The Conversation -- November 19, 2024

Robert Draper of the New York Times: "An unidentified hacker has gained access to a computer file shared in a secure link among lawyers whose clients have given damaging testimony related to Matt Gaetz..., a person with knowledge of the activity said. The file of 24 exhibits is said to include sworn testimony by a woman who said that she had sex with Mr. Gaetz in 2017 when she was 17, as well as corroborating testimony by a second woman who said that she witnessed the encounter. The information was downloaded by a person using the name Altam Beezley at 1:23 p.m. on Monday, according to the person, who was not authorized to speak publicly. A lawyer connected to the case sent an email to the address associated with Altam Beezley, only to be informed in an automated reply that the recipient does not exist. The material does not appear to have been made public by the hacker.... [The hacked material] also contains various supporting material, such as the gate logs showing who entered the property ... on the evening in July 2017 when the two women said the sexual encounter with Mr. Gaetz occurred." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: C'mon, Donald. Time to express outrage that anyone would hack a file that could damage you. ("Russia, if you're listening -- I hope you are able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.")

Make That Mean Girls with an "s." Olivia Beavers of Politico: "Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in a private House GOP conference meeting indicated she'd fight a transgender woman if she tried to use a woman's bathroom on the House side of the Capitol, according to two people in the room, as Congress' first openly transgender lawmaker is set to assume office in January."

Isaac Schorr of Mediaite: "Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) threatened to expose 'all' of Republicans' 'sexual harassment and assault claims' as well as 'the entire Jeffrey Epstein files' if the House Ethics Committee report on Matt Gaetz is released and his nomination to be the next U.S. attorney general is imperiled on Tuesday morning. 'For my Republican colleagues in the House and Senate, If we are going to release ethics reports and rip apart our own that Trump has appointed, then put it ALL out there for the American people to see,' wrote Greene on X.:

Marc Santora & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "Ukraine's military used long-range American-made missiles on Tuesday to strike into Russia for the first time, according to senior U.S. and Ukrainian officials, just two days after President Biden gave permission to do so in what amounted to a major shift of American policy. The pre-dawn attack struck an ammunition depot in the Bryansk region of southwestern Russia, Ukrainian officials said. Russia's Ministry of Defense said in a statement that Kyiv used six long-range ballistic missiles known as the Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS. The senior American and Ukrainian officials ... confirmed that ATACMS were used.: ~~~

~~~ Anton Troianovski of the New York Times: "President Vladimir V. Putin on Tuesday lowered Russia's threshold for the use of nuclear weapons, a long-planned move whose timing appeared designed to show the Kremlin could respond aggressively to Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory with American long-range missiles. The decree signed by Mr. Putin implemented a revised version of Russia's nuclear doctrine that Mr. Putin described in televised remarks in September. But the timing was clearly meant to send a message, coming just two days after the news that President Biden had authorized the use of U.S.-supplied long-range missiles by Ukraine for strikes inside Russia. Asked whether Russia could respond with nuclear weapons to such strikes, Dmitri S. Peskov, Mr. Putin;s spokesman, repeated the new doctrine's language that Russia 'reserves the right' to use such weapons to respond to a conventional-weapons attack that creates a 'critical threat' to its 'sovereignty and territorial integrity.':

Gaetz as Sacrificial Lamb? Maggie Haberman & Jonathan Swan of the New York Times: "In his private conversations over the past few days..., Donald J. Trump has admitted that his besieged choice for attorney general, Matt Gaetz, has less than even odds of being confirmed by the Senate. But Mr. Trump ... is making calls on Mr. Gaetz's behalf, and he remains confident that even if Mr. Gaetz does not make it, the standard for an acceptable candidate will have shifted so much that the Senate may simply approve his other nominees who have appalled much of Washington." ~~~

~~~ Rachel Bade of Politico: "Numerous Republican lawmakers told Donald Trump and his team that they believe his pick to be attorney general, controversial Rep. Matt Gaetz, has little chance of being confirmed, according to multiple Senate Republican and people around Trump. And they're privately hoping Trump doesn't make them walk the plank. That message, according to people who were granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue, has been delivered to the president-elect himself, his future White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles, and to Gaetz's unofficial 'sherpa,' Vice President-elect JD Vance.: MB: I was wondering what happened to JayDee. Turns out he's been relegated to Gaetz Guide.

Alex Gangitano & Brett Samuels of the Hill: "... Trump is expected to nominate Howard Lutnick to serve as Commerce secretary, a source familiar told The Hill. Lutnick is the chair and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald and is also currently serving as co-chair of the Trump transition. He has notably publicly embraced Trump's tariff plans, which will be a major part of the job leading Commerce. The CEO was considered a front-runner for the role, along with Scott Bessent, who served as an economic adviser on the Trump campaign. Lutnick also beat out Linda McMahon for the role leading Commerce. A co-chair of Trump's transition team, she was considered a front-runner and previously led the Small Business Administration during his first term. Trump expanded his search for a Treasury leader as the jockeying over who will fill the key economic role recently spilled into public view."

Brian Stelter of CNN: "'Morning Joe' co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski announced Monday, in dramatic fashion, that they went to Mar-a-Lago last week for a fence-mending meeting with ... Donald Trump. Then the pair spent the rest of the day dealing with the uncomfortable blowback.... According to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter, Scarborough and Brzezinski were credibly concerned that they could face governmental and legal harassment from the incoming Trump administration.... The two sources generally agreed with Scarborough and Brzezinski's impression of the situation at hand -- namely, that the incoming Trump administration could use its wide-ranging powers to punish people deemed enemies. (Trump ally Elon Musk wrote on X overnight, in a post supporting Matt Gaetz for attorney general, that America needs Gaetz to 'put powerful bad actors in prison.')" MB: I do think this is a plausible argument. Joe & Mika have reason to worry about Trump's retribution agenda.

Anthony Adragna of Politico: "Senate Republicans moved to slow down the pace of judicial nomination confirmations in the waning days of Joe Biden's presidency on Monday evening, forcing the chamber into hours of routine votes.... Republicans forced votes on ... procedural actions throughout the evening.

~~~~~~~~~~

Erica Green & Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "President Biden urged Congress on Monday to provide nearly $100 billion in 'urgently needed' aid for communities ravaged by hurricanes and other disasters in recent months, saying funding for some critical programs has either run out or is nearly exhausted. In a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson , Mr. Biden cited the devastation he saw firsthand as he toured states like Florida, South Carolina and Georgia after Hurricanes Helene and Milton tore through southeastern states this fall, causing billions of dollars in damage and claiming hundreds of lives.... The aid's passage may be eased by the fact that much of it would go to districts and states represented by Republicans."

Matt Viser of the Washington Post: "President Joe Biden, on one of his last days headlining an international summit, attempted to shore up support for Ukraine's war against Russia and pressure Hamas to accept a cease-fire deal with Israel, hoping to put two of his biggest foreign policy crises on a better footing before leaving office. Arriving for the first session of the Group of 20 summit [in Rio de Janeiro], Biden motioned around the room to allies and adversaries -- many of whom are steeling themselves for major shifts in U.S. policy when ... Donald Trump takes office -- and urged them to back Ukraine in its war against Russia."

Ellen Nakashima & Tyler Pager of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump, the only former president to have been charged with mishandling classified information, has begun receiving intelligence briefings, U.S. officials said. The briefings provided by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence began shortly after the election, according to U.S. officials.... Trump declined classified briefings during the campaign, saying he feared being accused of leaking classified secrets. '[Intelligence briefers] come in, they give you a briefing, and then two days later, they leak it, and then they say you leaked it,' Trump told the Daily Mail in August.... Trump has a history of treating intelligence cavalierly."

Ivana Saric of Axios: "... Trump confirmed Monday that he is planning to declare a national emergency and use the U.S. military to carry out mass deportations.... Tom Fitton, the president of the conservative group Judicial Watch, posted on Truth Social earlier this month that Trump was 'prepared to declare a national emergency and will use military assets to reverse the Biden invasion through a mass deportation program.' Trump reposted Fitton's comment Monday with the caption, 'TRUE!!'" (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story is here. ~~~

~~~ Maria Sacchetti of the Washington Post: "Civil-liberties lawyers alarmed by ... Donald Trump's plan to launch mass deportations of undocumented immigrants sued the federal government Monday for information about how authorities might quickly remove people from the United States. The federal lawsuit alleges that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has failed to respond to requests for basic information about its existing contracts with private airline companies that make up 'ICE Air,' as well as ground transportation services, airfields and policies governing deportation flights, including those carrying children. Lawyers said the information is urgent because of Trump's election victory this month and his upcoming inauguration on Jan. 20. Advocates for immigrants have accused ICE and its contractors of treating migrants harshly and holding them in inhumane conditions." The Guardian's report is here.

Here We Go. Jacob Bogage, et al., of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump's economic advisers and congressional Republicans have begun preliminary discussions about making significant changes to Medicaid, food stamps and other federal safety net programs to offset the enormous cost of extending Trump's 2017 tax cuts next year. Among the options under discussion by GOP lawmakers and aides are new work requirements and spending caps for the programs...." (Also linked yesterday.)

