;)
The Conversation -- November 30, 2023
Ann Marimow of the Washington Post: "Senate Democrats voted Thursday to subpoena two prominent allies of conservative Supreme Court justices, an unusual attempt to learn more about undisclosed gifts to the justices that Republican lawmakers said would not ultimately succeed before the full Senate. The contentious hearing on whether to demand information from Texas billionaire Harlan Crow and conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo featured forceful pushback from Republicans who defended the court's conservatives.... At the hearing Thursday, Democrats said the [new Supreme Court 'ethics'] code does not go far enough and that it is still necessary to subpoena and press for more information from Crow and Leo to inform proposed legislation. 'Without an enforcement mechanism, this code of conduct, while a step in a positive direction, is insufficient to restore the public's faith in the Court,' committee Chairman Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) said in his prepared opening statement.... If Leo and Crow do not comply, Democrats can seek enforcement of the subpoenas in court. That step requires a vote of the full Senate, with 60 votes needed to break a filibuster." ~~~
~~~ Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "The Republican members of the committee stormed out of the hearing room in the Hart Building shortly before Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) called a vote on authorizing the subpoenas. The motion passed with 11 Democratic votes. Not a single Republican was left in the room by the time the roll call ended.... Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) set the tone of the meeting, calling the authorization of subpoenas 'garbage' and Democratic efforts to address the court's ethics a 'complete joke' and 'crap.'" MB: So I don't think we'll have any trouble picturing Lindsey -- or for that matter, Ted Cruz & Mike Lee -- "storming out."
Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "A defiant Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) said Thursday that House members were 'bullying' him as a vote on his expulsion from Congress loomed and warned that if a third effort to remove him were successful, it would lead to the downfall of several other lawmakers down the line. At a news conference, Santos continued to insist he would never resign and railed against a House Ethics Committee report -- which detailed a litany of fraud and ethics violations allegations against him -- as incomplete and 'littered with hyperbole.'... Santos said he planned to introduce a resolution to expel Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), who pleaded guilty last month to pulling a false fire alarm in the Cannon House Office Building." The AP's report is here.
STFU! Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post: "A New York appeals court on Thursday reinstated a limited gag order on Donald Trump, preventing him from making public comments about the law clerk in a civil business fraud case brought by the state. The court in a two-page decision upheld New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron's set of orders that prevented Trump and his defense team from mentioning the clerk, who has been the subject of anti-Semitic and other threats and messages since the case began.... A temporary pause on the gag order issued Nov. 16 gave Trump two-week window in which to discuss the clerk publicly. That day, he resumed his complaints and accusations against her on social media." The AP's report, which characterizing the ruling as a "one-sentence decision," is here.
~~~ Thanks to D in MD for the link.
Peter Baker of the New York Times: Liz Cheney's "book offers a rare peek inside the Republican cloakroom at what Ms. Cheney, a former representative from Wyoming, heard from her colleagues about 'the Orange Jesus,' as one wryly called Mr. Trump. Here are a half-dozen stories she tells in the book...." Fairly interesting. MB: I am sort of surprised everyone is making such a big deal about the Orange Jesus. I think it's funny, but Cheney mentioned this remark months ago, although she had not previously said which GOP member of Congress had uttered it.
Katherine Rosman, et al., of the New York Times: "As some hostages captured ... in the Hamas-led assault on southern Israel have been released, they have relayed ... stories of their captivity to family members. While their individual experiences differ in some details, their accounts share features that corroborate one another and suggest that Hamas and its allies planned to take hostages. Some of the hostages were held in sweltering tunnels deep beneath Gaza, while others were squeezed into tight quarters with strangers or confined in isolation. There were children forced to appear in hostage videos, and others forced to watch gruesome footage of Hamas's Oct. 7 terrorist attack. They bore physical and psychological wounds.... The freed hostages, many of them children, were deprived of adequate food while in Gaza. Many said they had received just a single piece of bread per day for weeks. Others were fed small portions of rice, or pieces of cheese. The Red Cross said it was denied access to the hostages. Many of the hostages who have returned to Israel in the past week ... have come home malnourished, infested with lice, ill, injured and deeply traumatized."
