;)
December 13, 2022
Afternoon Update:
Ben Lefebvre of Politico: "U.S. scientists have scored a breakthrough in fusion technology, showing for the first time that humans can wield the technology in a controlled reaction that combines atoms to create a net increase in energy, a major breakthrough that could eventually lead to a new source of clean, inexpensive power, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said Tuesday. 'It's the first time it's ever been done at a laboratory. Simply put, this is one of the most impressive scientific feats in the 21st century,' Granholm said in a capacity-filled auditorium at the Department of Energy's headquarters in Washington."
Annie Grayer, et al., of CNN: "Rep. Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection, told reporters the committee will hold its final public meeting on Monday and that the panel's full report will come out December 21. Thompson ... said the committee will approve the panel's final report on December 19 and make announcements about criminal referrals to the Justice Department, but the public will not see the final report until two days later."
Jacqueline Alemany & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "The House Oversight Committee sent a letter to the National Archives on Tuesday requesting a review to determine whether ... Donald Trump has retained any additional presidential records at his storage facility in Florida.The request from the committee's chairwoman, Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.), follows a report from The Washington Post that at least two items marked classified were found by an outside team hired by Trump to search a storage unit, along with at least two of his properties, after his legal team was pressed by a federal judge to attest that it had fully complied with a May grand jury subpoena to turn over all materials bearing classified markings." MB P.S.: If y'all can't find the key to the padlock on the West Palm Beach U-Stor Unit #45, use boltcutters like the Russian spies do. And if you'll send us copies of all the secret docs you find, you know, please send them certified.
Other People's Money. Ken Sweet of the AP: "The U.S. government charged Samuel Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, with a host of financial crimes on Tuesday, alleging he intentionally deceived customers and investors to enrich himself and others, while playing a central role in the company's multibillion-dollar collapse. Federal prosecutors say that beginning in 2019 Bankman-Fried devised 'a scheme and artifice to defraud' FTX's customers and investors. He diverted their money to cover expenses, debts and risky trades at his crypto hedge fund, Alameda Research, and to make lavish real estate purchases and large political donations, prosecutors said in a 13-page indictment." A CNBC story is here. MB: Sounds more like a Bernie Madoff scandal than a Winklevoss Twins hoohah.
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Kyle Cheney & Nicholas Wu of Politico: "The Jan. 6 select committee's final report will begin with a voluminous executive summary describing ... Donald Trump's culpability for his extensive and baseless effort to subvert the 2020 election, according to people briefed on its contents. Drafts of the report, which the people briefed say have been circulating among committee members for weeks, include thousands of footnotes drawn from the panel's interviews and research over the past 16 months into Trump's activities in the frenzied final weeks that preceded Jan. 6, 2021.... The committee members are expected to formally approve the report at a Dec. 21 public meeting of the panel described by Chair Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.).... The final report, according to those briefed on it, will have eight chapters that align closely with the evidence the panel unveiled during its public hearings in June and July[.]... The report itself may not be limited to an executive summary and the eight chapters and is also expected to include appendices that capture more aspects of the committee's investigation." ~~~
~~~ Marie: My understanding is that the committee's report & appendices will be available online, at no cost (the material is government property; it belongs to you), perhaps beginning next Wednesday. The summary report, possibly with appendices, also will be sold in hardcopy in format, which will probably take some weeks to have in hand. If you want a head start on all of this, TPM has reviewed Mark Meadows' texts: ~~~
~~~ Hunter Walker in TPM: "TPM has obtained the 2,319 text messages that Mark Meadows ... turned over to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack. Today, we are publishing The Meadows Texts, a series based on an in-depth analysis of these extraordinary -- and disturbing -- communications.... They show the senior-most official in the Trump White House communicating with members of Congress, state-level politicians, and far-right activists as they work feverishly to overturn Trump's loss in the 2020 election.... They show Meadows and other high-level Trump allies reveling in wild conspiracy theories, violent rhetoric, and crackpot legal strategies for refusing to certify Joe Biden's victory." Includes links to related stories.
Meet Your Friendly Bureaucrat. Brett Wilkins of Common Dreams: "Hundreds of Oath Keepers said they are or were employed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, a report published Monday found.... In a joint investigation with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) found that more than 300 people on a leaked Oath Keepers membership list described themselves as current or former employees of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agencies including the Border Patrol, Coast Guard, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Secret Service. Experts voiced alarm over far-right extremists -- who according to DHS pose the greatest domestic terrorism threat -- working at a federal agency responsible for combating extremism."
