;)
The Conversation -- January 5, 2024
Zach Schonfeld of the Hill: "The Supreme Court agreed to take up whether former President Trump can be disqualified from appearing on Colorado's ballot over his actions surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, setting up a historic case that could upend the presidential election. The justices' order sets the case up to be heard at a speedy pace, with oral arguments scheduled in the coming weeks...." ~~~
~~~ Devan Cole of CNN: "The court scheduled oral arguments for February 8." ~~~
~~~ Payback Time, O'Kavanaugh. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "Addressing the Supreme Court's looming 14th Amendment decisions on whether Donald Trump can be disqualified from state ballots for engaging in insurrection, [Trump lawyer Alina] Habba decided it would be a good time to remind people of just how much Trump has done for Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh.... 'You know, people like Kavanaugh who the president fought for, who the president went through hell to get into place, he'll step up.'... She has since done some cleanup work, trying to assure audiences that she wasn't suggesting that Kavanaugh owed Trump loyalty.... [Habbas' comment] adds to a volume of evidence that indicates that Trump does indeed expect loyalty from judges and justices -- along with plenty of others in positions where that shouldn't be a consideration.... Trump said of Kavanaugh in an interview for a 2021 book..., 'Where would he be without me? I saved his life. He wouldn't even be in a law firm. Who would have had him? Nobody. Totally disgraced. Only I saved him.'"
Kathryn Watson of CBS News: "In his first campaign speech of the election year, President Biden warned the nation against the perils of compromising democracy, and the threat he and his campaign believe ... Donald Trump poses to American democracy.... 'Whether democracy is still America's sacred cause is what the 2024 election is all about,' Mr. Biden said. 'The choice is clear. Donald Trump's campaign is about him, not America, not you. Donald Trump's campaign is obsessed with the past, not the future. He's willing to sacrifice our democracy to put himself in power. Our campaign is different.' By 'trying to rewrite the facts' of Jan. 6, Trump is 'trying to steal history the same way he tried to steal the election, Mr. Biden claimed." ~~~
Perry Stein & Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: Attorney General Merrick "Garland [spoke] ... ahead of a private meeting with law enforcement officials at Justice Department headquarters to discuss violent crime. The attorney general said officials would be discussing how best to 'double down' on efforts to fight the rise in threats against government workers.... Garland said the Justice Department has so far charged 1,250 people and secured 890 convictions in connection with the [Jan. 6, 2021] attack [on the U.S. Capitol], which aimed to stop the peaceful transfer of power from ... Donald Trump to [Joe] Biden." ~~~
Christina Jewett & Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "The Food and Drug Administration has allowed Florida to import millions of dollars worth of medications from Canada at far lower prices than in the United States, overriding fierce decades-long objections from the pharmaceutical industry. The approval, issued in a letter to Florida Friday, is a major policy shift for the United States, and supporters hope it will be a significant step forward in the long and largely unsuccessful effort to rein in drug prices. Individuals in the United States are allowed to buy directly from Canadian pharmacies, but states have long wanted to be able to purchase medicines in bulk for their Medicaid programs, government clinics and prisons from Canadian wholesalers.... But significant hurdles remain. Some drug manufacturers have agreements with Canadian wholesalers not to export their medicines, and the Canadian government has already taken steps to block the export of prescription drugs that are in short supply.... The pharmaceutical industry's major lobbying organization, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, which has sued over previous importation efforts, is expected to file suit to block the Florida plan." A CBS News story is here.
Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: "The New York attorney general on Friday asked the judge who had overseen the civil fraud trial of Donald J. Trump to penalize the former president about $370 million, saying the trial had demonstrated that he had gained that amount through unlawful conduct. The sum was well over the $250 million that the attorney general, Letitia James, had estimated in the fall of 2022, when she sued Mr. Trump, accusing him of inflating his net worth to obtain favorable treatment from banks and insurers." An NBC News story is here.
OMG. A Most Profane Campaign Ad. Kayla Gallagher of the Messenger: "'God Made Trump,' a new nearly three minute ad from ... Donald Trump's campaign claims. 'And on June 14th, 1946, God looked down on his planned paradise and said "I need a caretaker," so God gave us Trump,' the narrator says in the same style that the Book of Genesis in The Bible is written, while a video of Earth from space flashes to a photo of a young Trump. The ad, which has a run-time of two minutes and 44 seconds and was shared on Trump's social media network Truth Social, alleges that God created [Trump] ... for the purpose of leading the nation." ~~~
~~~ Colby Hall of Mediaite: Trump "just posted a satirical version of Paul Harvey's famous 'So God Made a Farmer' video in which HE is the subject. And yes, it's just as creepy and a messianic bit of messaging that will cause many to cringe but others to fall to their knees in supplication. The former president ... included [the video among] a slew of 'joking but not joking' and over-the-top political videos...." Includes the full text of the video's voiceover. ~~~
Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "On the eve of a legal battle in New York, Wayne LaPierre told board members on Friday that he would step down as the longtime chief of the National Rifle Association. Mr. LaPierre, 74, has led the organization for more than three decades. But his resignation came as he faced his gravest challenge yet, a corruption trial in Manhattan amid a legal showdown with New York's attorney general, Letitia James. Jury selection has already begun and opening arguments were scheduled for early next week. The announcement, which is effective on Jan. 31, is not part of a deal with the attorney general's office. Andrew Arulanandam, Mr. LaPierre's longtime spokesman, will become the interim chief executive." A Politico report is here.
