New York Times: “A body believed to be of the suspect in a Kentucky highway shooting that left five people seriously injured this month was found on Wednesday, the authorities said, ending a manhunt that stretched into a second week and set the local community on edge. The Kentucky State Police commissioner, Phillip Burnett Jr., said in a Wednesday night news conference that at approximately 3:30 p.m., two troopers and two civilians found an unidentified body in the brush behind the highway exit where the shooting occurred.... The police have identified the suspect of the shooting as Joseph A. Couch, 32. They said that on Sept. 7, Mr. Couch perched on a cliff overlooking Interstate 75 about eight miles north of London, Ky., and opened fire. One of the wounded was shot in the face, and another was shot in the chest. A dozen vehicles were riddled with gunfire.”
To keep the Conversation going, please help me by linking news articles, opinion pieces and other political content in today's Comments section.
Link Code: <a href="URL">text</a>
OR here's a link generator. The one I had posted died, but Akhilleus found this new one that he says is easy to use.
OR you can always just block, copy and paste to your comment the URL (Web address) of the page you want to link.
Note for Readers. It is not possible for commenters to "throw" their highlighted links to another window. But you can do that yourself. Right-click on the link and a drop-down box will give you choices as to where you want to open the link: in a new tab, new window or new private window.
Thank you to everyone who has been contributing links to articles & other content in the Comments section of each day's "Conversation." If you're missing the comments, you're missing some vital links.
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."
Laurel Raymond argues in Think Progress that the "Trump circus" -- in this case, Donald Trump's feud with Broadway actors -- is a "distraction": "... setting both the traditional media and social media chasing after boos at a Hamilton performance, Trump is also distracting everyone from the damaging, substantive moves he has made since being elected."
Not really. And if you read Charles Blow's column today, he will help you understand why. Trump's choices may feel "like a small collection of poor judgments and reversible decisions," Blow writes, but they signal "an enormous menace inching its way forward and grinding up that which we held dear and foolishly thought, as lovers do, would ever endure."
I would argue that this applies to Trump's little tantrums as much as it does to his policy prescriptions -- awful -- and personnel choices -- worse.
Look at who and what Trump is attacking in his anti-"Hamilton" tweets. The actor who spoke out to mike pence -- Brandon Victor Dixon -- is black. Most of the cast he spoke for also are racial minorities. Dixon's point -- that the Trump administration must recognize the diversity of the nation & serve all equally -- scarcely seems controversial to us. Even pence, not exactly Mr. Civil Rights, says he "wasn't offended by what was said. I will leave to others whether that was the appropriate venue to say it."
Trump's objection -- and demand for an apology -- also seemed to be venue-based: "The Theater must always be a safe and special place.The cast of Hamilton was very rude last night to a very good man, Mike Pence. Apologize!"
But it was not the "venue" that troubled Trump (and perhaps pence). It wasn't that Trump thinks the theatre should be nothing more than a fun place to enjoy meaningless fluffy musical comedies. (This is how media critics at the New York Times and Washington Post interpreted it.) Rather, it was the profession of the speaker.
Dixon is an actor. He is a performer. Since Trump is both of these as well, most white people miss the point. Trump appears to be whining person-to-person. But if you grew up in the South, or nearly anywhere in mid-century America, you'd know better. Black performers, once they gained hold in particular art forms and sports games, became acceptable -- if they stuck to their professional roles. Wealthy white people flocked to hear Lena Horne perform at Miami's Fontainebleau Hotel, but she wasn't allowed to stay there. My racist neighbor used to love to watch Nat King Cole's 15-minute TV show, but she sure as hell would not have let her daughter date anyone who looked like Cole. I watched girls swooning over Sam Cooke, the same girls who would have spat on any child of color who might try to integrate our whitey-white school. Hank Aaron used to dress up as an African diplomat and feign a "foreign" accent so he could get into toney Washington, D.C.-area restaurants when the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves were on the road.
Remember when Trump complained about President Obama's saying that "Muslims are ... our sports heroes"? “What sport is he talking about, and who?” Trump asked, implying that Obama had invented the sports-hero thing to make the Islamic faith more acceptable. Trump didn't even recognize that he had personally met Muslim sports heroes like Muhammad Ali & Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. It never occurred to Trump these stellar athletes -- these performers -- had lives outside their sports. Of course when Trump met these Muslim-Americans, it was in the context of their professions. Likely, they did not say anything to him outside that narrow frame. Nor should they, in Trump's view.
This is Trump's attitude. A person of color does not have a right to speak out -- even politely, as Dixon did -- to a white man, particularly a white man who holds a position of authority. A black actor may entertain, but his "rights" end with his performance. He may not express any notion that suggests he is in some sense equal to a powerful white man. In Trump's view, it is acceptable for Dixon to play a white man, minstrel style, but he cannot -- in real life -- speak on a par with white men. A black actor must know his place. He is not a person but a role-player. When Dixon stepped out of his role to directly verbalize the message of the play, he made the theater both "unspecial" and "unsafe," according to Trump. Real black men are "dangerous intruders" into "real America's" beautiful, "special" space.
