The Conversation -- November 17, 2024

Adam Entous, et al., of the New York Times: “President Biden has authorized the first use of U.S.-supplied long-range missiles by Ukraine for strikes inside Russia, U.S. officials said. The weapons are likely to be initially employed against Russian and North Korean troops in defense of Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region of western Russia, the officials said. Mr. Biden’s decision is a major change in U.S. policy. The choice has divided his advisers, and his shift comes two months before ... Donald J. Trump takes office, having vowed to limit further support for Ukraine. Allowing the Ukrainians to use the long-range missiles, known as the Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMS, came in response to Russia’s surprise decision to bring North Korean troops into the fight, officials said.” The AP's report is here. ~~~

~~~ Marc Santora of the New York Times: “Russia renewed its campaign to destroy Ukraine’s battered power grid on Sunday, targeting facilities across the country with missiles and long-range drones in one of the largest and most complex bombardments of the war, Ukrainian officials said. The attack lasted several hours and featured around 120 missiles and 90 drones, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a statement. Air-defense teams destroyed 144 targets, but at least nine civilians were killed, officials said. Mr. Zelensky said F-16 pilots had shot down 10 targets. 'The enemy’s target was our energy infrastructure throughout Ukraine,' Mr. Zelensky said. 'Unfortunately, there is damage to objects from hits and falling debris.' Interceptor missiles could be seen streaking across blue skies over the capital, before exploding in thunderous claps. Similar scenes played out across Ukraine, Ukrainian officials said.”

Aaron Davis, et al., of the Washington Post: In January 2021 after the insurrection, “Travis Akers, then a naval intelligence officer..., posted ... photos [of some of Pete Hegseth's tattoos] to ... Twitter, calling the tattoos 'white supremacist symbols' — an interpretation Hegseth has since forcefully denied. The tweet was forwarded to the D.C. National Guard’s head of physical security, Master Sgt. DeRicko Gaither, who soon warned commanding general William J. Walker that the Latin phrase suggested Hegseth could be an 'insider threat.' As he was about to be deployed [to duties surrounding Joe Biden's inauguration], Hegseth — now ... Donald Trump’s nominee to be defense secretary — received a call from his superior officer ordering him to stand down.... Hegseth’s removal from the mission became a seminal moment in his life.... [He] wrote in the opening lines of his most recent book ... that he left the military because of the episode. [He wrote, 'So, I resigned. On Jan. 20, 2021, I drafted the letter. F*** Biden anyway.'” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Hegseth claims innocence, but here's what he once wrote about the tattoo in question, according to the Post: “... Hegseth ties his belief in an existential struggle over America’s 'native' and 'Judeo-Christian' culture to the Crusades, writing that Christians, along with their 'Jewish friends and freedom-loving people everywhere,' must fight back against secularism, leftism, globalism and Muslim immigration. 'See you on the battlefield,' he writes in closing out the book. 'Together, with God’s help, we will save America. Deus vult!'”

Conservative New York Times columnist David French must be an optimist because he thinks Donald Trump is already beginning to fail: “Donald Trump is planting the seeds of his own political demise. The corrupt, incompetent and extremist men and women he’s appointing to many of the most critical posts in his cabinet are direct threats to the well-being of the country, but they’re also political threats to Trump and to his populist allies.... If Trump’s cabinet picks help him usher in the chaos that is the water in which he swims, then the question won’t be whether voters rebuke MAGA again, but rather how much damage it does before it fails once more.

Amanda Holpuch of the New York Times: “The Justice Department has opened an investigation into the fatal shooting by a sheriff’s deputy of Sonya Massey, a woman who had called the police because she thought a prowler was outside her home and was killed after an exchange with responding officers over a pot of hot water. In a letter to officials in Sangamon County, the Justice Department said that it had reviewed reports about the shooting of Ms. Massey, who was Black, and that they raised 'serious concerns' about the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office’s interactions with Black people and people with behavioral health disabilities. The Justice Department is also investigating the county and its central emergency dispatch system for possible violations of federal nondiscrimination policies.... The deputy, Sean Grayson, who is white, shot Ms. Massey, 36, inside her home in Springfield, Ill., on July 6.”

Simon Levien of the New York Times: “J. Ann Selzer, the vaunted Iowa political pollster who released an eyebrow-raising poll just before Election Day, said on Sunday that she would end her election polling operation. Ms. Selzer, 68, has long been a trusted voice in the polling industry, predicting the state’s margins of past presidential elections with an accuracy few rivaled. So when her last poll before Election Day showed Vice President Kamala Harris leading ... Donald J. Trump in Iowa, it created a political shock wave. It was a surprising result, showing Ms. Harris leading by three percentage points. And observers noted it was an outlier. But many trusted Ms. Selzer’s expertise and her track record. Nearly every other poll in Iowa showed Mr. Trump leading the state by a healthy margin, and in 2020 Mr. Trump won the state by eight points. By the time ballots were counted early this month, Mr. Trump led Ms. Harris by more than 13 points en route to his overall victory. Ms. Selzer said in a column in The Des Moines Register that she decided over a year ago that this would be the last election she polled.” Politico's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'm wondering why it is that when untalented men make mistakes, they soldier on, often not admitting to their errors or blaming others. When talented women make mistakes, they fall on their swords, they apologize and they quit. 

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Sanewashing Crazy Bobby. Albert Burneko of the Defector cites the text of the subhead and lede of a New York Times report on the nomination of RFJ, Jr., to head HHS: "'Vaccine skeptic.' 'Vaccine skepticism.' What the fuck are we talking about here?... You don't often encounter a word being used to describe its exact opposite in the pages of one of the English language's most prominent publications.... In my lifetime as a word-nerd, I have known 'skepticism' to refer to a sort of stubborn insistence upon rigor and evidence in place of things like dogma and 'common sense.' A skeptic, by those terms, is someone who questions what they are told. Crucially, a skeptic actually questions, as in seeks answers. A person who merely refuses to learn what can be known is not a skeptic, but rather an ignoramus.... There is no such thing as an adult 'vaccine skeptic' in the year 2024.... Any reasonable questions that a skeptical, critical-minded person might have about how and whether vaccines work can be answered by more hard, clear evidence than a person could exhaust in a year of nonstop research.... How does a shit-for-brains like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. come to be described as a 'vaccine skeptic' in the New York Times, in 2024, when he absolutely is not one, and when there is also no such thing as one?... Surely the incurable politeness of America's boneless legacy press plays a role in this." During the course of his rant Burneko supplies the Times with an appropriate word to replace "skeptic": "denier." Thanks to RAS for the link. MB: Worth a read, if just for the fun of it. ~~~

~~~ Marie: In case you were wondering what the Defector is, as I was, here's its self-description: "... a new sports blog and media company. We made this place together, we own it together, we run it together. Without access, without favor, without discretion, and without interference."

Part of our Constitutional duties as U.S. citizens to laugh at these people, and SNL is here to help:

Pat Koch Thaler is dead. You will want to read her obituary. This is supposed to be a gift link for nonsubscribers to Thaler's New York Times' obituary, by Sam Roberts. If the link doesn't work properly, I apologize. And please let me know.