Victor Mather of the New York Times: "Two neo-Nazi podcasters who called for the execution of Prince Harry were sentenced to prison in London on Thursday. The podcast hosts, Christopher Gibbons, 40, and Tyrone Patten-Walsh, 36, both from London, had been convicted in July on all charges against them. Mr. Gibbons, who was convicted of encouraging acts of terrorism and dissemination of terrorist publications, was sentenced to eight years in prison. Mr. Patten-Walsh received seven years for encouraging acts of terrorism. A statement from the police described the men's views as 'homophobic, racist, antisemitic, Islamophobic and misogynistic.'"
~~~~~~~~~~
More News from Trumpsidedown World. Marie: Congressional Republicans are busy trying to impeach President Joe Biden for imaginary benefits they claim without evidence he got -- while not in office -- from his son Hunter's foreign enterprises. But why don't they register shock and horror at Donald Trump for definitely raking in millions from countries like China while he was in office and in violation of the emoluments clause of the Constitution??? Much of the proof of these unconstitutional payments/bribes comes from Trump's own accounting firm. ~~~
** ~~~ Kleptocrat-in-Chief. Zachary Cohen & Kara Scannell of CNN: "The Chinese government and its state-controlled entities spent over $5.5 million at properties owned by Donald Trump while he was in office, the largest total of payments made by any single foreign country known to date, according to financial documents cited in a report from House Democrats released Thursday. Accounting records from Trump's former accounting firm, Mazars USA, were obtained by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee.... The House Democrats say that China is one of 20 countries that made at least $7.8 million in total payments to Trump-owned businesses and properties during the former president's stint in the White House.... The documents offer additional evidence of the rare practice of foreign governments spending money directly with businesses owned by a sitting president but are not a complete record of all foreign payments made to Trump's businesses during his time in the White House." Read on to see how these payments effectively worked as bribes to deter Trump from imposing recommended sanctions on companies that paid up. ~~~
~~~ UPDATE. Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The transactions, detailed in a 156-page report called 'White House For Sale' that was produced by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, offer concrete evidence that the former president engaged in the kind of conduct that House Republicans have labored, so far unsuccessfully, to prove that President Biden did as they work to build an impeachment case against him.... They have so far failed to show that President Biden was enriched in any way by any of those transactions.... The Constitution prohibits a president from accepting money, payments or gifts 'of any kind whatever' from foreign governments and monarchs unless he obtains 'the consent of the Congress' to do so. The report notes that Mr. Trump never went to Congress to seek consent.... House Republicans ... dismissed the revelations, arguing that there was nothing wrong with Mr. Trump receiving revenue from foreign governments while he was president but that Mr. Biden's family's business was corrupt." ~~~
~~~ Jacqueline Alemany of the Washington Post: "When Republicans took control of the House in 2023, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) ended the congressional investigation into Trump's alleged violations of the emoluments clause. He also declined to enforce a court-ordered agreement that Mazars USA, Trump's former accounting firm, produce evidence related to Trump's financial dealings." ~~~
~~~ The report, via Axios, is here. ~~~
~~~ Philip Bump of the Washington Post: There "has always been [a] problem with the Republican targeting of [President] Biden. Their insistence on the nefariousness of layered corporations or money from overseas was always more applicable to Trump and his family than to Biden and his.... A source familiar with the data indicates that all of the $5.5 million included in the Democrats' report [of Trump's foreign money haul] links back to the Chinese government or state-owned entities." ~~~
~~~ Betty Cracker of Balloon Juice: "Cue the sad trombones!... Trump was flagrantly corrupt before, during and after his single embarrassing term. The idea that the lunkhead sons were actually running the family con without Trump’s input was always absurd. Even gross hangers-on like in-laws on the Kushner side eagerly peddled influence, and Kushner enriched himself to the tune of billions-plural on the strength of his relationship with Trump and position as a White House nepotism hire. So the Biden impeachment fishing expedition was always an elaborate 'I know you are, but what am I?' taunt. But still, it's gotta stick in [Rep. Jim] Comer's craw that a member of the committee he chairs so easily produced scads of evidence of Trump's corruption (from incomplete records!) even as the GOP side fruitlessly beats the bushes for proof that Biden acted improperly."
Holmes Lybrand of CNN: "Donald Trump's legal team told a federal judge on Thursday that special counsel Jack Smith and prosecutors in his office should be severely sanctioned and possibly held in contempt after they continued to submit filings in the case following a stay order from the judge. Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the Washington, DC, election subversion case, issued a stay on the case after Trump appealed her ruling dismissing his claims that presidential immunity protects him from prosecution.... Trump's attorneys have asked Chutkan to issue an order for Smith and the prosecutors to show why they should not be held in contempt, be forced to withdraw their filings and be 'forbidden' from submitting further filings.... 'Such malignant conduct undermines the integrity of this proceeding and warrants severe sanction,' Trump's attorneys wrote."