Mark Walker of the New York Times: "A former Wisconsin congressman and Fox Business host, Sean Duffy, was selected by ... Donald J. Trump on Monday to lead the Transportation Department.... Mr. Duffy served in Congress from 2011 to 2019 as a Republican. He resigned in September 2019 to help care for a newborn daughter with a birth defect, according to The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Mr. Duffy departed Fox News Media on Monday, according to a spokeswoman for the network. He had joined as a contributor in 2020 ... and had hosted 'The Bottom Line' on Fox Business with Dagen McDowell since 2023.... Mr. Duffy originally rose to fame in the late 1990s on the MTV reality show 'The Real World: Boston.' He also appeared on its sister show, 'Road Rules: All Stars,' where he met his wife, Rachel Campos-Duffy, who is now a Fox News host herself.... As a Fox News contributor, Mr. Duffy was critical of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It is hardly surprising that Trump picked a reality-teevee star as his transportation secretary. Duffy would follow Pete Buttigieg, who is definitely the most teevee-ready Biden Cabinet Secretary. And Trump knows this because Buttigieg often appeared on Fox. Why, if you squint a bit, you may find that Duffy & Buttigieg even look a little alike.

Steven Myers, et al., of the New York Times: Tulsi "Gabbard's comments [knocking U.S. international policy and making up false claims that correspond to Russian propaganda assertions] have earned her sharp rebukes from officials across the political spectrum in Washington.... Her remarks have also made her a darling of the Kremlin's vast state media apparatus -- and, more recently, of ... Donald J. Trump, who last week picked her to oversee the nation's 18 intelligence agencies and departments.... Her selection to be the director of national intelligence has raised alarms among national security officials, not only because of her lack of experience in intelligence but also because she has embraced a worldview that mirrors disinformation straight out of the Kremlin"s playbook.... In Russia, the reaction to her potential appointment has been gleeful...."

Mikhail Zygar, a Russian journalist, in a New York Times op-ed: Moscow was delighted with the outcome of the presidential election because "to many in the Kremlin, a Trump presidency might bring about the collapse of the American state.... Mr. Putin's ... is convinced that America is nearing its end.... To Moscow, [Mr. Trump] looks like a figure who could dismantle the ideology of liberalism..., unraveling the country in the process." Zygar disagrees with the Kremlin's assessment.

Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "A lawyer representing two women who testified that former Representative Matt Gaetz paid them for sex told multiple news outlets on Monday that one of the women described witnessing Mr. Gaetz having sex with an underage girl at a party in 2017. The lawyer, Joel Leppard, told CBS News, ABC News and CNN about his clients' testimony to the House Ethics Committee, which was investigating allegations about Mr. Gaetz and young women, as well as accusations of drug use.... Both women also told the committee that they were paid for sex using Venmo, Mr. Leppard said." MB: Oh, Maggie's got her beat back, hasn't she? The ABC News report is here. ~~~

~~~ Jose Pagliery of NOTUS: "Matt Gaetz allegedly attended a second drug-fueled Florida party in the summer of 2017 with young women who were paid to attend, according to a little-noticed affidavit from an eyewitness filed in a federal court in Florida." Read on for details of the affidavit. Not surprisingly the affiant also claimed that this second party "was allegedly one of several of that nature," although it isn't clear there is an allegation that Gaetz attended more than the two parties. MB: It's annoying, but you have to "sign up" to read this post, after which, I expect, you'll be bombarded with emailed "news alerts."

~~~ Olivia Beavers of Politico: "House Ethics Chair Michael Guest said Monday that his panel will make its own decision about releasing the report into Matt Gaetz, regardless of Speaker Mike Johnson's opinion that it should be kept under wraps. Guest (R-Miss.) told Politico in a brief interview that he and Johnson had spoken over the weekend. He added that all Ethics Committee members can now review the report, when only he and Rep. Susan Wild, the top Democrat on the panel, previously had a copy of it...." ~~~

~~~ Nicholas Wu of Politico: "Rep. Susan Wild, the top Democrat on the House Ethics Committee, said Monday she wants her panel's report on former Rep. Matt Gaetz to be released to the public. 'It should certainly be released to the Senate, and I think it should be released to the public, as we have done with many other investigative reports in the past,' she told a small group of reporters." ~~~

~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$ urges members of Congress to "Leak It Like Alito": "What is obviously a very damning report about Matt Gaetz is now available for everyone on the Ethics Committee to view[.]... If Republicans won't release the report, the Democrats on the committee need to to it for them. Get advice from how to do it and cover it up from moles speaking to clerks from the Alito and Roberts chambers if you have to. Let's go."

Frank Figliuzzi, in an MSNBC column: "Last month, The New York Times reported that then-candidate Donald Trump's advisers were telling him to skip FBI background investigations for his high-level selections for nominees. Last week, CNN, citing 'people close to the transition planning,' reported that Trump doesn't plan to submit the names of at least some of his Cabinet-level picks for FBI vetting.... The FBI has conducted background investigations of White House nominees since at least the tenure of President Dwight Eisenhower's time in office. Even so, there's no law clearly mandating presidents or presidents-elect to submit their nominees and appointments to the FBI for investigation.... .The Presidential Transition Act of 1963 directs the FBI to conduct such background checks 'expeditiously' for 'individuals that the President-elect has identified for high level national security positions.'... [President] Biden should ... investigate the people Trump says he wants to put in office.... The Senate Judiciary Committee should make a bipartisan request for an FBI background check of Trump's picks [for all DOJ nominees & judicial appointments] now." ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Senate Republicans are rejecting a proposal floated by some advisers to ... Trump to take the job of conducting background checks for high-level nominees away from the FBI and give it to private investigators. Doing so could make it easier for some nominees to win Senate confirmation, but GOP senators say the FBI should retain its leading role in conducting background checks. They argue its agents have access to criminal information that private investigators simply can't match.... The FBI also leads the nation's domestic counterespionage efforts, serving as the lead agency for investigating and preventing foreign intelligence gathering activities in the United States. Republican senators think that role puts it in a good position to vet nominees who would have access to the nation's most sensitive secrets."

Marie: None of the many sober "journalistic" reports I've read or scanned acknowledges the point that Robert Tracinski does in the essay linked next. Even if you wind up disagreeing with him, please at least read what he has to say and give it a bit of consideration when you read all these reports outlining how unqualified this or that nominee is and how Senate confirmation seems nearly impossible, blah-blah. I've said chaos is the point, but Tracinski goes further, and I'm adopting his view. For now, anyway. ~~~

⭐ ~~~ Robert Tracinski of the UnPopulist: Trump selected every appointee ... as a deliberate negation, even a mockery, of the function of government he or she will be in charge of.... These individuals are not merely unqualified for their offices. They are disqualified. They are anti-qualified -- the antithesis of what the offices call for. If Trump gets his way, we will have a defender of war criminals as Secretary of Defense, a Russian lackey as Director of National Intelligence, a criminal running the Department of Justice, and a crank promoter of quack remedies in charge of Health and Human Services.... Trump is already trying to pressure the Republican Senate to declare a fake recess so he can appoint his officers without any approval process.... This is an attempt to destroy both the independence of the legislative branch and the Advice and Consent Clause of the Constitution in one fell swoop.... Trump campaigned against 'elites' only to subject government to the whims of his billionaire friends." Read the whole essay. Tracinski goes a long way in a short essay to expose Trump. Thanks to laura h. for the link and even to (argh!) Bill Kristol for suggesting it. (Also linked yesterday.)

They Can't Handle the Truth. Ron Dicker of the Huffington Post: "Scott Pelley recapped the Cabinet picks of ... Donald Trump in the '60 Minutes' opening Sunday, enraging MAGA supporters despite the segment's recitation of facts.... Pelley ... began by noting 'some nominees appear to have no compelling qualifications other than loyalty to Trump.'... One commenter who approved of the report observed on X, 'This 60 Minutes open didn't tell one lie, didn't exaggerate, and gave very pertinent information regarding these poor nominations. And the MAGA cult thinks 60 Minutes is wrong for doing it. The country is fucked.'... But Trump supporters took umbrage. Check out other reactions here[.]" (Also linked yesterday.)

Paul Waldman on Substack busts some Democratic myths about why (and by how much) Democrats lost the election. Thanks to Ken W. for the link. ~~~

~~~ Michael Berube in New Lines Magazine, makes one of the arguments Waldman makes: "By now, everyone knows why Kamala Harris lost to Donald Trump: because she didn't do the thing I wanted her to do." (But after knocking the pundits, he himself punditifies, knocking her for not allowing a pro-Palestinian Congresswoman to speak at the convention.) "I'm in the camp that believes my side lost because every incumbent party in every wealthy democracy paid a political price for presiding over post-COVID-19 inflation, whether they deserved it or not. Granted, it's galling that the American version of this global phenomenon entailed losing to a petulant and amoral individual with a criminal record, who continually flirts with the idea of political violence.... We are now left to live with the bitter irony that many of those long-term investments in American manufacturing and infrastructure will bear fruit during Trump's second term." Thanks to RAS for the link.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Suck-up City Edition. Alex Weprin of the Hollywood Reporter: "Seven years after they last spoke to him, MSNBC Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski traveled to Mar-a-Lago over the weekend to meet with ... Donald Trump. The duo, who used to be friends with Trump, turned into fierce critics during his first term in office, and he returned the favor, occasionally ripping into them in posts on X. At the top of Monday's program, they disclosed their trip...." (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times report, by Michael Grynbaum, is here.

