jan. 20, the list of crises he will face includes a massive cyber intrusion, a still-raging global pandemic, a slowing economic recovery and a lingering reckoning over the nation's racial tensions. President Trump is not making his job any easier and, in several ways, appears to be actively making it harder -- going to extraordinary lengths to disrupt and undermine the traditional transition from one administration to another despite the nation's many crises.... In his final weeks in office, Trump is making a series of moves aimed at cementing his legacy and handicapping Biden's presidency -- from abruptly pulling troops from war zones to cracking down on Iran to encouraging the Justice Department to investigate his political enemies. The result is a situation without precedent in American history: One president ending his term amid crisis is seeking to delegitimize a successor and floating the prospect of mounting a four-year campaign to return to power." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Some day somebody may find some compelling evidence that reveals the probable answer to the question: was Trump (a) a purposeful, traitorous Manchurian president* or (b) just a consummate asshole & flaming ignoramus? I don't know the answer, but I believe there is one, and it would not surprise me if (a) were the answer.

Covid-19 Is a Plot Against Trump. Emily Czachor of Newsweek: "... Trump has routinely referenced a nonspecific Democratic plot to oust him from office when discussing the election's outcome. After posting a series of messages to Twitter that quickly earned fact-checking labels from the social media platform, Trump retweeted a video on Sunday that showcased a number of conspiracy theories related to the election.... In addition to holding media coverage, polling data and voting software responsible for Trump's failure to secure another term in the White House, the video suggests that COVID-19, and its consequences, were engineered to taint his reputation."

Asawin Suebsaeng of the Daily Beast: "... Donald Trump has taken to asking some aides and advisers about the process of naming airports after former U.S. presidents, according to two people who've heard him recently inquiring on this. One of the two sources relayed that, in the past three weeks, Trump mentioned that 'no president' wants an American airport that has a bad reputation or crumbling infrastructure named after them. The other knowledgeable source said that Trump had, at one point since the 2020 election, offhandedly asked what kind of 'paperwork' was necessary to get an airport named after a former president." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I can't think of an airstrip or heliport insignificant enough to name for Trump. The Naval Air Station Lakehurst in Manchester Township, N.J., where the airship Hindenburg exploded, came to mind. However, I don't wish to be disrespectful to the victims of the Hindenburg explosion, so maybe a cattlefield in Kansas where someone once made a successful emergency landing would be more appropriate. Possible souvenirs: gold-plated cowpies.

On His Way Out the Door. Katie Benner of the New York Times: "Attorney General William P. Barr said Monday that he saw no reason to appoint special counsels to oversee the Justice Department's ongoing criminal investigation into Hunter Biden ... or to investigate President Trump's baseless claims of widespread voter fraud, again undercutting Mr. Trump's efforts to bend the department to his political will and to overturn the results of the election. At a news conference to announce charges in an unrelated terrorism case, Mr. Barr said that he did not 'see any reason to appoint a special counsel' to oversee the ongoing investigation into the younger Mr. Biden. 'I have no plan to do so before I leave,' Mr. Barr said. 'To the extent that there is an investigation, I think that it's being handled responsibly and professionally.' He also said that he would name a special counsel to oversee an inquiry into election fraud if he felt one was warranted. 'But I haven't and I'm not going to,' Mr. Barr said. He added that he saw 'no basis' for the federal government to seize voting machines." ~~~

     ~~~ Nick Niedzwiadek & Josh Gerstein of Politico: "During a final news conference at Justice Department headquarters Monday, Barr did little if anything to hide his disagreements with the president.... With Trump mulling extreme actions to investigate claims of widespread voter fraud, including the use of an executive order to seize voting machines the president's lawyers say are likely to contain evidence of manipulation, Barr made clear he isn't on board."

Dominick Mastrangelo of the Hill: "A statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee was removed from the U.S. Capitol overnight. The statue has stood with America's first president, George Washington, as the state of Virginia's contribution to the National Statuary Hall Collection at the Capitol for more than 100 years. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, announced on Monday the state will seek to have it replaced with a statue of civil rights icon Barbara Johns.... Earlier this year, a state commission recommended the removal of the statue [of Lee] from the Capitol. The commission, led by state Sen. Louise Lucas (D), voted unanimously to remove it.... The statue will be transported to the Virginia Museum of History and Culture in Richmond, Northam's office said." Here's the Wikipedia entry for Barbara Johns.

~~~~~~~~~~

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "Congressional leaders on Sunday reached a hard-fought agreement on a $900 billion stimulus package that would send immediate aid to Americans and businesses to help them cope with the economic devastation of the pandemic and fund the distribution of vaccines. The deal would deliver the first significant infusion of federal dollars into the economy since April.... While the plan is roughly half the size of the $2.2 trillion stimulus law enacted in March, it is one of the largest relief packages in modern history.... It was expected to be merged with a sweeping catchall spending measure that would keep the government funded for the remainder of the fiscal year, creating a $2.3 trillion behemoth whose passage will be Congress's last substantive legislative achievement before adjourning for the year. The deal came together after a weekend of frenzied negotiating only hours before the government was set to run out of funding and two weeks before the next Congress was to convene on Jan. 3." Politico's story is here. ~~~

~~~ Rachel Siegel, et al., of the Washington Post: "The bill would extend aid to millions of struggling households through stimulus checks, enhanced federal unemployment benefits and money for small businesses, schools and child care, as well as for vaccine distribution. It also repurposes $429 billion in unused funds provided by the Cares Act for emergency lending programs run by the Federal Reserve.... The legislation includes $600 stimulus checks per person, including adults and children. That means a family of four would receive $2,400, up to a certain income threshold.... Congress will extend unemployment benefits of up to $300 per week. The benefit could kick in as early as Dec. 27 and run at least through March 14.... The bill includes more than $284 billion for first and second forgivable Paycheck Protection Program loans, expanded PPP eligibility for nonprofit organizations and news outlets, and modifications to the program to serve small businesses, nonprofits and independent restaurants.... The agreement extends until Jan. 31 a moratorium on evictions that was slated to expire at the end of the year. The incoming Biden administration can extend the deadline further.... The bill includes $25 billion in emergency assistance to renters, although it remains unclear how the money will be distributed.... The bill includes $20 billion for the purchase of vaccines 'that will make the vaccine available at no charge for anyone who needs it.'... Colleges and schools will have $82 billion to help cover HVAC repair and replacement to reduce the risk of coronavirus infections and reopen classrooms."

~~~ Tara Bernard & Ron Lieber of the New York Times take a "look at what the latest legislative package will mean for you." ~~~

~~~ AND If You're a Corporate Exec, You Can Count of Deducting That Three-Martini Lunch. Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "The draft language of the emergency coronavirus relief package includes a tax break for corporate meal expenses pushed by the White House and strongly denounced by some congressional Democrats, according to a summary of the deal circulating among congressional officials and officials who are familiar with the provision.... President Trump has for months talked about securing the deduction -- derisively referred to as the 'three-martini lunch' by critics -- as a way to revive the restaurant industry badly battered by the pandemic. But critics said it would do little to help struggling restaurants and would largely benefit business executives who do not urgently need help at this time." MB: Thanks, Donald! The Constant Weader, Mrs. McCrabbie & I are off to lunch to get drunk reviving the restaurant industry. Bottoms up! ~~~

~~~ One Good Thing. Dan Diamond of Politico: "Congressional negotiators on Sunday agreed to allow [Marshall Islanders] living in the United States to sign up for Medicaid, revising a drafting mistake in the 1996 welfare reform bill that barred the islanders from the program, according to three people with knowledge of the deal. Democratic lawmakers like Sen. Mazie Hirono and her Hawaii colleagues had spent about two decades trying to restore the islanders' coverage -- saying that the United States broke its promise to the Marshallese after using their homeland to test dozens of nuclear bombs -- but legislative proposals repeatedly died without Republican support. This spring, the House passed a bill to restore the islanders' Medicaid for the first time in more than 20 attempts, although it stalled in the Senate. The decision to bar the Marshallese from Medicaid has contributed to the islanders' greater rates of sickness and death, researchers have concluded, and those disparities were accelerated by this year's Covid-19 pandemic, which has ravaged the Marshallese community in the United States." ~~~

