;)
The Conversation -- November 18, 2023
Jacquiline Alemanyof the Washington Post: "White House special counsel Dick Sauber questioned the validity of the GOP-led impeachment inquiry into President Biden on Friday in a scathing letter sent to House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). In the four-page letter, Sauber demanded that Comer and Jordan withdraw their subpoenas and requests for interviews with members of the Biden family and aides, arguing that since the House did not hold a floor vote on the impeachment inquiry, it has not been formally authorized by the legislative body as required by the Constitution. 'In fact, both of you previously supported the position that moving forward with an impeachment inquiry without a vote of the House "represents an abuse of power and brings discredit to the House of Representatives,"' Sauber wrote, quoting a 2019 resolution disapproving of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) decision to unilaterally initiate an impeachment inquiry into ... Donald Trump....* Sauber also railed against Comer and Jordan's misrepresentation of evidence and politically motivated statements about the impeachment inquiry." ~~~
~~~ Marie: This is somewhat misleading. Although a number of House committees began investigating matters related to the ultimate Articles of Impeachment before a vote of the full House occurred, the House did formally authorize the impeachment inquiry "by a vote of 232 to 196 on October 31, 2019."
Kathleen Cullitan of the Raw Story: "On the heels of President Joe Biden's comprehensive exchange with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the Daily Beast issued a stark reminder to any Americans thinking about hopping back into bed with Donald Trump. 'Biden ... in both his press conference following the Xi meeting and in his remarks throughout the summit, showed a complete, confident mastery of an enormous range of issues,' David Rothkopf writes. 'That's a far cry from Trump's flaccid performance.' Rothkopf's opinion piece published Friday heaped praise on Biden's handling of diplomatic relations with China both as a Vice President and the nation's commander-in-chief."
Tim Dickinson of Rolling Stone, republished by Yahoo! News: "In an October prayer call hosted by a Christian-nationalist MAGA pastor, Rep. Mike Johnson was troubled that America's wickedness was inviting God's wrath. Talking to pastor Jim Garlow on a broadcast of the World Prayer Network, Johnson spoke ominously of America facing a 'civilizational moment.' He said, 'The only question is: Is God going to allow our nation to enter a time of judgment for our collective sins? ... Or is he going to give us one more chance to restore the foundations and return to Him?'... Johnson [said]: 'The culture is so dark and depraved that it almost seems irredeemable.' He cited, as supposed evidence, the decline of national church attendance and the rise of LGBTQ youth -- the fact, Johnson lamented, that 'one-in-four high school students identifies as something other than straight.'... In a closing prayer with Garlow he grew tearful. Johnson intoned, 'We repent for our sins individually and collectively. And we ask that You not give us the judgment that we clearly deserve.'" Thanks to Ken W. for the link. The New York Times story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Farnoush Amiri of the AP: "House Speaker Mike Johnson said Friday he plans to publicly release thousands of hours of footage from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, making good on a promise he made to far-right members of his party when he was campaigning for the job.... The move by Johnson will grant the general public a stunning level of access to sensitive and explicit Jan. 6 security footage, which many critics have warned could endanger the safety of staff and members in the Capitol complex if it gets into the wrong hands. The hours of footage detail not only the shocking assault rioters made on U.S. Capitol Police as they breached the building but also how the rioters accessed the building and the routes lawmakers used to flee to safety.... In February, [then-Speaker Kevin] McCarthy gave then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson exclusive access to the footage, a move that Democrats swiftly condemned as a 'grave' breach of security with potentially far-reaching consequences."
Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "... while we keep our eyes on Trump and his allies and enablers, it is important not to lose sight of the fact that antidemocratic attitudes run deep within the Republican Party.... [For instance,] Not one full day after the vote [to add reproductive rights to Ohio's constitution], four Republican state representatives announced that..., 'We will do everything in our power to prevent our laws from being removed upon perception of intent....' Notice the language: 'our power' and 'our laws.' There is no awareness here that the people of Ohio are sovereign and that their vote to amend the state Constitution holds greater authority than the judgment of a small group of legislators.... To many Republicans, unfortunately, persuasion is anathema.... Instead, the game is to create a system in which, heads or tails, you always win." Bouie gives a number of other examples of Republicans overriding or attempting to override the will of the people. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Yesterday, I heard a teevee pundit state the obvious: that democracy can't work in a country where only one of the two major political parties actually favors democracy.