    ~~~ Marie: If you read to the bottom of Grynbaum's report, you'll be confronted with this: "On Sunday, the president-elect accused a respected pollster of 'ELECTION FRAUD' because she had predicted a Trump defeat in Iowa that did not materialize." No, pollster Ann Selzer did not "predict a Trump defeat." Pollsters don't normally predict election outcomes. Or anything. What they do is provide a snapshot of what potential voters told them during a particular time frame. There are many variables, including the method of selection of sample voters and the precise language in the questions asked. Selzer's firm may (or may not) have made mistakes in some aspect or aspects of the poll. Grynbaum is a media reporter, but he often reports on political aspects or ramifications of media coverage. He should know what a poll does. As for Joe & Mika, they're just appalling nitwits. ~~~

     ~~~ Isaac Schorr of Mediaite: "SiriusXM host strong> Megyn Kelly absolutely lost it on MSNBC's Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski over their Monday morning monologue about their meeting with President-elect Donald Trump over the weekend, animatedly telling the pair to 'Go fuck yourselves!'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Gosh, this confuses me. Kelly, who used to be a Fox "News" "journalist" and is now a podcaster, was famous for questioning Trump during a 2016 primary debate about the degrading things he said about women. But right before this year's election, she endorsed Trump and called him a "protector of women." Really? Isn't she guilty of the same craven hypocrisy she is so upset Mika & Joe have showed?

Lisa Kashinsky & Brakkton Booker of Politico: "The race is on for the next chair of the Democratic National Committee, and former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley is the first official entrant. O'Malley kicked off his bid on Monday with a pledge to refocus the party on kitchen-table issues as Democrats begin to recalibrate after Vice President Kamala Harris' defeat.... O'Malley is resigning as head of the Social Security Administration, effective Nov. 29, to run for the role.... The 2016 presidential hopeful is the first to step up in what could be a large field vying to succeed current DNC Chair Jaime Harrison, who is not expected to run again." MB: Yes, the shake-up the party needs is a return to 20th-century ideas of a well-meaning, clueless old White guy.

Say, here's a sure way to eliminate many worker protections: have the Supremes declare the NLRB unconstitutional. Presto! ~~~

~~~ Andrea HSU of NPR: "In the nearly four years that Joe Biden has been president, the National Labor Relations Board has taken an assertive -- some say overly aggressive -- approach to protecting workers' rights to organize and collectively bargain. Now, SpaceX and Amazon are at the forefront of a corporate-led effort to monumentally change the labor agency. On Monday, attorneys for the two companies will try to convince a panel of judges at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that the labor agency, created by Congress in 1935, is unconstitutional. Their lawsuits are among more than two dozen challenges brought by companies who say the NLRB's structure gives it unchecked power to shape and enforce labor law.... Ultimately, these cases could make their way to the Supreme Court."

Nothin' But Bluesky from Now On. Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "I won't go through the litany of ways the [X] platform has changed for the worse under [Elon] Musk's leadership, but from my point of view it has become basically unusable, overrun by bots, trolls, cranks and extremists.... Then came this year's presidential election, which seems to have sparked an exodus ('Xodus'?) from Muskland. From my point of view, Bluesky, in particular -- a site that functions a lot like pre-Musk Twitter -- quite suddenly has reached critical mass, in the sense that most of the people I want to hear from are now posting there. The raw number of users is still far smaller than X's, but as far as I can tell, Bluesky is now the place to find smart, useful analysis.... What I see is that you can indeed ruin a network if you try hard enough. And it's starting to look as if Musk has managed to pull it off."

Holly Bailey of the Washington Post: "The Georgia Court of Appeals on Monday abruptly canceled oral arguments on Donald Trump's appeal of a state court ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis (D) to continue prosecuting the 2020 election interference case against the president-elect and several of his allies.... The notice gave no reason for the cancellation and caught many parties involved in the case by surprise. The abrupt notice comes amid lingering questions about the future of the Georgia case against Trump as he prepares to return to the White House after his election victory this month."

Mean Girl. Kyle Stewart & Raquel Uribe of NBC News: "Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., introduced a resolution Monday that would ban transgender women from using female bathrooms in the Capitol just weeks before Democratic Rep.-elect Sarah McBride of Delaware is set to become the first out transgender member of Congress. The measure would prohibit any lawmakers and House employees from 'using single-sex facilities other than those corresponding to their biological sex.' Asked by reporters whether her resolution was meant to target a marginalized person, Mace said, 'Sarah McBride doesn't get a say in this.'... A spokesperson for McBride told NBC News that Mace did not reach out before she introduced the measure and that McBride found out about it in the media.... The Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ advocacy group, said Monday that Mace was cruel and discriminating against her incoming colleague, calling the resolution a 'political charade by a grown-up bully.'"

Kriston Capps of the Washington Post: "The Smithsonian Institution quietly removed the director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum this summer and placed her in another role, following years of complaints from staff about her management of the prominent institution.... Stephanie Stebich, who joined the museum as director in 2017, told staff in July that she was taking indefinite medical leave. In September, she became a senior adviser within the Smithsonian Institution. Current and former employees at the American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery, which Stebich also led, accused the director of having a management style that frequently left staff members frustrated and confused. After years of declining morale, several senior staffers in the museum system outlined their complaints in a letter to Smithsonian leadership in July 2023, according to people familiar with the document." (Also linked yesterday.)

Niraj Chokshi of the New York Times: "Spirit Airlines, whose approach to selling cheap tickets without amenities earned it fans and detractors, filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday after a string of setbacks, most recently a failure to renegotiate its looming debt. The airline, which last reported an annual profit in 2019, has had trouble finding its footing after a federal judge blocked a planned merger with JetBlue Airways in January. Spirit has also struggled to capitalize on the recovery from the pandemic because of intense competition, engine problems and other factors. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York. It also announced an agreement with bondholders to restructure its debts and raise money to help it operate during the bankruptcy process, which it expected to exit in the first quarter of next year." (Also linked yesterday.)

~~~~~~~~~~

Pennsylvania. Colby Itkowitz of the Washington Post: "The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Monday that election officials must abide by an earlier decision and stop counting mail-in ballots that were invalidated because of an incorrect date on the outer envelope -- a major victory for Republican Senate candidate David McCormick, who holds a narrow lead over Democratic Sen. Bob Casey ahead of a statewide recount. The decision comes after Democratic-majority election boards in Philadelphia as well as Bucks and Montgomery counties, two large suburban areas outside of Philadelphia, chose to include those votes, arguing that the handwritten date on the outer envelope is a technical error completely unrelated to the legitimacy of the vote itself." The AP's report is here.

