The Ledes

Thursday, October 10, 2024

CNBC: “The pace of price increases over the past year was higher than forecast in September while jobless claims posted an unexpected jump following Hurricane Helene and the Boeing strike, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The consumer price index, a broad gauge measuring the costs of goods and services across the U.S. economy, increased a seasonally adjusted 0.2% for the month, putting the annual inflation rate at 2.4%. Both readings were 0.1 percentage point above the Dow Jones consensus. The annual inflation rate was 0.1 percentage point lower than August and is the lowest since February 2021.”

The New York Times' live updates of Hurrucane Milton consequences Thursday are here: “Milton was still producing damaging hurricane-force winds and heavy rainfall to parts of East and Central Florida, forecasters said early Thursday, even as the powerful storm roared away from the Atlantic coast and left deaths and widespread damage across the state. Cities along Florida’s east coast are now facing flash flooding, damaging winds and storm surges. Some had already been battered by powerful tornadoes spun out by the storm before it made landfall on the Gulf Coast on Wednesday as a Category 3 hurricane. In [St. Lucie] county [Fort Pierce], several people in a retirement community were killed by a tornado, the police said.... More than three million customers were without power in Florida as of early Thursday.” ~~~

     ~~~ Here are the Weater Channel's live updates.

CNN: “The 2024 Nobel Prize in literature has been awarded to Han Kang, a South Korean author, for her 'intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.' Han, 53, began her career with a group of poems in a South Korean magazine, before making her prose debut in 1995 with a short story collection. She later began writing longer prose works, most notably 'The Vegetarian,' one of her first books to be translated into English. The novel, which won the Man Booker International Prize in 2016, charts a young woman’s attempt to live a more 'plant-like' existence after suffering macabre nightmares about human cruelty. Han is the first South Korean author to win the literature prize, and just the 18th woman out of the 117 prizes awarded since 1901.” The New York Times story is here.

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The Ledes

Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Washington Post: “Hours before Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida, a spate of unusually strong and long-lived tornadoes touched down across the state, flipping tractor-trailers and ripping off roofs. The twisters surprised anxious residents, even as the storm’s eye still loomed. Authorities said there had been 'multiple' deaths after the intense and destructive tornadoes.” MB: I'm still on Florida's emergency-call list, and I received several calls from Lee County, urging me to shelter in place.

The Washington Post's live updates of Hurricane Milton developments are here: “Hurricane Milton, which has strengthened to a 'catastrophic' Category 5 storm, is closing in on Florida’s west coast and is expected to make landfall Wednesday night or early Thursday, the National Hurricane Center said. The hurricane, which could bring maximum sustained winds of nearly 160 mph with bigger gusts, poses a dire threat to the densely populated zone that includes Tampa, Sarasota and Fort Myers. As well as 'damaging hurricane-force winds,' coastal communities face a 'life-threatening' storm surge, the center said.” ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates are here: “Milton carved a path of destruction after crashing ashore Wednesday evening on Florida’s Gulf Coast, making landfall near Sarasota as the second powerful hurricane to pound the region in less than two weeks. The storm battered the state for much of the day, with heavy winds, pelting rain and a spate of tornadoes.... By around midnight, the storm had destroyed more than 100 homes, killed several people in a retirement community and ripped the roof off Tropicana Field, the home of the Tampa Bay Rays.”

Washington Post: “The Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded to David Baker at the University of Washington and Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper of Google DeepMind.... The prize was awarded to scientists who cracked the code of proteins. Hassabis and Jumper used artificial intelligence to predict the structure of proteins, one of the toughest problems in biology. Baker created computational tools to design novel proteins with shapes and functions that can be used in drugs, vaccines and sensors.”

Sorry, forgot this yesterday: ~~~

Reuters: “U.S. scientist John Hopfield and British-Canadian Geoffrey Hinton won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday for discoveries and inventions in machine learning that paved the way for the artificial intelligence boom. Heralded for its revolutionary potential in areas ranging from cutting-edge scientific discovery to more efficient admin, the emerging technology on which the duo worked has also raised fears humankind may soon be outsmarted and outcompeted by its own creation.”

