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.

The Wires
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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 3, 2020

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Ariane de Vogue of CNN: "The Supreme Court on Thursday sided with a California ministry that argued the state's Covid-related restrictions on indoor services violated its religious liberty rights, the court's second such ruling on pandemic guidelines for churches in two weeks. In an unsigned order, the justices sent the dispute between the Harvest Rock International Ministry and California Gov. Gavin Newsom back to the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals to further consider the case in light of its ruling from last week when the court blocked similar restrictions in New York. There were no noted dissents.... To make their point [the ministry] included in the legal filing a picture of Newsom at a restaurant with a large gathering where no one was wearing masks."

"Very Bad Criminal Stuff." Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "President Trump said Thursday he is disappointed in Attorney General William Barr for saying that the Justice Department had not uncovered evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election.... 'He hasn't done anything, so he hasn't looked. When he looks, he'll see the kind of evidence that right now you are seeing in the Georgia Senate. They are going through hearings right now in Georgia and they are finding tremendous volumes,' Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. 'So, they haven't looked very hard. Which is a disappointment, to be honest with you, because it's massive fraud.' The president also declined to offer a vote of confidence in Barr when asked. 'Ask me that in a number of weeks from now. They should be looking at all of this fraud,' he said. 'This is not civil. He thought it was civil. This is not civil. This is criminal stuff. This is very bad criminal stuff.'"

"Incontrovertible Evidence" of Election Fraud! Jeffrey Martin of Newsweek: "Former Trump adviser Roger Stone claimed on Wednesday that North Korea had interfered in the U.S. presidential election.... 'I just learned of absolute incontrovertible evidence of North Korean boats delivering ballots through a harbor in Maine, the state of Maine,' Stone said. 'If this checks out, if law enforcement looked into that and it turned out to be true, it would be proof of foreign involvement in the election.'" MB: Wait, wait, Roger; I'm all confused. If the evidence is "incontrovertible," why does it need to be "checked out" to see if "it turned out to be true"? Sounds a tad "controvertible" to me.

The Trump Clown Car Takes on Excellent Ghostbuster Witness. Will Sommer of the Daily Beast: "Truck driver Jesse Morgan thrust himself into the middle of the post-2020 election drama on Tuesday when he claimed at a press conference that he had unwittingly driven a truck full of suspicious mail-in ballots from New York to Pennsylvania ahead of Election Day.... The appearance at a voter fraud event hosted by the right-wing Thomas More Center turned Morgan into the latest viral star on the Trumpist right. And, soon enough, his claims were being amplified by the president, his legal team, conservative groups unaffiliated with the campaign, and Trump supporters themselves all of whom have argued that nearly 300,000 bogus mail-in ballots were used in Pennsylvania, Morgan's home state, to put Joe Biden over the top.... In addition to witnessing supposed voter fraud, the man believes his family has been stalked cross-country by ghosts. Before he became a hero in MAGAworld, Morgan was an amateur ghost-hunter." ~~~

~~~ So that's Trump's star witness in Pennsylvania. But what about Michigan? you ask. ~~~

~~~ Teo Armus of the Washington Post: "Weeks after Melissa Carone was tapped by the Trump campaign as a star witness in Michigan, little appeared to be going as planned with the contract IT worker's testimony -- an unverified series of claims about ballot fraud at Detroit's vote-counting center. In interviews with conservative-leaning media, last month, her offbeat tale suggesting ballots were being smuggled inside food vans seemed to baffle even Fox Business host Lou Dobbs. Two days later, a Wayne County judge ruled that her allegations 'simply are not credible.' Yet, there she was in front of a Michigan House panel on Wednesday, dressing down a Republican lawmaker as she loudly insisted, without proof, that tens of thousands of votes had been counted twice. At one point, she was audibly shushed by ... Rudolph W. Giuliani.... On social media, her pointed declarations, Midwestern lilt and poofy, blond updo drew comparisons to 'Saturday Night Live' characters played by Victoria Jackson and Cecily Strong."