Yo, Jack Smith! Here's some dandy evidence for you, caught on tape. If you ask Jon Karl for it, he'll send it over wrapped in fancy paper & a pretty holiday bow:
~~~ Marie: Gosh, Donald, I recall when you said the insurrectionists were not your supporters but Antifa guys and FBI informants. Oh, and for some reason, I'm skeptical you wanted to go to the Capitol to stop the insurrection (like, say, those 187 minutes you sat in your dining room cheering on your troops while aides, family members and even Sean F. Hannity begged you to intervene). Thanks to RAS for the lead. ~~~
~~~ Hmmm, Apt Timing. Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "The federal judge overseeing ... Donald J. Trump's trial on charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election rejected on Friday a request by Mr. Trump's lawyers to remove language from his indictment describing the role he played in the violence that erupted at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.... In court papers to Judge [Tanya] Chutkan, prosecutors called the Jan. 6 attack 'the culmination' of Mr. Trump's 'criminal conspiracies' to overturn the election. They also suggested that they were poised to introduce video evidence of the riot and call witnesses at trial who could testify that they attacked police and stormed the Capitol after hearing Mr. Trump exhort them to 'fight' in a speech he gave before the violence broke out." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Brandi Buchman of Law & Crime: "A federal judge on Friday denied Donald Trump's request to strike so-called 'inflammatory allegations' about the events at the Capitol on Jan. 6 from his criminal indictment in Washington, D.C., saying he failed to prove his claim while 'making several accusatory and unsupported comments' on his own.... [Judge Tanya] Chutkan also appeared to highlight the irony in Trump's motion.... 'Defendant's sixteen-page reply in support of the motion despite making numerous inflammatory and unsupported accusations on its own devotes only a single paragraph to the prejudice requirement,' she wrote, noting a line in Trump's filing where he asserted, baselessly, that President Joe Biden had 'directed the Department of Justice to prosecute his leading opponent for the presidency through a calculated leak to the New York Times.'" ~~~
~~~ Judge Chutkan's order is here.
Kevin Breuninger of CNBC: "A New York judge on Friday denied a request by ... Donald Trump and his co-defendants for a mistrial in the $250 million civil business fraud case against them. Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron said the arguments for a mistrial were 'utterly without merit' as he declined to sign the defendants' bid for a motion to throw out the case. The ruling came two days after attorneys for Trump Sr., Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, the Trump Organization and its top executives argued that the case had been undermined by political bias."
Presidential Race 2024
Colorado. It Depends on What the Meaning of "Support" Is. Maggie Astor of the New York Times: "A Colorado judge ruled on Friday that ... Donald J. Trump could remain on the primary ballot in the state, rejecting the argument that the 14th Amendment prevents him from holding office again -- but doing so on relatively narrow grounds that lawyers for the voters seeking to disqualify him said they would appeal. With his actions before and during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, Judge Sarah B. Wallace ruled, Mr. Trump engaged in insurrection against the Constitution, an offense that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment -- which was ratified in 1868 to keep former Confederates out of the government -- deems disqualifying for people who previously took an oath to support the Constitution.
"But Judge Wallace, a state district court judge in Denver, concluded that Section 3 did not include the presidential oath in that category. The clause does not explicitly name the presidency, so that question hinged on whether the president was included in the category 'officer of the United States.... The absence of the president from the list of positions to which the amendment applies combined with the fact that Section 3 specifies that the disqualifying oath is one to "support" the Constitution whereas the presidential oath is to "preserve, protect and defend" the Constitution,' Judge Wallace wrote...." MB: Seems like a strange reading. Why would the Constitution bar a low-level functionary from running for office but not the most important official in the U.S.? ~~~
~~~ An ABC News story is here. The judge's ruling, via the state court system, is here.
Michigan. Nick Robertson of the Hill: "A liberal activist group appealed a Michigan court's decision on Thursday to throw out their case attempting to bar former President Trump from the presidential ballot, taking the case to the state Supreme Court. Free Speech for People sued the state of Michigan in September, arguing that Trump's involvement with the Jan. 6 Capitol riots violates the 14th Amendment, which should bar him from being eligible for office. A lower court threw out the suit last month, arguing that a 14th Amendment challenge is not valid in the primary stage of an election. The appeal requests 'emergency application' to bypass the usual state Appeals Court and go straight to the Supreme Court, given the short time until state primary ballots are finalized."