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Public Service Announcement

Washington Post: "Americans can again order free rapid coronavirus tests by mail, the Biden administration announced Thursday. People can request four free at-home tests per household through covidtests.gov. They will begin shipping Monday. The move comes ahead of an expected winter wave of coronavirus cases. The September revival of the free testing program is in line with the Biden administration’s strategy to respond to the coronavirus as part of a broader public health campaign to protect Americans from respiratory viruses, including influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), that surge every fall and winter. But free tests were not mailed during the summer wave, which wastewater surveillance data shows is now receding."

Washington Post: “Comedy news outlet the Onion — reinvigorated by new ownership over this year — is bringing back its once-popular video parodies of cable news. But this time, there’s someone with real news anchor experience in the chair. When the first episodes appear online Monday, former WAMU and MSNBC host Joshua Johnson will be the face of the resurrected 'Onion News Network.' Playing an ONN anchor character named Dwight Richmond, Johnson says he’s bringing a real anchor’s sense of clarity — and self-importance — to the job. 'If ONN is anything, it’s a news organization that is so unaware of its own ridiculousness that it has the confidence of a serial killer,' says Johnson, 44.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'll be darned if I can figured out how to watch ONN. If anybody knows, do tell. Thanks.

Washington Post: “First came the surprising discovery that Earth’s atmosphere is leaking. But for roughly 60 years, the reason remained a mystery. Since the late 1960s, satellites over the poles detected an extremely fast flow of particles escaping into space — at speeds of 20 kilometers per second. Scientists suspected that gravity and the magnetic field alone could not fully explain the stream. There had to be another source creating this leaky faucet. It turns out the mysterious force is a previously undiscovered global electric field, a recent study found. The field is only about the strength of a watch battery — but it’s enough to thrust lighter ions from our atmosphere into space. It’s also generated unlike other electric fields on Earth. This newly discovered aspect of our planet provides clues about the evolution of our atmosphere, perhaps explaining why Earth is habitable. The electric field is 'an agent of chaos,' said Glyn Collinson, a NASA rocket scientist and lead author of the study. 'It undoes gravity.... Without it, Earth would be very different.'”

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.”

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The Commentariat -- December 15, 2020

Late Morning/Afternoon News:

Dan Merica of CNN: "President-elect Joe Biden will nominate Pete Buttigieg to be his transportation secretary, sources familiar with the matter tell CNN, elevating the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate to a top post in the federal government. Buttigieg would be the first Senate-confirmed LGBTQ Cabinet secretary should his nomination make it through the chamber. The choice vaults a candidate Biden spoke glowingly of after the Democratic primary into a top job in the incoming administration and could earn Buttigieg what many Democrats believe is needed experience should he run for president again. The role of transportation secretary is expected to play a central role in Biden's push for a bipartisan infrastructure package." The Washington Post's story is here.

Jonathan Swan of Axios: "Right up to Monday's Electoral College vote, President Trump held the false hope that Republican-controlled state legislatures would replace electors with allies who'd overturn Joe Biden's win, two people who discussed the matter with him told Axios.... Through the past week, the sources said, the president browbeat GOP legislators in multiple states, launched tirades against Republican Govs. Doug Ducey of Arizona and Brian Kemp of Georgia, vowed to make Fox News 'pay' for accurately calling the race, and tested ways to say he didn't win without acknowledging he had lost."

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here.

Noah Weiland, et al., of the New York Times: "Newly released data confirmed on Tuesday that Moderna's coronavirus vaccine is highly protective, setting the stage for its emergency authorization this week by federal regulators and the start of its distribution across the country. The Food and Drug Administration intends to authorize use of the vaccine on Friday, people familiar with the agency's plans said. The decision would give millions of Americans access to a second coronavirus vaccine beginning as early as Monday. The review by the F.D.A. confirms Moderna's earlier assessment that its vaccine had an efficacy rate of 94.1 percent in a trial of 30,000 people. Side effects, including fever, headache and fatigue, were unpleasant but not dangerous, the agency found. The success of Moderna's vaccine has become all the more crucial to fighting the pandemic as other vaccine efforts have faltered." Politico's story is here.

