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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."

Contact Marie

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Thursday
Nov162023

The Conversation -- November 16, 2023

Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Brian Steinberg of Variety: "León Krauze, one of the most prominent anchors at Univision's news division, has left the network in the wake of a controversial interview with former President Donald Trump that took place last week and has spurred concerns among journalists at the company that the Spanish-language media giant is no longer challenging Republican politicians.... The Washington Post reported earlier this week that Jared Kushner ... helped arrange the event.... Grupo Televisa, the Mexican media company that merged with Univision in 2021, has been known for cultivating relationships with political leaders in Mexico." Krause did not say why he quit.

Meredith Deliso & Annie Pong of ABC News: "A federal jury has convicted the suspect accused of the violent hammer attack against Paul Pelosi at his and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco home last year. The jury began deliberating Wednesday afternoon before reaching a verdict late Thursday morning, finding David DePape guilty on both federal counts. Pelosi, 83, suffered a skull fracture after being struck in the head with a hammer during the early morning attack on Oct. 28, 2022, which occurred just days before the midterm elections, police said. DePape, 43, was arrested at the scene and subsequently charged with attempted kidnapping and assault on account of a federal official's performance of official duties. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 20 years and 30 years, respectively, in prison. He has pleaded not guilty."

Grace Ashford of the New York Times: "The House Ethics Committee on Thursday found 'substantial evidence' that Representative George Santos violated federal law, ending a nearly nine-month investigation and setting the stage for another push to expel the embattled first-term Republican from New York. House investigators found evidence that Mr. Santos used campaign funds for personal purposes, defrauded donors and filed false or incomplete campaign finance and financial disclosure reports, according to a 56-page report released on Thursday. The committee voted unanimously to refer its findings to the Department of Justice, saying that Mr. Santos's conduct 'warrants public condemnation, is beneath the dignity of the office, and has brought severe discredit upon the House.'... [Rep. Glenn] Ivey [D-Md.], a former federal prosecutor, said he believed the panel's staff had uncovered additional evidence that could be used in Mr. Santos's federal prosecution....

"Shortly after the report was released, Mr. Santos announced on X...-Twitter, that he would not seek re-election in 2024. Even so, he appeared to take issue with the findings of the committee, writing: 'If there was a single ounce of ETHICS in the "Ethics committee," they would have not released this biased report.'" the link to the Ethics Committee report, embedded in the Times report, is to an Ethics Committee site, not to an NYT page. The AP's report is here.

Dan Mangan of CNBC: "A Georgia judge said Wednesday he will issue a protective order barring the public release of sensitive evidence exchanged between prosecutors and lawyers representing ... Donald Trump and his co-defendants in their election interference criminal cases in that state. 'Until we decide what's going to be relevant and admissible, this case should be tried and not in the court of public opinion,' Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee said at a hearing on the proposed order." ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Nick Valencia & Jason Morris of CNN: "The judge presiding over Donald Trump's racketeering case over efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia has issued a protective order on sensitive discovery materials in the case. In his order, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee wrote that a protective order was necessary in part because providing 'parties the unfettered ability to share pretrial materials with the public undermines' the process. The move comes a day after a hearing addressing the leak of key video evidence by a defense attorney for one of Trump's co-defendants.... According to Thursday's order, it will be up to the Fulton County district attorney's office to specifically designate discovery materials that it deems sensitive. Defendants will have up to 14 days to contest that designation."

Sylvia Foster-Frau, et al., in the Washington Post: "Mass shootings involving AR-15s have become a recurring American nightmare. The weapon, easy to operate and widely available, is now used more than any other in the country's deadliest mass killings. Fired by the dozens or hundreds in rapid succession, bullets from AR-15s have blasted through classroom doors and walls.... But the full effects of the AR-15's destructive force are rarely seen in public.... Now, drawing on an extensive review of photographs, videos and police investigative files from 11 mass killings between 2012 and 2023, The Washington Post is publishing the most comprehensive account to date of the repeating pattern of destruction wrought by the AR-15 -- a weapon that was originally designed for military combat but has in recent years become one of the best-selling firearms on the U.S. market." MB: I'm not looking, but I do take the reporters' word for it.