It is all right for a Broadway musical to portray the country as one of diversity or even to implicitly or explicitly criticize the country for its failure of diversity, but it is not all right for an actor of color to jump out of his play-acting role to express, in his own words, those same sentiments. Racial diversity is now acceptable to Trump as an abstract fiction, particularly if only those who get to watch the joke are people who can afford $1,000-a-seat tickets. The rich theatre-goers are people, Trump assumes, who won't be fooled into believing the fictional message. Diversity is not acceptable as reality.
When Trump hires as his lead "team" racists Steve Bannon, Jeff Sessions and Mike Flynn, he is expressing the very same belief that his tweets on the "Hamilton" musical convey. Yes, what Trump does is more important than what he says. But in this case, word and deed are perfectly consistent. Trump's beef with "Hamilton" is not a distraction; it is an expression of his actions. White supremacy is of the essence of the scheme.
P.S. Trump continued to tweet, berating the entire cast & the play itself.
Guardian: "President Barack Obamahas warnedDonald Trump he won't be able to pursue many of his more controversial policies once he is in office. In his final international speech before he leaves the White House in January, Obama said he could not guarantee Trump would not try to implement controversial positions he took during campaign but he could guarantee 'reality will force him to adjust' how he approaches the issues. Speaking at the Apec meeting in Peru, Obama also said he did not intend to become his successor's constant critic -- but reserved the right to speak out if Trump or his policies breached certain 'values or ideals'." -- CW ...
... AFP: "The US president, Barack Obama, has urged greater efforts to end violence in war-torn Syria in brief talks with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, as concern mounts over a ferocious regime bombing campaign in rebel-held parts of Aleppo. Obama made the comments to his Russian counterpart on Sunday on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Peru in what could be their last meeting before the US president leaves office in January. It was the first time they had met since the US presidential election and the shock victory of Donald Trump, who has pursued a far warmer relationship with Putin than Obama did." -- CW
Michael Schmidt & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump has turned the vital, but normally inscrutable, process of forming a government into a Trump-branded, made-for-television spectacle, parading his finalists for top administration positions this weekend before reporters and the world. The two days unfolded like a pageant, with the many would-be officials striding up the circular driveway at Trump National Golf Club here, meeting Mr. Trump below three glass chandeliers at the entrance and shaking hands while facing the cameras. To build suspense, Mr. Trump offered teasing hints about coming announcements. 'I think so,' he said about whether he would make any appointments on Sunday. 'I think so. It could very well happen.'... By the evening, however, Mr. Trump had announced no appointments, leaving reporters waiting on the cold, gusty day to speculate about Mr. Trump's brief comments." -- CW
The Selling of the Presidency, 2016 ff.
Ayesha Venkataraman, et al., of the New York Times: "In a telephone interview, Atul Chordia, one of the developers who met last week with Mr. Trump, played down the appointment as a 'two-minute' congratulatory conversation in which no business was transacted and no new projects were discussed. But newspapers in India reported it as a business meeting, illustrated with a photograph of the beaming real estate executives -- Atul Chordia, Sagar Chordia and Kalpesh Mehta -- flanking the future president, and indicated that the builders and Mr. Trump's organization are planning further collaborative real estate projects. Sagar Chordia confirmed to The New York Times on Saturday that this account of the meeting in New York -- which included discussions with the Trump family about possible additional real estate deals -- was accurate.... [Ethics lawyers] agreed the activities created the appearance that Mr. Trump and his business partners are using his status as a way to profit.... The Chordia family, which has close ties to Sharad Pawar, the chief of India's Nationalist Congress Party, is particularly enthusiastic in its embrace of Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump has made targeted appeals to Indian-Americans for financial support, holding a major fund-raising event in October in Edison, N.J., a city with a large number of Indian residents, where Mr. Trump called himself a 'a big fan of Hindu.'" -- CW ...
... Drew Harwell & Anu Narayanswamy of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump's company has been paid up to $10 million by the [Trump Towers Instalbul's] developers since 2014 to affix the Trump name atop the luxury complex, whose owner, one of Turkey's biggest oil and media conglomerates, has become an influential megaphone for the country's increasingly repressive regime. That, ethics advisers said, forces the Trump complex into an unprecedented nexus: as both a potential channel for dealmakers seeking to curry favor with the Trump White House and a potential target for attacks or security risks overseas.... Ethics experts ... are now warning of many others, found among a vast assortment of foreign business interests never before seen in past presidencies. At least 111 Trump companies have done business in 18 countries and territories across South America, Asia and the Middle East.... Some ... deals ... were launched as recently as Trump's campaign, including eight that appear tied to a potential hotel project in Saudi Arabia, the oil-rich Arab kingdom that Trump has said he 'would want to protect.' Trump has refused calls to sell or give his business interests to an independent manager or 'blind trust,' a long-held presidential tradition designed to combat conflicts of interest." -- CW ...