~~~ Pell Grants for Prisoners. Michael Stratford of Politico: "Congressional leaders have struck a deal to reinstate Pell grants for incarcerated students more than a quarter century after banning the aid for prison education programs, top Democrats and Republicans announced on Sunday. The legislation, which is expected to be included as part of the year-end spending deal, would lift the prohibition Congress imposed in the 1994 crime bill that then-President Bill Clinton signed and Joe Biden championed as a senator." ~~~

~~~ This Is a Bill, Not a Law. Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Congress is buying itself more time to pass and send the deal to President Trump's desk, after House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) announced that the House would pass a one-day stopgap bill instead of voting on the coronavirus-government funding package immediately.... That will delay passage through both chambers until at least Monday. The House is expected to pass the deal and send it over to the Senate by early Monday afternoon where leadership is eager to pass it quickly.... Congressional leaders are expected to need a separate days-long CR in order to give them time to get the mammoth bill to President Trump's desk and for him to sign it to avoid a government shutdown. The House is expected to tuck the longer CR, likely lasting seven days, into its package that governs the debate of the omnibus-coronavirus package. Once the House passes the rules for its debate, the longer, days-long CR will automatically go to the Senate for passage." ~~~

     ~~~ Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "President Trump signed a continuing resolution on Sunday night that will fund the government for the next 24 hours, preventing a shutdown just before midnight and giving Congress extra time to pass a coronavirus relief measure and an accompanying $1.4 trillion government funding bill."

The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here. Reminder: free to nonsubscribers. Also, these updates often include summaries of WashPo stories that are not free to nonsubscribers.

Lena Sun & Isaac Stanley-Becker of the Washington Post: "Grocery store employees, teachers, emergency workers and other people on the front lines of America's workforce should be next to get the coronavirus vaccine, along with adults ages 75 and older, a federal advisory panel said Sunday. The recommendations, which came two days after regulators authorized a second coronavirus vaccine, will guide state authorities in deciding who should have priority to receive limited doses of shots made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. More than 2.8 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine have been distributed, and 556,208 of those shots were given as of 2 p.m. Sunday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The groups designated Sunday include about 49 million people, some of whom could begin getting shots early in the new year. The priorities represent a compromise between the desire to shield people most likely to catch and transmit the virus, because they cannot socially distance or work from home, and the effort to protect people who are most prone to serious complications and death." The article is free to nonsubscribers. ~~~

     ~~~ A New York Times story is here. The AP's report is here. MB: One thing that is completely unclear, & will likely vary by state & even by community, is how an individual gets in the queue for a vaccination. I am a high-risk person (1-B on the CDC scale), but what do I do? Sit & wait for a call or letter from somebody? Call the state health agency? My doctor? My pharmacy?

Jill Colvin of the AP: "President-elect Joe Biden will receive his first dose of the coronavirus vaccine on live television as part of a growing effort to convince the American public the inoculations are safe.... Biden and his wife, Jill, will also thank health care workers at the facility where they receive the shots, his incoming press secretary has said.... Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and her husband are expected to receive their first shots next week. But missing from the action has been ... Donald Trump, who has spent the last week largely out of sight as he continues to stew about his election loss and floats increasingly outlandish schemes to try to remain in power."

Do As I Say, Not as I Do. -- Dr. Debbie. Aamer Madhani & Brian Slodysko of the AP: "As COVID-19 cases skyrocketed before the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus response, warned Americans to 'be vigilant' and limit celebrations to 'your immediate household.' For many Americans that guidance has been difficult to abide, including for Birx herself. The day after Thanksgiving, she traveled to one of her vacation properties on Fenwick Island in Delaware. She was accompanied by three generations of her family from two households. Birx, her husband Paige Reffe, a daughter, son-in-law and two young grandchildren were present. [Birx & her family members often travel between a Washington, D.C., home & another home they own in Potomac, Md.]... Birx has expressed a desire to maintain a significant role on the White House coronavirus task force when President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated next month.... 'To me this disqualifies her from any future government health position,' said Dr. Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the Georgetown Center for Global Health Science and Security. 'It's a terrible message for someone in public health to be sending to the American people.'"

U.K. Apoorva Mandavilli of the New York Times: "... officials in Britain on Saturday sounded an urgent alarm about what they called a highly contagious new variant of the coronavirus circulating in England.... In South Africa, a similar version of the virus has emerge.... Several experts ... [said] it would take years -- not months -- for the virus to evolve enough to render the current vaccines impotent." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) An AP story is here. ~~~

~~~ Pan Pylas of the AP: "British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is to chair a meeting of the government's emergency committee later Monday after France closed its borders to arrivals from the U.K. to stem the spread of a new strain of the coronavirus circulating in London and the southeast of England. The meeting of the COBRA civil contingencies committee comes amid warnings of 'significant disruption' around the ports in the English Channel, with tailbacks going back miles into Kent, the county in southeastern England. The tailbacks came after France announced Sunday that it was closing its borders for 48 hours, which means lorries cannot get across the English Channel by boat. Goods arriving on containers are unaffected." ~~~

~~~ BBC: "India is the latest state to suspend flights from the UK, joining Hong Kong, Canada, Switzerland and Germany. On Sunday evening, France shut its border with the UK for 48 hours, meaning no lorries or ferries will be able to sail from the port of Dover. Belgium and the Irish Republic have also suspended flights.... Austria is also set to bring in a ban, while Bulgaria has suspended flights to and from the UK from midnight. Unlike the short-term measures in many other nations, its ban lasts until 31 January. European Union member states are currently meeting in Brussels to discuss a co-ordinated response.... Meanwhile, coronavirus cases in the UK rose by 35,928 on Sunday - nearly double the number recorded seven days previously." ~~~

~~~ Reuters: "Canada is halting passenger flights from the United Kingdom for 72 hours, the health ministry said on Sunday, joining a growing list of countries barring British travelers to prevent the spread of a new coronavirus strain from the country.... The decision came after Canadian officials, including the prime minister and health minister, met on Sunday afternoon to discuss the new variant, which officials say is up to 70% more transmissible than the original."

One President at a Time, Ctd. Hope Yen of the AP: "Once in office, President-elect Joe Biden will punish Russia for its suspected cyberespionage operation against the United States with financial sanctions and measures to hobble the Kremlin’s ability to launch future hacks, his chief of staff said Sunday, as a GOP senator [Mitt Romney] criticized ... Donald Trump for having a 'blind spot' when it comes to Moscow. 'Those who are responsible are going to face consequences for it,' said Biden chief of staff Ron Klain. 'It's not just sanctions. It's also steps and things we could do to degrade the capacity of foreign actors to repeat this sort of attack or, worse still, engage in even more dangerous attacks.'"

Last Days of the Mad Kaiser

Amy Gardner of the Washington Post: "To preserve his hold on power, Trump has spent the weeks since Election Day promoting falsehoods about voting problems in Georgia and five other states, successfully persuading tens of millions of his supporters to believe a lie -- that the election was stolen from him, and from them. He has done so by harnessing the power of his position, using his pulpit at the White House and his Twitter feed to let loose a fusillade of conspiracy theories. His assault on the integrity of the election has gotten a hefty assist from pro-Trump media outfits and an assortment of state lawmakers and lawyers who gave oxygen to the debunked allegations -- and a majority of congressional Republicans, who called on the Supreme Court to overturn the results in four states.... Along the way, Trump has willfully damaged two bedrocks of American democracy that he has been going after for years: confidence in the media as a source of trusted information and faith in systems of government. It might be one of his lasting legacies."

