The Conversation -- January 3, 2025

Marie: Some of you hardnosed cynics were speculating the other day that Trump's relatively decent statement in regard to the death of President Carter would soon be amended. Julie in MA informs us in today's Comments that we're there. Here is a post Trump wrote (no big words so likely his own voice) on his failing social media site (artwork added):

The Democrats are all “giddy” about our magnificent American Flag potentially being at “half mast” during my Inauguration. They think it’s so great, and are so happy about it because, in actuality, they don’t love our Country, they only think about themselves. Look at what they’ve done to our once GREAT America over the past four years - It’s a total mess! In any event, because of the death of President Jimmy Carter, the Flag may, for the first time ever during an Inauguration of a future President, be at half mast. Nobody wants to see this, and no American can be happy about it. Let’s see how it plays out. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! -- Donald Trump

New York Times liveblog: “Speaker Mike Johnson on Friday salvaged his bid to win another term in a dramatic turn on the House floor after he won over a pair of conservative holdouts who initially opposed him, denying him the majority needed to prevail. As the vote was held open well past the point when every member had voted, Mr. Johnson huddled off the House floor with two of the three hard-liners who had refused to back him. Minutes later, they returned to the floor, and the two — Representatives Keith Self of Texas and Ralph Norman of South Carolina — strode to the center of the chamber and changed their votes, handing the Louisiana Republican the support necessary to win another term as Republicans stood and applauded. Ultimately only one Republican, Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, held firm in his opposition to Mr. Johnson. The vote made for a tense and confusing scene on the House floor, after a clutch of conservatives initially withheld their votes for Mr. Johnson, only to later reverse course and vote for him.” ~~~

Maya Miller: “The far-right House Freedom Caucus released a letter following Johnson’s victory making clear that its members’ support for him as speaker is lukewarm at best. They only voted for him 'because of our steadfast support of President Trump and to ensure the timely certification of his electors,' the letter said, and they cast their votes 'despite our sincere reservations regarding the Speaker’s track record over the past 15 months.'”

Luke Broadwater: “You saw at the end [of the vote (but before two holdouts changed their vote to Johnson)] several House Freedom Caucus members vote for Johnson to prevent [Democratic Leader Hakim] Jeffries from becoming speaker. If too many hard-right members had refused to vote at all, there was a danger they would accidentally cause a Democrat to be elected.”

