The Conversation -- December 14, 2024

Army-Navy Game Features Rogues' Gallery. Michael Shear of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump attended the annual Army-Navy football game in Maryland on Saturday with Pete Hegseth, his embattled choice for defense secretary, sending a message of support ahead of Senate confirmation hearings that are likely to take place next month. Allies and aides of Mr. Trump's posted video of the president-elect and Mr. Hegseth on the social media site X. In one video, the two men, along with Vice President-elect JD Vance, can be seen standing for the national anthem.... Mr. Trump was also accompanied at the game by Daniel Penny, a former Marine who was acquitted this week on a charge of criminally negligent homicide after putting a man in a chokehold in a New York subway car. Other allies of Mr. Trump's, including Elon Musk and House Speaker Mike Johnson, were also at the game."

Alan Feuer & Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: "ABC News agreed on Saturday to give $15 million to .... Donald J. Trump's future presidential foundation and museum to settle a defamation lawsuit filed by Mr. Trump concerning on-air statements made by the network's star anchor George Stephanopoulos. The network and Mr. Stephanopoulos also published a statement saying they 'regret' remarks made about Mr. Trump during a televised interview in March. ABC News, which is owned by the Walt Disney Company, will pay Mr. Trump an additional $1 million for his legal fees, under the terms of a settlement agreement filed in Federal District Court in Miami. The outcome marks an unusual victory for Mr. Trump in his ongoing legal campaign against national news organizations. Several of his previous attempts to sue media outlets for defamation, including lawsuits against CNN, The New York Times and The Washington Post, ended in defeat.... The settlement agreement was signed on the same day that a federal magistrate judge ordered Mr. Trump to sit for a deposition in the case next week in Florida. Mr. Stephanopoulos was also on the verge of being deposed." ~~~

     ~~~ Read on. Of course the suits should not have caved. Maybe they were upset that NBC News got the only post-election MSM interview with Trump and they figured a $16MM suck-up would put them in Trump's good graces.

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Stopped Clock..., etc. Marie: OMG! I agree with Donald Trump about something: ~~~

~~~ Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: "'The Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, which has a small but strong constituency, but shouldn't!' [Donald Trump] wrote Friday on his social media platform Truth Social. 'Daylight Saving Time is inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation.' Any effort to permanently change the nation's clocks would require the cooperation of Congress, which has been gridlocked over recent time-change legislation -- and whether it makes sense to end daylight saving time or adopt it year-round instead.... Trump's announcement aligns him with public health professionals, who have long said that daylight saving time does not comport with humans' natural circadian rhythms and that the clock changes each spring and fall are linked to a greater risk of heart attacks, stroke and car accidents. Other countries have banished daylight saving time, with Mexico in 2022 moving to abolish the practice." The Hill has a story here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: When I was growing up in Florida, the state did not have Daylight Savings Time, and that may be the reason I have always found it to be an annoying practice.

Notes on the Billionaires' Club: Tim Apple Makes the Pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lardo. Theodore Schleifer & Tripp Mickle of the New York Times: Apple CEO "Tim Cook held a meeting on Friday with Donald J. Trump at Mar-a-Lago.... Mr. Cook and Mr. Trump later dined on the patio at Mar-a-Lago.... The two men had a warm relationship during Mr. Trump's first term -- much warmer than Mr. Trump's with other tech executives.... The meeting offers a chance for Mr. Cook to seek Mr. Trump's support on several issues that could challenge Apple's business in the coming years, including pressure on the App Store from European regulators and the potential that new tariffs could put the company's iPhone business at risk."~~~

~~~ Cade Metz of the New York Times: "OpenAI said on Friday that its chief executive, Sam Altman, was planning to donate $1 million to ... Donald J. Trump's inaugural fund, joining a number of tech companies and executives who are working to improve their relationships with Mr. Trump.... Mr. Altman and OpenAI recently hired key executives who previously worked for Democratic administrations." ~~~

~~~ Theodore Schleifer & David Yaffe-Belany of the New York Times: "This was the week when many tech companies and their top executives, as reluctant as they may have been, acknowledged the reality of getting business done in Mr. Trump's Washington. With their donations, visits and comments, they joined a party that has already raged for a month, as a cohort of influential Silicon Valley billionaires, led by Elon Musk, began running parts of Mr. Trump's transition after endorsing him in the campaign. While businesses frequently try to get on an incoming president's good side, the frenzy of tech activity stood out from other industries."

~~~ Niall Stanage of the Hill: "Trump has received a display of homage at home and abroad since winning November's contest over Vice President Harris. It's the kind of public pomp that eluded him after his shock victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016. The nature of this acclaim is eliciting an unusual level of glee from Trump -- a man who biographers say has never quite left behind the outer-borough imprint of his upbringing in Queens, N.Y., where his family's wealth was never enough to buy him full entrée into the Manhattan cultural elite. The accolades and invites have come thick and fast this time." Stanage provides a short list of some of the more prominent flatterers.

The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives and held out the promise of eradicating a terrible disease.... Efforts to undermine public confidence in proven cures are not just uninformed -- they're dangerous.... Anyone seeking the Senate's consent to serve in the incoming administration would do well to steer clear of even the appearance of association with such efforts. -- Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, a polio survivor, in a statement Friday ~~~

~~~ Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader and a survivor of polio, issued a pointed statement in support of the polio vaccine on Friday, hours after The New York Times reported that the lawyer for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has petitioned federal regulators to withdraw the vaccine from the market. Without naming Mr. Kennedy, Mr. McConnell suggested that the petition could jeopardize his confirmation to be health secretary in the incoming Trump administration." The NBC News story is here. MB: The NYT article notes that "Kennedy has said he does not want to take away anyone's vaccines," & the NBC News story reports, "Katie Miller, a spokesperson for RFK Jr, told NBC News in a statement, 'The Polio Vaccine should be available to the public and thoroughly and properly studied.'" But no mention in either report of this: ~~~

     ~~~ Tim Reid & Michael Erman of Reuters: "... Donald Trump in an interview published on Thursday said he will be talking to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his nominee to run the Department of Health and Human Services, about ending childhood vaccination programs. When asked if he would sign off if Kennedy decided to end childhood vaccinations programs, Trump told Time magazine, 'we're going to have a big discussion. The autism rate is at a level that nobody ever believed possible. If you look at things that are happening, there's something causing it.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yes, I know it's disturbing that Trump is going to ruin the economy, increase income disparity and wreck our relations with leading democracies. But none of this is as frightening as these two dudes, both of whom are nutso and at least one of whom is quite stupid, getting together to determine healthcare (and outcomes) for the nation's children. It is true that many people will have their children vaccinated for at least some deadly diseases -- unless Kennedy & Trump outlaw those vaccinations. Then only people who are motivated and can afford to travel to other countries would be able to have their children immunized. Could they outlaw vaccines? Could they outlaw the polio vaccine? Well, notice that reference by Kennedy's spokesperson to "thoroughly and properly studying" polio vaccines. The purpose of studying something is to obtain information to help you decide on a course of action (or not.) So what if those thorough, proper studies suggest to Kennedy that the polio vaccine causes brain worms, or whatever? I think he'd recommend outlawing the vaccine, and it's quite possible he could get it done. ~~~

