The Conversation -- March 26, 2024

Marie: I've got power! I absolutely am not corrupt.

** Ronna Fired After One Day on the Job. Jeremy Barr of the Washington Post: "Amid a chorus of on-air protest from some of the network's biggest stars, NBC announced Tuesday night that former Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel will no longer be joining the network as a paid contributor. In a memo, NBCUniversal News Group Chairman Cesar Conde told staff that he had listened to 'the legitimate concerns' of many network employees.... In his memo to employees, Conde apologized to employees 'who felt we let them down' and said he took responsibility for the botched hiring.... One by one, [MSNBC hosts] took to the airwaves to deliver that message to their bosses in front of their live audiences Monday.... NBC delivered the news of its course correction to its employees before informing McDaniel...."

** Ben Protess & William Rashbaum of the New York Times: [Juan Merchan,] "the New York judge presiding over one of Donald J. Trump's criminal trials, imposed a gag order on Tuesday that prohibits him from attacking witnesses, prosecutors and jurors, the latest effort to rein in the former president's wrathful rhetoric about his legal opponents.... Mr. Trump cannot make, or direct others to make, statements about witnesses' roles in the case. Mr. Trump is also barred from commenting on prosecutors, court staff and their relatives -- if he intended to interfere with their work on the case. Any comments whatsoever about jurors are banned as well, the judge ruled.... Mr. Trump is not prohibited from attacking [Manhattan District Attorney Alvin] Bragg, who has received numerous death threats in recent months....

In a rambling and angry post on his social media site on Tuesday, Mr. Trump made an ominous reference to [Michael] Cohen..., one of Mr. Bragg's main witnesses..., claiming without explanation that his former fixer was 'death.' He also referred to one of Mr. Bragg's prosecutors in pejorative terms. Both comments would now arguably violate the gag order.... Justice Merchan is just the latest judge to impose a gag order on the former president.... In a separate order Tuesday, Justice Merchan issued a stern warning to Mr. Trump's lawyers as well. He reminded them to behave professionally, or risk being held in contempt." ~~~

     ~~~ CNN's report is here. Judge Merchan's order, via the New York court system, is here.

     ~~~ Marie: Nearly every day of every year since Donald Trump became a candidate for president* in 2015, this depraved mobster-monster has proved again that he is remarkably unqualified to hold any public office, including janitor at a local jail.

Trump: Too Many Tuesdays, Not Enough Crime. Ed Mazza of the Huffington Post: "President Joe Biden's campaign on Monday released an unusually blunt statement tearing into Donald Trump as 'feeble, confused, and tired' after an appearance marked by verbal stumbles as well as a bizarre social media post in which he likened himself to Christ. 'He spent the weekend golfing, the morning comparing himself to Jesus, and the afternoon lying about having money he definitely doesn't have,' the statement said.... [Trump made] a rambling appearance..., which included several gaffes, including an odd moment when the former president insisted that 'you can't have an election in the middle of a political season.' The former president added: 'We just had Super Tuesday, and we had a Tuesday after Tuesday already.' Trump also vowed to 'bring crime back to law and order.'" MB: Well, he's certainly done that.

Drew Harwell of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump's social media start-up surged in its first day of trading as a public company Tuesday, a stock-market debut that helped deliver the Republican presidential candidate a multibillion-dollar fortune. The newly merged Trump Media & Technology Group, which owns the social network Truth Social, saw its share price climb roughly 35 percent in its first morning on the Nasdaq exchange.... Trump owns 60 percent of Trump Media, or roughly 78 million shares, a stake now worth more than $5 billion. The company's valuation, however, stands at odds with its business performance."

Texas. This. Irritates. Me. David Goodman of the New York Times: "Nearly nine years after his indictment on charges of felony security fraud, Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general, reached a deal with prosecutors on Tuesday to avoid a criminal trial that had been set to begin next month. The deal, announced by the prosecutors and lawyers for Mr. Paxton during a hearing in Houston, does not involve any admission of guilt but requires Mr. Paxton to pay nearly $300,000 in restitution, take legal ethics classes and perform 100 hours of community service. At the hearing, the judge in the case, Andrea Beall, asked questions but observed that the agreement had been made between the parties and the court could not block it.... For Mr. Paxton, a three-term Republican incumbent, the agreement amounted to another victory over opponents who have long hoped that his legal troubles would lead to his political undoing."

