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.”

Help!

To keep the Conversation going, please help me by linking news articles, opinion pieces and other political content in today's Comments section.

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OR you can always just block, copy and paste to your comment the URL (Web address) of the page you want to link.

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Thank you to everyone who has been contributing links to articles & other content in the Comments section of each day's "Conversation." If you're missing the comments, you're missing some vital links.

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 22, 2020

Afternoon Update:

The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here.

Erica Green of the New York Times: "President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. is expected to nominate Miguel A. Cardona, Connecticut's education commissioner, to serve as his education secretary, tapping a Latino to be the nation's highest education policymaker, according to two officials familiar with his plans. Dr. Cardona, if confirmed by the Senate, would be tasked with bringing the elementary, secondary and higher education systems back from the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic and repairing the considerable damage done.... The selection of Dr. Cardona would fulfill Mr. Biden's campaign promise to appoint a diverse cabinet and a secretary of education with public school experience -- a blunt juxtaposition to President Trump's billionaire private-school champion Betsy DeVos." MB: Time for an op-ed condemning Dr. Cardona for using that honorific.

Shawn Hubler of the New York Times: "Alex Padilla, California's secretary of state, has been appointed to fill the Senate seat held by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Tuesday, capping months of intense political jockeying among Democratic factions in the state. The son of Mexican-born immigrants who settled in Los Angeles's San Fernando Valley, Mr. Padilla, 47, will be the first Latino senator from California, where Latinos are about 40 percent of the population." MB: Because in a state with a population of about 20 million women, the majority of them citizens, Gavin couldn't find one who was qualified to do the job.

Yeganeh Torbati of the Washington Post: "... tucked in the [big federal spending] bill was over $110 billion in tax breaks that strayed far from the way the bill was marketed to many Americans. These giveaways include big tax cuts for liquor producers, the motorsports entertainment sector, and manufacturers of electric motorcycles. Tax experts and good governance advocates have criticized such short-term tax relief extensions, arguing they hide the true cost of the cuts and advantage industries with the most well-connected lobbyists." MB: Thanks, Congress, because I'm so happy to subsidize NASCAR. Vroom, vroom.

Jonathan Swan of Axios: "President Trump, in his final days, is turning bitterly on virtually every person around him, griping about anyone who refuses to indulge conspiracy theories or hopeless bids to overturn the election, several top officials tell Axios.... Targets of his outrage include Vice President Pence, chief of staff Mark Meadows, White House counsel Pat Cipollone, Secretary of State Pompeo and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.... Trump thinks everyone around him is weak, stupid or disloyal -- and increasingly seeks comfort only in people who egg him on to overturn the election results. We cannot stress enough how unnerved Trump officials are by the conversations unfolding inside the White House.... Pence's role on Jan. 6 has begun to loom large in Trump's mind, according to people who've discussed the matter with him. Trump would view Pence performing his constitutional duty -- and validating the election result -- as the ultimate betrayal." Swan has obtained secret tapes from inside the White House: ~~~