~~~ Scott Lemieux, writing in LG&$, is mightily unimpressed by McConnell's criticism of Trump's pick for HHS head: "Could McConnell have persuaded 16 other Republican senators to convict Trump for 1/6 had he made a serious effort to do it? I don&'t know, and likely the odds were against it. But we do know that -- having to know that his tenure as conference leader was coming to an end, and that he was never going to be majority leader again -- he didn't even try. He owns Trump (and RFK Jr.) lock. stock and barrel. And it's also a little hard to take for someone whose most important initiative in his final four years as majority leader was a nearly successful effort to take healthcare away from tens of millions of people to pay for an upper-class tax cut. RFK Jr. is a logical culmination of the Republican contempt for the idea that public health is an important issue, and McConnell is as guilty of this as anyone." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Lemieux begins his post with a brief discussion of sanewashing RFK Jr. as essentially a healthy-eating/fitness advocate -- uh, kinda like that crazy leftist Michelle Obama. Philip Bump of the Washington Post has a much more-developed post along this line, and it's well-worth reading. ~~~

~~~ Apoorva Mandavilli of the New York Times: "It's an idea as popular as it is incorrect: American babies now receive too many vaccines, which overwhelm their immune systems and lead to diseases like autism. This theory has been repeated so often that it has permeated the mainstream, echoed by ... Donald J. Trump and his pick to be the nation's top health official, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.... But the idea that today's vaccines are overtaxing children's immune systems is fundamentally flawed, experts said. Vaccines today are cleaner and more efficient, and they contain far fewer stimulants to the immune system -- by orders of magnitude -- than they did decades ago. What's more, the immune reactions produced by vaccines are 'minuscule' compared with those that children experience on a daily basis, said Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, a pediatrician at Stanford University who advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccines."

Adam Goldman, et al., of the New York Times: "Kash Patel..., Donald J. Trump's pick to be F.B.I. director, often burnishes his credentials as a former prosecutor even as he portrays law enforcement agencies as an inept and politicized 'deep state.' A critical piece of that narrative is the investigation into the 2012 attack on a diplomatic compound and a C.I.A. annex in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans. Mr. Patel, who worked at the Justice Department from early 2014 to 2017, was involved in that inquiry. He described it in his 2023 memoir ... and in a conversation on a September podcast of 'The Shawn Ryan Show.' But he has both exaggerated his own importance and misleadingly distorted the department s broader effort.... Mr. Patel has repeatedly made it sound as if he led the government's overall effort to investigate and prosecute militants involved in the 2012 attack. [But he was merely a member of a team who aided the Benghazi investigators, and he didn't work there when the investigation started or when it ended.]... He is said to have passed off the role to another colleague after friction with the prosecutorial team." Read on. ~~~

     ~~~ And of course, "Alex Pfeiffer, a spokesman for the Trump transition, stood by Mr. Patel's description of his duties." MB: If Patel were a Democratic nominee, Comer & Jordan would have jump-started a whole 'nother Benghazi probe.

Marie: In yesterday's Conversation, I wondered why bankers would want the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. eliminated, something Trump aides are reportedly considering (in order, I guess, to boost the value of Trump's investment in cryptocurrency). Patrick explained in yesterday's Comments (in two seperate entries) several reasons why banks would want to ditch the FDIC, all based ultimately in the fact that it's the banks who pay FDIC insurance premiums. (Of course they pay the premiums with your money and mine, but they'd get to keep a little more of our money if they didn't have those darned premiums to pay.) RAS also noted the reason bank customers will stick with the banks. I do think other, non-bank companies could handle most of those transactions that RAS correctly notes are handled (at least in part) by banks today. So if you're wondering why bankers might be happy to get rid of FDIC insurance, see yesterday's Comments.

Meryl Kornfield & Maham Javaid of the Washington Post: "Vice President-elect JD Vance has invited Daniel Penny, a former Marine who was acquitted in the chokehold death of a fellow New York subway rider, to be his guest Saturday at the annual Army-Navy football game....Vance and Penny will join ... Donald Trump in his suite at the game.... A New York City jury found Penny, 26, not guilty Monday of criminally negligent homicide in the May 2023 choking death of Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old subway performer and homeless man with a history of mental health problems.... Penny has been lauded as a citizen hero by many Republicans who have pushed for a greater clampdown on crime in the city and criticized [Alvin] Bragg's prosecution of Trump in a hush money case. [Bragg's office prosecuted Penny.] Meanwhile, city officials had decried Neely's death after a video of the minutes-long chokehold went viral, leading to protests over what some saw as vigilante violence against someone in need of the city's services." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: How odd that people who say they're appalled by violent crime promote violent crime. Then they celebrate it by all going out to watch a violent game (guess there were no wrestling or boxing fight nights scheduled).

Annie Grayer of CNN: "Rep. Nancy Pelosi was admitted to a hospital in Luxembourg after she 'sustained an injury during an official engagement,' a spokesperson said. Pelosi, 84, is continuing to work, the spokesperson, Ian Krager, said, and is currently receiving 'excellent' treatment from doctors and medical professionals. 'While traveling with a bipartisan Congressional delegation in Luxembourg to mark the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge,' Krager said." (Also linked yesterday.)

Nitasha Tiku of the Washington Post: "OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT, released emails and text messages from its co-founder Elon Musk on Friday that showed the billionaire in 2017 demanding majority control of the company and the title of CEO. The trove of messages were released by the artificial intelligence developer as part of its response to a federal lawsuit filed in August by Musk, who departed the company's board in 2018."

Maria Cramer & Shayla Colon of the New York Times: "Investigators received a tip from the San Francisco Police Department identifying Luigi Mangione as a suspect before he was arrested in the killing of an insurance executive in Midtown Manhattan, the New York F.B.I. field office said Friday. The tip, which the bureau passed to the New York police, was one of many that law enforcement officials received in the days after the UnitedHealthcare chief executive, Brian Thompson, was fatally shot on Dec. 4. Mr. Mangione's family had reported him missing in San Francisco weeks before the killing. The timing of when the bureau gave that information to the New York police remains unclear, as well as whether it might have helped speed his arrest."

Walt Bogdanich & Michael Forsythe of the New York Times: "McKinsey & Company has agreed to pay $650 million to settle a Justice Department investigation of its work with the opioid maker Purdue Pharma. A former senior partner, Martin Elling, has also agreed to plead guilty to obstruction of justice for destroying internal company records in connection with that work. At the center of the government's case was McKinsey's advice that Purdue Pharma should 'turbocharge' sales of Purdue's flagship OxyContin painkiller in the midst of an opioid addiction epidemic that was killing hundreds of thousands of Americans. More than two dozen McKinsey partners consulted for Purdue over roughly 15 years, earning the firm $93 million." (Also linked yesterday.)

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California, et al. Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "The Biden administration is expected in the coming days to grant California and 11 other states permission to ban the sale of new gasoline-powered cars by 2035, one of the most ambitious climate policies in the United States and beyond.... Donald J. Trump is expected to revoke permission soon after taking office, part of his pledge to scrap Biden-era climate policies. 'California has imposed the most ridiculous car regulations anywhere in the world, with mandates to move to all electric cars,' Mr. Trump has said. 'I will terminate that.' The state is expected to fight any revocation, setting up a consequential legal battle with the new administration."

California. Adam Liptak & Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to consider whether business groups may challenge an unusual federal program that lets California set its own limits on tailpipe emissions to combat climate change. The groups, including fuel producers and sellers, told the justices that the court's intervention was needed to prevent California from effectively setting national policy. 'Without this court's immediate review,' their petition seeking review said, 'California's unlawful standards will continue to dictate the composition of the nation's automobile market.' The challengers asked the court to decide two questions: whether they had suffered the sort of injuries that gave them standing to sue and whether the Environmental Protection Agency program granting California a waiver to set its own standards for greenhouse gas emissions was lawful."

North Carolina. Jonathan Edwards of the Washington Post: "The stripper who accused Duke University lacrosse players of gang-raping her insisted in her 2008 memoir that she'd been attacked, a year after authorities determined she had lied and dropped the charges against her alleged assailants.... In an episode of the online interview show 'Let's Talk with Kat' released Wednesday, [Crystal] Mangum, 46, said she lied about being gang-raped by the lacrosse players after they hired her to strip at their party -- an accusation that sparked a national scandal and forced a reckoning across the country about sexual assault on college campuses. 'I testified falsely against them by saying that they raped me when they didn't, and that was wrong,' she told interviewer Katerena DePasquale on Nov. 13.... The case dominated national news for months.... But as the months went by, the case against the lacrosse players unraveled.... Three months after taking over the case, [then state District Attorney (and now Gov.) Roy] Cooper dismissed the charges against the lacrosse players."

Texas/New York, et al. David Goodman & Pam Belluck of the New York Times: "The Texas attorney general opened a new front in the contentious battle over access to abortion this week by suing a New York doctor for sending abortion pills into Texas. It appeared to be among the first attempts to stop the mailing of such medication into states that ban abortion. The lawsuit from Attorney General Ken Paxton -- filed on Thursday in state court in Collin County, north of Dallas -- pits the laws of Texas, which has a near-total ban on abortion, against those of New York, where lawmakers have taken steps to shield doctors from out-of-state prosecution. Under shield laws, states like New York will refuse to cooperate with attempts by other states to prosecute or sue abortion providers who prescribe and send pills across state lines.

"Such laws exist in eight states and have allowed doctors there to send more than 10,000 abortion pills per month to women in states with bans. But legal experts say they expect Texas to try to pursue its case even if it is rebuffed by New York's law. Such an effort could wind up in federal court, potentially imperiling the ability of women in other states with bans to receive abortion pills by mail, and becoming a major test of whether states can enforce contradictory laws across state lines.... In a statement on Friday, Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York said that she was 'committed to maintaining New York's status as a safe harbor for all who seek abortion care.... I will do everything in my power to enforce the laws of New York State.'" The Texas Tribune story is here.

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France. Aurelien Breeden & Catherine Porter of the New York Times: "President Emmanuel Macron on Friday tapped François Bayrou, a veteran centrist politician and one of his top allies, as the new prime minister, a move that few expect would stabilize France's roiling politics. Mr. Bayrou becomes the country's fourth prime minister this year -- an ominous record. The task ahead is immense: He must now form a cabinet capable of shepherding bills through a fractured, cantankerous lower house of Parliament that ousted his predecessor last week."

South Korea. Michelle Lee of the Washington Post: "The South Korean National Assembly voted Saturday to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol, forcing him to immediately hand over power to the prime minister following his short-lived attempt to impose martial law this month. The hundreds of thousands of South Koreans waiting outside the National Assembly, many singing along to K-pop-style songs with ad-libbed lyrics calling for Yoon's departure, erupted into cheering and crying when the verdict was announced. But South Korea now enters a prolonged period of uncertainty: The Constitutional Court must decide whether to uphold the impeachment charges, a process that could take up to six months. If the court decides the legislature's decision is constitutional, Yoon will be removed from office and a new presidential election will be held within 60 days."

Syria, et al. The Washington Post's live updates of developments Saturday in Syria are here. ~~~