Marie: In case you have any friends who are Georgia voters & who think "divided government" will lead to "moderate" outcomes, send them E.J. Dionne's Washington Post column to disabuse them of that idea.

~~~~~~~~~~

Nahal Toosi, et al., of Politico: "Now that he's chosen a big chunk of his Cabinet nominees, President-elect Joe Biden's transition team is focusing increasingly on selecting candidates for government positions that do not require Senate confirmation. Concerned about Republicans slow-walking confirmation hearings ... and hollowed-out federal agencies, Biden and his aides are eager to place mid- to lower-level officials across the federal government, particularly in national security roles, to ensure his administration can begin to enact his agenda immediately, according to three people familiar with the situation. By quickly selecting candidates for slots that don't require Senate confirmation, such as deputy assistant secretaries, the transition team also can try to ensure that many of those hired can obtain security clearances by the time Biden takes office. The shift in focus to filling positions that do not require confirmation reflects the urgency with which the Biden team sees its staffing conundrum.... It also signals Biden's anxiousness to replace Trump appointees and fill long-empty positions as soon as possible so he can enact his agenda." (Also linked yesterday.)

Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. has no plans to remove Christopher Wray, the F.B.I. director installed by President Trump if he is still in the job when the new administration comes in, according to a senior adviser to Mr. Biden with knowledge of the process. The official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said Mr. Biden's team was 'not removing the F.B.I. director unless Trump fired him' -- signaling a return to pre-Trump norms of continuity at a core domestic law enforcement agency that is supposed to operate without political meddling." This is an item in the Times' transition updates Wednesday. (Also linked yesterday.)

Alex Thompson & Theodoric Meyer of Politico: "A former colleague of Heather Boushey, a top economic adviser to President-elect Joe Biden, is publicly airing prior accusations that Boushey mismanaged the think tank she runs and verbally abused her and other subordinates, saying she wants to prevent future White House employees from enduring a similar experience. Claudia Sahm, a former director of macroeconomic policy at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, Boushey's think tank, published an account of her and other former employees' experiences working with Boushey on her personal website Tuesday night.... Former subordinates and employees have alleged that Boushey was 'phenomenally incompetent as a manager' and had 'frequent episodes of yelling and swearing.' The complaints were serious enough that the think tank where she worked hired a management coach to work with her to improve her management style around 2015.... The revelations resurfaced Tuesday night, just hours after the president-elect publicly introduced Boushey as a member of his Council of Economic Advisers."

The Last Days of the Kaiser

The Kaiser Has No Clothes. Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Trump on Wednesday released a 46-minute videotaped speech that denounced a 'rigged' election and was filled with lies the day after his own attorney general joined election officials across the country in attesting to his defeat. Mr. Trump recorded what he said 'may be the most important speech I've ever made' in the Diplomatic Room of the White House and delivered it behind a lectern bearing the presidential seal. He then posted a two-minute version on Twitter, with a link to the full version on his Facebook page. The president once again refused to concede defeat in his bid for re-election almost a month after Election Day, repeating a long list of false assertions about voter fraud and accusing Democrats of a conspiracy to steal the presidency. Twitter quickly labeled the post 'disputed.' Facebook added a note that President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr., who received almost 81 million votes and 306 electoral votes, is the projected winner of the election. The video, which a White House official said was recorded last week, was the in-person embodiment of Mr. Trump's staccato tweets over the past three weeks: one falsehood after another about voting irregularities in swing states, attacks on state officials and signature verifications, and false accusations against Democrats." ~~~