Julia Ainsley, et al., of NBC News: "Federal prosecutors have discussed making a legal request for Rudy Giuliani's electronic communications, two sources familiar with the probe tell NBC News, a sign that the investigation into ... Donald Trump's personal attorney remains active and may soon be ramping up. Prosecutors for the Southern District of New York have been in communication with Justice Department officials in Washington about gaining access to Giuliani's emails, the two sources said. The Southern District needs Washington's approval before its prosecutors can ask a judge to sign a search warrant for materials that may be protected by attorney-client privilege, according to department policy. It is not known whether Washington has been granted that approval."

~~~~~~~~~~~

Marie: I added a few links before 10 am ET. They're marked by "NEW." You can find them easily with a search for NEW.

Rejoice. Now, and for roughly the next six months, the days are growing longer.

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "Congress on Monday night overwhelmingly approved a $900 billion stimulus package that would send billions of dollars to American households and businesses grappling with the economic and health toll of the pandemic. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said hundreds of dollars in direct payments could begin reaching individual Americans as early as next week. The long-sought relief package was part of a $2.3 trillion catchall package that included $1.4 trillion to fund the government through the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. It included the extension of routine tax provisions, a tax deduction for corporate meals, the establishment of two Smithsonian museums, a ban on surprise medical bills and a restoration of Pell grants for incarcerated students, among hundreds of other measures.... Lawmakers hustled on Monday to pass the bill, nearly 5,600 pages long, less than 24 hours after its completion and before virtually anyone had read it. At one point, aides struggled simply to put the measure online because of a corrupted computer file.... In the Senate, the bill passed 92 to 6, with Senators Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Ted Cruz of Texas, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Mike Lee of Utah, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Rick Scott of Florida, all Republicans, voting no." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's story is here. Both papers gave the story banner headlines online. The AP story by Andrew Taylor, is here: "... the House approved the COVID-19 package by another lopsided vote, 359-53." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post has an interactive feature that allows you to plug in some numbers to calculate what, if anything, you should expect to receive from the package. The article, by Heather Long & others, answers some frequently-asked questions.

Kate Sullivan of CNN: "President-elect Joe Biden received his first dose of the Pfizer and BioNTech coronavirus vaccine on live television Monday afternoon and reassured Americans of the vaccine's safety. The shot, which Biden received in his left arm, was administered at ChristianaCare's Christiana Hospital in Newark, Delaware, by Tabe Mase who is a nurse practitioner and the head of employee health services at the hospital, according to the Biden transition team. 'We owe these folks an awful lot,' Biden said, thanking those involved in the vaccine's development and distribution and front-line health care workers. Biden said the Trump administration deserved 'some credit' for Operation Warp Speed, the federal government's vaccine program, and their role in making coronavirus vaccinations possible. '... I'm doing this to demonstrate that people should be prepared, when it's available, to take the& vaccine. There's nothing to worry about. I'm looking forward to the second shot; so is Jill,' Biden said. 'She's had her shot earlier today. She loves shots, I know,' he said, taking his wife's hand as she laughed. Biden noted that the vaccine rollout was in beginning stages and cautioned Americans about the long road ahead. 'It's going to take time,'..." ~~~

More Real News

But the Emails! David Sanger & Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "The Russian hackers who penetrated United States government agencies broke into the email system used by the Treasury Department's most senior leadership, a Democratic member of the Senate Finance Committee said on Monday, the first detail of how deeply Moscow burrowed into the Trump administration's networks.... The Treasury Department ranks among the most highly protected corners of the government because of its responsibility for market-moving economic decisions, communications with the Federal Reserve and economic sanctions against adversaries. [Sen. Ron] Wyden [D-Oregon] said the hackers had gained access to the email system by manipulating internal software keys. The department learned of the breach not from any of the government agencies whose job is to protect against cyberattacks, but from Microsoft, which runs much of Treasury's communications software, Mr. Wyden said." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: While I'm dismayed the Russians might be able to manipulate our data (though if all they gained access to were emails, that's unlikely), let's hope Putin got hold of Trump's tax returns & will publish them.

Kyle Cheney of Politico: "The House Oversight Committee intends to reissue a subpoena for ... Donald Trump's financial records next year, House Counsel Douglas Letter said in a federal court filing Monday. The House has been pursuing Trump's financial documents form his accounting firm, Mazars USA, since Democrats took power in early 2019 but the effort has been tied up in the courts. The case landed before the Supreme Court this year, and the justices determined that the lower courts had failed to scrutinize the subpoena closely enough, kicking it back to them for further review."

Dominick Mastrangelo of the Hill: "A statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee was removed from the U.S. Capitol overnight. The statue has stood with America's first president, George Washington, as the state of Virginia's contribution to the National Statuary Hall Collection at the Capitol for more than 100 years. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, announced on Monday the state will seek to have it replaced with a statue of civil rights icon Barbara Johns.... Earlier this year, a state commission recommended the removal of the statue [of Lee] from the Capitol. The commission, led by state Sen. Louise Lucas (D), voted unanimously to remove it.... The statue will be transported to the Virginia Museum of History and Culture in Richmond, Northam's office said." Here's the Wikipedia entry for Barbara Johns. (Also linked yesterday.)

The Last Days of the Mad Kaiser

"It's Scary." Kevin Liptak & Jeremy Diamond of CNN: "... Donald Trump has turned to a fringe group of advisers peddling increasingly dubious tactics to overturn the results of the election, creating a dire situation that multiple senior officials and people close to the President say has led to new levels of uncertainty at how Trump will resist the coming end to his tenure.... Conspiracist lawyer Sidney Powell, disgraced former national security adviser Michael Flynn, onetime chief strategist Steve Bannon, hawkish trade adviser Peter Navarro and the eccentric founder of the retail website Overstock have all recently found themselves in the Oval Office or on the telephone advising Trump on new last-ditch efforts to reverse his loss. That's in addition to Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, who has been feeding the President's conspiracy theories for weeks and who, along with Powell, was seen again at the White House on Monday.... Trump has mostly shunned those working inside the government.... Trump has mostly abandoned the day-to-day running of government. At a Cabinet meeting last week, he spent much of the time complaining about his suspicions of voter fraud, according to a person familiar with the matter, leaving some attendees puzzled at the point of the gathering.... 'It's scary, said [an] administration official, who added that Trump appears 'obsessed' with far-flung scenarios to overturn the election results...."

Coup du Jour.* Joe Walsh of Forbes: "... Donald Trump met with several House Republicans Monday and reportedly discussed a plan to contest President-elect Joe Biden's Electoral College votes when they're counted in Congress next month, a longshot gambit tacitly endorsed by Trump last week as he continues to deny his electoral loss. These representatives -- including Trump allies like Reps. Mo Brooks (Ala.) and Matt Gaetz (Fla.) -- discussed whether to object to slates of pro-Biden electors when the Electoral College's votes are counted in a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, Fox News reported, a far-flung idea some House members have already publicly floated." *Thanks to Adam Silverman for the headline. ~~~