~~~~~~~~~~
Marisa Iati of the Washington Post: "President Biden on Wednesday slammed conservative firebrand Rep. Lauren Boebert in her own district, the latest move in his effort to use Boebert and other 'MAGA Republicans' as foils in a reelection campaign.... He criticized her for voting against the Inflation Reduction Act, a sprawling climate-and health law that Boebert has decried as 'dangerous for America.'... 'The speaker, Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans here in Congress are committed to protecting outrageous tax cuts for those at the very top,' Biden said in remarks on clean energy at a plant here that makes wind tower turbines. 'And they're going to continue to oppose investing in all those programs that help people.'"
Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "The Biden administration is proposing new restrictions that would require the removal of virtually all lead water pipes across the country in an effort to prevent another public health catastrophe like the one that came to define Flint, Mich. The proposal on Thursday from the Environmental Protection Agency would impose the strictest limits on lead in drinking water since federal standards were first set 30 years ago. It would affect about nine million pipes that snake throughout communities across the country."
My Kevin: Eating Disorders Therapist. Peter Baker of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump was 'really depressed' in the days after losing re-election and leaving office in January 2021, so much so that he was 'not eating.' At least that is what Kevin McCarthy told Liz Cheney in trying to explain why he had traveled to Mr. Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, an act of solidarity that many have identified as a pivotal moment in reviving the former president's political viability. Mr. McCarthy, the California congressman who was then the House Republican leader, had condemned Mr. Trump for fueling the Jan. 6 mob attack on the Capitol and even suggested that he resign, only to turn around and effectively absolve the former president by embracing him again.... Ms. Cheney wrote that she was so shocked when she first saw the photograph of Mr. McCarthy and Mr. Trump standing side by side with grins on their faces that she thought it was a fake." Trump's spokesman & McCarthy "did not deny anything in the book," though the Trumpy guy Steven Cheung trashed Cheney & the book, which he said "should be repurposed as toilet paper." ~~~
~~~ AND here's what My Kevin said to Andrew Sorkin of the New York Times at a "Dealbook Summit." (Link is to a Hill story by Lauren Irwin.) MB: If this was My Kevin's attempt to rehabilitate himself, I'm not sure it went well. ~~~
~~~ digby wasn't impressed, either.
Jacquline Alemany & Leigh Ann Caldwell of the Washington Post: "During a phone call with [Kevin] McCarthy weeks after his historic Oct. 3 removal as House speaker, [Donald] Trump detailed the reasons he had declined to ask Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and other hard-right lawmakers to back off their campaign to oust the California Republican from his leadership position, according to people familiar with the exchange.... During the call, Trump lambasted McCarthy for not expunging his two impeachments and endorse him in the 2024 presidential campaign, according to people familiar with the conversation. 'F--- you,' McCarthy claimed to have then told Trump, when he rehashed the call later to other people in two separate conversations.... A spokesperson for McCarthy said that he did not swear at the former president and that they have a good relationship. A spokesperson for Trump declined to comment."
Zachary Basu of Axios: "Former President Trump ... spent ... 24 hours on Truth Social unleashing a torrent of grievances, vengeful promises and links to online conspiracy theories about his political rivals.... Below is a sampling of Trump's online rhetoric over the last 24 hours[.]" MB: Sort of a fun read, as long as you can pretend Trump will never hold public office again.
Oops! Rachel Weiner, et al., of the Washington Post: "The U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. Circuit said that a district court judge needed to individually review roughly 2,000 communications [among Rep. Scott Perry and others] to decide which ones were 'speech or debate' -- falling under a clause that grants members of Congress immunity fro criminal investigation in their official capacities. But the same appellate panel on Wednesday exposed many of those messages by [briefly and probably accidentally] unsealing that lower court judge's 51-page opinion, previously available only with heavy redactions.... The Justice Department first sought Perry's phone records in August 2022. According to materials unsealed Wednesday, they asked for his communications with multiple people now facing criminal liability for their efforts to keep Trump in office: [Jeffrey] Clark, John Eastman, Jenna Ellis, Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, Sidney Powell and [Donald] Trump himself."; Politico's story, by Kyle Cheney, is here. MB: The reports include some interesting exchanges, including communications between Perry & that ambitious weasel Jeffrey Clark.