~~~ Aamer Madhani & Kevin Freking of the AP: "Increasingly detached from reality..., Donald Trump stood before a White House lectern and delivered a 46-minute diatribe against the election results that produced a win for Democrat Joe Biden, unspooling one misstatement after another to back his baseless claim that he really won." ~~~

~~~ Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "Over the length of a 46-minute video posted to social media Wednesday, President Trump read and riffed on a prepared script lambasting those who had the audacity to suggest that receiving fewer votes than his opponent meant he shouldn't serve a second consecutive term in office.... It was, almost literally, a distillation of the past four weeks of rants, allegations and accusations, including countless examples of claims which have already been soundly debunked.... It was a cri de coeur which, given the season, begs comparisons to the Festivus airing of grievances from George Costanza's father on 'Seinfeld' -- another older Queens man unable to gracefully accept the nature of the world around him."

The Veep Is Not Amused. Asawin Suebsaeng of the Daily Beast: VP Mike Pence's name no longer appears on Trump fundraising letters & some recent campaign literature has appeared with a logo changed from "Trump-Pence" to "Trump." "According to four people with knowledge of the matter, they reflect an effort by the vice president and his team to distance Pence from some of the president's more outlandish claims about a conspiracy to undermine the election and illegally deny him a second term in office.... A senior administration official [said,] 'The vice president doesn't want to go down with this ship ... and believes much of the legal work has been unhelpful.'... And, as a former governor himself, he has been particularly uncomfortable with Trump's attacks on Republican governors in some of the key battleground states that he lost.... On Wednesday, Pence went to Capitol Hill where he participated in the swearing in of Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) -- an act that implicitly conceded the validity of the elections in Arizona."

Trump's Patriotic Friends. Peter Montgomery of Right Wing Watch: "Lin Wood, an Atlanta-based lawyer who says ... Donald Trump asked him to join the effort to challenge Joe Biden's election victory, is promoting a right-wing group's call for Trump to declare martial law and use the military to oversee a new election. Retired Gen. Michael Flynn also promoted the call for martial law [in a tweet] just a day after the Justice Department released the language of the extremely broad pardon Flynn received from Trump[.]" MB: Wingers are getting crazier by the day. (Also linked yesterday.)

Katherine Faulders & Alexander Mallin of ABC News: "While at the White House for meetings Tuesday, Attorney General Bill Barr had a meeting with ... Donald Trump following an interview with the Associated Press in which Barr disclosed that the Department of Justice has not uncovered evidence of widespread voter fraud that would change the election results, multiple sources ... tell ABC News.... One source briefed on the meeting described Barr's interaction with the president as 'intense,' but would not elaborate on any additional details about the content of their discussion." ~~~

~~~ Matt Zapotosky, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump remained livid at Attorney General William P. Barr on Wednesday, with one senior administration official indicating there was a chance Barr could be fired -- not just for his public comments undercutting Trump's unfounded claims of election-shifting fraud, but also for steps he did not take on a probe of the FBI's 2016 investigation into Trump's campaign. A day after Barr told the Associated Press that he had 'not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election,' Trump continued to complain about his attorney general, people familiar with the matter said." ~~~

~~~ Dan Mangan & Kevin Breuninger of CNBC: "... Donald Trump's spokeswoman refused to say Wednesday whether Trump still has faith in Attorney General William Barr, a day after Barr said the Justice Department has not found evidence that widespread ballot fraud led to President-elect Joe Biden's victory. Barr's statement badly undercut baseless allegations by Trump and his campaign legal team that the Republican president was swindled out of reelection by voting fraud." MB: And Bill Barr is smiling. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Stone Pegs Barr as a Deep-state Shill. Jamie Ross of the Daily Beast: "Remember in February when Attorney General Bill Barr trashed his department's reputation to override the recommended prison term for Roger Stone and push for a much shorter sentence? Because, apparently, Stone has forgotten -- and has gone on the attack against the AG.... Stone, one of Trump's longest standing allies, is particularly angry even though Barr did him a huge favor.... In a video posted to Parler, Stone said he's not surprised that Barr has 'suddenly determined' there is no voter fraud, adding: 'Bill Barr's job is to block for the "deep state."' Stone, who had his prison sentence commuted by Trump in July, also complained of a 'two-tiered justice system.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Annie Karni of the New York Times: "Brad Parscale, the former Trump campaign manager who was demoted in July, claimed in a Fox News interview on Tuesday night that President Trump would have handily won the election if he had expressed more empathy about the coronavirus pandemic.... Mr. Parscale also appeared to blame those who succeeded him in running Mr. Trump's campaign for failing to file lawsuits before Election Day. In fact, the campaign filed multiple lawsuits during the early voting period seeking to block mail-in ballot rule changes.... At other points in the interview, Mr. Parscale refused to concede that the president had lost the election, claiming that Mr. Trump was 'in a position that he might be able to pull this off." A Politico story is here. MB: Brad says he wants to go back to flipping houses. If you live in Southeast Florida, you might want to be careful whose flip you buy. (Also linked yesterday.)

Susan Rice, in a New York Times op-ed: "While President Trump rages relentlessly about election 'fraud,' many Republican leaders continue to parrot false denials of the validity of President-elect Joe Biden's clear victory. Yet, so far, our democracy has withstood the greatest stress test of our lifetimes.... Still, the lesson we must learn is not a reassuring one: A determined autocrat in the White House poses a grave threat to our democratic institutions and can severely undermine faith in our elections, particularly when backed by partisans in Congress.... Bolstering our democracy depends in large part on the people of Georgia voting out their incumbent senators on Jan. 5. If the Senate flips to Democratic control, Congress will be able to apply the lessons of our democracy's near-death experience." (Also linked yesterday.)

Jerry Lambe of Law & Crime: "The federal judge presiding over Sidney Powell and L. Lin Wood's lawsuit challenging Wisconsin's election results issued a ruling on Wednesday that reads like a laundry list of embarrassing procedural failures and omissions, highlighting what could well represent the nadir of post-election legal ineptitude.... On Wednesday, Chief U.S. District Judge Pamela Pepper, an appointee of Barack Obama, took the attorneys to task, bluntly laying out the litany of basic mistakes made in the complaint."

Elahe Izadi of the Washington Post: "Joseph diGenova, the Trump campaign lawyer who had been a fixture in Washington legal circles for decades, resigned under pressure Tuesday from the elite Gridiron Club after an uproar over his comments suggesting a former government official should be executed.... The White House denounced the statement, Krebs said he would consider legal action -- and the 135-year-old Gridiron Club asked diGenova to step down.... On Wednesday, U.S. Reps. Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.) and Ted W. Lieu (D-Ca.), both former prosecutors, called on the disciplinary arm of the D.C. bar to immediately open an investigation into diGenova's statements as an incitement to violence and a violation of rules of professional conduct." MB: It's useful to bear in mind, as Rice & Lieu do, that diGenova was representing the POTUS* when he issued his call for extreme violence against a former federal official whom said POTUS* had just fired. ~~~

