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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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Jan302024

The Conversation -- January 30, 2024

Betsy Klein, et al., of CNN: "President Joe Biden told reporters Tuesday he has made a decision about the US response to the drone strike that killed three US service members and injured dozens in Jordan. Asked by CNN's Arlette Saenz whether he has decided how to respond, Biden said, 'Yes,' but declined to provide further details."

Amy Gardner & Holly Bailey of the Washington Post: "The lead prosecutor in the Georgia election interference case against ... Donald Trump and his allies settled a contentious divorce dispute on Tuesday, canceling a hearing scheduled for Wednesday morning that could have included testimony about allegations of an improper relationship between him and Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis. Nathan Wade had been expected to be questioned under oath Wednesday morning about his finances -- including his income as a special prosecutor in the Trump case and his spending, including his purchase of airline tickets for himself and Willis in October 2022 and April 2023.... The last minute settlement agreement allows both Wade and Willis to avoid testimony in a divorce case that has underpinned many of the salacious allegations against the two prosecutors." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Well, that's one low hurdle Willis will not have to jump. But there are plenty more. Richard Fausset & Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "Here are a few things to know about this complicated subplot in the prosecution of Mr. Trump and others for trying to overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia."

Illinois. Punt! Sophia Tareen & Nicholas Riccardi of the AP: "Illinois' election board on Tuesday kept ... Donald Trump on the state's primary ballot, a week before the U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments on whether the Republican's role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol disqualifies him from the presidency. The board's unanimous ruling comes after its hearing officer, a retired judge and Republican, found that a 'preponderance of the evidence' shows Trump is ineligible to run for president because he violated a constitutional ban on those who 'engaged in insurrection' from holding office. But the hearing officer recommended the board let the courts make the ultimate decision. The eight-member board, composed of four Democrats and four Republicans, agreed with a recommendation from its lawyer to let Trump remain on the ballot by determining it didn't have the authority to determine whether he violated the U.S. Constitution."

Maggie Haberman & Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump piled up legal expenses in 2023 as he was indicted four times, spending approximately $50 million in donor money on legal bills and investigation-related expenses last year, according to two people briefed on the figure. It is a staggering sum.... The exact figure spent on legal bills will be reported on Wednesday in new filings to the Federal Election Commission.... The broader picture expected to be outlined in the documents is one of a former president heading toward the Republican nomination while facing enormous financial strain."

Jacqueline Alemany & Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas vigorously defended his record Tuesday as Republicans moved forward with the process of impeaching him -- which, if successful, would be the first such action against a Cabinet member in almost 150 years. The House Committee on Homeland Security convened Tuesday morning to mark up articles of impeachment against Mayorkas, despite struggling in two recent hearings on the inquiry to detail clear evidence of high crimes and misdemeanors. In a six-page letter sent Tuesday to Homeland Security Committee chairman Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.), Mayorkas detailed his lengthy career and pushed back on the GOP's accusations that he has avoided their oversight requests."

Kareem Fahim, et al., of the Washington Post: "Israeli security forces disguised as doctors and patients raided a hospital in the occupied West Bank early Tuesday and killed three Palestinian militants, according to a video of the raid and statements by the Palestinian Health Ministry, the Israel Defense Forces and Palestinian militant groups. The Palestinian Health Ministry said 'occupation forces' raided the Ibn Sina Hospital in the West Bank town of Jenin early Tuesday and fatally shot three young men in the hospital's wards. The statement, which did not identify the men, called the raid a 'crime' and one of 'dozens' carried out by Israel against medical facilities in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. An IDF statement said the raid targeted militants it described as 'hiding' in the hospital, including Mohammed Jalamneh, a member of the Hamas militant group. The statement said Jalamneh, along with two other militants, brothers Mohamed and Basil Ghazawi, were 'neutralized' during the operation."

Lee Moran of the Huffington Post: "President Joe Biden claimed multiple world leaders have expressed to him their fear of ... Donald Trump returning to the White House.'I've been doing foreign policy for a long, long time,' Biden told the congregation at Brookland Baptist Church in Columbia, South Carolina, over the weekend. 'I know every one of those heads of state, and I've known them for a while. And every meeting I go to internationally, as they're walking out, this is the God's truth [...] virtually every one of them pull me aside and says, "You've got to win. We can't let that happen again. You can't let that happen again. You can't let that happen again."'"