... They've Got Ethics! Ha Ha Ha. Jon Swaine & Alan Yuhas of the Guardian: "Donald Trump's most senior advisers said on Sunday that he would not illegally use the White House for personal profit, as concerns mounted that he was already mixing business interests and official duties. Trump's vice-president-elect and chief of staff moved to reassure the public even as it emerged that he had been meeting overseas business partners between interviews for cabinet roles and making corporate pitches to foreign diplomats. 'I think during the presidency there will be the proper separation,' [mike pence] told CBS's Face the Nation.... Pence spoke after the Economic Times reported that Trump met last week in Trump Tower with three business partners who are building Trump-branded apartments in India.... Trump's children Eric and Ivanka also met with at least one of the Indian partners, the New York Times reported. The meeting ... followed news that dozens of foreign diplomats attended a sales pitch last week at Trump's new hotel in downtown Washington DC. Ivanka Trump, who is an executive vice-president of the Trump Organization, also joined her father last week for a meeting at Trump Tower with Shinzo Abe, the prime minister of Japan. Ivanka's jewelry company had previously advertised a $10,800 gold bracelet that she wore during a TV interview...." -- CW ...
... Patrick Temple-West of Politico: "Overhauling the government's ethics laws will be a top priority for ... Donald Trump in Congress next year..., Mike Pence said Sunday. Speaking on 'Face the Nation' on CBS, Pence declined to affirm that lobbyists will not serve in Trump's administration. Trump, who had campaigned on the notion that he would 'drain the swamp' in Washington, drew fire last week for initially including lobbyists on his transition team." -- CW (Also linked yesterday.)
Christina Coleburn of NBC News: "Incoming White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said Sunday on NBC's 'Meet The Press' that ... Donald Trump's team is not planning to create a Muslim registry, but would not rule anything out."
Patrick Temple-West: "... Donald Trumpwill prioritize repealing President Barack Obama's landmark healthcare law right 'out of the gate' once he takes office..., Mike Pence said Sunday." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Paul Krugman: "... we already know enough about his infrastructure plan to suggest, strongly, that it's basically fraudulent, that it would enrich a few well-connected people at taxpayers' expense while doing very little to cure our investment shortfall. Progressives should not associate themselves with this exercise in crony capitalism.... Cronyism and self-dealing are going to be the central theme of this administration -- in fact, Mr. Trump is already meeting with foreigners to promote his business interests. And people who value their own reputations should take care to avoid any kind of association with the scams ahead." ...
... CW: If Brad Plumer of Vox, Ronald Klain, & Krugman can uncover this con just by reading a few pages on Trump's Website, why the hell can't Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, Bernie Sanders, et al.? They're not economists, but they have economists on staff. It's possible they're grifting Trump, with the aim to bait-and-switch him to an actual traditional, government-run infrastructure program. But I'm not sure they're that smart. Or maybe they know what Trump is up to & they're happy to go along. Schumer, in particular, is a friend of big banks/big investors, and Pelosi's husband Paul is one. So Maybe Democrats are conning us, too. Stay tuned. ...
... Here'sSanders on working with Trump on infrastructure. Here's Pelosi (in a post by Jonathan Chait titled "Charles Schumer and Nancy Pelosi Have a Plan to Make President Trump Popular). And here's Schumer. ...
... E.J. Dionne: "However attractive an old-fashioned let's-pass-good-stuff strategy might seem, the alarming signals emanating from Trump Tower require more than politics as usual. If Democrats do not issue very clear warnings and lay out very bright lines against the most odious and alarming aspects of Trumpism, they will be abdicating their central obligation as the party of opposition.... Before they even get to infrastructure, Democrats and all other friends of freedom must make clear that if Trump abandons the basic norms of our democracy, all the roads in the world won't pave over his transgressions." -- CW ...
Josh Marshall: "Donald Trump won the presidency promising to defend the economic interests of ordinary people from the 'crooked' elite on Wall Street and in Washington. Whether or not he believes or believed that he has rapidly allied himself with the Paul Ryan privatizers who want to eviscerate the federal programs which are the bedrock of the American middle class. Social Security and Medicare are at the top of that list. If you look at the faces in the crowds at Trump's most poisonous speeches I guarantee that you that very few of those people thought they were voting to lose their Medicare.... "It is an issue where Democrats can score a win and in doing so they will empower the opposition to defeat the Trump GOP on other critical fronts." -- CW
** Charles Blow: "This may well be the beginning of the end: the early moments of a historical pivot point, when the slide of the republic into something untoward and unrecognizable still feels like a small collection of poor judgments and reversible decisions, rather than the forward edge of an enormous menace inching its way forward and grinding up that which we held dear and foolishly thought, as lovers do, would ever endure.... Hard-line Trumpism isn't softening; it's being cemented. Increasingly, as he picks his cabinet from among his fawning loyalists, it is becoming clear that by 'Make America Great Again,' he actually meant some version of 'Make America a White, Racist, Misogynistic Patriarchy Again.'" -- CW ...