~~~ The New York Times live-updated developments Friday in Syria: "The Russian military appeared to be packing up equipment at one of its most critical bases in Syria on Friday, in what could be a prelude to Moscow's military withdrawal from an important strategic foothold in the Middle East. The movements of Russian equipment came as jubilant crowds gathered in cities across Syria for the first Friday Prayers since rebels toppled President Bashar al-Assad.... Also on Friday, Travis Timmerman, an American citizen who was found outside Damascus earlier this week, was handed over to U.S. forces by Syrian opposition representatives.... Rebel fighters in Syria said that they had found vast stockpiles of an illegal amphetamine called captagon in a Damascus warehouse. The drug was the cornerstone of a narcotics-trafficking ring worth billions of dollars a year that was run by relatives and associates of ... Bashar al-Assad.... A federal grand jury in Los Angeles charged a former Syrian government official with torturing political dissidents at a prison in Damascus." ~~~

~~~ All Is Not Well in Paradise. Farnaz Fassihi of the New York Times: "In the days since the abrupt and unexpected obliteration of Iran as a dominant presence in Syria, the government has faced a fierce public backlash over the billions of dollars spent and the Iranian blood shed to back the Assad regime. The criticism has come from unexpected corners, including conservatives, and is flowing freely on television channels and talk shows, and in social media posts and virtual town halls attended by thousands of Iranians. It also appears on the front pages of newspapers every day.... While opponents of the government have long bristled at the money Iran has sent all over the Middle East, the sentiment now seems to have spread."

The Conversation -- December 13, 2024

Annie Grayer of CNN: "Rep. Nancy Pelosi was admitted to a hospital in Luxembourg after she 'sustained an injury during an official engagement,' a spokesperson said. Pelosi, 84, is continuing to work, the spokesperson, Ian Krager, said, and is currently receiving 'excellent' treatment from doctors and medical professionals. 'While traveling with a bipartisan Congressional delegation in Luxembourg to mark the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge,' Krager said."

Walt Bogdanich & Michael Forsythe of the New York Times: "McKinsey & Company has agreed to pay $650 million to settle a Justice Department investigation of its work with the opioid maker Purdue Pharma. A former senior partner, Martin Elling, has also agreed to plead guilty to obstruction of justice for destroying internal company records in connection with that work. At the center of the government's case was McKinsey's advice that Purdue Pharma should 'turbocharge' sales of Purdue's flagship OxyContin painkiller in the midst of an opioid addiction epidemic that was killing hundreds of thousands of Americans. More than two dozen McKinsey partners consulted for Purdue over roughly 15 years, earning the firm $93 million."

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It's Friday the 13th, Trump is the president*-elect. What could possibly go wrong?

Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "Kash Patel..., Trump's pick to lead the Federal Bureau of Investigation, has called the top ranks of the bureau 'a threat to the people' and published a list of enemies, vowing retribution for investigations of top Republicans. He appears -- at least for now -- to be on a glide path for confirmation, with Republican senators lining up enthusiastically behind him. As Mr. Patel made the rounds on Capitol Hill this week ahead of his confirmation hearing, he received almost universal praise from G.O.P. members, even those who had raised concerns about some of Mr. Trump's other picks. Mr. Patel's warm welcome is fueled in part by an eagerness among Republicans to avoid incurring the wrath of Mr. Trump and his base after a groundswell of anger at Senate pushback to his picks to lead the Pentagon and the Department of Justice.... But it also reflects the extent to which a deep distrust of the F.B.I. has become Republican orthodoxy." ~~~

~~~ Marie: Of course we are not surprised that GOP senators are lying down in the path of the Trump bus to facilitate his running over them (beep beep). And that's especially a shame give the following item, which I missed, but which laura h. picked up on it in yesterday's Comments: ~~~