Wyoming. Mead Gruver of the AP: "A state judge on Monday struck down Wyoming's overall ban on abortion and its first-in-the-nation explicit prohibition on the use of medication to end pregnancy in line with voters in yet more states voicing support for abortion rights. Since 2022, Teton County District Judge Melissa Owens has ruled consistently three times to block the laws while they were disputed in court. The decision marks another victory for abortion rights advocates after voters in seven states passed measures in support of access. One Wyoming law that Owens said violated women's rights under the state constitution bans abortion except to protect to a pregnant woman's life or in cases involving rape and incest. The other made Wyoming the only state to explicitly ban abortion pills, though other states have instituted de facto bans on the medication by broadly prohibiting abortion."

~~~~~~~~~~

Hong Kong/China. Tiffany May of the New York Times: "Forty-five former politicians and [pro-democracy] activists who had organized or taken part in the 2020 primary by the opposition camp were sentenced by a Hong Kong court to prison, including for as long as 10 years. The sentences were the final step in a crackdown that cut the heart out of the city's democracy movement, turning its leaders into a generation of political prisoners.... It was the most forceful demonstration of the power of a national security law Beijing imposed on Hong Kong in response to months of large protests against Chinese rule in 2019." ~~~

     ~~~ J'Accuse! Marie: It is not at all loony to think this kind of trial of pro-democracy advocates could take place in Trumpland, with a similar outcome. On Sunday, Trump called for an "investigation" of a pollster because her poll showed Harris winning a race she ultimate lost by 13 points. What would be the point of an investigation, if not to determine if there was wrongdoing involved? And if the investigators (Trump appointed U.S. attorney??), determined, rightly or wrongly, that the pollster had committed some kind of fraud, then what? A criminal trial, I presume.

Israel/Palestine, et al. Hiba Yazbek & Erika Solomon of the New York Times: "A large convoy of trucks carrying aid was 'violently looted' in the Gaza Strip over the weekend and its drivers forced at gunpoint to unload supplies, the main United Nations agency that helps Palestinians said on Monday, calling it one of the worst such incidents of the war.... Most of the [109] trucks were lost, some of the drivers were reportedly shot, and some vehicles sustained extensive damage, the agency said.... It was not clear who was responsible for the looting." ~~~

     ~~~ Claire Parker, et al., of the Washington Post: "As Gaza's hunger crisis worsens, organized gangs are stealing much of the aid Israel allows into the enclave, operating freely in areas controlled by the Israeli military, according to aid group officials, humanitarian workers, transport companies and witnesses.... Armed bands of men have killed, beaten and kidnapped aid truck drivers in the area around Israel's Kerem Shalom crossing, the main entry point into Gaza's south.... The thieves ... are tied to local crime families, residents say. The gangs are described by observers as rivals of Hamas.... An internal United Nations memo obtained by The Washington Post concluded last month that the gangs 'may be benefiting from a passive if not active benevolence' or 'protection' from the Israel Defense Forces. One gang leader, the memo said, established a 'military like compound' in an area 'restricted, controlled and patrolled by the IDF.'"

News Lede

New York Times: "Arthur Frommer, who expanded the horizons of postwar Americans and virtually invented the low-budget travel industry with his seminal guidebook, 'Europe on 5 Dollars a Day: A Guide to Inexpensive Travel,' which introduced millions to an experience once considered the exclusive domain of the wealthy, died on Monday at his home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. He was 95."

The Conversation -- November 18, 2024

Ivana Saric of Axios: "... Trump confirmed Monday that he is planning to declare a national emergency and use the U.S. military to carry out mass deportations.... Tom Fitton, the president of the conservative group Judicial Watch, posted on Truth Social earlier this month that Trump was 'prepared to declare a national emergency and will use military assets to reverse the Biden invasion through a mass deportation program.' Trump reposted Fitton's comment Monday with the caption, 'TRUE!!'"

Here We Go. Jacob Bogage, et al., of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump's economic advisers and congressional Republicans have begun preliminary discussions about making significant changes to Medicaid, food stamps and other federal safety net programs to offset the enormous cost of extending Trump's 2017 tax cuts next year. Among the options under discussion by GOP lawmakers and aides are new work requirements and spending caps for the programs...."

They Can't Handle the Truth. Ron Dicker of the Huffington Post: "Scott Pelley recapped the Cabinet picks of ... Donald Trump in the '60 Minutes' opening Sunday, enraging MAGA supporters despite the segment's recitation of facts.... Pelley ... began by noting 'some nominees appear to have no compelling qualifications other than loyalty to Trump.'... One commenter who approved of the report observed on X, 'This 60 Minutes open didn't tell one lie, didn't exaggerate, and gave very pertinent information regarding these poor nominations. And the MAGA cult thinks 60 Minutes is wrong for doing it. The country is fucked.'... But Trump supporters took umbrage. Check out other reactions here[.]"

⭐ Robert Tracinski of the UnPopulist: Trump selected every appointee ... as a deliberate negation, even a mockery, of the function of government he or she will be in charge of.... These individuals are not merely unqualified for their offices. They are disqualified. They are anti-qualified -- the antithesis of what the offices call for. If Trump gets his way, we will have a defender of war criminals as Secretary of Defense, a Russian lackey as Director of National Intelligence, a criminal running the Department of Justice, and a crank promoter of quack remedies in charge of Health and Human Services.... Trump is already trying to pressure the Republican Senate to declare a fake recess so he can appoint his officers without any approval process.... This is an attempt to destroy both the independence of the legislative branch and the Advice and Consent Clause of the Constitution in one fell swoop.... Trump campaigned against 'elites' only to subject government to the whims of his billionaire friends." Read the whole essay. Tracinski goes a long way in a short essay to expose Trump. Thanks to laura h. for the link and even to (argh!) Bill Kristol for suggesting it.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Suck-up City Edition. Alex Weprin of the Hollywood Reporter: "Seven years after they last spoke to him, MSNBC Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski traveled to Mar-a-Lago over the weekend to meet with ... Donald Trump. The duo, who used to be friends with Trump, turned into fierce critics during his first term in office, and he returned the favor, occasionally ripping into them in posts on X. At the top of Monday's program, they disclosed their trip...."

Kriston Capps of the Washington Post: "The Smithsonian Institution quietly removed the director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum this summer and placed her in another role, following years of complaints from staff about her management of the prominent institution.... Stephanie Stebich, who joined the museum as director in 2017, told staff in July that she was taking indefinite medical leave. In September, she became a senior adviser within the Smithsonian Institution. Current and former employees at the American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery, which Stebich also led, accused the director of having a management style that frequently left staff members frustrated and confused. After years of declining morale, several senior staffers in the museum system outlined their complaints in a letter to Smithsonian leadership in July 2023, according to people familiar with the document."

Niraj Chokshi of the New York Times: "Spirit Airlines, whose approach to selling cheap tickets without amenities earned it fans and detractors, filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday after a string of setbacks, most recently a failure to renegotiate its looming debt. The airline, which last reported an annual profit in 2019, has had trouble finding its footing after a federal judge blocked a planned merger with JetBlue Airways in January. Spirit has also struggled to capitalize on the recovery from the pandemic because of intense competition, engine problems and other factors. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York. It also announced an agreement with bondholders to restructure its debts and raise money to help it operate during the bankruptcy process, which it expected to exit in the first quarter of next year."

~~~~~~~~~~

The most powerful solutions to fight climate change are all around us -- the world's forests. -- President Joe Biden, speaking in the Amazon region Sunday ~~~

~~~ Matt Viser of the Washington Post: "President Joe Biden stopped Sunday in [Manaus, Brazil,] in the heart of the rainforest, marking the first time a sitting U.S. president has visited the Amazon, as he sought to emphasize the importance of taking on climate change two months before a successor who is far less sympathetic to that effort takes office. Biden took a dramatic aerial survey of this portion of the world;s largest tropical rainforest in his Marine One helicopter, as well as a tour of Museu da Amazônia, a 'living museum' showcasing the forest's diverse ecosystem. He traveled to this remote spot during a break between the conclusion of one international summit in Lima, Peru, and the beginning of another in Rio de Janeiro.... He signed a U.S. proclamation designating Nov. 17 as International Conservation Day." The AP's report is here.

Jonathan Swan, et al., of the New York Times: "Mr. Trump had been expected to pick [as Treasury Secretary] either Howard Lutnick, the chief executive of the Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald, or Scott Bessent, the founder of the investment firm Key Square Capital Management and a former money manager for George Soros. And he had been seen as likely to make the selection late last week. But he has been having second thoughts about the top two candidates, and has slowed down his selection process. He is expected to invite the contenders to interview with him this week at Mar-a-Lago. Mr. Lutnick, who has been running Mr. Trump's transition operation, has gotten on Mr. Trump's nerves lately. Mr. Trump has privately expressed frustration that Mr. Lutnick has been hanging around him too much and that he has been manipulating the transition process for his own ends.... [So Mr. Trump is considering other candidates, including a former Fed governor, Kevin Warsh.] He has also remarked that Mr. Warsh is smart and handsome." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I do not understand why Trump would want to hire men he thinks are "smart and handsome." Doesn't he know he's dumb and ugly, and that smart and handsome young men can only serve to emphasize his unfitness for office and his lumpy mess of a human-ish form? ~~~

~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "The scary thing is that this is what passes for the 'normal' candidate: [citing a WSJ article] '[Scott] Bessent has defended Trump's agenda on television and in recent op-eds. After some of his critics argued to Trump's advisers that Bessent hadn't sufficiently signaled support for the president-elect's pledge to impose a series of stiff tariffs, the longtime investor wrote an op-ed for Fox News praising them....' The 'mainstream' candidate for Treasury has to write op-eds lying about how tariffs won't increase consumer prices, even though the whole point of protective tariffs is to raise consumer prices. The stock market is in retreat after an initial post-election boost, and I suspect one reason is that some investors are begging to figure out that Trump really means it when he says he wants a massively inflationary and disruptive across-the-board tariff policy. The thing about elections is that all sales are final."

Cecilia Kang of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump on Sunday chose Brendan Carr to be chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, naming a veteran Republican regulator who has publicly agreed with the incoming administration's promises to slash regulation, go after Big Tech and punish TV networks for political bias. Mr. Carr, who currently sits on the commission, is expected to shake up a quiet agency that licenses airwaves for radio and TV, regulates phone costs, and promotes the spread of home internet. Before the election, Mr. Trump indicated he wanted the agency to strip broadcasters like NBC and CBS of their licensing for unfair coverage. Mr. Carr, 45, was the author of a chapter on the F.C.C. in the conservative Project 2025 planning document, in which he argued that the agency should also regulate the largest tech companies, such as Apple, Meta, Google and Microsoft. 'The censorship cartel must be dismantled,' Mr. Carr said last week in a post on X. Mr. Carr could drastically reshape the independent agency, expanding its mandate and wielding it as a political weapon for the right, telecommunications attorneys and analysts said." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So here we see Trump putting the government propaganda infrastucture in place. Carr, no doubt, will be just one of the ministers of that sprawling enterprise. And, of course, so much for Trump's denials of his knowledge of the odious Project 2025.

Aaron Davis, et al., of the Washington Post: In January 2021 after the insurrection, "Travis Akers, then a naval intelligence officer..., posted ... photos [of some of Pete Hegseth's tattoos] to ... Twitter, calling the tattoos 'white supremacist symbols' -- an interpretation Hegseth has since forcefully denied. The tweet was forwarded to the D.C. National Guard's head of physical security, Master Sgt. DeRicko Gaither, who soon warned commanding general William J. Walker that the Latin phrase suggested Hegseth could be an 'insider threat.' As he was about to be deployed [to duties surrounding Joe Biden's inauguration], Hegseth -- now ... Donald Trump's nominee to be defense secretary -- received a call from his superior officer ordering him to stand down.... Hegseth's removal from the mission became a seminal moment in his life.... [He] wrote in the opening lines of his most recent book ... that he left the military because of the episode. [He wrote, 'So, I resigned. On Jan. 20, 2021, I drafted the letter. F*** Biden anyway.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Hegseth claims innocence, but here's what he once wrote about the tattoo in question, according to the Post: "... Hegseth ties his belief in an existential struggle over America's 'native' and 'Judeo-Christian' culture to the Crusades, writing that Christians, along with their 'Jewish friends and freedom-loving people everywhere,' must fight back against secularism, leftism, globalism and Muslim immigration. 'See you on the battlefield,' he writes in closing out the book. 'Together, with God's help, we will save America. Deus vult!'" ~~~