Yes, Thomas & Alito Are Terrible Co-workers. Devan Cole of CNN: "Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor opened up on Monday about the 'frustration' she said she experiences daily as the high court's conservative supermajority continues to move the country further to the right. 'I live in frustration. And as you heard, every loss truly traumatizes me in my stomach and in my heart. But I have to get up the next morning and keep on fighting,' Sotomayor, the court's senior liberal member, said at an event at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law."

~~~~~~~~~~

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Tuesday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Middle East is experiencing an 'incredibly volatile time,' telling reporters that 'we've not seen a situation as dangerous as the one we're facing now across the region since at least 1973,' when the Arab-Israeli War, also known as the Yom Kippur War, led to heavy death tolls on both sides. The escalating violence includes recent reports of attacks in Syria, Yemen and Lebanon, as well as the drone strike in Jordan that killed three American troops -- which may have been the result of U.S. air defenses confusing enemy and friendly drones.... Blinken, speaking alongside NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, reiterated President Biden's promise to respond to the deadly assault on U.S. troops in Jordan and said the retaliation 'could be multileveled, come in stages and be sustained over time.'" ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Tuesday are here. CNN's live updates are here.

Dave Philipps of the New York Times: "The Department of Defense on Monday identified three Army Reserve soldiers who were killed at a U.S. base in Jordan on Sunday in what the Biden administration said was a drone attack from an Iran-backed militia. The department said at least 34 other service members were wounded in the attack. Those killed were Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, 46, of Carrollton, Ga.; Specialist Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, of Waycross, Ga.; and Specialist Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, 23, of Savannah, Ga. The soldiers, two of them women, were assigned to the 718th Engineer Company, based at Fort Moore, Ga. -- a team of soldiers trained to deploy at short notice to build roads, landing fields and protective earthen berms for U.S. forces."

Missy Ryan & Alex Horton of the Washington Post: "American air defense systems failed to intercept an attack drone that killed three U.S. troops in Jordan because the incoming aircraft was mistaken for a friendly drone returning to the base, two officials said Monday. Officials have not yet positively identified which country the lethal attack, first disclosed Sunday, originated from, the officials said. It occurred in an area where the borders of Jordan, Syria and Iraq converge. Nearly three dozen U.S. troops were also injured in the incident. Three personnel were transported to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, a U.S. military facility that can offer troops more advanced care, the officials said." The AP report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ From the New York Times live updates on the Israel/Hamas war: "The return of the American surveillance drone to the remote resupply base prompted some confusion over whether the incoming drone was friendly or not, and air defenses were not immediately activated, according to ... officials.... Two other drones that attacked other locations nearby were shot down, they added." (Also linked yesterday.)

Sick Leave. Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III returned to the Pentagon on Monday for the first time in more than a month, the Defense Department said, after his surgery for prostate cancer and hospitalization for related medical complications." ~~~

~~~ Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Attorney General Merrick Garland will be out of commission this weekend due to back surgery and is going out of his way to make sure that there are no doubts about who will be in charge during his absence. The unusual, early announcement by the Biden administration's top law enforcement officer is intended to avoid the storm of criticism Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin faced recently after failing to tell colleagues and the White House when he was hospitalized for prostate cancer surgery and was readmitted for complications.... Garland, 71, will turn over his duties to the Justice Department's No. 2 official -- Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco -- during the surgery and while he recovers from the anesthesia...."

MAGA-Mad in Oklahoma. Colin McCullough of CNN: "The Oklahoma Republican Party approved a resolution over the weekend condemning and censuring Sen. James Lankford, the state's senior senator, for his role in the ongoing bipartisan border negotiations in Congress. Oklahoma Republicans accuse Lankford of 'playing fast and loose' with Democrats on border policy and that he puts 'the safety and security of Americans in great danger,' according to a copy of the resolution posted to X by Republican state Sen. Dusty Deevers. The state party called on Lankford to 'cease and desist jeopardizing the security and liberty of the people of Oklahoma' and said it will withhold support for Lankford until he ends the negotiations."