Tom Dreisbach & Noah Caldwell of NPR: "An NPR review of social media posts, speeches and interviews found that Trump has made calls to 'free' Jan. 6 defendants or promised to issue them presidential pardons more than a dozen times. Trump has said he would issue those pardons on 'Day 1' of his presidency, as part of a broader agenda to use presidential power to exact 'retribution' against his opponents and deliver 'justice' for his supporters. 'We'll be looking very, very seriously at full pardons,' Trump told an interviewer in 2022. 'I mean full pardons with an apology to many.'... He has also hosted fundraisers for a controversial nonprofit group that financially supports Jan. 6 defendants, and campaign finance records show that his political action committee donated $10,000 to the group." The article cites numerous remarks and other types of support Trump has given insurrectionists. ~~~
~~~ Marie: The authors note that "Special counsel Jack Smith ... has indicated that his team plans to introduce these kinds of comments at Trump's trial...." What about the money? It seems to me that Trump is interfering with potential witnesses by promising them pardons and donating money to a dodgy PAC that supports them in defiance of. Judge Tanya Chutkan's "gag order" bars Trump from making "statements intended to influence a witness’ testimony," and which the D.C. Appeals Court partially upheld. Obviously, most J6ers would rather accept a get-out-of-jail card & a small donation than testify against their hero & potential savior.
Olivia Diaz of the Washington Post: "A member of the far-right Proud Boys group got a 10-year prison term Thursday for participating in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The defendant, Christopher Worrell, missed his first scheduled sentencing hearing, in August, after he fled home detention and vanished for weeks, according to authorities, who said he later purposely took a drug overdose to further delay the proceedings. Worrell, 52, of Naples, Fla., was convicted of multiple felonies May 13 in U.S. District Court in Washington. The charges included assaulting three police officers with pepper-spray gel during the Capitol riot...."
Presidential Race 2024
President Biden to Speak Today. Alex Gangitano of the Hill: "President Biden moved his speech on democracy, marking the anniversary of Jan. 6, up a day due to the incoming winter storm in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions this weekend. The president was set to travel to the Philadelphia area on Saturday to mark the third anniversary of the riots at the U.S. Capitol. On Wednesday evening, the White House announced that Biden's trip was moved from Saturday to Friday.... Biden's speech in Valley Forge, Pa., which is outside of Philadelphia, will be his first campaign event of the year and he is expected to emphasize the threat that former President Trump poses to democracy." ~~~
~~~ Katie Glueck & Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: "Mr. Biden is expected to use a location near the famous Revolutionary War encampment of Valley Forge and the looming anniversary of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot to cast preserving democracy as a foundational issue to the 2024 campaign, according to a senior Biden aide.... Leaning on a phrase used by ... George Washington, around the time he commanded troops at Valley Forge, Mr. Biden is expected to suggest that the 2024 election is a test of whether democracy is still a 'sacred cause' in the nation, the aide said."
~~~ Mike Memoli of NBC News: "As President Joe Biden prepares to deliver his first major re-election speech of 2024, marking the third anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, his warning about the fragility of America's democracy will be front and center in the campaign's first ad to hit the airwaves this year. The Biden campaign says the new 60-second spot highlights 'the existential threat our country's democracy faces from the MAGA extremism that now defines the Republican Party.'" ~~~
Jenna Russell, et al., of the New York Times: Donald Trump's candidacy is subject to "a growing constellation of ballot challenges -- some lodged by established groups with national reach, many others far more homemade -- that have been playing out in more than 30 states.... Some of the weightiest issues of American democracy are being raised not primarily by elected officials or a political party, but by an unlikely assortment of obscure figures, everyday citizens and nonprofit groups.... Most establishment Democrats have not publicly embraced the cause. President Biden said after the Colorado Supreme Court ruling that it was 'self-evident' that Mr. Trump had supported an insurrection, but that it was up to the judiciary to determine his eligibility for the ballot." ~~~
~~~ Hannah Rabinowitz of CNN: "Groups of voters from Illinois and Massachusetts on Thursday filed motions to remove Donald Trump from the 2024 ballot, adding to the list of states where the former president faces a challenge to his candidacy under the 14th Amendment's so-called insurrectionist ban. In Illinois, the challenge filed in conjunction with the liberal advocacy group Free Speech For People, asks the Illinois Board of Elections to hold a hearing on the matter and bar Trump from appearing on both the primary and general election ballots because of his role in the January 6, 2021, US Capitol attack.... The same advocacy group on Thursday filed a challenge to Trump's eligibility to appear on Massachusetts ballots for both the primary and general presidential elections in the state. The challengers include former Boston Mayor Kim Janey, a Democrat, as well as 'a mix of Republican, Independent, and Democratic voters,' the group says." ~~~
