;)
The Conversation -- November 25, 2023
From the CNN liveblog, also linked below: "A second group of hostages released from Gaza -- comprising 13 Israelis and four foreign nationals -- arrived in Israel late Saturday, according to Israeli officials and a CNN team on the ground. Around the same time, 39 Palestinian detainees and prisoners were released from Israeli jails, authorities said. Hamas had delayed the second exchange over a dispute about the prisoners and aid for Gaza that was resolved through mediation, according to Qatar, which helped negotiate the 4-day truce and exchange agreement between the two sides."
** Lauren Leatherby of the New York Times: "... experts say that even a conservative reading of the casualty figures reported from Gaza shows that the pace of death during Israel's campaign has few precedents in this century.... More than twice as many women and children have already been reported killed in Gaza than in Ukraine after almost two years of Russian attacks, according to United Nations estimates.... More women and children have been reported killed in Gaza in less than two months than the roughly 7,700 civilians documented as killed by U.S. forces and their international allies in the entire first year of the invasion of Iraq in 2003, according to estimates from Iraq Body Count, an independent British research group. And the number of women and children reported killed in Gaza since the Israeli campaign began last month has already started to approach the roughly 12,400 civilians documented to have been killed by the United States and its allies in Afghanistan during nearly 20 years of war.... Israel's liberal use of very large weapons in dense urban areas, including U.S.-made 2,000-pound bombs that can flatten an apartment tower, is surprising, some experts say."
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** Sherrilyn Ifill, in a Washington Post op-ed, explains the Fourteenth Amendment to dummies, and that includes judges and Supreme Court "justices": "... post-Reconstruction courts have rarely upheld or applied in full the ambitious demands of the 14th Amendment. Instead, its guarantees have been watered down to accommodate the political forces of the day, or repurposed to serve powerful interests (such as the dubious determination that corporations are 'persons' entitled to its protections), or treated like an a la carte menu, in which some items -- such as the guarantee of privileges and immunities and all of Section 2 (which would reduce state representation as punishment for voter suppression) -- are essentially ignored." MB: Contributor Ken W. says Ifill's essay is well-worth a read. I concur. (Also linked yesterday.)
Marie: I didn't want to wreck your Thanksgiving with this ~~~
~~~ "Happy Thanksgiving" from Donald Trump. Lauren Irwin of the Hill: "Former President Trump wished his supporters a happy Thanksgiving in a Truth Social post early Thursday while slamming New York's attorney general, the judge overseeing his civil fraud case, President Biden and the 'Radical Left Lunatics.' 'Happy Thanksgiving to ALL, including the Racist & Incompetent Attorney General of New York State, Letitia "Peekaboo" James, who has let Murder & Violence Crime FLOURISH, & Businesses FLEE; the Radical Left Trump Hating Judge, a "Psycho," Arthur Engoron, who Criminally Defrauded the State of New York, & ME, by purposely Valuing my Assets at a "tiny" Fraction of what they are really worth in order to convict me of Fraud before even a Trial, or seeing any PROOF, & used his Politically Biased & Corrupt Campaign Finance Violator, Chief Clerk Alison Greenfield, to sit by his side on the "Bench" & tell him what to do,' Trump said on his social media site. Trump also targeted Biden, accusing him of weaponizing the 'Department of Injustice' against his predecessor in the Oval Office, as well as 'all of the other Radical Left Lunatics, Communists, Fascists, Marxists, Democrats, & RINOS, who are seriously looking to DESTROY OUR COUNTRY.'"
The Iceberg Cometh. Amy Woodyatt of CNN: "The world's biggest iceberg -- more than twice the size of Britain's capital city - is on the move after decades of being grounded on the seafloor in Antarctica.... The iceberg, carried by ocean currents, will likely head eastward, and at its current rate is traveling five kilometers (three miles) a day.... Climate change is driving changes in Antarctica's ice and the continent is losing enormous quantities of ice every year."
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Minnesota Congressional Race. Nicholas Nehamas of the New York Times: "Representative Dean Phillips of Minnesota, a Democrat who began a long-shot primary challenge to President Biden last month, said on Friday that he would not run for re-election next year. Mr. Phillips, 54, a moderate third-term congressman who represents a district that includes suburban Minneapolis, renewed his call for generational change in Washington as he announced the move. 'After three terms it is time to pass the torch,' he said in a statement, describing a country 'facing a crisis of cooperation, common sense and truth.' In challenging Mr. Biden for the Democratic nomination, Mr. Phillips has cited the president's age, 81, and his low approval ratings, warning that Mr. Biden risks losing his re-election bid to ... Donald J. Trump, 77...." Politico's story is here.