Jennifer Bahney of Mediaite: "The biggest danger the world faces in 2024 is if former President Donald Trump is elected to a second term, according to The Economist's guide to The World Ahead.... 'A second Trump term would be a watershed in a way the first was not. Victory would confirm his most destructive instincts about power. His plans would encounter less resistance. And because America will have voted him in while knowing the worst, its moral authority would decline. The election will be decided by tens of thousands of voters in just a handful of states. In 2024 the fate of the world will depend on their ballots.' The article posits that a Trump win would signal to China that American democracy is 'dysfunctional,' and could give the communist nation the incentive to invade ... Taiwan. In addition, the article predicts that Trump's desire to quickly end the war in Ukraine would give Vladimir Putin the impetus to take over other neighboring countries like Moldova and the Baltic states." The Economist article, linked above, is subscriber-firewalled. Thanks to Akhilleus for the link to Mediaite. (Also linked yesterday.)
James Zirin in the Washington Monthly: "Has Donald Trump gone nuts?... All the armchair gerontologists parsing every utterance from President Joe Biden, trying to distinguish his congenital stutter from his natural aging, should look at Trump, whose behavior has gone from bad to weird to bizarre.... Perhaps more worrisome than Trump's mental miscues is the fact that his authoritarian tendencies have veered into even more fascistic territory, and his insults have become even more intemperate, which is saying something.... Trump's policy pronouncements have become more incendiary and more insane, if that were possible." Zirin recounts numerous examples of the general failings he identifies.
No Labels, Where the "Grassroots" Are Always Greener. Brian Schwartz of CNBC: "No Labels, the nonprofit group actively working to field a third party ticket for president in 2024, doubled its annual revenue last year over 2021, collecting $21 million, nearly all of it from wealthy donors who gave $100,000 or more. No Labels is not required to publicly disclose the names of its donors, but CNBC obtained a list from the group of contributions last year that exceeded $5,000. The list did not include names, but it revealed that around 80% of the group's total revenue, roughly $17 million, came from at least 68 individual donors who each gave the group $100,000 or more. The 990 tax return also revealed that No Labels had only one program last year, which it called, 'citizen engagement, digital and grassroots movement building and ballot access.'"
Donald, Frater Non Gratus. Jacob Bernstein of the New York Times: "More than 100 mourners streamed into the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola in Manhattan on Friday morning for the memorial service of Maryanne Trump Barry, a longtime federal judge and an older sister of Donald J. Trump. The former president was among those who attended. He arrived, along with his wife, Melania, and other family members as part of a processional from the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Home.... Mr. Trump did not speak at the service.... [Judge Barry's son, David William] Desmond did not mention former President Trump in his remarks.... In a series of surreptitiously recorded interviews in 2018 and 2019 with a niece, Mary L. Trump, [Judge Barry] spoke scathingly of [Donald Trump]. 'He has no principles,' she said. 'None.' She added, 'It's the phoniness and this cruelty. Donald is cruel.'... I don't want any of my siblings to speak at my funeral,' Judge Barry continued. 'And that's all about Donald and what he did at Dad's funeral [which was not to mention Dad at all in a supposed eulogy].... It was all about him.'"
Ryan Mac, et al., of the New York Times: "The blowback over Elon Musk's endorsement of an antisemitic conspiracy theory on X gathered steam on Friday, as several major advertisers on his social media platform cut off their spending after his comments. Disney said it was pausing spending on X, as did Lionsgate, the entertainment and film distribution company, and Paramount Global, the media giant that owns CBS. Apple, which spends tens of millions of dollars a year on X, also suspended advertising on the platform, a person with knowledge of the situation said. They followed IBM, which cut its spending with X on Thursday. Mr. Musk ... has been under scrutiny for months for allowing and even stoking antisemitic abuse on the site. That snowballed on Wednesday when the tech billionaire agreed with a post on X that accused Jewish people who are facing antisemitism amid the Israel-Hamas war of pushing the 'exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them' and supporting the immigration of 'hordes of minorities.'" ~~~
~~~ Amy Wang, et al., of the Washington Post: "The White House on Friday condemned a social media post by Elon Musk in which he indicated support for an antisemitic conspiracy theory, calling the billionaire's action an 'abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate.'... In a subsequent tweet, Musk went on to criticize the Anti-Defamation League, a nonprofit that combats antisemitism and extremism, saying it 'unjustly attacks the majority of the West' for anti-Jewish hate rather than 'the minority groups who are their primary threat.'... 'We condemn this abhorrent promotion of Antisemitic and racist hate in the strongest terms, which runs against our core values as Americans,' [White House spokesman Andrew] Bates said." Politico's story is here.