~~~ Toluse Olorunnipa, et al., of the Washington Post: "With his baseless claims of widespread voter fraud rejected by dozens of judges and GOP leaders, President Trump has turned to a ragtag group of conspiracy theorists, media-hungry lawyers and other political misfits in a desperate attempt to hold on to power after his election loss. The president's orbit has grown more extreme as his more mainstream allies, including Attorney General William P. Barr, have declined to endorse his increasingly radical plans to overturn the will of the voters. Trump's unofficial election advisory council now includes a pardoned felon [Michael Flynn], adherents of the QAnon conspiracy theory, a White House trade adviser [Peter Navarro] and a Russian agent's former lover [former Overstock chief executive Patrick Byrne].... After meeting with his personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani on Monday, Trump met in the Oval Office with a group of Republicans from the House Freedom Caucus, including Rep.-elect Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), a public supporter of the QAnon conspiracy theory whose campaign was marked by racist, anti-Semitic and Islamophobic statements. That was followed by a second meeting in the Cabinet Room among Giuliani, the House lawmakers and Vice President Pence, an administration official said.... Monday's meeting at the White House followed an Oval Office gathering Friday that was one of the most contentious yet of Trump's seven-week post-election push to reverse his fate.... 'They dropped hundreds of thousands of ballots in each state. It's all documented,' the president claimed falsely in a call Monday to a gathering of the pro-Trump youth organization Turning Point USA in West Palm Beach, Fla." ~~~

     (NEW. ~~~ About Those Turning Point Kids. Paulina Villegas & David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: "Conservative student group Turning Point USA held two large events in Florida this weekend, including one at Mar-a-Lago, President Trump's private club, allegedly violating local coronavirus restrictions and disregarding authorities' pleas to avoid such massive gatherings. Turning Point on Friday night held its annual winter gala at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach. The party was attended by hundreds of students, organizers and GOP notables such as South Dakota Gov. Kristi L. Noem, Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.), White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and Mike Lindell, otherwise known as the 'MyPillow Guy.' Then on Saturday, thousands of students gathered indoors at the organization's 'Student Action Summit,' where they heard from conservative GOP speakers, including Donald Trump Jr., and cheered loudly as women shot money into the crowd with a cannon. Photos posted on social media showed Friday's maskless gala crowd mingling in apparent violation of Palm Bach County's coronavirus protocols, which require that face coverings be worn inside 'all businesses and establishments.'")

