The Conversation -- December 27, 2024
One Hundred Years of Soli ... d Waste. Dennis Overby of the New York Times: "It took roughly four billion years for the first living bit of protoplasm, bred perhaps in an undersea volcanic vent or a warm pond, to grow and evolve into the 1.1 trillion tons of biomass that inhabit Earth today. But all of that is outweighed by the plastic, concrete and other material that humans have produced in the last century alone in the form of everything from roads and skyscrapers to cars, cellphones, paper towels and bobblehead dolls.... There are now 1.3 trillion tons of man-made stuff on the planet, almost all of it built in the 20th century. The biggest portion of it is more than 600 billion tons of concrete, followed by about 400 billion tons of sand, gravel and other aggregate materials used in construction.... Humans use 100 times their own mass in plastic." ~~~
~~~ Marie: I'm happy to say I've never owned a "non-stick" pan (stainless steel, IMO, is as easy to clean as "non-stick"), and the dishes I'll have dinner on today have been in my family for more than 100 years. But I confess I do have too much stuff, much of which will wind up in a landfill. In fairness to Republicans, there is an upside to the poverty & hardship they impose upon the hoi polloi: people who can't afford too much stuff often don't buy it.
Hiroko Tabuchi of the New York Times: "In early 2000, scientists at 3M, the chemicals giant, made a startling discovery: High levels of PFAS, the virtually indestructible 'forever chemicals' used in nonstick pans, stain-resistant carpets and many othe products were turning up in the nation's sewage.... The data suggested that the toxic chemicals, made by 3M, were fast becoming ubiquitous in the environment. The company's research had already linked exposure to birth defects, cancer and more. That sewage was being used as fertilizer on farmland nationwide, a practice encouraged by the Environmental Protection Agency. The presence of PFAS in the sewage meant those chemicals were being unwittingly spread on fields across the country. 3M didn't publish the research, but the company did share its findings with the E.P.A. at a 2003 meeting, according to 3M documents reviewed by the The New York Times. Today, the E.P.A. continues to promote sewage sludge as fertilizer and doesn't require testing for PFAS, despite the fact that whistle-blowers, academics, state officials and the agency's internal studies over the years have also raised contamination concerns."
Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: Donald Trump's "fitness regimen: a grueling circuit of backpedals, climbdowns and walkbacks.... The next event in Trump's backpedaling decathlon: his beloved tariffs. His pick for commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, has already called Trump's oft-threatened tariffs a mere 'bargaining chip' to start negotiations. 'When you're running for office, you make broad statements so people understand you,' Lutnick told CNBC. And Trump, after a campaign of China-bashing, is back to exalting Xi Jinping. 'He's an amazing guy,' Trump said of the Chinese dictator.... [Trump's] allies are apparently shocked to discover that Trump does not always keep his word.... The $2 trillion in annual spending cuts promised by Elon Musk, the replacement of renewable energy with 'drill, baby, drill,' and Trump's call for the biggest tax cut in history simply aren't going to happen. At the same time, it's a safe bet that Trump won't shock the economy by deporting millions of people, nor will he launch a trade war with across-the-board tariffs of 100 percent.... The menace of Trump is less in the policies he has announced than in the impulsive and inexplicable things he will do, without forewarning or any apparent forethought." Milbank also lists some of Trump's "ordinary, day-to-day outrages of the past couple of weeks."
Ben Berkowitz & Zachary Basu of Axios: "A MAGA-world civil war erupted over Christmas when a social media post on American culture turned into a pitched battle over race, immigration and billionaires versus the working class.... The fight exposes one of the MAGA movement's deepest contradictions: It came to prominence chiefly via the white, less-educated, working class but is now under the full control of billionaire technologists and industrialists, many of them immigrants.... The skirmishes started Sunday when Trump named venture capitalist Sriram Krishnan as his adviser on AI policy. Krishnan's appointment triggered an anti-Indian backlash on social media, particularly given his past advocacy for lifting caps on green cards. Vivek Ramaswamy escalated the conflict into a full-blown war Thursday morning with a post on X blaming an American culture that 'venerated mediocrity over excellence' for the growth in foreign tech workers." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Funny, but none of these feuding MAGA folks seems to be mentioned all the undocumented & H-1B visa-carrying workers the Trump Organization hires to work on its properties -- and most of them are not highly-skilled engineers who necessarily hail from lands Vivek would describe as having "superior cultures." ~~~
~~~ Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha. Charlie Nash of Mediaite: "Several conservative critics of billionaire Trump surrogate Elon Musk were stripped of their verification badges on X after publicly challenging Musk's stance on immigration. Trump ally Laura Loomer, New York Young Republican Club president Gavin Wax, InfoWars host Owen Shroyer, and the pro-Trump ConservativePAC were all stripped of their verification badges after criticizing Musk's controversial remarks about American workers and foreign H-1B visa holders.... Several of the affected accounts appear to be affiliated with the pro-Trump ConservativePAC, which also expressed opposition to Musk's remarks on immigration."