Eileen Sullivan, et al., of the New York Times: "Israel is preventing some Palestinian Americans from entering the country from the West Bank, an apparent violation of a recent agreement in which citizens from the United States and Israel can travel to the other nation without a visa. The Homeland Security and State Departments, which manage the program, said American officials were trying to resolve the issue."

~~~~~~~~~~

Late start this morning. Still posting at 8:30 am ET.

David Sanger & Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "President Biden said on Wednesday that four hours of discussion with President Xi Jinping of China had brought about two significant agreements, on curbing fentanyl production and on military-to-military communications. But both American and Chinese accounts of their first encounter in a year indicated little progress on the issues that have pushed the two nations to the edge of conflict. Emerging from the talks, and a brief walk with Mr. Xi on the grounds of a mansion south of San Francisco, Mr. Biden told reporters that the conversation had been the 'most constructive and productive' between the two men since Mr. Biden had come to office. The agreements they announced were modest, however, and their most important commitments were to keep talking and to pick up the phone in times of crisis." ~~~

     ~~~ President Biden one-upped Donald Trump's hosting of Xi at Mar-a-Lardo (NYT link). Filoli: the house; the gardens.

Summer Concepcion of NBC News: "President Joe Biden on Tuesday decried ... Donald Trump's recent remarks calling his political foes 'vermin' as rhetoric reminiscent of Nazi Germany.... Biden excoriated Trump's remarks as language echoing Nazi Germany in the 1930s during a campaign fundraiser in San Francisco on Tuesday night.... 'In just the last few days, Trump has said, if he returns office, he's gonna go after all those who oppose him and wipe out what he called the vermin, quote, the vermin in America -- a specific phrase with a specific meaning,' Biden said. 'It echoes language you heard in Nazi Germany in the '30s. And it isn't even the first time,' he added. 'Trump also recently talked about, quote, the blood of America is being poisoned. The blood of America is being poisoned. Again, it echoes the same phrases used in Nazi Germany." (Also linked yesterday.)

Senate Passes House's Dumb Continuing Resolution. Carl Hulse & Catie Edmondson of the New York Times:"Congress gave final approval on Wednesday to a bill to fund federal agencies into early next year, averting an immediate shutdown crisis but leaving the path toward a longer-term agreement on government spending as rocky as ever. The Senate voted 87 to 11 to clear the temporary funding patch and send it to President Biden, who is expected to sign it, just days before a deadline at midnight on Friday. The measure was approved by the House on Tuesday with near-unanimous support from Democrats and over the opposition of almost half of House Republicans. While dodging a short-term disaster, Congress will have only a few months to reach a governmentwide spending agreement. And a Republican mutiny over the measure on the House floor on Wednesday reflected how difficult it will be for the G.O.P. leaders to come to terms with Democrats on a more lasting plan." NPR's story is here.

~~~ Thanks to RAS for the link. In one of the great civil rights songs, Randy Newman responds ~~~

     ~~~ Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Steve M.: Sean Hannity gave Markwayne a big thumbs-up for threatening a witness with physical violence. (Read Steve for the details, wherein Hannity opined that Markwayne's doing any less "would have been a little gutless.") "Fox News has always been like this. It was like this two decades ago, when Bill O'Reilly was the channel's biggest star precisely because he viciously attacked the people he disagreed with. But if you remember the mainstream-media take on Fox at the time, it was that Fox was a normal news organization, if perhaps a smidge to the right.... Republicans fully embraced Fox, while Democrats and the rest of the media mostly gave it the kid-glove treatment, even as it became increasingly toxic. And that's how we became a country where a Trump presidency became thinkable, and behavior like Senator Mullin's came to be seen as admirable." See also Akhilleus' commentary at the top of today's thread on how Fox brought us Representative Clay Higgins, (alleged!) brutal cop. More on Clay below.