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Zolan Kanno-Youngs & Alexandra Stevenson of the New York Times: “When President Biden and China’s leader, Xi Jinping, met on Saturday in Peru, they spoke directly to each other for perhaps the last time about a fierce superpower rivalry that Mr. Biden has sought to keep from spiraling into open conflict. But both men also seemed to be addressing ... Donald J. Trump.... Mr. Xi, in his opening remarks, offered what appeared to be a stern warning as U.S.-China relations enter a new period of uncertainty after the American election.... In his own opening comments, Mr. Biden seemed to try to make the case for maintaining a relationship with Beijing, as Mr. Trump talks about imposing more punishing tariffs on China and picks hard-liners for top administration posts....

“But even as Mr. Biden’s session with Mr. Xi, during a gathering of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, began with conciliatory words, it also gave the president a final chance to challenge the Chinese leader directly.... Mr. Biden pushed Mr. Xi to maintain peace in Taiwan, and pressed the Chinese leader over Beijing’s support for Russia, according to his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan. Mr. Biden also urged Mr. Xi to discourage North Korea from continuing to support Russia in its war in Ukraine, Mr. Sullivan said.... [Mr. X pushed back on these and other concerns.]... Even as Mr. Biden has sought to steady relations, the fierce competition between the two countries was on vivid display during the APEC meeting in Lima.”

      ~~~ Here's the White House readout of President Biden's meeting with Xi Jinping.

A Most Unserious Man. Maggie Haberman & Jonathan Swan of the New York Times: “Emboldened, confident in his instincts and more contemptuous than ever of Washington expertise, Mr. Trump is staffing the most important roles in his government at breakneck speed. Advisers have been stunned at how fast he is ticking through his choices, filling the government’s most important positions roughly a month sooner than he did in 2016. Much of the action has taken place under the chandelier in the tearoom at Mar-a-Lago, where Mr. Trump surveys his potential Cabinet nominees on giant video screens. He flicks through shortlists that his transition team, led by the billionaire Howard Lutnick, has drafted over the past months. If Mr. Trump shows an interest in a candidate, the presentation is designed to allow him to immediately watch videos of the potential nominee’s TV appearances — essential for any would-be Trump cabinet official.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It is tempting to compare Trump to a casting director, except I believe most casting directors take their jobs more seriously than Trump takes his role of filling administrative jobs. As for his being “contemptuous of Washington expertise,” he is contemptuous of all expertise, and he is contemptuous of elites everywhere, especially in Manhattan, where the upper crust is equally contemptuous of him.

With the nomination of Chris Wright, Trump is following through on the $1 billion offer he made to Big Oil at a dinner this spring. -- Tiernan Sittenfeld of the League of Conservation Voters ~~~

~~~ Trump Picks Another Dangerous Crackpot. Evan Halper, et al., of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump announced on Saturday that he has selected Chris Wright, the head of fracking company Liberty Energy and a skeptic of mainstream climate science, to lead the Department of Energy and to serve on a new National Energy Council.... In Wright, Trump has chosen a skeptic of the scientific consensus on global warming who argues the 'climate crisis' is a myth. The fracking executive runs a foundation focused on dispelling the conventional wisdom on climate change and promoting expanded fossil fuel production as a solution to many of the world’s problems, an approach others say would drive dangerous levels of warming.... [Wright's] assertions conflict sharply with the conclusions of the world’s leading climate scientists affiliated with the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change....

“Wright emerged as a front-runner for the role of energy secretary at the behest of oil tycoon Harold Hamm, one of Trump’s closest allies.... Like Hamm, Wright ranked as a major donor to the Trump campaign.... Wright’s antipathy toward clean-energy subsidies and rules that penalize fossil fuel emissions contrasts with positions taken by [North Dakota Gov. Doug] Burgum[, whom Trump has tapped to be his interior secretary and 'energy czar.']” Politico's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: We'll see how this works out. According to Michael Gold of the New York Times, Trump claimed Wright “had worked for years with Doug Burgum.” Another reason Wright is such an awful choice: he (1) has no government experience, according to Gold, and (2) he “would be in charge of the nation’s nuclear weapons arsenal, and he would oversee the domestic nuclear energy industry when the sector is seeking to extend the lives of existing reactors and bring new reactor technologies to market,” write the WashPo reporters.

Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: “... Donald J. Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Defense, Pete Hegseth, paid a woman who had accused him of sexual assault as part of a settlement agreement with a confidentiality clause, but Mr. Hegseth insists it was a consensual encounter, his lawyer said on Saturday.... According to [a Monterey, California,] police statement, the complaint was filed four days after the encounter [in October 2017], and the complainant had bruises to her thigh. The police report itself was not released.” ~~~

     ~~~ Michael Kranish, et al., of the Washington Post broke the story: “Hegseth’s attorney, Timothy Parlatore, said that Hegseth was 'visibly intoxicated' at the time of the incident, and maintained that police who were contacted a few days after the encounter by the woman concluded that 'the Complainant had been the aggressor in the encounter.' Police have not confirmed that assertion.... The [attorney's] statement came after a detailed memo was sent to the Trump transition team this week by a woman who said she is a friend of the accuser. The memo, a copy of which was obtained by The Post, alleged he raped the then-30-year-old conservative group staffer in his room after drinking at a hotel bar.... After [the woman] threatened litigation in 2020, Hegseth made the payment and she signed the nondisclosure agreement, his attorney said.” The story has more details. ~~~

     ~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "In addition to what he is credibly accused of, your reminder that Hegseth definitely favors pardoning particularly appalling war criminals.... [Lemieux cites a Time report detailing the convicted or accused war criminals Hegseth advocated for.] Since we’re dealing with the Republican Party in 2024, the extensive evidence that Hegseth is a moral degenerate in addition to being entirely unqualified to be Secretary of Defense is presumably a positive factor for his likelihood of being confirmed." MB: You do have to keep in mind that Trumpworld mindset that killing "the enemy" -- even if the "enemy" is a civilian or a child and especially if the "enemy" is non-white -- is considered to be an admirable act of machoismo. The Trumpists are the cartoonish characters of B-grade action movies. On the other hand, there's this: ~~~

~~~ Courtney Kube, et al., of NBC News: "The Trump transition team is compiling a list of senior current and former U.S. military officers who were directly involved in the withdrawal from Afghanistan and exploring whether they could be court-martialed for their involvement, according to a U.S. official and a person familiar with the plan. Officials working on the transition are considering creating a commission to investigate the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, including gathering information about who was directly involved in the decision-making for the military, how it was carried out, and whether the military leaders could be eligible for charges as serious as treason, the U.S. official and person with knowledge of the plan said.... A 2022 independent review by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction blamed both the Trump and Biden administrations for the chaotic U.S. withdrawal in 2021."

Ian Millhiser of Vox: “Trump chose Todd Blanche, the criminal defense lawyer in his New York hush money trial..., to be deputy attorney general.... The DAG, as this position is known within the department, wields tremendous power over federal criminal prosecutions. If successfully appointed, Blanche will supervise the 93 regional US attorneys who bring the bulk of all federal prosecutions in the United States.... Meanwhile, Trump wants John Sauer, the lawyer who represented him in the Supreme Court case holding that Trump is allowed to use the powers of the president to commit crimes, to serve as solicitor general. The role oversees the Justice Department’s legal strategy in the Supreme Court....