Trump Knowingly Broke the Law. Maggie Haberman & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Not long after federal prosecutors issued a subpoena last year for all the classified documents that former President Donald J. Trump took with him from the White House to his estate in southern Florida, one of his lawyers told him, in no uncertain terms, that it would be a crime if he did not comply with the demand, according to a person familiar with the matter. The lawyer, Jennifer Little, this year related the account of her discussion with Mr. Trump to a grand jury overseen by the special counsel Jack Smith. She is one of several witnesses who prosecutors were told had advised Mr. Trump to cooperate.... As part of her grand jury appearance, Ms. Little told prosecutors that the former president clearly understood her warning, the person familiar with the matter said. Her sworn testimony that Mr. Trump was aware that disregarding the subpoena would be a criminal offense could serve as significant evidence of his consciousness of guilt...." Federal Judge Beryl Howell ordered Little and Trump attorney Evan Corcoran -- who, with Little, advised Trump to comply with the subpoena -- to testify under the crime-fraud exception to attorney-client privilege. ABC News broke the story here.
Jonah Bromwich & Kate Christobek of the New York Times: "Bankers whom Donald J. Trump is accused of defrauding testified at his civil fraud trial this week that they did not rely on his embellished claims of wealth, lending support to the central plank of the former president's defense.... Mr. Trump has protested the premise of the case, insisting that the banks did their own due diligence and that misstatements in the financial documents would not have affected the overall terms of the loans. It follows, his lawyers have argued, that the alleged fraud had no victim. The bankers who testified this week supported that argument when asked about the loan process." ~~~
~~~ MEANWHILE. Dan Mangan & Kevin Breuninger of CNBC: "The financial watchdog overseeing the Trump Organization informed a New York judge on Wednesday about $40 million in cash transfers that were not previously disclosed as required to that court-appointed monitor. The transactions included $29 million sent to ... Donald Trump, which he used to make tax payments, Barbara Jones, the monitor, told Judge Arthur Engoron in a letter filed in Manhattan Supreme Court. The other transfers were for insurance premiums and the $5.6 million that Trump posted in June as security while he appeals a civil jury verdict in favor of the writer E. Jean Carroll for sexually abusing her in the 1990s and for defaming her when she went public with her allegation when he was in the White House. Jones, who is a retired federal judge, was appointed in November 2022 to oversee the financial statements of Trump's company as part of the New York attorney general's $250 million business fraud lawsuit against the Trump Organization, the former president, and his two adult sons."
Lola Fadulu of the New York Times: "Nathan Donald Pelham, a Texas man, was sentenced on Wednesday to two years in federal prison for shooting at local law enforcement officers days before he was scheduled to surrender to the F.B.I. for charges related to illegally entering the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. On April 12, an F.B.I. special agent called Mr. Pelham to tell him that there was a federal misdemeanor warrant for his arrest and that he needed to surrender on April 17, according to the criminal complaint. Mr. Pelham agreed to do so. But later that day, Mr. Pelham's father asked local police to check on his son because he had been threatening to kill himself and had a gun, according to the criminal complaint. When police arrived at Mr. Pelham's home, it was dark and police soon heard a series of gunshots from inside the home. 'The bullet from this gunshot came in so close proximity to myself that I could hear the distinct whistling sound as the bullet traveled by me and then strike a metal object to my right side,' one of the responding officers recalled, according to the criminal complaint."
Presidential Race 2024
There is a clear path to dictatorship in the United States, and it is getting shorter every day. -- Robert Kagan ~~~
~~~ Here's a horrifying op-ed in the Washington Post by conservative Robert Kagan that warns us of all the reasons Donald Trump could win re-election. Thanks to Ken W. for the link.