The New York Times is liveblogging oral arguments "over the availability of a commonly used abortion pill, raising the possibility that it could sharply curtail access to the drug -- even in states where abortion access remains legal.... The current challenge involves mifepristone, a drug approved by the F.D.A. more than two decades ago that is used in nearly two-thirds of abortions in the country. At issue is whether the agency acted appropriately in expanding access to the drug in 2016 and again in 2021." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Here's something I learned from the liveblog: Erin Hawley, who represents the anti-abortion doctors, is married to Running Man Josh Hawley (R-Mo.).

~~~~~~~~~~

The Trials of Trump, Etc.

Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "At 11 a.m. Monday, a New York appeals court made Donald J. Trump's day, rescuing him from financial devastation in a civil fraud case. By noon, the New York judge overseeing his criminal case had nearly ruined it, setting Mr. Trump's trial for next month and all but ensuring he will hold the dubious distinction of becoming the first former American president to be criminally prosecuted.... Unfolding in rapid succession in his hometown courts, the day's events captured the disorienting reality of having a candidate who is also a defendant. And they showed that nothing about the months until Election Day will be easy, linear or normal -- for Mr. Trump or the nation."

Of Course This Happened. Ben Protess & William Rashbaum of the New York Times: "... a New York appeals court appears to have handed [Donald Trump] a lifeline on Monday, saying it would accept a ... bond of $175 million. The ruling by a five-judge panel of appellate court judges was a crucial and unexpected victory for the former president, potentially staving off a looming financial disaster.... Mr. Trump has 10 days to secure the bond, and two people with knowledge of his finances said he should be able to do so by then.... A spokeswoman for the attorney general, Letitia James, noted that Mr. Trump was 'still facing accountability for his staggering fraud' and that the judgment 'still stands.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Jennifer Peltz & Michael Sisak of the AP: "A New York appeals court on Monday agreed to hold off collection of ... Donald Trump's more than $454 million civil fraud judgment if he puts up $175 million within 10 days. If he does, it will stop the clock on collection and prevent the state from seizing the presumptive Republican presidential nominee's assets while he appeals. The appeals court also halted other aspects of a trial judge's ruling that had barred Trump and his sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., the family company's executive vice presidents, from serving in corporate leadership for several years. In all, the order was a significant victory for the Republican ex-president as he defends the real estate empire that vaulted him into public life." (Also linked yesterday.)

Michael Sisak, et al., of the AP: "... Donald Trump will stand trial starting April 15 on charges related to hush money payments meant to cover up claims of marital infidelity, a New York judge ruled Monday in tersely swatting aside defense claims of prosecutorial misconduct.... [Judge Juan] Merchan, who earlier this month postponed the trial until at least mid-April, told defense lawyers that they should have acted much sooner if they believed they didn't have all the records they felt they were entitled to.... 'You're accusing the Manhattan district attorney's office and the people involved in this case of prosecutorial misconduct and of trying to make me complicit in it. And you don't have a single cite to support that position,' [Merchan said.] Outside the courtroom, Trump complained about the ruling, characterizing the case -- as he has done repeatedly -- as an act of 'election interference' in the midst of his presidential campaign." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It is rich to hear a man who tried to overturn a presidential election complaining he's the victim of election interference.

Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "Almost any other defendant would have to face the consequences of coming to court empty-handed [instead of posting the required bond in the civil fraud case he lost].... Although Trump is entitled to an appeal, which he is pursuing, it still feels outrageous that the former president would get this unexplained courtesy after years of willfully defrauding the public.... If there seems to be a different set of rules for Trump..., that's because for all intents and purposes, there is. At no point during his long career as a celebrity real estate mogul and businessman has Trump faced any meaningful consequences for his fraudulent, even criminal, behavior. He has operated, for decades, with a shield of impunity crafted from his shamelessness, his celebrity and his craven willingness to intimidate critics with litigation or even just the threat of litigation. What is striking is the extent to which this shield of impunity has only been strengthened by the political and legal institutions of the United States.... The American people have been the single most reliable obstacle to Trump's effort to impose himself, and his will, over our institutions. Let us hope that they have not given up the fight."

Matthew Goldstein of the New York Times: Donald Trump's "social media company, Trump Media & Technology Group, will start trading on the Nasdaq on Tuesday, under the ticker DJT. Trump Media -- the parent of Truth Social ... -- closed its merger with a cash-rich public shell company on Monday. The shell company's stock surged ahead of the deal, in a frenzied trade that has fueled the company since it proposed the merger with Mr. Trump's firm in 2021. Monday's trading suggested that the market valuation of the new company could be well over $6 billion.... The biggest beneficiary of the market action is Mr. Trump, who owns about 60 percent of Trump Media's shares. At the close of trading on Monday, his stake was worth nearly $4 billion.... By most traditional measures, Trump Media's valuation is inordinately high. The company took in just $3.3 million in revenue during the first nine months of last year, all from advertising on Truth Social, and recorded a loss of $49 million. That means Trump Media's market value is more than 1,000 times its estimated annual revenue." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Unless DJT makes some brilliant investments in or acquisitions of other companies (and it won't if Trump has anything to say about it), expect this venture to crash & burn. However, I expect Trump himself will make at least millions out of it before the coming crash, so it's all good. According to Trump. ~~~

     ~~~ Matt Egan of CNN: "Wall Street is assigning Trump Media an eye-popping valuation of around $9 billion -- a price tag that experts warn is untethered to reality.... 'The underlying business doesn't seem to be worth much. There is no evidence this is going to become a large, highly profitable company,' [Jay Ritter, a finance professor,] said.... The ... valuation is a massive windfall for Trump, who owns a dominant stake of 79 million shares.... Truth Social faces real challenges and is still dwarfed by its rivals.... Beyond the valuation concerns, there are other risks involved in Trump Media. For example..., 'There is a unique keyman risk because Donald Trump is the chairman, top shareholder and the most popular user. He is one man, and he's 77 years old,' said [Matthew] Kennedy[, an IPO strategist].... Not only does Trump himself face reputational issues, but his companies have a history of going bankrupt.... Another question is what happens when the lock-up restrictions on Trump and other key insiders lapse in the coming months. Trump's legal troubles could give him a reason to sell his commanding stake, an outcome that would threaten Trump Media's share price.... Kennedy said that in many ways, Trump Media going public amounts to a 'mutli-billion dollar bet' on a second Trump term, a return to the White House that could be lucrative for his social media network."