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Monday refused to block a California law banning flavored tobacco, clearing the way for the ban to take effect next week. As is the court's practice when it rules on emergency applications, its brief order gave no reasons. There were no noted dissents. R.J. Reynolds, the maker of Newport menthol cigarettes, had asked the justices to intervene before next Wednesday, when the law is set to go into effect. The company, joined by several smaller ones, argued that a federal law, the Tobacco Control Act of 2009, allows states to regulate tobacco products but prohibits banning them." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
David Yaffe-Bellany, et al., of the New York Times: "Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, was arrested in the Bahamas on Monday after U.S. prosecutors filed criminal charges.... Mr. Bankman-Fried, 30, was scheduled to testify in Congress on Tuesday about the collapse of FTX, which was one of the most powerful firms in the emerging crypto industry until it imploded virtually overnight last month after a run on deposits exposed an $8 billion hole in its accounts. Prosecutors for the Southern District of New York confirmed that Mr. Bankman-Fried had been charged and said an indictment would be unsealed on Tuesday. Separately, the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a statement that it had authorized charges 'relating to Mr. Bankman-Fried's violations of our securities laws.' The criminal charges against Mr. Bankman-Fried included wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy and money laundering...." The AP report is here.~~~
~~~ Family Business. David Yaffe-Bellany, et al., of the New York Times: The parents of Sam Bankman-Fried -- Joseph Bankman & Barbara Fried, both Stanford U. professors -- "are under scrutiny for their connections to a business that collapsed amid accusations of fraud and misuse of customer funds.... The couple's careers have been upended.... Mr. Bankman was a paid FTX employee who traveled frequently to the Bahamas, where the exchange was based. Ms. Fried did not work for the company, but her son was among the donors in a political advocacy network that she orchestrated."
Cat Zakrzewski, et al., of the Washington Post: "Twitter on Monday night abruptly dissolved its Trust and Safety Council, the latest sign that Elon Musk is unraveling years of work and institutions created to make the social network safer and more civil.... Dozens of civil rights leaders, academics and advocates from around the world had volunteered their time for years to help improve safety on the platform.... The Committee to Protect Journalists, a non-profit that promotes press freedom around the world, decried the dissolution of the council.... The group's president, Jodie Ginsburg, said in a statement, 'Today's decision to dissolve the Trust and Safety Council is cause for grave concern, particularly as it is coupled with increasingly hostile statements by Twitter owner Elon Musk about journalists and the media.'" The AP report is here. ~~~
~~~ Joseph Menn of the Washington Post: "Elon Musk escalated his battle of words with previous managers of Twitter into risky new territory over the weekend, allying himself with far-right crusaders against a purported epidemic of child sex abuse and implying that the company's former head of trust and safety had a permissive view of sexual activity by minors. Musk told more than 30,000 listeners in a live Twitter Spaces audio session Friday night that he recently discovered that child sex abuse material was a severe problem on Twitter and that fighting it would be his top priority. In follow-up tweets Saturday, he misrepresented a section of a graduate dissertation from recently departed safety chief Yoel Roth. 'Looks like Yoel is arguing in favor of children being able to access adult Internet services in his PhD thesis,' he wrote.... Several internet safety experts said that Musk's comments put Roth at grave risk.... In imputing nefarious motives to Twitter's former managers and saying a crime had been committed, Musk adopted techniques used by the QAnon conspiracy movement, which falsely claims that Democrats and elites are running child sex abuse networks." ~~~
~~~ Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "... info-warring, at bottom, is what characterizes Musk's transformation into the world's richest right-wing troll. Tons of pixels have been wasted on efforts to pin down Musk's true beliefs, but whatever they are, we can say right now that he's consciously exploiting fundamental features of the right-wing information ecosystem.... Liberal outrage is a sign of an attack's effectiveness. There is probably no good or easy answer here. But one thing is clear: Outrage and shaming aren't nearly enough." ~~~
~~~ Matt Novak of Gizmodo: "Elon Musk, the billionaire who wants nothing more in life than to be adored by legions of fans, was loudly booed by a crowd in San Francisco on Sunday night after he was invited onstage by comedian Dave Chappelle.... The crowd erupted into a mixture of cheers and boos, before the boos clearly won out, according to footage posted on Twitter. [Update, 6:40 a.m. ET: The footage appears to have been deleted from Twitter for some reason, but you can still watch it below.]... 'All these people who are booing, and I'm just pointing out the obvious, you have terrible seats,' Chappelle said, apparently trying to save Musk's dignity by calling the people who are booing poor." Novak follows the Chappelle/Musk performance -- and audience reaction -- from there. Neither got a lot better.