There is no role for the U.S. military in determining the outcome of an American election. -- Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy & top Army Gen. James McConville, in a joint statement ~~~

~~~ Felicia Sonmez, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump has intensified efforts to overturn the election, raising a series of radical measures in recent days, including military intervention, seizing voting machines and a 13th-hour appeal to the Supreme Court. On Sunday, Trump said in a radio interview that he had spoken with Sen.-elect Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) about challenging the electoral vote count when the House and Senate convene on Jan. 6 to formally affirm President-elect Joe Biden's victory. 'He's so excited,' Trump said of Tuberville. 'He said, "You made me the most popular politician in the United States."... He's great. Great senator.' Trump's conversation with Tuberville is part of a much broader effort by the defeated president to invalidate the election. He is increasingly reaching out to allies like [Rudy] Giuliani and White House trade adviser Peter Navarro for ideas and searching his Twitter feed for information to promote.... In recent days, Trump has expressed frustration that his Cabinet is not doing more to assist. At a Cabinet meeting last week at the White House, Trump vented about the election and made unsubstantiated allegations of fraud, officials said, but did not give Cabinet members specific orders.... On Sunday, the Trump campaign said it was filing a suit with the Supreme Court over Pennsylvania's mail-in voting rules." (An earlier version of this story was linked yesterday afternoon.) MB: Apparently Trump is unaware that "great senator" Tommy Tuberville is not, in fact, a senator at all, much less showing the slightest indication he will be a great one. ~~~

~~~ Jill Colvin & Marc Levy of the AP: "Undeterred by dismissals and admonitions from judges..., Donald Trump's campaign continued with its unprecedented efforts to overturn the results of the Nov 3. election Sunday, saying it had filed a new petition with the Supreme Court. The petition seeks to reverse a trio of Pennsylvania Supreme Court cases having to do with mail-in ballots and asks the court to reject voters' will and allow the Pennsylvania General Assembly to pick its own slate of electors. While the prospect of the highest court in the land throwing out the results of a democratic election based on unfounded charges of voter fraud is extraordinary unlikely, it wouldn't change the outcome. President-elect Joe Biden would still be the winner even without Pennsylvania because of his wide margin of victory in the Electoral College."

Alexander Burns & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Seldom has the leader of an American political party done so much to strike fear into the hearts of his allies, but done so little to tackle challenges facing the country during his final days in office. Far from presenting the vaccine breakthroughs from Pfizer and Moderna as testaments to private-sector ingenuity and innovation -- once a conservative creed -- [Donald Trump] was fixated on menacing Republicans who might dare to acknowledge Joseph R. Biden Jr. as president-elect. That duality in Mr. Trump's behavior -- acting as a bystander while other leaders answered a crisis and simultaneously raging at Republicans who have inched away from him -- also amounts to a preview of Mr. Trump's post-presidency." (Also linked yesterday.)

David Sanger & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "Confronted with a vast cyberattack believed to have been carried out by Russia, the Trump administration is suddenly reviving an old idea: Strip the general who leads the United States Cyber Command of his second title as the director of the National Security Agency, the country's largest spy operation.... But when the idea was revived in recent days with a recommendation en route to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Mark A. Milley, for action before President Trump leaves office next month, it led to a firestorm of protest on Capitol Hill. Democrats and Republicans alike say that the two institutions are too intertwined to be managed separately and that any unilateral action by the administration to change the current structure would violate legal requirements for extensive assessments before altering it. They said it was also unclear how such a step, especially carried out hastily during a presidential transition, would help with the current crisis." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I don't know much about much, but I do know that the cable news networks have been littered during the past week with pundits of all political stripes who blame the Trump administration for not detecting the attack in part because it has balkanized cybersecurity experts into their respective agencies. To further diminish the government's right hand from knowing what its left hand is doing would seem unwise, at least on the surface. Then there's this: ~~~

~~~ Alexandra Villarreal of the Guardian: "Frontline healthcare workers saw their hopes dashed last week when a botched algorithm, crashing scheduling platforms and other logistical mishaps thwarted their efforts to be among the first in the US to receive a long-awaited coronavirus vaccine.... More than 100 Stanford doctors protested on Friday, standing up for respiratory therapists, environmental services workers, nursing staff, residents and fellows who interact with patients. They were unable to lay claim to initial doses of the vaccine, even as they learned that employees doing telehealth from home had nabbed slots.... On the east coast, doctors in Boston's Mass General Brigham system were also distraught. After the online scheduling platform crashed, employees filed into a long line on Thursday morning to sign up for shots in-person. But staff in emergency departments couldn't abandon their patients. Once appointments came back online, availability vanished in minutes...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So if the system doesn't work for medical personnel working in relatively closed, controlled facilities, how well will it work for us ordinary people out here in the hinterlands?

The Enablers. Erica Newland in a New York Times op-ed/confessional: "I was an attorney at the Justice Department when Donald Trump was elected president. I worked in the Office of Legal Counsel, which is where presidents turn for permission slips that say their executive orders and other contemplated actions are lawful.... My job was to tailor the administration's executive actions to make them lawful -- in narrowing them, I could also make them less destructive.... But there was a trade-off: We attorneys diminished the immediate harmful impacts of President Trump's executive orders -- but we also made them more palatable to the courts.... I now see what might have happened if, rather than nip and tuck the Trump agenda, responsible Justice Department attorneys had collectively -- ethically, lawfully -- refused to participate in President Trump's systematic attacks on our democracy from the beginning. The attacks would have failed [because Trump would have had to rely on incompetent lawyers like Rudy Giuliani]. No matter our intentions, we were complicit."

Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Potential Lawsuits That Could Disable Right-Wing Media. Ben Smith of the New York Times: Antonio Mugica's company Smartmatic, "and a competitor, Dominion ... were at the center of [Rudy] Giuliani's and Sidney Powell's theories, and on the tongues of commentators on Fox News and its farther-right rivals, Newsmax and One America News.... Here's the thing: Smartmatic wasn't even used in the contested states. The company ... pulled out of the United States in 2007 after a controversy over its founders' Venezuelan roots.... Last week, [Mugica's high-powered defamation] lawyer [J. Erik Connolly] sent scathing letters to the Fox News Channel, Newsmax and OAN demanding that they immediately, forcefully clear his company's name -- and that they retain documents for a planned defamation lawsuit. He has, legal experts say, an unusually strong case.... Dominion Voting Systems has hired another high-powered libel lawyer, Tom Clare, who has threatened legal action against Ms. Powell and the Trump campaign.... [The lawyers have made] legal threats any company, even a giant like Fox Corporation, would take seriously.... And so Newsmax and OAN appear likely to face the same fate as so many of President Trump's sycophants, who have watched him lie with impunity and imitated him -- only to find that he's the only one who can really get away with it."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Middle East, Mostly. Stephanie Kirchgaessner & Michael Safi of the Guardian: "Spyware sold by an Israeli private intelligence firm was allegedly used to hack the phones of dozens of Al Jazeera journalists in an unprecedented cyber-attack that is likely to have been ordered by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, according to leading researchers. In a stunning new report, researchers at Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto said they discovered what appears to be a major espionage campaign against one of the world's leading media organisations, which is based in Qatar and has long been a thorn in the side of many of the region's autocratic regimes. The report, written by some of the world's top digital surveillance researchers, also raises troubling new questions about the apparent vulnerability of the Apple iPhone, which has sought to promote a reputation for security and commitment to privacy. Researchers at Citizen Lab said the apparent malicious code they discovered, which they claim is used by clients of Israel's NSO Group, made 'almost all' iPhone devices vulnerable if users were using an operating system that pre-dated Apple's iOS 14 system, which appears to have fixed the vulnerability."

The Commentariat -- December 20, 2020

Afternoon Update:

Apoorva Mandavilli of the New York Times: "... officials in Britain on Saturday sounded an urgent alarm about what they called a highly contagious new variant of the coronavirus circulating in England.... In South Africa, a similar version of the virus has emerge.... Several experts ... [said] it would take years -- not months -- for the virus to evolve enough to render the current vaccines impotent."

Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "President Trump said Sunday that he has spoken with Sen.-elect Tommy Tuberville, the Alabama Republican who suggested last week that he supports a potential challenge to the electoral vote count when the House and Senate convene next month to formally affirm President-elect Joe Biden's victory.... The conversation is the latest signal that Trump is exerting pressure on Republicans to overturn the results of November's presidential election.... the president and his supporters are redoubling their efforts to block the normal transfer of power, including a potential challenge on Jan. 6, when both chambers of Congress conduct the final tally of electoral votes."

Alexander Burns & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Seldom has the leader of an American political party done so much to strike fear into the hearts of his allies, but done so little to tackle challenges facing the country during his final days in office. Far from presenting the vaccine breakthroughs from Pfizer and Moderna as testaments to private-sector ingenuity and innovation -- once a conservative creed -- [Donald Trump] was fixated on menacing Republicans who might dare to acknowledge Joseph R. Biden Jr. as president-elect. That duality in Mr. Trump's behavior -- acting as a bystander while other leaders answered a crisis and simultaneously raging at Republicans who have inched away from him -- also amounts to a preview of Mr. Trump's post-presidency."

