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The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

Washington Post: “An early Titian masterpiece — once looted by Napolean’s troops and a part of royal collections for centuries — caused a stir when it was stolen from the home of a British marquess in 1995. Seven years later, it was found inside an unassuming white and blue plastic bag at a bus stop in southwest London by an art detective, and returned. This week, the oil painting 'The Rest on the Flight into Egypt' sold for more than $22 million at Christie’s. It was a record for the Renaissance artist, whom museums describe as the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice. Ahead of the sale in April, the auction house billed it as 'the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in more than a generation.'”

Washington Post: The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., which houses the world's largest collection of Shakespeare material, has undergone a major renovation. "The change to the building is pervasive, both subtle and transformational."

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Wednesday
Nov012023

The Conversation -- November 2, 2023

Jonah Bromwich & Ben Protess of the New York Times: "Eric and Donald J. Trump Jr. ... stepped out of their father's shadow and into a legal minefield on Thursday, tiptoeing around potentially damaging evidence as they testified in a trial that threatens their family business. Donald Trump Jr. was mostly calm but often evasive as he blamed outside accountants for any errors in company financial statements during nearly two hours on the stand.... His younger brother, Eric, who now runs the Trump Organization, was more precise in his answers but more combative in his tone. He acknowledged his central role within the company but denied direct involvement with the documents. At one point, Eric Trump erupted in anger at questioning from a lawyer with the New York attorney general's office about whether he was aware of the financial statements in question....

"Toward the end of the day, [state prosecutor Andrew] Amer also drilled down on the value of the family's golf club in Westchester County, N.Y., seeking to show that Eric Trump had ignored an independent appraisal when advising an employee on how much the property was worth. Mr. Trump disputed that he paid much attention to appraisals, despite Mr. Amer's showing several emails in which he had corresponded with an appraiser about appraisals. The testimony was combative throughout, a stark contrast from his brother, who appeared to take his stint on the stand in stride. At one point, Donald Trump Jr. told a courtroom sketch artist to 'make me look sexy,' the artist told reporters." ~~~

     ~~~ Charlie Nash of Mediaite: "Judge Arthur Engoron accused former President Donald Trump's lawyer Chris Kise of misogyny and warned him not to refer to [the] court clerk again during a tense exchange on Thursday.... Engoron snapped at Kise for repeatedly referring to Engoron's principal law clerk Allison Greenfield as a 'female principal law clerk.'... [This] reportedly prompted Kise to 'adamantly' deny he was a misogynist.... Engoron then reportedly warned Kise, 'All joking aside, do not refer to my staff again.... The person sitting along side me is a civil servant, doing what I ask her to do.' Engoron also reportedly threatened to expand Trump's gag order to Kise and other Trump lawyers if they continued to refer to court staffers."

Jacob Bogage & Abigail Hauslohner of the Washington Post: "The Republican-controlled House on Thursday approved legislation to send roughly $14 billion in emergency aid to Israel and cut about the same amount from the Internal Revenue Service, in a deeply divided vote on a measure that Senate leaders say they won't take up and President Biden has already threatened to veto.... New House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) chose to split the Israel funding off from the rest of the aid and declared the House would cut the budget to pay for the spending to keep the federal deficit from growing. But the cuts to the IRS would actually cost taxpayers money, meaning the aid for Israel would add to the deficit even more than just borrowing the $14 billion Biden wants to send, according to a nonpartisan analysis by the Congressional Budget Office."

Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "The Senate on Thursday confirmed three more senior military officers in its latest move to bypass an expansive blockade on President Biden's nominees imposed by Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) in a bid to gain leverage in a fight over the Pentagon's travel policy for troops seeking abortions. Approved by lopsided margins were Adm. Lisa Franchetti, Biden's choice to lead the Navy, who will become the first woman on the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Gen. David W. Allvin, nominated to lead the Air Force; and Lt. Gen. Christopher J. Mahoney, who will be promoted to four-star general, become the Marine Corps's No. 2 officer and step in as the caretaker commandant in the absence of Gen. Eric Smith, who suffered apparent cardiac arrest on Sunday. Smith, 58, was in stable condition on Wednesday evening with an unclear long-term prognosis. Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, the Pentagon's No. 2 political appointee, appeared to link the hold on Thursday directly to Smith's condition[:] 'We have seen tragic effects of that stress, but we've also seen stress at the individual human level. And I think that's been well-communicated on Capitol Hill.'" ~~~

     ~~~ The AP report is here. Last night, some GOP senators railed against Tuberville's holds: ~~~

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken will urge the Israeli government to agree to a series of brief cessations of military operations in Gaza to allow for hostages to be released safely and for humanitarian aid to be distributed, White House officials said on Thursday. The message comes as President Biden revealed on Wednesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel had previously agreed to halt shelling briefly on Oct. 20 to allow for the release of two Americans, Judith Raanan, 59, and her daughter, Natalie Raanan, 17. The push for what American officials call 'humanitarian pauses' is one of several subjects Mr. Blinken will raise with Mr. Netanyahu and other officials when he arrives in Israel on Friday for another round of diplomacy...."

Zoe Richards of NBC News: "President Joe Biden said Wednesday that a 'pause' was needed in the Israel-Hamas war.... 'I think we need a pause, Biden said in response to a question from a protester who interrupted him at a campaign reception in Minnesota. Asked to clarify what a pause meant, he said: 'A pause means give time to get the prisoners out....' Negotiations to free 239 hostages, including children and the elderly, have continued since Hamas' Oct. 7 terrorist attack killed about 1,400 people in Israel. After Hamas breached Israel's border wall, other groups from Gaza seized additional captives. The protester, who identified herself as Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg, said she wanted Biden to call for a cease-fire."

Edward Moreno of the New York Times: "A jury of nine women and three men began deliberating a verdict on Thursday afternoon in the criminal fraud trial of Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced entrepreneur who has been accused of stealing as much as $10 billion in customer funds from his FTX crypto exchange.... Federal prosecutors have accused Mr. Bankman-Fried of taking billions of dollars in customer deposits from FTX to fund investments, political donations and luxury real estate. The exchange failed last year, leaving many customers unable to recover their money, and turning Mr. Bankman-Fried's case into a referendum on the excesses of the volatile crypto industry.... Jurors are deciding whether to convict Mr. Bankman-Fried on seven charges of fraud and conspiracy.... All 12 jurors must agree to convict or acquit Mr. Bankman-Fried on each of the seven charges." The AP's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ UPDATE. Eli Tan & Tory Newmyer of the Washington Post: "A jury on Thursday convicted FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering, the culmination of a month-long trial that saw the former crypto mogul take the stand in his own defense after his inner circle of friends-turned-deputies provided damning testimony against him. The decision was reached after a few hours of deliberation by a jury of nine women and three men, who found Bankman-Fried guilty of two counts of wire fraud, four counts of conspiracy to commit fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. The conviction cements Bankman-Fried as one of the largest financial fraudsters in history, whose victims suffered nearly $10 billion in losses after FTX misappropriated customer funds to spend lavishly on luxury real estate, investments, and 'dark money' political donations, all at his direction, the jury found."

CNN is liveblogging developments in today's New York State case to determine the amount of damages the Trump Org must pay for defrauding the state and lenders. Donald Trump, Jr., is back on the stand. MB: He seems to be pleading ignorance to many of the questions of the prosecuting attorney. Which, in his case, is totally believable. He's even anticipating some of the questions; after being asked about a 2017 fraudulent financial statement, he said his answer would be the same for every year, so "... we can save ourselves a lot of time" by not wading through other statements he signed off on. "Rinse and repeat," he said. He seems to pride himself on being a waste of space. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. The New York Times is liveblogging the "children's" testimony. Eric is on the stand this afternoon.