The Price of a Hamburger. Jeff Stein & Taylor Lorenz of the Washington Post: "On Dec. 20, 2022, Topher Olive went to a McDonald's in the town of Post Falls, Idaho, and ordered a limited edition 'smoky' double quarter pounder BLT with fries and a Sprite. The meal cost $16.10, and he posted the receipt on TikTok.... Olive's video about a $16 McDonald's order went viral, racking up hundreds of thousands of views. After a McDonald's revenue report recently, the same post went viral again earlier this month, with at least a half-dozen news outlets ... picking up the story of Olive's pricey patty.... Posts on Reddit, the conservative site Twitchy and elsewhere tied the cost to President Biden's economic management....Even as inflation has fallen to a manageable 3 percent, and although the labor market has remained hot amid strong growth, voters still don't like the economy, and they blame the president." ~~~
~~~ Marie: I blame the increased McDonald's prices not on President Biden but on McDonald's taking advantage of having to raise the wages of its employees and pretending the price hikes are entirely caused by higher workers' wages. Just a guess. But after buying an $8 quarter-pounder earlier this year, I solved the problem by never going to McDonald's again. Should any kid chastise me for scroogery, I will do my best Mrs. Bea McCrabbie. I'll wave my index finger at him and say, "Listen here, you little whippersnapper, I remember when a burger cost 15 cents at the Royal Castle."
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Israel/Palestine
The Washington Post's live updates of developments Saturday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "A pause in fighting, which began Friday, allowed 137 trucks of goods to enter that day, 'making it the largest volume of aid since the resumption of humanitarian deliveries' on Oct. 21, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said." ~~~
~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Saturday are here. CNN's live updates are here: "The 13 Israeli hostages released on Friday are in good, stable condition after their release, doctors said on Saturday. The Schneider Childre's Medical Center in Petah Tikva, east of Tel Aviv, said in a statement that 'the condition of the four children and the four women who returned to Israel last night is determined good.... They are together with their family members in the dedicated and separate compound, surrounded by medical and psycho-social teams,' the statement said. Meanwhile, the Wolfson Medical Center in Holon, south of Tel Aviv, said 'the condition of five returnees who were admitted yesterday at Wolfson Hospital is stable.'... Palestinians released from Israeli prisons were met with celebrations on Friday evening as they returned to their hometowns and villages in Jerusalem and the West Bank. In videos obtained by CNN, the released prisoners can be seen paraded through the streets, carried on people's shoulders as crowds wave the Palestinian flag, as well as that of Hamas."
Patrick Kingsley , et al., of the New York Times: "Hamas freed two dozen hostages held in Gaza and Israel released nearly 40 imprisoned Palestinians on Friday, completing the first exchange in a tense, temporary truce that halted the fighting after seven weeks of war.... The hostages released included 13 Israelis, several children among them, as well as 10 Thais and one Filipino.... The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said in a statement that the military and the country's foreign intelligence agency, Mossad, had received a list of hostages slated to be released on Saturday, and that security officials were reviewing the list."
Matt Viser of the Washington Post: "'It's only a start,' [President] Biden said [of the hostage release Friday] behind a makeshift podium, in front of an American flag, in a conference room at the White Elephant Nantucket. 'But so far, it's gone well.' He said 'the chances are real' that the truce could be extended by a few more days. He added that he expected American hostages to soon be released. And he proclaimed that Hamas 'doesn't give a damn' about Palestinians caught in the conflict, adding, 'I don't trust Hamas to do anything right. I only trust Hamas to respond to pressure.'"
Ireland. Karla Adam of the Washington Post: "Right-wing protesters, angered by a stabbing attack they believed had involved someone of immigrant background, rampaged through central Dublin on Thursday night, leaving behind a trail of burning destruction. Ireland's police chief on Friday described the unrest, in which double-decker buses, trams and police cars were torched, as 'scenes that we have not seen in decades.' The violence and looting through some of Dublin's most famous streets began after a stabbing attack outside a school that left five people hospitalized. They included three young children and a woman. Police detained a man who also is being treated for injuries. Rumors spread online that the perpetrator of the attack was an immigrant or had an immigrant background. The BBC, citing unnamed sources, said the man was an Irish citizen who had lived in the country for 20 years." ~~~
~~~ Don't Confuse Us with the Facts. digby: "It turns out that it was an immigrant who stepped in and stopped the assailant. Imagine that. [According to the Daily Beast, 'A] Brazilian food delivery driver in Dublin heroically stopped the knifeman who attacked a group of young children outside their school yesterday.... [Caio] Benicio was on a job when he saw the attack taking place. He jumped off his motorcycle, took off his helmet, and hit the attacker with it until the attacker collapsed. 'I didn't even make a decision, it was pure instinct, and it was all over in seconds. He fell to the ground, I didn't see where knife went, and other people stepped in,' he told Irish news website The Journal." ~~~
~~~ Marie: One upside to being a right-winger: you never have to let facts stand in the way of your bigotry.
