The Conversation -- December 26, 2023

Colleen Slevin of the AP: "Police said Tuesday they are investigating incidents directed at Colorado Supreme Court justices and providing extra patrols around their homes in Denver following the court's decision to remove ... Donald Trump from the state's presidential primary ballot.... The FBI said it is working with local law enforcement on the matter."

~~~~~~~~~~~

Several entries posted late this morning.

Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "The United States conducted a new round of airstrikes early on Tuesday in Iraq, most likely killing militants and destroying three facilities used by Iranian proxies that had been targeting American and coalition troops, U.S. officials said. The American strikes were in retaliation for a series of assaults, including a drone attack hours earlier by members of Kataib Hezbollah and affiliated groups on Erbil air base in Iraq, according to Adrienne Watson, a National Security Council spokeswoman. The drone attack injured three American service members, one of them critically, she said." ~~~

     ~~~ ABC News: "Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said the strikes were carried out at the direction of President Joe Biden and in response to attacks carried out by the groups against coalition forces in the region."

THEY SPIED ON MY CAMPAIGN, LIED TO CONGRESS, CHEATED ON FISA, RIGGED A PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, ALLOWED MILLIONS OF PEOPLE, MANY FROM PRISONS & MENTAL INSTITUTIONS, TO INVADE OUR COUNTRY, SCREWED UP IN AFGHANISTAN, & JOE BIDEN'S MISFITS & THUGS, LIKE DERANGED JACK SMITH, ARE COMING AFTER ME, AT LEVELS OF PERSECUTION NEVER SEEN BEFORE IN OUR COUNTRY??? IT'S CALLED ELECTION INTERFERENCE. MERRY CHRISTMAS! -- Donald Trump's Christmas Eve message ~~~

So forget that "peace on earth, goodwill to men" crap. -- Marie ~~~

~~~ Still Crazy. Stephen Collinson of CNN: Donald Trump "unleashed an online torrent of fury and bitterness, largely over his legal plights, spanning Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, previewing the discord and personal obsessions he will inflict on the nation in a pivotal election year in 2024. Trump raged at President Joe Biden and special counsel Jack Smith, making expansive and false claims that his attempts to stay in power after losing the 2020 election represented a vital defense of American democracy and were thus perfectly legal. In a tide of invective in block capitals on his Truth Social network, Trump escalated extreme rhetoric on immigration that has drawn comparisons to Nazi demagoguery in the 1940s and reprised his view of unlimited presidential power that has critics fearing autocracy if he wins the next election.... And his tirades, at a time when Americans who celebrate Christmas gathered with loved ones and sought a moment of peace, hint at a furious state of mind and extreme denialism."