Marie: looked for this earlier; just found it, via Salon:

~~~~~~~~~~

Jeanna Smialek of the New York Times: "The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday while keeping alive the possibility of a future increase, striking a cautious stance as rapid inflation retreats but is not yet vanquished."

Dan Lamothe & Liz Goodwin of the Washington Post: "The war in Gaza and a serious medical emergency suffered by the Marine Corps' top officer has forced into the open months of simmering Republican frustration with Sen. Tommy Tuberville's expansive hold on President Biden's military nominees, driving several of his colleagues to publicly denounce the gambit and urge Senate leaders to take immediate action to end the impasse.... On Wednesday night, a remarkable scene unfolded on the Senate floor as several Republicans, including Sens. Dan Sullivan (Alaska), Joni Ernst (Iowa) Todd C. Young (Ind.) and Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) confronted Tuberville, imploring him to lift his hold for the sake of national security and proposing votes on individual officers whose promotions have been delayed. Tuberville rebuffed them one by one, blocking each proposed nominee as his colleagues' frustration continued to rise.” ~~~

     ~~~ Conor O'Brien & Joe Gould of Politico: “During the lengthy floor fight Wednesday, [Sen. Dan] Sullivan [R-Alaska] or one of his colleagues would call up each nominee by name -- 61 in all -- extolling their qualifications and, finally, ask for consent to vote to confirm them. Sullivan noted several times that Tuberville had previously said he'd agree to votes on individual nominees.... He called the holdup 'a national security suicide mission.'"

Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "'Over the course of seven years, [Mike] Johnson has never reported a checking or savings account in his name, nor in the name of his wife or any of his children, disclosures show. In fact, he doesn't appear to have money stashed in any investments, with his latest filing -- covering 2022 -- showing no assets whatsoever,' reported Roger Sollenberger [of the Daily Beast], noting that he probably does have a bank account, but just doesn't have enough money in it to trigger reporting requirements. 'House Ethics Committee filing guidelines state that members must disclose bank accounts they have at every financial institution, as long as the account holds at least $1,000 and the combined value of all accounts -- including those belonging to their spouse and dependent children -- exceeds $5,000,' the report continued." Thanks to RAS for the link to the Beast's story. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yesterday, I wrote in the Comments that Mike's failure to report any bank balances was pretty implausible. But I think I've figured it out, and I've posted my new theory at the top of today's Comments.

Mike Johnson, Troll. David Firestone of the New York Times: "It didn't take long for the new House speaker, Mike Johnson, to demonstrate to the world that he will not be a serious partner for American allies or for those who still believe that governing is not a petty little game.... Making sense isn't really Mr. Johnson's game.... By throwing ... the I.R.S. cut [in funding into an appropriations bill to fund aid to Israel (and cutting out Ukraine war funding)], he gets to show the same extremists who deposed his predecessor that he can play rough with the White House." (Also linked yesterday.)

Amanda Marcotte of Salon has some thoughts on Mike Johnson's "covenant" marriage and why he's trying to keep his "Stepford wife" Kelly out of sight. Interesting read. (Also linked yesterday.)

Long Island Man Keeps His House Seat. Michael Gold & Grace Ashford of the New York Times: "A Republican-led effort to expel Representative George Santos of New York failed on Wednesday night, after a group of lawmakers from Mr. Santos's home state could not persuade enough of their colleagues that his admitted lies and federal indictment were sufficient grounds to oust him." ~~~

     ~~~ Scott Wong, et al., of NBC News: "The expulsion resolution, which was led by his fellow New York Republicans and says Santos is 'not fit to serve,' needed support from a supermajority, or at least two-thirds of the voting lawmakers, to pass. The final tally did not even crest the simple majority threshold: 179 voted in favor of expulsion, 213 against and 19 voting present. Thirty one Democrats voted with 182 Republicans against expulsion, while 24 Republicans voted with 155 Democrats to remove Santos."

Robert Jimison of the New York Times: "The House on Wednesday turned aside a Republican effort to formally reprimand Representative Rashida Tlaib, Democrat of Michigan, for her participation in a recent pro-Palestinian protest in which she accused Israel of genocide, as a solid bloc of Republicans joined Democrats to reject the move. The vote was 222 to 186 to table, or kill, a censure resolution against Ms. Tlaib, the only Palestinian American member of Congress, offered by Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia. The measure accused Ms. Tlaib of 'antisemitic activity' and referred to the Oct. 8 protest as an 'insurrection.' Twenty-three Republicans broke with their party in voting to kill it.... Following the vote on censuring Ms. Tlaib, the House had planned to turn to an effort to formally rebuke Ms. Greene for 'racist rhetoric and conspiracy theories, citing her past antisemitic statements, anti-L.G.B.T.Q.+ remarks and her praise and support for those charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. But that measure was dropped abruptly after the censure of Ms. Tlaib failed." The Hill's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Somebody might tell Miss Margie that Palestinians are Semites, so it would be odd if Tlaib were antisemitic.