The Turtle Has Spoken. Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) congratulated President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on Tuesday, marking the first time he has directly acknowledged their victory. 'The Electoral College has spoken, so today I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden. The president-elect is no stranger to the Senate. He's devoted himself to public service for many years, McConnell said." Update: A New York Times story is here. ~~~

Maybe Moscow Mitch Was Waiting for Vlad's Okay. Mary Ilyushina of CNN: "Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Joe Biden on his victory in the US presidential election Tuesday, six weeks after the vote and a day after the Electoral College officially affirmed Biden's win." The WashPo's item on Putin's congrats was posted at 6:52 am ET. ~~~

~~~ The Washington Post's live Biden transition updates Tuesday are here. ~~~

~~~ Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "The position of the Senate GOP leader [Mitch McConnell] is now clear, pretty much negating any chance that Senate Republicans would participate in some kind of unlikely end-run not to accept the verdict of the electoral college.... McConnell is basically signaling he won't participate in such shenanigans.... Shortly after McConnell [congratulated Joe Biden & Kamala Harris], Trump made clear he's not giving up on his doomed crusade. 'Tremendous evidence pouring in on voter fraud,' Trump [tweeted] falsely. 'There has never been anything like this in our Country!' [Twitter flagged the tweet.]... Now is when we find out who is truly running this party from this point forward because its two top leaders' positions are completely irreconcilable."

Marie: In his speech yesterday, President-elect Biden noted that he had won the same number of Electoral College votes as Trump did in 2016. While that's true, Biden actually received two more votes than Trump did in 2016, because of faithless electors. So if Trump's win was a "landslide" (it wasn't), then I guess Biden won a "huge landslide."

~~~~~~~~~~

Real News

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "When future historians close the books on the misery of 2020, a grueling year of disease, death, racial strife, street violence, economic collapse and political discord the likes of which have not been seen in the United States in generations, they may look back on Monday, Dec. 14, as a pivotal juncture. It was on that day that Americans began rolling up their sleeves for a vaccine produced in record time to defeat a virus even as the death toll crossed 300,000. And it was on that day that members of the Electoral College gathered in each of the 50 states to ratify the end of the most polarized election in more than a century.... The day played out in a remarkable fashion as television viewers watched images of health care workers receiving lifesaving injections juxtaposed with live shots from state capitals around the country showing electors casting votes formally confirming the victory of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Vice President-elect Kamala D. Harris.

Matt Viser of the Washington Post: "President-elect Joe Biden reaffirmed his faith in American democracy and the integrity of its elections in an address Monday after the electoral college formalized his victory over President Trump, despite the incumbent's false claims that the election results are somehow in doubt. In some of his most sweeping comments since he was projected as the winner 37 days earlier, Biden attempted to unify a polarized and skittish country with direct appeals to the more than 74 million Americans who voted for Trump.... Biden's speech on Monday night was designed to once again counter Trump's assault -- and to cement his belief that the country's founding democratic principles would remain intact.... Biden, in remarks that appeared clearly aimed at Trump, implicitly rejected those attempts to challenge the results of the election. 'In America, politicians don't take power -- people grant it to them,' Biden said. 'The flame of democracy was lit in this nation a long time ago. And we now know that nothing -- not even a pandemic or an abuse of power -- can extinguish that flame.'" The AP's report is here. ~~~

~~~ Rebecca Shabad, et al., of NBC News: "President-elect Joe Biden on Monday gave his most scathing indictment yet of the attempts by ... Donald Trump and his allies to overturn November's election, hours after the Electoral College officially sealed Biden's victory. Biden called ... attacks on the election and election officials 'simply unconscionable' and Trump's attempts to overturn the election an 'abuse of power.'" ~~~

From the New York Times' live election updates Monday: "Joseph R. Biden Jr. was affirmed as the president-elect on Monday as members of the Electoral College pushed him past the 270 threshold to win the White House, all but ending a disruptive chapter in American history in which President Trump sought to use legal challenges and political pressure to overturn the results of a free and fair election." (Also linked yesterday.)~~~

~~~ The Washington Post's live election updates are here: "Joe Biden has amassed the electoral votes to secure his White House win. California and its 55 electoral votes put the president-elect over the top, despite President Trump's efforts to subvert the Nov. 3 election results. (Also linked yesterday.)~~~

~~~ California Electors put Biden & Harris over the top:

Josh Holder & others at the New York Times updated the results of the Electoral College vote as the states submit their results. CNN's tracker is here. MB: When I first checked this morning, Biden had only seven votes & Trump had 38. Now (at 4:20 pm ET Monday) Biden is ahead. How is that possible? There's only a one-in-a-bazillion statistical chance that could happen, absent rampant cheating. Trump wuz robbed! (Also linked yesterday.)