... Here's a telling anecdote from Blow's column: "
In October, [Trump's pick for national security advisor Michael] Flynn tweeted: '“Follow Mike @Cernovich He has a terrific book, Gorilla Mindset. Well worth the read. @realDonaldTrump will win on 8 NOV!!!.' The New Yorker dubbed Mike Cernovich 'the meme mastermind of the alt-right' in a lengthy profile. The magazine pointed out: 'On his blog, Cernovich developed a theory of white-male identity politics: men were oppressed by feminism, and political correctness prevented the discussion of obvious truths, such as the criminal proclivities of certain ethnic groups.' ...
... Jill Jacobs &Daniel Sokatch in a Washington Post op-ed: "Over the past year, we have watched as Trump's campaign trafficked in blatant anti-Semitism alongside racism, xenophobia, misogyny, homophobia, ableism and Islamophobia. He has empowered white supremacists and provoked a resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan. Trying to conduct business as usual with the Trump administration could prevent us from joining with other threatened groups to protect our neighbors.... For many Jewish organizations, it will be tempting to 'move past' the disturbing policy goals and divisive rhetoric we heard during the campaign from Trump and his team and to engage in business as usual with the new administration.... Several congratulated Trump on his victory; some expressed their faith that he would make good on his victory speech promise to 'bind the wounds of division.'... But if we take the president-elect at his word [as expressed in his policy goals] -- and we must -- we can't afford business as usual. Now is the time for principled opposition, not accommodation." -- CW
Matthew Nussbaum of Politico: "Donald Trumpwill live in the White House, he said Sunday, ending speculation about whether he might opt to stay in New York City and reside in Trump Tower or at one of his other properties. His wife, Melania, and 10-year-old son, Barron, will likely join him after Barron finishes the school year this spring, Trump added. 'Yes, White House,' Trump told reporters when asked about where he will live, per a pool report. Asked about plans for Melania and Barron to move to Washington, Trump added: 'Very soon. After he's finished with school.'" ...
... Mallory Shelbourne of the Hill: "Melania Trump and her son, Barron, will not move to the White House after ... Donald Trump takes the oath of office, according to a report in the New York Post." CW: As Rockygirl predicted in yesterday's comments, "She & her son will remain ensconced in Trump Tower, emerging only when absolutely necessary." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Always Look on the Bright Side of Stats. Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Steve M. "Headline at Politico right now: 'Poll: Trump's popularity soars after election' 'Soars'" No, it didn't. What Politico calls "a dramatic uptick" is "mere parity, 46%-46%.... The Politico headline is right-wing clickbait -- and will probably become mainstream-media conventional wisdom." More accurate is the Pew Research headline: "Voters give Trump worse grades than they have for any winning candidate in recent decades." -- CW
Lisa Rein of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress are drawing up plans to take on the government bureaucracy they have long railed against, by eroding job protections and grinding down benefits that federal workers have received for a generation. Hiring freezes, an end to automatic raises, a green light to fire poor performers, a ban on union business on the government's dime and less generous pensions -- these are the contours of the blueprint emerging under Republican control of Washington in January.... Trump's election as an outsider promising to shake up a system he told voters is awash in 'waste, fraud and abuse' has conservatives optimistic that they could do now what Republicans have been unable to do in the 133 years since the civil service was created." -- CW
Jason Chaffetz Has a Clinton Conspiracy Theory, and He's Going to Prove It.
... we have one of the biggest security breaches ever.... How did they migrate all of this classified information out of the system?... Somebody had to physically take that and put it on another system. Either upload it or on a thumb drive, retype. -- Rep. Jason Chaffetz (RTP-Utah) to Tucker Carlson, Nov. 15
Chaffetz ... shouldn't insinuate, through speculation about thumb drives, that the State Department engaged in the deliberate transfer of information from classified to unclassified systems. The extensive information released by the FBI on its investigation ... provides virtually no support for this assertion, made on a nationally televised interview.... Chaffetz believes the Clinton email case was 'one of the biggest security breaches ever.' That's a matter of opinion. (Let's recall that the State Department in 2000 lost a laptop containing highly sensitive information and discovered an eavesdropping device in one of its conference rooms, resulting in the expulsion of a Russian diplomat.) -- Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post
See also Patrick's commentary, below.
Joseph Goldstein of the New York Times: As the finale of a conference of the alt-right in Washington, D.C., this weekend, alt-right leader Richard Spencer "railed against Jews and, with a smile, quoted Nazi propaganda in the original German. America, he said, belonged to white people, whom he called the 'children of the sun,' a race of conquerors and creators who had been marginalized but now, in the era of ... Donald J. Trump, were 'awakening to their own identity.' As he finished, several audience members had their arms outstretched in a Nazi salute. When Mr. Spencer, or perhaps another person standing near him at the front of the room -- it was not clear who -- shouted, 'Heil the people! Heil victory,' the room shouted it back. These are exultant times for the alt-right movement, which was little known until this year, when it embraced Mr. Trump's campaign and he appeared to embrace it back." -- CW
Alan Henry of Broadway World: "a Trump supporter interrupted the Saturday evening performance of Hamilton in Chicago. An audience member seated in the balcony allegedly shouted 'We won! You Lost! Get over it! F[u]ck you!' during the number 'Dear Theodosia.'" According to an audience member, "the initial disturbance began after the audience member was enraged by the line 'immigrants, we get the job done.' The majority of the audience cheered that specific line." The Trump supporter was reportedly intoxicated & scuffled with security staff as they removed him from the theater. -- CW
Terrence McCoy of the Washington Post: "At a time of continuing discussion over the role that hyperpartisan websites, fake news and social media play in the divided America of 2016, LibertyWritersNews illustrates how websites can use Facebook to tap into a surging ideology, quickly go from nothing to influencing millions of people and make big profits in the process. Six months ago, Wade and his business partner, Ben Goldman, were unemployed restaurant workers. Now they're at the helm of a website that gained 300,000 Facebook followers in October alone and say they are making so much money that they feel uncomfortable talking about it because they don't want people to start asking for loans." ...
