;)
December 20, 2022
Evening Update:
I've long felt Donald Trump didn't want his tax return information released because it exposes him as a wildly unsuccessful businessman. In 2019, we obtained a printout of Trump's official Internal Revenue Service tax transcripts from 1985 to 1994, when Trump lost more money than nearly any other individual American taxpayer. That's right -- more money than any other individual in the country. -- Susanne Craig of the New York Times, from the liveblog ~~~
~~~ Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "The House Ways and Means Committee voted Tuesday to publicly release the tax returns of ... Donald J. Trump, the culmination of a yearslong battle during which he defied modern tradition by keeping his finances confidential during his campaign and while in office.... After debating behind closed doors for about three hours and 20 minutes on Tuesday, the Democrat-controlled committee approved the release of six years' worth of Mr. Trump's tax returns 24 to 16. But it could take some time before anything is available to the public. Representative Lloyd Doggett, a Democrat on the committee, told CNN that release of the full cache of tax documents could be delayed for 'a few days' in order to carry out redactions of personal information, such as Social Security numbers. The chairman of the committee, Representative Richard E. Neal, Democrat of Massachusetts, said the decision to release the information 'was not about being punitive. This was not about being malicious.' He also praised the panel's members because there were no leaks of sensitive information. The ranking member, Representative Kevin Brady, Republican of Texas, condemned the decision after the vote. 'So regrettably, the deed is done,' he said. 'What was clear today is that public disclosure of President Trump's private tax returns has nothing to do with the stated purpose of reviewing the I.R.S. presidential audit process.'" This is a liveblog.
Phil Mattingly, et al., of CNN: “President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are planning to meet at the White House on Wednesday, according to two sources familiar with the planning underway, in what would be a surprise visit that could change based on security concerns. The visit, which hasn't been finalized and has remained tightly held due to security concerns, will coincide with the administration's intent to send the country a new defense assistance package that will include Patriot missile systems. It would mark Zelensky's first trip outside Ukraine since the Russian invasion began in February of this year. His potential visit t Washington could also include an address to Congress. The White House declined to comment on a potential visit or Biden announcement or new security assistance announcements. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wouldn't confirm reports Zelensky would be coming to the Capitol on Wednesday, saying, 'I don't know that that's going to happen.':
Say, let's see what Trump's "top ethics lawyer" has been up to: ~~~
~~~ Katelyn Polantz, et al., of CNN: "The January 6 committee made a startling allegation on Monday, claiming it had evidence that a Trump-backed attorney urged a key witness to mislead the committee about details they recalled. Though the committee declined to identify the people, CNN has learned that Stefan Passantino, the top ethics attorney in the Trump White House, is the lawyer who allegedly advised his then-client, former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, to tell the committee that she did not recall details that she did, sources familiar with the committee's work tell CNN. Trump's Save America political action committee funded Passantino and his law firm Elections LLC, including paying for his representation of Hutchinson, other sources tell CNN. Hutchinson asked about the financial set up at the time but was never told the details, according to the committee.... Before her public testimony, Hutchinson dropped Passantino and got a new lawyer. When asked about pressure on Hutchinson after Monday's hearing, committee member Rep. Zoe Lofgren, told CNN: 'She was advised to say that she didn't recall something when she did. So that's pretty serious stuff.'"
~~~~~~~~~~
Mary Jalonick, et al., of the AP: "The House Jan. 6 committee is wrapping up its investigation of the violent 2021 U.S. Capitol insurrection, with lawmakers on Monday declaring that they have assembled a 'roadmap to justice' to bring criminal charges against ... Donald Trump and his allies.... The committee alleged violations of four criminal statutes by Trump, in both the run-up to the riot and during the insurrection itself, as it recommended the former president for prosecution to the Justice Department. The charges recommended by the committee are conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstruction of an official proceeding of Congress, conspiracy to make a false statement and insurrection." Politico's story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The New York Times report is here. The Washington Post report is here. ~~~
~~~ Here's the committee's video of Monday's hearing:
~~~ ** The committee has released its 160-page introduction to its report. According to on-air reporters, the introductory material includes information that has not previously been released to the public. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
New York Times reporters are liveblogging the House January 6 committee hearing. CNN's liveblog is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Alan Feuer of the New York Times outlines 17 specific findings of the committee. MB: Here are a couple of points Feuer doesn't cover but that MSNBC hosts highlighted: (1) The intelligence community was ready for a typical protest to take place on January 6, but they were not ready for the POTUS* to instigate the "protesters" to attack the Capital to try to stop the certification of Electors; (2) Trump attempted, apparently successfully in a number of cases, to get witnesses to prevaricate; Trump succeeded in this effort by providing lawyers, promising jobs or threatening witnesses with bad outcomes.