Scott Stedman of Forensic News: "U.S. Sen Mark Warner, the Ranking Member of the US Senate Intelligence Committee, has deep connections to a founder of the spyware company NSO Group according to corporate and government documents, open-source information, and sources who spoke to Forensic News, raising questions of a potential conflict of interest. As the Ranking Member on the committee, Warner is responsible for overseeing the intelligence apparatuses of the U.S. government and investigating potential national security risks posed by malign actors. The link between Warner and Omri Lavie, an ex-Israeli intelligence officer and one of the three founders of NSO Group (NSO stands for Niv, Shalev, and Omri, the first names of the three founders) lies in Warner's longtime confidant, current business partner, and the former manager of his family's investment office, Nicholas Perrins.... Corporate records reviewed by Forensic News reveal that Warner and Omri Lavie share an office space in Alexandria, Va.... A spokesperson for Senator Warner said, 'Senator Warner does not know, has not met, and has zero relationship with Omri Lavie.'" --s

Kansas. AP: "The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from Kansas that sought to revive a law requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote. A federal appeals court had declared the law unconstitutional. Kansas had been the only state to require people to show a physical document such as a birth certificate or passport when applying to register to vote. The issue is distinct from state laws that call for people to produce driver licenses or other photo IDs to cast a vote in person. The law was championed by former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who led ... Donald Trump's now-defunct voter fraud commission. Kobach was a leading source for Trump's unsubstantiated claim that millions of immigrants living in the U.S. illegally may have voted in the 2016 election. Roughly 30,000 people were prevented from registering to vote during the three years the law was in effect, and the state's own expert estimated that almost all of those were U.S. citizens who were eligible to vote." A Washington Post story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Isabelle Khurshudyan & Robyn Dixon of the Washington Post: "A team of Russian state security agents poisoned prominent opposition activist Alexei Navalny in August [link fixed], the investigative website Bellingcat claimed in a report Monday, citing telecom and travel data that it says links Moscow with the attempt on Navalny's life and reveals how he has been under constant surveillance for three years. Bellingcat said the 'voluminous' data implicates eight members of a clandestine group of Russia's FSB, a successor to the Soviet-era KGB responsible for domestic intelligence. The unit specializes in working with chemical weapons, Bellingcat said." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Bellingcat: "A joint investigation between Bellingcat and The Insider, in cooperation with Der Spiegel and CNN, has discovered voluminous telecom and travel data that implicates Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) in the poisoning of the prominent Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny.... Throughout 2017, and again in 2019 and 2020, FSB operatives from a clandestine unit specialized in working with poisonous substances shadowed Navalny during his trips across Russia, traveling alongside him on more than 30 overlapping flights to the same destinations.... In the course of this investigation, Bellingcat and its partners also uncovered data pointing to the existence of a clandestine chemical weapons program operated by members of Russia's domestic intelligence services (FSB).... Our investigation also unearthed telecoms and travel data that strongly suggests the August poisoning attempt on Navalny's life was mandated at the highest echelons of the Kremlin." --s

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here: "The first shot was given in the American mass vaccination campaign on Monday morning, opening a new chapter in the battle against the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more people in the United States than in any other country. Shortly after 9 a.m. on Monday, the first vaccination took place in Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens. The pandemic has scarred New York State profoundly, leaving more than 35,000 people dead and severely weakening the economy. 'I believe this is the weapon that will end the war, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said at a news conference Monday morning, shortly before the shot was given to Sandra Lindsay, an intensive-care nurse. State officials said the shot was the first to be given outside of a vaccine trial in the United States." (Also linked yesterday.) MB: Wow! A Black female ICU nurse in a Jewish hospital. Perfect. Plus, I hope this makes the head of a Queens Man explode:

     ~~~ Ben Guarino & William Wan of the Washington Post: "It was fitting for so many reasons that Sandra Lindsay became the face of the country's first coronavirus vaccinations Monday. With the coronavirus killing people of color at disproportionate rates, she was a Black woman eager to prove the shot's safety to those still hesitant about being vaccinated. She is a critical-care nurse, among the health-care workers who have spent more time than any caring for the pandemic's sickest victims -- working at a New York hospital system that was on the front lines of the pandemic this spring and has treated thousands of covid-19 patients.... In an interview shortly after the vaccination, Lindsay said she knew when she woke up Monday morning she would be getting the shot but had no idea she would be the first person in America to do so since the vaccine's approval this weekend.... As an intensive care unit director at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, Lindsay, 52, oversees five units of critical-care nurses who have been caring for covid-19 patients since the worst weeks in New York this spring. Amid that work, Lindsay lost an aunt and an uncle to covid-19...." ~~~