Daniel Dale of CNN: "... Donald Trump told a story on Monday in which he claimed that he decided not to list the Trump Media & Technology Group on the New York Stock Exchange, even though the exchange 'badly' wanted the company, because businesspeople are 'treated too badly in New York' and 'don't want to be attacked by a thug like this horrible attorney general that we have in New York.' There is one problem. The story does not make any sense.... The stock exchange on which the Trump Media & Technology Group is being listed, the Nasdaq, is also headquartered in New York.... All of the New York laws and political oversight that would have applied to the company if it was listed on the NYSE will apply to the company when it is listed on the Nasdaq.... [Trump] claimed that 'the top person [at the NYSE] is mortified, can't believe it.... He said, "I'm losing business because of New York -- because people don't want to be in New York and they don't want to go on the New York Stock Exchange."'...The 'top person' at the NYSE, however, is not a 'he.' The president of the NYSE since 2022, Lynn Martin, is a woman, as is her predecessor Stacey Cunningham. And the NYSE board is chaired by a woman, Sharon Bowen."

How an Oligarchy Works. Ja'han Jones of MSNBC: "Billionaire investor Jeff Yass is playing his Trump card. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Friday that the right-wing megadonor and major TikTok investor is a part owner of the company that merged with Donald Trump's media company, which owns Truth Social, the former president's struggling social media platform.... Yass' name recently started popping up in news reports after Trump denounced legislation in Congress that could ban TikTok unless the social media outlet is sold from its China-based parent company. This was a major reversal of Trump's previous opposition to TikTok and came after Yass met with Trump in Florida, with the backdrop of the former president's mounting legal fees only adding to suspicion that Yass essentially could be purchasing a presidential candidate.... It certainly looks like Trump is under Yass' thumb now."

Unlike the Democrats, who are KILLING SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE by allowing the INVASION OF THE MIGRANTS, I will NOT, under any circumstance, allow either of these two precious GEMS to be even touched under a Trump Administration. Biden is killing them both with the INVASION, while at the same time destroying our Country! -- Donald Trump, social media post, March 21

Undocumented immigrants improve the health of Social Security and Medicare by paying payroll taxes without receiving benefits. -- Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post

About Those Immigrants. Maria Sacchetti of the Washington Post: "Melania Trump sponsored her mother to immigrate to the United States through a family-based process that ... Donald Trump aggressively sought to end, according to federal immigration records released Monday. The records detail for the first time the full path that the former first lady's mother, Amalija Knavs, followed from Slovenia to the United States -- and how the Trump administration's policies would have made that far more difficult for others. Knavs died in January at age 78.... Melania Trump used a legal pathway that her husband and his top advisers had repeatedly disparaged as 'chain migration,' the right of U.S. citizens to bring their parents to the United States."

Yvonne Sanchez & Perry Stein of the Washington Post: "Justice Department officials said reports of widespread threats against officials running the 2020 and 2022 elections have resulted in charges against roughly 20 people, with more than a half dozen receiving sentences between one and 3½ years. But the federal officials said at a news conference in Arizona on Monday that it remains to be seen if the stiff sentences will serve as an effective deterrent to would-be-criminals in future election cycles.... When Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election and falsely claimed that Joe Biden wasn't the true winner because of widespread voter fraud, election workers across the country -- from rank-and-file employees who helped process ballots to top state officials who certified or defended the results -- came under attack. In June 2021, Attorney General Merrick Garland launched the Election Threats Task Force to combat violent threats facing election workers." ~~~

     ~~~ An NBC News story is here. Related AP story linked below under ";Arizona/Ohio."

Ben Schreckinger of Politico: "Federal investigators in South Florida recently probed transactions linked to Jim Biden as part of a criminal investigation, according to two people familiar with the matter. The investigation remains open, according to one of them. Meanwhile, Justice Department officials prosecuting an ongoing Medicare fraud case in Pennsylvania were seeking information about the activities of President Joe Biden's brother as recently as last year, according to a third person familiar with that case.... Both investigations have scrutinized a troubled hospital chain, Americore, that Jim Biden worked with in the years after President Joe Biden left the Obama administration."

** Abbie VanSickle of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court is expected on Tuesday to weigh the availability of a commonly used abortion pill, raising the possibility that it could sharply curtail access to the drug -- even in states where abortion access remains legal.... A decision by the justices, expected by late June, could cut off prescriptions by telemedicine and pills sent by mail, two changes in recent years that broadened distribution. It could also have implications for the regulatory authority of the Food and Drug Administration, potentially calling into question the agency's ability to approve and distribute other drugs. The current challenge involves mifepristone, a drug approved by the F.D.A. more than two decades ago that is used in nearly two-thirds of abortions in the country. At issue is whether the agency acted appropriately in expanding access to the drug in 2016 and again in 2021. The court is also expected to consider whether the plaintiffs, a group of anti-abortion doctors and organizations, can show that they will suffer concrete harm if the pill remains widely available."

A New Clarence & Ginni for Our Time. Alex Henderson of AlterNet, republished by the Raw Story: "The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled Tuesday to hear oral arguments in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine -- a case in which far-right Christian fundamentalists and anti-abortion activists are challenging access to the abortion drug mifepristone. Those fundamentalists are claiming that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration should never have approved mifepristone -- a claim that far-right Judge James C. Ho, a Donald Trump appointee to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, agreed with when he ruled to restrict the drug. Judge Ho ... is married to Allyson Ho, an anti-abortion activist." Here's the Guardian's story. (Also linked yesterday.)

Annals of Journalism, Ctd.

Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: "Leadership at NBC raced to contain an escalating revolt on Monday as some of the country's best-known television anchors took the extraordinary step of criticizing their network on its own airwaves for hiring Ronna McDaniel, the former chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, as a political analyst. One by one, MSNBC stars lined up to berate their bosses on live television. Rachel Maddow, the biggest star and highest-rated anchor at MSNBC, opened her 9 p.m. show with a 29-minute monologue that described Ms. McDaniel's hiring as 'inexplicable.' 'I want to associate myself with all my colleagues, both at MSNBC and NBC News, who have voiced loud and principled objections to our company putting on the payroll someone who hasn't just attacked us as journalists, but someone who is part of an ongoing project to get rid of our system of government,' she said. 'Someone who still is trying to convince Americans that this election stuff, it doesn't really work.' Ms. Maddow then implored company executives to reverse their decision....

"And Nicolle Wallace all but accused her employer of enabling authoritarianism by granting Ms. McDaniel a platform. She told viewers that NBC News, 'wittingly or unwittingly,' had signaled to 'election deniers' that they could spread falsehoods 'as one of us, as badge-carrying employees of NBC News, as paid contributors to our sacred airwaves.' Also joining in were Joy Reid, Jen Psaki, Lawrence O'Donnell and the veteran NBC News anchor Chuck Todd, who stunned executives by denouncing Ms. McDaniel's appointment on Sunday's 'Meet the Press.'... Ms. McDaniel's deal is worth about $300,000 a year, one of the people with knowledge of the conversations said." ~~~