... CW Note to Self: News Year's Resolution s/b "Start using Facebook."
Sapna Maheshwari of the New York Times: "Eric Tucker ... had just about 40 Twitter followers. But his recent tweet about paid protesters being bused to demonstrations against ... Donald J. Trumpfueled a nationwide conspiracy theory -- one that Mr. Trump joined in promoting. Mr. Tucker's post was shared at least 16,000 times on Twitter and more than 350,000 times on Facebook. The problem is that Mr. Tucker got it wrong. There were no such buses packed with paid protesters. But that didn't matter. While some fake news is produced purposefully by teenagers in the Balkans or entrepreneurs in the United States seeking to make money from advertising, false information can also arise from misinformed social media posts by regular people that are seized on and spread through a hyperpartisan blogosphere. Here, The New York Times deconstructs how Mr. Tucker's now-deleted declaration on Twitter ... turned into a fake-news phenomenon." -- CW ...
... CW's Helpful Hint No. 5: If a friend or acquaintance sends you a clip or text of a sensational story that hasn't appeared in mainstream media accounts, it likely is a hoax.
Beyond the Beltway
Max Ehrenfreund of the Washington Post: "An officer was shot and killed just outside the San Antonio Police Department's headquarters around noon on Sunday. Chief William McManus said the officer, Detective Benjamin Marconi, had been 'targeted.' Detectives have not identified a motive and are working to identify the shooter...." -- CW
Way Beyond
Joanna Plucinska of Politico: "The U.K. government is deploying the Queen to reach out to ... Donald Trump and establish a good relationship with his administration after his inauguration. The Queen is expected to extend a formal invitation to Trump soon after he is sworn in as president on January 20, according to the Sunday Times." CW: Trump is hardly the first tinpot dictator Elizabeth has had to endure. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Sylvie Corbet of the Washington Post: "Former president Nicolas Sarkozyconceded defeat Sunday in the primary to choose the conservative nominee for next year's presidential election in France. With more than 3.2 million ballots counted from about 80 percent of polling stations, former prime minister François Fillon had 44 percent of the vote, former prime minister Alain Juppé had 28.1 and Sarkozy had 21.1 percent. The two candidates confirmed as winning the most votes advance to the Nov. 27 runoff." -- CW
Alison Smale of the New York Times: "Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, under siege domestically but widely seen as a pillar of Western liberalism, announced on Sunday that she will seek a fourth term next year." -- CW
Patrick Temple-West of Politico: "... Donald Trumpwill prioritize repealing President Barack Obama's landmark healthcare law right 'out of the gate' once he takes office..., Mike Pence said Sunday." -- CW
They've Got Ethics! Patrick Temple-West: "Overhauling the government's ethics laws will be a top priority for ... Donald Trump in Congress next year..., Mike Pence said Sunday. Speaking on 'Face the Nation' on CBS, Pence declined to affirm that lobbyists will not serve in Trump's administration. Trump, who had campaigned on the notion that he would 'drain the swamp' in Washington, drew fire last week for initially including lobbyists on his transition team." -- CW
Joanna Plucinska of Politico: "The U.K. government is deploying the Queen to reach out to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and establish a good relationship with his administration after his inauguration. The Queen is expected to extend a formal invitation to Trump soon after he is sworn in as president on January 20, according to the Sunday Times." CW: Elizabeth has endured worse tinpot dictators than Trump.
Mallory Shelbourne of the Hill: "Melania Trump and her son, Barron, will not move to the White House after ... Donald Trump takes the oath of office, according to a report in the New York Post." CW: As Rockygirl predicted yesterday, "She & her son will remain ensconced in Trump Tower, emerging only when absolutely necessary."
