The Conversation -- December 2, 2024

Jonathan Chait of the Atlantic: "President Biden's complaint about the higher standard applied to his son reflects the perspective of myopic privilege. Crimes by family members of powerful public officials are far more damaging to public confidence than similar crimes by anonymous people. Holding them to account through strict enforcement of the law is good and correct. What the president fails to note in his self-pitying statement is that Hunter Biden for years engaged in legal but wildly inappropriate behavior by running a business based on selling the perception of access to his father.... Joe Biden's defense of Hunter's influence peddling by stressing its narrow legality merely serves to highlight the hypocrisy of his fatherly indulgence.... With the pardon decision, like his stubborn insistence on running for a second term he couldn't win, Biden chose to prioritize his own feelings over the defense of his country." Thanks to laura h. for this gift link. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Whatever you think of this pardon, it's nearly impossible to refute Chait's arguments. What Biden conveniently forgot, and what criminals like Trump never consider, is what Julius Caesar said: that his wife must be above suspicion. It isn't just the wife; it's the relatives in general. A person certainly cannot control what his relatives do, and he can forgive them for their bad behavior for their sake and his own. But to issue a public pardon, to ensure that the relative will not face the consequences of his unlawful behavior, and to hold that relative to be above the law for whatever lame excuse or valid reason, is quite a different matter. To break one's own oath in doing so only magnifies the error in judgment.

~~~~~~~~~~

⭐Michael Shear & Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: “President Biden issued a full and unconditional pardon of his son Hunter on Sunday night after repeatedly insisting he would not do so, using the power of his office to wave aside years of legal troubles, including a federal conviction for illegally buying a gun and for tax evasion. In a statement issued by the White House, Mr. Biden said he had decided to issue the executive grant of clemency for his son 'for those offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from Jan. 1, 2014, through Dec. 1, 2024.' He said he made the decision because the charges against Hunter were politically motivated and designed to hurt him politically. 'The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election,' Mr. Biden said in the statement. 'No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter's cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son -- and that is wrong.'...

It was a remarkable turnaround for a man whose presidency and five-decade career was built in part on the idea that he would never interfere with the administration of justice.... In fact, the president's announcement came at the same time that Mr. Trump made it clearer than ever that his second term would be focused on retribution and revenge against Mr. Biden -- with Hunter Biden as a prime target. The president-elect on Saturday said he would name Kash Patel, a loyalist who has vowed to go after Mr. Trump's enemies, as F.B.I. director.... In a post on social media, Mr. Trump called the pardon 'Such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!'" The NBC News story is here. The AP's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ President Biden's statement is here. Via the White House. ~~~

     ~~~ Devlin Barrett of the New York Times: "President Biden blamed 'political pressure' for the collapse of a plea deal for Hunter Biden, but it was the judge overseeing the case who questioned the agreement. Hunter Biden's plea deal did fall apart in dramatic form at the last minute last year. But it did so after the judge overseeing the case at the time raised issues about its unusual construction, involving two separate agreements meant to work in tandem. That construction violated one of the basic tenets of federal guilty pleas: that any agreement not have any side deals.... That is a far cry from the president's suggestion that the deal ... collapsed because of political pressure." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Barrett is a study in why it's a bad idea to have a partisan hack "reporting" the news. Barrett may be right to question the President's charge of political pressure. But he fails to mention in an article in which he is claiming there was no political pressure that the judge who destroyed the plea deal was a Trump appointee. Furthermore, according to a New York Times analysis in August 2023, published shortly after the judge deep-sixed the plea agreement, she did so not because of a "basic tenet of federal" plea deals but because the two parties to the deal didn't agree on what the deal meant. "Judge Maryellen Noreika ... picked apart the deal, exposing substantial disagreements over the extent of the immunity provision.... [Hunter's attorney] said the deal indemnified his client not merely for the tax and gun offenses uncovered during the inquiry, but for other possible offenses stemming from his lucrative consulting deals. [Leo] Wise[, the prosecutor who was new to the case and had not negotiated the plea deal,] said it was far narrower -- and suggested the government was still considering charges against Mr. Biden under laws regulating foreign lobbying." As for there being no political pressure, Devlin, read just this one article from the paper you've just joined. Congressional Republicans were foaming at the mouth at every hint of a turn in the Hunter Biden case.

     ~~~ Peter Baker of the New York Times: "[President] Biden's decision to use the extraordinary power of executive clemency to wipe out his son's convictions on gun and tax charges came despite repeated statements by him and his aides that he would not do so. Just this past summer, after his son was convicted at trial, the president rejected the idea of a pardon and said that 'I will accept the outcome of this case and will continue to respect the judicial process.' The statement he issued on Sunday night made clear he did not accept the outcome or respect the process.... Mr. Trump has long argued that the justice system has been 'weaponized' against him and that he is the victim of selective prosecution, much the way Mr. Biden has now said his son was.... The prosecutions of Mr. Trump and the younger Mr. Biden were each handled by separate special counsels appointed specifically to insulate the cases from politics.... There is no evidence that Mr. Biden had any involvement in Mr. Trump's cases.... [This pardon] will also be harder for Democrats to criticize Mr. Trump for his prolific use of the pardon power to absolve friends and allies, some of whom could have been witnesses against him in previous investigations.... Mr. Biden's pardon will also give ammunition to Republicans who have contended that Hunter Biden was guilty of wrongdoing beyond the charges for which he was actually prosecuted....

"To be sure, the cases against Mr. Trump and the younger Mr. Biden are hardly comparable. Mr. Trump was charged with illegally trying to overturn an election that he lost so that he could hold on to power and, in a separate indictment, with endangering national security and trying to obstruct justice by taking classified documents when he left office and refusing to return them.... Hunter Biden was convicted of lying on a firearms application form about his drug addiction and pleaded guilty to failing to pay taxes that he later did pay, with penalties. At least some legal experts have agreed with the president's contention that such offenses would normally have been resolved without felony charges." ~~~

