The Conversation -- December 11, 2023

** Devlin Barrett, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court said Monday it will consider special counsel Jack Smith's request to fast-track consideration of Donald Trump's claim he is immune from prosecution for alleged election obstruction in 2020 -- intensifying the legal jockeying over whether Trump's criminal trial in D.C. will stay on schedule for early next year. The decision by the nation's highest court doesn't mean that the justices will definitely short-circuit the typical appeals process, but it means they are going to hear arguments from both sides about whether they should act quickly. Trump's lawyers were told to file briefs on the issue by Dec. 20. The quick response by the Supreme Court came hours after Smith's office filed its request seeking to essentially leapfrog an appeals court process that Trump has already started but which could take months to resolve." The ABC News report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Adam Liptak & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Jack Smith, the special counsel prosecuting ... Donald J. Trump on charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election, asked the Supreme Court on Monday to rule on Mr. Trump's argument that he is immune from prosecution. The request was unusual in two ways: Mr. Smith asked the justices to rule before an appeals court acted, and he urged them to move with exceptional speed. 'This case presents a fundamental question at the heart of our democracy: whether a former president is absolutely immune from federal prosecution for crimes committed while in office or is constitutionally protected from federal prosecution when he has been impeached but not convicted before the criminal proceedings begin,' Mr. Smith wrote. He added that speed was of the essence, as Mr. Trump's appeal of a trial judge's ruling rejecting his claim of immunity suspends the trial of the charges against him. The trial is scheduled to begin on March 4 in Federal District Court in Washington." The NBC News story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Matt Naham of Law & Crime: "'... The Court should grant a writ of certiorari before judgment to ensure that it can provide the expeditious resolution that this case warrants, just as it did in United States v. Nixon,' Smith wrote.... 'It is of paramount public importance that respondent's claims of immunity be resolved as expeditiously as possible -- and, if respondent is not immune, that he receive a fair and speedy trial on these charges. The public, respondent, and the government are entitled to nothing less,' Smith wrote." See also Akhilleus' commentary in today's thread. ~~~

     ~~~ You can read Smith's petition here, via the Supreme Court.

Russia. This Story Will Not End Well. Francesca Ebel of the Washington Post: "Supporters of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said Monday that they had lost contact with him and that they have been unable to ascertain his whereabouts for almost a week. Navalny, who has been convicted on an array of charges widely viewed as political retribution and carrying combined sentences totaling 30 years, was no longer in the prison colony IK-6, in the Vladimir region, about 140 miles east of Moscow where he had been held in recent months, his spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, posted Monday on X. Following his conviction last summer on extremism charges, Navalny was due to be transferred to a 'special security' penal colony, a facility with the most severe restrictions in the Russian prison system, but officials from Russia's penitentiary service had not informed Navalny's lawyers or family of his new location." CNN's story is here.

** Texas Horror Story. David Goodman of the New York Times: "The Texas Supreme Court on Monday overturned a lower court order allowing an abortion for a pregnant woman whose fetus was diagnosed with a fatal condition, hours after her lawyers said she had decided to leave Texas for the procedure in the face of the state's abortion bans. The court ruled that the lower court made a mistake in ruling that the woman, Kate Cox, who is more than 20 weeks pregnant, was entitled to a medical exception. In its seven-page ruling, the Supreme Court found that Ms. Cox's doctor, Damla Karsan, 'asked a court to pre-authorize the abortion yet she could not, or at least did not, attest to the court that Ms. Cox's condition poses the risks the exception requires.' Texas' overlapping bans allow for abortions only when a pregnancy seriously threatens the health or life of the woman." ~~~

     ~~~ Earlier Monday. Eleanor Klibanoff of the Texas Tribune: "Kate Cox, a Dallas woman who sued for the right to terminate her non-viable pregnancy, has left Texas to have an abortion outside the state. Last Tuesday, Cox filed a historic lawsuit, asking the courts to allow her to terminate her pregnancy after she learned her fetus had full trisomy 18, a lethal fetal anomaly..., but her doctors refused to perform an abortion due to the state's near-total ban on the procedure. Travis County District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble ruled Thursday that neither Cox, nor her husband or OB/GYN, should be criminally or civilly penalized for terminating her pregnancy. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed an emergency petition, asking the state Supreme Court to overturn that ruling. On Friday night, the high court put Guerra Gamble's order on hold while they considered the merits of the case. Meanwhile, though, Cox's condition was deteriorating, and she was in and out of the emergency room, according to her lawyers.... The Center for Reproductive Rights intends to continue litigating this case before the Texas Supreme Court, according to a letter sent to the court clerk Monday."

Annie Grayer & Marshall Cohen of CNN: "House Republicans are preparing to formalize their impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden with a House vote this week, as their investigation reaches a critical juncture while right-wing pressure grows. Up until this point, House Republicans have not had enough votes to legitimize their ongoing inquiry with a full chamber vote. The probe has struggled to uncover wrongdoing by the president which is why it hasn't garnered the unified support of the full GOP conference. Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy unilaterally launched the inquiry in September, even though he had previously criticized Democrats for taking the same step in 2019 when they launched the first impeachment probe of ... Donald Trump without taking a vote at the beginning." ~~~

     ~~~ Andrew Kaczynski & Em Steck of CNN: "House Speaker Mike Johnson is pursuing an impeachment strategy against President Joe Biden that he once said could cause 'irreparable damage' to the country when Democrats sought to oust ... Donald Trump.... Just four years ago, Johnson blasted Democrats for opening an impeachment inquiry into Trump largely along party lines less than a year before the next presidential election -- the exact circumstances Johnson finds himself in now.... He argued the Democrats' grievances against Trump should be settled by voters and not through such an extreme remedy as impeachment."