Annie Karni (an entry with Biblical echos): “And on the first day of the 119th Congress, Representative Nancy Pelosi wore flats.” Pelosi recently had hip replacement surgery after fracturing her hip on a fall in Luxembourg during a Congressional trip.

~~~~~~~~~~

In today's entertainment news, the House is voting to elect (or not elect) a speaker, beginning at noon. Story linked below.

Maeve Reston of the Washington Post: “President Joe Biden on Thursday awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal to former Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney, honoring one of ... Donald Trump’s most outspoken critics at a White House ceremony less than three weeks before Trump is set to reclaim the presidency. The medal, given to those who have performed exemplary deeds of service for their country, is the nation’s second-highest award, after the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Biden also gave the medal to Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Mississippi), who along with Cheney led the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol. The attendees at the ceremony in the East Room — composed largely of Democratic lawmakers and aides, along with friends and relatives of the honorees — rose to give Cheney a standing ovation as she took the stage to accept the medal, later doing the same for Thompson. Biden alluded to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack and pointedly mentioned the 'free and fair election of 2020' in his brief remarks before bestowing the medals, but did not mention Trump by name.”

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: “President Biden has decided to block the $14 billion takeover of U.S. Steel by Nippon Steel of Japan in an announcement expected as soon as Friday based on grounds that the sale poses a threat to national security, according to people familiar with the matter. The decision would be an extraordinary use of executive power, particularly for a president who is just weeks from leaving office. It is also a departure from America’s long-established culture of open investment, one that could have wide-ranging implications for the U.S. economy. Mr. Biden’s move to stop the transaction could cause foreign investors to rethink the wisdom of acquiring American firms in sensitive industries that are based in politically important states. It could also roil relations with Japan, a close ally of the United States and one of America’s largest sources of foreign investment.” ~~~

     ~~~ Update. President Biden's statement, via the White House, is here.

Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: “The Biden administration, in a final push to shore up the nation’s pandemic preparedness before ... Donald J. Trump takes office, announced on Thursday that it would nearly double the amount of money it was committing to ward off a potential outbreak of bird flu in humans. Federal health officials have been keeping a close eye on H5N1, a strain of avian influenza that is highly contagious and lethal to chickens, and has spread to cattle. The virus has not yet demonstrated that it can spread efficiently among people. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that the current risk to humans remains low, and that pasteurized milk products remain safe to consume. But should human-to-human transmission become commonplace, experts fear a pandemic that could be far more deadly than Covid-19.”

Devlin Barrett & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: “F.B.I. officials on Thursday released new details of their investigation into the still-unidentified suspect believed to have placed pipe bombs in Washington the night before the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, hoping to spur tips that might solve a lingering mystery.... Now, four years later, with investigators still uncertain of the suspect’s gender, the F.B.I. has offered video from a new angle of the suspect planting a bomb near a bench outside the Democratic headquarters. Investigators also say the suspect’s height has been estimated at 5-foot-7. There is a $500,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.... The F.B.I. said its best hope to crack the case lies with the public.... The F.B.I. asks that anyone with information call 1-800-CALL-FBI or go online to tips.fbi.gov.” The AP's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'm glad to learn the FBI has accepted my view that the person could be a woman. Although a Reality Chex reader pointed me to one portion of video in which the suspect appears to be broad-shouldered, there are a number of snippets that show the person walking in a way that resembles a woman's gait, and I told the FBI so, as I was worried investigators might be too misogynistic to consider female suspects. The fact that the suspect is 5'7" (my height), suggests my gender-theory could be correct.

⭐Marianna Sotomayor of the Washington Post: “... [House] Speaker Mike Johnson is still working to win over a handful of Republican lawmakers who are skeptical of his leadership.... Johnson (R-Louisiana) has spent the week working the phones and met with lawmakers in the Capitol through Thursday evening to try to better understand the concerns of roughly half a dozen hard-liners whose support he needs in the speakership election, which begins at noon. Many of the skeptics come from the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus.... Johnson needs 218 votes if all House lawmakers are present and voting for a speaker candidate by name. Because of the resignation of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) last month, House Republicans will start the year with just 219 seats, meaning Johnson can afford to lose just one GOP vote. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) has said he’ll definitely vote against Johnson, so the speaker would need every other Republican vote.” A Vox report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ If Not Bible Mike, Then Who? Olivia Beavers of Politico: "Even House Republicans who are skeptical about keeping Mike Johnson on as speaker acknowledge they have a persistent problem: Who could replace him? As Johnson faces potentially a dozen holdouts or more going into the speakership vote on Friday, three familiar alternative candidates have come up in internal GOP conversations: Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana, Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan of Ohio and GOP Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota. All three ran for the speakership in October 2023 before Johnson was elected to take the gavel, and all three were forced to drop their bids as it became obvious they couldn’t get the near-unanimous support needed from House Republicans. Their prospects haven’t changed a ton since then — each still has a faction of the conference that would likely oppose them."

Andrew Solender of Axios: "House Democrats are pushing back furiously against a proposed change to House rules that would allow only Republicans to force a vote on removing the speaker of the House.... 'This makes it clear that they have no intention of working together to find common ground,' Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), the top Democrat on the House Rules Committee, said of the rules change in a statement. McGovern added: 'Instead of electing a Speaker of the House, they have decided to elect a Speaker of the Republican Conference — held hostage by their most extreme members.'... Whereas in the last Congress, any single House member could introduce such a motion, now eight others have to co-sponsor the measure. But all nine of those lawmakers have to be members of the majority party...." (Also linked yesterday.)