~~~ Colleen Long & Calvin Woodward of the AP: "The last throes of Donald Trump's presidency have turned ugly -- even dangerous. Death threats are on the rise. Local and state election officials are being hounded into hiding. A Trump campaign lawyer is declaring publicly that a federal official who defended the integrity of the election should be 'drawn and quartered' or simply shot. Neutral public servants, Democrats and a growing number of Republicans who won't do what Trump wants are being caught in a menacing postelection undertow stirred by Trump's grievances about the election he lost." ~~~

~~~ Michelle Lee & Emma Brown of the Washington Post: "Intensifying attacks on the integrity of the vote by President Trump and his allies are fueling deep alarm among state and local officials, who have watched with dread in recent weeks as election workers have been targeted by fast-spreading conspiracy theories. They echoed calls by Gabriel Sterling, a top Republican election official in Georgia who on Tuesday urged Trump and other GOP politicians to tamp down their baseless claims of widespread fraud. In an impassioned statement, Sterling blamed the president for 'inspiring people to commit potential acts of violence.'... White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Wednesday that the president condemns violence, adding that there have been threats against Trump's lawyers.... But later in the day, Trump released a 46-minute taped address ... in which he repeated baseless claims ... promoting the same conspiracy theories that have led to the targeting of election workers. He also filed yet another legal challenge attempting to challenge the results, this time a federal lawsuit in Wisconsin arguing that state officials ran the election so poorly it amounted to a constitutional violation."

Georgia. NPR: "NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Georgia election official Gabe Sterling on his plea to President Trump and fellow Republicans to condemn threats against election officials." Here's a piece of Sterling's remarks, which contributor NiskyGuy highlighted at the end of yesterday's Comments thread: "... I am a Republican. That's one of the things about this that makes it so frustrating. And I will still vote for them (Sens. Perdue & Loeffler) because some things are bigger than this.... It's just - they are in campaign mode. They are terrified they're going to lose the Trump base, so they do not want to cross President Trump. So I feel bad for them that they're kind of stuck in that terrible box of a position because if you piss off the Trump voters, in their opinion, you lose those Trump voters." NiskyGuy: "I believe 'this' refers to the death threats against election workers. Yes, Mr. Sterling, you believe party is the most important thing. More important than the lives of your fellow election workers, more important than country. You are nothing more than a small, self-righteous enabler. Baaaaaah." ~~~


