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

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

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

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

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

Click on photo to enlarge.

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

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

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

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

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

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Sunday
Nov112018

The Commentariat -- November 11, 2018

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Peter Baker & Alissa Rubin of the New York Times: "President Trump's brand of 'America First' nationalism was repudiated on Sunday as leaders from around the globe gathered to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended World War I and reaffirm the international bonds that have once again come under strain. Stone-faced and unmoved, the American leader listened as President Emmanuel Macron of France used the ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe to denounce self-interested nationalism and extol the sort of globalism and international institutions that Mr. Trump has spent the last two years pulling the United States away from. 'Patriotism is the exact opposite of nationalism,' Mr. Macron said in a speech on a dreary, rain-soaked day. 'Nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism by saying, "our interest first, who cares about the others?"'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Here's the photo that accompanies the Baker-Rubin story:

"Led by President Emmanuel Macron of France, world leaders marched down the Champs-Élysées in Paris on Sunday as part of events to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I." Where's Waldo? You can supersize the picture by clicking on it, if you think it will help you find Waldo Donald, but it won't.... "Mr. Trump arrived in his own motorcade, traveling separately, aides said, because of security, and joined the world leaders under a transparent enclosure at the arch." ...

... Okay, here he is under the transparent enclosure. Also transparent: Grumpy Trumpy:

... "Well," you say, "Trump is just beaming in this shot:"

... Mrs. McCrabbie: And so he is. That's because that guy at the bottom of the frame -- that guy Trump is beaming at -- is Vladimir Putin (who arrived even later than Trump). Thanks to forrest m. for reminding me I didn't present the full picture, as it were. ...

... Rachel Donadio of the Atlantic: "French television commentators called it 'symbolic' that the U.S. president shunned the group, and also noted, as Trump stiffly took his place next to Merkel, that 'he didn't look very smiley.' He was more smiley when Putin arrived. The Russian president gave Trump a thumbs up and a brief friendly pat on the arm. In a somber speech beneath the Arc de Triomphe, Macron recalled how with World War I, Europe almost committed suicide. He said 'old demons' were resurfacing and history was threatening to repeat itself, and threatening Europe's history of peace. He decried 'the selfishness of countries that regard only their own interests,' which sounded like a remark clearly aimed at the United States.... It was impossible not to hear Macron's words, before so many other world leaders, as aimed at Trump, a sign of how the rest of the world is contending with the repercussions of 'America First.'... On Saturday, while Trump stayed in Paris doing whatever he was doing, Macron and Merkel went to Compèigne, a site outside Paris freighted with 20th-century history. It is the site where Marshal Ferdinand Foch, the supreme commander of the western front, signed the ceasefire agreement with Germany, ending World War I, and where Adolph Hitler forced France to sign a capitulation agreement in 1940.... The vanishing act [Saturday] was classic Trump -- dominating the news cycle, insulting and upstaging his hosts, to say nothing of U.S. soldiers and veterans." ...

... Christopher Dickey of The Daily Beast: "[I]t should not be at all surprising that the history of World War I, commemorated this weekend in France 100 years after its end, would hold little attraction for the American president.... Trump, of course, has declared himself a proud nationalist, and has a long list of those he wants Americans to hate and fear. As for love of country, and indeed of those who loved it enough to die for it, he's not so interested. On Saturday, using a little rain (very little) as an excuse, Trump blew off a long-planned visit to the graves of more than 1,000 U.S. Marines.... No other heads of state failed to make their appointed rounds at battlefield cemeteries. But ironically it seems that Marine One, the presidential helicopter, was deterred by drizzle.... The truth is, Trump never wanted to be here in the first place, and his performance on Saturday reflected his trademark truculent petulance.... Sunday's event was, as long planned, an assembly of more than 60 heads of state and government.... But Trump tweeted that attendance was up because he decided to come. Maybe Trump's die-hard American supporters believe this stuff. But the rest of the world sees it as ludicrous and contemptible." --s