Mary Ilyushina & Missy Ryan of the Washington Post: "Evidence suggests the Azerbaijan Airlines flight that crashed in Kazakhstan on Christmas Day was brought down by Russia, the White House said Friday.... National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters ... the evidence went beyond widely circulated images of the wreckage but did not provide details." (MB: Would a Trump White House make a similar report implicating Russia? I kinda doubt it.) ~~~
~~~ Max Boot of the Washington Post: "Russia has a history of downing passenger planes -- and covering it up.... It makes eminent sense that Flight 8243 could have been downed by Russian air defenses at a time when the Grozny region was under attack by Ukrainian drones. It's easy to imagine a Russian air-defense crew mistaking the civilian aircraft for a drone and opening fire. Such accidents, admittedly, happen in wartime everywhere.... But when civilized nations commit such offenses, they apologize and make reparations. They don't refuse to admit what they did or try to blame someone else for their actions. That, however, has been the Kremlin's reprehensible pattern dating from the 1983 downing of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 -- making its protestations of innocence in Wednesday's case all the more dismissible."
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For the last time as your president, it's my honor to wish all of America a very Merry Christmas.... My hope for our nation, today and always, is that we continue to seek the light of liberty and love, kindness and compassion, dignity and decency. -- President Joe Biden, on X, hours before Trump began posting his own Christmas messages ~~~
~~~ Michael Levenson & Emmett Lindner of the New York Times: "'Merry Christmas to the 'wonderful soldiers of China' and to Governor Justin Trudeau of Canada' and 'the people of Greenland.' As for the 37 men on federal death row who recently received commutations from President Biden? 'GO TO HELL!' The messages, posted online by ... Donald J. Trump on Christmas..., veered sharply from the standard holiday ideals of unity delivered from the White House." The writers then provide examples of what real presidents have said, even in times of significant upheaval. For instance: "Standing alongside Winston Churchill ... on Dec. 24, 1941, just over two weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ... said..., 'Our strongest weapon in this war is that conviction of the dignity and brotherhood of man which Christmas Day signifies -- more than any other day or any other symbol.'... On Dec. 14, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon noted that, instead of many lights, there would be only a single illuminated star on the national Christmas tree, as the United States faced an energy crisis. 'And in a way, I suppose one could say with only one light on the tree, this will be a very dreary Christmas, but we know that isn't true, because the spirit of Christmas is not measured by the number of lights on a tree,' he said. 'The spirit of Christmas is measured by the love that each of us has in his heart for his family, for his friends, for his fellow Americans, and for people all over the world.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: Obviously the quality of a presidency is not determined by the quality of a man's Christmas greetings, but anyone can see that Trump's messages are a strong indication that he is the worst president in U.S. history. In Krugman's & Rampell's essays linked below, however, we do see why Trump was/will be the worst president ever.