“Another one of Trump’s personal criminal defense lawyers, Emil Bove, will serve as principal associate deputy attorney general, and will hold the DAG spot on an acting basis until Blanche or some other Trump nominee is confirmed or otherwise formally appointed to the job.... Bove’s new role does not require Senate confirmation. So he will be able to move into this job on the first day of Trump’s second presidency.... Blanche, Sauer, and Bove’s conventional résumés also mean that, if they use their DOJ posts to pursue Trump’s personal campaign of vengeance, they are likely to be fairly effective in doing so.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Marie: In Friday Comments, RAS argued that “Team Trump’s most human failings may thwart some of their most evil plans....” As one of several ferinstances, RAS asked rhetorically, “Do you think Matt Gaetz is going to work the hours necessary to not just learn DoJ but run it in detail?” My answer to that would be, no, but the meatheads of Trump's choosing will have underlings to do their bidding. And Millhiser proves my point with specifics: both Blanche & Bove were federal prosecutors for nine years, and Sauer, who clerked for Antonin Scalia, was Missouri's attorney general. Millhiser acknowledges that “Gaetz may struggle to navigate the department’s internal bureaucracy or to resist its internal culture, which seeks to insulate prosecutorial decisions from the White House.... But if Trump gets his way, his ultraloyalist attorney general will now be backed by people who know the Justice Department and the culture of elite federal lawyers quite well.”

Steve Eder, et al., of the New York Times: “This year, America’s southern border was once again a flashpoint in a presidential election, with ... Donald J. Trump pledging to deport millions of people who he said were 'poisoning the blood' of the country. Within days of his re-election, he announced his intention to appoint hard-liners on immigration. But despite the tough talk, the broken border has been a lifeline for America’s on-demand economy under both Democratic and Republican administrations, including Mr. Trump’s first term, an investigation by The New York Times found. Thousands of companies have exploited its porousness by plucking workers from the ranks of unauthorized migrants, sometimes with impunity.... Staffing agencies ... recruit workers for warehouses, factories and distribution centers that serve up billions of dollars in goods for brand-name companies.”

“Apparently Some People Think It Makes Us Look Like Nazis.” digby: “Yes, they will be building concentration camps. There's money in it.” digby cites an ABC News report that the private prison industry is delighted with the windfall Trump's need for deportation camps promise the industry. She also cites a Rolling Stone report that shows “that Stephen Miller and Trump himself have often referred to the need to build 'camps.' Trump says he doesn’t think they’ll have to build too many though because they’ll be 'moving them out' so fast. No need for due process or anything like that. [According to Rolling Stone,] '... Some top Trump advisers get so annoyed when the media refers to his publicly detailed immigration-crackdown plans as including “camps” that they’ve cautioned the president-elect’s allies and surrogates to stop using the word “camps” during the current presidential transition, according to two sources familiar with the situation. “I have received some guidance to avoid terms, like ‘camps,’ that can be twisted and used against the president, yes,” says one close Trump ally. “Apparently some people think it makes us look like Nazis.”'”

No, They Have No Shame. Eric Lipton of the New York Times: “The to-do list for ... Donald J. Trump from Marc Andreessen, the venture capital billionaire from California, is long, but quite specific. Now, after donating big money to Mr. Trump, Mr. Andreessen is eager to see his candidate work through the list.... Mr. Andreessen’s excitement is a hint of just how broadly the victory by Mr. Trump has resonated with business executives who invested millions of dollars in his candidacy and now stand to profit from his policies.... 'It will be a billionaires’ ball,' said Robert Reich, who served as secretary of labor during the Clinton administration and who has long been critical of the income disparity in the United States.” Lipton runs down a list of fat cats and industries that are looking forward to profiting from the investments in Trump.

Jacqueline Alemany, et al., of the Washington Post: “Elon Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX billionaire who has become ... Donald Trump’s 'first buddy,' appeared to publicly pressure Trump on economic policy and a key Cabinet appointment Saturday. In a Saturday morning post on X..., Musk praised a foreign leader’s decision to cut tariffs — the same import taxes that Trump wants to raise to the highest level in a century. Several hours later, Musk posted that Howard Lutnick, Trump’s co-transition chair, would be a better choice than hedge fund executive Scott Bessent for treasury secretary.... He encouraged his nearly 205 million followers to weigh in, too.... Several people in Trump’s circle expressed astonishment Saturday that Musk would publicly push for his choice for a crucial economic role while the president-elect was still weighing his decision.... Bessent and Lutnick have been jockeying for the role of treasury secretary over the past week, with allies of each candidate potshotting the other to transition officials.” Politico's story is here.

Joe Kucinski of Road & Track: "Tesla's vehicles have the highest fatal accident rate among all car brands in America, according to a recent iSeeCars study that analyzed data from the U.S. Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). The study was conducted on model year 2018–2022 vehicles, and focused on crashes between 2017 and 2022 that resulted in occupant fatalities. Tesla vehicles have a fatal crash rate of 5.6 per billion miles driven, according to the study; Kia is second with a rate of 5.5, and Buick rounds out the top three with a 4.8 rate. The average fatal crash rate for all cars in the United States is 2.8 per billion vehicle miles driven."

Another Job Merrick the Unready Didn't Do. David Nakamura & Mark Berman of the Washington Post: “President Joe Biden took office promising greater police accountability, and during his tenure the Justice Department launched a dozen investigations into state and local law enforcement agencies. Nearly four years later, his administration has yet to lock in reform agreements with any of them, putting a major civil rights initiative in jeopardy as Biden prepares to yield the White House to ... Donald Trump.... The race to formalize police accountability plans comes as Trump is vowing to empower local law enforcement to use more aggressive tactics to fight violent crime and potentially dispatch the National Guard, or even the U.S. military, to help patrol some U.S. cities.” MB: “The race”? Oh, there's a “race” now? Try to picture Merrick racing. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: One thing we're looking at here is the downside to the policy of keeping "a wall of separation" between the White House and the Justice Department. Cabinet officers, like any subordinates in any settings, must be accountable to their bosses. But if the president can't call on the attorney general to give an accounting of his or her activities, then the AG can be as irresponsible as, say, Merrick Garland. The buck should stop with the POTUS, but it cannot if a subordinate is effectively untouchable, short of firing.

Hurubie Meko of the New York Times: “Nearly 60 years after Malcolm X’s assassination at the Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan, his family filed a federal lawsuit on Friday claiming that the New York Police Department, C.I.A. and F.B.I. played a role in his killing. The suit, filed in Manhattan, claims that the agencies knew about threats against the civil rights leader, but 'failed to intervene on his behalf.' It says that they had 'intentionally removed their officers from inside the ballroom' before he was shot and left him even more exposed by arresting his security detail in the days before the event. The family also claims that the agencies engaged in 'fraudulent concealment and cover-up' after Malcolm X’s death by keeping information from his family and hamstringing efforts to identify his killers.”

Tom Winter & Tim Stelloh of NBC News: “Federal law enforcement officials said Thursday that they stopped a Texas man from carrying out a possible terrorist attack in Houston.... Anas Said, 28, was charged last month with attempting to provide material support to the terrorist group ISIS, according to an indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Texas. Said was arrested last week at the Houston apartment complex where he is alleged to have planned the attack, said the FBI, which accused him of bragging that he would commit "a 9/11-style" attack if he had the resources.” (Also linked yesterday.) 