Mike Allen & Jim VandeHei of Axios: "House Democrats plan to investigate whether President Trump abused White House power by targeting -- and trying to punish with "instruments of state power" -- The Washington Post and CNN, incoming House intelligence committee chairman Adam Schiff said in an interview for 'Axios on HBO.'... Schiff brought up two avenues of inquiry with a press-freedom theme, aimed at investigating possible administration actions to target two of the nation's highest profile corporations. 1) Schiff said Trump 'was secretly meeting with the postmaster [general] in an effort to browbeat the postmaster [general] into raising postal rates on Amazon. This appears to be an effort by the president to use the instruments of state power to punish Jeff Bezos and The Washington Post,' Schiff said. Jeff Bezos is founder, chairman and CEO of Amazon, and owns the Washington Post. 2) Schiff said Congress also need to examine whether Trump attempted to block AT&T's merger with Time Warner as payback to CNN."

Bob Bauer in the Atlantic: "It is a strange turn of events when a president famous for denouncing 'fake news' is discovered to have entered into an agreement with a media organization to finance the concealment of very real, but politically unfavorable, newsworthy information.... The deal that Trump reached and executed with AMI [-- the tabloid publisher --] violates federal campaign-finance laws. AMI made an illegal corporate in-kind contribution to the Trump campaign, and the campaign and Trump share in the liability by accepting this illegal support. As open-and-shut cases go, this one is high on the list. But this is only a part of what makes this a remarkable episode in the history of presidential campaign lawbreaking." Bauer goes on to illuminate the cases against both Trump & AMI, & he further asserts, "A similar issue arises for the Trump campaign in asserting a First Amendment defense in relation to its relationship to WikiLeaks in the strategic publication and dissemination of stolen emails.... The Journal reporting on Trump's active, detailed engagement in the [Karen] McDougal and [Stormy] Daniels pay-offs confirms that this is not how he operates. It gives powerful additional reason to disbelieve his outright denial of participation in the Russian contacts.

Amy Sorkin of the New Yorker: "One of the more dangerous outcomes of the midterms is the belief, in some quarters of the G.O.P., that putting the Party in Trump's hands was worth it.... The midterms were a party-building exercise, if all one was trying to build is the Party of Trump. The G.O.P. is acclimating itself to accepting divisiveness and unconstitutional travesties -- including, perhaps, efforts to end birthright citizenship -- in return for a few Senate seats.... The same appears true of [Matthew] Whitaker.... Whitaker is, in many ways, a walking distillation of Trumpism.... The firing of Sessions is an illustration of how the President's demand for loyalty brings the country ever closer to a constitutional crisis. Whitaker has said that the list of Supreme Court decisions that he thinks are wrong begins with Marbury v. Madison -- the landmark 1803 case that delineated the Court's power to interpret the Constitution, and which is woven into almost every aspect of American jurisprudence. If the Court doesn't decide what's constitutional, who does? Trump?" --s

James Kitfield in The Daily Beast: "Little mentioned in the 'horse race' coverage of the mid-terms, [a] parallel election resulted in a 'reform wave' that may very well have the more lasting impact on our democracy. There were campaign and election reform initiatives on the ballot Tuesday in more than two dozen states and localities, and with a few notable exceptions, they won, sweeping aside defenders of a status quo system that consistently produces incivility, political extremism and government gridlock.... Michigan, Colorado, and Missouri all passed major anti-gerrymandering initiatives, for instance.... Anti-corruption reforms that limit or ban lobbyist gifts to politicians, tighten campaign finance rules and increase government transparency passed in Missouri, New Mexico and North Dakota. A host of voting and anti-corruption reforms passed last week at the city level in Denver, Baltimore, Memphis, Phoenix, and New York." --s

Sarah Jones of New York: "Democrats made real gains in state government on Tuesday. The party nearly doubled its number of trifecta governments, where one party controls the executive branch in addition to each chamber of the state legislature. They now have total control in 13 states versus 21 Republican trifectas.... The Democratic Party's weaknesses in state government are legendary and have probably contributed to its weaknesses at the federal level. State government is an important pipeline to higher office, and as Stateline reported this week, Democrats lost 900 legislative seats during the Obama administration.... But now in states with Democratic trifectas -- or at least a significant number of lawmakers willing to work across the aisle -- Democrats will have opportunities to implement their policies, and demonstrate their effectiveness to voters. Here are some issues they're likely to focus on." --s