*****
Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "President Obama sought to reassure leaders ... at an annual [Asia Pacific economic] summit [in Lima, Peru,] that the United States would continue to pursue closer ties with the Asia-Pacific region, even though Donald Trump's presidency is sure to reshape America's approach to the region.... But Trump's sharp criticism of trade deals such as the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)..., and his suggestion that long-standing U.S. military base agreements in Japan and South Korea might be too expensive to maintain, threatens to reverse the Obama administration's agenda and upend decades of American leadership in the region." -- CW
Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: "The heads of the Pentagon and the nation's intelligence community have recommended to President Obama that the director of the National Security Agency, Adm. Michael S. Rogers, be removed. The recommendation, delivered to the White House last month, was made by Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter and Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr., according to several U.S. officials familiar with the matter. Action has been delayed, some administration officials said, because relieving Rogers of his duties is tied to another controversial recommendation: to create separate chains of command at the NSA and the military's cyberwarfare unit, a recommendation by Clapper and Carter that has been stalled because of other issues." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... The story has been updated: "The news comes as Rogers is being considered by ... Donald Trump to be his nominee for director of national intelligence to replace Clapper as the official who oversees all 17 U.S. intelligence agencies. In a move apparently unprecedented for a military officer, Rogers, without notifying superiors, traveled to New York to meet with Trump on Thursday at Trump Tower."
Julie Pace & Jonathan Lamire of the AP: "... Donald Trump is filling his Twitter feed like the campaigner of old even while racing to fill senior positions in his administration. Trump was meeting Saturday with one of his sharpest Republican critics of the campaign, 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney, at Trump's golf club in New Jersey, and on Sunday with two leading supporters, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani. During the campaign, Romney called Trump a 'con man' and a 'fraud,' while Trump repeatedly called Romney a 'loser.' But first came a tweetstorm.... [Trump] rushed to the defense of Mike Pence on Saturday after 'Hamilton' actor Brandon Victor Dixon challenged the incoming vice president from the Broadway stage.... [See stories yesterday & below.] Trump also bragged on Twitter about agreeing to settle a trio of lawsuits against Trump University, claiming: 'The ONLY bad thing about winning the presidency is that I did not have the time to go through a long but winning trial on Trump U. Too bad!'" -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Update. Michael Schmidt & Julie Davis of the New York Times: "Mr. Trump met with Mr. Romney for about an hour and a half. Afterward, both men exited the clubhouse and shook hands for the cameras. 'Went great,' Mr. Trump said, cupping his hands at his mouth to project his voice. Mr. Romney then briefly addressed reporters, declining to say whether he was interested in a cabinet position. 'We had a far-reaching conversation with regard to the various theaters of the world with interest to the United States of real significance,' Mr. Romney said.... Mr. Romney did not answer reporters' questions about whether he had apologized to Mr. Trump for his criticism of him during the campaign." -- CW (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Ashley Parker & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "A senior adviser described the meeting, in part, as Mr. Romney simply coming to pay his respects to ... [Trump] and 'kiss his ring.'" -- CW
"You're Fired!" Implausibly, Trump Worried about Having Jerks on His Team. Isaac Isenstadt of Politico: "... just a few months after being denied the VP slot, [Chris] Christie suffered another public humiliation -- he was stripped of his leadership of Trump's presidential transition. In a phone call last week..., [Trump] told Christie that he had become a political liability. Trump and his top aides were most concerned about two issues, according to nearly a dozen people briefed on the process: Christie's mismanagement of the transition, and the lingering political fallout of the Bridgegate scandal.... In the days following the election..., Trump ... vented about how the governor had loaded up the team with lobbyists, the very class of people Trump had campaigned against, with his calls to 'drain the swamp' in Washington.... [Trump] also noticed that Christie had stocked his team with old New Jersey friends and allies." -- CW ...
... BUT. Brent Griffiths of Politico: "... Donald Trumpwill meet withChris Christie on Sunday, an indication of how Trump is maintaining ties to the New Jersey governor despite removing him as the head of his transition team." CW: Trump is meeting with more than a dozen candidates for high office this weekend, so the Christie confab looks more like either a 10-minute courtesy meeting or a brush-off. We'll see.
Nothing to See, Folks. Eric Lipton & Ellen Barry of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trumpmet in the last week in his office at Trump Tower with three Indian business partners who are building a Trump-branded luxury apartment complex south of Mumbai, raising new questions about how he will separate his business dealings from the work of the government once he is in the White House. A spokeswoman for Mr. Trump described the meeting as a courtesy call by the three Indian real estate executives, who flew from India to congratulate Mr. Trump on his election victory. In a picture posted on Twitter, all four men are smiling and giving a thumbs-up." -- CW
The Theater must always be a safe and special place. The cast of Hamilton was very rude last night to a very good man, Mike Pence. Apologize! -- Donald Trump
... Trump needs a refresher on his high school civics class.... The First Amendment is a cornerstone of our democracy, and Democratic and Republican presidents alike have understood that freedom of speech makes our country stronger -- even if it sometimes make our leaders uncomfortable. The apology should instead come from ... Trump for calling into question the appropriateness of the Hamilton cast's statements. -- ACLU executive director Anthony D. Romero, on Trump's demand for an apology after a "Hamilton" cast member asked mike pence to uphold the rights of all Americans ...
... Peter Marks of the Washington Post: "Maybe by 'safe and special' he means the theater is supposed to be docile, an innocuous landscape filled exclusively with chorus girls and holiday pageants. But let's be clear: 'Safe' theater is dead theater. Conflict is what drives drama, and sometimes, emotions in that public space become intense and things get messy.... The challenging words by the 'Hamilton' cast and the contretemps surrounding them portend a contentious relationship between the Republican-led government and an arts community that may be preparing to take it on publicly. In the context of a musical about a revolution, the events of Friday night look like life imitating art." -- CW ...