~~~ Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump has told advisers he is standing by his nominee for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, after the transition team was jolted by an allegation he had sexually assaulted a woman in an interaction he insists was consensual. Mr. Trump made his view plain to aides after a conversation with Mr. Hegseth days ago...." Haberman recounts the same she-said/he-said regarding the rape allegations that WashPo writers did the other day. ~~~

~~~ Alexandra Marquez of NBC News: "Former Fox News host Pete Hegseth's attorney on Sunday confirmed to NBC News that Hegseth ... paid a woman an undisclosed amount after she accused him of sexual assault.... Timothy Parlatore, Hegseth's attorney..., also denied that the encounter between Hegseth and an unnamed woman, which she alleges happened in 2017, was sexual assault."

Annie Karni of the New York Times: "When Speaker Mike Johnson said last week that he would 'strongly request' that a damning congressional ethics report on the conduct of former Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida be kept under wraps, it was a full-circle moment for the man at the center of the controversy. After all, Mr. Gaetz was the one who orchestrated the coup against the last speaker, Kevin McCarthy, that made room for Mr. Johnson ... to ascend to the top job in the House. And Mr. McCarthy always claimed his nemesis moved against him because he refused to halt the very same House Ethics Committee investigation into sexual misconduct and illicit drug use allegations against Mr. Gaetz.... Now ... Mr. Johnson is doing what Mr. McCarthy never would -- intervening to try to make sure the damaging material on Mr. Gaetz never sees the light of day. It is a fitting coda to two years of tumult in the Republican-led House, disorder that was exacerbated by bad blood among individual members." Read on.

     ~~~ Marie: How is it that Bible Mike, who is so sex-obsessed that he and his son monitor each other's Internet porn viewing, is so enthusiastic about covering up allegations that Matt Gaetz sexually abused girls?

David Smith of the Guardian: "This week a flurry of controversial and extremist picks for [Trump's] cabinet and other high-ranking administration positions came at a hectic pace and with a level of provocation that made heads spin.... Tara Setmayer, a former Republican communications director on Capitol Hill, said: 'Their entire political brand is shock and awe. Prior to Trump's re-election it was notional. Now they have the power to execute all of their depravity with the full backing of American government power virtually unchecked. I don;t think the people who voted for Donald Trump, allegedly because of economic angst, have a full appreciation for what that means.'... She added: 'The Trump administration is going to plunge America into a cross between The Hunger Games and The Celebrity Apprentice, unfortunately at great expense to the future of our democracy and the humanity of millions of Americans who will suffer at the hands of this gallery of degenerates. The American electorate fucked around and now they're going to find out.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: And my congratulations to the Guardian for acknowledging that "fucked" is not spelled "f---ed" or "f***ed."

Roxane Gay of the New York Times: "Mr. Trump's election demonstrates how American tolerance for the unacceptable is nearly infinite.... Mr. Trump's voters are granted a level of care and coddling that defies credulity and that is afforded to no other voting bloc.... We must refuse to participate in a mass delusion. We must refuse to accept that the ignorance on display is a congenital condition rather than a choice.... Clearly, Mr. Trump is successful because of his faults, not despite them, because we do not live in a just world.... But to suggest we should yield even a little to Mr. Trump's odious politics ... is unacceptable.... We cannot abandon the most vulnerable communities to assuage the most powerful. Even if we did, it would never be enough. The goal posts would keep moving until progressive politics became indistinguishable from conservative politics. We're halfway there already.... Absolutely anything is possible, and we must acknowledge this, not out of surrender, but as a means of readying ourselves for the impossible fights ahead." ~~~

~~~ In contrast to Gay's dark, realistic depiction of what we face, conservative New York Times columnist David French takes the bright, sunny view that Donald Trump is already beginning to fail: "Donald Trump is planting the seeds of his own political demise. The corrupt, incompetent and extremist men and women he's appointing to many of the most critical posts in his cabinet are direct threats to the well-being of the country, but they're also political threats to Trump and to his populist allies.... If Trump's cabinet picks help him usher in the chaos that is the water in which he swims, then the question won't be whether voters rebuke MAGA again, but rather how much damage it does before it fails once more." (Also linked yesterday.)

Reversal of Fortunes. Myah Ward & Megan Messerly of Politico: "The economy Donald Trump said was broken? All it took was him winning, and consumer sentiment among Republicans soared. Elections? Suddenly Republicans are on board with the reality that they're secure. House Speaker Mike Johnson said he saw no evidence of fraud in the 2024 campaign. And the media landscape? Viewership of Fox News has surged since Trump's win despite his harsh criticism of the network in the run up to Nov. 5. At the same time, Democrats' sentiment of the economy -- essentially how they view its overall health -- dropped by 13 percent after Trump's win. And viewership for liberal MSNBC has seen a downturn."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Sanewashing Crazy Bobby. Albert Burneko of the Defector cites the text of the subhead and lede of a New York Times report on the nomination of RFJ, Jr., to head HHS: "'Vaccine skeptic.' 'Vaccine skepticism.' What the fuck are we talking about here?... You don't often encounter a word being used to describe its exact opposite in the pages of one of the English language's most prominent publications.... In my lifetime as a word-nerd, I have known 'skepticism' to refer to a sort of stubborn insistence upon rigor and evidence in place of things like dogma and 'common sense.' A skeptic, by those terms, is someone who questions what they are told. Crucially, a skeptic actually questions, as in seeks answers. A person who merely refuses to learn what can be known is not a skeptic, but rather an ignoramus.... There is no such thing as an adult 'vaccine skeptic' in the year 2024.... Any reasonable questions that a skeptical, critical-minded person might have about how and whether vaccines work can be answered by more hard, clear evidence than a person could exhaust in a year of nonstop research.... How does a shit-for-brains like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. come to be described as a 'vaccine skeptic' in the New York Times, in 2024, when he absolutely is not one, and when there is also no such thing as one?... Surely the incurable politeness of America's boneless legacy press plays a role in this." During the course of his rant Burneko supplies the Times with an appropriate word to replace "skeptic": "denier." Thanks to RAS for the link. MB: Worth a read, if just for the fun of it. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Marie: In case you were wondering what the Defector is, as I was, here's its self-description: "... a new sports blog and media company. We made this place together, we own it together, we run it together. Without access, without favor, without discretion, and without interference."

Simon Levien of the New York Times: "strong>J. Ann Selzer, the vaunted Iowa political pollster who released an eyebrow-raising poll just before Election Day, said on Sunday that she would end her election polling operation. Ms. Selzer, 68, has long been a trusted voice in the polling industry, predicting the state's margins of past presidential elections with an accuracy few rivaled. So when her last poll before Election Day showed Vice President Kamala Harris leading ... Donald J. Trump in Iowa, it created a political shock wave. It was a surprising result, showing Ms. Harris leading by three percentage points. And observers noted it was an outlier. But many trusted Ms. Selzer's expertise and her track record. Nearly every other poll in Iowa showed Mr. Trump leading the state by a healthy margin, and in 2020 Mr. Trump won the state by eight points. By the time ballots were counted early this month, Mr. Trump led Ms. Harris by more than 13 points en route to his overall victory. Ms. Selzer said in a column in The Des Moines Register that she decided over a year ago that this would be the last election she polled." Politico's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Why is it that when untalented men make mistakes, they soldier on, often not admitting to their errors or blaming others? When talented women make mistakes, they fall on their swords, they apologize and they quit. ~~~

     ~~~ UPDATE. David Gilmour of Mediaite: "... Donald Trump called for an investigation into retired Iowa pollster J. Ann Selzer as he accused her of undermining trust in the 2024 election, despite his decisive win in Iowa...: '... Thank you to the GREAT PEOPLE OF IOWA for giving me such a record breaking vote, despite possible ELECTION FRAUD by Ann Selzer and the now discredited 'newspaper' for which she works. An investigation is fully called for!" Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. See his commentary at the top of today's thread.