Lindsey Joins the Loons. Adrienne Varkiani of ThinkProgress: "Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) seems to believe that Democrats' insistence that all votes be counted is a sign of them trying to 'steal' the election in Florida. 'They are trying to steal this election,' Graham said on Fox News' Hannity Friday evening. 'It's not going to work.'" --s

John Bowden of the Hill: "Conservative policy magazine The Weekly Standard on Saturday posted audio of Iowa Rep. Steve King (R) using derogatory language to apparently refer to Mexican immigrants at a campaign event after King and his campaign denied the comments were made. In the audio, the Iowa congressman can be heard joking with a constituent about importing 'dirt' from Mexico, which appears to be a derogatory reference to immigrants coming from Mexico and other Central American countries through the U.S.'s southern border.... After making the remarks, the Standard notes that King reportedly became nervous upon realizing that a reporter may have heard the remarks, and changed the subject.... King and his campaign ... dar[ed] the magazine to post it in a series of Twitter posts.... 'Just release the full tape. Leftists lies exist without original sources because they are false and manufactured accusations. Weekly Standard is transitioning into "Antifa News,"' King [wrote]...."

*****

Trump Debases the Medal of Freedom. Michael Brice-Saddler of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Saturday named seven individuals who will receive the highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.... The awardees are retiring Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), sports legendaries Babe Ruth and Roger Staubach, musician Elvis Presley, the late Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, former Minnesota Supreme Court justice Alan C. Page, and Miriam Adelson, a physician and wife of Sheldon Adelson, a billionaire casino magnate." Mrs. McC: I'm saddened that Trump forgot Don King & Ted Nugent.

Hector Becerra of the Los Angeles Times: "California firefighters criticized President Trump for a tweet Saturday that incorrectly stated that this week's devastating fires were the result of poor forest management. 'There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor. Billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests. Remedy now, or no more Fed payments!' Trump wrote. It was not the first time Trump has blamed California for destructive wildfires with dubious claims. California Professional Firefighters President Brian Rice said Trump was out of line. 'The president's message attacking California and threatening to withhold aid to the victims of the cataclysmic fires is ill-informed, ill-timed and demeaning to those who are suffering as well as the men and women on the front lines,' Rice said in a statement.... Mr. President, with all due respect, you are wrong. The fires in So. Cal are urban interface fires and have NOTHING to do with forest management. Come to SoCal and learn the facts & help the victims,' the Pasadena Firefighters Assn. said on Twitter. Experts have said forest management was not a factor in California's two most destructive fires: the Camp, which has burned more than 6,000 structures this week in Paradise, and the Tubbs fire last year in wine country. Forest thinning would not have stopped either fire."

Peter Baker & Adam Nossiter of the New York Times: "After a promising start, the relationship between President Trump and President Emmanuel Macron of France has soured. By the time they met in Paris on Saturday, the trans-Atlantic alliance that was to be showcased by this weekend's commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I appeared to be fraying instead.... During their short appearance before reporters, Mr. Trump remained formal and distant.... The tense meeting ... contrasted with Mr. Macron's joint appearance with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany later in the day.... Mr. Trump ... will not stay for a Paris peace forum that Mr. Macron is sponsoring to bring together world leaders to discuss ways to avoid conflict. 'Trump's absence from the Peace forum tomorrow, apparently alone among the 72 heads of state and government, will have a negative impact -- the man who did not even pretend to work for peace, as it were,' said François Heisbourg, chairman of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a research organization."

"Real Low Energy." Carol Lee & Kristen Welker of NBC News: "... Donald Trump was scheduled to take a 30-minute helicopter ride from Paris to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial in Belleau, France. But a rainy forecast for the city made it too risky for him to safely fly there, the White House.... White House chief of staff John Kelly and Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made the roughly 50-mile long trip to the cemetery in a small motorcade of vehicles. The drive took about 90 minutes each way. Separately, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel traveled a similar distance by car to a commemorative event in northern France.... Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also participated in armistice events outside the city today, at a battle site about two hours north of Paris by car.... A member of the British Parliament and grandson of legendary British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Nicholas Soames ... call[ed] Trump 'pathetic' and 'inadequate' on Twitter because he 'couldn't even defy the weather to pay his respects to The Fallen' who 'died with their face to the foe.'...Kelly Magsamen, who served on the National Security Council under bot Republican and a Democratic presidents, said it displayed 'real low energy,' for Trump 'to not bother to honor the sacrifice of American soldiers in WWI due to some rain. Somehow everyone else was able to do so today.'" Thanks to OGJerry for the lead. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: I'd guess Trump was concerned about having another bad hair day. Or maybe Trump was concerned about umbrella logistics, especially with the problem of his wife's standing beside him. ...