Presidential Race 2024. Jonathan Swan, et al., of the New York Times: "Since beginning his 2024 presidential campaign, Donald J. Trump has said the 'termination; of the Constitution would have been justified to overturn the 2020 election, told followers 'I am your retribution' and vowed to use the Justice Department to prosecute his adversaries -- starting with President Biden and his family. Beneath these public threats is a series of plans by Mr. Trump and his allies that would upend core elements of American governance, democracy, foreign policy and the rule of law if he regains the White House."

~~~~~~~~~~

Israel/Palestine. The Washington Post's live updates of developments Tuesday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "The World Health Organization said it is concerned about 'unbearable' strain on the few hospitals that remain open in Gaza as Israel steps up strikes on Hamas. At least three areas in central Gaza were hit this weekend, including the Maghazi refugee camp, where at least 80 people were killed on a residential block, the director of a nearby hospital said.... An airstrike killed an Iranian commander in Syria on Monday, according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency. Brig. Gen. Seyed Razi Mousavi, a senior adviser to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was killed outside Damascus. The Revolutionary Guard Corps attributed the strike to the Israeli military, which declined to comment." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Tuesday are here. CNN's live updates are here.

Russia. Ivan Nechepurenko & Anton Troianovski of the New York Times: "The Russian opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny has been moved to a remote Arctic prison and 'is doing well,' his spokeswoman said on Monday, ending a 20-day mystery over his whereabouts that had many supporters fearing the worst. 'We have found Aleksei,' the spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, said on social media. 'His lawyer saw him today.' Ms. Yarmysh's announcement marked the end of a frantic search through Russia's vast prison system for Mr. Navalny, who disappeared on Dec. 5. Mr. Navalny's exiled allies said that they had found him in the remote penal colony in the Arctic after sending more than 600 requests to prisons and other government agencies." ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Ivan Nechepurenko of the New York Times: "Aleksei A. Navalny, Russia's most prominent opposition leader, published a letter on Tuesday describing an arduous transfer to his new penal colony in the Arctic.... Mr. Navalny's comments, posted on his social network accounts and written with a heavy dose of irony and humor, highlighted his good spirits and seemed intended to assuage concerns among allies who had grown anxious about his health and status since his sudden disappearance from the public eye on Dec. 5."

Ukraine, et al.

Constant Méheut of the New York Times: "The Ukrainian military said on Monday that it had shot down five Russian fighter jets in three days, one of the biggest weekly losses for the Russian air force since the war began and a rare bright spot for Ukraine, whose forces have faced setbacks since its failed monthslong counteroffensive this year. But the news could be offset if Russia's claim that it had seized full control of the eastern town of Marinka is true. Russian forces have gradually advanced over months of battle against Ukrainian troops there, but Ukraine denied that the town was entirely under Russian control.... Early Tuesday morning, Ukraine's Air Force claimed another victory, saying it had destroyed a Russian ship, the Novocherkassk. The account could not be independently verified. Sergey Aksyonov, the Russia-installed head of Crimea, said that Ukrainian forces had attacked the Crimean Black Sea town of Feodosia, starting a fire in its port." A related CNN story is here.

Andrew Kramer of the New York Times: "Of Ukraine's many Western-oriented changes, put in place bit by bit since independence and accelerated during the war, one brought special joy this year: Christmas came early. After centuries of marking the holiday on Jan. 7 under the Julian church calendar, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church this year formally switched to celebrating on Dec. 25 with most of the rest of Europe -- and pointedly not with Russia." MB: Now all they need are weeks of Christmas special sales beginning in November and some tinsel trees.

U.K. Karla Adam of the Washington Post: "King Charles III's annual festive address saw the British monarch posing next to a replantable tree festooned with dried oranges while delivering a message that acknowledged the 'growing awareness' of the need to protect the planet. The monarch's Christmas message has long been a fixture in Britain -- like wearing silly Christmas sweaters or colored paper hats. The speeches are uncontentious -- and this year's was no exception. But it's also one of the few times the monarch delivers a speech they write themselves, without government guidance, meaning royal watchers pay close attention. The address is normally viewed by millions in Britain and Commonwealth countries." ~~~

~~~ Stephen Fry's Alternative Christmas Message: "I am a Jew":

Vatican. Nicole Winfield of the AP: "Pope Francis on Monday blasted the weapons industry and its 'instruments of death' that fuel wars as he made a Christmas Day appeal for peace in the world and in particular between Israel and the Palestinians. Speaking from the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica to the throngs of people below, Francis said he grieved the 'abominable attack' of Hamas against southern Israel on Oct. 7 and called for the release of hostages. And he begged for an end to Israel's military campaign in Gaza and the 'appalling harvest of innocent civilians' as he called for humanitarian aid to reach those in need. Francis devoted his Christmas Day blessing to a call for peace in the world, noting that the biblical story of the birth of Christ in Bethlehem sent a message of peace. But he said that Bethlehem 'is a place of sorrow and silence' this year."

Joe & Jill Biden read "A Visit from St. Nicholas":

Some excellent comments in yesterday's thread. As I read them, my droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow. Ho ho ho.

News Lede

New York Times:"Despite lingering inflation, Americans increased their spending this holiday season, early data shows.... Retail sales increased 3.1 percent from Nov. 1 to Dec. 24 compared with the same period a year earlier, according to data from Mastercard SpendingPulse...."

The Conversation -- December 25, 2023

Marie: Say what you will in the Comments; here's something of a realist's view of Christmas from the ridiculous to the ordinary to -- if you click on the King's College Choir playlist -- the sublime.

Loudon Wainwright III looks forward to Christmas:

~~~ Then It's Here:

Merry Christmas from the Family in Houston:

And from Boston:

All Is Not Lost: Maybe the Best Popular Christmas Song Video Ever:

If you prefer something a tad more traditional, a YouTube playlist of carols performed by the King's College, Cambridge, Choir is here.

The Conversation -- December 24, 2023

~~~ Marie: For some reason, YouTube won't let me share this jolly Christmas carol, but click on the photo and you can watch it on YouTube. Is this video too woke to send to the kiddies at the grade school where Ron DeSantimonious' children are enrolled? Thanks to RAS for the lead.