~~~ Jeremy Barr has the Washington Post's story. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Maddow spent a good deal of her monologue comparing Trump to earlier fascists who ran for president on the premise that democracy was so flawed that what the country needed was them -- running the country as a dictatorship. Although Trump and these now largely-forgotten others had the same project, none of them was supported by a major U.S. political party. Enter Ronna.

Ryan Lizza of Politico: "The uproar inside NBC over Ronna McDaniel's hiring spilled into Monday morning as more of the network's top personalities denounced the deal with the former RNC chair, escalating a battle over the relationship between powerful media companies and Donald Trump's loyalists. The decision to hire McDaniel, which was unanimously supported by top network executives, has already divided and destabilized one of America's most storied news organizations, with internal dismay flaring on text chains and Slack channels since the deal was announced late last week.... 'We weren't asked our opinion of the hiring but, if we were, we would have strongly objected to it for several reasons,' Joe Scarborough said Monday at the top of 'Morning Joe'..., with co-host Mika Brzezinski adding, 'We hope NBC will reconsider its decision. It goes without saying that she will not be a guest on "Morning Joe" in her capacity as a paid contributor.' They then played a reel of McDaniel's various comments questioning the outcome of the 2020 election.... It's yet unclear whether the NBC-McDaniel relationship can survive the uproar.... The McDaniel deal was unanimously supported by leaders of all their networks, according to an NBC insider, including by Rashida Jones, president of MSNBC." (Also linked yesterday.)

Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post: "I believe ... NBC thought it had found one of the unicorns that virtually all leading media outlets have been hunting for years now: commentators who can articulate the Republican Party's point of view in a way that is consistent with responsible standards and practices. The problem is that since Trump's takeover of the party, the mainstream GOP position -- on any given topic, at any given moment -- is his position. This is true even if it means Republicans must say the opposite of what they said yesterday, and even if it means saying things that demonstrably are untrue.... I should note that I am paid to appear on those NBC platforms and do so several times a week. Unlike McDaniel, however, I have never claimed that a presidential election was 'rigged' even after dozens of recounts and court cases proved it was not. Nor have I ever tried to trivialize the violent, bloody Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection by calling it 'legitimate political discourse,' as McDaniel has." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The truth is that, like Logan Roy's adult children who also are media moguls in the fictional series "Succession," the NBC suits "are not serious people." I suspect few of them have backgrounds or any interest in the liberal arts; rather, their educational background is in business and "communications," and they don't know the difference between Ronna Romney McDaniel and Jamie Raskin.

Christine Zhu of Politico: "An NBC union accused the network of valuing former RNC chair Ronna McDaniel over its own journalists, in social media posts shared Monday. 'Two weeks before [NBC News] proudly announced the hiring of Ronna McDaniel, execs illegally terminated 13 union journalists,' NBC Guild posted on X, writing that NBCUniversal News Group Chair Cesar Conde never offered an explanation for the layoffs. 'Ronna encouraged a lie that many of our own journalists have spent countless hours debunking,' the Guild continued. 'Our journalism is tarnished by @NBCNews execs elevating a liar over the workers who have spent years delivering the kind of reporting that our newsrooms are typically known for.'... The Guild wrote on X that it filed another charge with the National Labor Relations Board after 'repeated violations of federal labor law' by NBC."

~~~~~~~~~~

Arizona/Ohio. Jacques Billeaud of the AP: "An Ohio man who acknowledged making death threats in voicemails left for then-Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs during the 2022 election season was sentenced Monday to 2 1/2 years in prison. Joshua Russell of Bucyrus, Ohio, had pleaded guilty in late August to a federal charge of making an interstate threat against Hobbs, a Democrat who, as secretary of state, was Arizona's chief elections officer in 2022 and now serves as the states governor. U.S. District Judge Steven Logan commended Russell for undergoing substance abuse treatment and other counseling since his arrest and getting his life in order, but concluded Russell must spend time in prison.... The judge, who read Russell's profanity-laden threats aloud in court, said Russell had accused the victim of being a terrorist, while he was threatening her life. He rejected Russell's characterization of his actions as immature."

Florida. Owen Girard of Florida's Voice: "Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill on Monday barring minors under 14 from creating accounts on social media platforms that employ addictive features and data collection software. The legislation allows for 14 and 15-year-olds to create accounts on the apps with parental consent. Additionally, the bill requires adequate age verification measures for internet sites that contains obscene or 'harmful' content, unsuitable for minors.... The legislation will go into effect Jan. 1, 2025."

Ohio. Michael Wines of the New York Times: "A former speaker of the Ohio State House of Representatives, now serving a 20-year federal prison sentence, was indicted on 10 more state felony charges on Monday in connection with a sprawling bribery scheme that handed a $1.3 billion bailout to a major regional energy utility.... The charges against the former speaker, Larry Householder, followed an inquiry by the Ohio Organized Crime Commission that also produced indictments last month of two former executives of the Akron-based utility, FirstEnergy Corporation. The two men -- Chuck Jones, a former FirstEnergy chief executive officer, and Michael Dowling, a senior vice president -- were charged with funneling $4.3 million in bribes to the former chairman of the Ohio Public Utility Commission, Sam Randazzo. They and Mr. Randazzo, who was also indicted, have pleaded not guilty to a total of 27 charges."

~~~~~~~~~~

Israel/Palestine, et al.

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Tuesday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is set to meet with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in Washington on Tuesday, despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's abrupt cancellation of a visit by another high-level delegation to the United States.... Gallant met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Monday. Blinken, in his meeting with Gallant, 'reiterated the United States' support for ensuring the defeat of Hamas, including in Rafah, while reiterating opposition to a major ground operation in Rafah,' according to the State Department." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Tuesday are here. CNN's live updates are here.

Edith Lederer of the AP: "The United Nations Security Council on Monday issued its first demand for a cease-fire in Gaza, with the U.S. angering Israel by abstaining from the vote. Israel responded by canceling a visit to Washington by a high-level delegation in the strongest public clash between the allies since the war began. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the U.S. of 'retreating' from a 'principled position' by allowing the vote to pass without conditioning the cease-fire on the release of hostages held by Hamas.... The 15-member council approved the resolution 14-0 after the U.S. decided not to use its veto power on the measure, which also demanded the release of all hostages taken captive during Hamas' Oct. 7 surprise attack in southern Israel. The chamber broke into loud applause after the vote." (Also linked yesterday.)

