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The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

Washington Post: “An early Titian masterpiece — once looted by Napolean’s troops and a part of royal collections for centuries — caused a stir when it was stolen from the home of a British marquess in 1995. Seven years later, it was found inside an unassuming white and blue plastic bag at a bus stop in southwest London by an art detective, and returned. This week, the oil painting 'The Rest on the Flight into Egypt' sold for more than $22 million at Christie’s. It was a record for the Renaissance artist, whom museums describe as the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice. Ahead of the sale in April, the auction house billed it as 'the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in more than a generation.'”

Washington Post: The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., which houses the world's largest collection of Shakespeare material, has undergone a major renovation. "The change to the building is pervasive, both subtle and transformational."

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Thursday
Dec152022

December 16, 2022

Afternoon Update:

David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday instructed federal prosecutors to end sentencing disparities in cases involving the distribution of crack and powder cocaine after decades of law enforcement policy disproportionately treating crack offenders more punitively. Garland's move effectively seeks to eliminate the significant difference in the amount of powder cocaine relative to crack cocaine that is required to be in a suspect's possession to trigger mandatory minimum federal sentences if convicted. Critics of the longtime policy have said it is a relic of the Washington's misguided war-on-drugs era that targeted Black and Brown communities, resulted in overpopulated prisons and strained federal and local resources at the expense of more effective strategies."

Kyle Cheney & Nicholas Wu of Politico: "The Jan. 6 select committee is preparing to vote on urging the Justice Department to pursue at least three criminal charges against ... Donald Trump, including insurrection. The report that the select panel is expected to consider on Monday afternoon, described to Politico by two people familiar with its contents, reflects some recommendations from a subcommittee that evaluated potential criminal referrals. Among the charges that subcommittee proposes for Trump: 18 U.S.C. 2383, insurrection; 18 U.S.C. 1512(c), obstruction of an official proceeding; and 18 U.S.C. 371, conspiracy to defraud the United States government. It's unclear whether the select committee's final report will recommend additional charges for Trump beyond the three described to Politico, or whether it will urge other criminal charges for other players in Trump's bid to subvert his 2020 loss. The document, according to the people familiar, includes an extensive justification for the recommended charges."

Kyle Cheney, et al., of Politico: "A federal judge revealed Friday that earlier this year she granted Justice Department investigators access to emails between three Trump-connected attorneys and Rep. Scott Perry as part of the federal investigation into election subversion efforts by the former president and others. At the request of DOJ, U.S. District Court Chief Judge Beryl Howell unsealed a June opinion in which she determined that 37 emails sent among Trump-era Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, his aide Ken Klukowski and conservative attorney John Eastman and Perry (R-Pa.) -- another top Donald Trump ally who chairs the House Freedom Caucus -- were not protected by attorney-client privilege.... Howell also unsealed a second opinion, issued in September, in which she determined that 331 documents from Clark -- whom Trump nearly installed as acting attorney general as part of his bid to seize a second term -- were similarly not protected by attorney-client privilege." ~~~

     ~~~ Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Among the documents were 331 drafts of [Jeffrey] Clark's autobiography outline, which he had saved in his Google account, according to a court filing.... Earlier this year, Clark declined to answer questions to several investigative teams, citing his Fifth Amendment rights, and had marked on his autobiography drafts that they were attorney work-product, implying he wanted them to remain confidential.... Six chapters were about the 2020 election, Howell's opinion added." MB: According to the Politico story linked above, "The outline included a description of a pivotal Jan. 3, 2021, meeting between Trump and senior DOJ officials where almost the entire top echelon of the department threatened to resign if the then-president put Clark in charge." This is all pretty bizarre.

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A self-described 'poster boy' for the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot who led a mob pursuit of U.S. Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman was sentenced Friday to five years in prison after a judge said he led events that could have caused mass bloodshed. Douglas Jensen, 43, of Des Moines became one of the most recognized riot participants in widely shared video showing him wearing a black QAnon 'Eagle' T-shirt and leading a crowd following Goodman up two flights of stairs inside the Capitol while searching for the evacuated Senate chamber.... U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly ... noted that Jensen traveled to Washington with others carrying military-style rifles, was one of the first 10 people who breached the Capitol and 'waved on' and encouraged others to join him."