~~~ Georgia Senate Race. Fox 5 Atlanta: "The campaigns for [Sens. David] Perdue [R] and [Kelly] Loeffler [R] both issued statements Tuesday evening condemning violence but also criticizing election officials, according to news outlets. They previously called for [Georgia state election official Gabriel] Sterling's boss, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to resign over what they call a mismanagement of the statewide election.... [Democrat] Stacey Abrams released the following statement: 'Fair Fight and I condemn in the strongest terms possible all threats against election workers, contractors, and election officials.... Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, who have echoed election conspiracies without evidence and contributed to the culture of intimidation and fear, should join us in condemning those who engage in these despicable attacks.'" The Rev. Raphael Warnock (D), who is challenging Loeffler, also issued a statement condemning the threats of violence against election officials. Jon Ossoff (D), who is running against Perdue, did not. See related stories linked below. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ I Like Being Senator Because ... the Correct Answer Is (a) Insider Trading Opportunities. Stephanie Saul, et al., of the New York Times: "An examination of [Sen. David] Perdue's [R-Ga.] stock trading during his six years in office reveals that he has been the Senate's most prolific stock trader by far, sometimes reporting 20 or more transactions in a single day.... Mr. Perdue's [2,596] transactions accounted for nearly a third of all Senate trades reported in the past six years.... The data also shows the breadth of trades Mr. Perdue made in companies that stood to benefit from policy and spending matters that came not just before the Senate as a whole, but before the committees and subcommittees on which he served.... Mr. Perdue's Democratic challenger, Jon Ossoff, has seized on the trading as a campaign issue. In a news conference on Monday, he accused Mr. Perdue of 'using his office to enrich himself' through the stock trades." (Also linked yesterday.)


Killing Them Quickly. Matt Berman & Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "After nearly two decades without any federal executions, the Justice Department reversed course this summer by carrying out three death sentences in four days. Now the department is planning a similarly busy schedule of executions during the Trump administration's final days, before a president who staunchly backs capital punishment is succeeded by one who opposes it. The Justice Department's push to carry out executions during the run-up to President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration -- including scheduling three during the week before he takes office -- has drawn sharp condemnation from critics who denounced these actions during the lame-duck window."

Kylie Atwood of CNN: "A senior US administration official said Israel was behind the assassination of Iran's top nuclear scientist but declined to give details about whether the Trump administration knew about the attack before it was carried out or provided support. The official said that in the past, Israelis have shared information with the US about their targets and covert operations before carrying them out but would not say if they did so in this instance. The Iranian nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was killed Friday, had been a target for the Israelis for a long time, the official added." (Also linked yesterday.)

Kara Scannell of CNN: "Ivanka Trump ... sat for a deposition Tuesday with investigators from the Washington, DC, attorney general's office as part of its lawsuit alleging the misuse of inaugural funds, according to a court filing. In January, the DC attorney general's office sued the Trump Organization and Presidential Inaugural Committee alleging they abused more than $1 million raised by the nonprofit by 'grossly overpaying' for use of event space at the Trump hotel in Washington for the 2017 inauguration. Depositions of witnesses as part of the lawsuit have been underway over the past several weeks. Tom Barrack, chairman of the inaugural committee, was deposed on November 17, according to the court filing. The attorney general's office has also subpoenaed records from Barrack, Ivanka Trump, first lady Melania Trump, and Rick Gates, the former inaugural committee deputy chairman, the filing said." MB: According to a TV lawyer, Donald Trump has no pardon power here. Besides, this is a civil suit.

David Folkenflik of NPR: "The U.S. Office of Special Counsel, a federal watchdog, disclosed Wednesday that it had found 'a substantial likelihood of wrongdoing' at the parent agency of the Voice of America under the leadership of the CEO appointed by President Trump. Since taking over the U.S. Agency for Global Media, CEO Michael Pack has turned it upside down, sidelining top executives, firing network chiefs, and deep-sixing requests for visa extensions for foreign staffers. Most notably, Pack had two senior political aides with records of strongly pro-Trump ideological statements investigate journalists for perceived anti-Trump bias and push for sympathetic news coverage of the president during the campaign. The finding ... is not a final determination. In late November, U.S. Judge Beryl Howell ruled that Pack had acted unconstitutionally in investigating his own journalists on political grounds. She ordered him to stop intervening inside VOA's newsrooms."