Amanda Holpuch of the New York Times: "The Justice Department has opened an investigation into the fatal shooting by a sheriff's deputy of Sonya Massey, a woman who had called the police because she thought a prowler was outside her home and was killed after an exchange with responding officers over a pot of hot water. In a letter to officials in Sangamon County, the Justice Department said that it had reviewed reports about the shooting of Ms. Massey, who was Black, and that they raised 'serious concerns' about the Sangamon County Sheriff's Office's interactions with Black people and people with behavioral health disabilities. The Justice Department is also investigating the county and its central emergency dispatch system for possible violations of federal nondiscrimination policies.... The deputy, Sean Grayson, who is white, shot Ms. Massey, 36, inside her home in Springfield, Ill., on July 6." (Also linked yesterday.)

Pat Koch Thaler is dead. You will want to read her obituary. This is supposed to be a gift link for nonsubscribers to Thaler's New York Times' obituary, by Sam Roberts. If the link doesn't work properly, I apologize. And please let me know. (Also linked yesterday.)

~~~~~~~~~~

Ohio. Michael Corkery of the New York Times: "Officials in Columbus, Ohio, and across the state condemned a small group of people who marched through part of the city on Saturday carrying Nazi flags and shouting racial slurs and expressions of white power. The marchers appeared to number only about a dozen people, but the invectives they shouted through a bullhorn at anyone they passed and the large swastika symbols they bore seemed to achieve their goal of rattling not just Columbus but a wider audience online.... The Anti-Defamation League said that the Columbus event fit a recent pattern of white supremacist incidents, hundreds of which have taken place across the country over the past 18 months. The marches tend to be small, unannounced to avoid counterprotesters and tailor-made for social media, said Oren Segal ... of the Anti-Defamation League Center on Extremism.... Shannon Hardin, president of the Columbus City Council..., tied the incident to Donald J. Trump's election. 'I am sorry that the president-elect has emboldened these creeps,' Mr. Hardin, a Democrat, said in a post [on X]."

~~~~~~~~~~

Israel/Palestine, et al. Anthony Faiola & Niha Masih of the Washington Post: "Pope Francis has said that Israel's attacks in Gaza should be investigated to determine if they meet the legal definition of genocide, according to excerpts from a forthcoming book based on interviews with the pontiff. Francis has privately used the word 'genocide' to describe Israel's actions, according to people who have interacted with him, The Washington Post has reported. But his comments to the journalist Hernán Reyes Alcaide, excerpted Sunday in the Italian newspaper La Stampa, are the first time he has publicly called for an investigation."

Ukraine, et al.

Adam Entous, et al., of the New York Times: "President Biden has authorized the first use of U.S.-supplied long-range missiles by Ukraine for strikes inside Russia, U.S. officials said. The weapons are likely to be initially employed against Russian and North Korean troops in defense of Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region of western Russia, the officials said. Mr. Biden's decision is a major change in U.S. policy. The choice has divided his advisers, and his shift comes two months before ... Donald J. Trump takes office, having vowed to limit further support for Ukraine. Allowing the Ukrainians to use the long-range missiles, known as the Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMS, came in response to Russia's surprise decision to bring North Korean troops into the fight, officials said." The AP's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Marc Santora of the New York Times: "Russia renewed its campaign to destroy Ukraine's battered power grid on Sunday, targeting facilities across the country with missiles and long-range drones in one of the largest and most complex bombardments of the war, Ukrainian officials said. The attack lasted several hours and featured around 120 missiles and 90 drones, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a statement. Air-defense teams destroyed 144 targets, but at least nine civilians were killed, officials said. Mr. Zelensky said F-16 pilots had shot down 10 targets. 'The enemy's target was our energy infrastructure throughout Ukraine,' Mr. Zelensky said. 'Unfortunately, there is damage to objects from hits and falling debris.' Interceptor missiles could be seen streaking across blue skies over the capital, before exploding in thunderous claps. Similar scenes played out across Ukraine, Ukrainian officials said." (Also linked yesterday.)

News Lede

New York Times: "One person has died and 39 people have become ill in an E. coli outbreak linked to organic carrots, federal regulators said on Sunday. The infections were tied to multiple brands of recalled organic whole bagged carrots and baby carrots sold by Grimmway Farms, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Fifteen people have been hospitalized, according to the agency. Carrots currently on store shelves are unlikely to be affected by the recall but those in consumers" refrigerators or freezers may be, the authorities said."

The Conversation -- November 17, 2024

Adam Entous, et al., of the New York Times: “President Biden has authorized the first use of U.S.-supplied long-range missiles by Ukraine for strikes inside Russia, U.S. officials said. The weapons are likely to be initially employed against Russian and North Korean troops in defense of Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region of western Russia, the officials said. Mr. Biden’s decision is a major change in U.S. policy. The choice has divided his advisers, and his shift comes two months before ... Donald J. Trump takes office, having vowed to limit further support for Ukraine. Allowing the Ukrainians to use the long-range missiles, known as the Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMS, came in response to Russia’s surprise decision to bring North Korean troops into the fight, officials said.” The AP's report is here. ~~~

~~~ Marc Santora of the New York Times: “Russia renewed its campaign to destroy Ukraine’s battered power grid on Sunday, targeting facilities across the country with missiles and long-range drones in one of the largest and most complex bombardments of the war, Ukrainian officials said. The attack lasted several hours and featured around 120 missiles and 90 drones, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a statement. Air-defense teams destroyed 144 targets, but at least nine civilians were killed, officials said. Mr. Zelensky said F-16 pilots had shot down 10 targets. 'The enemy’s target was our energy infrastructure throughout Ukraine,' Mr. Zelensky said. 'Unfortunately, there is damage to objects from hits and falling debris.' Interceptor missiles could be seen streaking across blue skies over the capital, before exploding in thunderous claps. Similar scenes played out across Ukraine, Ukrainian officials said.”

Aaron Davis, et al., of the Washington Post: In January 2021 after the insurrection, “Travis Akers, then a naval intelligence officer..., posted ... photos [of some of Pete Hegseth's tattoos] to ... Twitter, calling the tattoos 'white supremacist symbols' — an interpretation Hegseth has since forcefully denied. The tweet was forwarded to the D.C. National Guard’s head of physical security, Master Sgt. DeRicko Gaither, who soon warned commanding general William J. Walker that the Latin phrase suggested Hegseth could be an 'insider threat.' As he was about to be deployed [to duties surrounding Joe Biden's inauguration], Hegseth — now ... Donald Trump’s nominee to be defense secretary — received a call from his superior officer ordering him to stand down.... Hegseth’s removal from the mission became a seminal moment in his life.... [He] wrote in the opening lines of his most recent book ... that he left the military because of the episode. [He wrote, 'So, I resigned. On Jan. 20, 2021, I drafted the letter. F*** Biden anyway.'” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Hegseth claims innocence, but here's what he once wrote about the tattoo in question, according to the Post: “... Hegseth ties his belief in an existential struggle over America’s 'native' and 'Judeo-Christian' culture to the Crusades, writing that Christians, along with their 'Jewish friends and freedom-loving people everywhere,' must fight back against secularism, leftism, globalism and Muslim immigration. 'See you on the battlefield,' he writes in closing out the book. 'Together, with God’s help, we will save America. Deus vult!'”

Conservative New York Times columnist David French must be an optimist because he thinks Donald Trump is already beginning to fail: “Donald Trump is planting the seeds of his own political demise. The corrupt, incompetent and extremist men and women he’s appointing to many of the most critical posts in his cabinet are direct threats to the well-being of the country, but they’re also political threats to Trump and to his populist allies.... If Trump’s cabinet picks help him usher in the chaos that is the water in which he swims, then the question won’t be whether voters rebuke MAGA again, but rather how much damage it does before it fails once more.

Amanda Holpuch of the New York Times: “The Justice Department has opened an investigation into the fatal shooting by a sheriff’s deputy of Sonya Massey, a woman who had called the police because she thought a prowler was outside her home and was killed after an exchange with responding officers over a pot of hot water. In a letter to officials in Sangamon County, the Justice Department said that it had reviewed reports about the shooting of Ms. Massey, who was Black, and that they raised 'serious concerns' about the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office’s interactions with Black people and people with behavioral health disabilities. The Justice Department is also investigating the county and its central emergency dispatch system for possible violations of federal nondiscrimination policies.... The deputy, Sean Grayson, who is white, shot Ms. Massey, 36, inside her home in Springfield, Ill., on July 6.”

Simon Levien of the New York Times: “J. Ann Selzer, the vaunted Iowa political pollster who released an eyebrow-raising poll just before Election Day, said on Sunday that she would end her election polling operation. Ms. Selzer, 68, has long been a trusted voice in the polling industry, predicting the state’s margins of past presidential elections with an accuracy few rivaled. So when her last poll before Election Day showed Vice President Kamala Harris leading ... Donald J. Trump in Iowa, it created a political shock wave. It was a surprising result, showing Ms. Harris leading by three percentage points. And observers noted it was an outlier. But many trusted Ms. Selzer’s expertise and her track record. Nearly every other poll in Iowa showed Mr. Trump leading the state by a healthy margin, and in 2020 Mr. Trump won the state by eight points. By the time ballots were counted early this month, Mr. Trump led Ms. Harris by more than 13 points en route to his overall victory. Ms. Selzer said in a column in The Des Moines Register that she decided over a year ago that this would be the last election she polled.” Politico's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'm wondering why it is that when untalented men make mistakes, they soldier on, often not admitting to their errors or blaming others. When talented women make mistakes, they fall on their swords, they apologize and they quit. 

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Sanewashing Crazy Bobby. Albert Burneko of the Defector cites the text of the subhead and lede of a New York Times report on the nomination of RFJ, Jr., to head HHS: "'Vaccine skeptic.' 'Vaccine skepticism.' What the fuck are we talking about here?... You don't often encounter a word being used to describe its exact opposite in the pages of one of the English language's most prominent publications.... In my lifetime as a word-nerd, I have known 'skepticism' to refer to a sort of stubborn insistence upon rigor and evidence in place of things like dogma and 'common sense.' A skeptic, by those terms, is someone who questions what they are told. Crucially, a skeptic actually questions, as in seeks answers. A person who merely refuses to learn what can be known is not a skeptic, but rather an ignoramus.... There is no such thing as an adult 'vaccine skeptic' in the year 2024.... Any reasonable questions that a skeptical, critical-minded person might have about how and whether vaccines work can be answered by more hard, clear evidence than a person could exhaust in a year of nonstop research.... How does a shit-for-brains like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. come to be described as a 'vaccine skeptic' in the New York Times, in 2024, when he absolutely is not one, and when there is also no such thing as one?... Surely the incurable politeness of America's boneless legacy press plays a role in this." During the course of his rant Burneko supplies the Times with an appropriate word to replace "skeptic": "denier." Thanks to RAS for the link. MB: Worth a read, if just for the fun of it. ~~~