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The Conversation -- November 16, 2024

A Most Unserious Man. Maggie Haberman & Jonathan Swan of the New York Times: "Emboldened, confident in his instincts and more contemptuous than ever of Washington expertise, Mr. Trump is staffing the most important roles in his government at breakneck speed. Advisers have been stunned at how fast he is ticking through his choices, filling the government's most important positions roughly a month sooner than he did in 2016. Much of the action has taken place under the chandelier in the tearoom at Mar-a-Lago, where Mr. Trump surveys his potential Cabinet nominees on giant video screens. He flicks through shortlists that his transition team, led by the billionaire Howard Lutnick, has drafted over the past months. If Mr. Trump shows an interest in a candidate, the presentation is designed to allow him to immediately watch videos of the potential nominee's TV appearances -- essential for any would-be Trump cabinet official." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It is tempting to compare Trump to a casting director, except I believe most casting directors take their jobs more seriously than Trump takes his role of filling administrative jobs. As for his being "contemptuous of Washington expertise," he is contemptuous of all expertise, and he is contemptuous of elites everywhere, especially in Manhattan, where the upper crust is equally contemptuous of him.

Ian Millhiser of Vox: "Trump chose Todd Blanche, the criminal defense lawyer in his New York hush money trial..., to be deputy attorney general.... The DAG, as this position is known within the department, wields tremendous power over federal criminal prosecutions. If successfully appointed, Blanche will supervise the 93 regional US attorneys who bring the bulk of all federal prosecutions in the United States.... Meanwhile, Trump wants John Sauer, the lawyer who represented him in the Supreme Court case holding that Trump is allowed to use the powers of the president to commit crimes, to serve as solicitor general. The role oversees the Justice Department's legal strategy in the Supreme Court....

"Another one of Trump's personal criminal defense lawyers, Emil Bove, will serve as principal associate deputy attorney general, and will hold the DAG spot on an acting basis until Blanche or some other Trump nominee is confirmed or otherwise formally appointed to the job.... Bove's new role does not require Senate confirmation. So he will be able to move into this job on the first day of Trump's second presidency.... Blanche, Sauer, and Bove's conventional résumés also mean that, if they use their DOJ posts to pursue Trump's personal campaign of vengeance, they are likely to be fairly effective in doing so." ~~~

~~~ Marie: In Friday Comments, RAS argued that "Team Trump's most human failings may thwart some of their most evil plans...." As one of several ferinstances, RAS asked rhetorically, "Do you think Matt Gaetz is going to work the hours necessary to not just learn DoJ but run it in detail?" My answer to that would be, no, but the meatheads of Trump's choosing will have underlings to do their bidding. And Millhiser proves my point with specifics: both Blanche & Bove were federal prosecutors for nine years, and Sauer, who clerked for Antonin Scalia, was Missouri's attorney general. Millhiser acknowledges that "Gaetz may struggle to navigate the department's internal bureaucracy or to resist its internal culture, which seeks to insulate prosecutorial decisions from the White House.... But if Trump gets his way, his ultraloyalist attorney general will now be backed by people who know the Justice Department and the culture of elite federal lawyers quite well."

Tom Winter & Tim Stelloh of NBC News: "Federal law enforcement officials said Thursday that they stopped a Texas man from carrying out a possible terrorist attack in Houston.... Anas Said, 28, was charged last month with attempting to provide material support to the terrorist group ISIS, according to an indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Texas. Said was arrested last week at the Houston apartment complex where he is alleged to have planned the attack, said the FBI, which accused him of bragging that he would commit "a 9/11-style" attack if he had the resources."

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Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Biden expressed concern on Friday about what he called 'dangerous and destabilizing cooperation' between North Korea and Russia, as he met with the leaders of South Korea and Japan at the global summit of Asia Pacific leaders in Peru. In a joint statement, Mr. Biden, Shigeru Ishiba, the prime minister of Japan, and President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea, said they 'strongly condemn' the cooperation between North Korea and Russia, including the decision by North Korea to send thousands of troops to Russia to help President Vladimir V. Putin in his war with Ukraine.... Flanked by Mr. Ishiba and Mr. Yoon, Mr. Biden expressed confidence in new security and economic cooperation that the three nations announced during a summit last year at Camp David.... He did not mention the possible impact of ... Donald J. Trump's return to the White House, but he noted that Friday's meeting would be his last with the group."

Tara Copp, et al., of the AP: Trump's nominee for Defense Secretary "Pete Hegseth ... was flagged as a possible 'Insider Threat' by a fellow service member due to a tattoo on his bicep that's associated with white supremacist groups. Hegseth, who has downplayed the role of military members and veterans in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack and railed against the Pentagon's subsequent efforts to address extremism in the ranks, has said he was pulled by his District of Columbia National Guard unit from guarding Joe Biden's January 2021 inauguration. He's said he was unfairly identified as an extremist due to a cross tattoo on his chest. This week, however, a fellow Guard member who was the unit's security manager and on an anti-terrorism team at the time, shared with The Associated Press an email he sent to the unit's leadership flagging a different tattoo reading 'Deus Vult' that's been used by white supremacists, concerned it was an indication of an 'Insider Threat.'" Read on.

Michael Kranish, et al., of the Washington Post: "Senior officials on ... Donald Trump's transition team on Friday weighed the future of Pete Hegseth, Trump's choice to lead the Defense Department, amid new revelations that police investigated an allegation that he sexually assaulted a woman in 2017.... Monterey[, California,] police confirmed that they investigated Hegseth over an allegation of 'alleged sexual assault' in 2017 and that the incident did not result in criminal charges. The transition team was caught by surprise by the detailed allegations and now fears more negative revelations about Hegseth, said [a] person familiar with the complaint. 'There's a lot of frustration around this,' the person said. 'He hadn't been properly vetted.'... 'No private firm vetted him, according to a person familiar with the matter...." ~~~

~~~ And here's something Patrick mentioned in a comment earlier this week:

"Hegseth has been married three times.... He married his first wife, Meredith, in his early 20s and they divorced in 2009, according to Minnesota court filings. The couple agreed that the reasons for the split were an 'irretrievable breakdown' of the marriage and Hegseth's 'infidelity,' according to a filing in their divorce case.... He married his second wife, Samantha, in 2010. Hegseth fathered a child with another woman, Jennifer Rauchet, then a Fox News producer, in August 2017, during that marriage. According to court records, Samantha Hegseth ... filed for divorce in September -- a month after the child was born. Following his second divorce, Hegseth married Rauchet." MB: As Patrick wrote, "Why, he's like the son DiJiT never had!" And that's why I'm surprised a sexual assault allegation is of any concern to Team Trump.

Michael Gold of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump announced on Friday that he had chosen Karoline Leavitt, who worked in his administration and served as his campaign's press secretary, to be his White House press secretary. Ms. Leavitt, 27..., will be the youngest person ever to assume the role.... Throughout the campaign, Ms. Leavitt adopted Mr. Trump's disdain for the mainstream media in frequent appearances on major television networks and conservative outlets." NPR's report is here.