Mycheal Schnell of the Hill: "A band of House conservatives tanked a procedural vote to advance an appropriations bill Wednesday, underscoring the problems Republicans are having in the government funding process. Shortly after the failed procedural vote Wednesday morning, the office of House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) announced that no additional votes would be expected in the House following the current series until Nov. 28. The chamber was initially scheduled to hold another vote series Wednesday afternoon." MB: So they're all going home for Thanksgiving vacation. I'm guessing that if you and your coworkers fail to fulfill the basic requirements of your job, the boss doesn't reward you with extra days off.

Sarah Ferris, et al., of Politico: "The House GOP has descended, as one member put it, into 'schoolyard bully bullshit.' Republicans cannot agree on basic policy priorities or even fund the government without a majority of Democratic votes. Individual lawmakers are going rogue on the House floor with theatrical efforts to censure colleagues and impeach members of the Biden administration. A growing number of lawmakers are choosing to retire because they feel it's impossible to get anything done.... 'It's the same clown car with a different driver,' [Rep. Kelly] Armstrong [R-N.D.] said. And unless the GOP could figure out a way to regain control of the floor, he warned: 'We essentially don't have the majority.'"

MOC Tells FBI Director He Has Proof the FBI Instigated Jan. 6 Insurrection. Alex Griffing of Mediaite: "Republican Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) used time during Wednesday's House Homeland Security Committee hearing on domestic threats to accuse FBI Director Christopher Wray of having FBI agents fuel the violence on January 6th at the U.S. Capitol. Wray emphatically denied the accusation that 'FBI sources and or agents' took part in or encouraged any of the violence on Jan. 6th. Higgins, however..., claimed he had evidence to the contrary and threatened Wray, telling him his 'day is coming.' Higgins has long pushed the widely debunked, pro-Trump conspiracy theory that it was the FBI, not Trump supporters who instigated the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6th.... 'If you are asking whether the violence at the Capitol on January 6th was part of some operation orchestrated by FBI sources and or agents, the answer is emphatically not,' Wray replied.... Higgins then asked Wray about so-called 'ghost buses.' 'Well, it's pretty common in law enforcement, it is a vehicle that's used for secret purposes. It's painted over. There's two buses in the middle here. There were the first to arrive at Union Station on January 6th, zero-five-hundred. I have all this evidence, I'm showing you the tip of this iceberg,' Higgins claimed pointing at an image." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'll bet all MAGA hats are lined with tinfoil.

Benjamin Siegel & Rachel Scott of ABC News: "The House Ethics Committee will not recommend any punishment for embattled New York Republican Rep. George Santos in a public report it plans to release later this week after a monthslong investigation, Chairman Michael Guest said Wednesday. Instead, the panel will release its evidence and details of its work for members to review and make their own conclusion about whether Santos should be removed from Congress, Guest, a Mississippi Republican, said." MB: So a report with no teeth to a House that's on vacation."


Ella Lee of the Hill: "Former President Trump's legal team on Wednesday requested a mistrial in his New York fraud case, claiming that the trial judge and his principal law clerk's purported bias against Trump has 'tainted' the case." (Also linked yesterday.)

Danny Hakim & Richard Fausset of the New York Times: "Georgia prosecutors asked a judge on Wednesday to revoke the bond of one of Donald J. Trump's co-defendants in the election interference case there amid accusations that he had been intimidating witnesses. The defendant, Harrison Floyd, who once led a group called Black Voices for Trump, faces charges related to a scheme to pressure a Fulton County, Ga., election worker to falsely say that she had taken part in election fraud. He was the only one of the 19 defendants originally charged in the case who had been jailed, because he did not make arrangements ahead of time to secure a bond agreement. Since the beginning of the month, prosecutors wrote in their motion, Mr. Floyd has been directing hostile social media posts to the accounts of likely witnesses in the case, including the election worker, Ruby Freeman, and the Georgia secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, 'in an effort to intimidate co-defendants and witnesses.' '@GaSecofState needs to call his lawyer,' Mr. Floyd posted on X...-Twitter, on Nov. 8. 'He's about to go through some things!'... Fani T. Willis, asked the presiding judge in the case, Scott McAfee, to revoke Mr. Floyd's bond, which could send him back to jail." The AP's story is here.