~~~ Marie: In case you were wondering what the Defector is, as I was, here's its self-description: "... a new sports blog and media company. We made this place together, we own it together, we run it together. Without access, without favor, without discretion, and without interference."

Part of our Constitutional duties as U.S. citizens to laugh at these people, and SNL is here to help:

Pat Koch Thaler is dead. You will want to read her obituary. This is supposed to be a gift link for nonsubscribers to Thaler's New York Times' obituary, by Sam Roberts. If the link doesn't work properly, I apologize. And please let me know.

~~~~~~~~~~

Zolan Kanno-Youngs & Alexandra Stevenson of the New York Times: “When President Biden and China’s leader, Xi Jinping, met on Saturday in Peru, they spoke directly to each other for perhaps the last time about a fierce superpower rivalry that Mr. Biden has sought to keep from spiraling into open conflict. But both men also seemed to be addressing ... Donald J. Trump.... Mr. Xi, in his opening remarks, offered what appeared to be a stern warning as U.S.-China relations enter a new period of uncertainty after the American election.... In his own opening comments, Mr. Biden seemed to try to make the case for maintaining a relationship with Beijing, as Mr. Trump talks about imposing more punishing tariffs on China and picks hard-liners for top administration posts....

“But even as Mr. Biden’s session with Mr. Xi, during a gathering of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, began with conciliatory words, it also gave the president a final chance to challenge the Chinese leader directly.... Mr. Biden pushed Mr. Xi to maintain peace in Taiwan, and pressed the Chinese leader over Beijing’s support for Russia, according to his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan. Mr. Biden also urged Mr. Xi to discourage North Korea from continuing to support Russia in its war in Ukraine, Mr. Sullivan said.... [Mr. X pushed back on these and other concerns.]... Even as Mr. Biden has sought to steady relations, the fierce competition between the two countries was on vivid display during the APEC meeting in Lima.”

      ~~~ Here's the White House readout of President Biden's meeting with Xi Jinping.

A Most Unserious Man. Maggie Haberman & Jonathan Swan of the New York Times: “Emboldened, confident in his instincts and more contemptuous than ever of Washington expertise, Mr. Trump is staffing the most important roles in his government at breakneck speed. Advisers have been stunned at how fast he is ticking through his choices, filling the government’s most important positions roughly a month sooner than he did in 2016. Much of the action has taken place under the chandelier in the tearoom at Mar-a-Lago, where Mr. Trump surveys his potential Cabinet nominees on giant video screens. He flicks through shortlists that his transition team, led by the billionaire Howard Lutnick, has drafted over the past months. If Mr. Trump shows an interest in a candidate, the presentation is designed to allow him to immediately watch videos of the potential nominee’s TV appearances — essential for any would-be Trump cabinet official.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It is tempting to compare Trump to a casting director, except I believe most casting directors take their jobs more seriously than Trump takes his role of filling administrative jobs. As for his being “contemptuous of Washington expertise,” he is contemptuous of all expertise, and he is contemptuous of elites everywhere, especially in Manhattan, where the upper crust is equally contemptuous of him.

With the nomination of Chris Wright, Trump is following through on the $1 billion offer he made to Big Oil at a dinner this spring. -- Tiernan Sittenfeld of the League of Conservation Voters ~~~

~~~ Trump Picks Another Dangerous Crackpot. Evan Halper, et al., of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump announced on Saturday that he has selected Chris Wright, the head of fracking company Liberty Energy and a skeptic of mainstream climate science, to lead the Department of Energy and to serve on a new National Energy Council.... In Wright, Trump has chosen a skeptic of the scientific consensus on global warming who argues the 'climate crisis' is a myth. The fracking executive runs a foundation focused on dispelling the conventional wisdom on climate change and promoting expanded fossil fuel production as a solution to many of the world’s problems, an approach others say would drive dangerous levels of warming.... [Wright's] assertions conflict sharply with the conclusions of the world’s leading climate scientists affiliated with the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change....

“Wright emerged as a front-runner for the role of energy secretary at the behest of oil tycoon Harold Hamm, one of Trump’s closest allies.... Like Hamm, Wright ranked as a major donor to the Trump campaign.... Wright’s antipathy toward clean-energy subsidies and rules that penalize fossil fuel emissions contrasts with positions taken by [North Dakota Gov. Doug] Burgum[, whom Trump has tapped to be his interior secretary and 'energy czar.']” Politico's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: We'll see how this works out. According to Michael Gold of the New York Times, Trump claimed Wright “had worked for years with Doug Burgum.” Another reason Wright is such an awful choice: he (1) has no government experience, according to Gold, and (2) he “would be in charge of the nation’s nuclear weapons arsenal, and he would oversee the domestic nuclear energy industry when the sector is seeking to extend the lives of existing reactors and bring new reactor technologies to market,” write the WashPo reporters.

Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: “... Donald J. Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Defense, Pete Hegseth, paid a woman who had accused him of sexual assault as part of a settlement agreement with a confidentiality clause, but Mr. Hegseth insists it was a consensual encounter, his lawyer said on Saturday.... According to [a Monterey, California,] police statement, the complaint was filed four days after the encounter [in October 2017], and the complainant had bruises to her thigh. The police report itself was not released.” ~~~

     ~~~ Michael Kranish, et al., of the Washington Post broke the story: “Hegseth’s attorney, Timothy Parlatore, said that Hegseth was 'visibly intoxicated' at the time of the incident, and maintained that police who were contacted a few days after the encounter by the woman concluded that 'the Complainant had been the aggressor in the encounter.' Police have not confirmed that assertion.... The [attorney's] statement came after a detailed memo was sent to the Trump transition team this week by a woman who said she is a friend of the accuser. The memo, a copy of which was obtained by The Post, alleged he raped the then-30-year-old conservative group staffer in his room after drinking at a hotel bar.... After [the woman] threatened litigation in 2020, Hegseth made the payment and she signed the nondisclosure agreement, his attorney said.” The story has more details. ~~~