Jess Bidgood of the New York Times: "With his early selections for cabinet and other high-level posts..., Donald Trump is taking the bomb-throwing, hyper-macho and preternaturally online energy that infused his campaign and seeking to inject it directly into Washington's veins.... It's effectively government by bro -- and it seems that the more you've trolled the establishment, the better your chances are of being invited by the president-elect to join it. Trump's presidential campaign was a celebration of masculine kitsch." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: A reminder that when the MAGA movement boys rail against "woke," they are expressing more than their racism, xenophobia & homophobia. They are equally anti-feminist -- nay, anti-woman. Trump frequently said on the campaign trail, in a lewd manner, "I love women." That is the second Big Lie. He hates women. He loves to use women; he loves to manipulate women; he loves to berate women; he loves to abuse women. He won election on the wings of a thousand lies, but underpinning those lies was his bet that misogyny and racism would beat out decency and democracy. He won that bet, and I think we should look at Trump voters not just as dupes of the right-wing media but as hateful, vengeful pricks. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. A young woman -- a high-school student in a progressive -- Upstate New York town, notices that Trump won over the boys in her class. In an anonymous Guardian essay, she writes, "Young, well-off white boys from liberal families are being tempted by conservatism simply to protect an archaic idea of masculinity that guarantees them inherent power.... Clearly, a shift back toward traditional gender roles is resonating with them now as progression toward female empowerment threatens their already delicate self esteem.... Boys in our school as young as eight are beginning to exhibit these same misogynistic tendencies that we never remember noticing when we were their age. And the most dangerous aspect of this is how little it's talked about in mainstream media and how easily it has been overlooked in progressive communities. In fact this is an epidemic that will continue to spread rapidly until we start talking about it."

Julie Tsirkin & Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: "House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Friday that he would 'strongly request' that the House Ethics Committee not release a report detailing its investigation into former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.... There is precedent for releasing ethics reports after or on the same day that a lawmaker resigns from Congress.... Johnson returned to Washington, D.C., early Friday morning after meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday. Johnson declined to say whether he spoke to Trump about the Ethics report. The bipartisan, 10-member Ethics panel had been scheduled to meet Friday to discuss the report on Gaetz and whether to release it to the public, but a source with direct knowledge had said on Thursday that the meeting was canceled." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Maybe the reason Trump doesn't like dogs is that he finds it so much easier to train human pets to lie down & roll over. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Meryl Kornfield, et al., of the Washington Post: "The comments marked a stunning reversal for Johnson, who just Thursday told Fox News that the speaker's role is not to get 'involved in what happens in Ethics. Lots of important reasons for that.'... Intervening at the conclusion of an investigation -- into someone seeking to be the nation's chief law enforcement officer -- has no modern precedent.... Several Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans have publicly asked for the House Ethics panel to release its report -- or at least transmit it privately to the committee -- so they can adequately prepare to question Gaetz in a confirmation hearing...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So the sequence is (1) Bible Mike tells Fox News Thursday morning that there are "lots of important reasons" not to get involved in House Ethics Committee decisions; (2) Mike spends Thursday night at Mar-a-Lardo; (3) Mike says at midday Friday that he would "strongly request the Ethics Committee not issue the report." The only mystery here is why Trump's team is supposedly so concerned about Pete Hegseth's alleged sexual misdeeds when obviously the boss wants to cover up Gaetz's suspected proclivities.

Daniel Payne of Politico: "Lobbyists expecting a more conventional pick to lead the government's $3 trillion health agency than Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the brash contrarian ... Donald Trump named on Thursday to take charge, are plotting how to stop the Senate from confirming him. They're also currying favor in case they can't.... Companies would prefer to let their allies in the Senate, buttressed by years of campaign contributions and revolving-door hires, sideline Kennedy before they spend political capital to fight him." ~~~

~~~ Leana Wen of the Washington Post: "The reason [Robert] Kennedy [Jr.] is uniquely unfit compared with past nominees is that his approach to scientific inquiry is as an activist, not a scientist. The clearest example of this is his repeated assertions that childhood immunizations are harmful. Kennedy is one of the most prominent promoters of disinformation that vaccines cause autism, despite dozens of rigorously conducted medical studies that have debunked the claim.... In the face of overwhelming evidence, he is unwilling to change his views. Instead, he doubles down on his advocacy and asserts opinions as facts. He is either unable to understand the scientific process that forms the basis of modern medicine or he purposefully ignores the research when conclusions don't support his preconceived notions." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: On the plus side, RFK Jr. is (allegedly!) an infamous serial/concurrent philanderer.

M. Gessen of the New York Times makes some observations and predictions about what Trump is up to, based largely on her knowledge of what Viktor Orban & Vladmir Putin have done as well as by Trump's actions during his first term. (Also linked yesterday.)

Leonie Chao-Fong of the Guardian: "Racist text messages targeting Black people across the US just hours after Donald Trump won a second presidency have now expanded to the Hispanic communities -- and homophobic versions have been aimed at LGBTQ+ people, the FBI said on Friday. Authorities say they are investigating the messages -- which now include emails -- and that they have not received reports of violent acts stemming from the hateful messages. The recipients of the messages include high school students being told that they have been 'selected for deportation or to report to a re-education camp', the FBI said in a statement. After the 5 November US presidential election saw Trump returned to the White House, Black Americans reported receiving racist text messages telling them they had been 'selected' to pick cotton and needed to report to the 'nearest plantation'.:

Kate Christobek of the New York Times: "The editor in chief of Scientific American, the oldest continuously published magazine in the United States, has resigned more than a week after she posted comments on social media that called some supporters of ... Donald J. Trump 'bigoted' and 'fascists.' On election night, Laura Helmuth, who served as editor in chief of the publication for more than four years, posted a series of expletive-laden comments on Bluesky, a social platform. In one comment, she apologized to younger voters for Generation X being full of 'fascists.' In another, she wrote, 'Solidarity to everybody whose meanest, dumbest, most bigoted high-school classmates are celebrating early results.'... Her resignation announcement, which she shared on Bluesky, did not reference her previous posts. Ms. Helmuth had previously apologized for her posts.... She attributed her comments to 'shock and confusion about the election results' and said that they did not reflect the position of Scientific American or her colleagues.... Earlier this year, Scientific American published an editorial endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: No, no. Helmuth was right. She should not have resigned. Her every public statement does not need to reflect an editorial board consensus. She is allowed to be a person; she should be allowed to tell the truth. The people she denounced are "mean, dumb & bigoted fascists." And I'm not resigning.

Nitwits' Remorse. Look Who's Sorry Now. Andrea Shalal of Reuters: "U.S. Muslim leaders who supported Republican Donald Trump to protest against the Biden administration's support for Israel's war on Gaza and attacks on Lebanon have been deeply disappointed by his cabinet picks, they tell Reuters. 'Trump won because of us and we're not happy with his secretary of state pick and others,' said Rabiul Chowdhury, a Philadelphia investor who chaired the Abandon Harris campaign in Pennsylvania and co-founded Muslims for Trump. Muslim support for Trump helped him win Michigan and may have factored into other swing state wins, strategists believe." MB: They could not possibly have seen this coming. They remind me of these voters Akhilleus pointed out in yesterday's Comments: ~~~

~~~ Candace McDuffie of the Root: "As America grapples with Trump's impending second presidential term, folks in red states are wondering if they can change their vote.... Google Trends saw a dramatic increase in searches for 'How to change my vote' as early as the morning of Election Day before the polls were closed.... Iowa, which went red, was the state that had the highest amount of people looking into changing their votes." As Akhilleus wrote, "It figures idiots too stupid to understand the stakes also think they can change their vote."

Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, the two Georgia poll workers defamed by Rudolph W. Giuliani after the 2020 election, received his watch collection, a ring and his vintage Mercedes-Benz on Friday. The deliveries, which Mr. Giuliani's lawyer, Joseph Cammarata, reported to the court on Friday, were a long time coming for the women, who are mother and daughter. It was also a small down payment on what the former New York City mayor owes them.... [Mr. Giuliani has missed a number of deadlines to turn over certain assets to the women.] Earlier this week, Mr. Giuliani's lawyers asked the judge for permission to withdraw as his counsel, citing ethical concerns.... Mr. Trump owes Mr. Giuliani about $2 million in unpaid legal fees. Ms. Freeman and Ms. Moss are looking to collect that as well." Oh, and get this: ~~~

~~~ "A trial set for January in New York is to determine whether Mr. Giuliani can claim his $3.5 million Palm Beach condo as his primary residence, which, under Florida law, would keep it from being seized by Ms. Freeman and Ms. Moss. In [a] letter to the court on Friday, Mr. Cammarata requested a delay for the trial so that his client could attend ... Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20."

     ~~~ Politico's report, by Erica Orden, has more detail. For instance, there's this: "On Wednesday, an attorney for Freeman and Moss told the judge that a lawyer for [a storage] facility had provided them with invoices and photographs suggesting that Giuliani had moved large amounts of property there in October, including 24 pallets of 'unknown boxes and loose furniture,' potentially in violation of a restraining notice that took effect Aug. 7. The documents also showed Giuliani owed the facility nearly $100,000 as of mid-October. Until this week, Giuliani had been represented by two other attorneys, Kenneth Caruso and David Labkowski. Hours after the filing about the storage facility, Caruso and Labkowski wrote to the court asking to withdraw as his attorneys, citing rules that allow withdrawal based on a client's behavior. Their court filing suggested their deep disagreement with Giuliani's approach to the case, his lack of cooperation and his insistence on a defense that is 'not warranted under existing law.'" In fairness to Sullivan, she links to an earlier story she wrote that covers the falling-out between Giuliani & his legal team.

Carlos Greaves in McSweeney's (Nov. 6), sees the presidential election results in Swiftian (or, more accurately, in Lucasian terms): "It might seem completely delusional to be optimistic about the Empire retaking control of the galaxy, given that Palpatine's mind has become so ravaged by the power of the Sith that he spends most of his day stumbling around screaming, 'They're eating the Ewoks!' and pretending to fellate Darth Vader's lightsaber.... The rebel alliance may be shocked at this sudden reversal of fortune, but the truth of the matter is that the Empire has always been popular.... Relax. This resurgence of the Empire will likely be a temporary blip in the course of the galaxy, much like the last time the Empire was in control. Unless, of course, you're on one of the planets that gets blown to pieces." Thanks to RAS for the link.

Victoria Bisset of the Washington Post: "A former linebacker for the Detroit Lions was arrested Thursday in Georgia for allegedly assaulting law enforcement officers during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, in one of the first Capitol riot cases brought by prosecutors since Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election. Leander Antwione Williams, who is 31 and from Savannah, Georgia, was charged with a felony offense of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers and obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder, the U.S. attorney's office for the District of Columbia said in a statement Thursday. He is also charged with misdemeanor offenses including entering and remaining in a restricting building or grounds, and disorderly and disruptive conduct. Williams was a fifth-round pick by the Detroit Lions in the 2016 NFL draft, and was released the following year. He played under the name Antwione Williams."

He's B-a-a-ack! Dan Diamond & Rachel Roubein of the Washington Post: "Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) on Thursday announced he would lead the Senate's government oversight panel and prioritize investigations into the coronavirus pandemic, repeating his allegation that federal officials participated in a 'covid coverup' related to the possible origins of the virus. The libertarian senator has long maintained that government leaders have not been forthcoming about U.S. ties to virus research conducted in Wuhan, China, where the coronavirus outbreak was first detected in 2019. In combative congressional hearings, infectious-disease experts such as Anthony S. Fauci, the longtime National Institutes of Health official who retired from government service in 2022, have insisted to Paul and other Republicans that while NIH funded the virus research, the work could not have sparked the pandemic. Paul has rejected those explanations." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I feel so relieved knowing that two wacky conspiracy theorists -- RFK Jr. & Li'l Randy -- are looking out for my health concerns.

It Didn't Take Long for a Judge to Put Out My One Tiny Candle. Laura Wagner of the Washington Post: "A federal bankruptcy judge has paused the Onion's acquisition of Alex Jones's Infowars pending a court review of the auction process, after lawyers for Jones and the company affiliated with him complained that the satirical news site had put in a bid of $3.5 million.... Judge Christopher Lopez said Thursday that he had concerns about how the bidding process played out and ordered a hearing for next week to review how the auction was conducted."(Also linked yesterday.)

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Michigan. Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "An irate man testifying to Michigan lawmakers against a bill that would restrict the carrying of guns at the State Capitol shouted a racial slur at the shocked senators Thursday..... 'Let's be very clear: this is legislation that targets white people,' said [Avi] Rachlin. 'It is racial, because the people who carry in the Capitol are primarily white people who have [concealed pistol licenses], are primarily white, and this is retaliation for the only demographic that overwhelmingly voted to support Donald Trump. And that is why it is being taken out on us, because you don't like us.... If you want to address gun violence, we would be focusing on the people who bring guns into communities and shoot people, like where I live in Detroit -- where you represent, Stephanie Chang.' He said the area is 'overwhelmingly' 13- to 44-year-olds -- and hurled a racial slur to describe their ethnicity. At Rachlin's last remark, Chang, a Democrat, immediately gaveled him down and cut his mic, as senators from both parties roundly condemned him."

Texas. Kim Bellware of the Washington Post: "A Texas judge has ruled that Melissa Lucio is innocent of killing her daughter in 2007 and recommended that her death sentence be overturned, according to a filing made public Thursday. The finding by Cameron County Judge Arturo Nelson puts Lucio's fate in the hands of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which has the final authority to overturn the conviction and sentence.... Nelson cited findings that the original prosecutors in Lucio's case withheld evidence that her 2-year-old daughter died after an accidental fall, rather than of abuse.... Nelson's ruling, which was written Oct. 16 and made public Thursday, comes months after a rare agreement between defense attorneys and the prosecutor that the office of the original district attorney who prosecuted Lucio's case withheld evidence that would have been favorable to the defense.... [In April,] Nelson made his first recommendation that the appeals court overturn Lucio's conviction and sentence. In June, the appeals court directed Nelson to first review the other claims for relief filed by Lucio's attorneys."

The Conversation -- November 15, 2024

Julie Tsirkin & Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: “House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Friday that he would 'strongly request' that the House Ethics Committee not release a report detailing its investigation into former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.... There is precedent for releasing ethics reports after or on the same day that a lawmaker resigns from Congress.... Johnson returned to Washington, D.C., early Friday morning after meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday. Johnson declined to say whether he spoke to Trump about the Ethics report. The bipartisan, 10-member Ethics panel had been scheduled to meet Friday to discuss the report on Gaetz and whether to release it to the public, but a source with direct knowledge had said on Thursday that the meeting was canceled.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Maybe the reason Trump doesn't like dogs is that he finds it so much easier to teach human pets to lie down & roll over.

It Didn't Take Long for a Judge to Put Out My One Tiny Candle. Laura Wagner of the Washington Post: “A federal bankruptcy judge has paused the Onion’s acquisition of Alex Jones’s Infowars pending a court review of the auction process, after lawyers for Jones and the company affiliated with him complained that the satirical news site had put in a bid of $3.5 million.... Judge Christopher Lopez said Thursday that he had concerns about how the bidding process played out and ordered a hearing for next week to review how the auction was conducted.”

M. Gessen of the New York Times makes some observations and predictions about what Trump is up to, based largely on her knowledge of what Viktor Orban & Vladmir Putin have done as well as by Trump's actions during his first term.

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Well, America – I hope you like measles. -- Jake Tapper of CNN ~~~