Ella Lee & Zach Schonfeld of the Hill: "An attorney for one of former President Trump's co-defendants in Georgia admitted to providing proffer videos of defendants to a media outlet, a stunning revelation that came during an emergency court hearing Wednesday afternoon. Attorney Jonathan Miller, who is representing former Coffee County election supervisor Misty Hampton, did not name the outlet and said he leaked the footage of the defendants in the name of transparency." (Also linked yesterday.)

Gary Grumbach & Dareh Gregorian of NBC News: "Hunter Biden asked the judge presiding over his criminal gun charge case to subpoena ... Donald Trump and top officials in his Justice Department, arguing that the investigation into him was the direct result of 'incessant, improper, and partisan pressure' from Trump and his allies. The court filing Wednesday asks Judge U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika, a Trump nominee, to issue subpoenas to Trump, former Attorney General Bill Barr, former acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue, and former acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen.... 'In the lead up to the 2020 election, IRS case files show certain investigative decisions were made "as a result of guidance provided" by, among others, "the Deputy Attorney General's office,"' the filing said. It also points to a passage from Barr's recent book where he said Trump called him in October 2020 asking about the status of the probe into Joe Biden's son. Barr wrote that he responded, 'Dammit, Mr. President, I am not going to talk to you about Hunter Biden. Period!'" (Also linked yesterday.) The Washington Post story is here.

Presidential Race 2024. Julia Manchester of the Hill: "New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan announced Wednesday that the state's Democratic presidential primary would be held on Jan 23, ahead of South Carolina's contest. Tensions have been ramping up between New Hampshire Democrats and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) over the committee's decision to make South Carolina's primary the first in the nation, taking place Feb. 3. President Biden did not file for the New Hampshire primary, citing obligations to comply with DNC guidance. His supporters in the state have launched a write-in campaign."

What Is Joe Manchin Thinking About Today? Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: "Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., inched closer Wednesday to confirming that he could run for president. 'I will do anything I can to help my country, and you're saying, "Does that mean you would consider it?" Absolutely,' Manchin said in an interview with NBC's 'Meet the Press' moderator Kristen Welker."~~~

~~~ Tiah Shepherd of the Hill: "Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) suggested Wednesday that he is 'considering' leaving the Democratic party in comments made just one week after he announced that he would not seek reelection to the Senate. During an interview on CNN, anchor Kaitlan Collins pressed the West Virginia senator on whether he was thinking about leaving the party after expressing disdain for what he called the 'business of politics.'"

~~~~~~~~~~

Gregg Jaffe of the Washington Post: "Today, Congress is so divided and ideologically polarized that it struggles to execute its most basic responsibilities. State legislatures suffer a different malady. They're often so dominated by a single party that the majority can push through its agenda with little regard for what most voters might actually prefer. In the two dozen states that allow citizen-sponsored referendums, Democrats and Republicans alike are turning to the ballot box to make law and in many cases overrule their elected officials -- a process known as 'direct democracy.'... Some of the most contentious initiatives have focused on abortion." The story focuses on the efforts of a newly-minteed citizen activist, Sierra Edmisten of Nebraska, who is working to get a paid-sick-leave measure on the ballot, since the GOP-dominated state legislature & the U.S. Congress have repeated failed to pass such legislation. Edminsten has worked at numerous jobs, none of which provided any paid-sick-leaves days. Thanks to Ken W. for the link.