Emily Badger, et al., of the New York Times: "Sometime around 2009, American roads started to become deadlier for pedestrians, particularly at night. Fatalities have risen ever since, reversing the effects of decades of safety improvements. And it's not clear why.... Nothing resembling this pattern has occurred in other comparably wealthy countries. In places like Canada and Australia, a much lower share of pedestrian fatalities occurs at night, and those fatalities -- rarer in number -- have generally been declining, not rising." Experts not only missed this trend, they don't agree on the reasons for it: "Speed limits on local roads are often higher in the U.S., laws and cultural prohibitions against dangerous driving can be weaker, and American infrastructure in many ways has been designed to enable speeding cars.... The most obvious potential risks that have changed in America since 2009 are found inside vehicles -- in the drivers there fiddling with smartphones, in the dashboard displays that have grown ever more complex, in the growing weight and force of vehicles themselves.... [Also,] the pervasiveness in the U.S. of automatic transmissions, which help free up a driver's hand for other uses." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I haven't driven a stick-shift since 2009, when a dealer told my husband that stick-shifts were hard to sell because nobody knew how to drive them. But I noticed the other day that I was driving in town with my right hand on the stick, even though my car has an automatic shift and I had no intention of manually shifting gears. And I still, when I have to come to a quick stop, sometimes also bear down on the clutch-that isn't-there with my left foot. Old habits die hard.

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Marie: digby posts answers to the central question I had when I read about Hunter Biden's nine-count indictment: how come it included details of how Hunter spent money on frivious and/or illegal things when all tax evaders spend money on things that are not tax payments, some of those other things often being frivolous or even illegal? Former prosecutor Harry Litman answers: "Huge chunks of the 56-page indictment of Hunter Biden are about his'extravagant lifestyle,' drugs escorts etc. The relevance of this info to non-payment of taxes is tenuous in the extreme. But it certainly dirties him up."

And former prosecutor Shan Wu concludes, "... Weiss' indictment includes gratuitous digs at what can only be construed as Hunter Biden's character rather than his alleged tax evasion.... Weiss' rhetorical flourish seems silly since I suspect most people who fail to pay the taxes also spend their money on things other than paying their taxes. Weiss' focus on the more sensationalistic aspects of the spending seems to be a result of his wanting to play in the echo chamber of the holier-than-thou conservative right. But Biden isn't being prosecuted for being a drug addict or engaging in prostitution. He's being prosecuted for tax evasion." Read the whole post, as the former prosecutors may answer your questions, too, about an indictment that looks to me like a travesty of justice. Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)

Marie: Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) was wondering on the teevee Sunday morning why Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) is so exercised about antisemitism on campus when she supports a presidential* candidate who dines with a Holocaust denier (Nick Fuentes). And I'm wondering the same thing when you consider that most of the on-the-ground "generals" in the Trump insurrection were white supremacists of the sort who like to chant, "Jews will not replace us." It would seem Rep. Stefanik's "principles" are mighty selective.

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Federal prosecutors on Sunday asked the judge handling ... Donald J. Trump's trial on charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election to reject his request to freeze the case in its entirety as Mr. Trump appeals her recent ruling that he is not immune from prosecution. The prosecutors told the judge, Tanya S. Chutkan, that even as the former president's appeal of the immunity decision moved forward, she should continue working on several of the unresolved legal issues in the case and not postpone the trial's current start date of March 4.... The expansive stay Mr. Trump's lawyers have asked for would in essence stop the case in its tracks. The appeal is the centerpiece of a long-planned strategy by the former president's legal team to postpone the trial in Federal District Court in Washington until after the 2024 election."

An 11th-Hour Retreat. Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump has decided not to return to the witness stand to testify on Monday as he had planned, setting up an abrupt and anticlimactic ending to the defense's case in his civil fraud trial in Manhattan. As recently as Sunday morning, Mr. Trump had been expected to testify in his own defense in the case.... But just before 3:30 in the afternoon, Mr. Trump announced on his social media platform in two all-caps messages that he had already testified 'very successfully and conclusively' and that 'I will not be testifying on Monday.'... When he first testified, in early November, the former president ... lashed out at those he perceived as his enemies -- including [New York AG Letitia] James and Justice [Arthur] Engoron -- while admitting to some involvement in the conduct at the heart of the case." The NBC News story is here.

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "There will be no good news -- only shades of bad -- for Rudolph W. Giuliani when he appears in court on Monday for a trial to determine how much he will have to pay two Georgia election workers he lied about after the 2020 presidential race. Nearly two years ago, the election workers, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, sued Mr. Giuliani for defamation, accusing him of some of the most pernicious falsehoods to have emerged from his attempts to keep his friend and client, Donald J. Trump, in office. Over and over, the women claimed, Mr. Giuliani dishonestly asserted that they had tried to cheat Mr. Trump out of a victory by manipulating ballots they were counting at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta. After fighting the case for months, Mr. Giuliani reversed himself this summer and, seeking to avoid crippling legal fees, abruptly acknowledged that his serial attacks against the women were false. Weeks later, a federal judge agreed with him and entered a judgment holding him liable for defamation, civil conspiracy and intentional infliction of emotional distress." ~~~

     ~~~ Rule 1: Do not befriend Donald Trump. Rule 2: Trump will corrupt you (even if you're already a slimy bastard). Rule 3: Your corrupt acts on Trump's behalf will get you into trouble. Rule 4: Trump will abandon you. Rule 5: Do not befriend Donald Trump.

Presidential Race 2024

Jason Beeferman of Politico describes a MAGA gala sponsored by the New York Young Republicans Club. Keynote speaker: Donald Trump, who doubled down on his Day One Dictatorship plans. Trump did repeat his Day One plans for a border wall and oil-drilling, but he also expanded on his Day One Dictator agenda: "'On day one, I will break up the Biden administration's illegal censorship machine and any official who has violated Americans constitutional rights will be held very, very accountable,' Trump said." MB: Day One, BTW, does not begin until noon and would be filled with a fake oath-taking, a presidential* speech, a parade, and numerous balls & galas. Since Trump has never done a full day's work when he had a full day to do it, we'll just have to assume that Day One will last quite a long time.

Kelly Garrity of Politico: "Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has officially pledged his fealty to ... Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election -- despite some concerns about Trump's messaging. 'What President Trump needs to do in this campaign, it needs to be about rebuilding, restoring, renewing America. It can't be about revenge,' McCarthy said during an interview with CBS' Robert Costa that aired Sunday. 'He's talking about retribution, day in, day out,' Costa pointed out. 'He needs to stop that,' McCarthy responded, adding later that he expects Trump 'adapt' when he 'gets all the facts.'" MB: Yes, yes, that's just like Trump: adapting when he gets all the facts. A pragmatic realist, if there ever was one.