How Republicans Overcome Their Pasts: Forget It or Delete It. ~~~

~~~ Busted. Jennifer Bendery of the Huffington Post: "Rep. Maria Salazar (R-Fla.) on Sunday got called out for routinely taking credit for delivering money to her district -- after opposing the bills that provided that money. During an interview on CBS News Miami, host Jim DeFede asked Salazar about a ceremony she attended last month where she presented a check for $650,000 to help small businesses at Florida International University. 'You voted against the bill that gave the money that you then signed a check for and handed and had a photo op,' said DeFede, the host of CBS's show 'Facing South Florida.' 'The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, right?' She did vote against> that $1.7 trillion government funding bill. It was a massive and memorable bill that almost every House Republican opposed. Salazar said she couldn't remember that vote.... [DeFede] pointed out that Salazar voted against the CHIPS and Science Act, but has celebrated the fact that the South Florida Climate Resilience Tech Hub is being launched in Miami. That hub was authorized by the CHIPS and Science Act. He also noted that Salazar voted against the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, but has touted all the money that law provided to Miami International Airport." ~~~

~~~ Busted. Steve Benen of MSNBC: "Soon after the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol, House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik ... issued a written press release condemning the violence.... Stefanik's statement said, 'I fully condemn the dangerous violence and destruction that occurred today at the United States Capitol.... The perpetrators of this un-American violence and destruction must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.'... But ... [the link to the statement on Stefanik's] website ... no longer works. The statement, which was here, has been taken down, replaced with text that now reads, 'The page you have requested does not exist or is undergoing routine maintenance.'" When Liz Cheney, whose leadership post Stefanik took over, pointed last week to Stefanik's 2021 statement, Stefanik truncated her press release archive so that it goes back only a year, though it used to go back to 2015. Stefanik, Benen writes, "is going to cringeworthy lengths to impress Donald Trump and his political operation, and she's abandoned any sense of shame -- even echoing the former president's rhetoric about Jan. 6 criminals being 'hostages.'"

Presidential Race

Reid Epstein, et al., of the New York Times: "As ... Donald J. Trump speeds toward the Republican nomination, President Biden is moving quickly to pump energy into his re-election bid, kicking off what is likely to be an ugly, dispiriting and historically long slog to November between two unpopular nominees. After months of languid buildup in which he held only a single public campaign event, Mr. Biden has thrown a series of rallies across battleground states, warning that democracy itself is at stake in 2024. He sent two of his most trusted White House operatives to take the helm of his re-election campaign in Wilmington, Del., after Mr. Trump seized control of the Republican primary race more rapidly than Mr. Biden's advisers had initially expected.... In a race without historical parallel -- a contest between two presidents, one of them facing 91 criminal charges -- Mr. Biden is making an extraordinary gamble, betting that Mr. Trump remains such an animating force in American life that the nation's current leader can turn the 2024 election into a referendum not on himself but on his predecessor."

Tired of Losing. Natalie Allison of Politico: "Days before the Republican National Committee was set to convene [in Las Vegas, Nevada], hundreds of Republican officials gathered in a casino ballroom Monday to vent their grievances about the party -- and warn that it is ill prepared for the 2024 election. 'We are at war,' one man shouted from a microphone at the event, hosted by the conservative group Turning Point Action.... 'Where are the tools? Where are all the little things that the left is doing but we don't?' The gathering, in the hotel next door to where the RNC will meet later this week, was the culmination of more than a year's worth of frustration from some Republicans in and surrounding the committee -- about its finances, about its struggles to match Democrats' organizing efforts, about its four-term leader. A year ago this month, the vast majority of the RNC's members voted in favor of keeping Ronna McDaniel on for another term as chair, despite an ugly reelection fight that exposed rifts and vulnerabilities inside the committee. But at this point, many grassroots activists say McDaniel has lost their trust, perhaps permanently. They say they're tired of losing." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Maybe Ronna should stand up and tell these folks the truth: that most of the people running for elective office -- starting with the presidential* frontrunner who is currently out on bail for 91 felony charges -- are a bunch of liars & losers, that their party agenda -- taking away rights from women & LGBTQ+ people, suppression of minority voters, supporting secession, insurrection and autocracy, and building huge deficits on account of tax cuts for the rich -- are fairly unpopular. Somehow, I don't think she'll mention all that.

Trump Insurrection: Worse Than Secession. Devan Cole of CNN: "A former conservative federal appellate judge is urging the Supreme Court to keep Donald Trump off the ballot, arguing the ex-president's effort to cling to power after his 2020 election loss was 'broader' than South Carolina's secession from the US that triggered the Civil War. 'Mr. Trump tried to prevent the newly-elected President Biden from governing anywhere in the United States. The South Carolina secession prevented the newly-elected President Lincoln from governing only in that State,' J. Michael Luttig, a former judge on the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals, told the justices in a friend-of-the-court brief filed Monday. 'Trump incited, and therefore engaged in, an armed insurrection against the Constitution's express and foundational mandates that require the peaceful transfer of executive power to a newly-elected President,' the brief said. 'In doing so, Mr. Trump disqualified himself under Section 3 (of the Constitution).'"