Steve M. considers the endorsements for Nikki Haley and sees a conspiracy against Trump! Fun speculation.
Sahil Kapur of NBC News: "Even as his party has backed away from the issue, Donald Trump is doubling down on his calls to replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as 'Obamacare,' if he's elected president again. 'I don't want to terminate Obamacare, I want to REPLACE IT with MUCH BETTER HEALTHCARE. Obamacare Sucks!!!' Trump said in a pair of late-night posts on social media. Trump promised 'much better Healthcare than Obamacare for the American people,' although he hasn't offered a replacement plan."
Amanda Marcotte of Salon: "Democrats, for very good reason, have been in a poll-induced panic for weeks now. Despite a relatively successful presidency and a booming economy, Joe Biden is falling behind Donald Trump in the polls, often by downright startling margins.... But this week, a small ray of hope has opened up, because Trump has indicated that he plans to run an incredibly stupid campaign, focused on two of his least popular political views: the Big Lie and his wish to strip health care away from millions of Americans. Even better, his approach to these two toxic issues suggests that, despite his team's efforts to normalize Trump, his psychotic levels of narcissism will always drag the campaign straight back to his ego obsessions, reminding voters what they most dislike about Trump." (Also linked yesterday.)
Rick Rojas of the New York Times: A "simple red brick church [in Plains, Georgia,], where [Rosalynn] Carter had worshiped for decades, was filled for her funeral on Wednesday with the people who had known her as a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, aunt, neighbor and friend. Her husband, Jimmy, who is 99 and has been in hospice care since February, was also there, sitting in a wheelchair near the front of the church." Includes numerous photos. ~~~
~~~ This New York Times page has a lot of photos of Rosalynn Carter from the time she was a baby until two years ago. (Also linked yesterday.)
Thomas Lippman of the New York Times: "Henry A. Kissinger, a scholar, statesman and celebrity diplomat who wielded unparalleled power over U.S. foreign policy throughout the administrations of Presidents Richard M. Nixon and Gerald Ford, and who for decades afterward, as a consultant and writer, proffered opinions that shaped global politics and business, died Nov. 29 at his home in Connecticut. He was 100. Here's the AP's obituary.~~~
~~~ Marie: As some of you may know, I'm too proper-like & delicate to speak ill of the dead. So I'll leave the obit-writing to Akhilleus, who never disappoints: ~~~
An infamous war criminal has died. Every outlet I've seen thus far describes this scheming murderer as a vaunted diplomat. The term diplomat is defined as a person who can deal with people in a sensitive and effective way. I suppose if by effective you mean 'can ensure that those he considers enemies can be killed, or those who come into conflict with those he considers useful friends can be raped, murdered, and buried in a shallow grave', then I suppose Henry Kissinger could be labeled a 'diplomat'. I guess by that light, John Gotti was a diplomat as well. Good riddance. Fucker.
~~~ The Huffington Post, to its credit, describes Kissinger in its headline as "America's Most Notorious War Criminal." See also Julia, below, links this New York Times op-ed by Ben Rhodes, who gives an accurate picture of Kissinger and of what his brand of "realism" means to the tale we tell of American "democracy."
Ellen Nakashima, et al., of the Washington Post: "An Indian government employee who described himself as a 'senior field officer' responsible for intelligence ordered the assassination of a Sikh separatist in New York City in May, U.S. prosecutors alleged Wednesday. The court filing heightens scrutiny of India's spy services following similar allegations made by Canadian authorities in September. The government employee, who was not named in the indictment filed in a federal court in Manhattan, recruited an Indian national named Nikhil Gupta to hire a hit man to carry out the assassination, which was foiled by U.S. authorities, according to prosecutors. The court filing did not name the victim, but senior Biden administration officials say the target was Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, general counsel for the New York-based Sikhs for Justice, a group that seeks to carve from India an independent Sikh state called Khalistan."