~~~~~~~~~~

A Very Special Solstice. Charles Choi in Scientific American: "On December 21, Jupiter and Saturn will meet in a 'great conjunction,' the closest they could be seen in the sky together for nearly 800 years.... 'If you have a telescope, you'll be able to see both the rings of Saturn and the Galilean moons of Jupiter close together at the same moment,' says astronomer Jackie Faherty at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.... 'But the best part about it is we'll be able to watch it with the naked eye.'... The last time Jupiter and Saturn appeared so close was July 16, 1623, back when Galileo was still alive, a little more than a decade after he first used a telescope to discover Jupiter's four largest moons that now collectively bear his name. The odds are low, however, that Galileo or anyone else on Earth managed to witness that great conjunction, which was virtually impossible to see because of its apparent position near the sun. The last great conjunction to appear as close and as visible as the upcoming one occurred on March 4, 1226."

Real Government-in-Waiting. Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "President-elect Joe Biden on Saturday introduced members of his climate and energy teams in Wilmington, Del., nominees and appointees he said would lead his administration's plans to address climate change, 'the existential threat of our time.'... He noted that, this year alone, wildfires had burned more than 5 million acres across the West, hurricanes and tropical storms had pummeled the East and Gulf coasts, and droughts had ravaged parts of the Midwest.... His climate and energy teams would be ready on day one, he said, with a focus on creating new jobs in 'climate-resilient infrastructure' and clean energy. [Biden's team -- Rep. Deb Haaland (D-NM), Michael Regan, Brenda Mallory, Jennifer Granholm, Gina McCarthy & Ali Zaidi] shared the stage with Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala D. Harris on Saturday at the Queen Theater in Wilmington. As in past events, where Biden introduced his Cabinet picks, the would-be nominees and appointees spoke as much about their personal histories as their qualifications and plans for the job." ~~~

      ~~~ The New York Times' story is here. Politico's report is here.

Frank Bajak of the AP: "It's going to take months to kick elite hackers widely believed to be Russian out of the U.S. government networks they have been quietly rifling through since as far back as March in Washington's worst cyberespionage failure on record. Experts say there simply are not enough skilled threat-hunting teams to duly identify all the government and private-sector systems that may have been hacked. FireEye, the cybersecurity company that discovered the intrusion into U.S. agencies and was among the victims, has already tallied dozens of casualties. It's racing to identify more." More on Vlad's Greatest Hack linked below.

Sam Mintz & Stephanie Beasley of Politico (Dec. 18): "The FAA has stymied congressional investigators, allowed Boeing to coach pilots so they performed better on simulator tests of the Boeing 737 MAX, and continued a decades-long pattern of punishing whistleblowers -- all at the expense of the safety of millions of passengers, a damning Senate report released Friday found. There are 'numerous systemic deficiencies in FAA oversight,' that could put the flying public at risk, the report from the Senate Commerce Committee read. And in some cases, it appears that agency supervisors have been aware of and sometimes complicit in efforts to impede that oversight, according to the report. It is a scathing indictment of the FAA's management, which the report suggests presided over a safety culture that allowed line inspectors to be overruled in favor of the companies the agency oversees and detailing a lack of understanding of whistleblower complaints or how to handle them. The report also accuses FAA 'senior leaders' of possibly obstructing a DOT Inspector General investigation into the MAX crashes."

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Saturday are here: "Gen. Gustave F. Perna, who heads Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration's multiagency effort to get coronavirus vaccines out to Americans, apologized repeatedly on Saturday morning for confusion over vaccine deliveries to states. He attributed some of the problems to the federal government's miscalculation of how many doses of Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine could be shipped. The discrepancies disrupted vaccination plans and stirred consternation in at least 14 states. General Perna is in charge of the logistics for distributing the coronavirus vaccines to the states, and he took full and sole responsibility for the delays and confusion around the vaccine rollout, and for the discrepancies between the number of doses states were expecting and what they are receiving. 'It was my fault,' he said. 'It was a planning error, and I am responsible.'

~~~ "On Saturday, General Perna noted that boxes of the Moderna vaccine, which was approved for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration on Friday, were being packed and loaded, and that truckloads would begin rolling out on Sunday. He said that the government remained on track to allocate about 20 million vaccine doses across the country by the end of December, and that the distribution of those doses would be 'pushing into the first week of January.'" An AP story is here.

Yasmeen Abutaleb, et al., of the Washington Post: The deployment of coronavirus vaccines this week "does not conceal the difficult truth, that the virus has caused proportionately more infections and deaths in the United States than in most other developed nations -- a result, experts say, of a dysfunctional federal response led by a president perpetually in denial.... The story of how America arrived at this final season of devastation ... is based on interviews over the past month with 48 senior administration officials, government health professionals, outside presidential advisers and other people briefed on the inner workings of the federal response. The catastrophe began with Trump's initial refusal to take seriously the threat of a once-in-a-century pandemic. But, as officials detailed, it has been compounded over time by a host of damaging presidential traits -- his skepticism of science, impatience with health restrictions, prioritization of personal politics over public safety, undisciplined communications, chaotic management style, indulgence of conspiracies, proclivity toward magical thinking, allowance of turf wars and flagrant disregard for the well-being of those around him.... The administration's overall response is likely to be scrutinized for years to come as a case study in crisis mismanagement."

Mike DeBonis, et al., of the Washington Post: "Senior lawmakers attempting to complete an emergency coronavirus relief package this weekend slammed into a major roadblock on Saturday over Republican demands to limit the authority of the Federal Reserve. A late push from Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.) to rein in the nation's central bank had already divided lawmakers over the last several days. But the impasse appeared to grow significantly wider on Saturday, as congressional leadership and rank-and-file senators on both sides of the aisle dug in over the issue, imperiling prospects for a deal before Monday. Toomey, a conservative lawmaker on the Senate's banking committee, has demanded provisions be included in the covid relief package that would curb the ability of the Fed to restart emergency lending programs for localities and small businesses. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told Senate Republicans on a private call Saturday afternoon that the party should stick by Toomey's plan, according to two people who requested anonymity to share details of the call. But senior Democrats have balked at agreeing to what they see as a nakedly political attempt to limit the economic tools available to the Biden administration." Politico's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Note to Joe: No, Mitch is not going to be your friend. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Marianne Levine, et al., of Politico: "Republican and Democratic senators on Saturday resolved a dispute over the Federal Reserve's emergency lending powers, according to congressional aides -- a significant breakthrough after a series of weekend negotiations on a broader coronavirus relief package. With the Fed compromise, negotiators cleared the final major hurdle on a nearly $1 trillion stimulus package ahead of a Sunday night government funding deadline.... A senior Democratic aide said [Sen. Pat] Toomey [R-Pa.] 'agreed to drop' some of his demands and said negotiators were finalizing 'compromise language.' As a result, the aide added, 'a final agreement on an emergency relief package is significantly closer.'" A CNN analyst said Democrats caved to Toomey's demands.

Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Lydia O'Connor of the Huffington Post: "Rupert Murdoch, the media mogul behind Fox News, received the COVID-19 vaccine on Friday, even as hosts on his network stoke fears about it and spread vaccine misinformation. Murdoch, 89, received the coronavirus vaccine in the United Kingdom, where people over 80 years of age are among those deemed priority recipients.... Tucker Carlson, arguably the network's biggest star, veered into anti-vaccine territory on his show Thursday night.... [Carlson said Thursday night that] the vaccine's 'marketing campaign' seems 'a bit much, it feels false, because it is; it's too slick.'... He warned that two Alaska health care workers had an allergic reaction to the vaccine, the first doses of which have already been given to 2.9 million people across the U.S. Carlson is a huge moneymaker for Fox News and, in turn, for Murdoch.... Laura Ingraham, another one of Fox News' most well-known hosts, is also spreading vaccine misinformation. Earlier this week, she posited on her show that people in North and South Dakota don't need to get the COVID-19 vaccine because they're nearing herd immunity status, a claim that is dangerous and untrue." ~~~