X: the Place for Antisemites to Let Loose. Emily Wax-Thibodeaux of the Washington Post: "The account of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was restored on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Sunday after owner Elon Musk conducted a poll among followers on Saturday and pronounced: 'The People have spoken and so it shall be. This will be bad for X financially, but principles matter more than money,' he added. It's a reversal of a 2018 decision by the social media platform's former management to ban Jones after he promoted hate speech and antisemitic conspiracy theories and elevated extremist voices." MB: If only those free-speech-advocating university presidents had conducted polls to find out how many of the kids were down with antisemitic conspiracy theories. I see their inquisitor Elise Stefanik is still on X & is using her account to boast of her victory over campus antisemitism. Whatta gal!

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Pennsylvania. Chris Walker of Truthout: "A newly inaugurated school board president in a Philadelphia suburb took an oath of office Monday evening by placing her hand on a stack of books that have been targeted by book bans. Karen Smith, an incumbent member of the Central Bucks School District board, won reelection in November, helping to lead Democrats in taking control of the board from Republicans who had sought to implement restrictions in the district's libraries." One of the banned books: Night, by Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace prize winner Elie Wiesel. MB: Um, isn't it antisemitic to ban a memoir about the horrors of the Holocaust, especially when the narrative covers a period when Wiesel was still a teenager, so, you know, age-appropriate? (Also linked yesterday.)

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Israel/Palestine

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Monday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "The Israel Defense Forces said it is fighting 'fierce and difficult battles' across Gaza, including in three Hamas 'strongholds': Khan Younis, the largest city in southern Gaza, and Shejaiya and Jabalya in the north. World Health Organization director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that Gaza's health system is near collapse, saying a cease-fire is 'the only way to truly protect and promote the health of the people of Gaza.'" ~~~

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

Kelly Garrity of Politico: "As the war between Israel and Hamas passes the two-month mark, it's still unclear how the fighting will end and how long it will last, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday. 'We have these discussions with Israel including about the duration as well as how it is prosecuting this campaign against Hamas. These are decisions for Israel to make,' Blinken said Sunday during an interview on CNN's 'State of the Union.' 'But Hamas has decisions to make, too. It could get out from hiding behind civilians tomorrow. It could put down its arms tomorrow. It could surrender tomorrow and this would be over,' he added."

Ukraine, et al. Michael Shear & Karoun Demirjian of the New York Times: "President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine will travel to Washington on Tuesday for a last-ditch lobbying effort with President Biden and members of Congress aimed at securing billions of dollars of U.S. aid, officials said on Sunday.... Last week, Republicans blocked a $110.5 billion emergency spending bill that includes funding for Ukraine's war effort.... Mr. Zelensky will have an opportunity to face some of the lawmakers directly on Tuesday morning during a closed-door session with senators, according to a senior Democratic aide." ~~~

     ~~~ MEANWHILE. Flora Garamvolgyi & David Smith of the Guardian: "Allies of Hungary's far-right prime minister Viktor Orbán will hold a closed-door meeting with Republicans in Washington to push for an end to US military support for Ukraine.... Members of the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs and staff from the Hungarian embassy in Washington will on Monday begin a two-day event hosted by the conservative Heritage Foundation thinktank."

The Conversation -- December 10, 2023

Don't know what happened here, but SNL's Weekend Update somehow changed to a Japanese woman teaching children how to color or something. Sweet, but not topical.

Marie: digby posts answers to the central question I had when I read about Hunter Biden's nine-count indictment: how come it included details of how Hunter spent money on frivious and/or illegal things when all tax evaders spend money on things that are not tax payments, some of those other things often being frivolous or even illegal? Former prosecutor Harry Litman answers: "Huge chunks of the 56-page indictment of Hunter Biden are about his 'extravagant lifestyle,' drugs escorts etc. The relevance of this info to non-payment of taxes is tenuous in the extreme. But it certainly dirties him up."

And former prosecutor Shan Wu concludes, "... Weiss' indictment includes gratuitous digs at what can only be construed as Hunter Biden's character rather than his alleged tax evasion.... Weiss' rhetorical flourish seems silly since I suspect most people who fail to pay the taxes also spend their money on things other than paying their taxes. Weiss' focus on the more sensationalistic aspects of the spending seems to be a result of his wanting to play in the echo chamber of the holier-than-thou conservative right. But Biden isn't being prosecuted for being a drug addict or engaging in prostitution. He's being prosecuted for tax evasion." Read the whole post, as the former prosecutors may answer your questions, too, about an indictment that looks to me like a travesty of justice. Thanks to RAS for the link.

Chris Walker of Truthout: "A newly inaugurated school board president in a Philadelphia suburb took an oath of office Monday evening by placing her hand on a stack of books that have been targeted by book bans. Karen Smith, an incumbent member of the Central Bucks School District board, won reelection in November, helping to lead Democrats in taking control of the board from Republicans who had sought to implement restrictions in the district's libraries." One of the banned books: Night, by Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace prize winner Elie Wiesel. MB: Um, isn't it antisemitic to ban a memoir about the horrors of the Holocaust, especially when the narrative covers a period when Wiesel was still a teenager, so, you know, age-appropriate? ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) was wondering on the teevee this morning why Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) is so exercised about antisemitism on campus when she supports a presidential* candidate who dines with a Holocaust denier (Nick Fuentes). And I'm wondering the same thing when you consider that most of the on-the-ground "generals" in the Trump insurrection were white supremacists of the sort who like to chant, "Jews will not replace us." It would seem Rep. Stefanik's "principles" are mighty selective.