Jonah Bromwich & Kate Christobek of the New York Times: "Donald Trump Jr. testified on Wednesday that he had no involvement in annual financial statements that his family's business gave banks and insurers despite language in the statements themselves suggesting that he was partially responsible for them.... Asked whether he worked on one such statement, from 2017, Mr. Trump was clear: 'I did not. The accountants worked on it. That's what we pay them for.' He soon clarified that his conversations with others at the company may have informed the financial statement.... The attorney general's office has argued that his signature on letters affirming his responsibility for the financial statements links him directly to fraud." The AP's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Andrew Weissmann noted on MSNBC Wednesday that one of the documents prosecutors identified during Junior's testimony was a declaration, which Donald Trump Sr. signed on January 15, 2021, while he was still president*, indicating he was reclaiming control of the Trump Org., after having relinquished the top job (at least on paper) while he was president*. Weissmann sees this as an important indicator that Trump knew he had lost the 2020 election. Weissmann opined that Jack Smith could use the admission in the election interference case.

Perry Stein & Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "The judge overseeing Donald Trump's indictment for allegedly mishandling national security secrets suggested Wednesday that she might push back the planned trial timeline.... U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon listened to prosecutors argue at a hearing for keeping the schedule she set earlier this year, which includes a trial in May 2024. Lawyers for the former president insisted they needed more time to prepare.... [Prosecutors] said that all the classified materials are now available to review in Florida." CNN's report is here.

Jonathan Swan, et al., of the New York Times: "Close allies of Donald J. Trump are preparing to populate a new administration with a more aggressive breed of right-wing lawyer, dispensing with traditional conservatives who they believe stymied his agenda in his first term.... At the start of Mr. Trump's term, his administration relied on the influential Federalist Society, the conservative legal network whose members filled key executive branch legal roles and whose leader helped select his judicial nominations. But in a striking shift, Trump allies are building new recruiting pipelines separate from the Federalist Society." ~~~

     ~~~ Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "It is not only in the legal realm that this effort is underway, however.... This plan from the pro-Trump right runs in parallel with Trump's intent to overhaul the protections that government employees enjoy, making it easier to fire people who might object to the injection of partisan priorities.... It's a recipe for a second term in which the guardrails battered during Trump's first term are removed completely."

Former Guy to "Rebrand" USA as USA. Ed Mazza of the Huffington Post, republished in Yahoo! News: "In a new post on his Truth Social website, Donald Trump ... made a strange claim about the name of the country if he wins next year's election. 'We're gonna have a great country. It's gonna be called the United States of America,' he said, neglecting the obvious fact that the country is already called the United States of America.... Last week, Trump said he noticed for the first time that the abbreviation for the United States also spells the word 'us.' 'I just picked that up. Has anyone ever thought of that? I just picked that up,' he said in New Hampshire, then complained he probably won't get the credit he deserves for making the 'us' discovery. 'Now, if we say something genius, they'll never say it,' Trump said." Thanks to Forrest M. for the link. In yesterday's Comments, RAS posits that Trump is hoping to earn branding credit for the name, a move he may think could earn him billions. (Also linked yesterday.)

Presidential Race 2024

Minnesota. Steve Karnowski & Nicholas Riccardi of the AP: "Efforts to use the Constitution's 'insurrection' clause to prevent ... Donald Trump from running again for the White House turn to Minnesota on Thursday with oral arguments before the state Supreme Court.... In the Minnesota case, the plaintiffs are asking the state's highest court to declare that Trump is disqualified and direct the secretary of state to keep him off the ballot for the state's March 5 primary. They've also broached the possibility of the court ordering an evidentiary hearing, which would mean further proceedings and delay a final resolution, something Trump's legal team opposes.... [Steve] Simon, the [Minnesota] secretary of state, has asked the court to rule quickly so he can send instructions to local election officials about Minnesota's March primary no later than Jan. 5."

Colorado. Maggie Astor of the New York Times: "A Colorado judge on Wednesday refused a request from lawyers for ... Donald J. Trump to throw out a case challenging his eligibility to hold office again, saying she was not yet prepared to decide on what she called 'significant legal issues, many of which have never been decided by any court.' The decision by the judge, Sarah B. Wallace, means the trial will continue through Friday before a final ruling.... Over two and a half days starting Monday, lawyers for those voters called a series of witnesses. They included two experts intended to build the case that Mr. Trump incited far-right extremists to attack the Capitol and that this constituted 'engaging in insurrection,' as those words were understood when the 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868....

"Among other sources, Professor [Gerard] Magliocca cited congressional debate records; court rulings; legal analyses written by the attorney general at the time; and two instances after the Civil War, but shortly before the 14th Amendment was ratified, in which Congress refused to seat members. One had written a letter to the editor calling for violence against Union troops. The other had given $100 to a son who was going to fight for the Confederacy.... The defense then began calling witnesses on Mr. Trump's behalf. That testimony is expected to run through Friday." An AP story is here.

Michigan. Elle Meyers of CBS News: "The fight over whether ... Donald Trump should be allowed on the 2024 ballot in Michigan continues. This week, lawyers for the former president filed suit, arguing Trump didn't engage in the events that occurred on Jan. 6, 2021. 'An insurrection -- that's an attempt to take over the government; I've never seen a government taken over without guns,' said Terry Johnson, an attorney with Kirsch Daskas Law Group. 'There was not an attempt to overthrow the government. No one took anyone hostage. No one had firearms, rifles, or anything along these lines. This was a riot.'" ~~~