     ~~~ Sharon Otterman of the New York Times: "Because of lingering skepticism about the vaccine, even among some on her own staff, [Sandra] Lindsay, the director of critical care nursing, said she wanted to lead by example -- particularly as a Black woman who understands the legacy of unequal and racist medical treatment and experimentation on people of color. 'That was the goal today,' she said in a phone interview on Monday. 'Not to be the first one to take the vaccine, but to inspire people who look like me, who are skeptical in general about taking vaccines.'... During the first wave of the pandemic, Ms. Lindsay led a team of hundreds of critical care nurses as the hospital coped with waves of extremely ill Covid-19 patients."

The Last Days of the Mad Kaiser

Water Carrier Drops Bucket. Allie Malloy, et al., of CNN:"Attorney General William Barr resigned on Monday, ending a tenure in which the... Donald Trump loyalist carried the administration's 'law and order' message but ultimately dealt the most credible blow to Trump's unfounded claims that the 2020 election was littered with fraud. 'Just had a very nice meeting with Attorney General Bill Barr at the White House. Our relationship has been a very good one, he has done an outstanding job! As per letter, Bill will be leaving just before Christmas to spend the holidays with his family,' Trump tweeted.... 'Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen, an outstanding person, will become Acting Attorney General. Highly respected Richard Donoghue will be taking over the duties of Deputy Attorney General. Thank you to all!' Update: A Washington Post report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Jake Tapper of CNN: Trump released Barr's resignation letter minutes after the Electoral College put Joe Biden over the top. Pundits seems to think Trump forced Barr to resign. Others suggest Barr quit because he didn't want to be around for the last-minute pardon blitz. MB: My guess: After Trump let it be known he would fire Droopy Dawg, Droopy asked Trump to let him resign. Trump said, "Okay, but you have to write me a nice letter." The "nice letter" went through several iterations, one more sycophantic than the next, each of which Trump rejected until Barr wrote this stellar masterpiece of asskissery. No saint-to-be, no beloved muse has ever received so profusely complimentary a missive. Will Shakespeare (Sonnet 18), Elizabeth Barrett B. (Sonnet 43), hang your heads. Billy Barr hath outdone ye. ~~~

~~~ Katie Benner of the New York Times: "Mr. Barr had in recent weeks fallen out of favor with the president after acknowledging that the department had found no widespread voter fraud. Tensions between them escalated this past weekend when Mr. Trump accused his attorney general of disloyalty for not publicly disclosing the department's investigation into President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s son Hunter Biden during the campaign. Mr. Trump sought to play down their differences on Monday, saying in a tweet announcing Mr. Barr's departure that 'our relationship has been a very good one, he has done an outstanding job!'... Mr. Barr reciprocated the praise in a resignation letter devoted to commending Mr. Trump's term, saying that the Justice Department was pursuing some accusations of voter fraud and mentioning that he and the president had met on the issue on Monday afternoon."

Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump's allies are preparing to send an 'alternate' slate of electors to Congress, senior White House adviser Stephen Miller said Monday, signaling Trump will drag out his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election even after the Electoral College certifies Joe Biden as the winner. Miller appearing on Fox News as a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, brushed off the idea that the Electoral College vote marked any kind of end to the process. 'The only date in the Constitution is Jan. 20. So we have more than enough time to right the wrong of this fraudulent election result and certify Donald Trump as the winner of the election,' Miller said on 'Fox & Friends.'... Nothing in the Constitution or state electoral processes allows for such an 'alternate' slate of electors. Miller also raised the idea of state legislatures stepping in to overturn the results or of Congress interceding." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: As Neal Katyal pointed out on MSNBC, an "alternate slate" of electors is akin to Kellyanne Conway's "alternate facts." ~~~