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I became leader when we took the minority [in 2019], and this was a turning point for me. I go into the State of the Union.... And in the State of the Union, one side stands up, and then the other side stands up. I'd just become leader and I'm excited and President Trump's there. And I look over at the Democrats and they stand up. They look like America. We stand up. We look like the most restrictive country club in America. -- Kevin McCarthy, a few months ago

McCarthy was first elected to the House in 2006. It is not entirely clear from his syntax here -- nothing is ever entirely clear from My Kevin's syntax -- but it appears he is saying that the first time he had an inkling that the Democratic party was markedly more diverse than the GOP was a dozen years after he became a Member of Congress. -- Marie Burns (Thanks to RAS for the link.)

Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Special counsel Jack Smith on Saturday sharply rejected Donald Trump's contention that foreign governments may have changed votes in the 2020 election, laying bare new details about his team's extensive probe of the matter and its access to a vast array of senior intelligence officials in Trump's administration. In a 45-page filing, Smith's team describes interviewing more than a dozen of the top intelligence officials in Trump's administration -- from his director of national intelligence to the administrator of the NSA to Trump's personal intelligence briefer -- about any evidence that foreign governments had penetrated systems that counted votes in 2020. 'The answer from every single official was no,' senior assistant special counsel Thomas Windom writes in the filing. The filing was part of the special counsel's opposition to a bid by Trump to access a broad swath of classified intelligence as part of his defense.... Trump has argued that foreign governments fueled his supporters' concerns about election integrity and that some classified evidence revealed potential meddling that justified his own professed fears about fraud.... Windom also contended that Trump's repeated effort to describe partisan bias in intelligence about the election belied that those making the assessments were his own appointees...."

Rashad Simmons of the Hill: "Former President Trumps attorney Alina Habba claimed Friday that her client would take the stand on Monday in his civil fraud trial, despite the judge's gag order and discouragement from his legal team.... The attorney explained that while she didn't want to block the former president from speaking on his behalf, he wouldn't be able to give his testimony 'fully and completely' under the gag order, which bars Trump and his counsel from speaking about the staff of the judge overseeing the case." MB: Gosh, I'm having trouble figuring out why Trump needs to dox & diss the court staff (which is all the so-called gag order prohibits) in order to "fully and completely" defend his dodgy business practices.

Presidential Race 2024

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "When a historian wrote an essay the other day warning that the election of ... Donald J. Trump next year could lead to dictatorship, one of Mr. Trump's allies [-- Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) --] quickly responded by calling for the historian to be sent to prison. It almost sounds like a parody: The response to concerns about dictatorship is to prosecute the author. But Mr. Trump and his allies are not going out of their way to reassure those worried about what a new term would bring by firmly rejecting the dictatorship charge. If anything, they seem to be leaning into it. If Mr. Trump is returned to office, people close to him have vowed to 'come after' the news media, open criminal investigations into onetime aides who broke with the former president and purge the government of civil servants deemed disloyal. When critics said Mr. Trump's language about ridding Washington of 'vermin' echoed that of Adolf Hitler, the former president's spokesman said the critics' 'sad, miserable existence will be crushed' under a new Trump administration....

"Mr. Trump once expressed no regret that a quote he shared on social media came from Mussolini and adopted the language of Stalin in calling journalists the 'enemies of the people.' He told his chief of staff that 'Hitler did a lot of good things' and later said he wished American generals were like Hitler's generals. Last December, shortly after opening his comeback campaign, Mr. Trump called for 'termination' of the Constitution to remove Mr. Biden immediately and reinstall himself in the White House without waiting for another election."

Trump Campaign Worries Voters Will Find Out He Will Be a Dictator. Marianne Levine & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "Top officials in Donald Trump's campaign sought Friday to quell discussions about his possible second term in the White House, amid alarms about authoritarianism and reports about personnel. "... unless a message is coming directly from President Trump or an authorized member of his campaign team, no aspect of future presidential staffing or policy announcements should be deemed official,' Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita said in a written statement to the media.... A Trump campaign official ... said Friday's statement came in response to a report that Axios published the previous day that offered a list of potential members of a second Trump administration.... Trump, however, has at times undercut [his campaign's] message...." (Also linked yesterday.)

Marie: Sorry I missed this: ~~~

Robert Kagan in a Washington Post op-ed (Dec. 7): "Our options today [for avoiding becoming a dictatorship] are harder and fewer because we have passed up so many better and easier alternatives in the past.... Here are several things people could do to save the country but almost certainly won't do, because they selfishly refuse to put their own ambitions at risk to save our democracy. he first step is to consolidate all the anti-Trump forces in the Republican Party behind a single candidate, right now. It is obvious that candidate should be Nikki Haley.... The way to beat Trump is to make him seem unelectable, and the way to make him seem unelectable is to show that he is unacceptable.... [Yet] Haley and other Republicans ... are helping Trump by continually affirming his acceptability as president.... The formula for defeating Trump in November is simple enough: Unite the Democrats, and split the Republicans. That is why all the third-party candidacies now under consideration are disastrous."

Meryl Kornfield, et al., of the Washington Post: "Democrat Dean Phillips is accusing President Biden of being a threat to democracy, as the long-shot primary challenger ramps up attacks that have exasperated some Biden allies anticipating a 2024 showdown with Donald Trump.... A wealthy entrepreneur who flipped a Minneapolis suburban congressional district in 2018 and had previously backed Biden, Phillips has sharpened his denunciations after gaining little traction against an incumbent heavily favored to win renomination.... Phillips's attacks this week are part of a broader escalation against Biden, as Phillips has increasingly spoken out against Biden's handling of issues where he's struggled with younger and liberal voters. In remarks arguing the necessity of a cease-fire in Gaza and the hypocrisy of continued marijuana criminalization, Phillips has sought to set himself apart, although he has consistently voted for Biden's legislative agenda." MB: Phillips' claim about Biden's threat to democracy is that the Democratic party has rejected New Hampshire's early primary and has not initiated a Democratic primary election at all in Florida.