Russia. Valerie Hopkins & Neil MacFarquhar of the New York Times: "The four men accused of carrying out Russia's deadliest terror attack in decades appeared in a Moscow court on Sunday night bandaged and battered. One entered with his partially severed ear covered. Another was in an orange wheelchair, his left eye bulging, his hospital gown open and a catheter on his lap.... Since Saturday, videos of the men being tortured during interrogation circulated widely on social media.... How the videos began circulating was not immediately clear, but they were spread by nationalistic, pro-war Telegram channels that are regarded as close to Russia's security services.... Analysts said the flagrant display of the tortured demonstrated ... the extent to which Russian society has become militarized, and tolerant of violence, since the war in Ukraine began."

News Lede

** Washington Post: "A major bridge in Baltimore collapsed after being hit by a freighter Tuesday. Rescuers were searching for as many as 20 people believed to be in the water near the Francis Scott Key Bridge, a fire official said, after a large part of the structure snapped and fell into the Patapsco River. The Baltimore City Fire Department described it as a 'mass casualty incident' early Tuesday.... Wind, frigid temperatures and murky waters made rescue conditions difficult, said Kevin Cartwright, the fire department's communications director. No rescues were immediately confirmed. It was not clear how many people were on the bridge when it fell. A Singapore-flagged vessel, the 948-foot Dali, crashed into the Key Bridge about 1:30 a.m. Eastern time, said Matthew West, a Coast Guard petty officer first class in Baltimore. Coast Guard assets were on their way to the scene, he said." This is a liveblog. ~~~

     ~~~ CNN's live updates are here.

The Conversation -- March 25, 2024

Edith Lederer of the AP: "The United Nations Security Council on Monday issued its first demand for a cease-fire in Gaza, with the U.S. angering Israel by abstaining from the vote. Israel responded by canceling a visit to Washington by a high-level delegation in the strongest public clash between the allies since the war began. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the U.S. of 'retreating' from a 'principled position' by allowing the vote to pass without conditioning the cease-fire on the release of hostages held by Hamas.... The 15-member council approved the resolution 14-0 after the U.S. decided not to use its veto power on the measure, which also demanded the release of all hostages taken captive during Hamas' Oct. 7 surprise attack in southern Israel. The chamber broke into loud applause after the vote."

Because Of Course This Happened. Ben Protess & William Rashbaum of the New York Times: "... a New York appeals court appears to have handed [Donald Trump] a lifeline on Monday, saying it would accept a ... bond of $175 million. The ruling by a five-judge panel of appellate court judges was a crucial and unexpected victory for the former president, potentially staving off a looming financial disaster.... Mr. Trump has 10 days to secure the bond, and two people with knowledge of his finances said he should be able to do so by then.... A spokeswoman for the attorney general, Letitia James, noted that Mr. Trump was 'still facing accountability for his staggering fraud' and that the judgment 'still stands.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Jennifer Peltz & Michael Sisak of the AP: "A New York appeals court on Monday agreed to hold off collection of ... Donald Trump's more than $454 million civil fraud judgment if he puts up $175 million within 10 days. If he does, it will stop the clock on collection and prevent the state from seizing the presumptive Republican presidential nominee's assets while he appeals. The appeals court also halted other aspects of a trial judge's ruling that had barred Trump and his sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., the family company's executive vice presidents, from serving in corporate leadership for several years. In all, the order was a significant victory for the Republican ex-president as he defends the real estate empire that vaulted him into public life."

Michael Sisak , et al., of the AP: "... Donald Trump will stand trial starting April 15 on charges related to hush money payments meant to cover up claims of marital infidelity, a New York judge ruled Monday in tersely swatting aside defense claims of prosecutorial misconduct.... [Judge Juan] Merchan, who earlier this month postponed the trial until at least mid-April, told defense lawyers that they should have acted much sooner if they believed they didn't have all the records they felt they were entitled to.... 'You're accusing the Manhattan district attorney's office and the people involved in this case of prosecutorial misconduct and of trying to make me complicit in it. And you don't have a single cite to support that position,' [Merchan said.] Outside the courtroom, Trump complained about the ruling, characterizing the case -- as he has done repeatedly -- as an act of 'election interference' in the midst of his presidential campaign." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It is rich to hear a man who tried to overturn a presidential election complaining he's the victim of election interference.

A New Clarence & Ginni for Our Times. Alex Henderson of AlterNet, republished by the Raw Story: "The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled Tuesday to hear oral arguments in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine -- a case in which far-right Christian fundamentalists and anti-abortion activists are challenging access to the abortion drug mifepristone. Those fundamentalists are claiming that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration should never have approved mifepristone -- a claim that far-right Judge James C. Ho, a Donald Trump appointee to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, agreed with when he ruled to restrict the drug. Judge Ho ... is married to Allyson Ho, an anti-abortion activist." Here's the Guardian's story.