~~~ Marie: Among the arguments Trump's legal team and other Trumpeteers s are making is that the states should "let the voters decide" who the GOP presidential* nominee will be & forget about allowing or ordering state election officials to remove Trump from their ballots. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), appearing on Joy Reid's MSNBC show Tuesday night, contended that that is a silly argument, inasmuch as states would routinely deny a declared presidential candidate on their ballots if s/he did not meet other Constitutional requirements for the presidency; for instance, if the candidate was 20 years old or was a naturalized citizen.

~~~~~~~~~~

New York. Elizabeth Wolfe & Zenebou Sylla of CNN: "Cornell University has canceled classes Friday to acknowledge the 'extraordinary stress' its campus has been under as one of its students is accused of making violent antisemitic threats against Jewish people at the college, where unease over the Israel-Hamas war has been escalating for weeks. A junior at the university, 21-year-old Patrick Dai, has been arrested and federally charged in connection with a series of online posts over the weekend which threatened to kill and harm Cornell's Jewish students, New York prosecutors say.... Since the conflict ignited last month, Jews, Palestinians and Muslims in the US have expressed growing fear over a reported spike in hate-motivated attacks -- including a nearly 400% increase in antisemitic incidents recorded by the Anti-Defamation League in the days after Hamas raided Israel on October 7."