~~~ Betsy Swan of Politico: "Hunter Biden's pardon looks a lot like Richard Nixon's. President Joe Biden's grant of clemency on Sunday night -- an extraordinary political act with extraordinary legal breadth -- insulates his son from ever facing federal charges over any crimes he possibly could have committed over the past decade.... Joe Biden's 'full and unconditional pardon' of his son is deliberately vague. Donald Trump and his allies have long fixated on the president's son, and Trump has repeatedly pledged to use his second term to investigate and prosecute members of the Biden family. Conservative commentators have engaged in parlor-game speculation that Hunter Biden could be charged with bribery, illegal lobbying or other crimes stemming from his foreign business activities and drug addiction."

~~~ Paul Campos in LG&$: "(1) Hunter Biden was subject to criminal prosecution for purely political reasons. The offenses he was convicted for are almost literally never prosecuted. The tax evasion charge is particularly outrageous: pursuing criminal charges for tax evasion when the defendant has paid back all the taxes, penalties, and fines that the taxpayer owes essentially never happens. (2) That Republicans will scream about this is, under the circumstances, something to which any decent person, i.e., not a Republican, should pay exactly zero attention."

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "His first selection for attorney general collapsed in spectacular fashion. His choice for defense secretary is awash in scandal. His picks for intelligence, health and other posts are being panned.... Even with so many appointees already under fire, Mr. Trump has doubled down on defiance as he assembles his next administration. Rather than turning to more credentialed and respected choices with easier paths to Senate confirmation, Mr. Trump in rapid-fire fashion keeps naming more ideological warriors, conspiracy theorists and now even family members to senior government positions....

"The persistence in advancing unconventional appointments underscores how determined Mr. Trump is to surround himself this time with loyalists he can trust to carry out his agenda, including 'retribution' against his perceived enemies.... Mr. Trump's contentious selections also represent something of a dare to Senate Republicans to see how far they will go in standing against other nominees they view as unqualified...."

All in the Family. Holly Bailey of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump said Sunday that he would nominate Massad Boulos, a Lebanese American businessman and the father-in-law of his daughter Tiffany, as a senior adviser covering Arab and Middle Eastern affairs.... The advisory White House post doesn't require Senate confirmation." CNN's report is here. MB: So far, I haven't seen any information that Boulos is a criminal, but he's a billionaire international businessman with ties to Hezbollah, so we'll see what journalists develop. (Also linked yesterday.) Update: The New York Times reports that Boulos' connections to Lebanese politicians and Hezbollah are "murky."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Marcy Wheeler: "... by picking Kash and including false claims about the Deep State in his announcement, Trump forces journalists to address his false claims." But, as Wheeler notes, Devlin Barrett & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times (and others) don't address those false claims at all. They just type 'em up and publish "without correction," which as Wheeler writes, "is simply participation in propaganda." Instead, journalist at various outlets concentrate on other things that render Patel's appointment questionable: like Politico, whose reporters refer to his perpetuation of conspiracy theories, or CNN, where reporters say Trump shouldn't be firing Chris Wray in the midst of his 10-year term.

Holly Bailey, et al., of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump's announcement that he wants to replace FBI Director Christopher A. Wray with Kash Patel, a staunch loyalist who has vowed to fire the agency's leadership and dramatically reshape its mission, was met with bipartisan concern that his appointment could undermine the agency's independence.... FBI directors typically have 10-year tenures, unique among appointments in the executive branch. That span ... was imposed in 1976 as a post-Watergate government reform effort after it became clear that Richard M. Nixon's pick to serve as FBI director, L. Patrick Gray, destroyed documents related to the bureau's investigation of the Watergate scandal and gave Nixon's administration briefings on the investigation. The term limit is meant to assert the independence of FBI directors from any political leader or party." MB: The Republicans cited who supposedly expressed "concern" about Patel sound a lot less "concerned" than Susan Collins does about the lowlifes she ultimately votes to seat. Indeed, the Senators' "concerns" strike me as performance art: "Look at me! I'm a Senator! I'm doing my very senatorish thing." In fact, (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Michael Shear of the New York Times: "Several Republican lawmakers fell in line on Sunday behind ... Donald J. Trump's plan to choose Kash Patel to lead the F.B.I., defending the incoming president's right to install a loyalist who has vowed to use the position to exact revenge on Mr. Trump's adversaries. Mr. Trump's announcement on Saturday that he intends to replace Christopher A. Wray, the current F.B.I. director, who still has three years left on his 10-year term, with Mr. Patel has stunned Democrats and many in the national security establishment. Mr. Patel has said he would launch a sweeping campaign of retribution against F.B.I. agents, journalists and others." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ David Corn of Mother Jones: Kash "Patel is a MAGA combatant who has fiercely advocated Trump's lie that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump and who has championed January 6 rioters as patriots and unfairly persecuted political prisoners.... Patel is also a fervent promoter of conspiracy theories. At the end of Trump's first presidency, when he was a Pentagon official, he spread the bonkers idea that Italian military satellites had been employed to turn Trump votes to Joe Biden votes in the 2020 election. And he has falsely claimed that the Trump-Russia scandal was a hoax cooked up by the FBI and so-called Deep State to sabotage Trump. Moreover, Patel has been supportive of the most loony conspiracy theory in MAGA land: QAnon." Corn goes on to outline many instances in which Patel has promoted or accommodated Q & its crazy, often pro-violence, beliefs. "Patel's relationship with QAnon shows either that he has a severely distorted view of reality or that he will recklessly exploit dangerous, misguided, and false ideas for political benefit." ~~~

~~~ Rachel Scully of the Hill: "Former national security adviser John Bolton compared Kash Patel..., Trump's nominee to head the FBI, to one of the former Soviet Union's most feared secret police chiefs, Lavrentiy Beria. 'Trump has nominated Kash Patel to be his Lavrentiy Beria,' Bolton said in a statement to NBC News's 'Meet The Press' on Sunday. '... The Senate should reject this nomination 100-0.' NKVD refers to the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union, which was in place from 1934 to 1946. Beria was appointed by ... Joseph Stalin as deputy chief of the Soviet secret police and was head of the Soviet atomic bomb project.... He is known for his violent tactics, including kidnapping, torture and rape, which he used to advance within the ranks of the secret police."