Aaron Blake of the Washington Post enumerates seven takeaways from the committee's introduction to its report. Much of the information is new, like the number of weapons officials seized at the Ellipse magnetometers.
Marie: Most reports I've read over the last nearly two years, including Blake's, seem to give Trump "credit" for finally succumbing to the many entreaties to call off his troops. But I don't think efforts to behave responsibly have anything to do with his decision to make a mealymouthed statement after 187 minutes. Rather, I think that he saw that police forces opposing his little army had finally, no thanks to him, grown large enough in number to defeat the insurrectionists. That is, Trump called off the troops because the police reinforcements ensured that his own troops were bound to lose, not because he suddenly came to his senses.
Sahil Kapur of NBC News: "A theme in the [committee's introduction to its report] is that the committee believes numerous figures close to ... Donald Trump were being less than candid during their testimony, either through evasions or claims that they couldn't remember the answers to questions. In some cases, the committee said the purported memory lapses were not credible and appeared to be an attempt to conceal information." Among the suspected evasive witnesses: daughter Ivanka Trump, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, & advisor Hope Hicks. Among the "forgetful": Chief-of-Staff Mark Meadows, Deputy Chief-of-Staff Tony Ornato. "The panel alleges Trump also reached out to witnesses, without naming names: 'The Select Committee is aware of multiple efforts by President Trump to contact Select Committee witnesses. The Department of Justice is aware of at least one of those circumstances.... The committee report alleges that 'although [Rudy] Giuliani repeatedly had claimed in public that Dominion voting machines stole the election, he admitted during his Select Committee deposition that "I do not think the machines stole the election,"' according to the summary. 'Other Trump lawyers and supporters, Jenna Ellis, John Eastman, Phil Waldron and Michael Flynn, all invoked their Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination when asked by the Select Committee what supposed proof they uncovered that the election was stolen,' according to the executive summary."
Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "... Mr. Trump is significantly diminished, a shrunken presence on the political landscape. His fade is partly a function of his own missteps and miscalculations in recent months. But it is also a product of the voluminous evidence assembled by the House committee and its ability to tell the story of his efforts to overturn the election in a compelling and accessible way. In ways both raw and easily digested, and with an eye for vivid detail, the committee spooled out the episodic narrative of a president who was told repeatedly he had lost and that his claims of fraud were fanciful. But Mr. Trump continued pushing them anyway, plotted to reverse the outcome, stoked the fury of his supporters, summoned them to Washington and then stood by as the violence played out."
Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "Top lawmakers on Tuesday unveiled a sprawling government spending package that would keep the government open through next fall after reaching a compromise on billions of dollars in federal spending, including another round of emergency aid to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia's invasion. The legislation would increase federal spending from the last fiscal year, providing $858 billion in military spending and more than $772 billion for domestic programs for the remainder of the fiscal year that ends in September, according to a summary released by Senate Democrats. With Republican support needed for the measure to pass the Senate, Democrats bowed to conservative opposition to approving a larger increase that would have kept funding levels equal for the health, education and other domestic programs that President Biden and his party have prioritized. The release of the legislation came around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, just days ahead of a midnight Friday deadline to fund the government or face a shutdown...." ~~~
~~~ Amy Wang & Liz Goodwin of the Washington Post: "A bipartisan bill that would make changes to how members of Congress could object to electoral will be included in the omnibus spending bill lawmakers need to approve in the coming days, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said Monday night. The Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act, sponsored by Collins and Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), would amend the Electoral Count Act of 1887 and reaffirm that the vice president has only a ministerial role at the joint session of Congress where electoral college votes are counted. The measure would also raise the threshold necessary for members of Congress to object to a state's electors.... The bill was driven by the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by a mob of ... Donald Trump's supporters seeking to stop the certification of Joe Biden's win. Lawmakers have warned a similar effort to disrupt future electoral counts could happen without changes to the process.... Both Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) came out in support of the legislation in September." ~~~
~~~ Marie: No one ever seems to notice the most bizarre premise of Trump's fake Electors scheme: that is, according to the plan, a vice president can re-elect him/herself, no matter what the outcome of the election. That is exactly what would have happened if mike pence had gone along with the scheme to throw out the slates of Electors from several states Joe Biden & Kamala Harris won. "Maybe the vast majority of people voted for you, Kamala, but only one vote counts, and that vote is my vote. And I pick myself."