Kierra Frazier of Politico: "... Donald Trump took a swipe at the United Auto Workers president Sunday night, calling him a 'dope' days after the UAW endorsed President Joe Biden. In a social media post Sunday, Trump called for the removal of UAW President Shawn Fain after the union leader appeared on CBS News' 'Face the Nation' to tout Biden's support of the UAW's efforts.... 'Donald Trump has a history of serving himself and standing for the billionaire class and that's contrary to everything that working-class people stand for,' Fain said Sunday." (Also linked yesterday.)

Trump Says 98 Percent of His Followers Are Cognitively Impaired. Meidas Touch Network: "Donald Trump told a room full of supporters that only 2% of them could pass a test meant to detect cognitive decline, declaring that the test asking participants to name pictures of animals was 'not easy.' Trump delivered the comments at a rally in Nevada, claiming the test was tough, and noted that it required memorizing six words. He then cited five words, telling his supporters, 'There's only about 2% of this room that can do it.'" Thanks to RAS for the link. MB: That explains the MAGA movement, but it's mighty surprising that Trump would not only admit it but would insult a roomful of his loyal supporters by telling them that they are mentally impaired and that he is smarter than they are. Biden should use this. (Also linked yesterday.)

Marie: Trump should pick Ramaswamy for his running mate. Vivek is even crazier than Trumpaloony: ~~~

~~~ Say It Ain't So, Joe! Isaac Schorr of Mediaite: "... Vivek Ramaswamy ... predict[ed] that the upcoming Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers would be rigged for the former in order to set the table for Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's endorsement of President Joe Biden this fall." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update: It turns out Vivek isn't the only loonytoon. There's a whole buncha wingers spouting the rigged Super Bowl/Swith/Kelce conspiracy theory. Patrick mused in yesterday's thread on what-all would be required for the theory to be real, which of course it is not.

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: Top Republicans, including Nikki Haley, punt when it comes to addressing Trump's sexual assault on writer E. Jean Carroll. Neither Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) or Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) "is truly vouching for Trump's actions or claims to persecution.... About the closest Haley came to weighing in on the substance was when she said, 'I absolutely trust the jury, and I think that they made their decision based on the evidence.'... Republicans have experience with standing by Trump without truly vouching for him and his claims, but that becomes more difficult when the cases against him are actually adjudicated by our legal system. At that point, truly going to bat for Trump requires tearing down our system of law and order in the process. And this weekend provided a preview of the rhetorical gymnastics that lie ahead." (Also linked yesterday.)

Kevin Breuninger of CNBC: "Donald Trump on Monday lashed out at the financial monitor overseeing the Trump Organization and urged a judge to fire her days after she reported a range of issues -- and flagged a questionable $48 million loan -- in the former president's New York civil business fraud case.... [Trump lawyer Clifford] Robert wrote [to Justice Arthur Engoron] ... three days after Jones submitted a report to Engoron accusing the Trump Organization of providing incomplete, inconsistent or incorrect information about its financial disclosures. In a footnote in that report, Jones said she identified a loan between Trump himself and an entity related to Trump Chicago Tower that later turned out not to exist. She was told that the loan was believed to total $48 million, but that there are no agreements memorializing it. 'However, in recent discussions with the Trump Organization, it indicated that it has determined that this loan never existed' and that it would be removed from subsequent forms, Jones wrote." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Jonah Bromwich & Ben Protess of the New York Times: Ms. Jones' "report highlighted several paperwork issues at a family company trying to shake a legacy of sloppiness: missing disclosures, typos, math errors and questions about a $48 million loan between Mr. Trump and one of his companies. Ms. Jones, now a law firm partner, told the judge that collectively, the issues 'may reflect a lack of adequate internal controls.' On Monday, Mr. Trump's lawyers fired back, questioning Ms. Jones's ability as a monitor and accusing her of acting in bad faith.... Ms. Jones's findings, and the response from Mr. Trump's lawyers, could embolden Justice Engoron, who often seems skeptical of the former president's assertions and sympathetic to [New York attorney general Letitia] James's case."

Marshall Cohen of CNN: “In the wake of the 2020 election, the president of the far-right network One America News sent a potentially explosive email to former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell, with a spreadsheet claiming to contain passwords of employees from the voting technology company Smartmatic, according to court filings. The existence of the spreadsheet was recently disclosed by Smartmatic, which is suing OAN for defamation.... Lawyers from Smartmatic told a federal judge that the email, and the attached spreadsheet, suggest OAN executives 'may have engaged in criminal activities' because they 'appear to have violated state and federal laws regarding data privacy.'... According to court filings, the supposed passwords were shared around the same time that Powell, her associates and other Trump supporters were trying to improperly access voting systems across the country, to prove their false claims of voter fraud.... Nobody from OAN has been charged with any crimes." (Also linked yesterday.)

Salvador Rizzo of the Washington Post: "A former IRS contractor who leaked a slew of confidential tax records filed by the wealthiest Americans, including those of ... Donald Trump, was sentenced Monday to the maximum of five years in prison. Charles Littlejohn pleaded guilty last year to one count of unauthorized disclosure of income tax returns. Littlejohn, 38, admitted that he leaked Trump's confidential tax information to the New York Times in 2019 and then replicated his work the next year, filtering the tax returns and financial data of thousands of wealthy Americans to ProPublica. The news organizations published reports showing how Trump and the richest Americans for years paid little or no federal taxes. U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes said Littlejohn had 'pulled off the biggest heist in IRS history' and deserved the maximum sentence she could impose because he targeted a sitting president and thousands of others. Reyes compared Littlejohn to one of the rioters who broke into the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and said judges had to send a message that they will not tolerate 'open season on our elected officials.'" The NBC News report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Littlejohn should not have leaked the returns of private citizens, IMO, but may I remind Judge Reyes that Donald Trump is the only president* or major-party candidate for president in recent decades who has not released at least some years of his tax returns to the public.

Donna Britt of the Washington Post: "The ordinary death of an extraordinary civil rights hero." Another tearjerker. (Also linked yesterday.)