Marie: Why do most Republicans so blatantly oppose democracy? Why do they limit the votes of minorities, deprive women of bodily autonomy (and mock "feminism" in general), exacerbate the inequities inherent in the Constitutional framework (like the decidedly undemocratic Senate where Wyoming and California hold equal power). Or why so many reactionary jurists described themselves as "originalists": serious, scholarly folks who mean to interpret the Constitution as its "original" authors intended. This citation by Tom Sullivan in Hullabaloo of a book by Robert Calhoon helps answer those questions: "'Historians' best estimates,' [Calhoon] wrote, 'put the proportion of adult white male loyalists [to the British Crown] somewhere between 15 and 20 percent,' a figure not far removed from the Republican base. As many as 500,000 colonists among a population of 2.5 million never bought the founders' 'created equal' nonsense. They remained committed to a system of government by hereditary royalty and landed gentry. Powdered wigs supported by loyal subjects also carries echoes today. Even after the Treaty of Paris, most loyalists remained on these shores. Their progeny and like-minded continentals who arrived later are with us still. It is a personality type committed to maintaining the 'natural' order." Thanks to RAS for the link.

Stephanie Saul & Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "The president of the University of Pennsylvania, M. Elizabeth Magill, resigned on Saturday, four days after her testimony at a congressional hearing in which she seemed to evade the question of whether students who called for the genocide of Jews should be disciplined. The announcement, in an email sent to the Penn community from Scott L. Bok, the chairman of the board of trustees, followed months of intense pressure from Jewish students, alumni and donors, who claimed that she had not taken their concerns about antisemitism on campus seriously." The AP's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ CNN ran a liveblog about the crisis at UPenn: "Scott Bok, chairman of the board of trustees at the University of Pennsylvania, submitted his resignation effective immediately.... In his statement, Bok acknowledged that Magill erred during her disastrous testimony, describing a 'dreadful 30-second sound bite' following a lengthy hearing. 'Former President Liz Magill last week made a very unfortunate misstep -- consistent with that of two peer university leaders sitting alongside her -- after five hours of aggressive questioning before a Congressional committee,' Bok said.... 'She is not the slightest bit antisemitic.... Worn down by months of relentless external attacks, she was not herself last Tuesday,' Bok said. 'Over prepared and over lawyered given the hostile forum and high stakes, she provided a legalistic answer to a moral question, and that was wrong.'" Clearly, the presidents could have used advice from a few lawyers with less elitist creds. When your inquisitors are scoundrels, get you a scoundrel lawyer. Not for nothing, in an article on the origins of the term "white shoe," the Economist wrote in 2010, "he term used to hint at WASPishness, the kind of place that didn't promote Jews...." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Bok is probably right. Lauren Hirsch of the New York Times: "Two of the school presidents, Claudine Gay of Harvard and Elizabeth Magill of Penn, prepared separately for the congressional testimony with teams from [white-shoe law firm] WilmerHale.... WilmerHale also had a meeting with M.I.T.'s president, Sally Kornbluth.... Lawyers for WilmerHale sat in the front row at the hearing on Tuesday.... Steven Davidoff Solomon, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, said that the college presidents appeared to be 'prepared to give answers in the court -- and not a public forum.' But the responsibility of university presidents, Mr. Solomon said, is 'not to give legal answers, it's to give the vision of the university.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Marie: Maureen Dowd of the New York Times hit on exactly the same point I did the other day in assessing the performances of the three Ivy League presidents who flunked Congress 101. But she goes on to make a larger point: "I don't understand why I have to keep making the case on matters that should be self-evident. Why should I have to make the case that a man who tried to overthrow the government should not be president again? Why should I have to make the case that we can't abandon Ukraine to the evil Vladimir Putin? Why should I have to make the case that a young woman -- whose life and future ability to bear children are at risk -- should not be getting persecuted about an abortion by a shady Texas attorney general? Why should I have to make the case that antisemitism is abhorrent?" IOW, What Is wrong with you people??? (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

New York Times: "On Tuesday, the presidents of three leading American universities -- Claudine Gay of Harvard, Sally Kornbluth of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Elizabeth Magill of the University of Pennsylvania -- were at the center of a contentious congressional hearing on antisemitism on college campuses. In one of the most notable exchanges, the leaders of the schools were pressed on whether they discipline students calling for the genocide of Jews. Their responses -- 'It is a context-dependent decision,' Ms. Magill answered at one point -- drew widespread criticism. But the administrators faced a barrage of other pointed questions at the hearing of the House Education and Workforce Committee, mainly from Republicans, who adopted a prosecutorial tone as they pushed for more definitive answers. Here are some of those exchanges[.]" (Also linked yesterday.)

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: The ACLU will represent the National Rifle Association in a First Amendment case coming before the Supreme Court. MB: I have been making substantial contributions to the ACLU over the past several years. I wrote to them and told them why they should not expect a penny from me this year.

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Texas. David Goodman of the New York Times: "John Whitmire, a moderate Democrat who has served in the Texas State Senate since 1983, won a runoff election on Saturday to become mayor of Houston, according to The Associated Press, defeating Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, a prominent congressional Democrat, in the nonpartisan race. Mr. Whitmire had been considered a front-runner from the moment he entered the race last year, prevailing in a city known for its diversity by creating a coalition that included Republicans and moderate white Democrats as well as Hispanic and Asian voters. He made public safety the focus of his messaging, following a strategy that has proved successful for moderate Democrats in recent big city mayoral races around the country." The Texas Tribune's report is here.

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Israel/Palestine. CNN's live updates of developments Sunday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "Qatar's PM says he is not seeing the 'same willingness' in Israel or Hamas as before last month's week-long truce to resolve the war. He was speaking as fierce fighting raged in Khan Younis, southern Gaza's main city. The Israel military has urged residents to evacuate much of Khan Younis. It wants them to move to Al-Muwasi, a strip of land along the coast that aid agencies warned cannot function as a safe zone. Israel's national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said Israel has so far killed 7,000 Hamas fighters, calling it a 'minimal estimate'. But Palestinian PM Mohammad Shtayyeh said Israel's goal of destroying Hamas was 'not going to happen.' In the past 24 hours, Israel's military said it struck more than 250 targets, including a military communications site. The Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza says about 17,700 people have been killed since the conflict began." ~~~

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

News Lede

Washington Post: "Six people were killed and nearly two dozen injured after tornadoes touched down around Nashville on Saturday, according to local authorities, who feared the death toll could rise as rescue efforts continued late Saturday night." CNN's report is here.