Rachel Roubein of the Washington Post: "Congress has clinched a deal to avert a lapse in critical dollars for Puerto Rico's Medicaid program for five years and permanently beef up federal dollars for the other U.S. territories, according to two people familiar with the negotiations." MB: More sloppy both-sides reporting. You won't be surprised to find out that it wasn't "Congress," but "Democrats," who "clinched the deal"; to get Republicans to sign on to a short-term measure funding Medicaid. Of course Democrats had to make major concessions to Republicans to get there. But the lede and headline seem to imply that Democrats & Republicans were working together to try to get a good deal for Puerto Ricans. That's misleading.
More Fake Than Trump. Grace Ashford & Michael Gold of the New York Times: "By his account, [Representative-elect George Santos (R-N.Y.)] catapulted himself from a New York City public college to become a 'seasoned Wall Street financier and investor' with a family-owned real estate portfolio of 13 properties and an animal rescue charity that saved more than 2,500 dogs and cats. But a New York Times review of public documents and court filings from the United States and Brazil, as well as various attempts to verify claims that Mr. Santos, 34, made on the campaign trail, calls into question key parts of the résumé that he sold to voters. Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, the marquee Wall Street firms on Mr. Santos's campaign biography, told The Times they had no record of his ever working there. Officials at Baruch College, which Mr. Santos has said he graduated from in 2010, could find no record of anyone matching his name and date of birth graduating that year. [And so forth,]... At the same time, new revelations uncovered by The Times -- including the omission of key information on Mr. Santos's personal financial disclosures, and criminal charges for check fraud in Brazil -- have the potential to create ethical and possibly legal challenges once he takes office." Recently, Santos did work for an investment company that the S.E.C. has accused of running a $17MM Ponzi scheme. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) CNN's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Michael Gold & Grace Ashford of the New York Times: "Representative-elect George Santos on Monday faced a barrage of questions, as well as an uncertain future, after an article in The New York Times revealed that he may have misrepresented key parts of his résumé on the campaign trail." ~~~
~~~ Michael Kranish, et al., of the Washington Post: "The chairman of New York's Democratic Party on Monday called for a House ethics investigation into George Santos, a Long Island Republican elected last month, following a report questioning whether he misled voters about key details in his background.... [Democratic rival Robert] Zimmerman, [whom Santos defeated,] in an interview with The Post, echoed [state party chairman Jay] Jacobs's calls for a probe into whether Santos made false statements on the personal financial disclosure form that candidates are required to file with the clerk of the House.... With the slim Republican majority in the House, some ethics experts doubted whether Santos would face any serious repercussions in Congress."
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. issued an order on Monday temporarily maintaining a Trump-era public health emergency measure that allows the government to expel migrants seeking asylum who cross the southern border unlawfully. The chief justice's order, known as an administrative stay, was provisional and meant to give the Supreme Court time to consider the question of whether to maintain the program, Title 42, which a trial judge had ordered to be ended by Wednesday. The court is likely to act in the coming days. The order was prompted by an emergency application filed on Monday by 19 states led by Republicans." CNN's report is here.
** Marbury, on Steroids. Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The conventional critique of the Supreme Court these days is that it has lurched to the right and is out of step with the public on many issues.... But a burst of recent legal scholarship makes a deeper point, saying the current court ... has rapidly been accumulating power at the expense of every other part of the government. The phenomenon was documented last month by Mark A. Lemley, a law professor at Stanford, in an article called 'The Imperial Supreme Court' in The Harvard Law Review.... [Lemley wrote,] 'It is a court that is consolidating its power, systematically undercutting any branch of government, federal or state, that might threaten that power, while at the same time undercutting individual rights.'... In a similar vein, Justice Elena Kagan noted the majority's imperial impulses in a dissent from a decision in June that limited the Environmental Protection Agency's ability to address climate change. 'The court appoints itself -- instead of Congress or the expert agency -- the decision maker on climate policy,' she wrote. 'I cannot think of many things more frightening.'... A second study, to be published in Presidential Studies Quarterly, concentrated on cases involving the executive branch and backed up Professor Lemley's observations with data."