~~~~~~~~~~

South Carolina. Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: "A judge declined on Monday to grant a new trial for Alex Murdaugh, the former South Carolina lawyer convicted of murdering his wife and son, who had argued that he was entitled to a redo because a court clerk had improperly influenced the jurors in his case. The judge said that the clerk, Rebecca Hill, had made 'fleeting and foolish' comments but ruled that Mr. Murdaugh, 55, had not proved they were enough to affect the jury's verdict in March 2023. As such, the judge ruled, Mr. Murdaugh did not meet the bar to have his conviction and life sentence set aside. Still, the judge, Jean Toal, after hearing testimony from Ms. Hill, as well as all 12 jurors in the murder trial and other witnesses, had harsh words for the court clerk.... [She] found that Ms. Hill was 'not completely credible' in her testimony in Columbia, S.C., on Monday..... One juror said that Ms. Hill had told jurors 'to watch him closely,' referring to Mr. Murdaugh. The juror, who was identified only as 'Juror Z,' said that the comments had influenced her decision to find Mr. Murdaugh guilty." Read on.

Texas. Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post: "Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is defying the authority of the federal government just as other Southern governors did before the Civil War and during the fight over school desegregation. Like presidents before him, Joe Biden has the right -- and, ultimately, the duty -- to uphold the Constitution, including by force.... In a jaw-dropping statement last week, Abbott echoed the secessionist rhetoric of the Confederacy. He claimed that the federal government 'has broken the compact between the United States and the States' and that, therefore, Texas has 'the right of self-defense.'... Incredibly..., 25 other Republican governors issued a statement Thursday endorsing not just usurpation of presidential power, but also defiance of the nation's ultimate authority on the Constitution and our laws [i.e., the Supreme Court]." Both Presidents Eisenhower & Kennedy federalized southern states' National Guards, citing the Insurrection Act. "sent troops from the 101st Airborne Division to escort the Black students into their new school [in Little Rock, Arkansas]."

~~~~~~~~~~

Missed this: ~~~

~~~ Finland. Jari Tanner of the AP: "Former Prime Minister Alexander Stubb won the first round of Finland's presidential election Sunday and will face runner-up ex-Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto in a runoff next month. The vote largely centered on the Nordic nation's new role as a NATO front-line country with Russia, and the security situation in Europe, particularly Russia's assault on Ukraine.... The result will push the race into a runoff on Feb. 11 between Stubb and Haavisto, because none of the candidates received more than half of the votes."

France. Those French Farmers Really Are Pissed Off. William Booth of the Washington Post: "On Monday, angry agriculturalists and their allies deployed their tractors in an attempt to surround Paris, choking major roadways and disrupting not only traffic and trade, but also politics and normal life.... This latest uprising by French farmers comes as other workers from Europe's countryside drive their combines and harvesters into the streets to protest cuts to subsidies and new regulations, some of them designed to reduce climate-changing emissions. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced the mobilization of 15,000 police. The minister vowed to keep open the capital's two major international airports ... and to protect one of the continent's largest wholesale food sellers, the International Market in Rungis. Despite the martial rhetoric, there were no reports of violence several hours into Monday's blockade. A few tires and some hay bales were burned. Mostly, the farmers shut down their tractors and played cards." (Also linked yesterday.)