Carl Hulse of the New York Times: Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) “will become majority leader in the new Congress that convenes on Friday, but he is ... facing an early challenge and a major threat to his political standing. Mr. Thune’s task ... is to juggle ... Donald J. Trump’s demands, the competing desires of 53 G.O.P. senators and a formidable legislative agenda. It starts with shepherding multiple baggage-laden Trump nominees to confirmation in the closely divided Senate, where he can afford to lose no more than three Republican votes if Democrats hold together in opposition. At the same time, he intends to use a tricky maneuver to steer around a filibuster and pass a combination border security, military spending and energy production bill that will require serious legislative finesse. And he wants to do it in the first month or so, while also reordering how and how often the Senate works.”

Patrick Svitek of the Washington Post: “Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-New York) on Thursday endorsed Ben Wikler, chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, to lead the national party, making Schumer the highest-ranking Democratic official to weigh in on the race so far.... DNC members are set to pick the next chair in a Feb. 1 election. Wikler’s opponents include Ken Martin, a DNC vice chair who leads the Minnesota party; Martin O’Malley, the former commissioner of the Social Security Administration and a former governor of Maryland; and James Skoufis, a New York state senator.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Lindsay Whitehurst of the AP: "The federal courts will not refer allegations that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas may have violated ethics laws to the Justice Department, the judiciary’s policymaking body said Thursday. Thomas has agreed to follow updated requirements on reporting trips and gifts, including clearer guidelines on hospitality from friends, the U.S. Judicial Conference wrote to Democratic senators who had called for an investigation into undisclosed acceptance of luxury trips. Thomas has previously said he wasn’t required to disclose the many trips he and his wife took that were paid for by wealthy benefactors like Republican megadonor Harlan Crow because they are close personal friends." Read on.

Cecilia Kang of the New York Times: “A federal appeals court struck down the Federal Communications Commission’s landmark net neutrality rules on Thursday, ending a nearly two-decade effort to regulate broadband internet providers like utilities. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in Cincinnati, said that the F.C.C. lacked the authority to reinstate rules that prevented broadband providers from slowing or blocking access to internet content. The decision put an end to the Biden administration’s hallmark tech policy, which had drawn impassioned support from consumer groups and tech giants like Google and fierce protests by telecommunications giants like Comcast and AT&T.... In its opinion, a three-judge panel pointed to a Supreme Court decision in June, known as Loper Bright, that overturned a 1984 legal precedent that gave deference to government agencies on regulations.... Thursday’s decision effectively concludes the back-and-forth battle. Brendan Carr, whom Mr. Trump has named as the incoming F.C.C. chair, has been a strong critic of net neutrality. The court’s reliance on the Loper case in its ruling could also portend more lawsuits to hollow out federal regulations at the F.C.C. and other agencies.” (Also linked yesterday.) The Verge's report is here.

Ana Swanson of the New York Times: “Trump's falsehoods aside..., the growing influence of Chinese companies and the Chinese government over shipping and global ports, including the Panama Canal, has become a concern for U.S. officials. The Chinese government has invested heavily in building ports throughout the world. And given that China is the world’s biggest exporter, private Chinese companies now play a major role in shipping and port operations, giving them significant influence over the movement of global goods and strategic positions from which to monitor other countries’ activities.... Much of the concern of U.S. officials in more recent times centers on two seaports at either end of the Panama Canal, a channel through which 40 percent of U.S. container traffic runs. Those seaports have been operated for decades by Hutchison Ports PPC, a division of CK Hutchison Holdings, a Hong Kong-based company.”

⭐"When You're a Star, People Let You Think You're Smart." Paul Krugman on Substack: "The Smoot-Hawley level tariffs [Donald Trump] promised during the campaign would be disastrous, but sometimes I think he may have at least a vague sense of the damage those tariffs would do, so what he’s really aiming for is an extortion scheme — one in which most companies would secure exemptions via political contributions and/or de facto bribes (e.g. buying Trump crypto.) But then ... I’ll be reminded that wealthy and powerful people like Trump or [Marc] Andreesen or, of course, Elon Musk are often far more ignorant than policy wonks can easily imagine." Read the whole post; it's not long and Krugman's explanation about why the federal government can't be funded by tariffs, as it was in the 1890s, is easily understandable.

... this country has suffered more deadly terrorism at the hands of American-born citizens who are veterans of the United States military than [from] people who have crossed into this country at the southern border. -- Lawrence O'Donnell, Thursday night ~~~

Sarakshi Rai of the Hill: "Chris Velazco of the Washington Post: “Vice President-elect JD Vance took to the social platform X on Thursday to share an op-ed by Elon Musk in which the tech mogul expressed support for the far-right German political party Alternative for Germany, or AfD. Quoting Musk’s English version of the opinion piece, Vance said it was an 'interesting piece.' [Vance] emphasized that he wasn’t endorsing AfD in the upcoming German elections, as it was not his country and 'we hope to have good relations with all Germans.' He further took aim at U.S. media outlets, adding that 'American media slanders AfD as Nazi-lite, But AfD is most popular in the same areas of Germany that were most resistant to the Nazis.'...

⭐“In response to Vance’s tweet, Germany’s ambassador to the U.S. Andreas Michaelis called it an 'interesting observation. in a post on Bluesky. 'Historical context can be tricky – while some areas you are referring to resisted the Nazi party early on, others did not, or later became strongholds of the regime. Germany’s history reminds us how important it is to challenge extremism in all its forms,' he wrote.” MB: I believe that's the diplomat's way of saying, “JayDee, you blithering idiot.”

Chris Velazco of the Washington Post: "Apple has agreed to end a five-year legal battle over user privacy related to its virtual assistant Siri with a $95 million payout to affected customers, according to a preliminary settlement. The company ... signed off on the payment to settle a class-action lawsuit claiming its virtual assistant Siri can be accidentally activated, and subsequently record parts of people’s conversations without their consent. Apple then violated its users’ privacy, plaintiffs alleged, by sending those recordings to third parties.... The terms of the settlement ... are still subject to approval by the court....” The Ars Technica story is here.