Michael Brice-Saddler of the Washington Post: "The U.S. Senate late Thursday confirmed seven judges to D.C.'s local courts, a move that partly addresses a spate of judicial vacancies that District officials, in recent appeals directly to Congress and the White House, said was causing significant slowdowns in the city's justice system.... Because D.C. is not a state, Congress can decide what authorities D.C. can have, and in the case of its judicial system, it has almost none. The city must rely on the president to nominate judges to its local court system and the Senate to confirm them. But the Senate has routinely allowed the nominations to languish, at times using the judges as political bargaining chips...."

Noam Scheiber of the New York Times: "The union organizing Starbucks workers declared a strike at dozens of stores on Friday, the latest escalation in its campaign to secure a labor contract. The strike is intended to last for three days at many of the stores, according to Workers United, the union representing the workers. It follows a one-day strike at roughly 100 stores last month. Workers involved in the strike say they are protesting the company's slow pace of bargaining and its recent closing of unionized stores, including one near Broadway and Denny Way in Seattle. They also complain about understaffing and cuts to their hours."

Filthy Lucre. Cam Thompson of Coin Desk: "... Donald Trump's non-fungible token (NFT) digital trading card collection sold out early Friday, the day after its initial release. According to data from OpenSea, at time of writing [12/16 @11:22 am ET], the collection's trading volume is 900 ETH, or about $1.08 million. Its floor price is about 0.19 ETH, or about $230 -- more than double the original price of $99. Some tokens are selling for much higher prices. The one-of-ones, the rarest of the NFTs, which comprise 2.4% of the 45,000 unit collection (roughly 1,000), are selling for as much as 6 ETH at the time of writing. One of these rare trading cards, of the 45th president standing in front of the Statue of Liberty holding a torch, is currently listed at 20 ETH, or about $24,000."

Jacob Kornbluh of the Forward: "... Donald Trump didn't mention his dinner with two prominent antisemites figures last month in an address to a Jewish group Friday morning, his first public speech since the controversy ensued. But speaking at a weekend conference by Torah U'Mesorah, an Orthodox educational group from New York, at his National Doral club in Miami, Trump claimed to be 'the best ally' the Jewish people 'have ever had.'... Trump spent most of his 30-minute speech -- posted on YouTube -- citing a recent article by Rabbi Doy Fischer, detailing 'the things I have done for my Jewish friends and the Jewish people, and for Israel.' He earned the biggest round of applause when he mentioned his commutation of the jail sentence of Sholom Rubashkin, a kosher meat executive who was found guilty in 2009 of 86 counts of bank fraud and sentenced to 27 years in prison in December 2017. Rubashkin, whom Trump referred to as 'the rabbi from Iowa' even though he was not a rabbi, had become a cause célèbre in some parts of the Orthodox community."

Anjali Singhgi, et al., of the New York Times have created (a somewhat cumbersome-to-navigate, IMO) graphic demonstration of how close random guests came to classified documents Donald Trump & his aides had stored at Mar-a-Lardo. They stashed many docs in a not-very-secure closet. "Photos from some of these events show the arched doors [leading from a public outdoor patio surrounding the pool to the storage area] being partially or fully open, suggesting that guests may have had access to the storage area.... Federal agents seized documents, including ones labeled as 'Top Secret,' from a small room within the storage area, a space where cleaning supplies, beach chairs and umbrellas were also kept." ~~~