~~~ David French of the New York Times: "The Trump movement commits threats, violence and lies. And then it tries to escape accountability for those acts through more threats, more violence and more lies. At the heart of the 'but the consequences' argument against disqualification is a confession that if we hold Trump accountable for his fomenting violence on Jan. 6, he might foment additional violence now. Enough. It's time to apply the plain language of the Constitution to Trump's actions and remove him from the ballot -- without fear of the consequences. Republics are not maintained by cowardice.... Fear of a negative public response cannot and must not cause the Supreme Court to turn its back on the plain text of the Constitution -- especially when we are now facing the very crisis the amendment was intended to combat." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: French isn't a Constitutional scholar, and neither am I. But here's where he errs. He writes, "So when a person criticizes Section 3 as undemocratic or undermining democracy, your answer should be simple: Yes, it is undemocratic, exactly as it was intended to be. The amendments' authors were worried that voters would send former Confederates right back into public office." And I say, no, the section is not undemocratic. Most obviously, Trump tried to undo a principle of American democracy: to retain power through extra-legal, violent means. That's what is undemocratic. The authors of the Fourteenth Amendment, having just endured a brutal civil war, recognized that violent rebellion was undemocratic. As the lawfully-elected representative of the people, they initiated the post-Civil War amendments to expand and enhance democracy. Moreover, they anticipated the possibility that a future candidate for office might be unfairly or unreasonably targeted as an insurrectionist or someone who gave aid & comfort to the enemy. So they built in another democracy-based off-ramp: "Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability"; that is, may overrule legal findings that a candidate for office engaged in insurrection. ~~~
~~~ And Right on Cue.... Adam Klasfeld of the Messenger: "... Donald Trump's political allies urged the Supreme Court on Thursday not to allow states to decide who runs for federal office.... "A self-executing Section Three ... empowers each of the 50 states to decide for themselves who is disqualified, a recipe for electoral chaos perfectly illustrated by this case and by Maine's recent decision to disqualify President Trump,' wrote Jay Sekulow in a 19-page brief."... [Sekulow,] Trump's former longtime personal attorney..., now representing the Colorado Republican State Central Committee in a fight to restore the former president to the ballot, argues that [Section 3 of the Fourteenth A]mendment was intended to 'limit' state power, making the rulings an 'upside down' execution of constitutional authority." Emphasis added. ~~~
~~~ Marie: The sturm und drang over these ballot issues is ridiculous. It is not at all unusual for candidates, even presidential* candidates, to be disqualified from appearing on state ballots. We've already noted that Maine disqualified Chris Christie, but historically, third-party candidates' biggest challenge often is just trying to get on state ballots.
** Summer Concepcion of NBC News: "A group of House Democrats ... led by Rep. Hank Johnson, of Georgia, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee's courts subcommittee ... on Thursday called on conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from a case involving ... Donald Trump's eligibility to appear on Colorado's Republican primary ballot.... The letter says Thomas should recuse himself because his wife, conservative activist Virginia 'Ginni' Thomas, was an outspoken supporter of Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 election results.... The letter cited Ginni Thomas' attendance at the 'Stop the Steal' rally that took place before the Capitol attack, and said, 'Not only did your wife attend the January 6 rally, but she was instrumental in planning it and bringing the insurrectionists to the Capitol.'... It is unthinkable that you could be impartial in deciding whether an event your wife personally organized qualifies as an "insurrection" that would prevent someone from holding the office of President.'" ~~~
~~~ The letter is here, and it makes a compelling case as to why Thomas must recuse.
Jonathan Swan, et al., of the New York Times: "Today, three years after Jan. 6 and more than a week before the Iowa caucuses, Mr. Trump has almost entirely subjugated the elected class of the Republican Party. As of this week, every member of the House Republican leadership is formally backing his campaign to recapture the White House.... In recent weeks, his allies have told lawmakers that Mr. Trump will be closely watching who has and hasn't endorsed him before the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 15. Mr. Trump works his endorsements through both fear and favor, happily cajoling fellow politicians by phone while firing off ominous social media posts about those who don't fall in line quickly enough. In October, he felled a top candidate for House speaker, Representative Tom Emmer, by posting that voting for him 'would be a tragic mistake!' On Wednesday, Mr. Emmer capitulated and endorsed him. 'They always bend the knee,' Mr. Trump said privately of Mr. Emmer's endorsement...."
Battle of Two Mini-Trumps. Nicholas Nehamas, et al., of the New York Times: "Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida is finally taking the fight to ... Donald J. Trump. After months of being pressed by voters to go harder, Mr. DeSantis accused Mr. Trump of not being 'pro-life' during a nationally broadcast CNN town hall in Des Moines Thursday night. He pointed out that Mr. Trump had deported fewer undocumented immigrants than Barack Obama did in his presidency. And Mr. DeSantis suggested that Iowans ... would do well to contrast his behavior with that of Mr. Trump.... Immediately after Mr. DeSantis's hourlong town hall finished, another began for former Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina, also broadcast on CNN. For her, the evening seemed to go less smoothly. She was consistently placed on her back foot, defending herself over a string of recent gaffes and even receiving boos because of a joke she made a day earlier about the Iowa caucuses. At one point, she used an oft-derided cliché when talking about race, saying that she had 'Black friends growing up.'" ~~~
~~~ A related Washington Post "take-aways" article is here. CNN covered its "townhalls" in this liveblog of election updates.