~~~~~~~~~~

Colorado. “Trump's America.” Maria Luisa Paul of the Washington Post: “A White Colorado man was charged Thursday after allegedly following a Pacific Islander reporter for 40 miles, berating him about his nationality and choking him at his news station in what court records describe as a racially motivated attack.... While heading north toward Grand Junction, [KKCO/KJCT journalist Ja’Ronn] Alex realized [Patrick Thomas] Egan’s car, a Sunshine Rides taxi cab, was following him.... At a traffic light, Egan pulled up next to Alex’s car, rolled down the windows and shouted xenophobic threats, according to [an arrest] affidavit. 'Are you even a U.S. citizen? This is Trump’s America now! I’m a Marine and I took an oath to protect this country from people like you!' Alex — who is a Detroit native, according to KKCO/KJCT — recalled, according to the affidavit.”

Louisiana. Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, et al., of the New York Times: “A Texas man who ... drove into a crowd in New Orleans on New Year’s Day, killing 14 people, appears to have acted alone, an F.B.I. official said on Thursday, as the city reopened Bourbon Street after the attack and hosted thousands of fans for the Sugar Bowl. Investigators have found no definitive link' between the attack and the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck hours later that wounded at least seven people outside of a Trump hotel in Las Vegas, according to the F.B.I. official, Christopher Raia, the deputy assistant director of the bureau’s counterterrorism division.” ~~~

~~~ Adam Nossiter, et al., of the New York Times: “Five years before a man in a pickup mowed down dozens of New Year’s revelers in New Orleans, a confidential security report warned that the iconic Bourbon Street tourist strip was vulnerable to a 'vehicular ramming' attack. The assessment, prepared by a security firm in November 2019 for the group that manages the city’s French Quarter, warned that the bollards designed to block vehicles from entering Bourbon Street did 'not appear to work.' The New York security firm recommended fixing the barriers immediately.... Police officials stressed that the city had started work to replace the old barriers in November, ahead of the Super Bowl next month, and that the work was still ongoing on Wednesday when the attack occurred.... But some security experts said New Orleans had left Bourbon Street dangerously vulnerable.”

Nevada. Jacey Fortin & Jesus Jiménez of the New York Times: “... authorities identified the driver ... of the Tesla truck that exploded outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on Wednesday morning ... as Master Sgt. Matthew Alan Livelsberger of the Army and a soldier with the 10th Special Forces Group.... The cause of [his] death was a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the driver’s head, the county coroner ruled.... Over a few days, Sergeant Livelsberger drove from Colorado through New Mexico and Arizona — a route that officials traced using data from the Tesla charging stations he had visited.” The article provides some biographical details about Livelsberger, but authorities have not discovered the motives behind the apparent attack. A CBS News story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Justin Rohrlich of the Independent: “The active-duty Green Beret [Matthew Livelsberger] who was driving a Tesla Cybertruck that blew up outside the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas on New Year’s Day 'was a 100 percent patriot,' his bewildered uncle [Dean Livelsberger] said Thursday.... 'He used to have all patriotic stuff on Facebook, he was 100 percent loving the country,” he continued. 'He loved Trump, and he was always a very, very patriotic soldier, a patriotic American. It’s one of the reasons he was in Special Forces for so many years. It wasn’t just one tour of duty.'”

New York. Christopher Maag of the New York Times: “A few hours after midnight on New Year’s Day, a man scaled the fence surrounding Gracie Mansion, the official residence of the New York City mayor, Eric Adams, and broke into the building.... Mayor Adams was not at home at the time, a spokeswoman for the mayor said. The bizarre incident was recorded by surveillance cameras, which captured the man, Michael Aromando, 20, climbing the fence at 4:23 a.m. Wednesday.... One minute later, a police officer noticed Mr. Aromando walking around inside the mansion. Mr. Aromando was unarmed when he was arrested. He was carrying several items, including a Christmas ornament he had taken from the mansion, the police said. In an interview with a police officer, Mr. Aromando shared a video recorded on his phone, which showed him taking the ornament from a drawer inside the residence. Police officers assigned to guard the mansion did not notice him scaling the fence, the police spokesman said. The closed-circuit television video of the break-in was found only after he was arrested.”

New York. Maria Cramer & Chelsia Marcius of the New York Times: “Federal agents on Thursday morning searched the home of Jeffrey Maddrey, the former chief of department for the New York Police Department, Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. Mr. Maddrey, who resigned on Dec. 20 after a lieutenant accused him of coercing her into sex, is also being investigated by the department’s Internal Affairs Bureau, which is working with law enforcement authorities in its inquiry, Commissioner Tisch said in a statement on social media. Mr. Maddrey, who left the department but whose resignation is not yet effective, was suspended without pay Thursday morning as the search warrant was executed, the commissioner said.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Kenya. Coming Soon to a Village Near You? Lynsey Chutel of the New York Times: “A glowing ring of metal, more than eight feet in diameter and weighing more than 1,100 pounds, fell from the sky and crash landed in a remote village in Kenya this week, causing no injuries but frightening residents who feared a bomb or worse. The object turned out to be space debris — junk left over from six decades of space exploration and a growing number of commercial launches, the Kenya Space Agency said Wednesday. It identified the object as a separation ring from a launch rocket and said that it was investigating the ring’s origin and ownership.... Last year, the European Space Agency estimated that there were more than 14,000 tons of material in low Earth orbit. About a third of that is junk, according to Sara Webb, an astrophysicist....”

South Korea. The New York Times is live-updating developments in the polticial turmoil in South Korea: “Officials in South Korea abandoned an attempt to take President Yoon Suk Yeol in for questioning over insurrection charges on Friday after a standoff inside the president’s residence that lasted several hours.... Officials began withdrawing from Mr. Yoon’s residence at 1:30 p.m. local time after entering the compound in the morning. To get inside, they had cleared away crowds of supporters attempting to block their path. But when they neared the building where Mr. Yoon was believed to be, they met walls of vehicles, and 200 soldiers and presidential bodyguards, officials told reporters. The dozens of investigators and police officers were outnumbered and had to withdraw after brief and minor scuffles, they said. Mr. Yoon has ignored repeated summonses from the investigators to appear for questioning....”

The Conversation -- January 2, 2025

Cecilia Kang of the New York Times: “A federal appeals court struck down the Federal Communications Commission’s landmark net neutrality rules on Thursday, ending a nearly two-decade effort to regulate broadband internet providers like utilities. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in Cincinnati, said that the F.C.C. lacked the authority to reinstate rules that prevented broadband providers from slowing or blocking access to internet content. The decision put an end to the Biden administration’s hallmark tech policy, which had drawn impassioned support from consumer groups and tech giants like Google and fierce protests by telecommunications giants like Comcast and AT&T.... In its opinion, a three-judge panel pointed to a Supreme Court decision in June, known as Loper Bright, that overturned a 1984 legal precedent that gave deference to government agencies on regulations.” The FCC put net neutrality regulations in place during the Obama administration, but the Trump administration repealed them. At 3:30 pm ET, this is a developing story.

Andrew Solender of Axios: "House Democrats are pushing back furiously against a proposed change to House rules that would allow only Republicans to force a vote on removing the speaker of the House.... 'This makes it clear that they have no intention of working together to find common ground,' Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), the top Democrat on the House Rules Committee, said of the rules change in a statement. McGovern added: 'Instead of electing a Speaker of the House, they have decided to elect a Speaker of the Republican Conference — held hostage by their most extreme members.'... Whereas in the last Congress, any single House member could introduce such a motion, now eight others have to co-sponsor the measure. But all nine of those lawmakers have to be members of the majority party...."

Patrick Svitek of the Washington Post: “Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-New York) on Thursday endorsed Ben Wikler, chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, to lead the national party, making Schumer the highest-ranking Democratic official to weigh in on the race so far.... DNC members are set to pick the next chair in a Feb. 1 election. Wikler’s opponents include Ken Martin, a DNC vice chair who leads the Minnesota party; Martin O’Malley, the former commissioner of the Social Security Administration and a former governor of Maryland; and James Skoufis, a New York state senator.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Aishvarya Kavi of the New York Times: “President Biden will award the Presidential Citizens Medal, one of the nation’s highest civilian honors, to 20 people on Thursday afternoon, including former Representative Liz Cheney and two close personal advisers, Ted Kaufman and Christopher J. Dodd. The recipients the president selected to be honored in his last medal ceremony have 'performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens,' the White House said in a statement on Thursday.” The article names all of those who will receive the award today. ~~~

     ~~~ Colleen Long of the AP: “President Joe Biden is bestowing the second highest civilian medal on Liz Cheney and Bennie Thompson, leaders of the congressional investigation into the Capitol riot who Donald Trump has said should be jailed for their roles in the inquiry.”

Ellen Nakashima & Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: “Chinese government hackers breached a highly sensitive office in the Treasury Department that administers economic sanctions against countries and groups of individuals — one of the most potent tools possessed by the United States to achieve national security aims, according to U.S. officials.... The hack also compromised the Treasury Department’s Office of Financial Research, according to the officials. The full impact of the breach, which was disclosed by Treasury in a letter to Congress on Monday, is still being assessed. The documents accessed were unclassified and there is no evidence the hacker still has access to Treasury systems, the department said.”

Jennifer Jacobs & Robert Costa of CBS News: “... Donald Trump will hold a rally-type event on Jan. 19 at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., just ahead of his inauguration, according to multiple sources familiar with the planning. Capital One Arena, home of the Washington Wizards basketball team and Washington Capitals hockey team, can hold approximately 20,000 attendees. The 'Make America Great Again Victory Rally' is scheduled to kick off at 3 p.m. ET, according to a sign-up link from the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee.”

If I was giving [Trump] one piece of advice, fire every single mid-level bureaucrat, every civil servant in the administrative state. Replace them with our people. And when the courts ... stop you, stand before the country like Andrew Jackson did and say: ‘The chief justice has made his ruling. Now let him enforce it.’ -- JD Vance, in a 2021 podcast ~~~