     ~~~ The article also shows photos of many, many guests at fundraisers & such milling near the storage area. There are also photos of guests, some of them foreigners & some as sleazy as Kyle Rittenhouse & Lauren Boebert, standing around Trump's office where he stashed other classified documents. "The staircase leading to the office has no obvious permanent barriers. The Times found photos that show people roaming freely nearby." The office is right off a ballroom, which hosts various events packed with guests. "It is unclear what additional security separates ballroom guests from Mr. Trump's office."

~~~~~~~~~~

Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "The Senate on Thursday gave final approval to an $858 billion military policy bill that would rescind the Pentagon's mandate that troops receive the coronavirus vaccine, defying President Biden's objections and sending to his desk a bill that paved the way for a massive increase in spending on the military. The vote was 83 to 11, an overwhelmingly bipartisan margin that reflected support in both parties for boosting the Pentagon's budget by $45 billion over Mr. Biden's request, as lawmakers in both parties argued that the protracted war in Ukraine and an emboldened China had changed the nation's security posture. With Republicans set to take control of the House in January, it essentially locked in the kind of large boost to the military budget that Mr. Biden and many Democrats had sought to avoid while they had unified control of government. Negotiated by Democrats and Republicans in both chambers, the legislation would grant a 4.6 percent raise to military personnel, and provide $800 million in new security aid to Ukraine and billions to Taiwan. It includes changes sought by lawmakers to the military's policy for handling sexual assault cases, a major victory that its proponents had labored for years to secure." The Guardian's report is here. ~~~

~~~ Azi Paybarah of the Washington Post: "The House on Thursday passed a bill that would allow Puerto Ricans to decide their future governing status, a long-sought goal on the island territory. The vote was 233-to-191, with 16 Republicans breaking ranks and joining Democrats in backing the measure. The legislation would authorize a vote in Puerto Rico to chose whether to become a state, an independent nation, or a country 'in free association with the United States.' The island has been a territory since 1898, and residents there were granted citizenship in 1917. The White House signaled its strong support for the bill earlier Thursday, but the measure is unlikely to make it through the Senate, where 60 votes would be required for it to advance, by the end of the year. And prospects for passage in the House next year, with Republicans in control, are significantly diminished." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The AP's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: In case it's slipped your mind that the Great American Grifter was once the Worst U.S. President* Ever: when I was looking for a "free" story about the House vote on Puerto Rico, I came upon a 2018 AP story with this headline: Donald Trump: "Absolute no" on statehood for Puerto Rico."

Another Plan to Save "Dreamers" (Etc.) Fails. Camilo Montoya-Galvez of CBS News: "Negotiations in the Senate to forge a bipartisan compromise on U.S. immigration and border policy failed to gain enough traction to pass before the end of this session of Congress, dooming yet another effort to reform a system that has not been updated in decades, congressional officials familiar with the matter told CBS News. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, an independent who until last week was a Democrat, and GOP Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina had been discussing a potential deal that would have included the legalization of a subset of the millions of unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S., as well as certain measures aimed at reducing illegal crossings along the U.S.-Mexico border. But Sinema and Tillis did not strike a deal that would have been able to secure the necessary 60 votes in the evenly divided Senate during the lame-duck session...."

Shane Harris of the Washington Post: "Beginning in late January 2020, U.S. intelligence agencies reported to senior Trump administration officials that the coronavirus spreading in China threatened to become a pandemic and spark a global health crisis. But then-President Trump's public statements over the next two months 'did not reflect the increasingly stark warnings coursing through intelligence channels,' including the president's daily brief, available to Trump and senior members of his administration, according to a report issued Thursday by the House Intelligence Committee.... [The report,] written by the Democrats..., broadly praises the work of intelligence analysts for providing early warning about the virus for policymakers. But the report also faulted the intelligence community for not being better prepared to provide comprehensive early warning based on exclusive intelligence." Politico's report, by Erin Banco, puts the onus of failure on the intelligence community. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The trouble is, as long as at least some parts of the government apparatus are not accommodating a crisis, there is little individual Americans can do about it. Had you called your office on Feb. 1, 2020, and said you'd be working from home on account of the pandemic, your boss would have fired you, And if you couldn't pay the rent, you & the kiddies would have been out on the street on a cold winter's night. An early public warning from an obscure intelligence unit, even if it received a bit of press attention, would have done nothing to avert the coming pandemic, what with Trump & Co. pretending a catastrophic health crisis wasn't in the offing.

