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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.

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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Thursday
Jan252024

The Conversation -- January 25, 2024

The New York Times liveblog of the E. Jean Carroll defamation case against Donald Trump is here: ~~~

Benjamin Weiser & Maria Cramer: "... Donald J. Trump took the stand in his own defense on Thursday in the civil trial for E. Jean Carroll's defamation lawsuit against him, a case that grew out of her accusation that he raped her in a department store dressing room in the mid-1990s. His testimony lasted less than five minutes. A lawyer for Mr. Trump, Alina Habba, asked the former president whether he stood by his remarks, in which he called Ms. Carroll a liar. '100 percent, yes,' Mr. Trump said. 'She said something I considered a false accusation.' The judge struck that second statement, and Ms. Habba asked Mr. Trump whether he intended to hurt Ms. Carroll. He said no. 'I just wanted to defend myself, my family and, frankly, the presidency,' Mr. Trump added."

Cramer: "Alina Habba ... told the judge, Lewis A. Kaplan, that she plans to ask Trump three questions. Trump's intention is to say that he did not intend to cause E. Jean Carroll any harm when he denied her claims.... As Habba and Kaplan go back and forth about the testimony, Trump begins talking at the defense table. 'Mr. Trump, you're interrupting these proceedings by talking loudly while your counsel is talking, and that is not permitted,' the judge tells him."

Cramer: "Kaplan ... tells Habba she can ask Trump the following: Does he stand by the statements he made in his deposition leading up to the trial? Did he deny the allegations because an accusation was made? Did he ever instruct anyone to hurt Ms. Carroll?"

Kate Christobek: "Before he took the stand, Trump appeared upset with the limitations that Kaplan, the judge, put on his testimony. At one point before the jury entered the courtroom, Trump raised his hands and said: 'I never met the woman. I don't know who the woman is.'"

Maggie Haberman: "Trump's much-anticipated testimony lasted just over three minutes. His lawyer, Alina Habba, was extremely limited in what she was allowed to ask him. He was supposed to stick to tighter limits on what he could say on the stand. In unsurprising news, he strayed from it.... Trump's approach was to try to get his denials of sexually assaulting E. Jean Carroll into the record, which the judge wouldn't allow. When the judge read aloud that a previous trial found Trump had assaulted her and described it graphically, Trump let out a loud 'uch!' that could be heard several rows back."

Cramer: "The cross is very brief, with Carroll's lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, asking only a couple of questions: Is this the first trial you attended where Carroll was plaintiff? Yes, he responds."

Christobek: "Trump walked slowly as he left the courtroom after his testimony. He spoke loudly enough for the members of the audience to hear: 'This is not America. Not America. This is not America.'"

Cramer: "After Trump's testimony, the judge dismissed the jury for the day and called a recess, but the lawyers are coming back today to go over how to instruct the jury on the law. Closings will be tomorrow and the jury could start deliberating right after.

~~~ CNN is liveblogging the E. Jean Carroll defamation case developments today. Reporters on MSNBC say that Trump is in the courtroom and is expected to testify. The judge has put limits on what he can say; for instance, he can't say that he never met Carroll and never sexually assaulted her. Also, Trump posted about the case something like 37 times overnight. CNN is liveblogging the E. Jean Carroll defamation case developments today. Reporters on MSNBC say that Trump is in the courtroom and is expected to testify. The judge has put limits on what he can say; for instance, he can't say that he never met Carroll and never sexually assaulted her. Also, Trump posted about the case something like 37 times overnight.

Zach Montague of the New York Times: "Peter Navarro, a trade adviser to ... Donald J. Trump who helped lay plans to keep Mr. Trump in office after the 2020 election, was sentenced on Thursday to four months in prison for defying a subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Mr. Navarro, 74, was found guilty in September of two misdemeanor counts of criminal contempt of Congress.... In a contentious exchange with Judge [Amit] Mehta, [Mr. Navarro's lawyer Stanley] Woodward repeatedly predicted that an appeals court would side with Mr. Navarro on constitutional grounds. 'This case is far from over,' he said."

Sarah Fortinsky of the Hill: "Former President Trump can remain on Maine's primary ballot until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the 14th Amendment case in Colorado, the top court in Maine declared Wednesday, dismissing an appeal from Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows (D). In a unanimous decision, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court upheld a lower judge's order that required Bellows to wait for the U.S. Supreme Court to decide on the Colorado ballot case before she could withdraw, modify or uphold her decision to block Trump's name from Maine's March 5 primary ballot."

Ben Casselman of the New York Times: "The U.S. economy continued to grow at a healthy pace at the end of 2023, capping a year in which unemployment remained low, inflation cooled and a widely predicted recession never materialized. Gross domestic product, adjusted for inflation, grew at a 3.3 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter, the Commerce Department said on Thursday. That was down from the 4.9 percent rate in the third quarter but easily topped forecasters' expectations and showed the resilience of the recovery from the pandemic's economic upheaval." As Akhilleus writes in today's thread, no mention of how well the economy is doing under President Biden. ~~~

     ~~~ Bryan Mena of CNN: "The US economy remained shockingly robust in the fourth quarter to close out a remarkably strong 2023 as consumers and businesses continued to spend, crushing expectations of a recession." ~~~