~~~ Marie: A reader sends along this very nice ad, which might help Tucker overcome his fear of the Covid-19 vaccine. (Pfizer makes Viagra):

  

U.K. Mark Landler & Stephen Castle of the New York Times: "Alarmed by a fast-spreading variant of the coronavirus, Prime Minister Boris Johnson abruptly reversed course on Saturday and imposed a wholesale lockdown on London and most of England's southeast, banning Christmas-season gatherings beyond individual households. The decision, which Mr. Johnson announced after an emergency meeting of his cabinet, came after the government got new evidence of a variant first detected several weeks ago in Southeast England, which the prime minister asserted was as much as 70 percent more transmissible than previous versions. The new measures, which take effect on Sunday, are designed, in effect, to cut off the capital and its surrounding counties from the rest of England. They are the most severe measures the British government has taken since it imposed a lockdown on the country back in March, and reflect a fear that the new variant could supercharge the transmission of the virus as winter takes hold."

The Last Days of the Mad Kaiser

** Maggie Haberman & Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "President Trump on Friday discussed naming Sidney Powell, who as a lawyer for his campaign team unleashed conspiracy theories about a Venezuelan plot to rig voting machines in the United States, to be a special counsel overseeing an investigation of voter fraud, according to two people briefed on the discussion.... Most of his advisers opposed the idea, two of the people briefed on the discussion said, including Rudolph W. Giuliani.... In recent days Mr. Giuliani has sought to have the Department of Homeland Security join the campaign's efforts to overturn Mr. Trump's loss in the election. Mr. Giuliani joined the discussion by phone, while Ms. Powell was at the White House for a meeting that became raucous and involved people shouting at each other at times, according to one of the people briefed on what took place. Ms. Powell's client, retired Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, the former national security adviser whom the president recently pardoned, was also there.... During an appearance on the conservative Newsmax channel this week, Mr. Flynn pushed for Mr. Trump to impose martial law and deploy the military to 'rerun' the election. At one point in the meeting on Friday, Mr. Trump asked about that idea. The White House counsel, Pat A. Cipollone, and the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, repeatedly and aggressively pushed back on the ideas being proposed...." ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian has a summary report here. A Politico report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Kevin Drum of Mother Jones questions the NYT's editorial decision to bury this story "below the fold" (so to speak, inasmuch as Drum is referring to the online front page) and burying the lede in Paragraph 6: "The president of the United States asked a bunch of his advisors about the feasibility of imposing martial law and having the Pentagon run a new election. In other words, staging a military coup. Sure, everyone at the table shot it down, because even Rudy Giuliani isn't that far gone. But he asked! The president of the United States! What does Trump have to do these days to rate a bigger headline? Invade Canada?" MB: The thing is, Kevin, "Trump Said Something Dangerous & Crazy" is hardly news. As Paul Campos notes In LG&$, we're suffering from "Battered Nation Syndrome." I will say that after CNN confirmed the story, they aired it repeatedly, using adjectives like "deranged"; and at 5:30 am ET, it's still at the top of their home Webpage.

~~~ Jonathan Swan of Axios: "Senior Trump administration officials are increasingly alarmed that President Trump might unleash -- and abuse -- the power of government in an effort to overturn the clear result of the election.... These officials tell me that Trump is spending too much time with people they consider crackpots or conspiracy theorists and flirting with blatant abuses of power.... Their fears include Trump's interest in former national security adviser Michael Flynn's wild talk of martial law; an idea floated of an executive order to commandeer voting machines; and the specter of Sidney Powell, the conspiracy-spewing election lawyer, obtaining governmental power and a top-level security clearance. A senior administration official said that when Trump is 'retweeting threats of putting politicians in jail, and spends his time talking to conspiracy nuts who openly say declaring martial law is no big deal, it's impossible not to start getting anxious about how this ends.'" MB: And this is the lunatic most elected Republicans are afraid to confront. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'd like to hear one of those so-called advisors tell Trump, "C'mon, you're the worst president* in American history. Look upon your defeat as the majority of Americans do: as a great national correction. It's a blessing. Thank the Fates for Joe Biden & get out."

Kaitlan Collins of CNN: "... Donald Trump's campaign legal team sent a memo to dozens of staffers Saturday instructing them to preserve all documents related to Dominion Voting Systems and Sidney Powell in anticipation of potential litigation by the company against the pro-Trump attorney. The memo, viewed by CNN, references a letter Dominion sent to Powell this week demanding she publicly retract her accusations and instructs campaign staff not to alter, destroy or discard records that could be relevant. A serious internal divide has formed within Trump's campaign following the election with tensions at their highest between the campaign's general counsel, Matt Morgan, who sent the memo Saturday, and Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani. Though the campaign once distanced itself from Powell, Trump has been urging other people to fight like she has, according to multiple people familiar with his remarks. He has asked for more people making her arguments, which are often baseless and filled with conspiracy theories, on television."

** "Everything Is Well under Control." Trump Remains Largest National Security Risk. David Sanger & Nicole Perlroth of the New York Times: "Hours after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told a conservative radio show host that 'we can say pretty clearly that it was the Russians; behind the vast hack of the federal government and American industry, he was contradicted on Saturday by President Trump, who sought to muddy the intelligence findings by raising the possibility that China was responsible. Defying the conclusions of experts inside and outside the government who say the attack was a cybersecurity breach on a scale Washington has never experienced, Mr. Trump also played down the severity of the hack, saying 'everything is well under control,' insisting that the news media has exaggerated the damage and suggesting, with no evidence, that the real issue was whether the election results had been compromised. 'There could also have been a hit on our ridiculous voting machines during the election,' he wrote on Twitter in his latest iteration of that unfounded conspiracy theory. He tagged Mr. Pompeo, the latest cabinet member to anger him, in his Twitter post. With 30 days left in office, Mr. Trump's dismissive statements made clear there would be no serious effort by his administration to punish Russia for the hack, and national security officials say they are all but certain to hand off the fallout and response to President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr." ~~~

     ~~~ Evan Semones of Politico: "Trump, in his first public comment since reports of the wide-scale breach surfaced last week, downplayed the attack in a series of tweets, suggesting without evidence that China may have been responsible and hacks on U.S. voting systems might have occurred as well. 'The Cyber Hack is far greater in the Fake News Media than in actuality....' Trump wrote. 'Russia, Russia, Russia is the priority chant when anything happens because Lamestream is, for mostly financial reasons, petrified of discussing the possibility that it may be China (it may!).'... Chris Krebs, who ran the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security agency until the president fired him last month, appeared to respond to Trump in a tweet, writing that the cyberattack neither affected the results from November's election nor any of the subsequent recounts the Trump campaign requested in numerous states. 'Do not conflate voting system security and SolarWinds. The proof is in the paper,' Krebs tweeted." ~~~