The Saboteur. Toluse Olorunnipa, et al., of the Washington Post: "When President-elect Joe Biden is sworn into office on Jan. 20, the list of crises he will face includes a massive cyber intrusion, a still-raging global pandemic, a slowing economic recovery and a lingering reckoning over the nation's racial tensions. President Trump is not making his job any easier and, in several ways, appears to be actively making it harder -- going to extraordinary lengths to disrupt and undermine the traditional transition from one administration to another despite the nation's many crises.... In his final weeks in office, Trump is making a series of moves aimed at cementing his legacy and handicapping Biden's presidency -- from abruptly pulling troops from war zones to cracking down on Iran to encouraging the Justice Department to investigate his political enemies. The result is a situation without precedent in American history: One president ending his term amid crisis is seeking to delegitimize a successor and floating the prospect of mounting a four-year campaign to return to power." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Some day somebody may find some compelling evidence that reveals the probable answer to the question: was Trump (a) a purposeful, traitorous Manchurian president* or (b) just a consummate asshole & flaming ignoramus? I don't know the answer, but I believe there is one, and it would not surprise me if (a) were the answer.

Covid-19 Is a Plot Against Trump. Emily Czachor of Newsweek: "... Trump has routinely referenced a nonspecific Democratic plot to oust him from office when discussing the election's outcome. After posting a series of messages to Twitter that quickly earned fact-checking labels from the social media platform, Trump retweeted a video on Sunday that showcased a number of conspiracy theories related to the election.... In addition to holding media coverage, polling data and voting software responsible for Trump's failure to secure another term in the White House, the video suggests that COVID-19, and its consequences, were engineered to taint his reputation." (Also linked yesterday.) MB: There was a Democratic plot to oust Trump. We usually call it "an election," an exercise where two or more people vie for the same political job. Only one can win, and the way to win, usually, is to get the most votes. That's what one Democrat did.

Trump Trashes Mitch. Jonathan Swan of Axios: "President Trump lashed out at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday night for acknowledging Joe Biden won the election, sending a slide to Republican lawmakers taking credit for saving McConnell's career with a tweet and robocall.... It's an extraordinary broadside against McConnell by the sitting president and most popular Republican in the party, ahead of a crucial runoff election in Georgia on Jan. 5 that will determine control of the Senate. 'Sadly, Mitch forgot,' reads the top of the slide sent to Republican senators by Trump's personal assistant, written in red for emphasis. 'He was the first one off the ship.'... [The message] also carried a subtle warning to other Republicans who may follow suit as the president grasps at the last straws of his election-fraud claim." MB: Uh, not so subtle.

Beautiful!Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "Donald Trump decreed on Monday that all new US federal buildings should be 'beautiful', in a long-expected executive order which excoriated architectural modernism but stopped short of demanding that all such projects should be in the classical style. The Pulitzer prize-winning architectural critic Paul Goldberger said the order was 'mostly symbolic' and 'just a chance [for Trump] to lob another grenade on his way out the door'. When a draft of the order first surfaced, in February, critics reacted with horror to its promise to 'make federal buildings beautiful again' by mandating a return to 'the classical architectural style'.... Given his career in real estate developments marked by a love for gold, gilt, black marble and baroque excess, not to mention the brutal treatment of beloved old buildings, Trump's professed love for classicism has attracted critical comment."

Asawin Suebsaeng of the Daily Beast: "... Donald Trump has taken to asking some aides and advisers about the process of naming airports after former U.S. presidents, according to two people who've heard him recently inquiring on this. One of the two sources relayed that, in the past three weeks, Trum mentioned that 'no president' wants an American airport that has a bad reputation or crumbling infrastructure named after them. The other knowledgeable source said that Trump had, at one point since the 2020 election, offhandedly asked what kind of 'paperwork' was necessary to get an airport named after a former president." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I can't think of an airstrip or heliport insignificant enough to name after Trump. The Naval Air Station Lakehurst in Manchester Township, N.J., where the airship Hindenburg exploded, came to mind. However, I don't wish to be disrespectful to the actual victims of the Hindenburg explosion, so maybe a cattlefield in Kansas where someone once made a successful emergency landing would be more appropriate. Possible souvenirs: gold-plated cowpies. ~~~

     ~~~ As Forrest M. pointed out in yesterday's Comments, "It appears there are already a number of airports named after Trump. Deadhorse Airport in Alaska; Shafter Airport in California; Eek Airport in Alaska; and if he moved to Argentina, Moron Airport."