Miriam Jordan of the New York Times: "While migrants from African nations still represent a small share of the people crossing the southern border, their numbers have been surging, as smuggling networks in the Americas open new markets and capitalize on intensifying anti-immigrant sentiment in some corners of Europe.... Nonprofits that work on the border said that the trend has continued, with the absolute number and share of migrants from Africa climbing in recent months as potential destinations in Europe narrow.... A record number of people are on the move worldwide, according to the United Nations, fleeing climate change, authoritarian states and economic instability....
"President Biden is facing pressure from Republicans in Washington and from some mayors and governors to stanch the flow of migrants into the country and into cities and towns struggling to absorb the new arrivals. For decades, Congress has failed to reach a consensus on comprehensive changes to the immigration system, and that has compounded the challenges of responding to the surge."
Sophia Nguyen of the Washington Post summarizes "the scope of the allegations against [former Harvard President Claudine] Gay, and how ... they unfold[ed]."
~~~~~~~~~~
Iowa. Remy Tumin & Victor Mather of the New York Times: "The police in Perry, Iowa, said there were multiple victims in a school shooting early Thursday morning just as students were arriving back to school after their winter break. Sheriff Adam Infante said at a news conference on Thursday that there was no further threat to the public. He would not say if the shooter was dead or captured. He said that the shooter had been identified but did not reveal the identity. The Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy held a scheduled campaign event in Perry amid reports of the shooting. The candidate led a prayer circle as attendees expressed fear, but little surprise." Thanks to contributor El for the link. ~~~
~~~ New Lede: "A gunman killed a sixth-grade student and injured five other people at a high school in Perry, Iowa, early Thursday morning just as students were arriving back to school after their winter break. Four of the injured were students, and one was an administrator, said Mitch Mortvedt ... of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, at a news conference on Thursday. One of the injuries was critical.... The shooter, Dylan Butler, a 17-year-old student at Perry High School, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Mr. Mortvedt said. Law enforcement believe he acted alone."
Maryland. Congressional Race. Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "Harry Dunn, a former U.S. Capitol Police officer who rose to prominence for his defense of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and for his emotional public testimony describing the attack, announced on Friday that he was running for Congress in Maryland's third district.... Mr. Dunn, 40, will enter a crowded Democratic primary field to replace Representative John Sarbanes, the retiring 17-year incumbent. Five state lawmakers have already announced their campaigns to represent the central Maryland district, which snakes between Washington and Baltimore."
Ohio Congressional Race. Stefanik Imposes a Purity Test, and 99.44 Percent Pure Won't Do. Miranda Nazzarro of the Hill: "Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) withdrew her support from a former Ohio state lawmaker's bid for Congress over his reported criticism of former President Trump.... [Craig Riedel] came under fire last month after audio leaked that featured him calling Trump 'arrogant' and saying he didn't want the former president's endorsement.... [Riedel said he] dislike[d] the way Trump communicates and 'calls peoples names,' and called the former president 'arrogant.' Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), a staunch Trump supporter, posted the leaked audio on X.... The following day, Riedel announced his endorsement of Trump, pointing to his record on the U.S. southern border, inflation, job creation and foreign policy."
~~~~~~~~~~
Iran. Vivian Yee, et al., of the New York Times: "The Islamic State claimed responsibility on Thursday for the bombing attack that killed 84 people in Kerman, Iran, a day before, during a memorial procession for Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, according to a post on the extremist group's official Telegram account. The extremist group called the attack a 'dual martyrdom operation,' and described how two militants approached a ceremony at the tomb of General Suleimani and detonated explosive belts strapped to their bodies 'near the grave of the hypocrite leader.'... The Islamic State, a Sunni Muslim organization, considers its mission to kill apostate Muslims, including Shiites. Iran, a majority-Shiite country, is led by a theocratic government in which Shiite clerics are in charge." An ABC News report is here.
Israel/Palestine
The Washington Post's live updates of developments Friday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "Hezbollah chief Hasan Nasrallah said in an address Wednesday that Israel should expect 'a response and punishment' a day after the death of senior Hamas leader Saleh Arouri in a suspected Israeli drone strike in a Beirut suburb. Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed militant group based in Lebanon, has traded fire with Israel in recent weeks, though the Lebanese government said it was urging Hezbollah to show restraint.... Before Nasrallah's speech, the Israel Defense Forces said its troops were 'prepared for any scenario.'... Israel has not claimed responsibility for the Beirut attack, but a U.S. defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity..., said Israel was behind the strike. Separately, a senior U.S. official who spoke to reporters on the condition of anonymity noted that Arouri 'has American blood on his hands' and 'was held accountable.' The Israel Defense Forces said it retaliated after detecting 'a number of launches from Lebanon' and that a military jet also targeted Hezbollah infrastructure in the country." ~~~
~~~ The New York Times live updates for Friday are here. CNN's live updates are here.
Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "Two far-right members of Israel's cabinet, the national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and the finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, caused an international uproar this week with their calls to depopulate Gaza.... [They] called for most Gazan civilians to be resettled in other countries.... The Biden administration has joined countries all over the world in condemning these naked endorsements of ethnic cleansing. But in doing so, it acted as if Ben-Gvir and Smotrich's provocations are fundamentally at odds with the worldview of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to whom America continues to give unconditional backing.... We're writing a blank check to a government whose leader is only a bit more coy than Ben-Gvir and Smotrich about his intentions for Gaza. Netanyahu said this week that the government is considering a 'scenario of surrender and deportation' of residents of the Gaza Strip.... Whatever you want to call attempts to 'thin out' Gaza's population -- as the Hebrew newspaper Israel Hayom described an alleged Netanyahu proposal -- the United States is implicated in them."