Virginia House Race. Teo Armus of the Washington Post: "Yevgeny 'Eugene' Vindman, a retired Army colonel who along with his twin brother raised alarms about ... Donald Trump's actions toward Ukraine, plans to announce that he will run for Congress in Virginia's 7th District, where Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D) has declined to seek another term to run for governor instead. Vindman, 48, is the first Democrat to announce a campaign to succeed Spanberger, whose decision to seek statewide office opens up a competitive seat in the Washington exurbs that is likely to be eyed by Republicans as a pickup opportunity -- and by some state and local Democrats as a chance to move to Congress.... Vindman emerged into the national spotlight when he reported a claim from his colleague and twin brother, Alexander, about a call in which Trump implored Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to open a corruption investigation of Joe Biden."

~~~~~~~~~~

Israel/Palestine

** The New York Times' live updates of developments Thursday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "A day after the Israeli military took control of Gaza's largest hospital, soldiers on Thursday afternoon were still combing the site that Israel has said concealed a secret Hamas base, but had yet to present much evidence supporting that claim to the public. An Israeli military spokesman said that the search of the hospital grounds would take time because 'Hamas knew we were coming' and had made off with or hidden traces of their presence there.... The claim that Hamas operated from within the sprawling hospital complex has been central to Israel's defense of the death toll caused by its military campaign in Gaza, which has killed more than 11,000 people, according to Gazan health officials." ~~~

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

Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post: "Hamas has agreed in principle and Israel is now considering a proposal for the release of at least 50 women and children among about 240 foreign and Israeli hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza, according to an Arab diplomat familiar with the negotiations. In exchange for the hostages, Israel would agree to a three-to-five-day pause 'in place' in the fighting, increased humanitarian aid to Gaza, and the release of an unspecified number of women and children held in Israeli prisons.... President Biden, speaking Wednesday in a news conference after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, said that he was 'deeply involved' in negotiations over a hostage release with Israel and the government of Qatar, which is serving as a go-between for Hamas."

Patrick Kingsley & Iyad Abuheweila of the New York Times: "Since Israel's ground troops invaded Gaza 19 days ago, the fate of its war has become largely entwined with the fate of the territory's largest hospital. Israeli soldiers on Wednesday morning stormed that hospital, Al-Shifa, searching its corridors and rooms for evidence to support Israel's assertion that the sprawling medical complex doubles as a secret military command center. Over the course of the day, they hunted for weapons and interrogated those they found inside, according to both Israeli officials and Palestinians at the hospital. The early-morning raid was seen by both sides as a watershed moment in the conflict, capable of shaping the pace and extent of the war. Israel says Al-Shifa, a sprawling complex in Gaza City, conceals an underground military base and has presented its capture as a key metric of Israeli success. The Israelis also say that Hamas's use of the hospital highlights how the group defends itself with human shields. Hamas and the hospital's leadership have denied the Israeli assertions."

Edward Wong of the New York Times: "President Biden said on Wednesday that the endpoint of the Israel-Hamas conflict has to be a Palestinian state that is 'real,' existing alongside an Israeli one. He added that he and his aides have been negotiating with Arab nations on next steps, but did not give any details. 'I can tell you, I don't think it ultimately ends until there's a two-state solution,' Mr. Biden said at a news conference on an estate south of San Francisco after his summit with Xi Jinping, China's leader."

Rebecca Cohen of NBC News: "Police said they evacuated the area around the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in Washington, D.C., after making arrests at a chaotic pro-Palestinian rally Wednesday night. U.S. Capitol Police said on X that a 'large group of illegal protesters ... have cleared out, but USCP officers will stay on scene out of an abundance of caution.' They previously put the number of demonstrators at about 150 and said they were 'violently protesting in the area.' Six officers were treated for injuries as a result of the demonstration, and one person was arrested and accused of assault on an officer, Capitol Police said on X. Capitol Police said in a separate notice to reporters that they had restricted entry and exit to the nearby House office buildings.... The top three House Democratic leaders were all inside the DNC headquarters[, as were other members,] as protests started outside tonight, according to a source familiar with the group of lawmakers attending the DNC event."