On His Way Out the Door. Katie Benner of the New York Times: "Attorney General William P. Barr said Monday that he saw no reason to appoint special counsels to oversee the Justice Department's ongoing criminal investigation into Hunter Biden ... or to investigate President Trump's baseless claims of widespread voter fraud, again undercutting Mr. Trump's efforts to bend the department to his political will and to overturn the results of the election. At a news conference to announce charges in an unrelated terrorism case, Mr. Barr said that he did not 'see any reason to appoint a special counsel' to oversee the ongoing investigation into the younger Mr. Biden. 'I have no plan to do so before I leave,' Mr. Barr said. 'To the extent that there is an investigation, I think that it's being handled responsibly and professionally.' He also said that he would name a special counsel to oversee an inquiry into election fraud if he felt one was warranted. 'But I haven't and I'm not going to,' Mr. Barr said. He added that he saw 'no basis' for the federal government to seize voting machines." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Nick Niedzwiadek & Josh Gerstein of Politico: "During a final news conference at Justice Department headquarters Monday, Barr did little if anything to hide his disagreements with the president.... With Trump mulling extreme actions to investigate claims of widespread voter fraud, including the use of an executive order to seize voting machines the president's lawyers say are likely to contain evidence of manipulation, Barr made clear he isn't on board." (Also linked yesterday.)

NEW. Spencer Hsu & Kareem Fahim of the Washington Post: "The U.S. government is weighing a request to declare Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman immune from a federal lawsuit accusing him of targeting for assassination a former top intelligence officer who could disclose damaging secrets about the prince's ascent to power, according to legal documents related to the case. The Saudi government has asked that the prince be shielded from liability in response to a complaint brought by Saad Aljabri, a former Saudi counterterrorism leader and longtime U.S. intelligence ally now living in exile in Canada. A State Department recommendation could also lead to the dismissal of the prince as a defendant in other cases recently filed in the United States, including ones accusing him of directing the death and dismemberment of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018; and of targeting a hack and leak operation to discredit an Al Jazeera news anchor, Ghada Oueiss, in retaliation for her critical reports on Mohammed and the crown prince of the United Arab Emirates."

Sarah Burris of RawStory: "The son of a billionaire friend of President Donald Trump's scored a no-bid contract in Florida thanks to a favor from Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL). According to the Florida Bulldog, DeSantis's administration handed more than $4 million in no-bid, COVID-19-related contracts to a New York City social media startup founder. Hedge fund billionaire Nelson Peltz's son 'Diesel,' 27, scored a $2.75 million contract for Twenty Labs, LLC in June for a customer relationship management platform to do contact tracing." --s

Beyond the Beltway

Kansas/Missouri. Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Mike Fannin, editor & publisher of The Kansas City Star: "Today we are telling the story of a powerful local business that has done wrong. For 140 years, it has been one of the most influential forces in shaping Kansas City and the region. And yet for much of its early history -- through sins of both commission and omission -- it disenfranchised, ignored and scorned generations of Black Kansas Citians. It reinforced Jim Crow laws and redlining. Decade after early decade it robbed an entire community of opportunity, dignity, justice and recognition. That business is The Kansas City Star.... It still pains me personally to know that in The Star's monopolistic heyday -- when it had the biggest media platform in the region -- the paper did little to unify the city or recognize the inherent rights of all Kansas Citians. But our history doesn't have to own us. We are grateful for how far we've come. We are humbled by how far we still have to go." --safari: Imagine the contribution to rewriting the wrongs of history if every state's major newspaper took on a similar project.

NEW. New York State. Tom Vanden Brook of USA Today: "More than 70 cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point were accused of cheating on a math exam, the worst academic scandal since the 1970s at the Army's premier training ground for officers. Fifty-eight cadets admitted cheating on the exam, which was administered remotely because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of them have been enrolled in a rehabilitation program and will be on probation for the remainder of their time at the academy. Others resigned, and some face hearings that could result in their expulsion. The scandal strikes at the heart of the academy's reputation for rectitude, espoused by its own moral code, which is literally etched in stone: 'A cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If I were the kids, I'd plead the Trump: "West Point made us come back to the Academy to listen to Donald Trump, and he's the biggest cheat in the world. He told a lot of lies during the speech. He lied about running down a ramp, when we could see he barely managed to totter down it. Donald Trump is the Commander-in-Chief. We were just following in his footsteps, so to speak."