~~~ You'll Not See Nothing Like the Mighty Yellen. Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen defended the Biden administration's economic agenda on Thursday, drawing sharp contrasts with the policies of the Trump administration.... In a speech at the Economic Club of Chicago, Ms. Yellen argued that the Biden administration had successfully navigated challenging headwinds caused by the pandemic and led a recovery that has outpaced those in the rest of the world. She also suggested that the Biden administration needed more time to tackle affordability issues, such as improving access to child care and housing.... Pointing to Mr. Trump's repeated pledges to rebuild America's roads and bridges, she recalled how those promises went unfulfilled. 'Our country's infrastructure has been deteriorating for decades,' Ms. Yellen said. 'In the Trump administration, the idea of doing anything to fix it was a punchline.' Ms. Yellen also assailed Mr. Trump's tax cuts, castigating him for enacting a 2017 tax law that she said enriched corporations, increased America's budget deficit and did little to make the economy stronger.... Treasury secretaries tend to avoid wading into politics, but Ms. Yellen told reporters ahead of her speech that she believed it was important to lay out the policy differences between the Trump and Biden administrations."

Karoun Demirjian of the New York Times: "The emerging bipartisan border deal is hitting fresh snags among Republicans on Capitol Hill because of the opposition of ... Donald J. Trump.... Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, told Republicans privately on Wednesday that the politics of the issue had been complicated by Mr. Trump's rise and his hostility to the agreement, putting the party 'in a quandary,' according to lawmakers who participated in the meeting.... The remarks ... were striking coming from a Republican who has toiled to distance himself and his party from the former president. Mr. McConnell has vociferously backed the proposed border compromise and has been a chief proponent of a stalled effort to send tens of billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine, which Republicans have said must be tied to the deal." Related HuffPost story by Jennifer Bendery & Igor Bobic, linked below.

Megan Lebowitz of NBC News: "... Donald Trump threatened Wednesday to blacklist anyone who donates to Nikki Haley's presidential campaign. Trump wrote on Truth Social that anyone who makes a contribution to the Haley campaign 'from this moment forth, will be permanently barred from the MAGA camp.'" Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. MB: What do kids do at MAGA Camp? Go kayaking? Make woven plastic lanyards? Teepee the girls' bunkhouse? Without explaining how much fun you'll miss by not going to Maga camp, Trump's threat is pretty toothless.

Presidential Race

Monica Alba, et al., of NBC News: "The United Auto Workers union endorsed President Joe Biden Wednesday. 'If our endorsement must be earned, then Joe Biden has earned it!' UAW President Shawn Fain said in a lengthy speech before introducing the president at the union's conference in Washington.... Biden expressed enthusiasm in his remarks for UAW workers, saying, 'I've always believed that the union movement in America is important because it produces the best-skilled workers in the world. That's what happens. It's good for everybody. It's good for companies. It increases the quality of the job, the quality of the product. It's good for economic growth.... Tens of thousands of auto jobs were lost nationwide through Trump's presidency,' Biden said. 'During my presidency, we've opened 20 auto factories and more to come. We've created more than 250,000 auto jobs all across America.' In his speech, Biden alluded to his experience last fall when he became the first sitting president to join a picket line when he visited auto workers outside Detroit who were striking for higher wages and cost-of-living increases." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