News Lede

Nevada. New York Times: "Eight Nevada high school students were arrested on murder charges this week in the death of a 17-year-old boy who was beaten unconscious during an after-school brawl this month, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said. The boy who was beaten, Jonathan Lewis Jr., a student at Rancho High School, died of his injuries days after the Nov. 1 attack, the Las Vegas Police Department said at a news conference on Tuesday."

Comments Off

Reader Comments (17)

Because I seem not be aware of enough gooshy slabs of fecal matter in the Party of Violent Traitors, I had to do a slightly deeper dive into the stinking dumpster that is the life of Clay Higgins (Idiot-LA) who is running around screeching about how the FBI was behind Trump’s Jan. 6 attempted coup.

Why do I do this to myself??

Now, I know you guys are, unfortunately, all too familiar with a fair number of the far right rogues gallery of racists, religious nutjobs, misogynists, gun knobbers, grifters, and ganglia twitching tumescent tweakers bent on terrorizing the non-MAGA populace, but this fucking Higgins asshole is truly appalling.

This guy fancies himself as the “Cajun John Wayne” (we’ll set aside the fact that John Wayne himself was no tough guy, he was a draft dodging coward who pulled every trick in the book to keep his ass far away from a military uniform during WWII) and operated as a cop until police brutality charges (beating a handcuffed black man as he lay face down on the ground) caused him to quit rather than being booted. An avatar of bravery. Later, as a congressman, he attacked a protester in DC as well, because, well, violence is his calling card.

“But Higgins’ manhandling of an activist has revived criticism of his dark past as a cop. He quietly resigned from one police department in 2007 before he could face disciplinary action for alleged misconduct, including using unnecessary force against a Black man he encountered on the job. (Higgins initially lied about the incident to internal affairs before later admitting to slapping the man.) He later gained notoriety through viral videos he posted while working at another police department in which he wore his police uniform and threatened purported criminals with extrajudicial punishment.”

Higgins has announced that his goal was to murder Muslims, which he described in Trumpy terms as “animals”: “Kill them all!” he once wrote.

That sort of crazy talk got him noticed by Fox producers who, unable to refrain from gleefully trumpeting such bullshit, started featuring him on various interview segments which in turn got him elected to Congress. Another way Fox has affected the well being of the nation in the worst of ways.

Publishing a picture of black protesters carrying guns, he recently proclaimed that he would shoot and kill them. The picture was meant to show imminent black attackers in Louisiana, but it later proved to be a shot of protesters marching in Louisville after the murder of Breanna Taylor.

So…liar as well. But, of course, he must be completely correct about Jan. 6.

I could go on, but why bother?

November 16, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

I've coined a new word to describe Clay Higgins:

Ignoranus; A person who's both stupid and an asshole.

November 16, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterForrestMorris

If you have a few moments, check out this astounding post on Silicon Valley ideology

Does this sound like Musk/Zuckerberg/Thiel, or what?

Here are some snippets:

Silicon Valley’s ideology is this: Libertarianism for me. Feudalism for thee.

In more detail:

• Surveillance, manipulation and coercion; at first, just for profit, later by necessity, and ultimately for the hell of it

• Disruption and capture, not competition; monopoly or at least duopoly in each industry it envelops.

• Oligarchy to begin with, creeping autocracy for the win. Overseas autocrats the best of friends.

• Pick me or China wins.

• Ever-increasing inequality and the concentration of capital within a small, interconnected group who back each other’s companies and public moves.

• There is no such thing as human rights. There is only identity politics and culture war, which are profit centres.

• Far right white supremacism; libertarianism for white men, forced birth for white women. Eugenics for everyone else.

• A series of bullshit dark utopias designed to drive the hype and private equity cycles, distract and dazzle gullible politicians and policymakers, and convince everyone else that there is no alternative. E.g. crypto-currencies, Facebook’s Metaverse, AI and, of course, Mars.

• Systematic racism and misogyny in the workplace, the destruction of organised labour, the ever-worsening of working conditions, extreme inequality.