     ~~~ David French of the New York Times: "By stepping down, as the conservative writer Erick Erickson observed, [FBI Director Christopher] Wray has created a 'legal obstacle to Trump trying to bypass the Senate confirmation process.'... According to the Vacancies Reform Act, if a vacancy occurs in a Senate-confirmed position, the president can temporarily replace that appointee (such as the F.B.I. director) only with a person who has already received Senate confirmation or with a person who's served in a senior capacity in the agency (at the GS-15 pay scale) for at least 90 days in the year before the resignation. Kash Patel, Donald Trump's chosen successor at the F.B.I., meets neither of these criteria.... That means he can't walk into the job on Day 1.... So a resignation that at first blush looks like a capitulation (why didn't he wait to be fired?) is actually an act of defiance.... Patel is just such an 'unfit character' [as Alexander Hamilton referenced in Federalist No. 76,] and now it's senators' responsibility to protect the American republic from his malign influence -- if, that is, they have the courage to do their jobs." ~~~

~~~ ⭐Garrett Graff in Politico Magazine: Christopher "Wray's surprise decision [to resign] is, simply put, a damning decision, an abdication of leadership, and a terrifying indication of how unready Washington remains for a second Trump term. Wray's decision undermined decades of hard work -- by Congress, presidents, the Justice Department and the FBI itself -- to move it out of a partisan, political framework.... [Established] safeguards and traditions exist because the FBI, in the wrong hands, is incredibly dangerous to American democracy.... We've spent a half-century as a nation trying to make sure that [J. Edgar Hoover's abuse of the agency's power] never happens again -- and now Trump is explicitly saying he wants to restart that darkest chapter of the FBI's history.... The only reason Trump wants to change FBI directors is he doesn't think he can boss, bend and break Wray to his will sufficiently.... Wray's ... decision ... seems to help only one person: Wray, easing his way back into polite legal society and a top-shelf corporate or legal role with a minimum of awkward fuss and Trump vitriol." Read to the end; Graff smacks down Jim Comey, too.

Marie: Donald Trump will kill millions of Americans. His plan is already past the planning stage. I'm not kidding: ~~~

~~~ ⭐Christina Jewitt & Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "The lawyer helping Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pick federal health officials for the incoming Trump administration has petitioned the government to revoke its approval of the polio vaccine, which for decades has protected millions of people from a virus that can cause paralysis or death. That campaign is just one front in the war that the lawyer, Aaron Siri, is waging against vaccines of all kinds. Mr. Siri has also filed a petition seeking to pause the distribution of 13 other vaccines; challenged, and in some cases quashed, Covid vaccin mandates around the country; sued federal agencies for the disclosure of records related to vaccine approvals; and subjected prominent vaccine scientists to grueling videotaped depositions. Much of Mr. Siri's work — including the polio petition filed in 2022 -- has been on behalf of the Informed Consent Action Network, a nonprofit whose founder is a close ally of Mr. Kennedy. Mr. Siri also represented Mr. Kennedy during his presidential campaign." ~~~

     ~~~ Daniel Payne of Politico: "... Donald Trump said he's open to getting rid of vaccines depending on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s review of their safety. Trump's comments to Time magazine contradict promises previously made by Kennedy, who is Trump's choice to lead the Department of Health and Human Services and has long been skeptical of vaccines widely considered to be safe and effective. Last month, Kennedy told NBC he would not take vaccines away from anyone who wants them. But Trump said in an interview with Time released Thursday that he might get rid of some vaccines if he thinks they're 'dangerous' or 'not beneficial' after working with Kennedy to review evidence of them."

What? Trump repeatedly made a major campaign promise that he's broken even before taking office? Unpossible! ~~~

     ~~~ Meryl Kornfield of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump said in an interview that bringing down grocery prices will be 'very hard,' after he repeatedly promised during his campaign to cut costs, a major factor in winning over voters dissatisfied with the economy.... Throughout the campaign, Trump vowed to reduce the cost of food and energy as he blamed price hikes on Vice President Kamala Harris, who had promised to push for a federal ban on price gouging. In August at his club in Bedminster, New Jersey, Trump stood near a table of produce such as milk, eggs, cereal and coffee and attributed the price hikes to Harris.... 'I'd like to bring them down. It's hard to bring things down once they're up. You know, it's very hard. But I think that they will,' he said....

"In a wide-ranging interview on Nov. 25 that was published Thursday as part of his Time 'Person of the Year' honor, Trump said he would pardon people convicted of participating in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol within hours of his inauguration, sought to distance himself from anti-transgender messages that Republicans used effectively against Democrats in the election and described the Middle East as an 'easier problem' to resolve than Russia's war against Ukraine." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Well, sure, because Trump has a super-duper Middle-East advisor who says he hasn't even visited the Middle East in years and apparently is not the crack dealmaker Trump claims (see related story on Tiffany Trump's father-in-law, linked below).

Dancing with Donald at the Billionaires' Ball

Karen Weise & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Amazon said on Thursday that it was planning to donate $1 million to ... Donald J. Trump's inaugural fund, part of a pattern in which tech companies and their leaders are taking steps to repair their relationships with Mr. Trump. [Mark Zuckerberg's company] Meta, the parent company of Facebook, said on Wednesday that it was putting $1 million into the inaugural fund.... Amazon and its founder, Jeff Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post, have had a rocky history with Mr. Trump.... But over the summer, Mr. Bezos spoke with Mr. Trump after the former president was shot at a campaign event.... More recently, Mr. Bezos has said that he is 'very optimistic' about the incoming Trump administration. At the DealBook Summit in New York on Dec. 4, Mr. Bezos said that Mr. Trump 'seems to have a lot of energy around reducing regulation. And my point of view is, if I can help him do that, I'm going to help him, because we do have too much regulation in this country.'... Mr. Trump said on Thursday that Mr. Bezos, who chairs Amazon's board, was meeting him next week." ~~~

     ~~~ Make that $2MM. Thanks Jeff! Filip Timotija of the Hill: "Amazon will be donating $1 million to Trump's inauguration and also making a $1 million in-kind contribution, as the company will stream the formal admission through Prime Video, multiple outlets reported...." ~~~

     ~~~ Keeping the Lights On. Marie: If you saw yesterday's Conversation, you know that Jeff is happy to have you and me pay for Amazon delivery personnels' safety (which I'm glad to do), while he gives billionaire Trump $1MM. ~~~

~~~ Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Katie Robertson of the New York Times: "After ... Donald J. Trump announced a cascade of cabinet picks last month, the editorial board of The Los Angeles Times ... prepared an editorial arguing that the Senate should follow its traditional process for confirming nominees, particularly given the board's concerns about some of his picks, and ignore Mr. Trump's call for so-called recess appointments.... Hours before the editorial was set to be sent to the printer for the next day's newspaper..., the paper's owner, the billionaire medical entrepreneur Dr. Patrick ... Soon-Shiong told the opinion department's leaders that the editorial could not be published unless the paper also published an editorial with an opposing view.... Editors removed the editorial, headlined 'Donald Trump's cabinet choices are not normal. The Senate's confirmation process should be.' It never ran. Dr. Soon-Shiong's intervention, recounted by four people inside the Times..., is one of a string of events in which he has waded into the publication's opinion section in ways that he hadn't until this fall's presidential campaign." ~~~