... CW: Maybe by "safe and special," Trump is alluding to Washington, D.C.'s Ford Theater, ca. 1865. When an anti-Trump Republican unfurled a banner at a Trump rally, campaign aides & Trump Jr. called it an assassination attempt; this might be just an instance of Trump and some of his surrogates chewing the scenery. Overstating grievances is a GOP way of life, and Trump has perfected it.
... Tara Golshan of Vox: "Hamilton's cast reminded Pence that inclusivity is an American value. Trumpwants an apology.... Donald Trump's latest Twitter feud is with the cast of Hamilton.... If anything..., it signifies that Trump's quick temper, and inability to let criticism slide, may very likely continue through his time in office." -- CW ...
... Annie Laurie of Balloon Juice: "... Hamilton is a musical about a bunch of New York City immigrants, played by a cast of not-white actors, many of them openly LGBT. People like Mike Pencego to Hamilton to confirm their conviction that New Yorkers have always been filthy immigrants who proudly mock God and 'history' while celebrating their perversities with every variety of that noisy jungle music. Getting boo'd at Hamilton gives Mike Pence immense 'street cred' with the neo-Nazis clotting around Steve Bannon, official Trump strategist-in-chief; since Bannon has a lot more influence with Trump than Mike Pence will ever accrue, Pence probably enjoyed the public opprobrium more than he did the play itself." -- CW
** Trump Preps to Violate Constitution from Day One. Ian Millhiser of Think Progress: "Friday evening, the Washington Post reported that about 100 foreign diplomats gathered at ... Donald Trump's hotel in Washington, DC to 'to sip Trump-branded champagne, dine on sliders and hear a sales pitch about the U.S. president-elect's newest hotel.'... The Post also quoted some of the diplomats saying they intended to stay at the hotel in order to ingratiate themselves to the incoming president.... The incoming president, in other words, is actively soliciting business from agents of foreign governments. Many of these agents, in turn, said that they will accept the president-elect's offer to do business because they want to win favor with the new leader of the United States.... Richard Painter..., who previously served as chief ethics counsel to President George W. Bush, says that Trump's efforts to do business with these diplomats is at odds with a provision of the Constitution [-- the 'Emoluments Clause' --] intended to prevent foreign states from effectively buying influence with federal officials.... On Twitter, Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe agrees with Painter...."
... CW: If "Emoluments Clause" doesn't slide right off your tongue now, you will soon know it better than Tenthers know the Tenth Amendment. ...
... Judd Legum of Think Progress: "Donald Trump is leveraging his new position as president-elect to empower his business empire -- and he's doing it publicly.... In his first meeting with a head of state, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Trump invited his daughter Ivanka -- who will likely serve as acting CEO of his companies -- to participate.... His team handed out a photo featuring Ivanka.... Trump is choosing to send a clear signal to Japan and the world .... Any country doing business with the Trump organization will be very clear about Ivanka's role.... The Trump transition did something similar when it leaked word that Trump had requested security clearances for Ivanka, Eric and Donald Jr.... Trump later denied this report but at that point, it hardly mattered. The story was another way for the Trump transition to credential his children as integral to, not separate from, the Trump administration." ...
... CW: The question now is how much of this House Republicans will put up with. Since they'd rather have mike pence as president, maybe not too much. Trump's mistake in choosing pence as a running mate over, say, Chris Christie or Ben Carson, is that pence is far more palatable to the GOP than is Trump. Before the election, House members were planning an impeachment of Hillary Clinton; it's not crazy to think they might get their grandstanding impeachment hearings even without her as foil.
Daniel Golden of ProPublica, in a story co-published in the Guardian: Jared Kuschner got into Harvard because his parents "had pledged $2.5 million to Harvard University in 1998, not long before his son Jared was admitted.... Administrators at Jared's high school ... described him as a less than stellar student and expressed dismay at Harvard's decision. 'There was no way anybody in the administrative office of the school thought he would on the merits get into Harvard,' a former official at The Frisch School in Paramus, New Jersey, told me. 'His GPA did not warrant it, his SAT scores did not warrant it.... Then, lo and behold, Jared was accepted. It was a little bit disappointing because there were at the time other kids we thought should really get in on the merits, and they did not.'" CW: I guess that helps explain the question I asked yesterday about why so many prominent confederates have Harvard degrees. They bought 'em.