• Denigration of human agency and creativity, beginning with writers, artists and musicians. Systematic destruction of their ability to earn a living and suggest alternatives.

This is not hyperbole.

It goes on…a thoughtful, deep dive piece into the Silicon sewers that have proliferated under our streets and highways, homes, buildings, monuments, playgrounds, businesses, schools, city halls, town squares, churches, malls, parking lots, and open fields.

They want it all.

November 16, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

On the other hand: Tall People

November 16, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterD in MD

Seth Meyers on yesterday's clown shows in congress.

November 16, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

Jill Filipovic has some thoughts about the voters.

"the idea that all or even most voters care about policy above all, or even policy at all, is false. A lot of voters care about vibes. They care about their own disregulated emotions, and if they’re mad, then they want someone or something to punch — an immigrant, a woman who does what she wants, a city-dweller who thinks they’re better, a drag queen who doesn’t seem appropriately ashamed, someone who they either blame for their problems or find different and therefore disgusting.

The job of Democrats is to try to persuade swing voters and moderate Republican voters, without falling for the fiction that there’s some critical mass of Trump supporters who will go our way if only we appeal to their better, rational selves. A lot of people don’t have better, rational selves"

November 16, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

Sent this sermon to the paper this AM. Hope it appears on Sunday.

Some may remember “Arrested Development,” a TV comedy series from twenty years ago that ran for a few seasons on Fox and was later resurrected briefly on Netflix.

I never watched it.

I liked the show’s name, but never enough to tune in. Now, though, the antics in the Republican-controlled (“control” may be very much the wrong word here) House, I see I didn’t have to watch it to know what it was about.

It was about people who remained children, not in the idealized Winnie the Pooh way of childhood innocence, but in the characters’ failure to ever become responsible adults.

According to Wikipedia, “Arrested Development“ featured a family whose patriarch was arrested in the first episode for defrauding investors in his real estate development company. Other characters in this dysfunctional family include a cast of children interested only in themselves and material gain. Intra-family rivalries, pettiness, and neuroses fuel the rambling, often absurd plot.

Of course, “Arrested Development” was never meant to be realistic. It was a comedy, seeking laughter via its silliness.

And yet like most satires, the show was rooted in genuine human behavior. Some people are unrelievedly selfish. Some are corrupt. Some, when thwarted, instantly revert to playground behavior. Many never grow up.

Take the current Republican House. It cannot pass a budget resolution without Democrats’ help. It indulges in the playground behavior of name calling--Margery Taylor Green has called other Republican representatives unprintable names on the House floor--(thehill.com) and even physical confrontations, like former Speaker McCarthy shoving a Tennessee Representative who had voted to oust him (forbes.com).

Many have called the Republican House a clown show. I don’t know if “Arrested Development” was funny or not, but our current House certainly isn’t.

I hope it doesn’t run for more than two seasons.

November 16, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

What I was looking for: better other one

November 16, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterD in MD

ForrestMorris: Don't forget that the Ignoramus is usually a carrier of Optofeceous and Cephalorectosis. IOW: A crappy outlook on life and their head crammed up their arse.

November 16, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterBobby Lee

@Bobby Lee: It's 'ignoranus.'

November 16, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterForrestMorris

…as in “Ignore that anus”?

November 16, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Fox in the whorehouse

Money? Power? Ego?

The Big Lie involves all of the above, including now, hatred of democracy, Nazi style authoritarianism, viral bigotry, massive distrust of institutions, and plain ol’ garden variety hatred.

Pick any popular conspiracy theory, the moon landing was faked, Princess Diana was murdered by the royal family, 9/11 was an inside job, Elvis hangs out at the 7-11, and it’s almost impossible to find the single original source for these whacko theories.

But not the Big Lie, especially its reliance on the claim that voting machines stole the election from Trump. We know exactly who started it and how, and that knowledge points directly at Fox. Brian Stelter, in his new book on Fox, directs our attention back to Patient Zero.