~~~ Caroline O'Donovan, et al., of the Washington Post: "Top executives in the technology industry have long been a target of Donald Trump's vitriol. As he prepares to return to the White House, they're lining up to gain favor with the president-elect. Some come bearing checkbooks. Google CEO Sundar Pichai was scheduled for a sit-down with him on Thursday. Salesforce CEO and Time magazine owner Marc Benioff celebrated his publication's naming of Trump as 'person of the year.'... The corporate giants appear to be hoping for a fresh start with Trump, who has lambasted the industry as biased and anticompetitive and targeted some of the biggest tech companies with threats of punitive action.... Trump filed lawsuits against Google and Meta in 2021, accusing them of censorship, and as president in 2019 threatened the two companies with legal assaults from the U.S. government.... Trump said Andrew Ferguson, his pick to head the Federal Trade Commission, will be 'standing up to Big Tech censorship.'" ~~~

~~~ So, Um, Not a Billionaire. Ruth Maclean, et al., of the New York Times: "... Donald Trump's incoming Middle East adviser, Massad Boulos, has enjoyed a reputation as a billionaire mogul at the helm of a business that bears his family name. Mr. Boulos has been profiled as a tycoon by the world's media, telling a reporter in October that his company is worth billions.... In fact, records show that Mr. Boulos has spent the past two decades selling trucks and heavy machinery in Nigeria for a company his father-in-law controls. He is chief executive of the company, SCOA Nigeria PLC, which made a profit of less than $66,000 last year, corporate filings show. There is no indication in corporate documents that Mr. Boulos, a Lebanese-American whose son is married to Mr. Trump's daughter Tiffany, is a man of significant wealth as a result of his businesses. The truck dealership is valued at about $865,000 at its current share price. Mr. Boulos's stake, according to securities filings, is worth $1.53. As for Boulos Enterprises, the company that has been called his family business in The Financial Times and elsewhere, a company officer there said it is owned by an unrelated Boulos family. Mr. Boulos will advise on one of the world's most complicated and conflict-wracked regions -- a region that Mr. Boulos said this week that he has not visited in years." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The Times headline calls Boulos "a small-time truck salesman." Donald Trump calls him a "dealmaker" and a "highly respected leader in the business world, with extensive experience on the international scene." While I will agree that a small-time truck salesman must make deals and can be highly-respected. But a leader in the business world? Seems a bit of a stretch. In fairness to Boulos, it's entirely possible that the reason his company's profits were so low is that he and his father-in-law skimmed millions off the top.

Christina Wilkie of CNBC: "The Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday charged global financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald with violating laws related to regulatory disclosures by so-called blank-check companies before they raise money from the public. Cantor's chairman and CEO, Howard Lutnick, was recently nominated by ... Donald Trump to lead the Commerce Department. Lutnick is co-chair of Trump's transition team. Cantor agreed to settle the SEC's charges by agreeing to pay a $6.75 million civil penalty and agreeing to not violate the securities laws at issue in the case. The firm did not admit or deny the charges...." MB: Oh, there's a way to eliminate fines for violating regulatory laws. Just repeal or ignore the laws! Or the agencies that enforce them! ~~~

⭐ ~~~ Party Like It's 1929 All Over Again. Alex Lang of the Independent: "Donald Trump's transition team has reportedly looked at ways to shrink or eliminate banking oversight - a move that could have dramatic impacts on everyday Americans and protecting their money. In interviews with candidates to oversee the banking sector, Trump advisers and DOGE - the advisory Department of Government Efficiency - officials have asked if the president-elect can abolish the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., according to the Wall Street Journal. Trump's team has also asked if the FDIC could be absorbed into the Treasury Department. Any move to eliminate the FDIC would require Congressional approval. But, if it were to happen, it would be a massive shakeup in the industry. The FDIC was created during the Great Depression. It is designed to help bulk up faith in the nation's banking system. Most people know the agency as it insures deposits in banks up to $250,000." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So the worst of both worlds: (1) inflation guaranteed because of tariffs, & (2) you'll have to keep your money under the mattress, where it will lose value every day. I don't see how fatcat bankers would think eliminating the FDIC would benefit them. Anyhow, major financial institutions will fail and the economy will collapse. Other than that, great idea!

Another Trumpy Conspiracy Theory Bites the Dust. Glenn Thrush & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "More than two dozen F.B.I. informants were in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, but contrary to widespread conspiracy theories, bureau officials did not order anyone to break the law as a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol that day, according to a report by a Justice Department watchdog released on Thursday. After a nearly four-year investigation, the department's inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, also determined that the F.B.I. had not stationed any undercover agents in the crowd that gathered at the Capitol to disrupt the certification of Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s electoral victory over Donald J. Trump in the 2020 election. In his nearly 90-page report, Mr. Horowitz said the bureau 'undertook significant efforts to identify domestic terrorism subjects' who planned to travel to the Washington area on Jan. 6. But he criticized its leaders for failing to recognize the potential dangers posed by the rioters before they descended on the city. Moreover, he specifically chided the F.B.I.'s top ranks for failing to follow through on their promise to canvass their field offices for intelligence on potential threats after the 2020 election." (The link to the report embedded in the story is to a DOJ webpage, not to a NYT page, so it's free.) Politico's story is here.

GOP's Pet Biden-Corruption Fabulist to Go to Prison. Perry Stein of the Washington Post: "The FBI informant accused of lying about the Biden family's business dealings has reached a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, admitting that he concocted a tale of President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden accepting bribes in exchange for protecting a Ukrainian energy company. The defendant, Alexander Smirnov, will also plead guilty to multiple tax charges, according to the agreement filed in federal court in Los Angeles on Thursday morning. Special counsel David Weiss charged Smirnov in February with making a false statement and creating a false and fictitious record.... In November, prosecutors indicted him again on tax charges.... As part of the plea agreement filed Thursday -- which still needs to be reviewed by a judge -- prosecutors recommended that Smirnov be sentenced to 48 to 72 months in prison.

"The agreement brings to a close an ugly chapter in which Republicans in Congress pinned allegations of Biden family corruption largely on claims Smirnov made to FBI agents in 2020 -- claims that Smirnov now admits were lies. Again and again, lawmakers repeated these and other accusations about the Biden family, at the same time saying that the Justice Department and FBI were not aggressively prosecuting the Bidens and other Democrats.... Parts of Smirnov's tale emerged in FBI documents trumpeted by congressional Republicans, even as his identity remained unknown on Capitol Hill -- and his claims unvetted."

Tobi Raji of the Washington Post: "A bill that would create dozens of new federal judgeships across the country received final approval in Congress on Thursday morning, setting up a likely veto from President Joe Biden even as his administration pushes to confirm his final nominees to fill existing judicial vacancies.... The White House announced this week that Biden would veto the bill, and leading Democratic lawmakers who had supported it are questioning it as well, wary of handing ... Donald Trump a trove of new federal judicial vacancies to fill once he takes office."

Annie Correal of the New York Times: "... a burial ground for enslaved people has been discovered at Andrew Jackson's home in Nashville, known as the Hermitage, the Andrew Jackson Foundation announced this week. The brash and divisive seventh U.S. president, whose portrait hung in the Oval Office during ... Donald J. Trump's first term, was known to have owned, along with his son, more than 300 enslaved people before the Civil War."

Joshua Partlow of the Washington Post: "Before the two-year marine heat wave that ended in 2016, Alaska had an estimated 8 million common murres -- a quarter of the world's population -- spread across abundant colonies in the Gulf of Alaska and the Eastern Bering Sea. These black-and-white seabirds nest in dense clusters among shoreline cliffs during the summer months and then head to the ocean the rest of the year to feast on schools of small fish such as capelin and sand lance, herring and krill. Some populations of such forage fish collapsed during the heat wave as temperatures in the north Pacific spiked by 2.5 to 3 degrees Celsius above normal. Many predators that rely on them suffered.... The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ... found that more than half of Alaska's common murres died -- some 4 million birds -- in what they described as the largest mortality event of any non-fish vertebrate wildlife species reported during the modern era. The killing was an order of magnitude larger, she said, than the hundreds of thousands of murres that perished in the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska."

In yesterday's Conversation, we had some discussion about the structural problems in our socio-political system that have led us to this perilous point in our national history. Here's a part of the overall problem: ~~~

     ~~~ Dan Froomkin of Press Watch: "The nation's biggest, most important news organizations failed in their biggest, most important task in 2024. The whole reason the press is free in this constitutional democracy of ours, after all, is to create an informed electorate. And this one decidedly was not.... Why wasn't the media more aggressive about fighting disinformation and advancing democracy?... Why don't working-class voters pay as much attention to traditional media anymore?...

The answer to both questions is the same: It's the business model ... that singularly values affluent customers. And that business model affects everything they do.... The advertisers want to connect with the affluent, not the working class. The rich can afford subscriptions.... The marketing? It's directed at people with disposable income.... That means a tone that is effete, cautious, careful not to offend, and almost never outraged. That means avoiding anything that could conceivably be seen as partisan, for fear of alienating the affluent or the advertisers.... Nothing too antagonistic to corporate power. In short, nothing too populist." Thanks to RAS for the link. ~~~

     ~~~ Froomkin goes on in Part II to describe what he considers an ideal, non-profit news organization, one that was accessible, explanatory, committed to fighting disinformation, & crusading. After Froomkin details what he means here, he writes: "So how do we get this ideal newsroom? The easiest, quickest way would be for Jeff Bezos to turn the Washington Post -- and an endowment -- over to an independent nonprofit with a board of esteemed, public-minded journalists. That would be a good start. Another possibility: ProPublica -- the wildly successful nonprofit investigative news organization -- could spin off its Washington bureau and start doing non-investigative work as well.... Any solution inevitably involves philanthropy...."

     ~~~ Marie: Say, what are the odds of Jeff Bezos giving away/relinquishing control of his newspaper? Therein lies the structural problem. Who are philanthropists? Oh, they're rich people. Multi-millionaires and billionaires. Those who aren't ultra-rich but might give to independent journalistic enterprises are likely to be well-educated. You know, the elite. The people who need the information Froomkin recommends are not in a position or of a mood to financially support informative political journalism. Hop on a NYC subway that goes to the outer boroughs, and you'll see what I mean: the straphangers (who may not be wealthy but who are, on the whole, better-educated than the average American) are reading a tabloid, possibly a Murdoch tabloid.

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Kentucky. David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department announced an agreement Thursday with the city of Louisville on a federal oversight plan tha will require the local police department to make sweeping changes aimed at curbing excessive force and racial discrimination. Authorities said the 242-page consent decree, which will be submitted to a federal judge for approval, mandates that the Louisville Police Department pursue changes to use-of-force policies, officer training and supervision, the handling of search warrants and officer wellness initiatives under the supervision of a federal monitor. The plan emerged more than 4½ years after a Louisville officer fatally shot Breonna Taylor, a Black woman, during a nighttime raid on her apartment in March 2020, an incident that helped spark nationwide social justice protests. One former officer who participated in the raid and another who helped falsify the search warrant were convicted on federal charges related to the raid, while two others are under indictment." (The embedded link is to a DOJ document, not a WashPo doc.)

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Syria. The Washington Post's live updates of developments Friday in Syria are here: "A growing swell of diplomatic action is focused on the transition of power in Syria in the wake of the sudden collapse of the Bashar al-Assad regime last week, along with broader de-escalation across the Middle East. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Friday in Ankara, the second day of meetings that reflect the central role Turkey will play in the weeks to come as the United States and its allies seek an inclusive and orderly transition of power. Turkey backed Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the rebel group that led the assault that ultimately toppled Assad, and reopened its embassy in Damascus on Thursday. Blinken has repeatedly pushed for an inclusive Syrian transition this week in his visits to Turkey and Jordan, a call echoed by the Group of Seven nations in a joint statement saying they would back a 'credible, inclusive, and non-sectarian governance' in Syria. U.N. Secretary General António Guterres also echoed those calls, at the same time calling on Israel to refrain from taking additional military moves there, saying Israel's attacks on Syrian targets this week represented 'extensive violations of Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity.' Israel has said that its attacks were designed to prevent weapons from ending up in the wrong hands. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, in the Middle East for visits to Israel, Qatar and Egypt, echoed that defense on Thursday."

The Conversation -- December 12, 2024

Leo Sands of the Washington Post: "President Joe Biden is commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 people and pardoning 39 more convicted of nonviolent crimes, the White House said in a statement Thursday, describing it as 'the largest single-day grant of clemency in modern history.... [At 6:15 am ET.,] This is a developing story that will be updated." The AP's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ The White House "Fact Sheet" is here.

Mark Landler of the New York Times: Trump's awe of royalty may help Britain maintain a decent relationship with the U.S. "Mr. Trump's affection for the Windsors is palpable." MB: Landler, and those he cites, are probably right about Trump in this regard. That's pathetic.

Strange Woman Who Pledged to Be "Reporters' Worst Nightmare" to Lead VOA. Minho Kim of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump on Wednesday night chose Kari Lake to lead Voice of America, aiming to put a fierce loyalist who has called journalists 'monsters' in charge of a federally funded news outlet that reaches hundreds of millions of people around the globe. Mr. Trump was accused of using his appointees to try to turn Voice of America, whose aim is to offer unbiased news to audiences around the world, into a pro-Trump propaganda outlet during his first term. In his announcement of Ms. Lake, a local TV news anchor turned election denier who lost races for Senate and governor in Arizona, Mr. Trump hinted that he believed he had found an ally to try to reshape its coverage." The NBC News story is here.

Jonathan Swan & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "... resuscitating [Pete] Hegseth in less than a week from dead man walking to a man with a real shot of being confirmed [as defense secretary] by the Senate -- was a test case of power and intimidation in the Trump era. It was a reminder of Mr. Trump's ability to summon an online swarm, even while spending minimal personal capital of his own. It showed that he has at his disposal a powerful movement, which jumped into action once his desires became clear. And it highlighted the role of Elon Musk, who has bottomless wealth to enforce Mr. Trump's desires.... The campaign to revive Mr. Hegseth's nomination was led internally by [JD] Vance and orchestrated externally by a small group of Mr. Trump's most aggressive allies. The group included his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., and MAGA media figures..., chief among them Stephen K. Bannon; the radio host Charlie Kirk; and the Breitbart reporter Matt Boyle.... Mr. Hegseth relied on his own group of close allies ... as he made the rounds on Capitol Hill with his wife, Jennifer, by his side.... The cowing effect [of the pro-Hegseth campaign] reveals how intensely worried Republican senators are about getting on the wrong side of Mr. Trump and his MAGA movement. The arc of their public comments charts their apparent capitulation."

All the President*'s Lackeys. Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "...Trump intends to fill a large portion of his cabinet with figures who would otherwise struggle to find a place in a typical administration of either party.... Compare [these nominees] with virtually any other Republican White House or cabinet, and you'll see a team with shockingly little governing experience and almost no connection to the institutional Republican Party outside of donations.... What [Trump] wants ... are deputies and subordinates who will show a special and specific loyalty to him, above and beyond everything else.... [Today's Republican] party is little more than a patronage network centered on the personalist rule of an American caudillo and his billionaire allies.... The weakness of the institutional Republican Party, the fragility of the Republican majorities and the volatility of Trump himself are a recipe for political instability and chaos." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: There is a much greater structural problem here than Bouie acknowledges. Donald Trump is not the problem. Even sycophantic Republicans are not the problem. The problem is an ignorant, belligerant, irresponsible electorate. The problem is the general social "system" that has fostered our failures to be decent citizens. It is a collective failure, to be sure, and the government -- both Democrats & Republicans -- are largely responsible for it. The "leaders" put their own interests first and even the best of them -- for the most part -- only nibbled at the structural problems. To borrow from Deep Throat, "These are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand." Bernie Sanders, one of the exceptions who proves the rule, is retiring. A Trumpy rich guy defeated Sherrod Brown. There are few "bright guys" left, and they can't do much to save the country from its entrenched flaws. See related stories, linked below, on reactions to the murder of United HealthCare's CEO.

Adam Goldman & Devlin Barrett of the New York Times: "The F.B.I. director, Christopher A. Wray, said on Wednesday that he intended to resign before the Trump administration took office, bowing to the reality that ... Donald J. Trump had publicly declared his desire to replace him. Mr. Wray announced the move while addressing employees on Wednesday afternoon in remarks that tacitly acknowledged the politically charged position the F.B.I. now faces with an incoming president who openly scorns the agency. 'I've decided the right thing for the bureau is for me to serve until the end of the current administration in January and then step down,' Mr. Wray said, adding, 'This is the best way to avoid dragging the bureau deeper into the fray, while reinforcing the values and principles that are so important to how we do our work.' The director spoke wistfully about his time at the F.B.I. 'This is not easy for me,' he said, addressing a packed conference room at F.B.I. headquarters, as many more watched on video feeds at F.B.I. offices around the country. 'I love this place, I love our mission and I love our people.' He left the room to a standing ovation, and some shed tears as Mr. Wray shook employees' hands on the way out, according to an F.B.I. official." (Also linked yesterday.) CNN's report is here. ~~~