Peter Baker of the New York Times: "Rosalynn Carter, the former first lady, has entered hospice care at her home in Georgia alongside her husband, former President Jimmy Carter, who has been in hospice since February, the family announced on Friday. Mrs. Carter, 96, revealed in May that she has dementia, but Friday's statement offered no further details about her condition or any other ailments she might be suffering. She has been by her husband's side for the last nine months as he has similarly decided to forgo full-scale medical treatment...."
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Israel/Palestine
The Washington Post's live updates of developments Saturday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "Doctors, patients and displaced civilians left Gaza's largest hospital Saturday, amid competing claims over who had ordered the evacuation, which aid groups described as 'complex and dangerous.' The head of al-Shifa hospital said Israel gave people one hour to evacuate, and that 120 patients and five doctors remained inside the complex, which had housed thousands of displaced people. Conditions inside the hospital for those who remained were 'very difficult,' with water and electricity cut off, he added. The Israeli military denied ordering an evacuation, instead saying that it had agreed to assist evacuation efforts following requests from the hospital. Many evacuees are headed south, although Israeli forces have indicated their ground offensive may also intensify in parts of southern Gaza soon." ~~~
~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Saturday are here. CNN's live updates are here.
Philip Pan, et al., of the New York Times: "The discovery [of a tunnel shaft] at Al-Shifa Hospital did not seem to settle the question of whether Hamas has been using the complex to hide weapons and command centers, as Israel has said. Israeli forces on Friday probed further into civilian infrastructure in northern Gaza for signs of a Hamas presence, announcing that they had found weapons at a school and guiding international reporters to a tunnel shaft on the grounds of the territory's largest hospital. As troops searched the hospital, Al-Shifa, for a third day, Israel announced that it would allow limited shipments of fuel to the enclave to avoid 'epidemics' amid the wreckage of the territory.... In a building next to the hospital, the military said on Friday, it had discovered the body of a second hostage taken by Hamas, Noa Marciano, 19, who had been a corporal in the Israeli army. The military also announced that it had killed Hamas terrorists found 'hiding' in a school. 'You have said the actual truth,' Mr. Musk replied."
News Lede
New Hampshire. No Country for Old Women. Marie: When I was driving to a doctor's appointment yesterday afternoon, I hoped -- as I do every time I go to a public place during regular business hours -- that a crazed mass murderer wouldn't shoot me dead in this gun-loving state. At the doctor's office, I was very aware there was no way to run and hide from a murderous nut who might enter the waiting room. So as I was driving home, unscathed, I passed this (although I passed by at least an hour before the events unfolded): ~~~
~~~ New York Times: "An assailant fatally shot a security officer inside the lobby of a state psychiatric hospital in Concord, N.H., on Friday afternoon and then was killed shortly afterward by a state trooper patrolling the campus, state officials said. Col. Mark B. Hall, the director of the New Hampshire Department of Safety, said at a news conference on Friday night that the authorities were still investigating a motive for the shooting, which occurred about 3:30 p.m. Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire identified the victim as Bradley Haas, a security officer with the Department of Safety." An NBC News story is here.
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Reader Comments (9)
As someone somewhere pointed out the obvious:
The elevation of Mike Johnson to the Speakership is undeniable proof that God really is angry with us.
Putin is really into Trump!
https://www.instagram.com/p/CzxUZx4rP4A/
@Ken Winkes: Mike reads what he wants to read. He seems to be quite taken with the hellfire & brimstone of the angry, vengeful God of the Old Testament, while making no mention of the NT God who sacrificed his son for our sins and who teaches universal love. (I expect on Sunday mornings, after having committed multiple sins during the week in your name and mine, Mike is sure Jesus forgives Mike for his. The beauty of Christianity is that you can do all kinds of bad stuff, and if you say you're sorry, St. Peter will open the Pearly Gates to you.)