Michael Bender & Lisa Lerer of the New York Times: "Outside the soft bubble of Republican primaries, Mr. Trump's campaign is confronting enduring vulnerabilities that make his nomination a considerable risk for his party. Those weaknesses were laid bare in New Hampshire on Tuesday, where independents, college-educated voters and Republicans unwilling to dismiss his legal jeopardy voted in large numbers for his rival, Nikki Haley.... Four in 10 [New Hampshire] voters who backed Ms. Haley said their dislike of Mr. Trump was a more important factor in their vote than their approval of Ms. Haley, according to exit polls. More than 90 percent said they would be dissatisfied if Mr. Trump won the nomination for a third time.... Exit polls [in Iowa] show that 55 percent of people who identified as independents backed one of Mr. Trump's opponents.... The number of Haley supporters telling pollsters they will back Mr. Biden -- roughly 40 percent according to state and national polls -- is striking.... Trump aides and super PAC officials both view Mr. Biden's campaign as a more formidable opponent than any of Mr. Trump's primary rivals." ~~~

~~~ Alicia Menendez said on MSNBC that Trump lost in both Iowa and New Hampshire in the groups of GOP caucus-goers/voter who said (1) that Joe Biden won the 2020 election, and (2) that Trump would be disqualified if he were convicted of a felony. As Menendez said, one would hope that reality-conscious voters who don't think a felon should be the POTUS are the sort you would hope would participate in elections.

Wednesday's New York Times liveblog on the presidential primaries is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

Chris Cameron: "Nikki Haley was set to return home to South Carolina on Wednesday after her loss to Donald J. Trump in the New Hampshire primary, projecting optimism and determination to push on in what by all appearances will be an arduous road. She faces daunting and perhaps insurmountable challenges, lagging far behind Mr. Trump in polls in her home state and confronting growing calls from other Republicans to abandon the presidential race. Yet Ms. Haley, the former South Carolina governor, vowed to fight on, delivering a concession on Tuesday night in what sounded more like a victory speech.... Mr. Trump has also been lobbing increasingly bitter attacks against Ms. Haley in recent days, raising the possibility that the race could adopt a particularly noxious tone by the time votes are cast in South Carolina on Feb. 24.... On Tuesday night, he hinted that a new wave of vitriol could soon be trained in her direction, alluding vaguely to 'little stuff that she doesn't want to talk about.'"

Katie Glueck: "In a call with reporters this morning, [President Biden's] campaign officials sought to frame what they see as the choice in 2024: 'Donald Trump is running a campaign of revenge and retribution that threatens American democracy and our fundamental freedoms, while Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are running to move the country forward and make life better for working people,' said Julie Chavez Rodriguez, the campaign manager."/p>

Maggie Astor: "Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s campaign sent volunteers to polling sites in New Hampshire yesterday to collect signatures to put his name on the general-election ballot there. The campaign says it collected the 3,000 signatures that the state requires; local officials will need to review their validity before the secretary of state's office determines whether to include Kennedy...."

Nick Corasaniti: "A record number of voters cast a ballot in New Hampshire's Republican primary on Tuesday, according to a New York Times analysis of election data.... The total of more than 300,000 votes as of early Wednesday surpassed the previous high-water mark for a Republican primary, when more than 287,000 voters turned out in 2016. The previous record for either party was the Democrats' 2020 contest, with more than 296,000 voters, many supporting Senator Bernie Sanders of neighboring Vermont."

The New York Times' full page of the results in New Hampshire's Republican primary is here. The Times' Democratic primary results are here: this morning has Joe Biden at 55.8% with 10.1% of the write-ins still unprocessed & Dean Phillips at 19.5%. (Also linked yesterday.) MB: Funny how Biden did better than Trump when Biden didn't campaign at all in New Hampshire and wasn't even on the ballot. Wait till Trump finds out.

David Corn of Mother Jones: "... it was telling that in the middle of [his New Hampshire] triumph the people Trump appeared to care most about were not campaign aides who have toiled hard to help him achieve his win or loved ones who have been at his side. When he looked into the audience, his gaze fell upon two oligarchs -- one an accused sexual assaulter [Steve Wynn]; the other, a wheeler-dealer [John Paulson] who cashed in on a deal that led to one of the biggest penalties in Wall Street history."

Marie: Most of the stories about Trump's win mention how pissed-off he was that Haley did fairly well in the primary, then delivered an upbeat speech in which she vowed not to quit. But over there in Right Wing World, the Fox "News" headline is "Trump 'honored' by New Hampshire win, says Republican party is 'very united.'" (No link.) ~~~