Ryan Lizza of Politico: "The uproar inside NBC over Ronna McDaniel's hiring spilled into Monday morning as more of the network's top personalities denounced the deal with the former RNC chair, escalating a battle over the relationship between powerful media companies and Donald Trump's loyalists. The decision to hire McDaniel, which was unanimously supported by top network executives, has already divided and destabilized one of America's most storied news organizations, with internal dismay flaring on text chains and Slack channels since the deal was announced late last week.... 'We weren't asked our opinion of the hiring but, if we were, we would have strongly objected to it for several reasons,' Joe Scarborough said Monday at the top of 'Morning Joe'..., with co-host Mika Brzezinski adding, 'We hope NBC will reconsider its decision. It goes without saying that she will not be a guest on "Morning Joe" in her capacity as a paid contributor.' They then played a reel of McDaniel's various comments questioning the outcome of the 2020 election.... It's yet unclear whether the NBC-McDaniel relationship can survive the uproar.... The McDaniel deal was unanimously supported by leaders of all their networks, according to an NBC insider, including by Rashida Jones, president of MSNBC."

~~~~~~~~~~

MEANWHILE, Back at the Ranch. Marie: Still no power. Because I have a generator, I was able to do a bit Saturday night. But in the middle of the night, I heard more trees crashing, and I lost my cable connection. So besides no power, I had no phone, no Internet, no TV! I tried texting a friend Sunday morning to let her know I was all right so she wouldn't call out the cavalry, but I only had one "bar" on my phone, and I didn't dare go out onto the porch with that high-power line draped across it, because I was afraid the snow on the porch would conduct electricity and that would be the end of me. Luckily, Snowplow Guy came by and was able to text my friend. Then we got more snow. And all local WiFi went down for the area. The power company came by late yesterday, and their idea of a "fix" was to remove the power line from the porch. But it still runs all across my yard, between me and the outside world. So I'm still trapped. I can see that all the lines to my house are down, but somehow, through the miracle of Xfinity, I got back Internet & phone (and maybe teevee!) service, at least for now. I can go out on the porch, too, but not any further. I remain in veritable prison lockdown, but as long as my propane for the generator holds out, I won't freeze to death (it's 17 degrees right now). So I beat on, feet against the high-power current, borne ceaselessly into the great unknown. ~~~

     ~~~ Thank you for your good wishes in yesterday's Comments. And thanks to those who also linked interesting content in Sunday's Comments.

Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "President Biden, amping up a populist pitch in his re-election campaign, has repeatedly said he would raise taxes on the wealthy and corporations to make them pay their 'fair share.' Republicans say Mr. Biden has 'an unquenchable thirst for taxing the American people.'... Donald J. Trump, said recently that Mr. Biden was 'going to give you the greatest, biggest, ugliest tax hike in the history of our country.' So it might come as a surprise that, in just over three years in office, Mr. Biden has cut taxes overall.... An analysis prepared for The New York Times by the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank that studies fiscal issues, shows that the tax cuts Mr. Biden has signed for individuals and corporations are larger than the tax increases he has imposed on big corporations and their shareholders. 'It's reasonable to conclude from those numbers that the Biden tax policy hasn't been some kind of radical tax-raising program,' said Benjamin R. Page..., author of the analysis."

Brad Plumer of the New York Times: "The Biden administration plans to spend up to $6 billion on new technologies to cut carbon dioxide emissions from heavy industries like steel, cement, chemicals and aluminum, which are all enormous contributors to global warming but which have so far been incredibly difficult to clean up. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said Monday that her agency would partially fund 33 different projects in 20 states to test methods for curbing emissions from a wide variety of factories and industrial plants, calling it 'the single largest industrial decarbonization investment in American history.'... While the projects themselves would put a relatively small dent in U.S. emissions, Ms. Granholm said the goal was to demonstrate novel technologies that can scale up rapidly and 'set a new gold standard for clean manufacturing in the United States and around the world.'"

Maegan Vazquez & Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: "Less than six months after a faction of House Republicans led a revolt that removed Kevin McCarthy from the speakership, more Republicans are already complaining about the party's direction and questioning whether his replacement, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), is the right person for the job.... Both men have relied on Democrats to pass key funding bills in the narrowly divided chamber and have bypassed rules in order to move the legislative process along more quickly when facing key legislative deadlines.... The Republican Party faces deep divisions over how to handle major policy issues and whether to ever work with Democrats.... Over the weekend, Republicans appeared dismissive of [Marjorie Taylor] Greene's [R-Ga.] effort [to oust Johnson], signaling that they were not yet compelled to remove him from speakership." MB: Shame on Johnson & Democrats for keeping the federal government running.

Presidential Race

Jill Colvin & Zeke Miller of the AP: "As President Joe Biden visited five cities in a multiday trip last week..., Donald Trump was hardly seen in public, spending most of his time in South Florida. Trump has held just a single public campaign event since he locked up the Republican presidential nomination on March 12: a rally in Ohio funded not by his campaign but by backers of a Senate candidate whom he had endorsed. The events page on his campaign website has had nothing listed. Biden, meanwhile, has been barnstorming the country. After a trip to North Carolina on Tuesday, the Democratic president will have touched down in all of the 2024 swing states in the less than three weeks since his State of the Union address.... Trump has been spending his days in and around his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida -- fundraising, hosting elected officials who frequently visit, and meeting aides. But Trump has also made time for other pursuits. He recently said he won two championships at his Palm Beach golf club, writing on his social media site that they were 'very exciting' wins on a 'GREAT and difficult course.' He visited his golf club in West Palm Beach on Sunday to accept two trophies from a cheering audience." MB: Yeah, it's "very exciting" to win a trophy on your own damned course.

Yasmeen Abutaleb of the Washington Post: "President Biden, former president Barack Obama and former House speaker Nancy Pelosi appeared together in a video released by the Biden campaign Saturday celebrating the 14th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, and warned that Republican nominee Donald Trump would again try to overturn the law if he wins a second term this November.... 'Like any freedom, we can't take this one for granted. Right now, the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party for president says he still wants to repeal the entirety of the ACA,' Obama said in the video. 'That would mean kicking millions of young people off their parents' health insurance, raising costs at a time when a lot of folks are just starting out. We need to keep building on the ACA -- expanding coverage and lowering costs for more people.'" The NBC News story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I can't find the ad online (finding Biden's campaign ads is a problem I've encountered before), but the WashPo story has a piece of it embedded in the article.