South Africa. Lynsey Chutel of the New York Times: "Oscar Pistorius, the South African athlete hailed as an inspirational figure until he was convicted of killing his girlfriend, was released on parole on Friday after more than seven years in prison.... Mr. Pistorius was granted parole on the basis that he had served half of a 15-year sentence for murder. In 2013, Mr. Pistorius shot his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, through a locked bathroom door before dawn, killing her.... Mr. Pistorius, a double amputee, had gained international acclaim first as a Paralympic athlete and then for competing in the Olympic Games, and Ms. Steenkamp was a model and reality-television star."
News Ledes
CNBC: "The U.S. labor market closed out 2023 in strong shape as the pace of hiring was even more powerful than expected, the Labor Department reported Friday. December's jobs report showed employers added 216,000 jobs for the month while the unemployment rate held at 3.7%. Payroll growth showed a sizeable gain from November's downwardly revised 173,000.... The report, along with revisions to previous months' counts, brought 2023 job gains to 2.7 million, or a monthly average of 225,000, down from 4.8 million, or 399,000 a month, in 2022."
Washington Post: "An exceptionally active weather pattern will send multiple large storm systems slicing across the country. Air masses will wage war, whipping up possible tornadoes and blizzards. Monster waves will batter the California coastline, while up to feet of snow and hurricane-force winds will plaster summits in the Sierra Nevada. In the East, after cold and snow this weekend, warmth and flooding rains could sweep north next week. The meteorological mayhem, fueled by a strong El Niño climate pattern, will culminate in a possible cold air outbreak in a little more than a week that could send temperatures plummeting across much of North America."
New York Times: "David Soul, a doleful-eyed blond actor and singer who rose to fame portraying one half of a cagey crime-fighting duo on the hit 1970s television show 'Starsky & Hutch,' and also scored a No. 1 hit single in 1977 with 'Don't Give Up On Us,' died on Thursday. He was 80."
New York Times: "Glynis Johns, the British actress who in a trans-Atlantic career that endured for more than 60 years won a Tony Award for her role in 'A Little Night Music,' giving husky, emotion-rich voice to the show's most memorable number, 'Send In the Clowns,' and played an exuberant Edwardian suffragist in the Disney movie classic 'Mary Poppins,' died on Thursday in Los Angeles. She was 100."
Share Article
Reader Comments (27)
MSM, c’mon…
So we’ve gotten more details about the grift-a-rama that was the Trump Debacle, some $7.8 million from foreign sources looking to curry favor with the Fat King, and in some reports (by no means all), we read that the accounting is incomplete. What we haven’t been finding out is exactly how incomplete.
Listening to NPR this morning, I almost cracked an egg just by looking at it as I heard that congressional investigators had access to only the first two years of Trumpian illegal cupidity. So we could be talking about $15 to $20 million in foreign grifts.
And, naturally, the press has to report PoT and Trump Crime Family excuses, usually verbatim. Fellow grifter and conniver Jim Comer sniffs that, well, Trump has businesses so of course he’s making money. To which he adds the lie “Biden has no businesses but he’s making money too.” Stupid Eric sez…oh, who gives a shit what that mendacious moron has to say…
The point is, fine, he’s got a business. But the Constitution makes allowances for certain things. He’s got a contract with China? Great. Go to the Congress, tell them that, and ask for permission to grift to your blackened little heart’s content.
He didn’t do that.
He broke the law.
Not like that’s a surprise. The number of laws broken by the Trump Crime Family before breakfast would fill a rap sheet ten times over. But let’s make shit up about Biden and let Fatty skate.
The media has got to do a better job. I know, it’s dead horse beating time. But the thing is, it’s good to read that the Orange Monster made X millions. But it’s just as important to report that it was likely 2X millions. Or more. Very likely he got better at squeezing those foreign countries as he went along.
Just sayin’.
And enough with all this codswallop about “let the people decide” when talking about Fatty’s insurrection and the Constitutional prohibition applicable to such would-be candidates. The people DID decide. Fatty told the people to fuck off. Seven people died. He doesn’t get a do over.
Here’s the thing. Saying the people get to decide who they want as President is fine. But if they want little Joey next door, or their cousin Rudolf from Luxembourg, they’re outta luck. Why? Little Joey isn’t old enough and Rudy was born in the wrong country. The constitution says only natural born citizens 35 and older. It also says “Insurrectionists need not apply”. End of story. So you might want Joey or Rudy or Donnie, but none of them are eligible.
So now, class, show of hands. How many think the far-right Supreme Court will side with the express instructions of the Constitution?
No one? Hmmm…
How many think they’ll side with a Fat Fascist?
What I thought…
About that $7.8 million (and counting)…if sniveling creep Jim Comer, himself a shady dealer, could prove that Joe Biden received $78 from a foreign government, he’d scream bloody murder.