~~~ The Unhappy Insurrectionist. Steve Benen of MSNBC: "For speechwriters, remarks after a primary victory are an easy lift.... Candidates thank their supporters..., they express their appreciation to their campaign staff, they congratulate their defeated rivals, and they say a few words about the road ahead.... But [Trump] ... went in a very different direction.... During relatively brief remarks, the likely GOP nominee not only slammed Haley for appearing pleased about the primary results, he also referenced unnamed Haley scandals that 'she doesn't want to talk about' and even took aim at her attire. 'You can't let people get away with bull----,' Trump added. 'And when I watched her in the fancy dress that probably wasn't so fancy, I said, "What's she doing? We won."' The former president concluded, 'I don't get too angry, I get even.' On his social media platform, he was every bit as agitated, condemning Haley as 'DELUSIONAL!!!' for sticking around after losing. He added, 'Could somebody please explain to Nikki Haley that she lost -- and lost really badly.' For good measure the former president wrote, 'NIKKI CAME IN LAST, NOT SECOND!'... The irony of the circumstances is staggering.... Why, Trump effectively asked, can't Haley simply accept defeat? Self-awareness isn't among the former president's strong suits." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yes, if only Haley had had the grace to repeatedly complain Trump cheated, then complain there is a conspiracy against her (which apparently there is), then sue, then stage a coup. ~~~

~~~ The irony (and lack of self-awareness) doesn't end with Trump. In yesterday's Comments, RAS writes, "When I hear Haley disingenuously attacking Biden by saying we can't have a Harris presidency I'm reminded that she is attacking and insinuating that a fellow Indian woman, Kamala Harris, is not fit for the job But Haley is Republican so she has to signal to her people that she is as racist and misogynistic as they are. And Harris is a boogeyman the Right likes to attack because she is both puppet master pulling all of Biden's strings controlling everything and an incompetent affirmative active hire who is only in her position because of the color of her skin and because she is a woman."

Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), the top-ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee and a key figure in getting bills passed through Congress, says she will not endorse former President Trump, even if he becomes the Republican Party's nominee for president. Asked if she could see herself endorsing Trump if he wins the nomination, Collins replied: 'I do not at this point.'... 'I'm glad to hear last night that Nikki Haley is determined to stay in [the race.] I think the more people see of her, particularly since she appears to be the only alternative to Donald Trump right now, the more impressed they will be,' she said."

Trump's Rallies Are Bo-o-oring. Ian Ward in Politico Magazine: "Trump's rallies, once the primary attraction in the MAGA universe, have become awkward sideshows in his grander political drama, which is now unfolding primarily in closed courtrooms and six-page legal orders.... But something deeper than distraction or fatigue plagued the former president's appearances in New Hampshire. Trump's speeches have always been rambling and directionless, but in 2024, they have the additional drawback of being inescapably monotonous. His rallies aren't fundamentally different than they have been in past elections, but ... there's little new substance or material in this year's revival of the Trump Show. His core grievances ... are all retreads.... Trying to discern a clear picture of Trump or his plans for a second term from [his] remarks is like trying to find patterns in a Pollock painting."

Marie: Over the past couple of days, we've linked to stories documenting Trump's cognitive decline. Even though we don't listen much to Trump, we should have realized that even he knows he has "cognitive diffuculties." This is President* Projection, and he has been knocking Biden's cognitive abilities for months.


Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "President Biden on Wednesday vetoed a Republican-led effort that could have thwarted the administration's plans to invest $7.5 billion to build electric vehicle charging stations across the country. In issuing the veto, Mr. Biden argued that the congressional resolution would have hurt domestic manufacturing as well as the clean energy transition.... Republicans, with some Democrats, voted to repeal a waiver issued by the Biden administration that allows federally funded electric vehicle chargers to be made from imported iron and steel, as long as they are assembled in the United States."

Jennifer Bendery & Igor Bobic of the Huffington Post: "Donald Trump on Wednesday privately pressured Senate Republicans to 'kill' a bipartisan deal to secure the U.S. border because he doesn't want President Joe Biden to chalk up a win ahead of the 2024 presidential election, according to a source familiar with the tenuous negotiations on the package. Trump directly reached out to several GOP senators on Wednesday to tell them to reject any deal, said this source.... The GOP presidential frontrunner also personally reached out to some Senate Republicans over the weekend, the source told HuffPost.... Trump's meddling generated an 'emotional' discussion in a closed door meeting between Senate Republicans on Wednesday, as senators vented their frustrations for hours about the largely secret negotiations over emergency aid for Ukraine, Israel and immigration."