Oregon. Winston Ross & Pilar Melendez of the Daily Beast: A group of about 300 demonstrators attempted to force their way into two separate entrances of the Oregon State Capitol on Monday, outraged lawmakers were holding a special session closed to the public. The crowd was a loose collection of members of the Proud Boys, Patriot Prayer and other far-right groups, many of them are armed with pistols and rifles." Chaos ensued. "Despite the chaotic protest, some protesters managed to continue selling pro-Trump merchandise at a tent set up outside the Capitol -- including 'Stop The Steal' sweaters.... The state government's agenda dealt with pandemic relief and whether to allow restaurants and bars to serve cocktails to go, both touchy subjects for a crowd that calls restrictions enacted by local lawmakers and Gov. Kate Brown 'tyranny.'"

Way Beyond

Israel. Reuters: "Facebook has taken down content that spread lies in Israel about coronavirus vaccinations, the Israeli justice ministry has said, as the government sought to drum up support for its vaccination programme. On Saturday, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, became the first person to be vaccinated in Israel. Opinion polls show two-thirds of the public want to follow suit.... Such 'fake news' included arguments that vaccines would be used to plant government tracking chips in recipients' bodies; to poison them; or to subject them to medical experimentation, the ministry said." --s

** Russia. Navalny Pwned Underpants Poisoner. Tim Lister, et al., of CNN: "A Russian agent sent to tail opposition leader Alexey Navalny has revealed how he was poisoned in August -- with the lethal nerve agent Novichok planted in his underpants. The stunning disclosure from an agent who belonged to an elite toxins team in Russia's FSB security service came in a lengthy phone call following the unmasking of the unit by CNN and the online investigative outfit Bellingcat last week. In what he was told was a debriefing, Konstantin Kudryavtsev also talked about others involved in the poisoning in the Siberian city of Tomsk, and how he was sent to clean things up. But the agent was not speaking to an official in Russia's National Security Council as he thought. He was talking to Navalny himself, who almost died after being poisoned in August. Navalny has long been a thorn in the side of President Vladimir Putin, exposing corruption in high places and campaigning against the ruling United Russia party. Putin essentially confirmed last week that FSB agents tailed Navalny but said if Russia had wanted him dead, 'they would've probably finished it.'" MB: Cannot help but think of John le Carré, who died a little more than a week ago. An amazing true spy story, if not so well told as in a novel by le Carré. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: As a going-away present, couldn't Putin at least send Trump -- ruthless, murderous dictator to would-be dictator -- a pair of underpants steeped in poison ivy?

~~~ Sean Ingle of the Guardian: "Athletes and anti-doping groups have reacted with outrage after a four-year ban on Russia for state-sponsored doping offences was halved -- and its athletes were told they could compete at next year's Olympics and the 2022 World Cup wearing red shirts with the word Russia on them.... Under the ruling, official Russia teams will still be barred from next summer's Olympics in Tokyo, as well as the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar as a punishment for covering up a massive state-sponsored doping programme." --s

Comments Off

Reader Comments (20)

There are many things in this world that I don't understand. The one that is currently weighing on my mind is this: Did mcconnell block aid because he didn't want T**** reelected, or did he do it because he's just an awful cuss of a human being? It seems to me that he could have given enough people warm fuzzy feelings by passing a relief package in September, so relief checks would have arrived in October, and T**** would have won. But he didn't. I don't get it.

December 21, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterNiskyGuy

I mentioned the electoral college some days ago. John Tester: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/16/us/politics/jon-tester-democrats.html#commentsContainer. John's the real deal. I had a great Saturday morning conversation with Nancy Keenan in 2016 about Hillary and the Dems blowing off the fly-over states. Keenan was elected Superintendent of Public Instruction for over 10 years and president of NARAL for almost 10 years. Bright. We need to acknowledge that the map for the Democrats looks terrible and it is not all about Faux and deplorables. Tom Foley and Tip O'Neill and Feinstein and Nancy Pelosi have more in common with Moscow Mitch than they do with John Tester or Nancy Keenan. We can do better; Joe and the world's biggest megaphone is a start.

December 21, 2020 | Unregistered Commentercitizen625

And, DiJiT has a couple of towns in Massachusetts named after him - Marblehead and Athole. (Recycling an old Endicott Peabody joke here)