New York Times Notices the Most Obvious Dangers Trump Poses: Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump's determination to crash over traditional governmental guardrails will present a fundamental test of whether the Republican-controlled Senate can maintain its constitutional role as an independent institution and a check on presidential power. With Mr. Trump putting forward a raft of contentious prospective nominees and threatening to challenge congressional authority in other ways, Republicans who will hold the majority come January could find themselves in the precarious position of having to choose between standing up for their institution or bowing to a president dismissive of government norms. The clearest and most immediate point of tension is likely to be Mr. Trump's efforts to skip the Senate's traditional confirmation process to install loyalists, including some with checkered backgrounds, in his cabinet. But the president-elect has also signaled he expects Republicans on Capitol Hill to accede to his wishes on policy, even if that means ceding Congress's control over federal spending. Both are powers explicitly given to the legislative branch in the Constitution." (Also linked yesterday.)

Perry Stein & Yvonne Sanchez of the Washington Post: "Attorney General Merrick Garland and top Justice Department officials are encouraging career staffers to remain in their jobs through the next administration, stressing that institutional knowledge is important.... As top officials inside the Justice Department have led meetings about transition protocols, Trump and his allies have continued their vows to fire career staffers and seek retribution on those they consider their political enemies.... [Besides nominating Matt Gaetz as AG & Kash Patel to replay Chris Wray as head the FBI,] Trump ... announced earlier in November that his personal defense lawyers, who represented him in his criminal cases, would be nominated for top Justice Department jobs. While some people interviewed said that those lawyers' relevant job qualifications for the jobs were reassuring -- two are former prosecutors -- they were also concerned about whether Trump would expect the would-be officials to act like his personal counsel....

"The people interviewed for this article said the private legal market couldn't swallow up a huge number of departing Justice Department staffers, adding that most prosecutors, FBI agents and other career staffers would rather stay put and do work that they believe serves the public good.... Still, more Justice Department employees than usual appear to be exploring jobs outside the government."

Yes, JayDee Is Exceptionally Weird. Yesterday, RAS posted a link to this. I had seen the graphic earlier and assumed it was posted by someone trolling JayDee & Trump. But no. JayDee originated the, uh, artwork or at least initiated the post. But why? Justin Baragona in the Independent: "While ... Donald Trump was sharing a Thanksgiving parody video of himself leaping out of a turkey and gyrating in front of prominent Democrats, his soon-to-be vice president decided to up the ante by posting an image of himself as 'Trump's wife.' In a mock-up of Norman Rockwell's famous painting 'Freedom From Want, 'JD Vance superimposed his face onto the matriarch serving up a Thanksgiving turkey to her family. A grinning Trump takes the place of the husband, who is standing behind a dress-clad Vance. The turkey, meanwhile, has been replaced with an electoral map of the United States showing all of the counties that voted Republican.... [Many observers] were just in awe that Vance intentionally posted the picture in the first place, especially since it could be interpreted that he is portraying himself as a 'trad wife' or part of a same-sex couple."

~~~~~~~~~~

California. Silvia Foster-Frau of the Washington Post: "In Hinkley, [California -- the the town 'Erin Brockovich' made famous nearly three decades ago --] water at nine of the 44 wells tested this year as part of PG&E's state-mandated cleanup efforts were found to have chromium-6 levels more than five times higher than the state's legal maximum and 2,500 times higher than what the state deems safe for public consumption. The regional water board, an arm of the state, has given the company until 2032 to bring the water's chemical content down to legal levels -- 36 years after Brockovich's lawsuit and 80 years after the toxic substance was first dumped into the ground by PG&E, the state's largest utility. Experts, lawyers and local residents here said the long timeline for the cleanup stems partly from the logistical difficulty of removing a toxic substance that has swirled for years in the groundwater but also because the effort has been largely the undertaking of a small regional government water board in charge of regulating a corporate behemoth."

~~~~~~~~~~

Iceland. AP: "Voters in Iceland joined a global trend of punishing incumbents in a parliamentary election, with a center-left party winning the largest share of votes in the North Atlantic island nation. With all the votes tallied on Sunday, the Social Democratic Alliance had won 15 seats in the 63-seat parliament, the Althingi -- more than doubling its total -- and secured almost 21% of votes, according to national broadcaster RUV. The conservative Independence Party, which led the outgoing government, had 14 seats and a 19.4% vote share, and the centrist Liberal Reform Party 11 seats and about 16% of votes."

Ireland. Lisa O'Carroll of the Guardian: "The Green party in Ireland has been virtually wiped out in the general election, and its leader admitted it was entering a period of 'rebuild' after the electorate removed any prospect of the party re-entering government. The Greens lost all but one of their 12 seats, with its leader, Roderic O'Gorman, scraping through on the 13th count. It means the party is unlikely to team up again with the two centre-right parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, which are on track to come within a few seats of the 88-seat majority needed to form the new government. Counting from Friday's election could continue into Monday. The proportional representation system involves multiple counts and too-close-to-call scraps for the final seats in many constituencies."

Israel/Palestine, et al. Adam Rasgon, et al., of the New York Times: :A former Israeli defense minister has accused Israel of committing war crimes and ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip, a rare critique from a member of the security establishment at a time of war. The comments by Moshe Yaalon came amid mounting criticism of the Israeli military's conduct in Gaza. They were swiftly denied and condemned by allies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, saying that they would hurt the country and help its enemies. Mr. Yaalon served as the Israeli military's chief of staff during the second intifada and as Mr. Netanyahu's defense minister during the 2014 war in Gaza, the longest conflict between Israel and Hamas before the current war. But he broke with Mr. Netanyahu in 2016 and has since become a critic of the Israeli leader.... 'The path they're dragging us down is to occupy, annex, and ethnically cleanse -- look at the northern strip,' he said. He also said Israel was being pulled in the direction of building settlements in Gaza, a notion that is supported by far-right politicians in Mr. Netanyahu's government." (Also linked yesterday.)