~~~ Haisten Willis, et al., of the Washington Post: "Republicans in six states won by President-elect Joe Biden held their own electoral college-style votes Monday for President Trump -- hoping that future court decisions would throw out Biden's votes and count the GOP ones instead. These votes have no legal meaning, according to election law experts. The law only recognizes votes from electors chosen according to state law -- which, in every one of these states, is the Democratic electors. But many Republicans who had been chosen to cast electoral votes for Trump still gathered to cast them.... In several states, Republicans said they were modeling their behavior after tactics used by Democrats in Hawaii in the 1960 presidential election. On the day that the electoral college voted that year, Republican Richard M. Nixon was ahead -- but Democratic electors, believing that John F. Kennedy had carried the state, held their own vote for Kennedy. Later, after a recount, the courts and the governor declared that Kennedy had won. So Hawaii officially sent two sets of electors. When Congress met to count the votes, Kennedy was ahead by a wide margin. With little debate, they counted Hawaii for the Democrat."

Big News! A Few U.S. Senators Acknowledge Reality. Marianne Levine, et al., of Politico: "... as the day went on [Monday] and the Electoral College's verdict was made clear, an increasing number of Republican senators -- though certainly not all -- began to say what the leader of their party won't and what they declined to acknowledge for weeks: [Joe] Biden will take office in January.... Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.), the second-ranking Senate Republican[, said,]'... I think that once the Electoral College settles the issue today, it's time for everybody to move on.' 'There's clearly a constitutional president-elect,' added Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), the No. 4 GOP leader. Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) said 'the Electoral College vote today makes clear that Joe Biden is now president-elect.' Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) agreed that 'it's time to turn the page and begin a new administration.' And Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) was unequivocal: 'Vice President Biden is the president-elect based on the electoral count.'... For more than a month, only a small group of Republicans has been willing to say that Biden is the president-elect, despite a clear victory and massive barriers to overturning the election results.... Even at this late stage, some Senate Republicans refused to acknowledge Biden's victory Monday, noting that Trump is still pursuing his bid to overturn the election in court." ~~~

~~~ Paul McLeod of BuzzFeed News publishes more comments from Senate Republicans about the election results. MB: Like me, McLeod is very impressed with their "UNSPEAKABLE BRAVERY."

Jake Tapper of CNN: "Rep. Paul Mitchell, Republican of Michigan, told CNN that his disgust and disappointment with ... Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the results of the election have led him to request that the Clerk of the House change his party affiliation to 'independent,' and to notify GOP leaders in a letter that he is withdrawing his 'engagement and association with the Republican Party at both the national and state level.' Mitchell, who is retiring at the end of this session of Congress, says he fears that the House GOP leadership's participation in the outgoing President's conspiracy theories and attempts to disenfranchise millions of American voters to overturn President-elect Joe Biden's victory could cause 'long-term harm to our democracy.' It is 'unacceptable for political candidates to treat our election system as though we are a third-world nation and incite distrust of something so basic as the sanctity of our vote,' Mitchell wrote in his letter, which was sent Monday." (Also linked yesterday.)

Arizona. Ronald Hansen of the Arizona Republic: "In another sign of the lingering unrest over ... Donald Trump's election loss, an Arizona group sent the National Archives in Washington, D.C., notarized documents last week intended to deliver, wrongly, the state's 11 electoral votes for him. Copies of the documents obtained by The Arizona Republic show a group that claimed to represent the 'sovereign citizens of the Great State of Arizona' submitted signed papers casting votes for what they want: a second term for Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.... The 11 electors actually chosen by Arizona voters last month -- meeting in an unpublicized location because of security concerns over their task -- cast their votes Monday for President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, formalizing the Democrats' victory nationally and in the state." The leader of these "sovereign citizens" claimed firsties: "We seated before the legislators here. We already turned it in. We beat them to the game."

Michigan. Dave Boucher of the Detroit Free Press: "Michigan Republican legislative leaders pulled a GOP lawmaker from his committee assignments Monday after the lawmaker hinted he was part of a group that sought to disrupt or otherwise undermine the Electoral College vote slated to happen at the Capitol in the afternoon. State Rep. Gary Eisen, R-St. Clair Township, made the comments Monday morning during an interview with Port Huron-area radio station WPHM-AM (1380). He was asked about the Electoral College, members of which were set to meet Monday in the state Senate chamber to cast the state's 16 electoral votes for President-elect Joe Biden. Eisen made the comments in the context of he and others in Lansing having some sort of event, either at the Capitol or somewhere else. He said he could not rule out the possibility of violence.... House Speaker Lee Chatfield, R-Levering, denounced threats made against Electoral College members in announcing the decision to pull Eisen from his committee assignments." ~~~