Matthew Goldstein, et al., of the New York Times: "The disgraced cryptocurrency mogul Sam Bankman-Fried has agreed to be extradited to the United States, one of his lawyers said on Monday, after a chaotic morning of legal maneuvering in which Mr. Bankman Fried was shunted back and forth between court and prison in the Bahamas. Jerone Roberts, a local defense lawyer for Mr. Bankman-Fried, told reporters that his client had agreed to the extradition voluntarily, defying 'the strongest possible legal advice.'... But the hearing [in which Bankman-Fried was expected to say he would not fight extradition] descended into chaos: Mr. Roberts said he was 'shocked' to see his client in court, and requested at least one 45-minute break to confer privately with Mr. Bankman-Fried.... The judge presiding over the matter ordered the crypto entrepreneur returned to the Fox Hill jail in Nassau." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ The story has been updated, with new lead reporter Royston Jones. New lede: "The disgraced cryptocurrency mogul Sam Bankman-Fried has agreed to be extradited to the United States, one of his lawyers said on Monday, after a chaotic morning of legal maneuvering in which Mr. Bankman-Fried was shunted back and forth between court and prison in the Bahamas. Mr. Bankman-Fried is facing fraud charges in the United States related to the collapse of his cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, which was based in the Bahamas."
Eshe Nelson of the New York Times: "Elon Musk ... had asked his Twitter users on Sunday whether he should step down as the leader of the social media site. More than 17 million votes were cast and delivered a clear verdict: 57.5 percent said he should quit, in a Twitter 'poll' that closed after 12 hours on Monday. Mr. Musk had said he would abide by the results of the vote. But hours after the vote closed, there was no acknowledgment from Mr. Musk on Twitter." ~~~
~~~ Update: It Was a Rigged Election! Alex Hern of the Guardian: "Elon Musk has tweeted for the first time since more than 10 million people voted in favour of him stepping down as Twitter's chief executive, saying that only paid Twitter Blue subscribers will be able to vote in future policy-related polls.... Twitter Blue is a paid-for subscription that allows anyone to buy a blue tick verified badge for their account."
~~~ Paul Krugman of the New York Times on "why petulant oligarchs rule our world: ... I'm not shocked by the spectacle of Elon Musk's reputational
~~~ Marie: I don't think I've ever seen anyone with "deader" eyes than Musk. In photo after photo he looks barely alive.
Andrew Dalton of the AP: "Harvey Weinstein was found guilty Monday of rape at a Los Angeles trial in another #MeToo moment of reckoning, five years after he became a magnet for the movement. After deliberating for nine days spanning more than two weeks, the jury of eight men and four women reached the verdict at the second criminal trial of the 70-year-old onetime powerful movie mogul, who is two years into a 23-year sentence for a rape and sexual assault conviction in New York. Weinstein was found guilty of rape, forced oral copulation and another sexual misconduct count involving an Italian model and actor who said he appeared uninvited at her hotel room door during a Los Angeles film festival in 2013. The jury was unable to reach a decision on several counts, notably charges involving Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of California Gov. Gavin Newsom. The jury reported it was unable to reach verdicts in her allegations and the allegations of another woman. A mistrial was declared on those counts." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The New York Times report is here.
Way Beyond the Beltway
Ukraine, et al.
The New York Times' live updates of developments Tuesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates for Tuesday are here. The Guardian's summary report (on Day 300 of the invasion) is here. ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live briefing for Tuesday is here: "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday made an unexpected visit to Bakhmut, a city in the eastern Donetsk region, his office told The Washington Post, adding that he spoke to soldiers and gave them medals.... Zelensky had singled out Bakhmut a day earlier, calling it 'the hottest spot on the entire front line' at the moment, with 'more than 1300 km of active hostilities.'... Earlier Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin made a rare admission that Russian forces were finding it 'extremely difficult' to operate in the four regions of Ukraine that Russia illegally claimed to annex in September.... U.S. lawmakers unveiled a roughly $1.7 trillion deal to fund the U.S. government through most of 2023, a measure that would include an additional $44.9 billion in emergency military and economic assistance for Ukraine."