Ukraine, et al. Michael Birnbarum, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration is engaged in an 11th-hour scramble to provide Ukraine with billions of dollars in additional weaponry, a massive effort that is generating concerns internally about its potential to erode U.S. stockpiles and sap resources from other flash points, officials said. The lame-duck initiative was spurred in part by Russia's battlefield momentum and a fear among Ukraine's fiercest advocates that once ... Donald Trump takes office Jan. 20, there will be an abrupt shift in U.S. policy toward the war. Yet some in the administration have taken the view that no matter what Washington does, Kyiv's military will remain outmatched without far more soldiers to sustain its fight. And even as they accelerate arms shipments, there is growing frustration with Ukraine's leaders, who have resisted U.S. calls to lower the country's draft age from 25 to 18."

The Conversation -- December 1, 2024

All in the Family. Holly Bailey of the Washington Post: :... Donald Trump said Sunday that he would nominate Massad Boulos, a Lebanese American businessman and the father-in-law of his daughter Tiffany, as a senior adviser covering Arab and Middle Eastern affairs.... The advisory White House post doesn't require Senate confirmation.: CNN's report is here. So far, I haven't seen any information that Boulos is a criminal, but he's a billionaire international businessman with ties to Hezbollah, so we'll see what journalists develop.

Holly Bailey, et al., of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump's announcement that he wants to replace FBI Director Christopher A. Wray with Kash Patel, a staunch loyalist who has vowed to fire the agency's leadership and dramatically reshape its mission, was met with bipartisan concern that his appointment could undermine the agency's independence.... FBI directors typically have 10-year tenures, unique among appointments in the executive branch. That span ... was imposed in 1976 as a post-Watergate government reform effort after it became clear that Richard M. Nixon's pick to serve as FBI director, L. Patrick Gray, destroyed documents related to the bureau's investigation of the Watergate scandal and gave Nixon's administration briefings on the investigation. The term limit is meant to assert the independence of FBI directors from any political leader or party." MB: The Republicans cited who supposedly expressed "concern" about Patel sound a lot less "concerned" than Susan Collins does about the lowlifes she ultimately votes to seat. Indeed, the Senators' "concerns" strike me as performance art: "Look at me! I'm a Senator! I'm doing my very senatorish thing." In fact, ~~~

~~~ Michael Shear of the New York Times: "Several Republican lawmakers fell in line on Sunday behind ... Donald J. Trump's plan to choose Kash Patel to lead the F.B.I., defending the incoming president's right to install a loyalist who has vowed to use the position to exact revenge on Mr. Trump's adversaries. Mr. Trump's announcement on Saturday that he intends to replace Christopher A. Wray ... who still has three years left on his 10-year term, with Mr. Patel has stunned Democrats and many in the national security establishment. Mr. Patel has said he would launch a sweeping campaign of retribution against F.B.I. agents, journalists and others."

New York Times Notices the Most Obvious Dangers Trump Poses: Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump's determination to crash over traditional governmental guardrails will present a fundamental test of whether the Republican-controlled Senate can maintain its constitutional role as an independent institution and a check on presidential power. With Mr. Trump putting forward a raft of contentious prospective nominees and threatening to challenge congressional authority in other ways, Republicans who will hold the majority come January could find themselves in the precarious position of having to choose between standing up for their institution or bowing to a president dismissive of government norms. The clearest and most immediate point of tension is likely to be Mr. Trump's efforts to skip the Senate's traditional confirmation process to install loyalists, including some with checkered backgrounds, in his cabinet. But the president-elect has also signaled he expects Republicans on Capitol Hill to accede to his wishes on policy, even if that means ceding Congress's control over federal spending. Both are powers explicitly given to the legislative branch in the Constitution."

Adam Rasgon, et al., of the New York Times: "A former Israeli defense minister has accused Israel of committing war crimes and ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip, a rare critique from a member of the security establishment at a time of war. The comments by Moshe Yaalon came amid mounting criticism of the Israeli military's conduct in Gaza. They were swiftly denied and condemned by allies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, saying that they would hurt the country and help its enemies. Mr. Yaalon served as the Israeli military's chief of staff during the second intifada and as Mr. Netanyahu's defense minister during the 2014 war in Gaza, the longest conflict between Israel and Hamas before the current war. But he broke with Mr. Netanyahu in 2016 and has since become a critic of the Israeli leader.... 'The path they're dragging us down is to occupy, annex, and ethnically cleanse -- look at the northern strip,' he said. He also said Israel was being pulled in the direction of building settlements in Gaza, a notion that is supported by far-right politicians in Mr. Netanyahu's government."

~~~~~~~~~~

⭐Trump Nominates Crazy Man to Head FBI. Devlin Barrett & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: :... Donald J. Trump said on Saturday that he wants to replace Christopher A. Wray, the F.B.I. director, with Kash Patel, a hard-line critic of the bureau who has called for shutting down the agency's Washington headquarters, firing its leadership and bringing the nation's law enforcement agencies 'to heel.' Mr. Trump's planned nomination of Mr. Patel ... could run into hurdles in the Senate, which will be called on to confirm him, and is sure to send shock waves through the F.B.I., which Mr. Trump and his allies have come to view as part of a 'deep state' conspiracy against him. Mr. Patel has been closely aligned with Mr. Trump's belief that much of the nation's law enforcement and national security establishment needs to be purged of bias and held accountable for what they see as unjustified investigations and prosecutions of Mr. Trump and his allies. Mr. Patel 'played a pivotal role in uncovering the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, standing as an advocate for truth, accountability and the Constitution,' Mr. Trump said in announcing his choice in a social media post....