~~~ Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post: "FBI Director Christopher A. Wray shouldn't have made it so easy for Donald Trump.... For the FBI director to announce that he will voluntarily step aside by Inauguration Day so that Trump can install a successor risks normalizing a decidedly aberrational and unhealthy development. Wray should have stayed and forced Trump's hand.... When Trump ousted [former FBI Director James] Comey, it was viewed as a cataclysmic, norm-shattering moment. Now, with history set to repeat itself, the replacement of an FBI director by an incoming president threatens to become rule rather than exception. It transforms what is supposed to be the ultimate apolitical job into just another political appointment. With that, the insulation provided by a 10-year term will be shredded, with FBI directors newly beholden to the president." ~~~

~~~ "Exit, Mumbling Platitudes." Benjamin Wittes of Lawfare: "Wray's public statement is muddled and lengthy. It is also cowardly.... To be fair, Wray faced no good option here. He could stay and be fired -- and humiliated.... Or he could preemptively obey, spare himself the embarrassment, roll out the red carpet for Kash Patel, and make what Trump is doing look orderly and not quite so much like a purge of professionals from the chief federal government outfit entitled to bear arms against American citizens.... By ducking out preemptively, Wray may even expand Trump's maneuvering room under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act in installing a temporary replacement.... The simple fact is that Wray's resignation is not the right thing for the Bureau, and it absolutely will not prevent the agency from being dragged deeper into the fray. But it probably is the right thing for Chris Wray, and it probably will mitigate the degree to which he personally gets dragged deeper into the fray. A quiet exit mumbling platitudes while the wrecking ball roars by."

Zuck Sucks Up. Mike Isaac, et al., of the New York Times: "Meta said on Wednesday that it had donated $1 million to ... Donald J. Trump/s inaugural fund, in the latest move by Mark Zuckerberg, the company/s chief executive, to foster a positive rapport with Mr. Trump. The Silicon Valley company did not provide details of why it made the donation, but the move came just weeks after Mr. Zuckerberg met with Mr. Trump at Mar-a-Lago. During that meeting last month, the two men exchanged pleasantries and Mr. Zuckerberg congratulated Mr. Trump on winning the presidency. Mr. Zuckerberg also had a meal with Marco Rubio, Mr. Trump's pick for Secretary of State, according to a person who saw the meeting happen." A CBS News report is here.

Time Sucks Up. Meredith McGraw of Politico: "Donald Trump is expected to be named Time magazine's 'Person of the Year' -- and to celebrate the unveiling of the cover, the president-elect will ring the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday morning, according to three people familiar with the plans...."

Julia Ainsley & Didi Martinez of NBC News: "The incoming Trump administration intends to rescind a long-standing policy that has prevented Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from arresting undocumented people at or near so-called sensitive locations, including houses of worship, schools and hospitals or events such as funerals, weddings and public demonstrations without approval from supervisors, according to three sources familiar with the plan.... Donald Trump plans to rescind the policy as soon as the first day he is in office, according to the sources...." ~~~