Julia Ainsley & Jacob Soboroff of NBC News: "Legal advocates tasked by a federal judge with helping to find migrant families separated at the U.S. border in 2017 and 2018 say that after months of pleas, the government last week handed over new data that could be critical to helping them find the families.... 'We have been repeatedly asking the Trump administration for any additional data they might have to help locate the families and are only finally getting these new phone numbers and addresses," said Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project.... 'Everyone's been asking whether the Trump administration has been helping to find these families. Not only have they not been helping, but they have been withholding this data forever,' Gelernt said."


Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "Democrat Mark Kelly was sworn in to the Senate on Wednesday, marking the first time in more than 67 years that Arizona will have two Democratic senators. Kelly, 56, a former astronaut and the husband of former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), defeated Sen. Martha McSally (R) in a special election last month. The seat was once held by longtime Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who died in 2018.... Vice President Pence administered the oath in the Senate chamber, and Arizona's senior senator, Kyrsten Sinema (D), accompanied Kelly and held the Bible. All three wore masks. Republicans and Democrats stood and applauded." (This is an update of a story also linked yesterday.)

Emily Cochrane & Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "The top Democrats in Congress on Wednesday endorsed a bipartisan $908 billion stimulus compromise as a baseline for talks, offering a significant concession in an effort to pressure Republicans to revive stalled talks on providing additional relief before the end of the year. After months of publicly insisting that another stimulus package must provide at least $2 trillion, Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, called on Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, to return to the negotiating table with a bill less than half that size as a starting point. President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr., whose advisers had pushed privately in recent weeks for lawmakers to make compromises to pass an economic aid agreement as quickly as possible, also offered a blessing of sorts for the effort. In a virtual event with laid-off workers and a small-business owner struggling amid the pandemic, Mr. Biden said the bipartisan package' wouldn't be the answer, but it would be immediate help for a lot of things, quickly.'"

Andrew Desiderio, et al., of Politico: "Congress is moving forward on a must-pass defense policy bill without repealing a legal shield for social media companies, rejecting a last-minute veto threat from ... Donald Trump. The final version of the National Defense Authorization Act that will soon be considered by the House and Senate won't include Trump's long-sought repeal of the legal immunity for online companies, known as Section 230, according to lawmakers and aides.... Senate Armed Services Chair Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) said that while he agrees with Trump on Section 230, the provision 'has nothing to do with the military.... You can't do it in this bill. That's not a part of the bill,' Inhofe said, adding that he has conveyed that belief to Trump.... The final defense bill does include a provision that would spur the Pentagon to remove the names [of Confederate leaders from ten Army bases] over a three-year period, according to an aide for Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who authored the proposal." Trump also has said he would veto the bill if it included that provision. MB: I guess Congressional leaders think they have enough votes to override a veto by America's Biggest Loser. (Also linked yesterday.)

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

Jamie Gangel & Shelby Erdman of CNN: "Former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton are volunteering to get their Covid-19 vaccines on camera to promote public confidence in the vaccine's safety once the US Food and Drug Administration authorizes one. The three most recent former presidents hope an awareness campaign to promote confidence in its safety and effectiveness would be a powerful message as American public health officials try to convince the public to take the vaccine." MB: Uh, where's Trump?

The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here: "The United States set a pair of alarming coronavirus records Wednesday, surpassing 200,000 new infections and topping 100,000 covid-19 patients hospitalized -- the first time the country has reached either metric in a single day." ~~~

~~~ The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here: "The United States on Wednesday recorded its single-worst daily death toll since the pandemic began, and on a day when Covid-19 hospitalizations also hit an all-time high, the pace of loss showed no signs of slowing any time soon. Not since spring, during the pandemic's first peak, were so many deaths reported. The high point then was 2,752 deaths on April 15. On Wednesday it was at least 2,760. Hospitalizations from the virus topped 100,000 -- more than double the number at the beginning of November. That is a clear indicator of what the days ahead may look like, experts say.... ~~~

~~~ “The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned on Wednesday that the nation is facing a devastating winter, predicting that total deaths from Covid-19 could reach 'close to 450,000' by February unless a large percentage of Americans follow precautions like mask-wearing. 'The reality is, December and January and February are going to be rough times,' said Dr. Robert Redfield, the head of the C.D.C., in an address to the Chamber of Commerce Foundation." (Also linked yesterday.)