~~~ Chandelis Duster of CNN: "'Credible threats of violence' have prompted Michigan authorities to close the state capitol to the public and shutter House and Senate offices, a spokeswoman said, on the day the Electoral College will formally declare Joe Biden the President-elect. The tension surrounding Monday's procedure -- a typically routine event affirming a presidential victory -- was underscored in an interview with a GOP state lawmaker [Gary Eisen] who floated the possibility of violence at the capitol and was swiftly stripped of his committee assignments by the legislature's Republican leaders. 'The decision was not made because of anticipated protests, but was made based on credible threats of violence, Amber McCann..., the spokeswoman for Republican Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, said in a statement."

Wisconsin. Harper Neidig of the Hill: "Wisconsin's Supreme Court on Monday rejected a legal challenge from President Trump's campaign seeking to overturn President-elect Joe Biden's victory in the key battleground state. A majority decision from the state's high court said that the Trump campaign had failed to show that more than 220,000 votes were illegallycast and should be invalidated." MB: The court has a conservative majority. The one conservative justice who rejected Trump's claim, Brian Hagedorn, wrote the majority opinion. (Also linked yesterday.)

Way Beyond the Beltway

Saudi Arabia/Norway. Torgeir Krokfjord, et al. of Dagbladet (Norway): "In the early summer of 2018, Norway received an unusual request from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's government. Saudi Arabia wanted to send ten men on an official assignment to Norway.... But Saudi Arabia wanted the security guards to be registered as diplomats in Norway. This would give them extended room for manoeuvring in Norway [and diplomatic immunity]. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs intervened, and the Norwegian Police Security Service(PST) has informed Iyad el-Baghdadi (43) - a Norway-based journalist, activist, and critic of the Saudi regime - about the incident.... Officials ... have later noted that security personnel, from the consulate in Istanbul, played key roles in the murder of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.... At the same time that Saudi Arabia requested that the security team were registeret [sic] as diplomats - in the spring/early summer of 2018 - el-Baghdadi and Khashoggi met in Oslo." --s

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Reader Comments (13)

The Barr letter, such as it is, gives the term “obsequious” a bad name. In fact, one might suspect that Fatty write it himself except for the lack of typical Trump discourse markers like “incredible”, “tremendous”, “best in history”, and “great” to describe himself, and “losers”, “sad”, and “stupid” for everyone and everything else.

Also, not enough misspellings. Whatever its provenance, this thing demonstrates that Barr has never been anything more than a sycophantic, invertebrate toady, who is about as close to a decent, stand up man of honor as, well, as anyone else employed by the First Traitor.

Good riddance. I only hope they can clean up the slime trail he’ll leave behind when he slithers out the door before the next real AG takes over.

December 15, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

When Clio, the Muse of History, notes Barr's letter, she may change her sub-title from "Muse of the Lyre" to "Liar's Muse." I doubt she had a role inspiring the sycophants who drafted that offal work.

Marie picked some doozies for comparison, comprehensible bitesize sonnets from Browning (Ms.) and Shakespeare. But when Clio sits down to write up the whole of DiJiT, the ouevre will be more like Spenser's "The Faerie Queen" inverted, ponderous and involute, with all the allegories painted orange and gold. and the quest for "Truth" changed to "Alternate Facts", the value of "Chastity" changed to "when you're a star they let you."

I read Barr's letter at breakfast. It was good that I had only had coffee before reading, I might have ended up with a fighter pilot's breakfast (coffee and a puke), except for my mastery of self-control such as the world has never seen.

December 15, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterPatrick

We're all busy. Some of us may not have had the time to read the Buzzfeed article marie clipped, about R senators' post-finish betting on the electoral horserace. But if you missed (NDak) Sen Cramer's wordsalad gishgallop, you missed out in a "wha.a.a.a?" moment. Here it is:

"Well, it seems to me that being elected by the Electoral College is a threshold where a title like that is probably most appropriate and it's, I suppose you can say official — if there is such a thing as official president-elect, or anything else–elect. And there's an inauguration that will swear somebody in and that person will be the president of the United States, but whether you call it that or not, you know, there are legal challenges that are ongoing — not very many — probably not a remedy that would change the outcome but, so, I don't — again I don't know how politician refers to another politician, but it does look to me like the big race is really between the inaugural committee and the Justice Department at this point, so we'll see how the emails turn out."