Michael Crowley of Politico: "Republican Sen. John McCain issued a fiery warning to ... Donald Trump on the subject of torture Saturday. 'I don't give a damn what the president of the United States wants to do. We will not waterboard,' McCain told an audience at the annual Halifax International Security Forum. 'We will not torture people ... It doesn't work.'... Anyone who tries to resume torture, McCain added to applause from the crowd of American, Canadian and European security officials and experts, would find themselves in court 'in a New York minute.'... Trump has repeatedly said that he would use much harsher measures against suspected terrorists.... On Saturday, McCain reminded the audience that torture remains illegal under the Geneva Conventions and was also banned by Congress last year. That law, signed by President Barack Obama, restricts interrogation techniques to those outlined by the U.S. Army Field Manual -- which does not permit waterboarding." -- CW
Expanding the Forever War. Michael Hirsh in Politico Magazine: President "Obama repeatedly sought to remind Americans that it was precisely the idea of a 'clash of civilizations' that Islamists embraced -- because it frames the conflict as one against all of Islam and its culture, not just the jihadists. But ... Trumpappears open to the clash-of-civilizations idea — one that fits neatly with his view of an America that rejects 'globalism,' tightens up its borders against immigrants, and bans most new Muslims from coming in until they can be 'vetted.' 'I think Islam hates us,' Trump told CNN's Anderson Cooper last March. While he said he was speaking of radical Islam, he added: 'It's very hard to define. It's very hard to separate. Because you don't know who's who.' For the Trump team, who did not respond to a request for comment, Muslims appear to be guilty of radical sympathies until proven innocent. That approach, some scholars say, will be a terrible mistake, 15 years into what is already seen by some as a 'Forever War.'" -- CW
Welcome to the U.S. Now Get Out! Mallory Shelbourne of the Hill: "A federal judge this week said at a U.S. citizenship ceremony that anyone unhappy with ... Donald Trumpshould go to a different country. 'I can assure you that whether you voted for him or you did not vote for him, if you are a citizen of the United States, he is your president,' Judge John Primomo said Thursday, according to KHOU 11 News. 'He will be your president and if you do not like that, you need to go to another country.' At the ceremony in San Antonio, the judge condemned Americans who have protested by holding signs that read 'Not my president' in the days since Trump won the election." -- CW
Alan Rappeport & Noah Weiland of the New York Times: "... on Saturday, in the wake of Donald J. Trump's surprising election victory, hundreds of his extremist supporters converged on [Washington, D.C.,] to herald a moment of political ascendance that many had thought to be far away.... Members of the so-called alt-right movement gathered for what they had supposed would be an autopsy to plot their grim future under a Clinton administration. Instead, they celebrated the unexpected march of their white nationalist ideas toward the mainstream, portraying Mr. Trump's win as validation that the tide had turned in their fight to preserve white culture. 'It's been an awakening,' Richard B. Spencer, who is credited with coining the term alt-right, said at the gathering on Saturday. 'This is what a successful movement looks like.'" -- CW ...
... CW: If you'd like to know what Spencer's views are, read it and get sick. (And this, I suspect, is the sanitized version.) Anyway ... Thanks, Drumpf!
Erin Keane of Salon: "In the cold, bitter light of November 2016, truthiness sounds positively quaint. We're in the 'post-truth' era now, baby. The word of this year gained popularity in the aftermath of the Brexit vote and took on a life of its own and three more heads, it seems, as Donald Trump's campaign for president with its wild claims to 'Make America Great Again' proved unstoppable. Now it's the Oxford Dictionaries' word of the year for 2016." -- CW ...
... CW: The whole idea of deconstruction was to assume that text was so "unstable" that it could be analyzed down to the point that it meant sometime very different from, or even opposite of, what the writer thought she wrote (and what a "traditional" reader-critic would glean), and reader-response adherents deem the writer and her words meaningless until readers (whatever their views) interpreted them. It is a way of giving the literary critic power over the artist. It is probably coincidental that Republicans adopted anti-truth and no-truth at the same time literary critics did, but Trump is the avatar of the conservo-nihilism & fake-news phenomena, not an aberration, as the "sensible" Bush branch of the GOP likes to pretend.
I watched parts of ... Saturday Night Live last night. It is a totally one-sided, biased show - nothing funny at all. Equal time for us? — Donald J. Trump, arts critic November 20 ...
CW: After reading some of that raft of media stories about how we all have to start appreciating the trials, tribulations and grievances of an America time forgot -- trials, etc. that are so horrendous they made lovely rural people vote for perhaps the worst presidential nominee in American history -- maybe you're feeling a little guilty about not really giving a fuck about the hard life of a guy who's still wearing his "Trump that Bitch" T-shirt to the tractor pull. To help you get over the guilt thing, I suggest you watch Tess Rafferty's monologue, embedded in yesterday's Commentariat.
Alan Yuhas of the Guardian: "Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced new steps to counter fake news on the platform on Saturday, marking a departure from his skepticism that online misinformation is, as Barack Obama said this week, a threat to democratic institutions. 'We take misinformation seriously,' Zuckerberg wrote in a post on Saturday.... Zuckerberg said that the company has 'relied on our community to help us understand what is fake and what is not', citing a tool to report false links and shared material from fact-checking sites. 'Similar to clickbait, spam and scams, we penalize [misinformation] in News Feed so it's much less likely to spread,' he wrote.... Facebook has 'reached out' to 'respected fact-checking organizations' for third-party verification, Zuckerberg said, though he did not provide specifics." -- CW
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