And it isn't just the Bible Mike selectively reads. “The separation of church and state is a misnomer,” Johnson said recently on CNBC. "People misunderstand it. Of course, it comes from a phrase that was in a letter that [Thomas] Jefferson wrote. It’s not in the constitution.... And what he was explaining is they did not want the government to encroach upon the church — not that they didn’t want principles of faith to have influence on our public life. It’s exactly the opposite.”
But Mike only read the part of Jefferson's writing that he liked. Jefferson was responding to a query from the Danbury, Connecticut, Baptists who were worried the state would interfere with their free expression of their religion. Jefferson pointed out to the Danbury Baptists that the U.S. Constitution specifies that legislators may "'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between church and State."
This is an old idea, which Jefferson certainly lifted from John Locke. Before the U.S. became the U.S., Southern states had established the Anglican church as their state church and citizens paid taxes to support the Anglican church. In 1777, borrowing from Locke, "Jefferson proposed that [his home state of] Virginia end all tax support of religion and recognize the natural right of all persons to believe as they wish." That is, Jefferson was as concerned about the intimidation or persecution of individual believers by people supposedly representing an "established religion" as he was of intimidation or punishment by legislators.
The metaphor of a "wall of separation" wasn't original to Jefferson, either. Roger Williams, who founded Rhode Island after the Puritans kicked him out of Massachusetts because of his expressed religious beliefs, "coined the phrase that many people today think sums up the Establishment Clause. In his theological writings, Williams asserted that there existed a 'wall of separation between the garden of the church and the wilderness of the world.'” Here again, Williams was concerned about the power of the church, which in early New England was essentially also the state.
Marie,
Dare I say, your short essay above is one of your best.
Thanks.
More churchy history:
The Thirty Years War was one of the greatest catastrophes in the history of Western Civilization. In that war, and the resulting plagues and famines, nearly a fifth of the population of Europe died. The stated cause of the wars, between Catholic and Protestant Christians, was an arcane theological dispute over the nature of the Eucharist, an act of ritual cannibalism. Millions died fighting over what it means to eat a cracker.
The Thirty Years War was followed by a period known as The Enlightenment — The Age of Reason. The authors of American Democracy were sons of The Enlightenment. They were deists and free thinkers almost to a man. The Thirty Years war was a more recent event, to them, than the American Civil War is to us. Their principal concern was that those horrors not be repeated here.
I hope Mike and others of his ilk wind up facing a St Peter who tells them: "Nope. Declaring moral bankruptcy doesn't wipe the old slate clean."
I wonder if those corporations will wait a whole week before they are back to paying Elon to advertise next to Hitler posts or if they are angry enough to wait two weeks. Probably not with Christmas season upon us. We've seen this PR farce too many times. A pause just means they are waiting for people's attention to move elsewhere. How long did it take before the corporations were back to shoveling money at the GQP's insurrectionists to help them undermine democracy and the will of the people?
If you include as "founders" those who instigated and fought the Revolution, who greatly overlap with those who created the Constitution, there is a small side-story that shows that they were having none of that established religion crap.
When the Continental Congress sent envoys to "correspond" with Canada, which was then mostly french-speaking and Catholic, they sought to sign Canada up as one of the rebellious colonies. Les Habs dickered; England had recently agreed to allow them to have a Catholic bishop and, accordingly, a diocese. That was a big deal. The Canadians asked the US delegation if the US could also guarantee the future acceptance of a Canadian diocese and Catholic bishopric. The Lockean and Enlightened USDEL and Congress could do no such a thing, because it went against the core principles of the Revolution. The Canadians said "Merci mais non merci " and stuck with the devil they knew.
If the Continental Congress could have given them a guarantee on a bishop, Canada might have joined up.
This episode indicates that the Revolutionary founders were totally opposed to having the state sponsor or support a specific religion. Especially Catholics.
Re Mike and divine forgiveness:
My first inkling as a kid that the whole thing was nonsense based on nonsense was when I was told that impure thoughts were sinful and that in order to be forgiven for any sin I had to promise at least at that moment to never commit it again. Tell that to an adolescent boy.
There are many ways to manage sheep. The way I cited above I consider the moral equivalent of, "Chain yourself to the radiator."