... Noah Lanard of Mother Jones: "Trump's announcement sparked skepticism disbelief, and disdain. Luke Baker, Reuters' Paris bureau chief, questioned the timing of the cancellation, noting that French officials told reporters a day earlier that Trump was unlikely to visit the memorial, which is about 55 miles from Paris.... Unlike Barack Obama, Trump still hasn't visited troops serving in combat zones.... Ben Rhodes, a former deputy national security adviser, wrote [on Twitter]: 'I helped plan all of President Obama's trips for 8 years. There is always a rain option. Always.'" Lanard's post includes a photo of John Kelly & Joseph Dunford arriving at the Aisne-Marne cemetery, and there is nary a raindrop in sight. (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: President Obama, you may recall, did not let a little rain bother him....


     ... Neither did this unnamed woman:

... David Nakamura, et al., of the Washington Post: "Trump was in France in body but appeared unenthusiastic in spirit.... Trump held a bilateral meeting with [Emmanuel] Macron, but the U.S. president appeared subdued, almost sullen, as Macron tried to mask growing tensions between them.... So began a weekend in which Trump -- battling on a number of political fronts in Washington -- seemed distracted and disengaged.... Thomas Wright, a Europe expert at the Brookings Institution, noted Trump announced he was going to France on a whim in August after abruptly canceling his order for the Pentagon to stage a parade. The Peace Forum [-- a three-day event Macron organized --] was intended 'a bit as a counterpoint to "America First,"' Wright said.... 'Now they have this weird situation of Trump being there [in Paris] but the forum going against everything he and [National Security Adviser John] Bolton stand for...."

SNAFU. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "President Trump doesn't exactly have a great track record when it comes to high-profile appointments -- remember Ronny L. Jackson? -- and the hasty installation of Matthew G. Whitaker as acting attorney general looks like it ranks up there. Ever since Whitaker was tapped to replace ousted Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Wednesday, red flags have been popping up. And in nearly every major facet of Sessions's removal and Whitaker's appointment -- the legality of it, the appearance of it, the prosecution of it and Whitaker's background -- those red flags are significant."

Mark Landler of the New York Times: "In the three days after the Democrats captured the House, President Trump fired his attorney general and replaced him with a loyalist critical of both the courts and the Russia investigation. He banned a CNN correspondent from the White House, while threatening he would do the same to other journalists. And he accused election officials in Florida and Arizona of rigging the vote against candidates he had campaigned for. It was a remarkable assault on the nation's institutions, even by a president who has gleefully taken a hammer to the press, to judges and prosecutors he does not like, and to an electoral process he has denounced as fraudulent since the day he took office. Mr. Trump's actions suggested a president lashing out after a midterm election loss that he had initially cast as a victory.... For the most part these days, Mr. Trump speaks less in sorrow than in anger." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Maureen Dowd writes a film review of "Vice," Adam McCay's film about Dick Cheney. But she (& McCay) make a point which some are forgetting: "War criminals-turned-liberal heroes are festooned with book and TV contracts, podcasts and op-ed perches. Those who sold us the 'cakewalk' Iraq war and the outrageously unprepared Sarah Palin and torture as 'enhanced interrogation,' those who left the Middle East shattered with a cascading refugee crisis and a rising ISIS, and those who midwifed the birth of the Tea Party are washing away their sins in a basin of Trump hate. The very same Republicans who eroded America's moral authority in the 2000s are, staggeringly, being treated as the new guardians of America's moral authority.... After a screening of 'Vice' Thursday, I asked McKay which of our two right-wing Dementors was worse, Cheney or Trump. 'Here's the question,' he said. 'Would you rather have a professional assassin after you or a frothing maniac with a meat cleaver? I'd rather have a maniac with a meat cleaver after me, so I think Cheney is way worse. And also, if you look at the body count, more than 600,000 people died in Iraq. It's not even close, right?'"