Beyond the Beltway
Florida. Zac Anderson of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune: "Urged on by prominent far right figures such as Steve Bannon and Michael Flynn, ultra conservative GOP activists are seeking to take over county parties across Florida during leadership elections this month. Some have failed, such as the recent effort to install a Flynn acolyte as county party chair in Sarasota County. Some already have been successful. Candidates backed by far-right businessman Alfie Oakes, who was at the U.S. Capitol when it was overrun by Trump supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, took over the Collier County GOP.... Many of the activists seeking control of local parties have bee motivated by Trump's stolen election claims and his battles with the GOP establishment." Thanks to Bobby Lee for the link.
Way Beyond
Matina Stevis-Gridneff & Monika Pronczuk of the New York Times: "As the Belgian authorities broadened their investigation into allegations that European Parliament lawmakers and others may have taken bribes from Qatar, the assembly's president warned on Monday that illegal lobbying posed a major threat to the institution. 'European democracy is under attack,' the president, Roberta Metsola, said in an emotional speech to fellow lawmakers.' Days after raiding residences and official offices and seizing evidence that included hundreds of thousands of euros in cash, the Belgian police on Monday launched new searches at European Parliament offices." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Jennifer Rankin & Helena Smith of the Guardian: "The European parliament has voted to strip a Greek MEP implicated in a bribery and corruption scandal of her role as one of the body's vice-presidents. MEPs voted by 625 votes to one against, with two abstentions, to remove Eva Kaili as one of the parliament's 14 vice-presidents, following a decision in favour of the move by the assembly's senior leaders.... Kaili is one of four people charged, although she has not been officially named. She has been remanded in custody and will be brought before a judge on Wednesday.... Police seized computers, mobile phones and €600,000 ... in cash at one home, as well as €150,000 in a flat belonging to an MEP and 'several hundred thousand euros' from a Brussels hotel room, according to the public prosecutor.... MEPs have postponed a vote on granting Qatari citizens visa-free travel rights to the EU that was scheduled to have taken place this week. 'We must ensure that this process has not been influenced by corruption,' said the German Green MEP Erik Marquardt...."
Ukraine, et al.
The New York Times' live updates of developments Tuesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Washington Post's live briefings for Tuesday are here. The Guardian's live updates are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.
Neil MacFarquhar of the New York Times: "... after a series of military setbacks in his war in Ukraine, with Russia's casualties mounting and its economy faltering under sanctions, [Vladimir] Putin has decided to skip [his annual marathon December press conference].... Often stretching to four hours or more, the December news conference has been one of the few times during the year when reporters outside the Kremlin pool, including foreign correspondents, get the chance to directly question Mr. Putin -- if they are called on. But the Kremlin has also asked reporters ahead of time what they might be inclined to ask Mr. Putin. The ranks of journalists in Russia who are not subservient to the government are thinner than at any time since the fall of the Soviet Union, and this year the government criminalized criticism of the war or the military.... Even so, it would have been possible for either a Russian or an international reporter to detail some of the setbacks in Ukraine and to ask Mr. Putin embarrassing questions about them -- live on national television." An AP report is here.
Boris & Natasha Do Europe. Erika Solomon & Henrik Pryser Libell of the New York Times: "As the war in Ukraine bogs down and Moscow's isolation increases, European nations have grown wary that a desperate Kremlin is exploiting their open societies to deepen attempts at spying, sabotage and infiltration -- possibly to send a message, or to probe how far it could go if needed in a broader conflict with the West.... Three Russians recently [have been] arrested in Europe on suspicion of being 'illegals' -- spies who embed in a local society for long-term espionage or recruitment.... Other suspicious incidents have popped up across Europe.... Norway ... may have more reasons to worry than most. Now that Western sanctions have all but cut off Russian fossil fuels to Europe, Norway is the biggest oil and gas supplier to the continent."
News Lede
CNBC: "Prices rose less than expected in November, the latest sign that the runaway inflation that has been gripping the economy is beginning to loosen up. The consumer price index, which measures a wide basket of goods and services, rose just 0.1% from the previous month, and increased 7.1% from a year ago, the Labor Department reported Tuesday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been expecting a 0.3% monthly increase and a 7.3% 12-month rate. The increase from a year ago, while well above the Federal Reserve's 2% target for a healthy inflation level, was tied for the lowest since November 2021."
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Reader Comments (18)
It ain’t just Qatar. The Pretender’s administration certainly welcomed corruption with open arms (and hotel rooms).
But how does corruption spread so easily? Is it simply a matter of proximity? I wonder.