~~~ Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post: “John G. Roberts Jr., in his year-end report on the federal judiciary, didn’t call out JD Vance by name. But the chief justice took an unmistakable — and well-deserved — swipe at the vice president-elect over his reckless suggestions that it is sometimes acceptable to defy the rulings of federal courts.... Judicial independence, he wrote, 'is undermined unless the other branches [of government] are firm in their responsibility to enforce the court’s decrees.' He cited, of course, the response to the court’s 1954 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, when governors throughout the South sought to defy court orders to desegregate public schools.... Of all the 'elected officials from across the political spectrum' who have toyed with defying court orders, the most prominent by far — and the one who ought to know better — is JD Vance, Yale Law School Class of 2013, whose wife, Usha, clerked for Roberts from 2017 to 2018.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It will be fun (and perhaps frightening) to watch a power struggle between Trump/Vance & the Supremes. But the Supremes have it coming. Every Supreme appointed by a Republican president (or president*) is a jackass, and his/her rulings often are based not on 21st-century jurisprudence & norms but on fantastic medieval beliefs (Dobbs) or "reasoning" so convoluted & politically-motivated as to defy sensible jurisprudence & common-sense reasoning (Trump).

~~~~~~~~~~

Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: “Investigators are looking into whether the deadly terrorist attack in New Orleans on Wednesday is linked to the detonation of a Tesla Cybertruck outside a Trump hotel in Las Vegas later in the day, but they have yet to find any connection between the two episodes, President Biden said. Local and federal law enforcement officials are trying to determine if the man who drove a truck into a crowd in the French Quarter just after 3 a.m. on Wednesday and the man who rented the Tesla that exploded in Nevada are connected beyond superficial similarities: Both men chose soft targets on New Year’s Day and rented trucks through the same budget car rental app, Turo.... Mr. Biden’s statement reflected the heightened sense of alarm among federal law enforcement officials who are investigating whether the New Orleans attack involved a larger cell of ISIS sympathizers — a scenario the F.B.I. and intelligence officials have warned was a growing threat.”

Louisiana. Jenna Russell, et al., of the New York Times: Just after 3 am Wednesday in New Orleans, where many were still celebrating the new year, a white pickup truck “careened onto Bourbon Street and slammed into the crowd.... Described by federal authorities as a deliberate act of terror, the attack killed at least 15 people, injured about three dozen others and left New Orleans, a city of 364,000, on edge; investigators said at a news conference on Wednesday that they believed that the driver did not act alone. The driver, who was killed in a shootout with police, was identified by the F.B.I. as Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar, 42, a U.S. citizen and U.S. Army veteran from Texas. He had loaded his rented truck with weapons and at least one 'potential' improvised explosive, authorities said, and an Islamic State flag was found on the trailer hitch of his rented white Ford pickup.” The AP's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ New York Times: “A day after at least 15 people were killed and dozens injured in an attack in New Orleans, a key question confronting investigators on Thursday was whether the man who rammed a pickup truck into a crowd had accomplices. The authorities have said they do not believe the suspect, Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar, a 42-year-old Army veteran, acted alone.” This is a liveblog bearing today's date & may be updated. ~~~

     ~~~ Here is yesterday's New York Times liveblog related to the Bourbon Street massacre. The AP's live reports yesterday are here. The New Orleans Times-Picayune's live updates yesterday are here. ~~~