Summer Concepcion of NBC News: "Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco decried Republican claims that the Justice Department has been politicized against ... Donald Trump, saying those accusations have contributed to an 'unprecedented rise' in threats against law enforcement and other officials. In an interview with ABC News that aired Sunday, Monaco, who oversees all Jan. 6-related cases, said that those accusations 'bear no resemblance to the Justice Department that I know. The Justice Department that I know is filled with dedicated men and women, investigators, lawyers, prosecutors, analysts, professional staff,' she said, adding that employees 'get up every day without regard to who's in the White House or who's in Congress...,'...."

~~~~~~~~~~

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Lawyers for ... Donald J. Trump asked an appeals court in Washington on Saturday night to toss a federal indictment accusing him of plotting to overturn the 2020 election, arguing that he was immune to the charges because they arose from actions he had taken while he was in the White House.... In a 55-page brief to a three-judge panel of the court, D. John Sauer, a lawyer who has been handling appeals for Mr. Trump, argued that under the Constitution, judges cannot hold the president accountable for any acts undertaken while in office.... In his brief to the appeals court, Mr. Sauer argued that executive immunity must exist, given the fact that no president or former president had ever been charged with a crime before Mr. Trump." MB: Right. Like arguing that a murderer can't be charged because no one at his place of business had ever been charged with murder before. ~~~

     ~~~ CNN's report is here.

He Has No Shame. Michael Bender of the New York Times: "For decades, American elected officials facing criminal charges or grave violations of the public trust would yield their positions of power, if only reluctantly, citing a duty to save the country from embarrassment and ease the strain on its institutions. Then came Donald J. Trump. The former president isn't just forging ahead despite four indictments and 91 felony charges, but actively orchestrating a head-on collision between the nation's political and legal systems.... The heated legal debate over whether Mr. Trump engaged in an insurrection [-- as the Colorado supreme court determined --] obscured the extraordinary reality that he is running for president at all -- returning with fresh vengeance and a familiar playbook built around the notions that he can never lose, will never be convicted and will never really go away. That blueprint remains intact largely because his approach continues to yield political returns." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: To me, Trump's "successes" say more about the cowardice of Republican officeholders and the moral depravity of broad swaths of the American people than they do about Donald Trump, who is nothing more than a vicious nincompoop.

Abbie VanSickle & Steve Eder of the New York Times: "In the 32 years since Justice [Clarence] Thomas came through the fire of his confirmation hearings and onto the Supreme Court, he has assembled an army of influential acolytes unlike any other -- a network of like-minded former clerks who have not only rallied to his defense but carried his idiosyncratic brand of conservative legal thinking out into the nation's law schools, top law firms, the judiciary and the highest reaches of government."

Steven Mazie & Stephen Vladeck, in a New York Times op-ed, urge the Supremes not to be as ham-handed as the Supreme Court majority was in Bush v. Gore. Marie: No doubt the writers know their advice is offered in vain. (Also linked yesterday.)

Presidential Race 2024

Maegan Vazquez of the Washington Post: "Local and federal law enforcement officials say they are investigating a surge in threats that justices on Colorado's Supreme Court are facing after their decision this week to bar Donald Trump from running in the state's presidential primary.... Since Tuesday's decision by the court, social media and forum posts on several platforms have shown users expressing violent, racist, homophobic and sometimes threatening language targeting the Democrat-appointed judges who ruled in favor of removing Trump from the ballot. The comments have ranged from peaceful protest to calls for executions. In a statement after Tuesday's ruling, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung called the decision 'completely flawed' and attacked the 'all-Democrat appointed Colorado Supreme Court,' claiming it was participating in election interference." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Where are the wingers threatening the Maine judge and secretary of state who kept Chris Christie off the primary ballot for far less egregious conduct -- conduct not specifically prohibited in the U.S. Constitution? According to Leela Stockley of the Bangor Daily News, the secretary decided earlier in December that Christie had not submitted enough signatures to qualify. And the judge ruled, that the Christie camp did not "separate petition forms by town, as instructed by the Secretary, or, in the alternative, give himself sufficient time to bring those multi-town signature sheets to the relevant municipalities before the November 20 deadline." Wow! He didn't separate the petition forms by town? Miscreant! According to the report, Christie submitted only 844 acceptable signatures; 2,000 are required.

Out of curiosity, I took a look at how you qualify for the Maine primary ballot, and among the requirements is "Petitions must be printed double-sided on 8.5 x 14 inch (legal size) paper." IOW, if you submit petitions printed on letter-sized paper (you know, the kind almost everyone uses) or petitions printed on only one side of the page, you may be disqualified. There are two deadlines for filing: the first for filing with counties is November 20; the second for filing with the secretary of state is December 1. Presumably, if a candidate misses the deadlines by even a few hours, he's out. Caught in a snowstorm? Car breaks down? Too bad. These are just a few of the requirements to get on a state ballot, and obviously, the rules are going to vary state-by-state. It would be easy to slip up; it would not be surprising if some candidates were disqualified because of those bureaucratic slip-ups. Yet some people think a state justice should be executed for ruling that the leader of a violent, premeditated coup against the United States is not qualified to be president*.

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: "The [Roman Catholic] church can't succeed in a time warp, moving at the pace of a snail on Ambien. Even Saudi Arabia is modernizing faster. It is simply immoral to treat women and gay people as unworthy of an equal role in their church. After all, isn't the whole point of the church to teach us what is right? And it's not right to treat people as partial humans." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ News Flash to Observant Christians: The New Testament does not address Jesus' sexual orientation; therefore, there's every reason to believe he was supposed to be gay. He never married -- as Jewish teenaged boys were usually required to do -- and he spent the years of his ministry living and traveling with men. There is at least one hint in the non-canonical Gospel of Thomas that Jesus had a sexual liaison with a woman. However, there is also a hint to the contrary in the Gospel of Mark (14:51-52): "Now a certain young man followed Him, having a linen cloth thrown around his naked body. And the young men laid hold of him, and he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked." Some scholars have asserted this suggested that Jesus and his male followers engaged in group sexual rituals. Dowd is right that the Gospels identify numerous strong women. They are generally portrayed as wiser than the male Gospel characters.