Michael Levelson & Chris Cameron of the New York Times: "The federal government on Thursday released a fresh trove of documents related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, a turning point in American history and the subject of persistent conspiracy theories, despite the official government conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone, shot him to death. Historians and researchers said they were just beginning to comb through the 13,173 documents containing newly released information, hoping they might shed further light on one of the most closely scrutinized murders in recent history and on the government's actions before and after it. The documents included records relating to Oswald's trip to Mexico City several weeks before Kennedy's assassination in 1963; Oswald's trip to Finland in 1959, the year he defected to the Soviet Union; and images of his Cuban visa application. Some of the documents -- including one about Operation Mongoose, a covert government campaign to rid Cuba of Fidel Castro -- included redactions. Many of the documents had been released previously but now have fewer redactions or none at all, researchers said."; An NBC News story is here.

Kevin Collier of NBC News: "A former Twitter employee found guilty of spying on users on behalf of the Saudi royal family has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison. Ahmad Abouammo, a dual U.S.-Lebanese citizen who helped oversee media partnerships for Twitter in the Middle East and North Africa, was part of a scheme to acquire the personal information of users, including phone numbers and birth dates, for a Saudi government agent. He was sentenced Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The Justice Department has said it believes that another former Twitter employee accused of accessing user accounts and a man accused of helping the Saudi government with the scheme have fled to Saudi Arabia to evade American authorities. The Saudi government severely penalizes anti-government expression on social media sites like Twitter."

Kris Rhim of the New York Times: "The N.C.A.A., which has struggled to govern the shifting landscape of college sports amid rapid changes involving endorsement deals, large media contracts and conference realignment, on Thursday named Gov. Charlie Baker of Massachusetts as the organization's next president. Baker, a Republican, has been the governor of Massachusetts since 2015, with his second term ending in January. He will take over as president of the N.C.A.A. in March 2023. Baker will replace Mark Emmert, who will serve as a consultant to the N.C.A.A. until June 2023. Baker has some familiarity with college sports. He played basketball at Harvard, including eight games for the varsity team in the 1977-78 season. His wife, Lauren, was a gymnast at Northwestern, and their two sons played Division III football." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) An ESPN report is here.

Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post lists 2022's top Pinocchio prizes.

Rich Guys Behaving Badly

Michael Bender & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump's political opponents have long criticized him as something of a cartoon character. On Thursday, the former president made himself into one -- but with the aim of turning a profit. In his first significant public move since opening his 2024 presidential campaign last month, Mr. Trump announced an online store to sell $99 digital trading cards of himself as a superhero, an astronaut, an Old West sheriff and a series of other fantastical figures. He made his pitch in a brief, direct-to-camera video in which he audaciously declared that his four years in the White House were 'better than Lincoln, better than Washington.'... But Mr. Trump's campaign won't earn any money from the digital cards, which he describes as akin to baseball cards but are actually nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, that effectively allow a person to claim ownership of a digital file. Money from the digital cards will instead be pocketed by Mr. Trump under a licensing deal.... Mr. Trump's direct pitch for the trading cards underscored how secondary his campaign for president has seemed to his personal efforts over the last month." A related Guardian story is here. ~~~

~~~ Marie: I am really, really sad I had to be away all morning because -- oh nos! -- I missed Trump's Major Announcement! ~~~

Remember, Christmas is coming, and this makes a great Christmas gift. -- Donald Trump, in a video accompanying the Major Announcement ~~~

Pretty sure he meant "great Christmas grift." He's not that good at reading a teleprompter. -- Marie

     ~~~ Eileen Connelly of Yahoo! News: "The reveal Thursday morning came after Trump teased a 'major] announcement' on his Truth Social platform Wednesday. The post had fans and critics speculating that he was going to announce a running mate for his third campaign for president or perhaps even drop out as he sags in early polls." But no! "... Trump on Thursday revealed a new foray into NFT sales, sharing a website that offers a series of what he called 'digital trading cards' for $99 each. On a website called CollectTrumpCards.com, the 45th president is selling a series of artworks featuring likenesses of himself depicted as a superhero with laser eyes, an astronaut, a John Wayne-like cowboy and a golfer -- along with, of course, a dark-suited Trump surrounded by gold bars.... Trump's launch comes at a time when the NFT market has stagnated, with prices dropping 97% since the start of the year.(I really cannot stress enough how bad the Photoshopping is here.) (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Thanks to RAS & others for reminding me what a loser I am for not being right on top of Trump's exciting Major Announcement. I was surprised this Major Announcement wasn't the banner headline on the NYT. Maybe the Times reporters extended their one-day strike just to fix Trump.

Joe Mocks TFG:

     ~~~ Philip Bump of the Washington Post expends a whole post mocking Trump's latest enterprise: "(I really cannot stress enough how bad the Photoshopping is here.)" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: All in all, you have to concede that it's better for a disgraced, twice-impeached former president* to go back to being a cheesy carnival huckster than to being a racist, misogynist Nazi who hangs out with fellow Nazis. So the NFT grift is, in its way, a step up for this pathetic guy.

I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means. -- Elon Musk, April 2022 ~~~