Anatoly Kurmanaev, et al., of the New York Times: "President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia made a rare visit to Belarus on Monday to strengthen his bond with the country's president and his closest regional ally, Aleksandr G. Lukashenko, a fellow strongman who has been under growing pressure from Moscow to provide more support for the war in Ukraine. Appearing together at a palace in Minsk after their talks, Mr. Putin and Mr. Lukashenko spoke about the need to withstand Western economic pressure. Mr. Putin said the two had also discussed the formation of a 'unified defense space,' without describing what that would entail, and had agreed to continue joint military exercises. Mr. Putin's visit took place as Russia continued its nighttime bombardment campaign against Ukraine's power plants and other crucial infrastructure, deepening the country's misery. And the trip seemed certain to escalate concerns in Kyiv about the possibility of a fresh ground offensive that could use Belarus as a launching pad."
Germany. Kate Connolly of the Guardian: "A 97-year-old former secretary at a Nazi concentration camp has been found guilty of complicity in the murder of more than 10,500 people imprisoned there and handed a two-year suspended sentence. Irmgard Furchner, who has been on trial in the northern German town of Itzehoe for more than a year, had spoken to the court on one occasion earlier this month to say she was sorry for what had happened, but stopped short of admitting her guilt. The start of her trial was delayed in September 2021 when she briefly went on the run. Having failed to turn up at court, she was found by police hours later on the outskirts of Hamburg, after which she was held in custody for five days and fitted with an electronic wrist tag.... She is the first civilian woman in Germany to have been held responsible for crimes committed in a Nazi concentration camp."
Vatican. Elizabetta Povoledo & Alex Marshall of the New York Times: "Pope Francis will return to Greek hands three 2,500-year-old pieces of the Parthenon that have been in the papal collections of the Vatican Museums for two centuries, the Vatican said in a statement on Friday. The fragments -- a head of a horse, a head of a boy and a bearded male head -- will become the property of Archbishop Ieronymos II, the head of the Greek Orthodox Church, the statement added.... Although the Vatican fragments will belong to the church rather than the state, [an Acropolis Museum] spokeswoman said they would be 'reunited in their positions.'... The pope's gesture comes amid reports of negotiations between Greece and Britain on a potential deal for the return of other temple fragments [-- MB: the Elgin Marbles --] that were removed by a British aristocrat in the 19th century and that are held by the British Museum in London. Those artifacts, which are a centerpiece of the museum's collection, are probably the world's most famous disputed museum items."
News Lede
CNN: "A 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck Northern California's Eureka area early Tuesday, according to the US Geological Survey, shaking people from their sleep, leaving thousands without electricity and damaging at least one bridge. The quake, striking at 2:34 a.m. PT, was centered in the Pacific just off the coast, about 7.5 miles from the Humboldt County city of Ferndale, the survey said. That's about a 20-mile drive southwest of Eureka and a 280-mile drive northwest of Sacramento. Most homes and businesses in Humboldt County were without power early Tuesday. More than 71,000 outages were reported shortly after 4:30 a.m. PT -- out of 99,000 customers tracked in the county -- according to utility tracker PowerOutage.us."
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Reader Comments (9)
Lest we forget:
It should not go without notice that the majority of Senate Republicans let the Pretender off the hook for the same behavior, tho it was not described in such loving detail at his second impeachment trial.
See what happens when we fall for that "jury of his peers" nonsense?
The traitors are losing it.
Because they’re never wrong and because they always see themselves winning even when they lose, whiny R’s are going off the rails in the wake of the J6 committee’s work, in a way that’s scary and stoopid, even for them.
Idiot Andy Biggs (Traitor, AZ) now sez he will subpoena the entire 14,000 hours of video and audio files collected as evidence of his leader’s attempt to overthrow the government.
14,000 hours. If you worked 24 hours a day non-stop, that would be close to 600 days, which means ol’ Andy won’t be seen for quite some time. A good thing for all of us. But since Republicans only work two days a week and two hours a day, that 600 days becomes more like 10 years.
Great. Good idea, Biggsy! See you in 2033. Let us know what you find.
(We all know, however, that these lazy fuckers don’t do any actual work. They’ll get the 14,000 hours of testimony and two days later announce that after an “exhaustive investigation”, everything the committee did is a lie. Now back to Hunter Biden’s penis!)