"Before leaving office in early 2021, Mr. Trump floated the idea of making Mr. Patel deputy director of either the C.I.A. or the F.B.I. William P. Barr, the attorney general at the time, wrote in his memoir that Mr. Patel would have become deputy F.B.I. director only 'over my dead body.'... [Mr. Patel] has vowed to investigate and possibly prosecute journalists once he is back in government.... 'Yes, we're going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections -- we're going to come after you,' he said last year." ~~~

     ~~~ Eric Tucker & Alan Suderman of the AP: "... Donald Trump says he will nominate Kash Patel to serve as FBI director, turning to a fierce ally to upend America's premier law enforcement agency and rid the government of perceived 'conspirators.' It's the latest bombshell Trump has thrown at the Washington establishment and a test for how far Senate Republicans will go in confirming his nominees. The selection is in keeping with Trump's view that the government's law enforcement and intelligence agencies require a radical transformation and his stated desire for retribution against supposed adversaries. It shows how Trump, still fuming over years of federal investigations that shadowed his first administration and later led to his indictment, is moving to place atop the FBI and Justice Department close allies he believes will protect rather than scrutinize him."

~~~ Elaina Calabro in the Atlantic (August 26, 2024): "This was what seemed to disturb many of [Patel's] colleagues the most: Patel was dangerous, several of them told me, not because of a certain plan he would be poised to carry out if given control of the CIA or FBI, but because he appeared to have no plan at all -- his priorities today always subject to a mercurial president's wishes tomorrow.... But in the officials' warnings about the various catastrophic ways the rise of an inexperienced lackey to the highest levels of government might end, all Patel seemed to detect was the panic of a 'deep state' about to be exposed.... 'A lot of people say he's crazy,' Trump once said of Patel, according to the longtime adviser. 'I think he;s kind of crazy. But sometimes you need a little crazy.'" Thanks to laura h. for this gift link.

How to Insult France: Name a Sleazy Ex-con as Ambassador. Zach Montague of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump announced on Saturday that he would name Charles Kushner, the wealthy real estate executive and father of his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to serve as ambassador to France.... Mr. Kushner received a pardon from Mr. Trump in the final days of his first term for a variety of violations and then emerged as a major donor to Mr. Trump's 2024 campaign.... Mr. Kushner, 70, pleaded guilty in 2004 to 16 counts of tax evasion, a single count of retaliating against a federal witness and one of lying to the Federal Election Commission in a case that became a lasting source of embarrassment for the family. As part of the plea, Mr. Kushner admitted to hiring a prostitute to seduce his brother-in-law, a witness in a federal campaign finance investigation, and sending a videotape of the encounter to his sister.... Mr. Kushner served two years in prison before his release in 2006." MB: The post requires Senate confirmation. The Guardian's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'd say Trump couldn't stand the positive attention Emmanuel Macron received for the restoration of Notre Dame Cathedral, so he decided to poke the French President in the eye. Macron should refuse to accept Kushner's credentials, but he won't. The great news for Charles Kushner is that he can crime with impunity while he's in France because he'll have diplomatic immunity. More on France linked below.

David Ovalle & Anumita Kaur of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump on Saturday tapped Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration, replacing Anne Milgram. In picking the Florida sheriff to lead the DEA, Trump has selected a law enforcement professional with three decades of experience working for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office but seemingly little time in the national spotlight." The ABC News report is here.

Only One President at a Time? -- What a Quaint Idea. Maegan Vazquez, et al., of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump on Saturday demanded that the BRICS nations, a group of nine countries..., commit to not creating a new currency or back any other currency to replace the U.S. dollar, threatening to impose punitive duties on their imports if they do not comply. 'We require a commitment from these Countries that they will neither create a new BRICS Currency, nor back any other Currency to replace the mighty U.S. Dollar or, they will face 100% Tariffs, and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful U.S. Economy,' Trump wrote in a post on his social media platform.... 'They can go find another "sucker!" There is no chance that the BRICS will replace the U.S. Dollar in International Trade, and any Country that tries should wave goodbye to America.' The forum includes Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Iran, Russia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates. The group has a stated purpose of building up an international finance system that is less dependent on the United States and the European Union." An AP story is here.

Trump Sends Trudeau Packing. Rob Gillies & Fatima Hussein of the AP: "Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau returned home Saturday after his meeting with Donald Trump without assurances the president-elect will back away from threatened tariffs on all products from the major American trading partner. Trump called the talks 'productive' but signaled no retreat from a pledge that Canada says unfairly lumps it in with Mexico over the flow of drugs and migrants into the United States. After the leaders' hastily arranged dinner Friday night at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, Trudeau spoke of 'an excellent conversation' and said in a post later Saturday on X, accompanied by a photo of the two men seated a table and smiling, that he looked forward to 'the work we can do together, again.' Trump said earlier on Truth Social that they discussed 'many important topics that will require both Countries to work together to address.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I told Justin not to go there. An obvious element of Trump's retribution program is humiliation, and the bigger the world leader he can humiliate (and insult) the better. So Trudeau, Macron -- Good Lord! they both speak French! And English! Trump hates the well-educated.

Matt Viser of the Washington Post: "Hunter Biden's legal team is launching an assertive public defense of the president's son just weeks before federal judges in Delaware and California prepare to sentence him..., and as his father faces a diminishing window to pardon him if he chooses to do so despite previously ruling it out. In a 52-page paper titled 'The political prosecutions of Hunter Biden' released Saturday, Hunter Biden's lawyers criticize the foundation of the investigations into their client, arguing that he was prosecuted for crimes that an ordinary citizen would not have been. Hunter Biden is likely to face further unfair threats when ... Donald Trump takes office, the lawyers contend. The document at times seems aimed directly at President Joe Biden, who has repeatedly said that he will not pardon or commute the sentences of his son.... [The report] cites comments that Trump has made about targeting his opponents, along with remarks from congressional Republicans who for years have investigated Hunter and other Biden family members."

Bluesky, Nothin' But Bluesky From Now On. Kat Tenbarge of NBC News: "Journalists are finding more readers and less hate on Bluesky than on the platform they used to know as Twitter.... Since Elon Musk bought Twitter, [he] has turned the platform into an increasingly difficult place for journalists, and many had come to suspect that the platform had begun to suppress the reach of posts that include links to external websites. On Sunday, Musk confirmed the platform has deprioritized posts including links, which was how journalists and other creators historically shared their work. But four journalists told NBC News that after millions of users migrated to Bluesky, an alternative that resembles a pared-back version of X, after the election, they are rebuilding their audiences there, too.... Numerous studies and analyses have found that after Musk took over the platform, use of hate speech increased. Over time, the platform became a bastion of the right-wing internet.