Kate Conger & Remi Tumin of the New York Times: "Elon Musk hit out at brands that have pulled their advertising from X after he endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory on the social media platform. Mr. Musk apologized for the post at the DealBook Summit in New York on Wednesday, but said that the advertisers were attempting to 'blackmail' him. His message for those brands was simple: 'Don't advertise' and used an expletive multiple times to emphasize his point." ~~~
~~~ Oh, Let's See What That Expletive Was. Karl Paul of the Guardian: "Elon Musk has issued a defiant and profanity-laced message for the advertisers who pulled money from X in recent weeks amid a backlash over his endorsement of an antisemitic tweet and reports of increased hate speech on the platform. Video of the interview, which was widely circulated, showed that Musk said..., 'If someone's going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money, go fuck yourself.'... He said 'fuck you' numerous times...."
Ian Millhiser of Vox: "Ordinarily, [Elon Musk/X's] lawsuit [against Media Matters] would be the kind of stunt that legal observers could probably ignore.... But the case was just reassigned to Judge Reed O'Connor, a notoriously partisan former Republican Senate staffer, known for handing down poorly reasoned opinions giving major policy victories to right-wing litigants. O'Connor is frequently reversed by the Supreme Court, even though this Court is also quite conservative.... O'Connor's decisions appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, a far-right court dominated by Trump appointees and other MAGA loyalists who share O'Connor's penchant for manipulating the law to achieve right-wing results." Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. See also his commentary in today's thread. (Also linked yesterday.)
~~~~~~~~~~
Arizona. Yvonne Sanchez of the Washington Post: "Two Republicans who lead a rural county in southern Arizona were indicted by a state grand jury this week for allegedly flouting last year's deadline to formally accept the results of the 2022 midterm election. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) on Wednesday announced the felony indictments of Cochise County Supervisors Peggy Judd and Terry Thomas 'Tom' Crosby. The two are charged with interference with an election officer and conspiracy. The indictment states the two county officials conspired to delay the canvass of their county's votes, creating chaos that could have undermined the projected victories of Republicans in a U.S. House seat and the statewide race for schools superintendent. The three-member Cochise County board eventually did vote to certify the results of the election, but only after a judge ordered they do so." ~~~
~~~ Rachel Maddow on Monday night, before the indictments, mentioned these scofflaws, whom she said refused to certify the election results even though the results were undisputed and the election was "perfectly normal."
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Israel/Palestine. The Washington Post's live updates of developments Thursday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "Israel and Hamas's pause in fighting is 'producing results' and facilitating the freeing of hostages, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday as he met with Israeli leaders, starting a day of discussions in which he hopes to extend the current pause and improve conditions for civilians in Gaza. Israel and Hamas announced early Thursday they would extend the pause in fighting, with Qatar, which has been mediating negotiations, saying the extension would last another day. Hamas freed 16 hostages and Israel released 30 imprisoned Palestinians on Wednesday, and both sides are expected to release more on Thursday." ~~~
~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Thursday are here. CNN's live updates are here: "A temporary truce between Israel and Hamas was extended for a seventh day on Thursday, the Israeli military confirmed, minutes before it was set to expire. Hamas also confirmed the extension of the truce. The Israel Defense Forces said the 'operational pause will continue' amid talks for the release of more hostages. In the hours before the deadline, both Israel and Hamas ratcheted up bellicose rhetoric. Hamas told its military wing to be ready for combat, after Israel's military said it was prepared for the next stage of the war."
~~~ From Wednesday's CNN liveblog on the Israel/Hamas war: "The sixth round of hostages has been handed over by Hamas to the Red Cross, the Israeli military said, citing the organization. This includes 10 Israelis and four Thai nationals, according to the Israel Defense Forces. The hostages are still in Gaza and are on their way to Israeli territory, the IDF said. This handover is separate from the two hostages released earlier that were not part of Israel's hostage deal with Hamas. Those two released had immigrated to Israel from Russia, according to the Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum in Israel." (Also linked yesterday.)