Thought this morning that perhaps the profit-seeking infection might have spread to the Stanford Law School because it’s located too close to the university’s Graduate School of Business, but I don't rightly know the campus layout well enough to say for sure..
But the same occurred to me when I read this legal theory for theocracies:
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/12/09/revolutionary-conservative-legal-philosophy-courts-00069201
Does Harvard Law abut its Memorial Church? Seems there been significant (and frightening) contamination there too...
Another reason for sane people to keep wearing masks?
Ken,
The Law School is not a direct neighbor of Memorial Church, which is on one end of Harvard Yard, but it’s not that far away, about a five minute walk.
The Meadows text messages include one from congressman Ralph Norman (Traitor-SC) demanding that Meadows convince Trump to declare “Marshall” law.
Okay, so he’s stupid. But as funny as “Marshall law” is, what’s not funny is that here we have a member of Congress calling for, in effect, a military takeover to force the country to accept the losing candidate as dictator.
This is, in part, why I call this evil bunch of schemers the Party of Traitors. Just the idea that the first instinct of most of these seditionists is treason, military violence, and political thuggery invalidates the entire party.
https://www.newsweek.com/ralph-norman-accused-sedition-over-trump-marshall-law-text-1766621
@Ken Winkes: I suspect widespread corruption (as opposed to the genesis of corruption, which is different) is the result of two interrelated phenomena: a kind of "exchange of ideas" & a herd mentality (or peer pressure). So if you find out nearly everybody you know or hang out with is corrupt in some way, you realize that your own moral precepts are out-of-step, and you adjust them. I'd say that congressman who muttered to Liz Cheney, "I can't believe what we do for the orange Jesus" as he signed on to a document to overturn the election results was not an instigator of corruption; rather, he became corrupt/joined the coup plot because his peers were there, too.
Physical proximity can play a part, but only to the extent it facilitates the real causes. How & where an MEP finds out about other members taking bribes from Qataris isn't important; what's important is that she found out taking bribes is acceptable among her "group."
Bankman-Fried's parents hosted Sunday salons at their home on the Stanford campus. So maybe they gleaned some acceptance of corruption during these lofty "exchanges of ideas." I'm not sure they actually are corrupt, though. I think it more likely (and I'm not at all sure of this) that they were careless but typical 21st-century parents who chose to believe the boy could do no wrong. They did no due diligence where his little enterprise was concerned even as they themselves took oodles of money from it. For an expert on tax law to work for a company working out of the Bahamas & not to examine the company's tax status & other financials is extraordinary. There are myriad ways we fool ourselves into condoning our own bad behavior. In this case, the family is the "herd."
Skimming through Nietzsche’s “Genealogy of Morals” looking for a passage I wasn’t sure I was remembering correctly (memory isn’t as good as it used to be; I used to be able to knock off the top ten hitters in baseball history, their lifetime batting averages, home run and RBI totals, and total hits. Now I’m lucky if I can remember their names.), I came across his thesis on Will to Power and I was somewhat startled to realize that some of his thinking perfectly describes the Party of Traitors and their media hacks.
I’m not gonna tackle the way popular conceptions of much of Nietzsche’s philosophy are just dead wrong, that’s a whole big Megillah and no one has time for that now.
But re-reading his take on what makes people weak, and how that weakness manifests an ideology of hatred and harm for harm’s sake immediately called up dozens of contemporary comparisons with the right wing.
In Nietzsche’s view, weak individuals, and groups, find underhanded and insidious ways to stick it to those they feel have made them victims. Resentment and hatred are their touchstones. They attack in ways that are designed to cause a maximum of suffering, not because they can, but because they like it. They also find ways to undermine value systems in order to install their own warped sense of the world, simply as a way of expressing their frustration that they, as they see it, are not powerful, not in charge.
A lot of Nietzsche’s antipathy to such groups stems from his distrust of Christian morality, which, in his view, says one thing but does something completely different.
Anyway, Nietzsche readers can pick apart some of my exposition here, it’s not exactly analogous, but the connections are too startling to overlook. Who can deny that wingers see themselves as victimized by powerful “elites”, who inflict pain whenever they can, who fetishize resentment, who attempt to overthrow basic American values in order to replace them with dangerous ideologies, and who believe they have every right to resort to illegal, even criminal action in order to attack those they hate?
Just sayin’.
@Akhilleus: I was concerned that the Speech & Debate Clause of the Constitution would protect Traitor Norman from his plans for "Marshall law," but it appears it does not:
"The Senators and Representatives ... shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place."