Jim Comer Is Still a Big Fat Liar. Philip Bump of the Washington Post: After deposing Hunter Biden's friend and benefactor Kevin Morris, "House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) released a statement suggesting that Morris had offered information that was deeply problematic for the Bidens. It read, in part: '... Kevin Morris admitted he has "loaned" the president's son at least $5 million. These "loans" don't have to be repaid until after the next presidential election and the "loans" may ultimately be forgiven. Since Kevin Morris has kept President Biden's son financially afloat, he's had access to the Biden White House and has spoken to President Biden. This follows a familiar pattern where Hunter Biden's associates have access to Joe Biden himself.' Morris's lawyer, Bryan Sullivan, quickly sent Comer a letter condemning the legislator for misrepresenting the testimony.... On Tuesday, the transcript was made public. And Sullivan's criticism of Comer was very much proved to be warranted.... In his response to questions from House members and committee staff, Morris explained how he came to consider the younger Biden a friend and quickly agreed to similarly serve as his legal counsel."

Paula Reid & Annie Grayer of CNN: "The House Ethics Committee investigating Rep. Matt Gaetz has reached out to the woman whom the congressman allegedly had sexual relations with when she was a 17-year-old minor, according to a source familiar with the committee's work. The outreach, which has not previously been reported, is a sign that the GOP-led committee's investigation into the Florida Republican has recently expanded to include questioning around allegations of sex crimes. Sources said the committee also has reached out to the Justice Department requesting materials from its investigation into Gaetz, which included allegations of lobbying violations, sex-trafficking and possible obstruction of justice. The federal probe, which also included allegations he had sex with a minor, concluded in 2023 with no charges brought against the congressman."

Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: "More than 21 million people have signed up for health plans through the Affordable Care Act's health insurance marketplaces, the Biden administration announced Wednesday. The record level of enrollment comes as ... Donald Trump ... is again vowing to repeal the program if elected. Sign-ups in the health insurance marketplaces -- a jump of 5 million since last year and the third straight year of record enrollment -- were partly driven by states 'unwinding' pandemic-era protections in Medicaid, with millions of people culled from the safety net health program, said Biden officials and outside researchers. The enrollment figures reflect a roughly 80 percent surge in sign-ups for the ACA since President Biden took office in 2021 and expanded the subsidies available to consumers." (Also linked yesterday.)

Mark Berman of the Washington Post: "Homicides declined last year in nearly two dozen U.S. cities, though many communities still continued to face higher levels of deadly violence than they did in 2019, before a spike in killings, according to a new report on crime trends. The report by the nonpartisan Council on Criminal Justice also said that while numerous cities saw violent crime fall in 2023 from the year before, other offenses increased over the same period, including motor vehicle thefts. 'Overall, crime rates are largely returning to pre-COVID levels as the nation distances itself from the height of the pandemic, but there are notable exceptions,' said the think tank's report, which was released Thursday."

Kelby Vera of the Huffington Post: "Donald Trump's attorney, Alina Habba, was spotted rubbing elbows with Republicans in New Hampshire on Tuesday, just the day after asking for a delay in the ex-president's defamation trial because she was feeling under the weather. On Monday, one of the nine jurors considering writer E. Jean Carroll's second defamation suit against Trump was excused for being ill. Though Judge Lewis Kaplan and Carroll's lawyers agreed to continue the trial with eight jurors, Trump's legal team requested a delay, saying Habba had been exposed to COVID and had a fever. She was not wearing a mask during the hearing." MB: But so glad to learn Habba is feeling better.

Antonio Planas of NBC News: "A member of the Proud Boys extremist group who took selfies in the Senate gallery during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot and once told a judge he would 'still do it all over again' was sentenced Wednesday to six years in prison, federal prosecutors said. Marc Anthony Bru, 44, of Vancouver, Washington, was also sentenced to 36 months of supervised release and ordered to pay a $7,946 fine and $2,000 in restitution, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia said in a statement. Bru was found guilty on Oct. 3 of two felonies, obstruction of an official proceeding and civil disorder, along with five misdemeanors, prosecutors said." MB: And Donald Trump is still walking around free.

In Arizona news, linked below, we learn that the state's GOP chair has resigned when it came out he tried to bribe Kari Lake not run for the Senate this year. But here's a guy who accepted a bribe and is running for Congress: ~~~