The Conversation -- December 9, 2023

Stephanie Saul & Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "The president of the University of Pennsylvania, M. Elizabeth Magill, resigned on Saturday, four days after her testimony at a congressional hearing in which she seemed to evade the question of whether students who called for the genocide of Jews should be disciplined. The announcement, in an email sent to the Penn community from Scott L. Bok, the chairman of the board of trustees, followed months of intense pressure from Jewish students, alumni and donors, who claimed that she had not taken their concerns about antisemitism on campus seriously." The AP's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ CNN is running a liveblog about the crisis at UPenn: "Scott Bok, chairman of the board of trustees at the University of Pennsylvania, submitted his resignation effective immediately.... In his statement, Bok acknowledged that Magill erred during her disastrous testimony, describing a 'dreadful 30-second sound bite' following a lengthy hearing. 'Former President Liz Magill last week made a very unfortunate misstep -- consistent with that of two peer university leaders sitting alongside her -- after five hours of aggressive questioning before a Congressional committee,' Bok said.... 'She is not the slightest bit antisemitic.... Worn down by months of relentless external attacks, she was not herself last Tuesday,' Bok said. 'Over prepared and over lawyered given the hostile forum and high stakes, she provided a legalistic answer to a moral question, and that was wrong.'" Clearly, the presidents could have used advice from a few lawyers with less elitist creds. When your inquisitors are scoundrels, get you a scoundrel lawyer. Not for nothing, in an article on the origins of the term "white shoe," the Economist wrote in 2010, "The term used to hint at WASPishness, the kind of place that didn’t promote Jews...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Bok is probably right. Lauren Hirsch of the New York Times: "Two of the school presidents, Claudine Gay of Harvard and Elizabeth Magill of Penn, prepared separately for the congressional testimony with teams from [white-shoe law firm] WilmerHale.... WilmerHale also had a meeting with M.I.T.'s president, Sally Kornbluth.... Lawyers for WilmerHale sat in the front row at the hearing on Tuesday.... Steven Davidoff Solomon, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, said that the college presidents appeared to be 'prepared to give answers in the court -- and not a public forum.' But the responsibility of university presidents, Mr. Solomon said, is 'not to give legal answers, it's to give the vision of the university.'" ~~~

~~~ Marie: Maureen Dowd of the New York Times hit on exactly the same point I did the other day in assessing the performances of the three Ivy League presidents who flunked Congress 101. But she goes on to make a larger point: "I don't understand why I have to keep making the case on matters that should be self-evident. Why should I have to make the case that a man who tried to overthrow the government should not be president again? Why should I have to make the case that we can't abandon Ukraine to the evil Vladimir Putin? Why should I have to make the case that a young woman -- whose life and future ability to bear children are at risk -- should not be getting persecuted about an abortion by a shady Texas attorney general? Why should I have to make the case that antisemitism is abhorrent?" IOW, What Is wrong with you people??? ~~~

New York Times: "On Tuesday, the presidents of three leading American universities -- Claudine Gay of Harvard, Sally Kornbluth of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Elizabeth Magill of the University of Pennsylvania -- were at the center of a contentious congressional hearing on antisemitism on college campuses. In one of the most notable exchanges, the leaders of the schools were pressed on whether they discipline students calling for the genocide of Jews. Their responses -- 'It is a context-dependent decision,' Ms. Magill answered at one point -- drew widespread criticism. But the administrators faced a barrage of other pointed questions at the hearing of the House Education and Workforce Committee, mainly from Republicans, who adopted a prosecutorial tone as they pushed for more definitive answers. Here are some of those exchanges[.]"

Trump Campaign Worries Voters Will Find Out He Will Be a Dictator. Marianne Levine & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "Top officials in Donald Trump's campaign sought Friday to quell discussions about his possible second term in the White House, amid alarms about authoritarianism and reports about personnel. '... unless a message is coming directly from President Trump or an authorized member of his campaign team, no aspect of future presidential staffing or policy announcements should be deemed official,' Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita said in a written statement to the media.... A Trump campaign official ... said Friday's statement came in response to a report that Axios published the previous day that offered a list of potential members of a second Trump administration.... Trump, however, has at times undercut [his campaign's] message...."

So people are picking on Ron DeSantis for the self-coaching he likely engaged in just before the very last RNC-sponsored 2024 Republican debate began. Marie: But I read a headline someplace that said Rhonda won the debate although almost nobody watched. So those practical thoughts worked! (to the extent that your aria is a sensational hit when you sing it in the shower). Thanks to RAS for the link:

The Daily Show providing us with Ron Desantis’s internal thoughts. pic.twitter.com/ZGD6rL0yU1

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) December 8, 2023

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Maegan Vazquez of the Washington Post: "resident Biden privately met with University of Nevada-Las Vegas students and community members Friday after a shooting there this week that left three people dead. Biden participated in the meeting at the site where he later delivered a speech on federal high-speed rail investments. He addressed the shooting at the start of his remarks from the podium, saying, 'This is not normal and we can never let it become normal.'" More on President Biden's visit to Las Vegas linked under "Presidential Race 2024."

John Blake in a CNN opinion piece: "Tyranny of the Minority...' [a book] by Steve Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt ... argues that the US must reform its Constitution and political institutions because they are dangerously antiquated.... The book's authors say the Founding Fathers were progressive and even radical for their time, but they birthed a now-outdated political system that allows a partisan minority in the US to thwart the popular will and rule over popular majorities.... They direct some of their most pointed criticisms at contemporary politicians who they describe as 'semi-loyal' to democracy because they refuse to work with ideological rivals even when democracy is on the line.'... 'Many of the politicians who preside over a democracy's collapse are just ambitious careerist trying to stay in office or perhaps win a higher one,' they write." Thanks to Ken W. for the link.

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post -- after excoriating Speaker Mike Johnson with some obscure details you may not know -- gets to "the Three Stooges of the House's Biden investigations... Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan is Moe, thundering and blundering in his repeated failures to prove Biden's 'weaponization' of the government. Jason Smith, the in-over-his-head chairman of Ways and Means, is Larry, brainlessly reciting whatever script is in front of him. And Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer is Curly, perpetually getting a pie in the face when the 'evidence' he produces is immediately debunked." Latest smoking gun? Joe Biden helped his son buy a pickup truck, and Hunter repaid his dad in shockingly incriminating "monthly payments." MB: Totally impeachable. (Also linked yesterday.)