~~~ Veronica Stracqualursi, et al., of CNN: "White House officials had drafted a statement assigning blame to Russia for the attack and were preparing to release it Friday afternoon but were told to stand down, according to people familiar with the plans. Officials initially weren't told why the statement was pulled back. The statement, the people said, placed blame on Russia for orchestrating the attack but left open the possibility that other actors were involved. The people familiar told CNN on Saturday it wasn't clear whether the statement will be released, and instead described a scramble inside the administration as officials work to reconcile the competing statements from Trump and Pompeo. The President was briefed on the attack on Thursday."

Eric Lipton of the New York Times: "The Trump administration is rushing to approve a final wave of large-scale mining and energy projects on federal lands, encouraged by investors who want to try to ensure the projects move ahead even after President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. takes office.... These projects, and others awaiting action in the remaining weeks of the Trump administration, reflect the intense push by the Interior Department, which controls 480 million acres of public lands, and the Forest Service, which manages another 193 million acres, to find ways to increase domestic energy and mining production, even in the face of intense protests by environmentalists and other activists. When he takes office on Jan. 20, Mr. Biden, who has chosen a Native American -- Representative Deb Haaland, Democrat of New Mexico -- to lead the Interior Department, will still have the ability to reshape, slow or even block certain projects."

Colin Jost reviews some of Trump's greatest moments:

The Commentariat -- December 19, 2020

Real News

Mike Allen & Jonathan Swan of Axios: "Acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller ordered a Pentagon-wide halt to cooperation with the transition of President-elect Biden, shocking officials across the Defense Department, senior administration officials tell Axios.... A top Biden official was unaware of the directive. Administration officials left open the possibility cooperation would resume after a holiday pause. The officials were unsure what prompted Miller's action, or whether President Trump approved.... Miller's move ... was the biggest eruption yet of animus and mistrust toward the Biden team from the top level of the Trump administration.... In a statement released after the publication of this story, Miller said: 'At no time has the Department cancelled or declined any interview.... After the mutually-agreed upon holiday, which begins tomorrow, we will continue with the transition and rescheduled meetings from today.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration and the Biden team were at odds on Friday after the acting Pentagon chief abruptly postponed transition meetings and Biden's representatives expressed concern about the decision.... Acting defense secretary Christopher Miller said in a statement that the Defense Department 'will continue to provide all required support' to the transition team, and that defense officials were working to reschedule 'approximately 20 interviews with 40 officials until after January 1.' Those meetings, initially scheduled for Friday, were postponed after legal officials in the Pentagon raised concern that they could not keep up with the work, said a senior U.S. official.... The Pentagon did not dispute that Miller's decision about meetings on Friday were a surprise to the Biden team.... Yohannes Abraham, the executive director of the transition, said in a call with reporters that there 'was no mutually agreed upon holiday break' and while the Biden team has received 'widespread cooperation on transition,' there have been 'pockets of recalcitrance, and DOD has been one of them.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Rebecca Kheel of the Hill: "President-elect Joe Biden's transition team expressed concern Friday about what it described as an 'abrupt halt' in cooperation with the Defense Department. The Pentagon had said it was rescheduling meetings with the transition team originally planned for Friday until after the new year, but insisted the change was part of a 'mutually agreed' pause for the holiday season.... 'Let me be clear: there was no mutually agreed upon holiday break,' [Biden transition director Yohannes] Abraham [said]. 'In fact, we think it's important that briefings and other engagements continue during this period, as there's no time to spare.'"

Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: "Russia is behind the massive, ongoing cyber spy campaign against the federal government and private sector, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday -- the first Trump administration official to publicly blame Moscow for the computer hacks.... The department he leads is one of a growing list of federal agencies discovered in recent days to have been breached.... President Trump ... has not publicly addressed the issue.... Pompeo did not specify which branch of the Russian government carried out the campaign, but U.S. officials have privately said they believe it is the foreign intelligence service, the SVR, which is a successor organization to the KGB. Moscow has denied involvement." An NBC News story is here. ~~~