Here’s something interesting…
While Bible Mike and the rest of the traitors are demanding no money for Ukraine, Vlad the Impaler is busy working the long game. He has started offering free courses in Russian language and culture.
Guess where? Africa. And so far, it looks like a hit.
“Hundreds of students in Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, and Nigeria have signed up for these courses while Open Education Centers were launched last year in Egypt, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Tunisia and DR Congo. And a memorandum of understanding was signed in September to establish a center in South Africa. Russian officials have said Moscow plans to locate its centers in 28 African countries.”
Africa, a continent full of what Trump calls “shithole countries”, but which Putin sees as a place full of hearts and minds he’d like to be friendly toward Russia, could be the next frontier in the global struggles for democracy versus authoritarianism. While Trump lines his pockets, Bible Mike makes sure women are denied healthcare, and the rest of that party plays their usual isolationist blues numbers, Vladimir Putin makes exporting Russian language, culture, and ideology a priority.
Well this is embarrassing.
Nikki Haley, still smarting from the backlash after she shoved slavery, with both hands, down the Civil War memory hole, tries to make up for it with the old “I knew a black guy once…” excuse.
Ewww…Jesus, Nikki, that one again?
I see one Proud Boy is back in the news (for all the right reasons), which brings yesterdays's discussion of pride back to mind.
That and recent articles in the WaPo and the NYT about how the Pretender has managed to corral near-universal support from Republican Congresscritters and from the moralistic anti-abortion crowd, this despite his attempted insurrection, his evident cupidity and corruption, and his personal and political waffling on the abortion issue, makes me think of just how proud his acolytes must be for falling so readily in line.
Maybe you don't need a long spoon when you sup with the devil, if you've already consigned yourself he hell.
@Akhilleus: Haley's "Black friend" comment is even more aggravating when you consider that she reportedly said she had "Black friends growing up."
Haley may not be aware of it, but the white children of white slaveholders, who lived out in the middle of nowhere on big plantations, had "Black friends growing up," too. The slaves' children commonly played with their owners' children, largely because the slave children were right there to serve as playmates. Then they all grew up, and the white kids got to beat the Black kids and sell them away from their families and so on.
So Nikki's having Black playmates way back when is hardly evidence of her acceptance of equal rights.
How about a compromise. Trump can be on the ballots for president, but he actually has to be chosen by the American people so we get rid of the electoral college forever. We all get what we want.
Politico
"Hydroxychloroquine could have caused 17,000 deaths during Covid, study finds
Former US President Donald Trump said: ‘What do you have to lose? Take it.’
researchers have estimated that some 16,990 people in six countries — France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Turkey and the U.S. — may have died as a result."
@RAS: We could get rid of the Electoral College forever, but it would take a Constitutional amendment to do it, and I doubt enough members of Congress (2/3rds) would pass it or enough small state legislatures (3/4ths) would ratify it.
There is also a "National Popular Vote bill[, which] has been enacted by 17 jurisdictions possessing 205 electoral votes, including 4 small states (DE, HI, RI, VT), 9 medium-sized states (CO, CT, MD, MA, MN, NJ, NM, OR, WA), 3 big states (CA, IL, NY), and the District of Columbia. The bill will take effect when enacted by states with 65 more electoral votes. The bill has passed at least one chamber in 8 additional states with 78 more electoral votes (AR, AZ, ME, MI, NC, NV, OK, VA). A total of 3,705 state legislators from all 50 states have endorsed it.... [The compact] will guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes across all 50 states and the District of Columbia."
Even if the backers of these bills get the votes needed to put it into effect, I have no doubt that a candidate who won the Electoral College vote but lost the popular vote (most likely, a Republican!) would scream, holler and SUE. It seems quite likely that the Supremes would find that the cooperatives bill were unconstitutional.
@Marie: If only we knew someone stupid and self deluded enough to think he could, and has, win a national election who has sway over Republicans in Congress to get those votes. I know it will never happen, but Trump is the kind of person who would screw over the any Republican presidential candidates in the future for his delusions of grandeur today. A man can dream though.
While following a reference (above) to George Washington, whose quote President Biden may use in his speech, I ran across this from the Bible: Exodus 23 -
"You shall not repeat a false report. Do not join your hand with the wicked to be a witness supporting violence.
You shall not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When testifying in a lawsuit, you shall not follow the crowd in perverting justice."
That had nothing to do with the ref which I was seeking, but it struck me that it has everything to do with the hypocrisy of Bible Mike Johnson, who famously said to pull your Bible off the shelf if you want to know his worldview.
How would BM (Bible Mike) reconcile these instructions from his Bible (i.e., his OT God) with his support of false witness and violence associated with January 6 and all that attends it, and with the meretricious impeachment "investigation"?
Maybe some enterprising reporter could ask ... if BM does interviews. With everything that is going to pressing the House in the near future, BM should be in front of cameras a lot.
@Patrick: Yeah, I think Bible Mike will have to sacrifice a goat or something as penance for his worship of the Orange Jesus.