@Akhilleus: Not only that, the committee is planning to make 99 percent of its work product public, so they can answer Andy's revenge subpoenas by emailing him a few URLs. The only parts the committee plans to hold back is parts that would put witnesses at risk, and there's not a chance a responsible person would ever reveal those parts to Andy, who is a dangerous crackpot.
Gotta love that Florida free market:
https://news.yahoo.com/republicans-coughing-billions-save-florida-134200451.html
Little mikey pence doesn't think the courts should ruin trump's
holiday festivities. Mikey evidently has gotten over the hanging
thingy.
https://www.huffpost.com/mike-pence-dont-indict-trump-christmas_
n_63a098d6e4b03e2cc5029ab6
Thoughts and prayers.
The Twitter situation feels all too familiar. Twenty-some years ago, the board of directors at the University of Toledo installed their pet candidate as President. After a year and a half, he managed to fire and dismantle much of the institutional memory and systems before being demoted back to the faculty. He came in, "knowing" how things "should" be done, but showed himself (and his supporters on the Board) to be petty and cheap. They fired someone in IT weeks before retirement. They dismantled all of the University computing centers and told each of the colleges to set up their own, but did not give any resources to do it. We left when a Board member was quoted in the newspaper, saying they would hunt down and fire faculty members who were "disloyal to the institution."
Now elon is asking if he should step down, after he has laid waste to the infrastructure that made Twitter safer. I am sure the founders of Twitter wanted it to be a free, unfiltered platform, but they quickly found (just as elon has) that people will say the damnedest things, so they built the filter systems that elon has now destroyed. They weren't perfect, but the intent was good. I can just hear him: "You clean up the mess I made." Probably not the first time he has said it.
Re: Marbury on steroids
For years now in both Washingtons (here in the state, less so in the last few years because the R's have lost more elections) the trend has been Republican obstruction. Hence the legislative branch hasn't been able to either take care of the big problems that face us that we prefer not to think about or to enact legislation (largely progressive) pursuant to the popular will.
Two consequences of that inaction have been an increase in the number of stopgap executive orders, often fought by Republicans in the courts, and more issues ultimately left in the hands of the courts to decide.
At the national level, since the SCOTUS has been taken over by conservatives, their decisions not surprisingly tend toward the anti-democratic and pro-business.
Whether this was the intent of a well worked out plan or not, in effect the Court has filled the legislative void created by years of Republican obstruction.
Of course, the Court picks and chooses its cases as it will, but overall we can expect it will choose to decide the future course of our immigration policies, the relative power arrogated to business and labor, whether indeed one person really should have one vote, and whether money is the only voice the country should be allowed to hear.
The Court is our Junta.
Apparently, Space Karen has forgotten (surprise, surprise) all about how he said he’d abide by the wishes of the Twitterati in his latest “poll”. Oh well, he’s not much for democracy anyway. But it’s looking very much like he’s all for faux democracy, just like his traitor/Nazi/R pals. So now he’s saying, “Well, maybe what we’ll do is only let paying customers vote (kinda like only rich white landowners get the franchise). Rigged voting! What a novel idea. Someone should tell Trump about this.
Know what? Who cares? I’m not suggesting that it’s not important what happens to Twitter because rampaging hate groups are taking over and getting ready to unleash torrents of violence, online and real world, through the offices of the Musk ox’s new toy. But you can only really worry about stuff you have control over, and no one knows what’s going on in that disheveled, paranoid brain.
Clearly, like Trump, Musk believes he knows better than anyone, even about things he’s never done before. I heard an interview last week on Fresh Air with a tech reporter who has covered Twitter and the tech landscape for years. Wow.
He said that despite Musk’s presenting himself as a gifted, world class engineer, actual engineers at Twitter were astounded to discover how little he really knows. When he took over, SK ordered all new code written by anyone in the company to be run by him for his approval. During this particular exercise in vanity and paranoia, Twitter coders realized that he couldn’t read, much less understand, a lot of basic functions.
How scary is that? I mean, it’s not scary to think that the new owner is going to restrict his actions to stupid-ass administrative cluster-fucking, but when he tries to pretend he knows your work better than you do and is going to pass judgment on it…
But we just had four years of this crap at the federal level so we’ve already seen how this movie turns out.
As I read the story of the GOP House right wing and incoming wingers threatening the Senate GOP on the omnibus bill I can't help but wonder if their party can stay together. I'm expecting to see a split with some group with an inspiring name become a part of the system.