News Lede

New York Times: "Chita Rivera, the fire-and-ice dancer, singer and actress who leapt to stardom in the original Broadway production of 'West Side Story' and dazzled audiences for nearly seven decades as a Puerto Rican lodestar of the American musical theater, died on Tuesday. She was 91."

Comments Off

Reader Comments (10)

Creampuff Casper Milquetoast Merrick Garland will be out for a few days? Oh no! Whatever will Justice do without him?!?

I’m tempted to channel Dorothy Parker here who, when informed that Calvin Coolidge was dead, asked “How can they tell?”

January 30, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Hilarity follows Fatty wherever he goes and whatever he says.

The other day he was yapping about how there’d be world peace…no, hold on, make that WORLD PEACE, if only he were still president.

Let’s leave aside the fact that WORLD PEACE hasn’t been a seriously achievable goal since cavemen were clubbing each other over who owns the water hole.

There may have been moments of relative peace at certain times (fighting mostly ceased during European wars prior to 20th century during winters, when engagement was much more difficult, but things started right back up in the spring) but for the most part, if there hadn’t been bloody conflicts going on in a dozen spots around the planet, for centuries now, a few more were in the works.

World peace, as an aspirational goal, is certainly a noble ideal, but to hear a claim by Trump, the guy whose primary campaign promise in 2016 was to “bomb the shit” out of Muslims, and to murder entire families, that he is an avatar of that goal is hysterically funny.

January 30, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

@Akhilleus: Only the cognitively-impaired could think that the person most likely to bring WORLD PEACE is one-and-the-same as the person who led a violent insurrection against his own country.

January 30, 2024 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

It gets worse every day. So a 13 year old girl gets raped and gets
pregnant in Tenn or Okla and she calls (or texts) grandma for advice,
or where to travel for help or maye to borrow a coathanger.

That's aiding abetting says those states, and worse, if grandma takes
her across state lines she's in for a 15 year prison sentene in Tenn and
5 years in Okla.

They don't say how this will be enforced so maybe it's just to satisfy
their nazi base or those trumpbots.

https://jessica.substack.com/p/breaking-travel-bans-proposed-in

January 30, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterForrestMorris

Oh, whatever will the Right do?

Here's the Super Bowl, the annual red-blooded American contest, this year between a team from the ultimately woke city and a team from the Heartland, now deeply tainted by its association with the most popular woke girl of her generation.

Scylla or Charybdis?

Oh, I know. Impeach Mayorkas.

January 30, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Delusional world peace. The 98% of Trump world who can't pass his cognitive test.

"Rep Tenney nominates Trump for Nobel Peace Prize for 'historic' Abraham Accords

"Donald Trump was instrumental in facilitating the first new peace agreements in the Middle East in almost 30 years," Tenney told Fox News Digital in a statement. "For decades, bureaucrats, foreign policy 'professionals', and international organizations insisted that additional Middle East peace agreements were impossible without a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. President Trump proved that to be false.""

January 30, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

Amanda Marcotte

"It's not that MAGA doesn't believe E. Jean Carroll — they just don't care that Trump abuses women
Trump verdict and new Vince McMahon allegations are a dark reminder that red state America cultivates rape culture"

January 30, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

About Deep Fakes

January 30, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

Here's a new IRS program coming in mid-March for you lucky
people in Al, Ca,Fl,Ma,Nv,NH,NY,SD,Tn,Tx,Ma, and Wy.

Free File: For adjusted gross incomes of $79,000 or less.

Direct File: Free filing with step-by-step guidance.

Or we could just do a trump and say "not paying taxes makes me
smart."

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/new-irs-filing-programs-launch-2024-
tax-season/story?id=106761536

January 30, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterForrestMorris

I had no idea that Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce were agents of
"shadow forces' that secretly control the world.

Could it be that MAGAs hate them because Taylor encourages people
to register and vote for Biden, and Travis encouraged people to get
Covid vaccinations during the pandemic?

Seems like anyone who does the right thing automatically becomes the
enemy of MAGAs.

https://www.rawstory.com/taylor-swift-travis-kelce/

January 30, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterForrestMorris
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