~~~ Of Crackpots & Crooks, Ctd. Dan Diamond, et al., of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump on Thursday selected Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine skeptic, to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, the sprawling agency responsible for administering millions of Americans’ health insurance, approving drugs and medical supplies, regulating food, and responding to infectious-disease outbreaks.... The decision, which public health experts and many Democrats characterized as alarming and unprecedented, means that one of America’s most prominent vaccine skeptics could soon oversee an agency responsible for the safety of vaccines.” (Also linked yesterday.) Politico's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ John Daley of Colorado Public Radio News: “Colorado Gov. Jared Polis [D] seemed to endorse ... Donald Trump’s pick for Health and Human Services Secretary in a post on X Thursday. 'I’m excited by the news that the President-Elect will appoint Robert Kennedy Jr. to Health and Human Services,' Polis said. 'He helped us defeat vaccine mandates in Colorado in 2019 and will help make America healthy again by shaking up HHS and FDA.'” MB: When RAS linked this story yesterday, I thought it was a joke or a misunderstanding. Apparently not.

Lisa Friedman & Michael Gold of the New York Times: “... Donald J. Trump has tapped Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota to run the Interior Department, leading the new administration’s plans to open federal lands and waters to oil and gas drilling. Governor Burgum, 68, has longstanding ties to fossil fuel companies and acted as a liaison between the Trump campaign and the oil executives who have donated heavily to it.... The governor and [his friend billionaire oilman Harold] Hamm have been working on Mr. Trump’s transition.... Mr. Trump made the announcement during a gala for the America First Policy Institute that was held Thursday evening at his Mar-a-Lago estate. Mr. Burgum was in attendance.... The governor has been a cheerleader for drilling, a posture that fits in well with Mr. Trump’s promises of unfettered access for energy companies to the oil.... Scientists have said that the United States and other major economies must stop developing new oil and gas projects to avert the most catastrophic effects of global warming.” Politico's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: How refreshing! A nominee who is not crazy. He's merely a danger to us and our descendants for as long as Earth may exist.

Devlin Barrett of the New York Times: “... Donald J. Trump said on Thursday that he would name Todd Blanche, a lawyer who oversaw his defense against multiple indictments, to become the No. 2 official at the Justice Department. The selection of Mr. Blanche, a former prosecutor in Manhattan, as the deputy attorney general serves as an extraordinary rebuke to the criminal cases against Mr. Trump.... More than a year ago, [Mr. Blanche] was a registered Democrat in New York and a partner at a prestigious law firm on Wall Street.... Others on Mr. Trump’s legal team are also in line to receive top assignments: Emil Bove as principal associate deputy attorney general, and D. John Sauer, who represented Mr. Trump before the Supreme Court in arguing that the former president was entitled to broad immunity, as solicitor general.”

Ben Leonard of Politico: “... Donald Trump has nominated one of his previous attorneys and former GOP House member Doug Collins to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs. Collins, 58, a staunch Trump supporter and frequent Fox News guest, served in Congress representing a Georgia district from 2013 to 2021. Collins is an Air Force Reserve chaplain and served in Iraq.... Collins helped defend Trump in his first House impeachment over Ukraine aid.”

Maggie Haberman & Jonathan Swan of the New York Times: Donald Trump's “decision [to name Matt Gaetz attorney general] came together over the course of [a] roughly two-hour flight [Wednesday afternoon], according to a person briefed on what happened.... Mr. Gaetz’s name first came up on the flight up to Washington. It came up again on the flight home, after Mr. Trump found all of his various options — including a state attorney general from Missouri and two top corporate lawyers — to be lacking, according to two people briefed on the matter.”

Colby Itkowitz of the Washington Post: “As Donald Trump moves to fill his administration with polarizing figures like former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz and onetime presidential rival Robert F. Kennedy Jr., he may need Congress to heed his demand to allow him to bypass the traditional confirmation process and appoint his picks without Senate approval. [Trump] has insisted that ... the GOP-led Senate should take extended breaks that would allow him to make recess appointments.... If the Senate agreed to adjourn for the purpose of Trump filling his government without congressional input, it would be 'an absolute abdication of their constitutional power,' said Sarah Binder, a political science professor at George Washington University. 'It’s saying, “Look, we are so loyal to President Trump ... that we’re going to choose him over our rights and our responsibilities as senators,’” she said. 'It doesn’t get more stark than that.'...

“[Soon-to-be Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.)] said [while running for leader that] he was open to recess appointments if needed to get Trump’s nominees in place quickly. On Thursday, Thune expressed a preference for using 'the regular process to get these nominees through' and said his 'intention is to get these folks going and get voting.' But he also noted that there are procedures in place for using recess appointments.”

Ryan Nobles, et al., of NBC News: “Republican senators are preparing for a robust vetting of Matt Gaetz, ... Donald Trump's pick to lead the Justice Department, with a keen interest in details from a House Ethics Committee investigation into the former congressman from Florida.... The House Ethics Committee was scheduled to meet Friday, three sources familiar with the meeting told NBC News, and one of those sources said that releasing the Gaetz report was expected to be among the topics on the agenda. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This is a fake story, allowing GOP senators to posture about their "seriousness" even as they may be planning a series of hearings that Michelle Goldberg (linked below) says would be "a popcorn-worthy carnival of scandal and backbiting."

Will Steakin of ABC News: "The woman who was at the center of a yearslong Justice Department investigation into sex trafficking allegations surrounding Rep. Matt Gaetz testified to the House Ethics Committee that the now-former Florida congressman had sex with her when she was 17 years old, sources familiar with the investigation told ABC News.... Over the course of its investigation, the House Ethics Committee conducted interviews with at least half a dozen women who allegedly attended parties where the Florida congressman was also present, and who were paid by [Joel] Greenberg, Gaetz's one-time close friend, sources told ABC News.... Some witnesses were shown Venmo payments they allegedly received from Gaetz, sources said.... One woman who said she attended a party with ... Gaetz in 2017..., told the committee that a payment from Gaetz was for sex...."

None of This Is Surprising. Katie Hawkinson of the Independent: “Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s pick for Secretary of Defense, previously faced accusations of sexual misconduct that were investigated by police, according to a report. Trump’s newly-appointed White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles was briefed on Wednesday evening about an allegation that Hegseth engaged in sexual misconduct in Monterey, California seven years ago, according to Vanity Fair. Wiles and Trump’s lawyers spoke to Hegseth after learning about the alleged incident, Vanity Fair added. The Fox News host reportedly said the incident was consensual. 'This allegation was already investigated by the Monterey Police Department and they found no evidence for it,' Hegseth’s attorney told the outlet.”

Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: “While Trump’s choice of Gaetz to lead the Justice Department is a clear sign that his second administration will be catastrophically chaotic, vengeful and corrupt, that should never have been in doubt. Trump made no secret during his campaign ... [that a]nyone he chose as attorney general would share his interest in turning the justice system into the enforcement arm of the MAGA movement. The selection of Gaetz just rips the mask off. With it, Trump is trolling not just his defeated opponents but many of his craven establishment supporters.... Of all the people Trump was considering for A.G., Gaetz is unique mainly for how much he is hated by other Republicans.... Gaetz is not, by any normal standards, even a tiny bit qualified to be attorney general.... His chief credential is not his mastery of the law but his contempt for it.... The best we can hope for is that our new rulers will be stymied by incompetence, infighting and self-sabotage. In that respect, Gaetz may be just the man for the job.” Emphasis added.