~~~~~~~~~~

Israel/Palestine

The New York Times' live updates of developments Thursday in the Israel/Hamas war are here. CNN's live updates are here.

Miriam Berger, et al., of the Washington Post: "A group of foreign passport holders and injured Palestinians left Gaza for Egypt on Wednesday in the war's first such passage to safety even as Israel carried out another deadly strike on the Jabalya refugee camp, the third in less than 24 hours, Palestinian officials said.... Egyptian state media said 361 foreigners and 45 injured Palestinians crossed to Egypt, but it was not immediately clear whether everyone had been admitted to the country. At least five Americans who worked for international organizations were among those evacuated, according to a U.S. official.... A spokesman for the Gaza side of the border said it would be opened again on Thursday for further evacuations. But the movement at Rafah remains woefully insufficient given a humanitarian crisis in the enclave far past the point of desperation, aid workers said."

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Reader Comments (13)

In yesterday's Comments, we discussed Mike Johnson's House financial reports, which reporters discovered have showed he & his family did not have any bank accounts. I wrote that I didn't think it was likely that the family could survive for years without holding bank accounts with total balances of up to a total of $5,000, the House threshold for reporting.

Later, I thought about my own day-to-day banking practices, and I realized I was wrong.

For years, I got along with just a checking account at BofA & a credit card from someplace else. But several years ago, BofA offered savings of up to 3% (oh, thanks, BofA!) for purchases made with their own credit card. So I accepted a BofA credit card, and I make many payments with that card. I have the accounts set up so that once a month, BofA automatically transfers funds from my checking account to pay off my credit purchases, which guarantees I won't have to pay any interest on the credit card purchases. (BofA, of course, took months to get this part right, so they repeatedly charged me interest; then reversed the interest payments after I groused that they were supposed to be paying off the credit balance.)

Mike Johnson could be doing something similar. In his case, he could be keeping a balance owed in his credit account that is about equal to the balance of his checking account, thus leaving him with an average monthly balance on the linked accounts of less than $1,000 (the reporting threshold for a single account). I'm not saying he does this; I'm saying that I think it would be legitimate to claim a balance of less than $1,000 if his credit card debt in the linked accounts was more-or-less equal to -- or greater than -- the balance in his checking account.

November 2, 2023 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

A couple of things about chief insurrectionist, Donald Trump, and the movements in several states to keep him off the ballot in the 2024 election.

First, there’s the claim made by so many apologists for treason (see the link above) that it couldn’t have been an insurrection because there were no guns. This assertion is just plain wrong.

“As the first House hearing dedicated to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol aired, Fox News host Tucker Carlson repeated the debunked claim that no one in the crowd was found with a gun.

‘Just to be clear on terms, an insurrection is when people with guns try to overthrow the government,’ Carlson said during his June 10 segment. ‘Not a single person in the crowd on January 6 was found to be carrying a firearm. Not one,’ he said.

That’s wrong. Court documents, video evidence and news coverage directly contradict this characterization. Several rioters had firearms and dozens more wielded knives, bats and other real and makeshift weapons.”

And “just to be clear on terms”
As for this idea that an action rises to the level of insurrection only when it involves “people with guns”, there is no accepted definition that includes “people with guns” in any dictionary I’ve seen. The definition does require the action to be violent. Anyone who says the Trump Insurrection wasn’t violent is either mentally deficient or lying.

And, in fact, there were guns.

But are these revisionists suggesting that there has never been an attempt, successful or not, to overthrow a ruling entity (ie, an insurrection) down through history that didn’t involve “people with guns”? I’ll give you a few hundred thousand Romans who would disagree. Medieval Japan had more than a few insurrections against regional shoguns that were accomplished without guns. Are they saying that you can’t have violence without guns?

Second, this business of keeping Fatty on the ballot so “the people can decide”. Great idea. They DID decide. They decided he had to go. He said “Fuck all of you. I’m the king. No one tells me when to go.” The people decided. He triggered a violent attempt to overthrow the government.