However, any part of the Constitution that seems straightforward is subject to interpretation, and we won't have to strain our brains wondering how some of the Supremes would rule on Norman's (and apparently others') call for a military overthrow of the government. Full opinion, signed, sealed & delivered (too Motown?): IOKIYAR.
Marie,
Quite. Just imagine the volcanic uproar among the traitors had AOC or some other Democrat even hinted, during Trump’s authoritarian ride of his Legion of Horribles (see Cormac McCarthy’s Legion of Horribles passage in “Blood Meridian”), at martial (as opposed to Marshall) law.
Btw, I’m guessing that Alito would slip Traitor Norman (good one) a Get Out of Treason card by declaring that there is no such thing as Marshall Law, so everything is cool.
My unserious suggestion that campus proximity might have something to do with corruption's easy spread didn't deserve either Akhilleus' geographic clarification or Marie's closely reasoned thoughts on the matter, but thanks to both of you.
More likely corruption has its source in our dual nature as individuals and as members of a herd. We want things for ourselves, first of all, and if we are surrounded by others of like bent, concern for those outside our immediate group takes easy flight.
Like money itself, corruption is also fungible. You give me something and I'll give you something in return.
Looked at this way, corruption is simply a medium and a means of exchange, where the "I" of our nature always takes first place, any consequences to the larger social order be damned.
And since community standards, reflected in both our laws and in their enforcement, seem to have become less rigid, more porous and uncertain, it's no surprise that corruption has become the ever more common coin of the realm.
Ken,
But your metaphorical application of the proximity factor in the spread of corruption, especially in groups like R pols is quite apt.
@Ken Winkes: What Akhilleus relates about Nietzsche’s analysis of moral weakness (and how well Republicans serve as exemplars of the same) & your observation about the loosening of community standards seem to fit together very well.
There is a real down side to "rigid community standards," but for the weak, they do sometimes serve as a deterrent to bad behavior.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/13/opinion/stanford-harvard-nasa-nazi-scientists.html
"When they goes up, who cares where they come down..?."
All publicity is good publicity? Not so sure of that..
Imagine both Stanford and Harvard would much rather stay out of the headlines for a while.
I’ve been reading all these tea leave stories that try to suss out Elon Musk’s “true” political stance.
Who cares?
He’s a narcissistic asshole who took a thriving company worth billions and flushed it down the toilet almost overnight, just because he could. He needs to show everyone who’s boss.
When we were kids, my sister and my brothers and I got a great board game for Christmas. It was a word game, which we all loved. Christmas afternoon at my aunt’s house, we were having a ball playing the game. A cousin, who was, we assumed, jealous that we were having so much fun, came into the room and stomped on the game, breaking it into pieces. He was an only child, used to being the center of attention and getting anything he wanted. What he wanted that day, apparently, was for no one to have fun if he wasn’t.
This seems like Musk.
My cousin, by the way, grew up to become a very nice guy. Doesn’t look like that’s in the cards for the Musk ox.
Enjoyed reading everyone's analysis of why we are so overrun with horrible individuals, and I have nothing to add to you smart people's comments. It does seem as if the whole of the winger patrol is full of stupid, corrupt, ignorant, overly ambitious, insecure crybabies. It used to be that most congressmen and -women were respected and even, in some places, loved. Now we can count on the right wing being all of those things I mentioned above. It is a social experiment that I would rather would be drowned at birth, but it is too late. This truly is not fixable without taking all those people and stashing them in Gitmo, and that is not going to happen.
The biggest disappointment is the fall of the Supreme Court. We can't depend on it for honesty or wisdom. We can depend on the winger justices attending parties with the wrong people. We can depend on their lying about important things and we can depend on their inability to convince us they are against fraud. Vengeance is theirs... I feel badly for the liberals on the court. They have missed out on a job with respected colleagues.
The J6 committee should be sending a criminal referral to Justice with the name Fat Fuc…oh, I mean Donald Trump, former guy. If they let him walk, he’ll scream that he was completely exonerated, just like he did after the Mueller investigation.
Jeanne,
The debasement of the Supreme Court has been a long time coming.
@Ken Winkes: I gather this is what you're referring to. Don't call him hypocritical. Call him apolitical.
Marie,
We raised both our boys on Tom Lehrer to inoculate them against the barrage of B.S. that we knew would be coming at them from all directions.
It seems to have worked, and we're grateful.
BTW, neither is a Republican.
@Akhilleus: I read fast, so I sometimes misread. I read "the debasement of the Supreme Court" as "the database of the Supreme Court." I guess that would be Fox "News" & the Washington Times.