Greatest deliberative body in the world. Yup.

December 15, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterPatrick

Patrick,

Thanks for the ND senator's clipped clip. Don't think I could have gotten through the whole thing.

Had enough trouble with this, the Hagedorn--I seem to remember this is not the first time he's been a turncoat-- decision and the minority dissent in the Wisconsin voting case before the state's supremes(

https://law.justia.com/cases/wisconsin/supreme-court/2020/2020ap002038.html

)for different reasons. The legal language for one. Will have to look up a few words, but mostly for the emptiness of the dissent, which seemed to to be another case of Republicans wishing it--in this case, the law-- weren't so.

I offer the link for those who have too much time on their hands--and plenty of coffee.

December 15, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Now that Putin has acknowledged the Biden-Harris victory, doesn't that put the Pretender in a bind?

Poor practice to contradict the boss, I'd think. If he's not careful, the Pretender may never get that Moscow hotel he's always dreamed of.

December 15, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

@Patrick: Many people seem to have loved Cramer's ruminations on a presidential race. I heard his little discourse read aloud -- with glee -- at least twice on the teevee yesterday. BTW, it's about half as long as the Gettysburg Address. Maybe Cramer was slouching toward posterity.

December 15, 2020 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

@Patrick: for someone who has coffee (no breakfast?) on an empty stomach and manages to dish out such delectable comments, I give a few high fives, sir. Your Clio's colors of orange and gold reminded me of the other big news of the day: Tasmanian devils, it has been recently discovered, glow under ultra–violent light. It was known that those cute Platypuses were bioflurescence, but devils, too? Given that our very own ex-president displays these colors in REGULAR light one could, if pressed, come to the conclusion that the man in question here is one of those living organisms that absorb light and reemits it as a different color ( read different reality). And all this time we thought he was bonkers when in actuality he be a devil in disguise along with his pusillanimous platypuses.

Case closed: It's over!–– but those fat ladies and louts ain't done singing their sick songs and lord knows how crazy things can get. And the slime that AK mentions that Barr leaves behind is abundant throughout; it will take more than just fumigating the W.H.

December 15, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

Ken,

To my thinking, Uncle Vlad has already demoted Donaldavich from First Puppet to auxiliary asset. That’s “asset”, not “asshat”, but if you’re homonymically inclined, I can see why you’d go there.

In any event, after almost five years of obsequious toadying from the US president*, Putin will have to resign himself to having an ex-president* loser to carry out whatever unscrupulous, anti-American, democracy busting duties he deems doable by an unstable, barely literate mook.

Ah well, maybe he can start developing some new puppets. Pompeo maybe, or Cotton. Now that I think of it, he’s got the entire Republican Party doing yeoman’s work in the service of pummeling democracy and corrupting the American Experiment.

It’s been joy, joy, joy for the Russian strongman, as he watches, like a proud daddy, the American weak men (and women) strive for goals his agents have been aiming at for decades.

Good work, Republicans! The Order of Lenin for all of you!

December 15, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Here's Sting and Shaggy singing their "Dreaming in the USA"––sing along.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LT_aF53LbOE

December 15, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

THE SOUND OF MUSIC–-how sweet it is.

The children sing Auf Weirdersehen to Trump:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7kCqrlwDtU&feature=youtu.be

December 15, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

In Marie's update clip, DiJiT "... tested ways to say he didn't win without acknowledging he had lost."

I believe the standard here was set by Emperor Hirohito in 1945, after realizing that continuing WW2 would kill most of his subjects. Not that DiJiT would care about such a cost, but the wording is worth emulating: (pertinent excerpt)

" ... Despite the best that has been done by everyone – the gallant fighting of the military and naval forces, the diligence and assiduity of our servants of the state, and the devoted service of our one hundred million people – the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage, while the general trends of the world have all turned against her interest. ... "

I think the closest battleship on whose deck DiJiT could surrender is the USS Constitution in Baltimore Harbor. Think of the symmetry!!

December 15, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterPatrick

I believe that would be the USS Constellation in Baltimore. We’ve got the USS Constitution up in Boston.

December 15, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterNiskyGuy

And if you don’t mind, we would rather not see T****’s fat ass up in our neck of the woods.

December 15, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterNiskyGuy
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