~~~ Elon Escalates His "Absolute Free Speech" Rampage. Mike Isaac & Kate Conger of the New York Times: "Twitter suspended the accounts of roughly half a dozen prominent journalists on Thursday, the latest change by the social media service under ... Elon Musk. The accounts suspended included Ryan Mac of The New York Times; Drew Harwell of The Washington Post; Aaron Rupar, an independent journalist; Donie O'Sullivan of CNN; Matt Binder of Mashable; Tony Webster, an independent journalist; Micah Lee of The Intercept; and the political journalist Keith Olbermann. It was unclear what the suspensions had in common; each user's Twitter page included a message that said it suspended accounts that 'violate the Twitter rules.' The moves came a day after Twitter suspended more than 25 accounts that tracked the planes of government agencies, billionaires and high-profile individuals, including that of Mr. Musk.... Many of the accounts were operated by Jack Sweeney, a 20-year-old college student.... After his suspension from Twitter, Mr. Sweeney turned to Mastodon, an alternative social network. After Mastodon used Twitter to promote Mr. Sweeney's new account on Thursday, Twitter suspended Mastodon's account. As some journalists shared the news of Mastodon's suspension, their own accounts were suspended." ~~~

     ~~~ Paul Farhi of the Washington Post: "... Elon Musk accused the reporters of posting 'basically assassination coordinates' for him and his family.... Musk suggested on Twitter, without evidence, that the journalists had revealed private information about his family, known as doxxing.... 'It's impossible to square Twitter's free speech aspirations with the purging of critical journalists' accounts,' American Civil Liberties Union executive director Anthony D. Romero said in a statement.... [Thursday night, Musk] took a Twitter poll on when he should reinstate the accounts -- but restarted it after a plurality of respondents said he should do so immediately." Musk joined a Twitter chat with some journalists late Thursday but bailed out as the reporters confronted him with, well, facts. A Guardian report is here.

Beyond the Beltway

Ed Pilkington of the Guardian: "... in America [2022] was the year of the botched execution. In its annual review of US capital punishment, the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) reveals the astonishing statistic that 35% of the 20 execution attempts carried out this year were visibly problematic. Several were agonisingly drawn out as officials tried to secure a vein through which to inject lethal drugs, leading lawyers to describe the process as a form of torture. Others were carried out in violation of state protocols. Some went ahead even though there were defects in those protocols themselves." The New York Times report is here.

Louisiana. Rick Rojas & McKenna Oxenden of the New York Times: "More than three years after Ronald Greene died in the custody of the Louisiana State Police, five law enforcement officers were charged on Thursday in connection with the violent encounter captured on video, in which Mr. Greene, a Black man, was put in a chokehold and punched repeatedly by officers as he cried out for help. The charges -- which include a single count of negligent homicide for one of the five officers -- came from an indictment handed up by a state grand jury in Louisiana.... The charges are the first to emerge in a case that has mobilized activists and drawn widespread scrutiny of the state police, as an initial description of Mr. Greene resisting arrest after a high-speed chase was unraveled by body-camera footage." CNN's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: A horror story from beginning to end. The charges described don't sound nearly severe enough, IMO. My favorite sentence in the report: "Colonel Davis said on Thursday that the case had already spurred 'fundamental improvements to our operations, training and administration' inside the state police." What? What? They're going to add a graf or two in some manual that says, "Don't bludgeon detainees to death" and "Don't repeatedly Tase detainees at close range"?