December 22, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterPatrick

THE MEAN GURL:

During my early youth there was, in our gang of girls, one whose methods of "getting back at you" was notorious. If you didn't do what she wanted or spoke ill of her methods of madness she dropped you and you were no longer invited to her lavish parties which everyone enjoyed because her parents had them catered and the food was delicious. She, Faye, once tied me up to a tree and left me there for a whole hour because I had disagreed with her about something. This all took place in grade school but once we were in High School the tables were turned and Faye faded away. She never was able to accept her depleted status and continued her education in a private school, but not before she castigated the lot of us.

Fatty is Faye today––refusing to accept defeat; badgering, bloviating, tying up anything he can to make it difficult for the next administration. Bill Barr, once licking Fatty's fingers, has finally decided he best exit and save his own skin. It's interesting and terrible to watch a pitiful display of characters like Fatty and Faye who thought they could rule the day only to discover others can oblige so much for so long and then...

But in our present day scenario there are large groups of followers with guns, bat shit crazy lawyers, and cowardly lions in Congress with whom Trump still has purchase so–––––much strife to contend with in the following weeks. If only Jesus or his Papa could get off their cloud and come save the day as someone said the other day and not in jest.

Amen

December 22, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

Nothing to marvel at, I know, but was still struck this morning by the news of Republican fiscal moralist, little Randy's floor speech against the relief package. Free money, he says it is, just free money, and as all Republicans know, free money to the wrong people is bad, bad, bad.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/rand-pauls-senate-floor-speech-against-covid-19-relief-bill-goes-viral

This twaddle from one of the 51 Republican yokels who voted for the 2017 tax scam, which pushed up the debt he's now so worried about 2-3 trillion dollars over ten years.

One possible advantage of one a one-term president may be the proximity in time of the hypocrisy. A few voters may actually remember how differently their senator or representative acted depending on which party occupied the White House.

Maybe.

December 22, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

A history of West Point's (and our other military academies') cheating scandals, which seem have come more frequently and in bigger bunches, might serve as a handy timeline of what would seem to be the nation's moral decline.

The likes of Pompeo have to come from somewhere.

Oh, honor, where art thou?

December 22, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

West Point cadets will not “lie, cheat, or steal, or tolerate those who do!”

Wait. Didn’t Pompeo go to West Point? I’m confused...

December 22, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

I see where a ragtag collection of Idiots for Trump, out in Salem, Oregon, tried to break into the capitol building to protest science and common sense. “Back to the Dark Ages!” they cried. “What’s wrong with living in caves and hunting with clubs!?!?”

I see where these patriots were also selling Stop the Seal sweaters. What will you bet that those sweaters were made in China?

Anyway, isn’t Fatty against protests at official government property? Doesn’t he usually call out the National Guard to have such protests violently curtailed? Oh...that’s only if there are Black people present. Otherwise they all get medals.

Never mind. And send me one of those Chinese Stop the Seal things. That seal has been getting away with murder. Free fish! Indeed. Call Li’l Randy. He’ll put a stop to this seal nonsense.

December 22, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

I thought it was also Stop the Steel and pointed at Pittsburgh...haha! We should all buy a misspelled sweater, I think. It might fund our later years...

You know, when those rodents in the senate are in the nursing homes, no one will associate with them. Someone should someday actually come right out and say IT'S USUALLY OUR MONEY YOU WON'T GIVE US!!! Does handling OUR money give them special status?? Funny how the billionaires get the breaks and we still are sending the treasury our allotted tax money and then get no say in how it's used. Want a war? Take our money. Refusing to bail out citizens who are victims of COVID, undeterred by the administration? Keep our money and dole it out piecemeal to those who deserve it, i.e. the rich...These employees of ours should ALL be fired, not just Fatstuff.

December 22, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterJeanne

Jeanne,