~~~ Michael Brice-Saddler of the Washington Post: "Michael A. Brown, the lobbyist and former D.C. Council member who pleaded guilty to a federal bribery charge more than a decade ago, said he will run to become D.C.'s nonvoting delegate to the House of Representatives, joining a slate of opponents challenging longtime Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton in the June Democratic primary."

~~~~~~~~~~

You might think that the only pregnancies that are unfairly denied by state abortion bans are those that make the news because these particular abortions are so badly needed. But no. ~~~

~~~ Megan Lebowitz of NBC News: "More than 64,000 women and girls became pregnant because of rape in states that implemented abortion bans after Roe v. Wade was overruled, according to a new research estimate published online Wednesday. The research letter, published by JAMA Internal Medicine and headed up by the medical director at Planned Parenthood of Montana, estimated that nearly 520,000 rapes were associated with 64,565 pregnancies across 14 states, most of which had no exceptions that allowed for terminations of pregnancies that occurred as a result of rape."

Alabama. Cruel AND Unusual. Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: "The U.S. Supreme Court and a federal appeals court each declined on Wednesday to intervene to stop Alabama from conducting the nation's first-ever execution by nitrogen gas, putting the state on track to use the novel method to kill a death row prisoner. Alabama plans to use nitrogen gas to kill Kenneth Smith, who was convicted of a 1988 murder, after the state botched its previous attempt to execute him by lethal injection in November 2022. Barring any additional legal interventions, prison officials plan to bring him to the execution chamber in Atmore, Ala., on Thursday evening, place a mask on his face and pump nitrogen into it, depriving him of oxygen until he dies.... The [Supreme C]ourt's order did not include an explanation or note any dissents.... Mr. Smith's lawyers said they would also appeal [a second] case to the Supreme Court, potentially giving the justices another chance to intervene...."

Arizona. Maegan Vazquez of the Washington Post: "Arizona Republican Party Chairman Jeff DeWit announced his resignation Wednesday after a recording was made public that appeared to show him attempting to entice Republican Kari Lake to sit out the 2024 election for the state's U.S. Senate seat.... In the recording, published by the Daily Mail on Tuesday, DeWit tries to dissuade Lake, who lost the gubernatorial election in Arizona in 2022 and has served as a surrogate for Trump in this election cycle, from seeking a Senate seat in 2024. He suggests she instead run for governor again in 2026. 'There are very powerful people who want to keep you out. ... But they're willing to put their money where their mouth is in a big way. So, this conversation never happened,' DeWit says in the recording. He later continues, 'So the ask I got today from back east was: "Is there any companies out there or something that could just put her on the payroll to keep her out?"'... In another portion of the exchange, DeWit says: 'Just say, is there a number at which —' to which Lake interjects: 'I can be bought? That's what it's about.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Obviously, Vazquez wrote this story with a special Sani-Wipes pen. "Attempting to entice"? Oh please. Lake knows an effort to bribe her when she gets one. Update: NPR's story is here; NPR's reporter, Ben Giles, is not afraid to use the word "bribe."

Ohio. CBS/AP: "Ohio has banned gender-affirming care for minors and restricted transgender women's and girls' participation on sports teams, a move that has families of transgender children scrambling over how best to care for them. The Republican-dominated Senate voted Wednesday to override GOP Gov. Mike DeWine's veto. The new law bans gender-affirming surgeries and hormone therapies, and restricts mental health care for transgender individuals under 18. The measure also bans transgender girls and women from girls' and women's sports teams at both the K-12 and collegiate level. The override cleared the chamber 24-8 mostly along party lines, save Sen. Nathan Manning, a Republican from Cuyahoga County who has consistently broken from his party on the issue."

Texas. Andrew Schneider of Houston Public Media: "Several Texas Republican lawmakers ... have urged the state to defy the Supreme Court's order to let the Biden administration cut concertina wire Texas has strung out along the border. Governor Greg Abbott has responded by issuing what he described as a 'Statement on Texas' Constitutional Right to Self-Defense,' signaling what could be the beginning of a constitutional crisis.... [Gov. Abbott's statement asserts] the state's constitutional right to protect itself, accusing the Biden administration once again of failing to protect the state from what Abbott characterizes as 'an invasion' of undocumented immigrants. Abbott has not yet indicated that he will defy the Supreme Court's order to allow federal agents to cut the concertina wire, but numerous reports have emerged that the state is continuing to deploy the wire."