~~~~~~~~~~

China. Edward Wong of the New York Times: "The State Department has denounced a Chinese court's sentencing of a prominent journalist, Dong Yuyu, to seven years in prison and said it stood with his family in calling for his 'immediate and unconditional release.' A court in Beijing announced the sentence on Friday for his conviction on charges of espionage. Mr. Dong, 62, a former Harvard Nieman fellow, has been held since February 2022, when officers from the Ministry of State Security, China's main intelligence agency, detained him and a Japanese diplomat while they ate lunch in a restaurant. The officers released the diplomat after an interrogation, but prosecutors put Mr. Dong on trial behind closed doors in July 2023. He is the most prominent journalist imprisoned in mainland China.

"Matthew Miller, the State Department spokesman, said in a statement on Friday that Mr. Dong's 'arrest and today's sentencing highlight the P.R.C.'s failure to live up to its commitments under international law and its own constitutional guarantees to all its citizens.' He used the initials of the formal name of the country, the People's Republic of China.... Senator Marco Rubio, Mr. Trump's pick for secretary of state, has crafted legislation that would punish China for its human rights abuses. Mr. Rubio is a former co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, which lists Mr. Dong as a prisoner 'of priority concern' and urges action on his case by the White House."

France. Adam Nessiter of the New York Times: The political life of France's Prime Minister Michel Barnier "could even be over this week, or possibly before Christmas, a prospect prompting ghoulish speculation about financial chaos, American-style government shutdown and unpaid salaries for the fifth of France's work force on the public payrolls. That the country might soon be without a government is adding to the French malaise -- a soup of industrial layoffs, strikes, demonstrating farmers, anemic growth and a yawning deficit.... The woman in control of the [government's fate] is Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right populist National Rally, which has more seats in the lower house of the French Parliament than any other party.... That the Donald J. Trump-friendly National Rally calls the shots in France, which has so far resisted the pull of crony populism, is only half-acknowledged by the news media and by a political class that greeted the American election largely with alarm. Ms. Le Pen is currently on trial with her associates for misusing European Parliament money, and risks being convicted and barred from running for office."

     ~~~ Zach Montague of the Times wrote in the story linked above, "As president, Mr. Trump also expressed support for Mr. Macron's far-right challenger in the 2017 French presidential election, Marine Le Pen, whose hard-line stance against immigration Mr. Trump praised"

Syria. The Washington Post's live-updates of developments Sunday in Syria's civil war are here: "Syrian rebel fighters are advancing southward toward Hama after seizing control of most of Aleppo, Syria's largest city, posing the most serious challenge to President Bashar al-Assad in years amid the country's civil war, which began in 2011. The rapid assault over the weekend is led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an Islamist rebel group based in northwestern Syria's Idlib province. Government forces, supported by Russia and Iran, appeared to have withdrawn from some areas. Images from Aleppo and a military base in Idlib showed several captured Syrian army soldiers."

Muhammad Kadour & Raja Abdulrahim of the New York Times: "Rebels had seized most of Syria's largest city, Aleppo, as of Saturday, according to a war monitoring group and to fighters who were combing the streets in search of any remaining pockets of government forces. The antigovernment rebels said they had faced little resistance on the ground in Aleppo. But Syrian government warplanes responded with airstrikes on the city for the first time since 2016, according to the war monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Aleppo came to a near standstill on Saturday, with many residents staying indoors..., witnesses said. Others did venture out into the streets, welcoming the fighters and hugging them. Some rebels tried to reassure city residents and sent out at least one van to distribute bread. The rapid advance on Aleppo came just days into a surprise rebel offensive launched on Wednesday against the autocratic regime of President Bashar al-Assad. The developments are both the most serious challenge to Mr. al-Assad's rule and the most intense escalation in years in a civil war that had been mostly dormant."

News Lede

New York Times: "More than two feet of snow blanketed western New York and Pennsylvania on Saturday, with some parts getting more than three feet, as a lake-effect snowstorm disrupted post-Thanksgiving travel and stranded dozens of vehicles on highways. The storm threatened to bring up to six feet of snow to some areas by Tuesday morning. More than five million residents across eight states -- Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia -- were under winter weather advisories as of 2 a.m. Eastern time on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.... The Weather Service said snowfall on Saturday was heaviest along Interstate 90, which hugs Lake Erie from Buffalo through Pennsylvania and on to Cleveland. Erie and parts of northern Michigan, eastern Ohio and western New York received around 30 inches of snow or more, the agency said. National Guard troops were dispatched in New York and Pennsylvania."

The Conversation -- November 30, 2024

RFK Jr., International Scourge. Salem Gebrekidan, et al., of the New York Times: "Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is in line to lead the Department of Health and Human Services in the next Trump administration..., has ... spent years working abroad to undermine policies that have been pillars of global health policy for a half-century, records show. He has done this by lending his celebrity, and the name of his nonprofit group, Children's Health Defense, to a network of overseas chapters that sow distrust in vaccine safety and spread misinformation far and wide. He, his organizations and their officials have interfered with vaccination efforts, undermined sex education campaigns meant to stem the spread of AIDS in Africa, and railed against global organizations like the World Health Organization that are in charge of health initiatives. Along the way, Mr. Kennedy has partnered with, financed or promoted fringe figures -- people who claim that 5G cellphone towers cause cancer, that homosexuality and contraceptive education are part of a global conspiracy to reduce African fertility and that the World Health Organization is trying to steal countries' sovereignty.... These people, more than leading scientists and experienced public health professionals, have existed in Mr. Kennedy's orbit for years." ~~~

~~~ Marie: It's getting more & more difficult to exaggerate how much trouble we are in. ~~~

~~~ Cashing In. Kipp Jones of Mediaite: "Cheryl Hines, the TV star wife of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., shared a partially nude video of the controversial nominee to run the Department of Health and Human Services on her Instagram page Friday. Hines was promoting a line of 'MAHA' or Make America Healthy Again candles for her self-care products company Hines + Young...." MB: Fortunately, it's the Trump administration, so no ethics problem at all.