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From NYT essay by Ben Rhodes
Henry Kissinger The Hypocrite
“He helped extend the war in Vietnam and expand it to Cambodia and Laos, where the United States rained down more bombs than it dropped on Germany and Japan in World War II. That bombing — often indiscriminately massacring civilians — did nothing to improve the terms on which the Vietnam War ended; if anything, it just indicated the lengths to which the United States would go to express its displeasure at losing…… He wrote a shelf of books, many of which polished his own reputation as an oracle of global affairs; after all, history is written by men like Henry Kissinger, not by the victims of superpower bombing campaigns, including children in Laos, who continue to be killed by the unexploded bombs that litter their country.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/30/opinion/henry-kissinger-the-hypocrite.html
The Book Nook
Okay class, in Right-Wing World, what’s stronger than fascist ideology, systemic racism, fear of democracy, and hatred of perceived enemies?
Greed!
Yup.
So you may have heard that the Jewish Space Lasers lady has written a book. No, really…a book. Of sorts. Words on pages, a cover, picture on the back, and everything! No word on exactly which color crayon was used, but MTG is now on a mission to sell (as opposed to ban) books. Hers, of course.
In support of that goal, she requested that Jimmy Kimmel invite her on so she could hawk this thing. Hilarity ensued.
“‘I guess I’m a Hollywood libtard that’s part of the celebrity pedophile Satan club,’ [Kimmel] joked. ‘Until she has a book to promote, then ‘I’d love to swing by!’”
You might be thinking, “Hmm…I wonder how Miss Margie’s book-like thing is doing, sales-wise.” Jimmy fills us in:
“Mr Kimmel also quipped that Ms Greene took ‘a break from burning books to write one’ before breaking down just how poorly the Georgia congresswoman’s book is selling, noting that it’s ‘ranked number 65 in the Women’s Biography category’ behind ‘a book written by Kanye’s ex-girlfriend,’ two different Michelle Obama memoirs and 60 places behind Paris Hilton’s Paris the Memoir.”
Wow. Literarily punked by Paris Hilton. That’s gotta be some kind of milestone, right? (More like a millstone. Can you imagine the blurbs? “I had one of my PACs buy it. Great paperweight!” DJT, “She wrote a book?” Cancun Ted, “My Kraken loved it!” Sidney Powell.)
A Book of the Month Club selection fer sure. But it says something that Greene would set aside her usual brand of fire breathing vitriol and hatred of liberals in order to get a shot at making some money.
Now normally I reserve particular irritation for people who make critical judgments about things they know nothing about, ie, haven’t read, seen, heard, or made some effort to investigate the subject of their criticism, so I won’t be offering a book report on MTG’s latest scam. I fear losing IQ points by the dozen simply by opening this thing.
Is that a criticism?
Oh well…
A heck of an essay:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/11/30/trump-dictator-2024-election-robert-kagan/
My fear: The mass of voters won't read it.
When Elon Musk finally sells, destroys, abandons X, Twitter, Sloppy Joe’s Gossip and Propaganda Pep Club, whatever it’s called today, I’m gonna go waaaay out on a limb and suggest that his next job won’t be as director of ad sales. “Hey advertisers…fuck you!” Kind of a novel approach for attracting ad dollars. Ah well, I guess I’m just not up on the latest trends in the ad world.
“Crest? Shit’ll rot your teeth!”
“Apple? Bite me.”
“Ford? Fix Or Repair Daily.”
“Disney? Dizzy.”
Oh how the money rolls in. Another stable genius.
Epic
Link from a friend.
Republican Governance
The newly elected govenor who has been the Attorney General for Louisiana has been punishing New Orleans for not being cruel enough to women after their state's abortion ban so Landry has been withholding funds to help the city mitigate a water crisis of encroaching salt water and lead pipes.
Let the machines do the work.
Huff Post
"A new report from Futurism says that Sports Illustrated published articles written by artificial intelligence and posted using AI-generated bylines and photos [and fake biographies]— then deleted the articles after the outlet asked about it.