Dareh Gregorian of NBC News: "A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. on Friday upheld but narrowed the gag order that had been imposed on ... Donald Trump in his D.C. election interference case prohibiting him from making critical comments about potential witnesses and prosecutors." The story has been substantially updated and extended: "The new version of the gag order bars Trump and his lawyers from making 'public statements about known or reasonably foreseeable witnesses concerning their potential participation in the investigation or in this criminal proceeding,' but also allows him some leeway if a high-profile witness makes disparaging comments about him.... 'Mr. Trump is a former President and current candidate for the presidency, and there is a strong public interest in what he has to say. But Mr. Trump is also an indicted criminal defendant, and he must stand trial in a courtroom under the same procedures that govern all other criminal defendants. That is what the rule of law means,' [the order reads]." MB: And of course Trump responded by lying about the content of the order. It's what he does. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "A federal appeals court narrowed an order limiting what ... Donald Trump can say about people involved in the criminal case alleging that he tried to subvert the 2020 election results, saying he cannot talk about witnesses' involvement or single out other individuals in ways likely to interfere with the case.... The ruling upholds a ban on Trump speaking about the participation of witnesses in the investigation and likely testimony. But it removes from the gag order Special Counsel Jack Smith. Commentary on other lawyers involved in the case, as well as court staff and both groups' family members, are barred 'if those statements are made with the intent to materially interfere with, or to cause others to materially interfere with, counsel's or staff's work in this criminal case, or with the knowledge that such interference is highly likely to result.'" The story has been substantially updated. (Also linked yesterday.)

Lisa Rubin, et al., of NBC News: "An expert witness in the $250 million civil fraud trial against Donald Trump said in court Friday that the former president's political action committee has paid for a portion of his fees to testify on behalf of the defense. Eli Bartov, an accounting professor at New York University, said that his $900,000 in compensation was split between the Trump Organization and Trump's Save America PAC. While it's not unusual for a defendantin a trial to pay expert witness fees -- in this case, the Trump Organization -- the use of campaign-oriented funds underscores the large amount of money being spent by Trump's PAC on his legal battles."

Presidential Race 2024

Anjali Huynh of the New York Times: "Just a few months ago, President Biden rarely said the name of his likely opponent in the 2024 presidential election.... But speaking in Las Vegas on Friday, Mr. Biden didn't hold back.... 'He likes to say America is a failing nation. Frankly, he doesn't know what the hell he's talking about.' Mr. Biden was in Las Vegas to announce $8.2 billion in funding for passenger rail projects, and he used the opportunity to criticize his predecessor's approach to infrastructure, saying that 'the last administration tried to cancel' a rail project in California and that his [own] latest investments 'stand in stark contrast.' 'He always talked about "infrastructure week," four years of "infrastructure week," but it failed -- he failed,' Mr. Biden said, referring to Mr. Trump. 'On my watch, instead of infrastructure week, America's having "infrastructure decade."'"

CNN Announces Top Secret GOP Debate Plans! Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: "With great fanfare this week, CNN announced it would host the network's first debate of the 2024 presidential campaign, gathering the Republican candidates for a marquee event on Jan. 21 at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire.... Saint Anselm had no idea what CNN was talking about. 'We were surprised to be included on a press release by a network about a debate which we had not planned or booked,' Neil Levesque ... of Saint Anselm said in a statement on Friday. The chairman of New Hampshire's Republican Party, Chris Ager..., said in an interview. 'I'm still scratching my head. And I still haven't been contacted by CNN at all.' There is, however, a competing debate scheduled to take place three days earlier, hosted by CNN's rivals at ABC News. The ABC debate, on Jan. 18, is set to be held at Saint Anselm, and it has the approval of both the college and state Republican officials." (Also linked yesterday.)

Whatever Donald Wants ... Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "The Republican National Committee is pausing its participation in 2024 GOP primary debates, the organization decided Friday. The RNC's decision, made by a 16-member internal body, means that any forthcoming debates will be hosted by networks independently of the committee. Two outlets -- ABC and CNN -- have announced plans to host future debates in Iowa and New Hampshire ahead of early state voting.... Donald Trump has refused to participate in any of the RNC-sponsored debates. He has aggressively pressured RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel to forgo hosting debates, arguing that he has a wide lead in the polls and that the committee should be focused on preparing for the general election."

Maria Sacchetti of the Washington Post: "A federal judge in San Diego on Friday approved a settlement that prohibits U.S. officials from separating migrant families for crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally and offers aid to thousands of parents and children forced apart under the Trump administration. The settlement involves a 2018 lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union to block the Trump administration's 'zero tolerance' policy, which called for separating parents from their children to prosecute the adults for crossing the border illegally. Officials sent parents to detention centers and children to shelters, without a plan to reunite them, under the policy. Some were apart for months, some for years.... Trump ... has continued to praise his administration's zero-tolerance policy." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. An AP story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, and thanks to you, Jeff Sessions & Stephen Miller, you racist slimeballs. I couldn't understand why the Biden administration continued to defend Trump's policy, but it appears there was a strategy: by opposing the ACLU, the administration managed to effect a settlement outcome that may be better for Trump's victims and for the government than what was in the original ACLU ask.

Matthew Cullen of the New York Times: "The Food and Drug Administration announced [Friday] that it had approved a gene editing treatment for sickle cell disease, the debilitating blood disorder caused by a single mutated gene. The therapy, called Casgevy, will become the first available treatment for humans in the U.S. to use the revolutionary gene editing tool CRISPR. The approval -- which was announced alongside a second gene therapy that does not use gene editing -- offers hope for the 100,000 Americans, most of them Black, who live with the disease. But the one-time treatments -- so effective in clinical trials that they have been hailed as cures -- come with both technical and financial obstacles that limit their reach." The ABC News report is here.