The best confirmation that Putin is responsible for this hacking attack on the United States is that Trump hasn't said anything. -- Garry Kasparov, in a tweet, December 17 ~~~

~~~ Matthew Lee of the AP: "The Trump administration has notified Congress that it intends to shutter the last two remaining U.S. consulates in Russia. The State Department told lawmakers last week that it would permanently close the consulate in the far eastern Russian city of Vladivostok and temporarily suspend operations at the consulate in Yekaterinburg just east of the Ural Mountains. The notice was sent to Congress on Dec. 10 but received little attention at the time. That timing predates by three days the public emergence of news about a major suspected Russian computer intrusion into U.S. government and private computer systems that has raised grave cybersecurity fears.... Following the closures, the only diplomatic facility the U.S. will have in Russia will be the embassy in Moscow."

Jeff Stein, et al., of the Washington Post: "Congress appears likely to let funding for the federal government expire Friday at midnight, triggering the beginning of a shutdown, as lawmakers scramble to complete a $900 billion economic relief package, multiple aides and lawmakers involved in deliberations.... Lawmakers had hoped to introduce the relief legislation as early as Thursday but have been delayed by numerous contentious issues, particularly a push from Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) to curb the emergency lending authority of the Federal Reserve.... The nation would face a ... significant disruption if the federal shutdown continued on Monday, when shutdown orders would go into effect." Politico has a related story here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. New Lede: "Congress on Friday evening approved a two-day extension in funding for the federal government to give lawmakers more time to resolve the remaining sticking points on a $900 billion coronavirus relief package. The measure was quickly approved within hours by both the House and Senate on Friday evening. President Trump still has to sign the measure into law. House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) said Friday evening that there were 'still some significant issues outstanding' in the way of a coronavirus relief deal. Hoyer added that House lawmakers should not expect to vote earlier than Sunday at 1 p.m. The two-day funding measure passed the House by a 320 to 60 vote margin, with all the no votes coming from Republican lawmakers and Rep. Justin Amash (L-Mich.). The measure passed the Senate unanimously." The Hill's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Update: Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump on Friday signed a stopgap funding measure that will keep the government funded for another 48 hours while lawmakers attempt to finalize an agreement on an economic relief bill. Trump signed the bill just after 10 p.m., according to the White House."

Supremes (More or Less) Decide Not to Decide. Again. Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's plan to exclude unauthorized immigrants from the calculations used to allocate seats in the House, saying it was premature. The court's ruling handed the Trump administration an interim victory, allowing it to continue to pursue an effort that could shift the allotment of both congressional seats and federal money to states that are older, whiter and typically more Republican.... 'We express no view on the merits of the constitutional and related statutory claims presented,' the opinion said. 'We hold only that they are not suitable for adjudication at this time.' The court's three liberal members dissented. They said the case was far enough along for a decision and that they would have ruled the plan unlawful." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Nina Totenberg & Hansi Lo Wang of NPR: "The U.S. Supreme Court ducked a direct ruling Friday on whether President Trump can exclude undocumented immigrants from a key census count.... The court said it would be 'premature' to rule on the case right now because it is 'riddled with contingencies and speculation' and even the Trump administration doesn't know how many undocumented immigrants there are or where they live.... Though the court's opinion was unsigned, Chief Justice John Roberts almost certainly was the author.... Writing for the three [liberal justices, Stephen] Breyer noted that Trump's July memorandum explicitly stated his purpose, namely to take away congressional seats from mainly Democratic states that are now home to many unauthorized immigrants. 'The harm is clear on the face of the policy,' Breyer said. The 'costs' of Trump[']s census order, he said, are more than 'a departure from settled law.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I guess will have to wait & see if Rip Van Trumple rouses himself from his Big Sleep to try to bully the Census Bureau into coming up with some numbers toot sweet. He does hate both immigrants & Democrats. A lot.

Annals of "Journalsim," Ctd. David Folkenflik of NPR: "The New York Times has retracted the core of its hit 2018 podcast series Caliphate after an internal review found the paper failed to heed red flags indicating that the man it relied upon for its narrative about the allure of terrorism could not be trusted to tell the truth. The newspaper has reassigned its star terrorism reporter, Rukmini Callimachi, who hosted the series. Caliphate relayed the tale about the radicalization of a young Canadian who went to Syria, joined the Islamic State and became an executioner for the extremist group before escaping its hold. Canadian authorities this fall accused the man, Shehroze Chaudhry, of lying about those activities. He currently faces criminal charges in a federal court in Ontario of perpetrating a terrorism hoax.... Caliphate made a huge splash for The Times, winning awards, acclaim, new listeners for its podcasts and new paying subscribers. And it further propelled Callimachi into the journalistic stratosphere.... The Times resisted revisiting Chaudhry's story until his arrest this fall, when Canadian officials charged him with lying about participating in terrorist activities. It then published the findings into Chaudhry's activities by its distinguished national security reporter, Mark Mazzetti, who cast significant doubt on the Canadian's claims." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Mark Mazzetti, et al., of the New York Times: "... Shehroze Chaudhry, the central figure in the 2018 podcast 'Caliphate,' by The New York Times, was a fabulist who spun jihadist tales about killing for the Islamic State in Syria, Canadian and American intelligence and law enforcement officials contend. Mr. Chaudhry, they say, was not a terrorist, almost certainly never went to Syria, and concocted gruesome stories about being an Islamic State executioner as part of a Walter Mitty-like escape from his more mundane life in a Toronto suburb and in Lahore, Pakistan, where he spent years living with his grandparents." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Marc Tracy, et al., of the New York Times: "After an internal review that took more than two months, The New York Times has determined that 'Caliphate,' its award-winning 2018 podcast, did not meet the standards for Times journalism. The 12-part audio documentary featuring Rukmini Callimachi, a Times correspondent who has frequently reported from conflict zones, sought to shed light on the Islamic State terrorist group. The Times found that 'Caliphate' gave too much credence to the false or exaggerated accounts of one of its main subjects, Shehroze Chaudhry, a resident of Canada who claimed to have taken part in Islamic State executions. Dean Baquet, the executive editor of The Times, said the blame fell on the newsroom&'s leaders, including himself.... The Times started its review of 'Caliphate' after Canadian authorities arrested Mr. Chaudhry on Sept. 25 and charged him with perpetrating a terrorist hoax. In an Editors' Note on Friday, The Times said its investigation had 'found a history of misrepresentations by Mr. Chaudhry and no corroboration that he committed the atrocities he described in the 'Caliphate' podcast.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Funny, I don't see anything in the reporting about how the Times is going to return the awards -- including a Peabody -- it received for its fake reporting. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Elahe Izadi & Paul Farhi of the Washington Post: "And late Friday came the announcement that the Times would also return the prestigious Peabody award won by the podcast."

Last Days of the Mad Kaiser

Reed Richardson of Mediaite: "... Donald Trump is convinced he won the 2020 election and is now telling aides that he is considering not leaving the White House on January 20th.... On Erin Burnett Out Front, the CNN host reported that Trump appears to have flip-flopped on accepting the reality of his defeat and now adamantly believes a number of conspiracy theories that falsely claim he won the 2020 election.... Host Erin Burnett explained, 'He used to privately accept the reality that he lost the election, but now, no. He's now starting to believe his own lies, that the election was stolen.... One adviser telling CNN, quote, "He's throwing a f*cking temper tantrum. He's going to leave. He's just lashing out,"' Burnett reported. 'Okay. That description is the behavior of a person not right in the mind.... Temper tantrums, lashing out, talking about not leaving the White House. Trump is not 4, right? He's 74. And despite his increasingly deranged delusions, he's still has the power to instill fear and sycophancy in others.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I do so want to see video of Trump kicking & screaming as federal marshals drag him across the South Lawn. Maybe Melanie could don her "I really don't care, do you?" jacket & pretend to be helping.

Another Piece of the Big Grift. Shane Goldmacher & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Lara Trump, President Trump's daughter-in-law and a senior campaign adviser, served on the board of a limited liability company through which the Trump political operation has spent more than $700 million since 2019, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times. She was also named on drafts of the company's incorporation papers. The arrangement has never been disclosed. One of the other board members and signatories in the draft papers of the L.L.C., American Made Media Consultants, was John Pence, the nephew of Vice President Mike Pence and a senior Trump adviser. The L.L.C. has been criticized for purposefully obscuring the ultimate destination of hundreds of millions of dollars of spending. Ms. Trump is married to Eric Trump.... The newly disclosed records show an even more intricate intermingling of Mr. Trump's political and familial interests than was previously known.... By routing large campaign expenditures, such as television and digital ad buys, through an L.L.C., the Trump campaign and its joint committee with the national party..., was able to effectively shield many details of its spending, such as who was being paid and how much." ~~~

     ~~~ All in the Family. Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "Jared Kushner helped set up a shell company that secretly paid ... Donald Trump's family members and spent nearly half of his 2020 campaign's funds. The president's son-in-law and White House senior adviser directed his sister-in-law Lara Trump, Vice President Mike Pence's nephew John Pence and Trump campaign CFO Sean Dollman to sit on the shell company's board, a source familiar with the operation told Business Insider.... 'Nothing was done without Jared's approval,' said a former advisor to Trump's 2016 campaign.... The Department of Justice may open a criminal investigation if the government suspects the payments were a 'knowing and willful' violation of election law." ~~~

     ~~~ When the Marks Are Happy to Be Scammed. Paul Waldman of the Washington Post cites the Business Insider report: "'... Donald Trump's most powerful advisor, Jared Kushner, approved the creation of a campaign shell company that secretly paid the president's family members and spent almost half of the campaign's $1.26 billion war chest.... The operation acted almost like a campaign within a campaign. It paid some of Trump's top advisors and family members, while shielding financial and operational details from public scrutiny....' ... The whole point of shell companies is to hide something; in this case, the campaign was able to show over $600 million in payments to the shell company, American Made Media Consultants Corp., on its Federal Election Committee filings, without the details that would be known if whatever they were spending money on was paid directly to vendors.... Trump's supporters couldn't care less, even if it's their money. That's because he has spent years convincing them that self-dealing and graft are perfectly fine."

** Reed Richardson of Mediaite: "... Donald Trump's latest 'investigate the investigators' probe increasingly looks like it will fail to produce his long-sought evidence of a huge Deep State plot against him, much like all the others that preceded it. During a long interview with Wall Street Journal editorial board member [MB: and right-wing loon] Kimberly Strassel, Attorney General Bill Barr dropped a bombshell that he and Special Counsel John Durham have concluded that the nation's top spy agency did not violate the law or act outside its purview in the Russia collusion probe of Trump. '... Mr. Barr was initially suspicious that agents had been spying on the Trump campaign before the official July 2016 start date of Crossfire Hurricane, and that the Central Intelligence Agency or foreign intelligence had played a role. But even prior to naming Mr. Durham special counsel, Mr. Barr had come to the conclusion that he didn't "see any sign of improper CIA activity" or "foreign government activity before July 2016," he says. "The CIA stayed in its lane."'"

Ali Zaslav & Daniella Diaz of CNN: "... Donald Trump lauded Tommy Tuberville this week after the Republican Alabama senator-elect said he is not ruling out joining a House member to object to the election results when Congress meets in a joint session to accept the votes of the Electoral College. Trump is continuing to push senators to overturn the election while Tuberville's efforts would put his party in an awkward spot to vote on whether to accept the will of the voters or side with him.... Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell ... has privately urged his Republican colleagues not to join House conservatives in their planned objection next month. Tuberville, while stumping in Georgia for the Senate runoff elections which will determine control of the chamber, said in a video that resurfaced this week that senators should also object on January 6 when Congress ratifies the election results." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Tuberville, who will not be seated until a few days before the joint session, is already working very hard to replace Ron Johnson as the Stupidest Senator. And that's not easy.

Tina Nguyen of Politico: "An 1807 law invoked only in the most violent circumstances is now a rallying cry for the MAGA-ites most committed to the fantasy that Donald Trump will never leave office. The law, the Insurrection Act, allows the president to deploy troops to suppress domestic uprisings -- not to overturn elections.... Only once ... has [the law] been used in the wake of an election -- and that was to stop a literal militia from seizing the Louisiana government on behalf of John McEnery, a former Confederate officer who had lost the 1872 governor's race.... While scattered theories about a 'deep state' arrayed against Trump have long circulated in MAGA circles, calls for troops to stop a democratically elected president from taking office have taken those ideas to a more conspiratorial and militaristic level. It also displays the exalted level to which Trump has been elevated among his most zealous fans as his departure looms."

Peter Hermann of the Washington Post: "The leader of the Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio, said he participated in the burning of a Black Lives Matter banner that had been ripped from the facade of a historic Black church during unrest in downtown Washington following a rally earlier this month for President Trump. Tarrio, the chairman of the male-chauvinist organization with ties to white nationalism, said in an interview with The Washington Post he would plead guilty to destruction of property, pay the church the cost of the banner and surrender to authorities if that criminal charge is filed.... Tarrio wrote he was speaking out against the advice of his attorney: 'So let me make this simple. I did it.'" MB: No doubt Tarrio thinks this is good publicity for his little organization. ~~~