Texas. Oldie But Goodie. RAS linked this video of Texas State Rep. James Talarico (D-Austin, of course) explaining to dimwitted colleague Candy Nobel (R, natch) why a bill requiring posters of the Ten Commandments in school classrooms was un-Christian. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'm way surprised Christianists would want to put the Ten Commandments in front of innocent babes. You would think the anti-woke contingent would be shocked, shocked that the schools were featuring a document when 20% of it is about sex, to wit: 7. "You shall not commit adultery."... 10. "You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor." (Exodus 20:17). Do they want little children going home asking, "Mommy, what is 'adultery'?"? "Does Daddy covet Mrs. Jones? What is 'covet'?"

~~~~~~~~~~

Israel/Palestine

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Thursday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization, called the number of civilian deaths in Khan Younis 'horrendous,' after U.N. officials said a blast killed 12 people sheltering at a U.N. training center in the southern Gaza city. The International Court of Justice will deliver an initial ruling Friday on South Africa's request that the court order Israel to stop its military campaign.... Judges at the U.N.'s top court will respond Friday to South Africa's request that Israel 'immediately suspend its military operations in and against Gaza.' Their order will not include a ruling on whether Israel has committed genocide -- a verdict on that could take years. Israel and the United States have dismissed South Africa's case as meritless. The top U.S. mediator for the Middle East, Brett McGurk, is in the region to encourage discussions on the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, but U.S. officials emphasized Wednesday that there was little progress to report." ~~~

     ~~~ CNN's live updates for Thursday are here.

News Lede

New York Times: "Melanie, the husky-voiced singer and songwriter who was one of the surprise stars of the Woodstock music festival in 1969 and two years later had a No. 1 single with the disarmingly childlike 'Brand New Key,' died on Tuesday. She was 76."

Comments Off

Reader Comments (16)

I didn't realize we had such a problem with people sneaking into
New Hampshire from Canada.
Nikki says she would be all for building a wall between the U.S. and
Canada. Sounds expensive. Would Canada pay for it?
Maybe they would if MAGAs started moving to Canada.

Or maybe it's just Canadians coming across to shop for bagels or
some of that great American cheese (sarchasm).

https://www.yahoo.com/news/republicans-zero-border-one-canada-
140000300.html

January 25, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterForrestMorris

So let me get this straight. Holy roller red states whose evangelical fervor and religiosity is so powerful they outlawed a woman’s right to control her own life, purely on the strength of the personal religious beliefs of the people controlling those states, and yet, these religious paradises have had over half a million—half a MILLION—rapes, just in the short period since Alito and the other church ladies on the Supreme Court killed Roe.

Did I get that right?

Ohhh, Jesus must be pleased that they go out of their way to spread such obedience to the Ten Commandments!

Paragons of virtue.

So rape…meh, shit happens. Them bitches probably asked for it. But abortion so that those women impregnated by rapists (sometimes by family members!) don’t have to carry those pregnancies to term? Nope. Go straight to jail.

Okay. Got it. Isn’t the point of religion to make things better?

January 25, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

And when those babies are born, those same holy rollers will scream “No state assistance for you! Get a job. Slut.”

January 25, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

I heard this morning that Trump has announced that he’s going after anyone who dares to contribute money to Haley’s campaign.

For all those apologists who try to say that Biden is the real dictator and Trump is the savior of democracy, just fucking pay attention. Supporters of democracy don’t threaten voters who want someone else.

January 25, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

And oh, look...

“The U.S. economy continued to grow at a healthy pace at the end of 2023, capping a year in which unemployment remained low, inflation cooled and a widely predicted recession never materialized.

Gross domestic product, adjusted for inflation, grew at a 3.3 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter, the Commerce Department said on Thursday. That was down from the 4.9 percent rate in the third quarter but nonetheless showed the resilience of the recovery from the pandemic’s economic upheaval.

The latest reading is preliminary and may be revised in the months ahead.

Forecasters entered 2023 expecting the Federal Reserve’s aggressive campaign of interest-rate increases to push the economy into reverse. Instead, growth accelerated: For the full year, measured from the end of 2022 to the end of 2023, G.D.P. grew 3.1 percent, up from less than 1 percent the year before and faster than in any of the five years preceding the pandemic. (A different measure, based on average output over the full year, showed annual growth of 2.5 percent in 2023.)”