     ~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "In addition to what he is credibly accused of, your reminder that Hegseth definitely favors pardoning particularly appalling war criminals.... [Lemieux cites a Time report detailing the convicted or accused war criminals Hegseth advocated for.] Since we’re dealing with the Republican Party in 2024, the extensive evidence that Hegseth is a moral degenerate in addition to being entirely unqualified to be Secretary of Defense is presumably a positive factor for his likelihood of being confirmed." MB: You do have to keep in mind that Trumpworld mindset that killing "the enemy" -- even if the "enemy" is a civilian or a child and especially if the "enemy" is non-white -- is considered to be an admirable act of machoismo. The Trumpists are the cartoonish characters of B-grade action movies. On the other hand, there's this: ~~~

~~~ Courtney Kube, et al., of NBC News: "The Trump transition team is compiling a list of senior current and former U.S. military officers who were directly involved in the withdrawal from Afghanistan and exploring whether they could be court-martialed for their involvement, according to a U.S. official and a person familiar with the plan. Officials working on the transition are considering creating a commission to investigate the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, including gathering information about who was directly involved in the decision-making for the military, how it was carried out, and whether the military leaders could be eligible for charges as serious as treason, the U.S. official and person with knowledge of the plan said.... A 2022 independent review by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction blamed both the Trump and Biden administrations for the chaotic U.S. withdrawal in 2021."

Ian Millhiser of Vox: “Trump chose Todd Blanche, the criminal defense lawyer in his New York hush money trial..., to be deputy attorney general.... The DAG, as this position is known within the department, wields tremendous power over federal criminal prosecutions. If successfully appointed, Blanche will supervise the 93 regional US attorneys who bring the bulk of all federal prosecutions in the United States.... Meanwhile, Trump wants John Sauer, the lawyer who represented him in the Supreme Court case holding that Trump is allowed to use the powers of the president to commit crimes, to serve as solicitor general. The role oversees the Justice Department’s legal strategy in the Supreme Court....

“Another one of Trump’s personal criminal defense lawyers, Emil Bove, will serve as principal associate deputy attorney general, and will hold the DAG spot on an acting basis until Blanche or some other Trump nominee is confirmed or otherwise formally appointed to the job.... Bove’s new role does not require Senate confirmation. So he will be able to move into this job on the first day of Trump’s second presidency.... Blanche, Sauer, and Bove’s conventional résumés also mean that, if they use their DOJ posts to pursue Trump’s personal campaign of vengeance, they are likely to be fairly effective in doing so.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Marie: In Friday Comments, RAS argued that “Team Trump’s most human failings may thwart some of their most evil plans....” As one of several ferinstances, RAS asked rhetorically, “Do you think Matt Gaetz is going to work the hours necessary to not just learn DoJ but run it in detail?” My answer to that would be, no, but the meatheads of Trump's choosing will have underlings to do their bidding. And Millhiser proves my point with specifics: both Blanche & Bove were federal prosecutors for nine years, and Sauer, who clerked for Antonin Scalia, was Missouri's attorney general. Millhiser acknowledges that “Gaetz may struggle to navigate the department’s internal bureaucracy or to resist its internal culture, which seeks to insulate prosecutorial decisions from the White House.... But if Trump gets his way, his ultraloyalist attorney general will now be backed by people who know the Justice Department and the culture of elite federal lawyers quite well.”

Steve Eder, et al., of the New York Times: “This year, America’s southern border was once again a flashpoint in a presidential election, with ... Donald J. Trump pledging to deport millions of people who he said were 'poisoning the blood' of the country. Within days of his re-election, he announced his intention to appoint hard-liners on immigration. But despite the tough talk, the broken border has been a lifeline for America’s on-demand economy under both Democratic and Republican administrations, including Mr. Trump’s first term, an investigation by The New York Times found. Thousands of companies have exploited its porousness by plucking workers from the ranks of unauthorized migrants, sometimes with impunity.... Staffing agencies ... recruit workers for warehouses, factories and distribution centers that serve up billions of dollars in goods for brand-name companies.”

“Apparently Some People Think It Makes Us Look Like Nazis.” digby: “Yes, they will be building concentration camps. There's money in it.” digby cites an ABC News report that the private prison industry is delighted with the windfall Trump's need for deportation camps promise the industry. She also cites a Rolling Stone report that shows “that Stephen Miller and Trump himself have often referred to the need to build 'camps.' Trump says he doesn’t think they’ll have to build too many though because they’ll be 'moving them out' so fast. No need for due process or anything like that. [According to Rolling Stone,] '... Some top Trump advisers get so annoyed when the media refers to his publicly detailed immigration-crackdown plans as including “camps” that they’ve cautioned the president-elect’s allies and surrogates to stop using the word “camps” during the current presidential transition, according to two sources familiar with the situation. “I have received some guidance to avoid terms, like ‘camps,’ that can be twisted and used against the president, yes,” says one close Trump ally. “Apparently some people think it makes us look like Nazis.”'”

No, They Have No Shame. Eric Lipton of the New York Times: “The to-do list for ... Donald J. Trump from Marc Andreessen, the venture capital billionaire from California, is long, but quite specific. Now, after donating big money to Mr. Trump, Mr. Andreessen is eager to see his candidate work through the list.... Mr. Andreessen’s excitement is a hint of just how broadly the victory by Mr. Trump has resonated with business executives who invested millions of dollars in his candidacy and now stand to profit from his policies.... 'It will be a billionaires’ ball,' said Robert Reich, who served as secretary of labor during the Clinton administration and who has long been critical of the income disparity in the United States.” Lipton runs down a list of fat cats and industries that are looking forward to profiting from the investments in Trump.

Jacqueline Alemany, et al., of the Washington Post: “Elon Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX billionaire who has become ... Donald Trump’s 'first buddy,' appeared to publicly pressure Trump on economic policy and a key Cabinet appointment Saturday. In a Saturday morning post on X..., Musk praised a foreign leader’s decision to cut tariffs — the same import taxes that Trump wants to raise to the highest level in a century. Several hours later, Musk posted that Howard Lutnick, Trump’s co-transition chair, would be a better choice than hedge fund executive Scott Bessent for treasury secretary.... He encouraged his nearly 205 million followers to weigh in, too.... Several people in Trump’s circle expressed astonishment Saturday that Musk would publicly push for his choice for a crucial economic role while the president-elect was still weighing his decision.... Bessent and Lutnick have been jockeying for the role of treasury secretary over the past week, with allies of each candidate potshotting the other to transition officials.” Politico's story is here.

Joe Kucinski of Road & Track: "Tesla's vehicles have the highest fatal accident rate among all car brands in America, according to a recent iSeeCars study that analyzed data from the U.S. Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). The study was conducted on model year 2018–2022 vehicles, and focused on crashes between 2017 and 2022 that resulted in occupant fatalities. Tesla vehicles have a fatal crash rate of 5.6 per billion miles driven, according to the study; Kia is second with a rate of 5.5, and Buick rounds out the top three with a 4.8 rate. The average fatal crash rate for all cars in the United States is 2.8 per billion vehicle miles driven."

Another Job Merrick the Unready Didn't Do. David Nakamura & Mark Berman of the Washington Post: “President Joe Biden took office promising greater police accountability, and during his tenure the Justice Department launched a dozen investigations into state and local law enforcement agencies. Nearly four years later, his administration has yet to lock in reform agreements with any of them, putting a major civil rights initiative in jeopardy as Biden prepares to yield the White House to ... Donald Trump.... The race to formalize police accountability plans comes as Trump is vowing to empower local law enforcement to use more aggressive tactics to fight violent crime and potentially dispatch the National Guard, or even the U.S. military, to help patrol some U.S. cities.” MB: “The race”? Oh, there's a “race” now? Try to picture Merrick racing. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: One thing we're looking at here is the downside to the policy of keeping "a wall of separation" between the White House and the Justice Department. Cabinet officers, like any subordinates in any settings, must be accountable to their bosses. But if the president can't call on the attorney general to give an accounting of his or her activities, then the AG can be as irresponsible as, say, Merrick Garland. The buck should stop with the POTUS, but it cannot if a subordinate is effectively untouchable, short of firing.

Hurubie Meko of the New York Times: “Nearly 60 years after Malcolm X’s assassination at the Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan, his family filed a federal lawsuit on Friday claiming that the New York Police Department, C.I.A. and F.B.I. played a role in his killing. The suit, filed in Manhattan, claims that the agencies knew about threats against the civil rights leader, but 'failed to intervene on his behalf.' It says that they had 'intentionally removed their officers from inside the ballroom' before he was shot and left him even more exposed by arresting his security detail in the days before the event. The family also claims that the agencies engaged in 'fraudulent concealment and cover-up' after Malcolm X’s death by keeping information from his family and hamstringing efforts to identify his killers.”

Tom Winter & Tim Stelloh of NBC News: “Federal law enforcement officials said Thursday that they stopped a Texas man from carrying out a possible terrorist attack in Houston.... Anas Said, 28, was charged last month with attempting to provide material support to the terrorist group ISIS, according to an indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Texas. Said was arrested last week at the Houston apartment complex where he is alleged to have planned the attack, said the FBI, which accused him of bragging that he would commit "a 9/11-style" attack if he had the resources.” (Also linked yesterday.) 

~~~~~~~~~~