~~~ Will Carless of USA Today: "Several hours before members of the extremist group the Proud Boys clashed with police and opponents on the streets of Washington, D.C., last weekend, the head of the group..., [Enrique Tarrio, wrote on Parler,] 'Last minute invite to an undisclosed location...,' posting photos on the steps of the White House. Tarrio's presence on a White House tour shows how he and the Proud Boys have moved closer to ... Donald Trump via a little-known booster group called Latinos for Trump.... Photos on social media show [Latinos for Trump]'s leaders attending events at the White House and Mar-a-Lago, rubbing shoulders with Vice President Mike Pence..., Rudy Giuliani, and Trump's sons Eric and Donald Jr. In the middle of it all is Tarrio, who serves as Latinos for Trump's chief of staff.... In Trump's final days, the Proud Boys have evolved into the thuggish face of the far-right movement, giving their support to everything from Trump's claims of voter fraud to anti-vaccination conspiracy theories. As the Proud Boys have gained notoriety, Latinos for Trump has seen its political star rise too."

Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post: "We are not off to a good start in the coverage of the Republican Party in the post-Trump era.... It is time to stop giving air to Republicans' phony outrage and to hold them accountable for their own language and conduct on race and gender. First, as a general rule, when Republicans say they are upset or outraged, they almost never are. They do not care about foul language (after four years of President Trump), or about deficits (after four years of Republican government), or comity in the Senate (after more than four years being led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky). The media should stop taking seriously politicians' harping, especially from those who have lied about the election, about Trump's record, about Trump's own words and about their knowledge of Trump's words. Second, it is no coincidence that the Republican or right-wing columnists who complain about Democratic women are almost always men.... Third, throughout the last four years, the media seemed to gloss over the appalling lack of diversity in Republican ranks." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Erik Wemple of the Washington Post has reviewed critiques by writing coach (and former glossies writer & current Jill Biden basher) Tucker Carlson. Wemple figured out Carlson's secret to good writing: a conservative POV. MB: As Jen Rubin warns, and any sensible person knows, confederate critiques of liberals are hypocritical, at best.

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

** Nathaniel Weixel of the Hill: "The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday cleared the nation's second coronavirus vaccine, giving additional hope that the end of the pandemic could be in sight. The official emergency use authorization for the Moderna vaccine comes after an agency advisory panel voted 20-0 in favor of the vaccine Thursday. The authorization now allows the Trump administration to begin shipping nearly 6 million doses of the vaccine across the country. Once a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) panel meets and votes this weekend, vaccinations will be allowed to begin. Between Moderna and the vaccine from Pfizer/BioNTech that has already been approved, health officials said they expect to deliver enough doses to vaccinate 20 million people with the first dose by the end of the year."

The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here: "Vice President Pence and second lady Karen Pence got the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at the White House on Friday, on live TV in an effort to vouch for the vaccine's safety and efficacy." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: According to several on-air reports, pence wanted to make a big deal of his vaccination story, airing the event live in hopes news networks would carry it. Trump, meanwhile, was tweeting about unrelated stuff. Numerous pundits on the teevee have speculated on why Trump himself is not getting the vaccination. A common suggestion is that he thinks he already is immune as a result of having contracted the virus. Others said his doctors might have advised against a shot because of treatment he received when he had Covid-19. Someone thought he was afraid he would flinch when the needle poked his arm, which would make him look weak. But I thought John Heilemann, appearing on MSNBC, had the best idea: Trump doesn't want to risk losing any of his anti-vaxxer followers.

~~~ Axios: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) both received their first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine from the attending physician of Congress on Friday.... The office of House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), chair of the oversight subcommittee tasked with looking at the coronavirus crisis, told Axios' Kadia Goba that he received the vaccine at 4 p.m. Friday. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) posted a photo on Twitter as he received the vaccine Friday afternoon.... Members of Congress, many of whom are elderly and in high-risk categories, are among the first people in the U.S. eligible to begin receiving the vaccine. Pelosi at age 80 and McConnell at age 78 -- are both at risk of severe infections from the coronavirus." ~~~

~~~ AP: "The justices on the U.S. Supreme Court are being provided with doses of the coronavirus vaccine. That is according to a letter by Capitol Physician Brian Monahan, which says the court, along with Congress and executive branch agencies are being given a limited supply of doses 'for continuity of government operations.' The doses are being provided under a directive by ... Donald Trump that established continuity of government as a reason for vaccine prioritization. The Supreme Court and the other branches of government are supposed to be treated 'in parallel.'"

Juliet Eilperin, et al., of the Washington Post: "Officials have taken the extraordinary step of closing the Washington Monument starting Friday as a precaution after Interior Secretary David Bernhardt -- who gave a private, nighttime tour to other Trump appointees this week -- tested positive for the coronavirus. Interior spokesman Nicholas Goodwin said the monument would reopen Monday, adding the department acted after consulting with federal health officials. Some National Park Service staff at the site said they were near the secretary during his tour and are now in quarantine, leading to a staffing shortage at the monument, Goodwin said." A USA Today story is here.