See Patrick's commentary in yesterday's thread on But the Emails! He puts the whole "scandal" is perspective.

Election 2018

$$$ David Wright & Aaron Kessler of CNN: "Campaigns and PACs spent at least $3.2 million at Trump-owned and branded properties throughout the two-year midterm election cycle, a CNN analysis of Federal Election Commission filings shows. And the total could rise after post-election financial reports are published by the commission. No single group spent more than the Republican National Committee, which spent at least $1.2 million at the properties since the start of 2017.... Trump's own presidential reelection campaign was also among the groups spending the most at Trump properties throughout 2017 and 2018, despite not being on the ballot. The campaign has spent more than $950,000 at Trump properties since the start of 2017. And America First Action -- a pro-Trump super PAC founded early in 2017 and funded primarily by GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson -- was another top patron of Trump properties, dropping at least $360,000 throughout the cycle."

Michelle Goldberg: "There was no immediate catharsis on Tuesday, no definitive national rebuke of a president whose bottomless depravity continues to dumbfound more than half the country. But the steady work of citizens who've been trying, over the last two years, to fight the civic nightmare of Trumpism bore fruit. It was a slog, pockmarked with disappointments. At the end, though, there was hope.... After this past week, people in the Resistance are exhausted. But they're not resting."

Arizona. Scott Bland of Politico: "Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema has expanded her lead over GOP Rep. Martha McSally in Arizona after another day of ballot-counting in the state's Senate race. Sinema stretched her lead to 28,688 votes on Saturday evening as officials in the two most-populous counties, Maricopa and Pima, counted tens of thousands more absentee ballots, though that margin could shrink slightly if smaller counties where McSally has an edge report new totals later Saturday evening. Sinema now has 49.5 percent of the vote to McSally's 48.2 percent, with hundreds of thousands more votes still left to count."

California. Adam Nagourney of the New York Times: "Representative Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican fixture in California who represented Orange County for 15 terms, has lost his bid for re-election. His defeat underlines the party's setbacks in a part of the state that was long a symbol of its political dominance. The Associated Press called the race on Saturday, with Harley Rouda receiving 52 percent of the vote to Mr. Rohrabacher's 48 percent. Mr. Rouda, 56, is a former Republican turned Democrat who became a symbol of the Democratic efforts to win back Congress this year. Mr. Rohrabacher, 71, was viewed as particularly vulnerable because he defended Russia in the midst of allegations about its efforts to intervene in elections in the United States."

Florida. Frances Robles & Patricia Mazzei of the New York Times: "Florida began the first full, statewide vote recount in its history on Saturday after authorities found that tallies submitted by its 67 counties left the contests for Senate, governor and agriculture commissioner too close to call. Recounts were also ordered in a State Senate race and two contests for the State House, a measure of the slender margins in the nation's largest swing state that have left two of the most closely watched races in the country still undecided, four days after the midterm elections. After unofficial results came in shortly after noon on Saturday, Gov. Rick Scott's edge in the race for the Senate had slipped to nearly 12,600 votes over the Democratic incumbent, Bill Nelson. Andrew Gillum, the Democratic Tallahassee mayor who on election night had conceded his loss in the governor's race to Ron DeSantis, rose to within 33,600 votes, and retracted his earlier concession." ...

Trying to STEAL two big elections in Florida! We are watching closely! -- Donald Trump, in a tweet Saturday

Because in Trump's America, it's illegal to count votes that could be for Democrats. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie


Loveday Morris & Louisa Loveluck of the Washington Post: "An audio recording tracking the dying moments of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul has been shared with Saudi Arabia, Britain, France and Germany in addition to the United States, the Turkish president said Saturday. 'We gave it to Saudi Arabia,' said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke at Ankara airport before departing for Paris for commemorations to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. 'We gave it to America. To the Germans, French, English, we gave it to all of them.' The tape is a critical piece of evidence that Turkey says backs up its assertion that Khashoggi, a contributor to The Washington Post World Opinions section, was killed by a Saudi hit team after he entered the consulate on Oct. 2." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

News Lede

"Paradise Is Gone." New York Times: "Fires continue to rage on both ends of California, spreading with breakneck speed and displacing hundreds of thousands of people in a state where a once-seasonal worry has become a near-constant terror. At least 23 are dead in the so-called Camp Fire, about 100 miles north of Sacramento, and two others have died in fires near Los Angeles. With the discovery of 14 more bodies on Saturday, the Camp Fire surpassed the death toll in last year's Tubbs Fire, which killed 22 people and was the third-deadliest fire in the state's history until now. The deadliest, the Griffith Park fire in 1933, killed 29 people."