~~~ It's the Holiday Season, and Trump Has His Own Little Elves. Alan Feuer of the New York Times: There have been "several recent efforts by far-right organizations, including some that have a history of taking it on themselves to patrol the border with Mexico, to insert themselves into [Donald Trump's] deportation plan.... The push by some militia groups to help Mr. Trump reflects how one of his signature policy proposals mirrors ideas that once existed solely on the fringes of American politics. Militia groups, especially in border states, have a long history of supporting enforcement efforts, sometimes taking migrants into custody on their own and turning them over to lawful authorities in agencies like the U.S. Border Patrol.... Last month, Tom Homan, a former immigration official nominated to oversee the deportation effort, seemed open to the idea of using nontraditional personnel to carry out the plan." Perhaps "armed, violent, bigoted, unstable vigilantes" would be a more accurate description of Trump's volunteers than is "elves."

Marie: To those of you I misled into thinking that I was glad Amazon billionaire Jeff Beelzebub had become an honorable employer, I apologize. I was being facetious. He -- and every other American billionaire, for that matter -- is a national disgrace. Excessuve wealth is a shameful thing, and a government that permits it is without merit.

In case you missed Fox's "Patriot Awards" show, RAS has linked this excellent review of the ceremony:

As They Were Leaving. Matt Brown of the AP: "Senate Democrats failed Wednesday to confirm a Democratic member of the National Labor Relations Board after independent Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema opposed the nomination, thwarting their hopes of locking in a majority at the federal agency for the first two years of ... Donald Trump's term. A vote to move ahead with the nomination of Lauren McFarren, who currently chairs the NLRB, failed 49-50. Had she been confirmed to another five-year term, it would have cemented a Democratic majority on the agency's board for the first two years of the incoming Trump administration. Now, Trump will likely be able to nominate McFarren's replacement.... The rejection of McFarren was yet another blow to Senate Democrats and President Joe Biden from Manchin and Sinema, who served as major brakes -- and at times outright obstacles -- to much of their legislative agenda the first two years of Biden's term." Thanks to Ken W. for the link.

Turtle Emerges from Shell. Sanjana Karanth of the Huffington Post: "Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) reportedly said that ... Donald Trump's victory puts Americans in 'a very, very dangerous world,' stressing that he plans to spend his final two years in the Senate pushing back against the growing Trump-fueled isolationism within the GOP.... 'We're in a very, very dangerous world right now, reminiscent of before World War II,' McConnell told the Financial Times on Wednesday. 'Even the slogan is the same, "America First." That was what they said in the '30s.'... 'The cost of deterrence is considerably less than the cost of war,' the senator said to the Times. 'To most American voters, I think the simple answer is, "Let's stay out of it." That was the argument made in the ’30s and that just won't work. Thanks to [former President Ronald] Reagan, we know what does work -- not just saying peace through strength, but demonstrating it."