~~~~~~~~~~

Massachusetts. Nick Robertson of the Hill: "A federal judge in Massachusetts shut down an attempt to block the state's assault weapons ban Friday, arguing that the law does not break with recent Supreme Court precedent that has severely shaken gun control legislation. District Judge Dennis Saylor said the state ban keeps with 'historical tradition' of gun control regulation, after the high court ruled last year in the landmark New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen decision that all gun control legislation must keep with that tradition."

~~~~~~~~~~

Israel/Palestine

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Sunday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "Israel is waging a military campaign in Gaza at a pace and level of devastation that likely exceeds any recent conflict, according to a Washington Post analysis. A U.N. official criticized Israeli instructions for Palestinians to evacuate parts of central Gaza, saying that Israel 'orders people to move into areas where there are ongoing airstrikes.'... The Israel Defense Forces has expanded ground operations in the southern and northern parts of the Gaza Strip, spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Saturday, describing the war as 'a long and difficult operation that will continue for some more time.' on a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Biden emphasized the need to protect civilians and free hostages still held by Hamas, The White House said. Netanyahu thanked Biden after the U.S. abstained from voting on a U.N. resolution that demanded pauses in fighting, aid deliveries and the release of hostages." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Sunday are here. CNN's live updates are here.

From CNN's liveblog yesterday: "US President Joe Biden spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Saturday to discuss the latest developments in Israel and Gaza, according to the White House. Biden and Netanyahu discussed 'objectives and phasing' of the Israel-Hamas war during their call according to a White House readout.... 'I did not ask for a ceasefire,' Biden said while leaving the White House Saturday afternoon. 'I had a long talk with Netanyahu today, and it's a private conversation.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

From a Times of Israel liveblog: "Israel was about to 'preemptively' strike Hezbollah in Lebanon four days after Hamas's October 7 massacres, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was talked out of the plan at the last minute by US President Joe Biden, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing unnamed officials familiar with the details. The report says that 'Israel had intelligence -- which the US deemed unreliable -- that Hezbollah attackers were preparing to cross the border as part of a multipronged attack.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Ukraine, et al.

Constant Méheut of the New York Times: "The Ukrainian police have arrested a senior Defense Ministry official on suspicions that he embezzled nearly $40 million as part of a fraudulent purchase of artillery shells for Ukraine's military. The Ukrainian authorities have been working to clean up the ministry since reports of graft and financial mismanagement led to the removal in September of the minister at the time. Ukraine's security service announced the arrest of the senior official, whose name was not released, on Friday. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has also made tackling corruption one of his key wartime goals, not only to reassure Ukraine's Western allies that their billions of dollars in aid are not being siphoned off, but also to ensure an efficient allocation of resources as the country's military runs short on weapons and ammunition in its fight to fend off Russia's forces."

Anton Troianovski, et al., of the New York Times: "Buoyed by Ukraine's failed counteroffensive and flagging Western support, [Vladimir] Putin says that Russia's war goals have not changed. Addressing his generals on Tuesday, he boasted that Ukraine was so beleaguered that Russia's invading troops were doing 'what we want.... We won't give up what's ours,' he pledged, adding dismissively, 'If they want to negotiate, let them negotiate.' But in a recent push of back-channel diplomacy, Mr. Putin has been sending a different message: He is ready to make a deal. Mr. Putin has been signaling through intermediaries since at least September that he is open to a cease-fire that freezes the fighting along the current lines, far short of his ambitions to dominate Ukraine...." (Also linked yesterday.)