Massachusetts. But Can She Outmaneuver the Supremes? Stephanie Saul & Vimal Patel of the New York Times: "Harvard University announced on Thursday that its new president would be Claudine Gay, the dean of Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences. She will be the first Black leader of Harvard, and the second woman to hold the position.... Dr. Gay will take office in July 2023, just as the university faces a pivotal Supreme Court decision that may force it to revise its longstanding admissions processes, which have been criticized for considering factors that favor white and wealthy candidates while also using affirmative action to bolster enrollment by Black and Hispanic students. As a proponent of increased diversity in hiring, as well as an expert o minority representation and political participation in government, Dr. Gay may be ideally suited to the task, supporters said." The Harvard Gazette's release is here.

Michigan. Eliza Fawcett of the New York Times: "Three men convicted of aiding a plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan in 2020 were sentenced on Thursday to lengthy sentences that could put them in prison for at least seven years. The three men, Paul Bellar, 24, Joseph Morrison, 28, and Pete Musico, 45, were convicted in October of aiding a plot to kidnap Governor Whitmer, a Democrat, as part of a right-wing backlash over her role in the state's Covid restrictions. The men, all Michigan residents, were found guilty of providing material support for terrorist acts and illegal gang membership, as well as felony firearms charges. The trial was one in a series of cases that grew out of a sprawling domestic terrorism investigation into the kidnapping plot. Federal prosecutors have delivered mixed results, with some convictions and other acquittals. As a whole, the cases have been seen as underscoring the rising threat of political violence in America." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The AP's report is here.

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Friday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Friday are here. The Guardian's live updates are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.

Greg Miller, et al., of the Washington Post: The 200th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade combat unit was "... considered one of Russia's most formidable ... until it sent its best fighters and weapons to Ukraine this year and was effectively destroyed.... The brigade's collapse in part reflects the difficulty of its assignment in the war and the valiant performance of Ukraine's military. But a closer examination of the 200th shows that its fate was also shaped by many of the same forces that derailed Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion plans -- endemic corruption, strategic miscalculations and a Kremlin failure to grasp the true capabilities of its own military or those of its adversary. After months of ceding territory and losing thousands of troops, Putin is now trying to salvage his grandiose aims with an entire force that resembles the 200th: badly depleted, significantly demoralized, and backfilled with inexperienced conscripts."

Comments Off

Reader Comments (11)

Fatty to Puerto Ricans hoping for atatehood:

“Absolutely not! But here’s a roll of paper towels. You’re welcome.”

But oops! That asshole is now just a schmuck selling phony pictures of himself.

Puerto Rico to Fatty:

“Fuck you. You’re still fat. And here’s your paper towels back”

December 16, 2022 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

This newly released trove of files about the JFK assassination, anything in there about how Ted Cruz’s dad did it?

December 16, 2022 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Just wondering if Mr. Free Speech for everyone would have silenced those reporters if their names were Himmler, Göring. Goebbels, or Mengele?

December 16, 2022 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

It's uncanny to realize that a man who once was President of the U.S. has reduced himself even further than a con artist, a cheat, a liar, ––the list is long–-into a complete fool and a laughing stock to boot. Oh, yes, we can be sure some fools will pay the $99 for these trading cards but the audacity of Fatty's face on trim bodies along with a narrative of outrageous claims of being better than Lincoln and Washington brings one up so short that we at first think this is some kind of joke and we wonder why someone wouldn't have said: "Christ on a cross, sir, what the hell are you doing??" Alas––the little boy in Donald needs to be that super hero, that chosen one who is beloved by all–––never a loser, always the one who wins––-at everything until he doesn't.

December 16, 2022 | Unregistered CommenterP.D. Pepe

$99.00? I first read that as 99 cents and thought, way overpriced.
And it's virtual, like buying a share of a famous painting that you
only get to see on your computer screen.
I can remember (barely) in my youth buying bubble gum just for
the cards. Gave the gum to my sister and her friends.

What happened to the 100 or more pounds of fat that was photoshopped off the fat one. He should sell share in that also. His
worshippers would eat it up (literally).

December 16, 2022 | Unregistered CommenterForrest Morris

I'll trade you two Mr Astronauts for one of your Treasonmans, that's what the T on his chest stands for, right? I think those were inciting rays shooting out of his eyes so he can start those riots easier than your average Joe.