MAGA Wars. Griffin Eckstein of Salon: "Billionaire Tesla and X owner Elon Musk..., Donald Trump's chief financier, on Wednesday sparked MAGA backlash after defending visas for foreign tech workers. South African-born Elon Musk was once an immigrant to the U.S., illegally overstaying his visa to build a future here. He employs hundreds of foreign-born engineers at his Tesla and SpaceX companies and says they fill a shortage of American-born workers.... But his plea for more immigrant talent has triggered some of Trump's right-wing supporters.... Laura Loomer, a close ally of Trump's with a history of racist comments, denied the suggestion that the U.S. needed skilled immigrant laborers. 'Our country was built by white Europeans, actually. Not third world invaders from India,' Loomer tweeted on Tuesday. 'We didn't create it so that it could be exploited by pro open border techies.'" ~~~
~~~ Julia Shapero of the Hill: "Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, co-chairs of ... Trump's new 'Department of Government Efficiency,' are defending the tech industry's reliance on foreign-born engineers as the incoming Trump administration prepares to crack down on immigration.... When another user suggested the Tesla and SpaceX CEO was denying opportunities to Americans, Musk argued that the poster's understanding of the situation was 'upside-down and backwards.'... [Ramaswamy wrote on X,] 'Our American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long (at least since the 90s and likely longer).... A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian, will not produce the best engineers.'" See also RAS's commentary below.
Paul Krugman on Substack: "Most Americans who supported Donald Trump probably thought they were voting for lower grocery prices; now he says never mind, let's seize Greenland instead. Also the Panama Canal and maybe Canada.... Once upon a time imperialism was, in fact, a path to power.... The only way a state, be it monarchy or republic, could enrich itself was by seizing territory and resources from other states. But all that changed with the coming of industrialization and globalization.... [After defeating the Axis powers in World War II,] America did something unprecedented in the history of warfare. Instead of trying to extract reparations or tribute from our vanquished foes, we helped them get back on their feet.... Which brings us back to Trump.... Trump's capriciousness will make America weaker...." Thanks to laura h. for the link. ~~~
~~~ BTW, if you're looking for Krugman in general, you'll find him at https://paulkrugman.substack.com
Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post: "Trump based his 2024 campaign on an seductive promise: He'll bring prices down. Alas, it is virtually impossible to reduce prices.... However..., this is [not] intuitive to non-economists. And Trump has taken advantage. Only after winning last month did Trump fess up, belatedly acknowledging he can't bring prices down. 'I'd like to bring them down,' he told Time magazine. 'It's hard to bring things down once they're up. You know, it's very hard.'... Got that? There was no plan, there is no plan, and there was never going to be any plan to reduce prices. The only thing surprising about this admission is that he said it out loud. One thing Trump didn't acknowledge, however, is how his economic agenda -- tariffs, deportations, tax cuts and kneecapping the Federal Reserve -- could worsen the problem that voters hired him to solve.
"But Americans seem to be catching on anyway.... They seem to have a growing sense -- 'vibes,' if you will -- that a second Trump term could bring more uncertainty to the U.S. economy.... Meanwhile, some U.S. companies are already pulling forward purchases and stockpiling imported goods.... These factors are already driving up shipping prices, and forcing U.S. companies to absorb the costs of purchasing and warehousing inventory they're not yet sure they'll need. Some of those costs will likely get passed along to consumers." Emphasis added. MB: Some of you will remember Gerald Ford's "Whip Inflation Now" initiative. It was (1) a joke, (2) a publicity stunt, and (3) a disaster. ~~~
~~~ Not All Trump Voters Get It: Meet the Gullibles. Tim Craig of the Washington Post: ". Network exit polls suggest [Trump] erased the advantage Democrats had with low-income voters across the country.... Now, low-income Americans who voted for Trump say they are counting on him to keep their benefits intact even while his Cabinet picks and Republican lawmakers call on him to reduce federal spending. Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy -- whom Trump has chosen to lead a new ... 'Department of Government Efficiency' -- have said they want to trim $2 trillion from the government;s annual budget, a cut that some experts say could be accomplished only by slashing entitlement programs. Trump's pick for White House budget director was a key architect of Project 2025, a plan drawn up by conservatives to guide his second term that calls for steep cuts to programs such as food stamps. And GOP leaders in Congress and Trump advisers are considering significant changes to Medicaid, food stamps and other federal aid." ~~~
~~~ MB: Looks like the WashPo reporters ventured out of diners & into low-income neighborhoods for this "Get to Know Your Trump Voters" article. Some of the people they interviewed cannot afford to frequent diners. ~~~
~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "Economically struggling Trump voters hopeful that Trump will not enact Republican policies.... The thing is that the House Republican majority is so narrow that Trump and his legislative allies may well find it impossible to enact the savage spending cuts they would prefer. Democrats would be rewarded for their united opposition by further erosion in their working class support. And at this point, I don't even know if Republicans succeeding in gutting Medicaid and school lunches would turn things around -- they're nothing if not good at getting people to blame anyone else for economic decline." ~~~
~~~ MB: Lemieux is right -- which raises the perennial questions, "Why can't Democrats effectively convey that they are the party that is saving the (admittedly insufficient) programs & policies that help the poor & working class?" And/or "Why are Republican lies to effective?"