Karoun Demirjian of the New York Times: "A divided House on Wednesday passed a defense policy bill that would direct $895 billion to the Pentagon and other military operations, moving over the opposition of Democrats who objected to a provision denying coverage for transgender health care for the children of service members.... "The provision in question would bar TRICARE, the military's health care plan, from covering 'medical interventions for the treatment of gender dysphoria that could result in sterilization' for children under 18.... The speaker [Mike Johnson] insisted at the last minute that he would not bring a defense bill to the floor without the provision [to block coverage].... The vote was 281 to 140, with 124 Democrats and 16 Republicans voting against the bill. Republicans had pressed for a far more expansive ban on transgender health care coverage...."

Zoe Richards of NBC News: "A foster care advocate [Elliott Hinkle] is challenging Rep. Nancy Mace's account that she was 'physically accosted' by a man who was arrested at the Capitol on Tuesday.... [Hinkle describes the exchange between Mace & James McIntyre, whom Capitol Police arrested.] Lisa Dickson, another former foster youth and advocate, [said]..., 'I want to express deep disappointment in the fact that Congresswoman Nancy Mace came to a national foster youth event, told participating youth that it was a safe space -- and literally had one of them arrested by Capital police for simply shaking her hand and asking about trans rights.'..." Mace describes McIntyre's shaking her hand in a way she says was "aggressive" and "intimidating." And something about misogyny. She refused aid from paramedics, but later shared a picture of herself with her arm in a sling. MB: Oh, puh-leze. Wouldn't it me nice if we could take the word of a Congresswoman over that of an ordinary citizen? But Newshog Nancy has not been on the front pages enough lately, so this is what you get. Thanks to RAS for the lead.

Igor Bobic of the Huffington Post: "Two of the biggest critics of the U.S. health care system condemned the assassination of UnitedHealthcare's CEO Brian Thompson while calling out 'vile' insurance company practices aimed at maximizing profits. 'The visceral response from people across this country who feel cheated, ripped off, and threatened by the vile practices of their insurance companies should be a warning to everyone in the health care system," Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) told HuffPost in an interview on Tuesday when asked about the cold response to Thompson's death, which included celebratory posts on social media.... Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) called Thompson's killing 'outrageous' and 'unacceptable' before similarly criticizing insurance company practices." ~~~

~~~ Erik De La Garza of the Raw Story: "The aftermath of the shocking killing of UnitedHealthcare's CEO -- and the 'cheering reaction' it triggered -- offers a stark warning to a society already desensitized to bloodshed, according to an [Atlantic] editorial published Wednesday. And the brazenness of the gleeful response from frustrated insurance customers nationwide is worrying to people who study violence closely, wrote Adrienne LeFrance, who added in her Atlantic editorial that last week's assassination of Brian Thompson could lead down a path of 'decivilization.' 'The line between a normal, functioning society and catastrophic decivilization can be crossed with a single act of mayhem,' LeFrance warned readers on Wednesday. She pointed out that the conditions that made a society susceptible to violence include 'highly visible wealth disparity, declining trust in democratic institutions, a heightened sense of victimhood, [and] intense partisan estrangement.'"

Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post: "New York Police said Wednesday that bullet casings recovered from the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson matched the gun found on Luigi Mangione, the man charged in the killing, and investigators believe he was acting on animus toward the health insurance industry and corporate America.... [New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch] said that the crime lab matched Mangione's fingerprints with those on a water bottle and Kind bar found near the area outside the New York Hilton Midtown where Thompson was gunned down on Dec. 4."

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North Carolina. Patrick Marley of the Washington Post: "Flexing power just before they lose their supermajority, Republicans in North Carolina's legislature overrode a veto Wednesday to give one of their allies control over the state's elections board, rewrite ballot-counting rules and chip away at the power of the incoming Democratic governor. The move came as Republicans sought to claim three seats in the legislature and a spot on the state Supreme Court by throwing out tens of thousands of ballots in races they lost last month. The state Democratic Party is fighting that effort by asking a federal judge to ensure votes don't get tossed because of administrative errors. The developments offer the latest test for democracy in the swing state while highlighting North Carolina Republicans' brand of go-to-the-mat politics. Courts could soon review how ballots were counted in last month's election, and judges will almost certainly be asked to review the new law limiting the power of the incoming governor, Josh Stein (D)." The NBC News story is here.

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Canada Bows to Trump's Demands. Matina Stevis-Gridneff, et al., of the New York Times: "Canada is working on a broad plan, including drones and police dogs, to address concerns raised by ... Donald J. Trump about the shared border between the two nations, underscoring the urgency of avoiding threatened tariffs that would send its economy into meltdown. ... In a closely watched meeting between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada and the leaders of the country's provinces on Wednesday, Mr. Trudeau and senior members of his government said that they would come up with measures to fortify the border. The Canadian government will flesh out details, figure out a price tag, establish a timeline and then present the plan to the incoming Trump administration before Mr. Trump's inauguration next month...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Justin Chamberlain's appeasement plan would make some sense (even though he has allowed Trump to threaten & humiliate him) if there were a serious drug smuggling problem at the border, but experts say there is not.

South Korea. Choe Sang-Hun of the New York Times: "In a surprise shift from remorse to defiance, President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea on Thursday refused to step down and lashed out at those who sought to oust him over his short-lived decision to place his country under military rule. Mr. Yoon has faced mounting pressure from all sides after his decision on Dec. 3 to declare martial law and send troops into the National Assembly. Tens of thousands of protesters have demanded his resignation, impeachment or arrest. His own party suggested that he resign early. The opposition has vowed to impeach him. The police are investigating possible insurrection charges against him.... Thursday..., [Mr. Yoon defended his declaration of martial law] as a bold move to 'save the country' from what he called the 'anti-state' opposition parties, which he accused of using a legislative majority to paralyze the nation. 'I will proudly confront it, whether it's impeachment or investigation,' Mr. Yoon said. 'I will fight to the end.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Maybe it would help if Yoon developed a perfume called "Fight, Fight, Fight!" ~~~

~~~ Oh, Apparently Not. Gawon Bae, et al., of CNN: "South Korea's ruling party has thrown its support behind attempts to impeach embattled President Yoon Suk Yeol over his ill-fated decision to declare martial law that sparked a political crisis and widespread public anger in the country. The announcement came moments before Yoon delivered a defiant speech Thursday in which he attempted to justify his hugely controversial martial law decision and rejected growing calls from across the political spectrum for him to stand down. The People Power Party (PPP) had initially refused to back impeachment, hoping instead Yoon would resign from office. But its leadership said attempts to persuade him had made no progress."

Syria. The Washington Post's live updates of developments Thursday in Syria's political upheaval are here: "Secretary of State Antony Blinken is traveling to Jordan and Turkey to promote a 'Syrian-led transition' in Damascus, meeting leaders of neighboring nations to try to get them on board.... The top U.S. diplomat 'will discuss the need for the transition process and new government in Syria to respect the rights of minorities' and will push for open channels of humanitarian assistance, and securing and destroying stockpiles of chemical weapons, spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement. Earlier, Blinken had said the U.S. government will 'recognize and fully support' the new Syrian government if the transition process is inclusive and transparent. The rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which led the assault that toppled Bashar al-Assad's regime, was formed as an offshoot of al-Qaeda."