The other thing to remember when considering how such as Li’l Randy and Ted Cruz and all these other suddenly “virtuous” stewards of responsibility hand out truckloads of our money to billionaires but tell us (whose money it is) to take a hike, most of those billionaires don’t contribute one bloody red cent to the public coffers from which they (and the entire Trump family) gleefully siphon up money as fast as it can be collected from those of us who DO pay taxes.

Also like your idea of a sweaters promoting variations on a scream.

How about (To Fatty and his fellow traitors): Stop the Squeal.

Stop the Weal
Pop the Peel
Shop for Meals
Top the Teal (you got a better color?)
Lop the Eel (ewww)
Sop the Spill
Cop the Feel (a Trump favorite)
Stop the Covfefe

And finally, “Shut the Fuck Up”.

December 22, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

This whole Architecture de Trumpy thing initially called to mind the way other authoritarian despots co-opt architecture, and the arts in general, imposing their mighty will on all around them (see Architecture, Nazi). But that’s too much of a stretch. Fatty doesn’t have the will or the brainpower of the patience to develop a paradigm for Trumpist architecture. Everything he does is half-assed.

No, this is just a whiny, exploding diaper baby loser lurching, at the last minute, for some way to impose his cheap, gaudy, juvenile, faux grandiose taste on the rest of us.

And I’ve already seen righty-right articles praising him for allowing Freeeedom to reign in the dry halls of architectural design.

Now what we should really do is convince Fatty to hire that great purveyor of classical, black marble and gaudy gold plated buildings, Frank Gehry, to design his library.

December 22, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

For DiJiT's liberry you need your Buckminster Fuller-type arky, who can make him a building that looks like a golf-ball with all of them dodykaheedrones and such.

December 22, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterPatrick

Nothing like having the NYT highlight your home county as a C-19 hot spot to give you that old number 10 pucker factor.

December 22, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterBobby Lee

@Patrick: Yeah but the lie-berry has to be "classical," and it's way hard to tack Ionic columns onto a dome.

December 22, 2020 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

Marie: hard, yes, impossible, no.

DiJiT's ability to create ugly out of classic beauty is unbounded.

That is all ye need to know.

December 22, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterPatrick

I think I found the models for Fatty's future reading room. Give me the Sear's catalog, wudya?

The way he's been acting lately he may just piss off enough of the right people to get 25thed yet.

December 22, 2020 | Unregistered Commenterunwashed

Unwashed,

Now there’s some classical architecture for ya, maybe add a Doric column or two, and it could get the Trumpy Federal Building seal of approval. But I think it’s a bit small for Fatty. He couldn’t get his lard ass in there if he tried. And I’d he did, they’d need a couple of pry bars to get him out. Can you imagine the tweets? “Help! The Deep State has me locked in! Call Rudy! Get Sidney! Where’s my Roy Cohn?”

December 22, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Patrick,

Not sure Keats would be pleased to be connected to Trump, but as a connoisseur of beauty, he must have been acquainted with ugly, so he’d certainly get it.

December 22, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

From The Times:

Stories of surviving darkness are among the most enduring humans have, connecting us across culture and time.

The Iranian tradition of Yalda began some 2,500 years ago, rooted in the Zoroastrian practices of ancient Persia. On the winter solstice families gather for a feast and surround themselves with candles, eat pomegranates and nuts, and recite poetry, often by the Persian master Hafez, said Omid Safi, professor of Iranian studies at Duke University who celebrates the night with his family.

“It is a beautiful way of assuring you that you have lived through long nights before,” he said. “It is precisely at the point that the night is longest and darkest that you’ve actually turned a corner.”

Medieval Persian writings suggested that if one could not afford a feast, it is enough to bring a flower, he said.

“Look for the smallest bit of beauty around you,” Dr. Safi explained. “That very much resonates today, at a time where it seems like the mega-systems are all broken or falling apart, to return your gaze to the small.”

December 22, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

Today's news from the post Pretender world?

Israel government collapses

Dept. of Justice pursues stalled opioid case against Walmart

The Pretender's personal Deutsche Banker quits

Maybe the headlines are, as we're told, the stock market already is. The future is priced in.

December 22, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes
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