Philip Nieto of Mediaite: "ABC News anchor Jon Karl grilled Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) over the possibility that ... Donald Trump will pick him as his vice presidential running mate. Recently, reports have circulated that the Florida lawmaker is on Trump's shortlist for vice president. During an interview on ABC's This Week, Rubio reiterated his prior statements that he would be honored to serve in the White House alongside Trump.... 'I mean, look what happened to the last guy! A mob stormed the Capitol, literally calling to hang Mike Pence. And Trump defended those chants of 'Hang Mike Pence.'" MB: Rubio responded with a series of lies. ~~~

     ~~~ Not that Rubio would ever let facts get in the way of his phony narrative, but he might have read this Washington Post story by Ashley Parker & Hannah Knowles: "Donald Trump posed an all-but-shouted query on his social media platform last week, echoing a talking point that has recently become popular in Republican circles: 'ARE YOU BETTER OFF THAN YOU WERE FOUR YEARS AGO?'... Four years ago last week, the stock market was collapsing -- hitting its worst week since the Great Recession of 2008 -- as the country spiraled into a years-long pandemic that claimed more than 1 million American lives, cratered the economy, upended daily life and, arguably, helped cost Trump a second term in the White House. The third week of March 2020 ... reveals a nation that was on the precipice of crisis, and a leader exhibiting the full panoply of characteristics that his supporters love and his detractors revile. Reported covid cases exploded that week, growing from 588 to 3,659, and covid deaths more than tripled.... Over the course of the coronavirus pandemic, Trump regularly indulged in his most combative and erratic impulses, alienating large swaths of the public along the way."

What a Second Trump Term Would Look Like. Digby: "Brynn Tannehill, author of 'American Fascism: How the GOP is Subverting Democracy' wrote this twitter thread which I think is a nice succinct recitation of what awaits in a second Trump term[.]"

The Trials of Trump

Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump is expected to appear in a Manhattan courtroom on Monday to seek another delay of his criminal trial on charges that he covered up a sex scandal that could have derailed his stunning victory in the 2016 presidential election. The hearing to finalize a trial date, in what would be the first criminal prosecution of a former American president, will come as Mr. Trump is racing to stave off a financial crisis arising from a judgment in another case: a $454 million judgment in a civil fraud suit brought by New York's attorney general."

CNN is liveblogging developments in Trump's trials today. Update: The New York Times liveblog is here.

Ben Protess of the New York Times: ";Hoping to stave off a financial crisis, Mr. Trump is racing the clock to block the New York attorney general from collecting the monetary penalty imposed in a civil fraud case. The attorney general, Letitia James, who brought the case accusing the former president of fraudulently inflating his net worth, has the power to freeze many of his bank accounts and begin the long, complicated process of seizing some of his properties.... When Ms. James does act, her efforts, depending on their severity, could starve Mr. Trump's family business of cash and drop the curtain on his final act as a New York mogul. And while Mr. Trump can seek to delay or limit some damage, that legal process is 'slow torture,' said Mark Zauderer, a veteran New York business litigator.... A bond ... would have strings attached: Mr. Trump would need to pledge more than $550 million in collateral to the company, including as much cash as possible.... Now, Mr. Trump is banking on an appeals court pausing the judgment or accepting a smaller bond. Although the court is not expected to rule on Monday, it could do so later this week or next week." ~~~

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light. -- Dylan Thomas

     ~~~ Tommy Christopher of Mediaite: "... Donald Trump raged at the possible seizures of his properties in a social media rant posted after midnight as the deadline to post his fraud appeal bond hit -- and hours before he was due in court for one of his felony criminal cases.... At ten minutes after midnight Monday morning, Trump raged about the prospect of his buildings being seized and again attacked President Joe Biden with an oft-debunked claim: 'Why should a Crooked, highly political New York Judge, Arthur Engoron, working in concert and coordination with an even more Corrupt Attorney General, Letitia 'Peekaboo' James, his Puppet Master, and the White House, be allowed to take away, and sell off, very successful properties and assets that took me years to zone, build and nurture into some of the best of their kind anywhere in the World --; WHEN I HAVE DONE NOTHING WRONG!'..." ~~~

     ~~~ In today's Comments, Akhilleus details the fake tribulations of broke fake billionaire Donald Jerkoff Trump. Akhilleus' citations are not exact quotes, but they do reflect the essence of what Trump and his phony lie-yers have said/written about the half-billion dollars that comes due today.

Jennifer Bahney of Mediaite: "Donald Trump's youngest adult son, Eric Trump, brutally self-owned on Fox News -- saying that insurance companies were laughing' when he tried to secure his father's half-a-billion dollar bond.... Eric Trump told Sunday Morning Futures Maria Bartiromo that it's impossible to secure such a large bond in the United States."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Drew Harwell of the Washington Post: "Former Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna [Romney] McDaniel faced brutal criticism during her first NBC appearance Sunday since the network hired her as a political analyst, including tough questioning about her failure to push back against ... Donald Trump's baseless claims of election fraud and visceral aggravation from journalists who said her hiring raised 'credibility issues' for NBC.... Kristen Welker, the ... host [of 'Meet the Press,'] said McDaniel's interview was scheduled weeks before her hiring was announced. She added, 'This will be a news interview, and I was not involved in her hiring.' McDaniel, who ... had repeatedly said the election was 'rigged,' told Welker during the interview that she disagreed with Trump's claims of election fraud and his calls to free the inmates jailed for storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. 'The reality is Joe Biden won,' she said. '... He's the legitimate president.'"

"But minutes later, a panel of journalists on the show questioned the credibility of her answers and laid into NBC executives for their decision to hire someone who had long attacked the network. 'Our bosses owe you an apology for putting you in this situation because I don't know what to believe,' Chuck Todd, NBC journalist and former 'Meet the Press' host, told Welker. '... I have no idea whether any answer she gave to you was because she didn't want to mess up her contract.'... Also appearing on the panel, Kimberly Atkins Stohr, a columnist for the Boston Globe, said McDaniel's 'credibility was shot' after the years in which she 'carried water for Donald Trump.... She habitually lied,' Atkins Stohr said. 'She habitually joined Trump in attacking the press, members of the press, including this network, in a way that put journalists at risk, in danger.'" MB: Ah, when you've lost Chuck Todd ... Anyway, read on. Ronna has an excuse for everything.