Alan Blinder & Anemona Hartocolis of the New York Times: "Harvards president apologized for her testimony before Congress about how she responded to antisemitism on campus -- another sign that the controversy over her remarks and similar comments by the presidents of M.I.T. and the University of Pennsylvania was not going away. 'I am sorry,' Claudine Gay, Harvard's president, said in an interview that the campus newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, published on Friday. 'Words matter.'" CNN's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Oh, Look. The Federal Government Can Be Good for the Economy. Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post: "Americans might be loath to believe it, but on paper, the U.S. economy is doing pretty well. So well, in fact, that we're outperforming forecasts made even before the pandemic began.... Overall employment is now 2 million jobs higher than was expected by now in forecasts made way back in January 2020 by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office[.]... The overall size of the economy, as measured by gross domestic product, is larger than it was expected to be.... The International Monetary Fund says that U.S. gross domestic product is higher today, in inflation-adjusted terms, than it had expected at the beginning of 2020.... Forecasters obviously did not anticipate the pandemic. They also did not anticipate the unprecedentedly enormous government response to the coronavirus.... Such stimulative measures helped get people back to work sooner, and avoided the long, painful slog back to normal that had followed the Great Recession. Hence, faster job growth. They also massively stoked consumer demand...."

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Texas. Ashley Killough & Ed Lavandera of CNN: "Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has petitioned the Texas Supreme Court to intervene in the case of a pregnant woman who was granted permission by a lower court judge on Thursday to obtain an emergency abortion. A Texas judge ruled Kate Cox, who sued the state seeking a court-ordered abortion, can legally terminate her pregnancy." The story has been updated to reflect the Texas Supremes' decision to block court approval for Ms. Cox's abortion. MB: Early Friday, D in MD & others came up with some novel -- and surely well-intentioned -- ideas about how to instill some empathy in Ken Paxton. We'll have to up the ante now. (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Maegan Vazquez of the Washington Post: "The Texas Supreme Court on Friday temporarily halted an order allowing a woman who is 20 weeks pregnant to get an abortion -- reversing a lower-court ruling that marks the first case of a pregnant woman seeking a court order for the procedure since Roe v. Wade was overturned last year. The order was issued Friday night." MB: We are just going to have to get us a warren-full of dead rabbits and some extra porcupine quills. Seriously, what is the matter with these people? Allow that hapless women to get her necessary abortion and pull your fat chins over it later.

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Europe. Adam Satariano of the New York Times: "European Union policymakers agreed on Friday to a sweeping new law to regulate artificial intelligence, one of the world's first comprehensive attempts to limit the use of a rapidly evolving technology that has wide-ranging societal and economic implications. The law, called the A.I. Act, sets a new global benchmark for countries seeking to harness the potential benefits of the technology, while trying to protect against its possible risks, like automating jobs, spreading misinformation online and endangering national security. The law still needs to go through a few final steps for approval, but the political agreement means its key outlines have been set. European policymakers focused on A.I.'s riskiest uses by companies and governments, including those for law enforcement and the operation of crucial services like water and energy. Makers of the largest general-purpose A.I. systems, like those powering the ChatGPT chatbot, would face new transparency requirements. Chatbots and software that creates manipulated images such as 'deepfakes' would have to make clear that what people were seeing was generated by A.I...."

Israel/Palestine

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Saturday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "The United States on Friday blocked a U.N. Security Council draft resolution that called for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, as well as the unconditional release of all hostages. It had near-unanimous support from member states. Israel's ambassador to the United Nations praised the move, calling the resolution 'distorted,' while Human Rights Watch said it puts the United States at risk of 'complicity in war crimes.'... Friday's vote was the third time the United States vetoed a Security Council recommendation calling for a cease-fire since the war in Gaza began following the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. A U.S. envoy defended the vote, calling the resolution, introduced by the United Arab Emirates, divorced from reality.'... The Israel Defense Forces on Friday reported a new round of battles in Khan Younis, southern Gaza's largest city. Commanders said the IDF hit 450 targets from air, sea and land. They described close-quarters fighting." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Saturday are here.

U.S. v. Peace. Farnaz Fassihi, et al., of the New York Times: "The United States on Friday vetoed a United Nations resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has launched hundreds of strikes, relief efforts were faltering and people were growing so desperate for basic necessities that some were stoning and raiding aid convoys. The U.N. secretary general, António Guterres, and most members of the Security Council had backed the measure, saying that the humanitarian catastrophe in the coastal enclave where 2.2 million Palestinians live could threaten world stability. But the United States, which is one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, blocked the resolution, arguing that Israel has the right to defend itself against Hamas attacks. The vote was 13 to 1, with Britain abstaining and some U.S. allies like France voting for a cease-fire." The AP's story is here.

News Ledes

New York Times: "Bystanders stopped a 26-year-old woman from setting fire to the home where Martin Luther King Jr. was born after she poured gasoline on it, the authorities said. Two visitors from Utah interrupted the woman as she was pouring gasoline on the porch and on the door of the home, Darin Schierbaum, the Atlanta police chief, told reporters on Thursday. Two off-duty New York Police Department officers who had been visiting the house then chased her down and detained her until the officers from the Atlanta Police Department arrived, he said. 'That action saved an important part of American history tonight, he added." An ABC News story is here.

New York Times: "The teenager who committed the deadliest high school shooting in Michigan history, killing four students and injuring seven other people, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Friday. Ethan Crumbley was a 15-year-old sophomore at Oxford High School in suburban Detroit on Nov. 30, 2021, when he pulled a 9 millimeter Sig Sauer handgun out of his backpack. He had persuaded his father to purchase the gun for him just days earlier. Killed in the attack were Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Tate Myre, 16; Justin Shilling, 17; and Hana St. Juliana, 14. Michigan does not have the death penalty, so the sentence imposed by Judge Kwamé Rowe was the harshest available. In September, he ruled that despite being a minor, and despite his difficult life, Ethan was eligible for a sentence of life without parole. He had pleaded guilty to 24 charges, including first-degree murder." CNN's report is here.