That’s an insurrection.

Buh-bye, Fatso.

November 2, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

As Bible Mike and his invisible Stepford Wife enjoy their time under the microscope, I’ve been thinking that unlike the Gym Jordans and the Bobos, Bible Mike is potentially much more dangerous, because he seems to believe his bullshit. At least that was my first impression. But events since then have altered my take on this. I see that Bible Mike and his partner in their “Jesus Hates teh Gays” pursuits, have shuttered their website comparing gay and other lifestyles not approved by evangelical Bible beaters, with bestiality. If they truly believed this crap, why hide it? Isn’t it their duty to convert the rest of us sinners to the “right way” of thinking? What’s the rationale for hiding their goals?

Then along comes the always helpful Amanda Marcotte with a well argued point.

Marcotte makes a distinction between belief (ie, I believe murder is wrong) and “belief” (ie, comedian Danny DeVito wields satanic power, or
the election was stolen from Trump).

“It's important to understand that most fundamentalists like Johnson ‘believe’ that Noah's ark was real or Satan controls Disney in a very different way than most people understand the word ‘believe.’ It's not an assertion about reality in the same sense as saying, for instance, that October 31 is Halloween. An assertion is valued for how it makes them feel or whether it helps them get power. Evangelical culture is full of these quasi-beliefs, from creationism to urban legends about everyday encounters with angels.”

So, it feels good to say “We were screwed! Trump won!” even though there is zero actual evidence to support such a belief.

And then there’s this, which aligns perfectly with my long held contention that people who believe things like “It’s fine to screw people I don’t like” aren’t Christians at all.

“We can know they don't really believe half the crap they say because they don't act like people who believe it. When they get sick, most creationists go running to medical doctors, whose practice only works because the theory of evolution is true. Johnson wasn't really afraid his TV was a portal for demonic possession, or he would have thrown the whole machine out. And certainly, no one literally believes Donald Trump is a Bible-believing Christian, but since it suits their purposes to claim he is, they will ‘believe’ he is saved by the cleansing powers of Jesus Christ.”

And again, if they believed Jesus’ instructions to comfort the afflicted, would they really be looking for more efficient ways to afflict them?

But this gets us into another territory. More later. (I know, you can’t wait, right?)

November 2, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Okay kids, a show of hands. Who is surprised that Trumpy judge Loose Cannon is rigging Fatty’s Florida trial in his favor?

No one?

Aww
you guys have been paying attention.

November 2, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

@Akhilleus: The most recent example of an insurrection without guns was extraordinary, and it happened quite recently: in the late 1980s through 1991. In those years, 15 Eastern European & Central Asian nations rebelled through massive public demonstrations leading to political coups against the Soviet-controlled "leaders" of their countries.

They won. And now, 30 years later, Trump's friend Vladimir Putin is trying, largely by force or threats of force, to undo those victories.

November 2, 2023 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

Back in the olden times when politicians would resign amid a scandal whether justified or not. "Former Rep. Katie Hill's Husband Revenge-Porned Her, The Daily Mail Helped, And Now She's Bankrupt"

November 2, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

Thom Hartmann has a piece on "Can American Democracy Survive the Age of Oligarchs?"
We need to put this genie back in it's bottle if we want to have a democracy going forward. We are not the only one struggling with the stranglehold of rich assholes, but our's helped write the playbook for power that many others have implemented in their own countries.

November 2, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

Old news: WaPo 2021 survey indicated that the main driver in the difference between urban and rural presidential votes is (drum roll) :
Race.

Specifically, rural voters (all races) tend to think that whites do not have built-in advantages over non-whites in the US, and tend to vote GOP. And urban voters tend to think whites are advantaged, and tend to vote Democratic.