~~~ Marie: Donald Trump lies about everything, sometimes more than once even in a brief post. And, as Akhilleus pointed out the other day in regard to Trump's remarks on the death of President Carter, Trump can twist any event into self-congratulatory bloviation: ~~~

     ~~~ Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: “On Wednesday morning, hours after a man drove a pickup truck into New Year’s Eve revelers in New Orleans, killing 10 people..., Donald J. Trump falsely suggested on social media that his condemnations of undocumented immigrants had been validated. 'When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the Fake News Media, but it turned out to be true,' Mr. Trump said on his website, Truth Social. 'The crime rate in our country is at a level that nobody has ever seen before,' he added falsely.... Officials have since identified the suspect as a U.S.-born citizen and Army veteran who lived in Texas....” A Mediaite item is here.

Nevada. Alexandra Petri, et al., of the New York Times: “One person was killed and at least seven were injured after a Tesla Cybertruck exploded outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on Wednesday morning, the authorities said.... Sheriff Kevin McMahill of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said during a news conference that the authorities 'believe this to be an isolated incident,' but have not yet ruled out a connection to the Wednesday morning attack in New Orleans that killed at least 15 people. The Las Vegas Police Department received a report of an explosion at the Trump Hotel at about 8:40 a.m. local time. Elon Musk, Tesla’s chief executive, said in a statement on X that 'the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck,' and said the vehicle was functioning properly.... The driver was the only person in the truck, Mr. McMahill said, and had been killed inside the vehicle.” CNN's report is here. The AP report is here.

Virginia. Luke Barr of ABC News: Brad Spafford of Virginia "allegedly had a cache of weapons, a 'go box' and used a photo of President Joe Biden for target practice, according to court documents filed by federal prosecutors this week.... 'The defendant has used pictures of the President for target practice, expressed support for political assassinations, and recently sought qualifications in sniper-rifle shooting at a local range,' prosecutors wrote.... The detention memo was filed to prevent Spafford from being released pending trial, which was granted, according to court records." See related reports in yesterday's Conversation.

News Ledes

New York Times: Just after 3 am Wednesday in New Orleans, where many were still celebrating the new year, a white pickup truck “careened onto Bourbon Street and slammed into the crowd.... Described by federal authorities as a deliberate act of terror, the attack killed at least 15 people, injured about three dozen others and left New Orleans, a city of 364,000, on edge; investigators said at a news conference on Wednesday that they believed that the driver did not act alone. The driver, who was killed in a shootout with police, was identified by the F.B.I. as Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar, 42, a U.S. citizen and U.S. Army veteran from Texas. He had loaded his rented truck with weapons and at least one 'potential' improvised explosive, authorities said, and an Islamic State flag was found on the trailer hitch of his rented white Ford pickup.” ~~~

     ~~~ New York Times: “A day after at least 15 people were killed and dozens injured in an attack in New Orleans, a key question confronting investigators on Thursday was whether the man who rammed a pickup truck into a crowd had accomplices. The authorities have said they do not believe the suspect, Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar, a 42-year-old Army veteran, acted alone.” This is a liveblog bearing today's date & may be updated.