~~~ These Big Shots with Plenty of Lettuce (Actually & Metaphorically) Don't Get It, Either. Camille Von Kaenel of Politico: "California farmers could soon enjoy bumper crops thanks to ... Donald Trump's pledge to lift water restrictions. But who will pick them if he follows through on his deportation threats? The country's largest agricultural constituency backed Trump in November, bucking California's deep-blue electorate over his campaign promises to 'open the faucet' and deliver more water to the state's parched, conservative-leaning Central Valley. But now it's reckoning with an uncomfortable contradiction: Trump also campaigned on mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, who make up at least half of the state's agricultural workforce.... Dave Puglia, the ... CEO of the Western Growers Association, called the prospect of sweeps on farms 'very troubling.'" ~~~
~~~ digby: Trump "was planning to run on closing the border until Biden pretty much did that and the Congress came up with that bipartisan draconian bill he ordered the Republicans to tank. Mass deportation was a relatively late campaign message. So, who knows how serious they really are beyond providing some thrilling visuals of abject cruelty toward migrants for their slavering cult members to enjoy.... If it weren't for all the human suffering involved, I'd say that all these Trump voting fools should have to get a taste of his toxic medicine.... Oh, and Trump can't 'open the faucet' either. And they, of all people, know that. It's absurd. They believe what they want to believe about his policies but they backed him for the same reason all his voters did -- he owns the libs. It's what they all have in common, rich and working class alike. That's what makes MAGA tick."
The American Nightmare: in Debt for Student Loans Their Entire Adult Lives. Danielle Douglas-Gabriel of the Washington Post: "There are 2.8 million federal student loan borrowers aged 62 and older with a total of $121.5 billion in debt, more than 726,300 of them over the age of 71, according to the Education Department. Older borrowers are one of the fastest-growing segments of the government's student loan portfolio, and their Social Security benefits are subject to garnishment.... In the waning days of the Biden administration, activists are urging the Education Department to discharge the student debt of older borrowers who they say are in no position to repay. They say the department could use a little-known federal statute that considers a person's ability to pay within a reasonable time and the inability of the government to collect the debt in full.... Activists are making an impassioned plea to an administration that has fought to ease the burden of student debt, even as those efforts have been thwarted in court by conservatives.... Donald Trump has been hostile toward President Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness policies, leading activists to believe their best chance to secure relief lies with Biden."
"Trick" Wording in CR Slashes IRS Funding. Jacob Bogage & Shannon Najmabadi of the Washington Post: "Congress revoked an additional $20 billion from the Internal Revenue Service last week when lawmakers averted a government shutdown, a cut that may undo many of President Joe Biden's efforts to improve customer service at the tax agency and train fresh scrutiny on wealthy tax cheats. Biden and congressional Democrats gave the IRS $80 billion in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, but Congress rescinded $20 billion as part of a 2023 budget deal.... And because of the way lawmakers extended government funding into March, an additional $20 billion in cuts came automatically. When Congress approved a stopgap funding bill, called a continuing resolution, all the existing policy from the previous fiscal year was carried forward unless new text was specifically added to the bill to change it. There was no language in the bill to undo last year's cut, so it repeated in the new law."
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Azerbaijan/Russia/Kazakhstan. Mary Ilyushina of the Washington Post: "Authorities are investigating what caused an Azerbaijan Airlines flight to crash Wednesday in Kazakhstan, killing at least 38 people, as speculation mounts over why the plane went down. Russian officials cited bad weather and a collision with birds as possible causes, while some aviation experts and news reports suggest that the damage to the fuselage, as seen in videos and images posted by authorities, could be the result of a surface-to-air missile impact. Azerbaijan Airlines Flight J2-8243 was en route Wednesday from the Azerbaijani capital of Baku to Grozny, in Russia's southern region of Chechnya, when it diverted and attempted an emergency landing in the Kazakh city of Aktau -- some 270 miles from its initial destination, on the other side of the Caspian Sea.