Even though this analysis is two years old, I suspect it would hold true today. The Democrats have been (sort of) trying to target rural voters, but the message doesn't seem to be getting through, that the D's provide real stuff for rural communities and the R's provide mostly talk. If rural voters in their gut think that D's coddle minorities and illegal immigrants, that resentment is tough to overcome by showing that D's economic results are better than R's. Is there an emotional appeal that the D's can generate that would overcome the "race denial" feelings in the rural precincts? (The analysis used "race denial" to name the belief that whites are not advantaged by their race.)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/09/22/virginias-upcoming-election-pits-rural-voters-against-urban-ones-why-is-there-such-divide/

November 2, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterPatrick

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/02/opinion/democrats-elite-judis-teixeira.html

My comment:

A rehash of old and tired complaints here. No doubt the Dems got too friendly with Wall St. during the Clinton years as he triangulated himself into two White House terms. And no doubt identity politics has offended white religionists' feelings.

Nonetheless, when it comes to economic policies, to health insurance, to other elements of the safety net (which millions of white Americans benefit from), fair taxation, etc. the Dems are the only game in town.

Much of human behavior is self-fulfilling and our politics is remarkably human. We make it come true by thinking it. The divergence between the economic state of the country and what we're told people think about it is one example. That the Dems ignore the real American people is another. Because we keep hearing it, we think it's true.

Fox News and the R's who block every effort to improve lives other than their own like it that way.

So, apparently, does this writer.


Addendum: And identity politics, as Patrick's comment implies, might most often be translated as race.

Sure are a lot of skeered white people.

November 2, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Ken: Right, that author is another suggesting that the Republicans are so horrible because Democrats made them so, or somehow made horribleness seem attractive to many voters, through neglect or elitist disdain.

Here is an unkindly thought that I never express -- but often feel: the majority of Americans have no idea how bad life can get when your national government is inept, oppressive, and captured by gangsters. When you live in such countries, you can feel, every day, the many ways that sucks -- but no one can fix it. We Americans not only don't take precautions to prevent such a mess, we are not even aware of the proximity of danger. I am definitely not a paranoid -- but, to quote Charles Pierce quoting Shakespeare, I can see a church by daylight. We are in danger of domestic fascism, again*, and our citizens don't really see it.

* In the 1930s, in the US, UK, France and much of Latin America, there were significant "leaders" who thought that Mussolini and Hitler were on the right track, and maybe we should emulate them to haul out of the Depression. Only WW2 sorted that out (sort of -- because some of those fascisti and collaborators went on to become key anti-communist assets in the Cold War.)

November 2, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterPatrick

@Patrick: Human nature seems to be a good deal like yin & yang, but with an unfortunate, macabre twist. Where yin & yang are supposed to be opposites that create a universal harmony and try to "get together" to form a whole, the "real" yin and yang seem to be opposites with completely different worldviews who only desire to suppress the oppositional forces.

As the Greatest Philosopher for Our Times, the leader of "us" and the hoped-to-be-formed and newly-minted United States of America, might say if he ever gave human nature any thought (which he doesn't), "SAD!!"

P.S. Speaking of minted, I wonder if Donald Trump has ever seen the backs of U.S. coins, which I think all say "United States of America."

November 2, 2023 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

Star Spangled Banner

"Many Americans have no idea there are actually four official verses to the "Star-Spangled Banner" — and even fewer know about a little-known, unofficial fifth verse, written a half century later by poet Oliver Wendell Holmes. It goes like this:

When our land is illum'd with Liberty's smile,
If a foe from within strike a blow at her glory,
Down, down, with the traitor that dares to defile
The flag of her stars and the page of her story!
By the millions unchain'd who our birthright have gained
We will keep her bright blazon forever unstained!
And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave
While the land of the free is the home of the brave."

November 2, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

Every time I see don jr struttin’ around, all I can think of is the arrogant prick business guy from the movie Die Hard, all bluster with a complete lack of understanding at the actual situation:

https://youtu.be/irTozIjeqFM?si=MUvwbRos3zedgcc8

November 2, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterNiskyGuy
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