The Conversation -- January 1, 2025

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "To history, the Iran hostage crisis remains the emblem of a failed presidency, a grievous wound to American stature around the world and a proximate cause of the electoral tidal wave that swept Mr. Carter out of the White House after a single term. But to at least some of those who lived it, Mr. Carter remains a figure worthy of respect and admiration for his relentless determination to bring.... ”

Lost in Translation. President Carter visits David Letterman's show: ~~~

Ashleigh Fields of the Hill: "U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) announced a new low for border level crossings during the month of November...."

Andrew Solender of Axios: "C-SPAN cameras will once again be allowed to roll from inside the House chamber when lawmakers return in January to elect a speaker and certify the 2024 presidential election.... C-SPAN's special access during the protracted speaker election in 2023 gave the American public a rare glimpse into the House's usually hidden machinations. The high level of public engagement with that behind-the-scenes access led to a push to allow the independent news organization to be granted permanent permission to freely film the inside of the chamber. That push was unsuccessful, though then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's (R-Calif.) did reportedly expand the access of the government-run cameras in the chamber.... The cameras are always allowed on Jan. 3 because speaker elections occur before a vote can take place to pass a House rules package explicitly barring them from the chamber. But House Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-La.) office also plans to allow the cameras on Jan. 6, when lawmakers meet to certify President-elect Trump's victory, a Johnson spokesperson told Axios. The cameras are typically only allowed in special circumstances such as State of the Union addresses."

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "Judicial independence is under grave threat on several fronts, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote on Tuesday in an unusually urgent and somber year-end report on the state of the federal judiciary. 'Violence, intimidation and defiance directed at judges because of their work undermine our Republic, and are wholly unacceptable,' he wrote. The report, which arrived in the wake of questions about the court’s ethical standards and a drop in its approval ratings, said some criticism of judges’ work is healthy, warranted and welcome.... The number of hostile threats and communication directed at judges has more than tripled in the past decade, he wrote.... 'Public officials, too, regrettably have engaged in recent attempts to intimidate judges — for example, suggesting political bias in the judge’s adverse rulings without a credible basis for such allegations,' Chief Justice Roberts wrote.... 'In recent years, hostile foreign state actors have accelerated their efforts to attack all branches of our government, including the judiciary,' the chief justice wrote." The linked report comes via the Court, not the NYT.

David Klepper of the AP: "The United States has imposed sanctions on two groups linked to Iranian and Russian efforts to target American voters with disinformation ahead of this year’s election. Treasury officials announced the sanctions Tuesday, alleging that the two organizations sought to stoke divisions among Americans before November’s vote. U.S. intelligence has accused both governments of spreading disinformation, including fake videos, news stories and social media posts, designed to manipulate voters and undermine trust in U.S. elections.... Authorities said the Russian group, the Moscow-based Center for Geopolitical Expertise, oversaw the creation, financing and dissemination of disinformation about American candidates, including deepfake videos created using artificial intelligence.... The Iranian group, the Cognitive Design Production Center, is a subsidiary of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, U.S. officials said, which the United States has designated a foreign terrorist organization. Officials say the center worked since at least 2023 to incite political tensions in the United States." ~~~

     ~~~ The Treasury Department's press release re: the sanctions is here, via the Department.

Carol Leonnig & Emmanuel Martinez of the Washington Post: "The causes of the mistakes in Butler, [Pennsylvania, that came close to killing Donald Trump and left one spectator dead and two injured] ... had been years in the making, a Post review found.... [It was] the Secret Service’s biggest security failure since the 1981 attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan.... Three presidents and Congress have failed to fix the major vulnerabilities in the Secret Service that were identified a decade ago, the Post review has found. Instead, some problems have grown worse and left the agency weaker on key measures."

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "A Virginia man was arrested this month with what federal prosecutors described in court papers on Monday as the largest cache of 'finished explosive devices' ever found in the F.B.I.’s history. The man, Brad Spafford, was taken into custody at a farm outside Norfolk on Dec. 17 on the basis of a single-count criminal complaint accusing him of illegally possessing an unregistered short-barrel rifle. When investigators searched his 20-acre property, in Isle of Wight County, they found in a detached garage more than 150 explosive devices — mostly pipe bombs, some of them labeled 'lethal,' prosecutors said. They found more pipe bombs in a bedroom inside Mr. Spafford’s house, loosely stuffed in a backpack that bore a patch shaped like a hand grenade and a logo reading '#NoLivesMatter,' prosecutors said.

"No Lives Matter is a nihilistic, far-right ideology that largely exists on encrypted online messaging apps like Telegram. The movement’s adherents promote 'targeted attacks, mass killings and criminal activity' and have 'historically encouraged members to engage in self-harm and animal abuse' according to a threat assessment released in August by the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness." A CBS News report is here.