News Ledes
AP: "The two people killed when their luxury car crashed into a border checkpoint in Niagara Falls and exploded in a fiery wreck were identified Friday as a western New York husband and wife whose family owns a lumber business and several hardware stores in the Buffalo area. The investigation into what caused the 2022 Bentley Flying Spur to race through an intersection, hit a low median and become airborne Wednesday continued, with investigators looking at whether medical or mechanical issues may have contributed, Niagara Falls Police Chief John Faso told local media. The car slammed into a row of security booths at the Rainbow Bridge and burst into flames. Police identified the couple as Kurt P. Villani and Monica Villani, both 53, of Grand Island, a suburb on the Niagara River between Buffalo and Niagara Falls. Online business records and the company website indicate the victims' family owns Gui's Lumber and seven Ace Hardware locations in western New York, his family operating the business since the mid-1980s."
New York Times: "Betty Rollin, a network news correspondent who described intensely personal life passages in two memoirs -- 'First, You Cry,' about being diagnosed with breast cancer and having a mastectomy, and 'Last Wish,' in which she revealed that she had helped her pain-ravaged mother end her life -- died on Nov. 14 in Basel, Switzerland. She was 87. The cause was voluntary assisted suicide, at Pegasos, an assisted dying service, said Ellen Marson, a close friend, who disclosed the death to The New York Times on Thursday. Ms. Rollin, she said, had been dealing with pain from arthritis and a gastrointestinal condition and had been brokenhearted since the death of her husband, Harold Edwards, a mathematician, in 2020."
New York Times: "Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who was convicted of murdering George Floyd during a 2020 arrest that set off a wave of protests, was stabbed at a federal prison in Tucson, Ariz., on Friday, according to two people with knowledge of the situation. The Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed that an inmate at the Tucson prison was stabbed at 12:30 p.m., though the agency's statement did not identify Mr. Chauvin, 47, by name. No other inmates or prison staff were injured, and the situation was quickly contained, according to the people familiar with the situation. Emergency medical technicians 'initiated lifesaving measures' before transporting the inmate to a local hospital 'for further treatment and evaluation,' bureau officials wrote. No details were immediately available on his condition, but one of the people with knowledge of the incident said that Mr. Chauvin survived the attack." The AP's story is here.
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Reader Comments (6)
With all the angst that has resurfaced this past week concerning the assassination of JFK, one question has long puzzled me: who reviews the Commission files, makes the redactions and determines which files must still be withheld? Who are they? What do they know? Seems like an obvious question. Why is our news media not asking this question?
@Crgr: This Politico Magazine story, published last November, goes a long way in answering your questions.
Not to worry about that iceberg off the coast of Antartica. If it's
going east, and if it can get past Australia, it'll end up on the
California coast. That will solve their drought problem, tons of
fresh water.
But if it hangs around until trump is president* again, he has a plan
to nuke it, like his plan to nuke hurricanes and tornados.
He's brilliant, just ask him.
From macrotrends.net:
"McDonald's gross profit for the quarter ending September 30, 2023 was $3.864B, a 12.12% increase year-over-year.
McDonald's gross profit for the twelve months ending September 30, 2023 was $14.317B, a 9.63% increase year-over-year.
McDonald's annual gross profit for 2022 was $13.207B, a 4.98% increase from 2021.
McDonald's annual gross profit for 2021 was $12.58B, a 29% increase from 2020."
When traveling, I do the "dollar" menu, and buy one get one for a dollar. Twice.
The American people are simply reluctant to believe that corporations would ever do them wrong. They'd rather blame the government.
It's stupid, but it's the way we are--and how we roll.
The Crow Family
"Trammell Crow Jr., a Texas philanthropist and the brother of Republican mega-donor Harlan Crow, must face a lawsuit that accuses him of running and participating in a sex trafficking ring, a judge ruled.
Trammell Crow is one of more than 100 people and businesses that took part in the alleged trafficking and racketeering enterprise, according to the suit, brought by two women who say they were its victims."
Tom Sullivan
"Talking ourselves into fascism
Philosopher Linus van Pelt famously lamented, “There’s no heavier burden than a great potential!” It’s a burden Democrats carry too. Supporters and leaners are easily upset. Not so with Republicans. They anger us, sure, but because we expect so lttle of them they cannot disappoint us the way our friends can.
There is no faction in US politics — barely even elected Dems! — for whom praising Dems is socially advantageous. There’s no approbation waiting, no repetitional [reputational] boost, for anyone. It is, from almost every vantage point, uncool.
Roberts almost gets at the fact that this dynamic programs our brains (yours and mine) with the notion that Democrats are hopelessly disappointing. Gaslighting on a societal scale"