Amanda Marcotte of Salon: “The goal [in Trump's choosing Hegseth, Gaetz & Gabbard] seems to be finding people who are uniquely unfit for these jobs, both to rile up liberals and to flush out any Republicans with remaining loyalties to the concept of responsible governance. But while being handsome and totally unqualified got Hegseth the job, it's unfair to say those are the only things he brings to the table. He also embodies the type of masculinity Trump and the MAGA movement loves: One that desperately wants to appear strong, but reveals itself to be weak and brittle given a moment's investigation. Hegseth is the ultimate in cubic zirconia manhood. Reporting suggests that Trump was especially enamored with Hegseth's skill at whining, and especially about how easily threatened he is by women, people who are different, and any demands that he learn stuff or reckon with new ideas.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post: “As was the case during his first term, Trump does not so much assemble a Cabinet as cast a reality show. He wants the members of his team to have a certain look, a certain backstory, a certain persona.... The Senate has a duty to reject nominees who are obviously and dangerously unfit — such as Gaetz, Gabbard, Hegseth and, of course, Kennedy. Trump is daring Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the next majority leader, to defy him. For the sake of the country, Thune needs to call Trump’s bluff.” MB: Fat chance. See Chait. ~~~

~~~ Jonathan Chait, now of the Atlantic: “Old-guard Republicans appear to be in the middle stage of a familiar Trump-era progression. It begins He’d never do it before moving on to We’ll stop him if he tries and finally settling on There was nothing we could have done anyway. As they advance through these stages, they will cede Trump more and more power, which will only vindicate their ultimate fatalism. How could they ever have stood up to somebody so strong?” Thanks to laura h. for the gift link. If it doesn't work here, her link -- posted near the end of yesterday's Comments -- does work.

Here is a gift link from laura h. to Tom Nichols' essay in the Atlantic in which he assails Tulsi Gabbard as being "stunningly unqualified" to be director of national intelligence. "Her appointment would be a threat to the security of the United States," Nichols writes. (Also linked yesterday.) In yesterday's Comments, laura also has given us links to two other, related, Atlantic articles.

Patrick Marley, et al., of the Washington Post: “Two Republican Senate candidates are refusing to concede after losing, and their allies are raising questions about how the election was conducted in a pair of swing states Donald Trump won. In Wisconsin, Eric Hovde said he was considering seeking a recount in his loss to Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin and cast doubt on election patterns that experts called ordinary. In Arizona, Kari Lake has not conceded to Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego, just as she refused to concede when she lost the 2022 race for governor. Her campaign called it 'hard to believe' that Lake lost to Gallego, but Lake appeared to acknowledge she had come up short in a video message released Wednesday night.”

Alex Griffing of Mediaite: “Former Trump White House advisor Steve Bannon told MSNBC’s Ari Melber and 'all you hosts' and producers at the network that they had better 'lawyer up' because Matt Gaetz’s Justice Department would soon be coming for them. [Bannon also named frequenty MSNBC guest Andrew Weissmann.] Bannon made the threat while gleefully addressing his War Room podcast audience on Wednesday after President-elect Donald Trump had officially nominated Rep. Gaetz (R-FL) to be his attorney general.... Bannon made headlines in December of 2023 when he and former Trump Pentagon official Kash Patel threatened MSNBC hosts with revenge in the form of 'prosecutions and accountability.'”

Isaac Stanle-Becker & Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: “Some prominent critics of Donald Trump, and those he has vilified as 'deep state' saboteurs, are taking seriously his vow of retribution.... Following the selection of Gaetz to lead the Justice Department, many are watching whether Kash Patel, a Trump loyalist who appended a 'deep state' list to his 2023 book..., lands a senior role at a top agency such as the FBI. People on Patel’s list and other inventories of Trump antagonists have taken precautions ranging from the dramatic to the mundane. They include determining whether they’re eligible for foreign citizenship, examining the possibility of purchasing property abroad and considering whether to move money into overseas banks.... Retribution could include criminal investigations and prosecutions but also less theatrical penalties. Retired government officials could lose their security clearances, often important to private sector work, or confront burdensome tax audits.”

Yes, yes, almost everything is terrible beyond our worst nightmares. But here comes a glimmer: ~~~

~~~ Benjamin Mullin of the New York Times: “The Onion, a satirical publication that skewers newsmakers and current events, said on Thursday that it had won a bankruptcy auction to acquire Infowars, a website founded and operated by the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. The Onion said that the bid was sanctioned by the families of the victims of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, who in 2022 won a $1.4 billion defamation lawsuit against Mr. Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems. Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit dedicated to ending gun violence that was founded in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook shooting, will advertise on a relaunched version of the site under The Onion. The publication plans to reintroduce Infowars in January as a parody of itself, mocking 'weird internet personalities' like Mr. Jones who traffic in misinformation and health supplements, Ben Collins, the chief executive of The Onion’s parent company, Global Tetrahedron, said in an interview.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Anna Merlan of Mother Jones: “On Thursday morning, Jones broadcast a flabbergasted and defiant monologue, calling the news 'insane' saying he wouldn’t go off air until someone came in and forced him out with a court order. 'They’re in the control room,' Jones said on air. 'Imperial Troops are through the glass.' 'It is a distinct honor to be here in defiance of the tyrants,' Jones declared at one point.” Apparently a team from the Onion entered the studio during the broadcast, & an Infowars producer told Jones these people were “shutting it down momentarily.” “Jones then called Steve Bannon on speakerphone, who released a string of audible profanity before Jones cut him off. Bannon implored Jones’ crew to film the supposed raid.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Andrew Jeong of the Washington Post: “An estimated 10.3 million cases of measles occurred worldwide last year, up 20 percent from 2022, primarily because of inadequate immunization coverage, the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. The disease resulted in 107,500 deaths last year, mostly killing children younger than 5, the two agencies said. Although that number was an 8 percent decrease from 2022, the reduction in fatalities was primarily because the increase in cases occurred in countries with better nutritional and health services, the WHO and CDC said. But this concerning trend can be reversed with increased vaccination, they added....

“In 2019, a deadly outbreak hit Samoa.... Health officials have blamed inadequate vaccine coverage. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary nominee widely known for his anti-vaccine views, questioned whether problems with the measles vaccine caused the Samoan outbreak, rather than insufficient vaccine coverage. Kennedy’s own family members have said he is spreading dangerous misinformation about vaccine doses.” MB: Gene Robinson (linked above) wrote, “If his conspiracy-theory distrust of vaccines ever becomes policy, children will die.” Yes, they will.

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Patrick Kingsley & Ronen Bergman of the New York Times: “On the morning that Hamas raided Israel last year, a top Israeli general called his prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to tell him that hundreds of militants appeared to be preparing to invade. Now, aides to the prime minister are under investigation for altering details about that call in the official record of Mr. Netanyahu’s activities that day, according to four officials.... The investigation is seen as deeply sensitive in Israel, where the question of what Mr. Netanyahu knew in advance of Hamas’s invasion, and when he was told, could prove crucial to his political future.... While Mr. Netanyahu himself is not a subject of a police inquiry, officials in his office are under investigation for trying to bolster his reputation throughout Israel’s war with Hamas by leaking classified military documents, altering official transcripts of his conversations and intimidating people who controlled access to those records.” (Also linked yesterday.)