"There were 67 people on board, 29 of whom survived, according to Kazakh officials and Azerbaijani media reports. Most of the survivors were seated at the back of the plane.... Azerbaijan, Russia and Kazakhstan have all launched criminal investigations into the crash.... Reuters, Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency and other outlets reported Thursday, citing anonymous Azerbaijani officials, that Azerbaijan's preliminary findings were that Russian air defenses caused the crash." MB: The article includes a map. The CBS News report is here. ~~~
~~~ Euronews: "Azerbaijani government sources have exclusively confirmed to Euronews on Thursday that a Russian surface-to-air missile caused the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash in Aktau on Wednesday. According to the sources, the missile was fired at Flight 8432 during drone air activity above Grozny, and the shrapnel hit the passengers and cabin crew as it exploded next to the aircraft mid-flight. Government sources have told Euronews that the damaged aircraft was not allowed to land at any Russian airports despite the pilots' requests for an emergency landing, and it was ordered to fly across the Caspian Sea towards Aktau in Kazakhstan. According to data, the plane's GPS navigation systems were jammed throughout the flight path above the sea. The missile was fired from a Pantsir-S air defence system, Baku-based international outlet AnewZ reported, citing Azerbaijani government sources. According to Russian sources, at the time the Azerbaijan Airlines flight was passing over the territory of Chechnya, Russian air defence forces were actively attempting to shoot down Ukrainian UAVs."
Finland/Russia. Johanna Lemola & Lynsey Chutel of the New York Times: "The Finnish authorities seized an oil tanker on Thursday on the suspicion that it was involved in cutting vital undersea cables and said the ship might have been part of Russia's 'shadow fleet,' aimed at evading Western sanctions. In a statement, the police in Finland said the authorities had boarded the Eagle S tanker in Finnish waters. The ship, which is registered in the Cook Islands in the South Pacific, had been sailing from St. Petersburg, Russia, to Port Said, Egypt, when it was detained. The police said they were investigating whether the vessel was involved in the latest suspected act of sabotage on undersea infrastructure: the cutting on Wednesday of the Estlink 2 submarine cable, which carries electricity between Finland and Estonia. The Finnish authorities said Thursday that four other cables carrying data also had been damaged. The police called the latest cable cuts 'aggravated vandalism.'"
Israel, et al. The Washington Post's live updates of developments Friday in Israel's wars are here: "United Nations chief António Guterres called on Israel and militants in Yemen to cease their military actions and use restraint, after an Israeli strike hit the international airport in Sanaa just as World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was about to board a flight there. The attack killed at least three people at the airport, according to local media, and injured a World Food Program-contracted aircrew member among dozens of others.... Four newborn babies died from cold within 72 hours in Gaza as temperatures drop in the enclave, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Relief agencies have raised the alarm in recent days over the risk of winter rains when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled their homes have minimal shelter."
Isabel Kershner & Ismaeel Naar of the New York Times: "The Israeli military on Thursday unleashed a significant air assault on parts of Yemen controlled by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia in retaliation for the group's missile attacks against Israel, striking back at an adversary more than a thousand miles away. The Israeli assault comes after a week of the Houthis' near-nightly launches of ballistic missiles and drones against Israel.... On Thursday after the Israeli strikes, [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu said in an interview with an Israeli TV station of the Houthis: 'We are just getting started with them.' At least four people were killed and 21 others injured in the attack on Thursday after Israel struck the international airport in Sana and the city of Al Hodeidah, the Saba state news agency said, citing Yemen's Health Ministry."
South Korea. Jin Yu Young of the New York Times: "South Korea's leadership crisis deepened on Friday after lawmakers voted to oust a second head of state, the acting president [Han Duck-soo], in less than two weeks. The move prolonged the political vacuum that has gripped South Korea since President Yoon Suk Yeol shocked the country this month by briefly putting it under military rule for the first time in decades.... South Korea continue[s] to be without a strong elected leader who could take charge of the government and military in one of Washington's most important allies, at a time when the country is grappling with North Korea's nuclear threats and economic challenges at home. The political uncertainty has pushed business and consumer confidence lower and caused the currency, the won, to plunge." The CBS News report is here.
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