December 16, 2022 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

Bob Woodward already showed us that TFG knew covid was bad very early and did what he usually does and lied to us all about it.
"Recounting a conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Trump told Woodward on Feb. 7 that the coronavirus is “more deadly than your, you know, your — even your strenuous flus.”

“This is more deadly,” he said. “This is five per — you know, this is 5 percent versus 1 percent and less than 1 percent, you know. So, this is deadly stuff.”

“I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down,” Trump said on March 19. “Because I don’t want to create a panic.”"

December 16, 2022 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

Forrest,

By the time I was around 12, I could pick up a pack of baseball cards and tell by feel that the stick of gum inside first saw the light of day prior to the Battle of Hastings. If I thought I might get a couple of cards I was looking for, stuff you didn’t see very often, like a Roberto Clemente or a Sandy Koufax, I’d buy it anyway. Hey, it was a nickel for that antediluvian stick of gum and 10 baseball cards. We’d make jokes about having cracked teeth after trying to T-Rex that cement slab of gum,

But even the worst cards you might get (your 15th Clete Boyer) are worth far more than poorly photoshopped JPEGs portraying a fat blowsy traitor as a fictional superhero. 1966 Clete Boyer card, $9.60 on eBay.

Fat Fuck traitor card: $-1,000.

And no gum.

December 16, 2022 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Things you can't do with DiJiT's "baseball cards":

-- sail them against the wall/step, two players at the same time, card closest to the wall wins, takes the other. Two leaners are ties, leave them and play with two new cards, winner take all.
-- flip them and call the bet before they land. Two players: two heads, two tails, my head (your tail), my tail (your head), winner take all
-- sail for distance, farthest card wins, takes the other card
-- clothespin clip to bike wheel downtube so tip of card is between spokes and makes clatter when you ride
-- build a house of cards
-- flip into a hat for distance, backing up after (n) throws, see who can get the most in
-- draw mustaches and glasses, horns, etc. on the players

And more. But put in a plastic sleeve? No.

But with DiJiT's cards, you can do none of those things. If he put them out in pasteboard stock, I'd pay a nickel, draw a mustache and google eyes on his faces, and clip him to my bike wheels.

December 16, 2022 | Unregistered CommenterPatrick

According The Hill, Trumps cards have sold out within 24 hours.

I can accept that there are that many gullible idiots out there, but I don't want to believe it.

December 16, 2022 | Unregistered CommenterBobby Lee

IPatrick,

Thanks for the memories. I rode my red Sears one speed so much that I’d have to switch out the “bespoked” baseball cards every couple of days. The issue was having to use something from my own card collection to “motorcycle” my bike. Forget that. That’s where getting guys to throw down against the front stoop of my house came in handy. My brother showed me a great trick for getting those suckers to kiss the bricks. Ha! Hand over that Mickey Mantle! That’ll be my engine noise foe the next two days (I liked the Mick but I was a Red Sox fan, so…).

For some reason the fun of defacing baseball cards with mustaches and googly glasses never occurred to me, even though I routinely drew faces on pictures in schoolbooks (the nuns were not amused, except for one after I made a character look like a dog). But this idea reminded me of one of the most famous (infamous?) baseball cards of all time.

Long after I had stopped collecting cards, a fellow baseball fan told me about the 1988 Billy Ripken Fleer baseball card. Apparently, Ripken had jotted a couple of words on the butt end of his bat so he could find it quickly. One day at Fenway Park, a Fleer photog snapped a picture of him with the bat on his shoulder that ended up on his card that year.

The words?

Fuck Face.

The kids must have loved it.

Now why didn’t the Photoshop artist tasked with making fatso Trump look heroic and tough think of that?

If one of those cards had “Fat Fuck” hidden in the image somewhere, I might think of buying it.

Not for $99, mind you. Maybe 99 cents.

I’m guessing the Billy Ripken card, twenty years from now, would still be worth more.

And printing out Fatty’s card for attachment to bike spokes would be a waste too. It’d be flaccid.

Like him.

https://twitter.com/mlbnetwork/status/986817789452275712

December 16, 2022 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus
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