Comments Off

Reader Comments (5)

A note for OGJerry: you are such a welcome addition to our R.C. family (see how cozy we have become) and have enjoyed reading your comments. The link you gave us to that piece about Orange County–-the death of–-was excellent.

Dowd's feature today re: "Vice," the film about Cheney, was well done. Here was a man that skillfully orchestrated plans of pure evil and made them sound sensible and absolutely correct. To choose between a mad man with a cleaver and a smart, clever, serial killer I suppose is a no brainer but Trump's madness on a daily basis continues to do extreme harm nationally as well as globally and it feels worse.

Love is spread widely at the Wash.Po: Two reporters, Loveday Morris and Lousia Loveluck join together (see above) I find this extraordinary as well as loverly as can be. And the fact that their story is about the Khashoggi murder lends an air of such discrepancy.

November 11, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

There must be some mistake regarding the Medal of Freedom.
The Fatuous one left off the Obamas and I'm sure it was an oversight.
Miriam Adelson?

November 11, 2018 | Unregistered Commenterforrest morris

So the Pretender is a bit sullen today?

Musta been the rain. Or maybe his mind is elsewhere.

".....Did he know Matt Whitaker or not? Hard to remember these things.

And that Macron is such a little twit. Who does he think he is? He with his little country and puny economy. I'll crush 'em with tariffs, show 'em who's boss.

No, no, I don't want to read that, Kelly Ann. Just tell me what it says.

'In 2017, China was the world's largest economy for the third year in a row. It produced $23.1 trillion in economic output according to World Factbook The European Union was in second place, generating $19.9 trillion. Together, China and the EU generate 33.9 percent of the world's economic output of $127 trillion. The United States remained at third place...'

I didn't know that.

What's with this third place stuff? I thought the US was the most powerful nation in the world and I was its most powerful leader....gotta do something about that....

....after I talk to my friend Vlad, who might have some suggestions. He's a smart guy, always worth listening to, not like all those creeps who tell me to keep my head down and go slow...."

As for the implicit lesson about the dangers of nationalism Macron is trying to teach, if the Pretender gets it at all, since like most autocrats he confuses the country with himself, he's taking it personally..........

Or maybe the cloud over the Pretender's head is due to that recent election, a very hard-to-miss demonstration that not everyone at home loves him. Not the majority of those who voted in last week's election anyway, whose totals were not disguised by an electoral college that reversed the results of the popular vote and made the loser the winner.

And all this time he thought the fans who come to his rallies were the only ones who vote...

"Whitaker a friend or not? Not the biggest economy? Did I really lose in last week's election? Kelly Ann, where are those alternative facts you're so good at? I need some. Now"

Much more than a bad hair day for the Pretender.

November 11, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

For a glimpse of the real trump beaming when Putin walks into the
Paris meeting, like a long lost lover.
https:www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjUAzZwh-c8#action=share

November 11, 2018 | Unregistered Commenterforrest morris

Blue Wave or not, these numbers must mean something.

One of those meanings might be that with Obama in the White House, people were more or less comfortable with the way things were going.
With the Pretender in the WH.,.,..not so much, which might suggest that he would be better served to eschew his habit of reminding everyone minute by Twitter minute that he's now the nation's leader.

"An estimated 113 million people participated in the 2018 midterm elections, making this the first midterm in history to exceed over 100 million votes, with 49 percent of eligible voters participating in the election. By comparison, the 2014 midterm elections had one of the lowest turnouts in American history, with only 36.4 percent of eligible voters participating. In 2010, the first midterm of President Obama's tenure, 41 percent of voters participated. (CBS News)"

November 11, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes
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