Christine Fernando of the AP: "... an emboldened fringe of right-wing 'manosphere' influencers ... have seized on Republican Donald Trump's presidential win to justify and amplify misogynistic derision and threats online. Many have appropriated a 1960s abortion rights rallying cry, declaring 'Your body, my choice' at women online and on college campuses. For many women, the words represent a worrying harbinger of what might lie ahead as some men perceive the election results as a rebuke of reproductive rights and women's rights.... The phrase 'Your body, my choice' has been largely attributed to a post on the social platform X from Nick Fuentes, a Holocaust-denying white nationalist and far-right internet personality who dined at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Florida two years ago.... Fuentes' post had 35 million views on X within 24 hours, according to a report by Frances-Wright's think tank, and the phrase spread rapidly to other social media platforms. Women on TikTok have reported seeing it inundate their comment sections. The slogan also has made its way offline with boys chanting it in middle schools or men directing it at women on college campuses...."

Playwright Sarah Bernstein in a New York Times op-ed: "Hundreds of years after the Brothers Grimm published their version of that classic rags-to-riches story ['Cinderella'], our cultural narratives still reflect the idea that a woman's status can be elevated by marrying a more successful man -- and a man's diminished by pairing with a more successful woman. Now that women are pulling ahead, the fairy tale has become increasingly unattainable. This development is causing both men and women to backslide to old gender stereotypes and creating a hostile division between them that provides fuel for the exploding manosphere.... It's little wonder Americans are experiencing surging loneliness, declining birthrates and -- as evidenced by Donald Trump's popularity with young men -- a cascade of resentment that threatens to reshape our democracy.... Letting go of the male breadwinner norm is not an instant fix for our culture, but we can't move forward without that step."

Constant Méheut of the New York Times: "Russian troops in eastern Ukraine have seized at least 10 villages and settlements in roughly as many days, according to a group with ties to the Ukrainian Army that maps the battlefield, as Moscow presses on with slow but steady advances that have heightened pressure on Ukraine's authorities to start cease-fire talks. The situation looks particularly precarious for Ukrainian forces in Donetsk, in Ukraine's east, where Russian forces are closing in on their last two strongholds in the southern part of the region, according to the analysis by the group, DeepState. The fall of the strongholds, Kurakhove and Velyka Novosilka, could pave the way for a Russian takeover of the area, experts say. Russia, which annexed Donetsk in 2022 and controls about two-thirds of the region, is seeking to consolidate power over the whole territory." See related story, below.

~~~~~~~~~~

No, Justin, No! Matina Stevis-Gridneff of the New York Times: "Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada went to Florida on Friday night to see... Donald J. Trump at Mar-a-Lago, two officials with direct knowledge of the visit said, after a threat by Mr. Trump to impose across-the-board tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico on Day 1....Mr. Trudeau and Mr. Trump dined together on Friday evening, one official said, along with a delegation of senior Trump allies poised for top trade and security positions in his new administration. Mr. Trudeau was accompanied on his visit by Dominic LeBlanc, Canada's minister of public safety. The Canadian prime minister was staying in the area overnight, but not at Mar-a-Lago." Here's a CBC News story.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs & Erica Green of the New York Times: "During the campaign..., Donald J. Trump swore he had 'nothing to do with' a right-wing policy blueprint known as Project 2025 that would overhaul the federal government, even though many of those involved in developing the plans were his allies. Mr. Trump even described many of the policy goals as 'absolutely ridiculous.' And during his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, he said he was 'not going to read it.' Now..., Mr. Trump has recruited at least a half dozen architects and supporters of the plan to oversee key issues, including the federal budget, intelligence gathering and his promised plans for mass deportations.... Mr. Trump disavowed the 900-page manifesto when polls showed it was extremely unpopular with voters. Now that he has won a second term, [his critics] say, he appears to be brushing those concerns aside."

Sharon LaFraniere & Julie Tate of the New York Times: "The mother of Pete Hegseth..., Donald J. Trump's pick for secretary of defense, wrote him an email in 2018 saying he had routinely mistreated women for years and displayed a lack of character. 'On behalf of all the women (and I know it's many) you have abused in some way, I say -- get some help and take an honest look at yourself,' Penelope Hegseth wrote, stating that she still loved him. She also wrote: 'I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around and uses women for his own power and ego. You are that man (and have been for years) and as your mother, it pains me and embarrasses me to say that, but it is the sad, sad truth.' Mrs. Hegseth, in a phone interview with The New York Times on Friday, said that she had sent her son an immediate follow-up email at the time apologizing for what she had written.... In the interview, she defended her son and disavowed the sentiments she had expressed in the initial email.... 'It is not true. It has never been true,' she said.... She said that publishing the contents of the first email was 'disgusting.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: No, Mrs. Hegseth, it's not "disgusting," it's journalism. Sure, this revelation is going to give your "disgusting" son more creds with Trump because he thinks mistreating women is manly and cool, but the American people need to know what kind of lowlife is running a Defense Department made up of men and women. ~~~

     ~~~ Here's the full text of the email from Penelope Hegseth to her son Pete. Via the New York Times. (It's also linked in the body of the story; click on "wrote" above.)

Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: "Scott Gottlieb, who led the Food and Drug Administration during the Trump administration, on Friday warned that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could 'cost lives' if confirmed as the next secretary of Health and Human Services. 'You're going to see measles, mumps and rubella vaccination rates go down,' Gottlieb said on CNBC, referencing Kennedy's longtime criticism of federal recommendations for childhood immunizations, and noting a recent decline in childhood vaccination rates. The nation is approaching a 'tipping point,' Gottlieb said, where a continued decline in childhood vaccines could soon lead to measles outbreaks and deaths of children. 'We're going to start seeing epidemics of diseases that have long been vanquished, and, God forbid, we see polio reemerge in this country,' he said. Gottlieb said he had been warning senators against confirming Kennedy.... He added that Kennedy, who founded one of the country's most prominent antivaccine groups, had 'smart people' around him who could take immediate steps to affect Americans' access to vaccines, such as changing federal vaccine recommendations."

Rachel Leingang of the Guardian: "Mike Johnston, the mayor of Denver..., said [earlier this month] he would protest deportations -- even being willing to go to jail for it.... Donald Trump's 'border czar', Tom Homan, said that's one area where he and Johnston agree. 'He's willing to go to jail, I'm willing to put him in jail,' Homan told Fox on Tuesday.... For his second term, Trump and his appointees have threatened a more forceful and broad deportation plan, though they have not offered details on what it will look like. Trump has said he will activate the military to carry out deportations, and there are likely to be flashy raids in Democratic cities that defy him.... Trump's team is reportedly figuring out ways the president could unilaterally remove federal resources from Democratic cities that don't go along with deportation plans.... Around the country, mayors and city councils are discussing how they can protect local immigrants from a mass deportation campaign. Cities cannot stop federal authorities from deporting people, but depending on state laws, they can refuse to use local resources or voluntarily provide information to assist in these operations."

Noah Bookbinder & Gregg Nunziata, respectively Democratic & Republican counsels to the Senate Judiciary Committee, in a New York Times op-ed: "We know how the confirmation process is supposed to work and how important F.B.I. vetting is to that process. That's why we're appalled by reports that the new Republican-led Senate and the incoming Trump administration may dispense with it.... Efforts to bypass F.B.I. background checks and even Senate confirmation itself via mass recess appointments, made by the president when the Senate is not in session, never would have flown with past iterations of the Judiciary Committee, regardless of which party was in charge. The Senate shouldn't stand for it now." The writers also nixed the Trumpy idea of having a private firm do the vetting.

More on Bomb Threats against Democrats. Azi Paybarah of the Washington Post: "House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) said bomb threats and swatting incidents were made against Democratic lawmakers, their families and law enforcement personnel, shortly after the FBI said several similar threats were aimed at people ... Donald Trump has chosen for his incoming administration. The threats, Jeffries said Friday, were 'all signed with "MAGA" at the conclusion of the message.'... Jeffries, who did not name the targeted lawmakers, said law enforcement reacted swiftly and that no devices were found. Democratic Reps. from Connecticut Rosa DeLauro, Jahana Hayes and Jim Himes said in separate statements on Thursday that they were targeted with bomb threats. Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-Rhode Island) said on Friday he was notified that he and his family were the targets of a bomb threat at their home.... Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island) also received a bomb threat similar to those 'made against other Democrats on Thanksgiving,' his office confirmed on Friday."