Liz Cheney commented during a teevee interview (by Rachel Maddow, maybe) about Mike's amicus brief to the Supremes -- signed by a bunch of his fellow members of Congress -- in support of Trump's attempt to overthrow the election. Cheney said she kept pointing out to BM various false assertions in the brief, and he would say each time, "Yeah, I know," and leave the assertions in the brief. Sounds like a "false report" to me.
And now I find out that Mike didn't write the brief after all, at least according to Liz. The Guardian reported that in her memoir, Cheney wrote, “'As I read the amicus brief – which was poorly written – it became clear Mike was being less than honest.... He was playing bait and switch, assuring members that the brief made no claims about specific allegations of [electoral] fraud when, in fact, it was full of such claims.' Cheney also says Johnson was neither the author of the brief nor a 'constitutional law expert', as he was 'telling colleagues he was'. Pro-Trump lawyers actually wrote the document, Cheney writes."
Huh. So it turns out BM was "repeating a false report," AND lying about its origins. I guess BM should have read up on the NT, too, like where Paul advises those Two Corinthians, "Neither do we go beyond our limits by boasting of work done by others." 2 Corinthians 10:15
But speaking of Exodus 23, it seems as if Bible Mike also forgot about Exodus 23 this week when he made his excursion to the U.S./Mexico border: "Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt." Exodus 23:9. There are several passages in the OT -- like Deuteronomy 10:19 -- that make this same admonition about being kindly to foreigners, not to mention the general admonition credited to the Brown Jesus: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Matthew 22:37-40
I don't think Mike is a very observant Christian.
The news from Florida suggests that Ronda might lose the pharmaceutical industry's support. Wonder what he was thinking?
Maybe there's a better price for Ivermectin up north?
And glad to see LaPierre's resignation is not the equivalent of ducking a potential judgment via a bankruptcy filing.
@Ken Winkes: The NRA did file for bankruptcy a couple of years ago, but a federal judge threw it out, concluding that the filing was not made in good faith. The judge said the filing was "like cases in which courts have found bankruptcy was filed to gain an unfair advantage in litigation or to avoid a regulatory scheme.” Not only that, La Pierre made the filing for Chapter 11 without the knowledge of most of the NRA's board or other NRA officials.
So who knows what LaPierre's scheme is now.
@ Marie
Thanks.
I'm confused about the James' suit against LaPierre.
Is it a suit against the four NRA officers or the organization? I had taken it to be against the individuals for their corruption...separate from a suit against the NRA...
Was this the suit in which the judge denied a bankruptcy bailout or was it another?
Have to do some research, I guess, but that will have to be later today.
@Ken Winkes: This is a suit against LaPierre & three other NRA officials, past & present, for "violat[ing] nonprofit laws and misus[ing] millions of dollars of NRA funds to finance lavish lifestyles for themselves." So it's against them as individuals. One outcome James was seeking was to force the removal of LaPierre from the NRA's leadership, so she got that today, but not as part of a settlement.
LaPierre would have brought the Chapter 11 filing on behalf of the NRA, even though he did so in secret.
From the swamp state comes a bit of good news. Abortion rights organizers have far surpassed the number of verified signatures needed for an amendments putting abortion rights into the Florid constitution. It now goes to the state supreme court for a ruling on clarity of language, Passing that, it will then be on the November ballot.
On the other hand when he comes to firearms there's this: https://floridapolitics.com/archives/651093-ron-gun-desantis/
Trump has finally lost any shred of rationality: Someone needs to call a vet, because there are some sick puppies writing his material
https://themessenger.com/politics/trump-shares-new-ad-god-made-trump
Pistol packin’ pricks wanna know…
Will AK Wayne-O be able to keep his $300 bathing suits? In high school, my bathing suit was a pair of cut-off jeans, probably $10.
My most expensive bathing suit (down here they call them swim trunks), cost $15 at Kohl’s. So in about 30 years, my swim gear went up by $5 AND, I never advocated for automatic weapons in the hands of criminals and insane people.
Was it the $300 bathing suit, or terminal scumbaggery?
The AP has got both sides covered on January 6th. "One attack, two interpretations: Biden and Trump both make the Jan. 6 riot a political rallying cry"
Stuart Stevens has their next headline,
"Next by
@AP
“Julia Child and Jeffrey Dahmer are two famous cooks with different approaches to ingredients.”"
I wonder how much or little work the Confederates on the Supreme Court will put in to justify aiding insurrectionist Donald Trump in his bid to become dictator of the United States.
RAS,
How much work?
Hang on….
Dum de dum, dum de dum, de dee dee, dum dum dum….
How does 32 seconds of work sound? The time it takes to find a pen, pick it up, and write “Trump wins!”
Akhilleus,
They did take a whole ten minutes to sign on to overturn Roe after Alito copy and pasted some Federalist bullshit together into an opinion.
Yeah, good question. How much time will it take the SCOTUS to decide if it really wants to rip the nation farther apart?
In their spare time, they get to deal with this one too...
Can't have enough states' rights, I say.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/01/05/abortion-idaho-supreme-court-hospitals-emtala/
How much time would it take?
Depends on whether they take a break for a sody pop.
RAS,
Would that be a bullpinion or an opinshit?
Either way, it’s something that’s one part federalist ideology and one part idiomatic fecal matter.