Worse than Trump. David Sanger & Sharon LaFraniere of the New York Times: "A series of cyberattacks is underway aimed at the companies and government organizations that will be distributing coronavirus vaccines around the world, IBM's cybersecurity division has found, though it is unclear whether the goal is to steal the technology for keeping the vaccines refrigerated in transit or to sabotage the movements.... Both the IBM researchers and the department's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said the attacks appear intended to steal the network credentials of corporate executives and officials at global organizations involved in the refrigeration process necessary to protect vaccine doses.... Researchers for IBM Security X-Force ... said they believed that the attacks were sophisticated enough that they pointed to a government-sponsored initiative, not a rogue criminal operation aimed purely at monetary gain. But they could not identify which country might be behind them."

Party On, Dudes! John Hudson of the Washington Post: "Following a sharp spike in coronavirus cases across the country, State Department leadership sent out a notice to employees one week ago recommending that 'any non-mission critical events' be changed to 'virtual events as opposed to in-person gatherings.' That same week, U.S. event planners were told that the guidance did not apply to the upcoming functions they were working on: large indoor holiday parties hosted by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his wife, Susan, on the eighth floor of the State Department involving hundreds of guests, food and drinks. Pompeo's lineup of parties in the next three weeks comes as the Trump administration's own health experts are imploring Americans to limit travel and avoid large gatherings amid a pandemic that has killed more than 270,000 Americans and infected nearly 14 million across the United States.... Invitations have already gone out to 900 people [for a December 15 party in the department's main reception room]..., raising concerns about a potential superspreader event."

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Reader Comments (10)

TEARFUL BYE=BYE

Watch Mitch slobber ( as I wrote that word I felt bad–thought the guy has "feelings" after all –-but then reality's truthiness popped up and I said–-nah–-slobber it is!) over Lamar Alexander's leave of the senate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vxg5SUiMcOY

Last night Rachel had a long story about how Lamar was inducted into the Tenn. Governorship early to over-ride the present Governor who was trying to push a scam prison release of unsavory inmates. Interesting set piece compared with what is taking place now. It's clear that McConnell was extremely close to Alexander which tells you something about Lamar even if you aren't familiar with his tenure in the Senate. But after Rachel, Lawrence picked up the baton and spelled it out: "Lamar Alexander was a terrible senator."

I'd give my buffalo nickel to know what Fatty said to Billy during that swift foray into the W.H. yesterday.

"WHAT????? " bellowed the beast at Bill––"You told the public
WHAT???

Did Barr get down on his knees and start to lick Fatty's feet while pleading that he HAD to tell the truth in order to save HIS sorry ass.

Loyality has its price! IT do indeed.

December 3, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

@PD Pepe: Yeah, O'Donnell also noted that McConnell didn't have even a few crocodile tears for the tens of thousands of Covid-19 victims.

December 3, 2020 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

Merry Christmas, yer ass...

I noticed, after a very brief perusal of a few photos, perfectly framed, of Melanie’s Last Flaunting of Christmas Bona Fides (or should that be flouting? Or flaying? Filleting? Flensing? Fornicating with?) by way of her blessedly concluding affectation of Yuletide “who gives a fuck” White House bedizenments, that she has given up on her idea of how the ignorant slobs who vote for her philandering, treasonous husband should decorate for the holidays.

For once, the trees don’t look like something out of a Tim Burton nightmare or a too, too haute couture magazine spread featuring images of slippery, soft-core salaciousness. But what brought me up short was a blurb about a tree with ribbons sent in from Gold Star parents. “Is this” I wondered, “the room where Fatty peers in and snickers ‘Losers’”?

The absolute gall of these people. Here’s a White House that pissed on a Gold Star family to get elected, then called those who died in uniform losers and suckers.

This interminable horror show can’t end soon enough.