~~~~~~~~~~

France. Aurelien Breeden of the Washington Post: "The world got its first glimpse on Friday of the newly renovated Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. President Emmanuel Macron of France took viewers on a live televised tour of the cathedral's dazzlingly clean interior and rebuilt roofing, five years after a devastating fire that was followed by a colossal reconstruction effort.... The French president and his wife, Brigitte, gushed with admiration and craned their necks as they entered the 12th and 13th-century Gothic monument alongside the mayor and archbishop of Paris. More than 450,000 square feet of cream-colored limestone inside the cathedral have been meticulously stripped of ash, lead dust and centuries of accumulated grime, leaving its soaring vaults, thick columns and tall walls almost startlingly bright." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The cathedral certainly doesn't look as it did in our lifetimes; Notre Dame is a different experience now.

Syria. Raja Abdulrahim of the New York Times: "Syrian rebels breached the major city of Aleppo on Friday, according to the fighters and a war monitor, reigniting the country's long-running civil war with an intensity not seen in years. The rebels, including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, took control of 'more than half of Aleppo' within hours on Friday without resistance from Syrian government forces, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitoring group based in Britain.'

⭐Ukraine/Russia, et al. Sky News: "Volodymyr Zelenskyy has suggested a ceasefire deal could be struck if Ukrainian territory he controls could be taken 'under the NATO umbrella' - allowing him to negotiate the return of the rest later 'in a diplomatic way'. In an interview with Sky News's chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay, the Ukrainian president was asked to respond to media reports saying one of ... Donald Trump's plans to end the war might be for Kyiv to cede the land Moscow has taken to Russia in exchange for Ukraine joining NATO. Mr Zelenskyy said NATO membership would have to be offered to unoccupied parts of the country in order to end the 'hot phase of the war', as long as the NATO invitation itself recognises Ukraine's internationally recognised borders. He appeared to accept occupied eastern parts of the country would fall outside of such a deal for the time being."

News Lede

Washington Post: "Great Lakes communities were pummeled with snow Friday as unusually warm weather plunged into a lake-effect snow event that is expected to continue into Monday. More than 20 inches had fallen in places along Lake Erie]s shore in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York, with the highest total, 2.5 feet, in the Pennsylvania city of Erie as of 10:30 p.m. local time. Erie County declared a snow disaster Friday night, urging residents and visitors to 'please stay home, stay safe, and allow plow crews and first responders to do their work.' New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) declared a state of emergency Friday for parts of the state's north and west, including the city of Buffalo, and said the National Guard was on standby. Road closures in the region included a stretch of Interstate 90 in Pennsylvania, which connects Cleveland and Buffalo, disrupting motorists on one of the busiest travel weekends of the year."