From The NY Times.

Interestingly, there isn’t a single mention of the word “Biden” anywhere in this article.

Funny. Had this been a report of economic downturn and coming recession, Biden’s name would have been in the headline, and repeated in every paragraph. But they can’t credit Biden for the improving economy (even though they’ve run stories for months now about a Biden recession on the way). That wouldn’t be fair to Trump.

January 25, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

This story from several months ago was being passed around last week

"Girl, 13, gives birth after she was raped and denied abortion in Mississippi
This article is more than 5 months old
The nearest abortion clinic – in Chicago – was too far away and too expensive for her mother to provide her with the procedure"

January 25, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

History repeats itself.

January 25, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

Fighting back outside the box. Trolling the trolls.

January 25, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

Missouri Senator's proposal

"Missouri Rule Change Would Allow Senators to Challenge Each Other to a Duel

His proposed amendment was posted on X, formerly Twitter, by Missouri Senate Democrats. It read: "If a senator's honor is impugned by another senator to the point that it is beyond repair and in order for the offended senator to gain satisfaction, such senator may rectify the perceived insult to the senator's honor by challenging the offending senator to a duel."

January 25, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

RAS,

Yeah, history does repeat.

Inspired by "D"'s recommendation some time ago, I read Maddow's "Prequel."

Then I wrote about it.

https://www.populist.com/30.03.Winkes.html

January 25, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Pete gets a jumpsuit!

“Peter Navarro, a trade adviser to former President Donald J. Trump who helped lay plans to keep Mr. Trump in office after the 2020 election, was sentenced on Thursday to four months in prison for defying a subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Mr. Navarro, 74, was found guilty in September of two misdemeanor counts of criminal contempt of Congress. The judge overseeing the case, Amit P. Mehta, rejected Mr. Navarro’s primary defense: that Mr. Trump had personally directed him not to cooperate with the subpoena, and that he believed he was shielded by executive privilege.”

Another Trump hanger-on pats the penalty for glomming on to a traitor and serial liar.

His lawyers whined to the judge that Navarro’s flagrant disregard for the congressional subpoena he flouted was a “misunderstanding”. Misunderstanding, my Irish one. The guy went on Fox and gave Congress the finger. Fuck him and his misunderstanding. Once again, these phony tough guys are all big and bad when they go on Fox and pull out their tiny peckers and wiggle them around. But as soon as they get in front of a judge it’s “Oh, pleeeease! I didn’t mean it. Waaaah!”

Of course, Pete will appeal, and like that other Fatty scofflaw, Steve (three shirts burn it all down) Brannon, he’ll be free to whine about how the horrible deep state is after them and how they did nothing.

January 25, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Ken,

I've read and recommend all of Maddow's books.
I especially enjoyed Bagman, because Spiro Agnew was a major influence in my life.
He was the cause of my youthful Identity Crisis. I could not decide whether I wanted to grow up to be a "nattering nabob of negativity" or "an effete intellectual snob". They both sounded really cool.
In time I realized they are not mutually exclusive -- that one could aim high...

January 25, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterD in MD

D: As an Agnew fan, you'll recall his radio jingles from his goobernatorial run in 1966. We didn't really know him before that, when he appropriated the tune to Sinatra's "Chicago."

Sing it with me: "Ted Agnew is ... my kind of man, Ted Agnew is ... your kind of man, Ted Agnew is ... " yaddayadda.

Is the earworm back?

Later, after he become MD goober, we learned his name was "Spiro." OK, but we've got lots of Greek names in Merlin, why did he feel that "Ted" worked better? Maybe more rednecky than "Spiro?"

I had a friend in high school whose dad was a lawyer and active in politics then. He would not allow Agnew in his house or at any event, even before he was gov. Agnew's reputation was known among those who worked with state offices, fully corrupt guy on the take. Just right for Nixon ("... his kind of man ..." )

January 25, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterPatrick

Trump's ten point plan

January 25, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

Greed

"The public paid for "Moderna's" vaccine, and now we're going to pay again (and again and again)
Moderna is quadrupling the cost of covid vaccines, from $26/dose to $110-130. Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel calls the price hike "consistent with the value" of the mRNA vaccines. Moderna's manufacturing costs are $2.85/dose, for a 4,460% markup on every dose"

January 25, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterRAS
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