The day after the 2020 election was called for Biden, MAGAts were desperate for something, anything that would transport them back from the real world to the nirvana of Trump despotism and sleazy mendacity. Enter Marlene Bourne: Patient Zero of the Big Lie pandemic that still infects new patients every day.

Bourne, a “cactus artist” (not even gonna try…) from Minnesota sent a lengthy, completely unhinged email to Sidney (the Kraken) Powell. Just a quick skim should have prompted “Delete”.

“Parts of the three-page email were, by Bourne’s own admission, ‘wackadoodle.’ She claimed to be “internally decapitated”; she described having visions; she said, ‘The Wind tells me I’m a ghost.’ She said some things that were easily debunked: For example, that Roger Ailes and other ‘owners of the major US media outlets secretly huddle most days to determine how best to portray Mr. Trump as badly as possible.’ It was a supremely well-kept secret, indeed, since Ailes died in 2017 — and he hadn’t owned Fox, he’d just acted like he did in his CEO role. The email also asserted that former Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia ‘was purposefully killed at the annual Bohemian Grove camp … during a weeklong human hunting expedition.’”

But noooo…instead of dragging this nonsense out to the trash bin, Powell, who was appearing the next morning on Maria Bartitomo’s Fox show, forwarded it the host. Why? It had one single magic word: Dominion. Ha! That’s it! Skeezy voting machine company steals election from Dear Leader.

The barking mad Bartiromo and the equally mentally deficient Powell went to town with this “evidence”. But…unlike, say, the editor of a high school newspaper who would have been suspended for printing outrageous claims about Mr. Tiddkebottom, the Junior Math Teacher growing pot on his back porch to sell to students, without multiple sources and rock solid corroborating evidence, on Fox, none of that shit is required.

“Powell didn’t send Fox any legit evidence of wrongdoing before smearing the company on national television. Bartiromo didn’t contact Bourne before going ahead with the segment. [Show producer] Grossberg didn’t conduct any due diligence about her guest’s apparent source. It was the Fox paradigm in all its glory: shoot first; don’t ask questions at all.”

But other, real journalists, did check out Bourne’s sources:

“If any of them had followed up with Bourne, they might have learned, as The Daily Beast did, that she based her ideas about election fraud ‘on a wide variety of sources, including hidden messages she detects in films, song lyrics she hears on the radio, and overheard conversations she hears while in line at the supermarket checkout.’”

I’m guessing this was one of the songs Bourne was listening to.

This isn’t to say that Fox wouldn’t have found some other way to fuck with the truth, but four days after Powell and Bartiromo were shouting “Dominion! Aieeee!” Guess who started ranting about that company?

You got it.

And Fox went along, even though they knew that it was all bullshit.

Money? Power? Ego?

All of the above. And a deranged idea of what journalistic responsibility is. Fox, the media whorehouse.

November 16, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Forrest: Sorry about that error. I've had n,m trouble since I began typing and naturally spell sheck wouldn't catch that one.

November 16, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterBobby Lee

@Akhilleus: As far as I can figure out, Fox and Republicans have three general types of sources for their crackpot charges: (1) sources who say something damning about Democrats but later say that's not what they meant or who outright retract their original claims or who are on the lam from the feds; (2) sources of the caliber of people claiming to be decapitated witches or otherwise obtain their info from supernatural sources; (3) no sources at all -- sometimes "legitimized" with a claim that "people say" -- but essentially made up out of whole cloth.

November 16, 2023 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

Some of us might be interested in the update from Iowa:
Something is amiss in Iowa
By Art Cullen | Storm Lake Times Pilot
November 08, 2023

November 16, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterIt Wasn't A Fair Catch

Marie,

Not so much whole cloth as raggedy pieces of partially digested and summarily regurgitated (by discriminating forest creatures) bits of ass wipe. Rejected by wild animals as toxic and inedible but deemed perfect for Specials of the Day at the top of the Fox-MAGA menu.

November 16, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/16/joe-manchin-second-trump-term-destroy-democracy

So, Joe, if you believe anything you just said, why would you run for President and potentially split the Dem vote?

Please mansplain that to me.

November 16, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes
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