~~~ A CNN story is here. Mediaite has a related item here. Both center on Chuck Todd's remarks.

Sydney Ember of the New York Times: "Boeing announced Monday that its chief executive, David Calhoun, would step down at the end of 2024 as part of a broad management shake-up, as the aircraft maker grapples with its most significant safety crisis in years. Stan Deal, the head of the division that makes planes for commercial customers, will retire immediately and will be replaced by Stephanie Pope, the company's chief operating officer. The company also announced that its chairman, Larry Kellner, would not stand for re-election. The management overhaul comes less than three months after a panel, known as a door plug, blew off a Boeing Max 9 during an Alaska Airlines flight on Jan. 5. The incident plunged the company into crisis after crashes in 2018 and 2019 of its Max 8 planes that killed nearly 350 people." MB: I'm sure they'll all get very shiny golden parachutes to protect them, you know, should they fall out of a Boeing plane.

~~~~~~~~~~

New Jersey Senate Race. Tracey Tully of the New York Times: "Tammy Murphy, New Jersey's first lady, has ended her run for a U.S. Senate seat now held by the state's embattled senior senator, Robert Menendez, she announced on Sunday in a video posted to social media. Ms. Murphy said that she had concluded that continuing to compete in the Democratic primary against Representative Andy Kim, a third-term congressman from South Jersey, would mean waging a 'very divisive and negative campaign.' She was unwilling to do that, she said, and instead decided to suspend her campaign and to 'focus entirely on re-electing President Biden' and other Democrats."

~~~~~~~~~~

Israel/Palestine, et al.

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Monday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and a separate Israeli delegation are in Washington this week, as the Biden administration presses Israel not to attack the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Vice President Harris told ABC's 'This Week' that such an offensive 'would be a huge mistake,' as more than a million people are sheltering there. Asked whether there would be 'consequences' from the United States for an Israeli operation in Rafah, she said, 'I am ruling out nothing.'... Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted again Sunday that a military operation in Rafah is needed to eliminate Hamas. 'We will enter Rafah and achieve total victory,' he said, addressing the nation on the Jewish holiday of Purim." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times live updates for Monday are here.

Michael Hirsh in Politico Magazine: "After decades of building a 'close, personal' friendship with Benjamin Netanyahu, Joe Biden has had it with the Israeli prime minister. Now he's hitting him hard -- and it may be working."

Russia. Catherine Belton & Robyn Dixon of the Washington Post: "When Vladimir Putin finally spoke about the worst terrorist attack to hit Russia in 20 years, he swept over the glaring failure of his security state to prevent the assault, which left at least 137 dead, despite a clear warning from the United States on March 7 that a strike on a concert hall could be imminent. He also made no reference to the Islamic State, which claimed responsibility for the attack at the Crocus City concert hall on Friday and which Putin denounced repeatedly as an enemy throughout Russia's long military intervention in Syria. In 2017, Putin declared victory over the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. Putin instead used his five-minute televised address on Saturday to emphasize that the four direct perpetrators were 'moving toward Ukraine' when they were detained and that 'a window was prepared for them from the Ukrainian side to cross the state border.' He did not directly accuse Ukraine, which has denied any involvement, but a reference to 'Nazis' -- his usual label for the Ukrainian government -- made clear that he was blaming Kyiv." ~~~

~~~ CNN is liveblogging developments in the terrorist attack.

The Conversation -- March 24, 2024

Marie: Not sure how much I'll be doing today. We had five inches of snow Saturday morning, and my power has been out for hours. When I saw a truck go by on my road, I was hoping it was the power company, but it was the snow plow because it had snowed again Saturday evening. Then I saw that there was a live power line draped across the railings on my front steps and all the way across my front yard. So I won't be going anywhere since I'm in veritable prison lockdown; however, my generator may run out of power.

Aishvarya Kavi of the New York Times: "President Bidensigned a $1.2 trillion spending package on Saturday, putting an end to the prospect of a government shutdown after the legislation passed a rushed series of congressional votes with bipartisan support and landed on his desk just after 2 a.m." (Also linked yesterday.)

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday toured the still-bloody and bullet-pocked classroom building in Parkland, Fla., where a gunman killed 14 students and three staff members in 2018, using the grim backdrop to announce a new federal resource center and to call for stricter enforcement of gun laws.... 'This school is soon going to be torn down,' the vice president [said]. 'But the memory of it will never be erased.' Ms. Harris said the attack, carried out by a former student with a history of mental health and behavior problems, should prompt officials around the country to embrace local red-flag laws.... In her remarks, Ms. Harris announced the creation of the National Extreme Risk Protection Order Resource Center, which White House officials said would provide training and technical assistance to states as they work to implement their red-flag laws."

Marianne Levine, et al., of the Washington Post: Donald Trump has aligned "himself with Jan. 6 rioters, as he intensifies his use of dark, graphic and at times violent language.... Until November, he called the Jan. 6 defendants ... 'political prisoners' before introducing the term 'hostages,' according to a Washington Post analysis of his speeches this campaign cycle.... [A Washington Post] analysis [of his speeches] also showed an uptick in his references to Jan. 6 defendants, as well as the word 'criminals,' which Trump has used to describe prosecutors, political opponents, the press and undocumented immigrants. The escalation overlaps with his own mounting legal jeopardy....' (Also linked yesterday.)

Dareh Gregorian of NBC News: "Donald Trump's social media company could go public as soon as next week, paving the way for a potentially huge windfall for a former president who raked in tens of millions of dollars the last time one of his companies was listed on a stock exchange. That previous, decades-ago experience, however, did not end well for the company or its investors. While a 2016 Washington Post review found that Trump made over $44 million, the company -- Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts -- lost more than $1 billion and ended up in bankruptcy.... Trump, who was the company's chairman and later CEO, continued making millions of dollars a year in salary and bonuses despite the heavy losses [the company was experiencing under his direction]." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'm no market guru, but my sense is that if Trump ran into the ground a business that is normally a cash cow, "Truth Social" -- a knockoff social media site in which the only "asset" is Trump tweets -- is worth about 50 cents.

David McAfee of the Raw Story: "MSNBC reportedly has no plans to use Donald Trump's close ally, Ronna McDaniel, on its airwaves.... According to a new exclusive article from The Wall Street Journal, the president of MSNBC [Rashida Jones] isn't interested in ever using her.... 'A number of MSNBC anchors and producers have voiced concern internally about McDaniel's ties to ... Donald Trump and the RNC's role in his efforts to challenge the 2020 election results,' [the Journal reported]."

~~~~~~~~~~