D.C. Mayor Courts the Count of Mar-a-Lardo. Meagan Flynn & Martin Weil of the Washington Post: "D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) met with ... Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Monday, saying in a late-night statement that they discussed 'shared priorities' involving the federal workforce, buildings and park space during the 'great meeting.'... Bowser’s optimistic tenor appears part of a strategy to collaborate with Trump rather than provoke him in a city where over 90 percent of voters rejected him. Trump has repeatedly antagonized the District, threatening a federal takeover in rally speeches. And, combined with a GOP Congress, D.C. is expected to be particularly vulnerable to federal intervention in its affairs. Bowser will need Trump and the federal government’s buy-in on some of the District’s priorities, such as redeveloping federal land at the defunct RFK football stadium and underused federal buildings.”

Jerry Lambe of Law & Crime: "A federal judge in New York refused to allow Rudy Giuliani to hide a list of witnesses he plans to call at next month’s trial over whether he will have to turn over his multimillion dollar Florida condominium to the two Georgia election workers he defamed to the tune of $148 million. U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman said on Monday that Giuliani filed his witness list under seal on Dec. 23, despite the fact that the court had “neither directed nor permitted this list to be filed under seal.” The judge then ordered the clerk of the court to unseal the document on the court’s public docket. The failure to abide by the court’s processes and procedures in the latest in a long line of mishaps on Giuliani’s end in the contentious litigation over how he is going to pay the massive debt he owes to Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss."

~~~~~~~~~~

California. Aaron Gregg of the Washington Post: "Insurance companies that pulled back from fire-prone areas of California in recent years will have to start covering those regions again if they want to stay in the state — but they can pass more costs on to customers. A regulation announced this week by the California Department of Insurance requires insurers to increase the writing of comprehensive policies in disaster-prone areas by 5 percent every two years up to a certain threshold. Currently, there is no requirement that insurers operate in high-risk areas at all, and some of the largest home insurers have cut their natural disaster coverage or hiked rates as climate risk grows. But in an effort to keep those firms from leaving California altogether, regulators included a concession that the industry has sought for years: the ability to include reinsurance costs in the rates that homeowners pay."

North Carolina. Sam Levin of the Guardian: "The governor of North Carolina has granted commutations to 15 people on death row on his final day in office, changing their sentences to life without the possibility of parole. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, announced his clemency action on New Year’s Eve, prompting praise from opponents of capital punishment, who have advocated for mass commutations to thwart executions. Cooper’s grants exclude dozens of people whose death sentences remain intact. Out of 136 people on the state’s death row, Cooper had received 89 clemency petitions, according to the governor’s office. His office said it considered the facts of the crime, input from prosecutors and victims, 'credible claims of innocence', the 'potential influence of race', prison conduct, a defendant’s age and intellectual capacity at the time of the offense and other case factors."

Puerto Rico. Luis Ferré-Sadurní, et al., of the New York Times: "A sweeping blackout hit Puerto Rico early Tuesday morning, plunging most of the island into darkness on New Year’s Eve.... Nearly 90 percent of Puerto Rico’s 1.4 million utility customers were without power on Tuesday morning in what was described as a 'systemwide' blackout, according to Luma Energy, a private Canadian American consortium that took control of the U.S. territory’s energy grid in 2021.... As of 11 p.m., power had been restored to 48 percent of customers, Luma said in an update late Tuesday."

~~~~~~~~~~

Germany. Christopher Schuetze of the New York Times: "... [German] Chancellor Olaf ... Scholz’s New Year’s Eve speech, which will probably be his last, comes amid unusual political turbulence in modern Germany and rising polarization in Europe. The tone of his address reflected the stakes for the country as it faces stalled economic growth, with the chancellor calling for 'solidarity' while acknowledging that life had become more expensive for many.... He also included an oblique reference to a non-German who has taken a strong, some might say baffling, interest in the country’s politics: Elon Musk.... 'Where Germany goes from here will be decided by you — the citizens,' Mr. Scholz said. 'It will not be decided by the owners of social media channels.... In our debates, one can be forgiven for sometimes thinking the more extreme an opinion is, the more attention it will garner. But it won’t be the person who yells loudest who will decide where Germany goes from here. Rather, that will be up to the vast majority of reasonable and decent people.'”

Russia/Ukraine, et al. Marc Santora, et al., of the New York Times: "The Russian energy giant Gazprom said early Wednesday that it had suspended the flow of natural gas to Europe through a pipeline that had carried Soviet and Russian gas through Ukraine for nearly six decades. The move came after Ukraine had said it would not renew an agreement that allowed for the transit of Russian gas through its territory. The agreement, signed in 2019, ended on Wednesday. Gazprom made its announcement in a post on the Telegram platform, saying that the gas had stopped flowing at 8 a.m. Moscow time on Wednesday.

"Europe has sharply reduced its consumption of Russian gas since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago.... Austria, Hungary, Slovakia and several Balkan countries still rely on Russian gas delivered through Ukraine, but experts say gas in storage facilities and alternative supplies should prevent any immediate disruptions to electricity and heating in these countries."

The pipeline through Ukraine, built in the Soviet era to carry Siberian gas to European markets, was Russia’s last major gas corridor to Europe after the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany was sabotaged in 2022, possibly by Ukraine, and the closure of a route through Belarus to Poland.