And the fact that the Fat Fascist hasn’t bleated a single word/lie about how he’s saving Christmas from the godless democrat commies is proof positive that none of the Trump monsters give a fuck about Christmas. It was all just another scam to gull the rubes. What’s peace, love, and joy to the chaos producing, hate mongering, joyless Orange Menace and his grasping, grifting brood of career moochers?

Next year Melanie can go back to decorating her mannequins and dressmaker dummies.

December 3, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

And now here’s Trumpen genius Roger (treasonous crook) Stone with a big scoop about North Korea stealing poor little Donald’s election.

How? Sailing a ship to the “state of Maine” and, I guess, to reg’lar Maine. Hmmm...back of the envelope calculation shows that a ship sailing east, across the Pacific and through the Panama Canal, then north to the “state of Maine”, would travel well over 10,000 miles. Going west, through the Indian Ocean and the Suez Canal, is a trip of over 12,000 miles.

But sailing straight across the Pacific to Oregon would be about 4,500 miles.

But sure, let’s go to Maine. Why? Roger Stone is a moron, that’s why.

What’s next? Santa is a Democrat and he sent his elves to steal poor little Donald’s ballots so’s they could deliver them to that mean old Joe Biden?

Ignorance can be fixed. Stupid cannot.

December 3, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

@Akhilleus: North Korea is north. It's cold. North Koreans like cold weather. Clearly, they heard the "state of Maine" was the coldest coastal state, so off they went. their bundles of Biden ballots in the hold. Then some of those ghostbuster truckers carried the ballots around the country to swing states and dropped them off in "Democrat drop boxes." Everything is logical when you're crazy.

December 3, 2020 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

Does anyone know if Biden/Harris have clearly stated their position on this Voice of America fiasco? I can't find anything definitive. It's kind of an obtuse issue with so much shenanigans going on, but VOA is actually really important and has a great history and the nutball lunatic installed to ruin it needs to be kicked out the door at noon on Jan 20th. Not a single minute later.

And, just to get this off my chest. A Big Fuck You to mike pence, who now wants to "distance" himself to get less fascist stench on his God calling cards. Fer Fucks Sake man.

December 3, 2020 | Unregistered Commentersafari

Re: Roger Stone and North Korea and the State of Maine. I just had a properly distanced cup of tea with my mother and friends, and my mother mentioned the case of a young woman and teenage boy in Hancock County, Maine, who in 1944 alerted authorities of two suspicious characters they'd seen down on Hancock Point. The two men turned out to be spies and were arrested in NYC. Maybe Stone decided to take the old story and spruce it up for the twenty-first century. But trying to pull a fast one among skeptic Mainers is pretty much a nonstarter.

https://bangordailynews.com/2020/11/29/news/hancock/how-a-down-east-boy-scout-and-his-neighbor-helped-foil-the-plans-of-two-nazi-spies/

December 3, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterElizabeth

@Elizabeth: Thanks. That's a great story. I've seen several (fictional) films that include scenes reminiscent of the one here (usually set in Europe), but this -- I think -- is the first time I've ever heard of a real incident like this.

Just goes to show that if people seem out of the ordinary, maybe they are -- and not necessarily in a good way.

December 3, 2020 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

Okay, I just played the truly pathetic little speech of Moscow Mitch weeping for his friend Lamar. I was NOT moved. The SOB doesn't waste a tear on anything else for anybody, and has been in the pocket of the most godawful prez this country has ever seen, and NONE of them feel badly on this day of overwhelming sickness and death. I hope Mitch is lonely as the day is long. I hope he burns in hell. I wish I believed in hell...now I must turn off Rachel and watch something utterly stupid just to get to bedtime...Maybe I will eat ice cream too.

December 3, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterJeanne

Elizabeth,

Your Down East story and reference to Mainers unimpressed by out of state wiseguy bullshit reminds me of the old joke about a rich New Yorker pulling up in his fancy car to a house in Ogunquit to quiz an old timer sitting on his front porch.

“Hey, pal, do you know if I can get to the interstate on this road?”

The old man says “Nope. Don’t know”.

“Well, if I turn around and go back that way do you know where I’ll end up?”

“Nope.”

“If I take that fork a mile back do you know where that’ll take me?”

“Nope.”

Annoyed, the rich man says “You don’t know much, do you?”

“Nope” says the old man. “But I ain’t lost.”

December 3, 2020 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus
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