According to the report, several authors on Sports Illustrated’s site did not appear to exist outside the publication. On top of that, several author photos were from a website that sold AI-generated photos.
And even though Sports Illustrated maintains that the articles are written by humans, Futurism cited one article about different volleyballs to buy, saying it read “like it was written by an alien.” “Volleyball can be a little tricky to get into, especially without an actual ball to practice with,” the article reads."
Hate to admit it, but the Pretender might have a point:
'I don’t want to terminate Obamacare, I want to REPLACE IT with MUCH BETTER HEALTHCARE...'
Could he have Medicare for All in mind?
The Simpsons capture our political process and many of our fellow Americans.
No, Ken, Trumpity-DooDah-Care is the Trumpiest. It's private insurance, of course, because Republicans love private insurance, which isn't socialist. And it's one-stop shopping! The owner of the Insurance Company of America is naturally the President* of America. And the administrators and regulators? Why, they report to the President,* and you can bet they're not deep-state bureaucrats.
How can you sign up? The sign-up sheet is right on every IRS 1040. That way, it's easy to deduct your premiums from your paychecks. Where can you use the insurance? At the USA Trump Clinics, and at any USA Trump Hospital Corp. -- unless you've hit your maximum benefits (which exceed your annual payment by 3%).
How good is the medical service? Why, it has the Trump Stamp of Approval!!!
@Marie
Tho' tongue was deeply in my cheek when I asked, I do like your scenario.
It smacks of Trump "truthiness."
"The Supreme Court Has Figured Out How to Gut a Bunch of Crucial Federal Laws at Once
The catastrophe that unfolded at the Supreme Court on Wednesday morning was so suffused with infuriating bad faith that even Justice Elena Kagan, the model of a disciplined jurist, could not stand it. For nearly 50 years, Kagan declared, “no one has had the chutzpah” to make the argument before the court that the Securities and Exchange Commission had no right to fine wrongdoers—an anti-historical, anti-textual theory that would hobble the federal government’s ability to enforce statutes that protect the public from harm. No one, that is, until Wednesday, when six conservative justices lined up to endorse the theory, telegraphing their intention to kneecap the SEC and other agencies that impose regulations against lawbreakers.
The case, Jarkesy v. SEC, is complicated in the details but pretty simple in the end. It asks whether federal agencies can continue to do something that they’ve done for more than a century and that no court (including SCOTUS) has ever forbidden: adjudicate the government’s claims against a private party for violating “public rights” established by Congress. Do you think that securities fraud, consumer scams, environmental crimes, labor violations, and a ton of other misdeeds should be efficiently and consistently penalized? Then you are out of luck, because the Supreme Court is poised to strip much of that enforcement power from the federal government."
Christ almighty, I just read the Kagan op-ed in the Washington Post.
The other day I referred to a mini aphorism of Kierkegaard’s, “If you hang yourself, you’ll regret it; if you don’t hang yourself, you’ll regret it.”
I’m closing in on not regretting hanging myself.
The problem is that it’s hard to find a serious flaw either in Kagan’s logic or the examples he cites to support a very closely argued position, which is that we are careening toward a dictatorship.
Worse, at least according to former senator Claire McCaskill, is that dictatorship will be run by a guy who, in one way, is worse than Hitler.
Her point is that Hitler worked off a highly detailed belief system. Trump doesn’t believe in anything besides himself, his own narcissistic needs, and whatever he fancies at any moment.
And right now he fancies unbridled revenge.
And who will stop him? The MSM horse race tours are more concerned with a Biden misspeak than Trump’s declarations of putting people in prison and using the military and the Justice department as his own personal servants.
Jesus.
Where’s that rope?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/2023/11/30/mehdi-hasan-show-canceled-backlash-msnbc/
Not for nothing, but how long do we morons need to be informed that X used to be know as Twitter? I never Xitted, and never will. Elon can go f*ck himself...