The Conversation -- April 13, 2024
** New York Times: “Iran mounted an immense aerial attack on Israel on Saturday night, launching more than 300 drones and missiles in retaliation for a deadly Israeli airstrike in Syria two weeks ago, and marking a significant escalation in hostilities between the two regional foes. The strikes caused only minor damage to one Israeli military base, and most of the airborne threats were intercepted, Israeli military officials said. The United States said it had helped to shoot dozens of drones and missiles.” This is the pinned item in a liveblog.
~~~ CNN's live updates, also linked below, are here.
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Zach Montague of the New York Times: “President Biden canceled $7.4 billion in student loan debt on Friday as he tries to shore up support with young voters who are disproportionately affected by soaring education costs, but who may be drifting away over his policy on Israel and the war in Gaza. The latest round of relief is part of a strategy by the White House to take smaller, targeted actions for certain subsets of borrowers after the Supreme Court struck down a far more ambitious plan to wipe out $400 billion in debt last year. Mr. Biden said this week that he would make another attempt at large-scale debt forgiveness for about 30 million people, despite Republican opposition and legal challenges. But in the meantime, he has been chipping away at student debt by fixing and streamlining existing programs that have been plagued by bureaucratic and other problems for years.” CNN's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Luke Broadwater & Charlie Savage of the New York Times: “In a major turnaround, the House on Friday passed a two-year reauthorization of an expiring warrantless surveillance law that had stalled this week amid G.O.P. resistance stoked by ... Donald J. Trump. The bill would extend a provision known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, that is set to lapse next Friday.... The final vote was 273 to 147, with both parties split. One hundred and twenty-six Republicans joined 147 Democrats in favor, while 88 Republicans and 59 Democrats were opposed.... This week [Trump] directed lawmakers ... to 'KILL FISA,' asserting that it had been used to illegally spy on his 2016 presidential campaign. Mr. Trump’s contention was incoherent as a matter of law and policy because there are two types of FISA surveillance and the type that is expiring — Section 702 — has nothing to do with the type the F.B.I. used in its investigation into the links between his campaign and Russia amid Moscow’s covert efforts to help him win the 2016 election.” Politico's report is here. (This is an update of a story also linked yesterday.)
He’s doing about as good as you’re going to do. -- Donald Trump, in an assessment of Mike Johnson's performance as Speaker
And congrats to Trump himself, who made a grammatical error, employed an awkward construction and used an ambiguous colloquialism in a ten-word sentence. -- Marie ~~~
~~~ Michael Gold of the New York Times: “... on Friday, [Speaker Mike Johnson] flew to Florida, where the man who has contributed to many of his challenges threw him a crucial lifeline in his hour of need. 'I stand with the speaker,' ... Donald J. Trump told reporters at Mar-a-Lago ... as Mr. Johnson stood behind him and nodded along. It was a message the speaker needed at a tenuous moment in his leadership, when he faces the threat from one of Mr. Trump’s most loyal allies, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, of a motion to oust him.... 'He’s doing a really good job under really tough circumstances,' said Mr. Trump, who has helped undermine Mr. Johnson’s legislative agenda by voicing opposition to some of his efforts.... Mr. Trump, who has repeatedly railed against providing more aid to Ukraine, did not fully back Mr. Johnson’s effort to provide additional U.S. military assistance to the nation as it continues to fight against Russia’s invading forces. But he moderated his stance on Friday, saying that the two had discussed the issue and that he believed they might find common ground in offering aid 'in the form of a loan,' an idea the former president has pushed for months.” Politico's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Certainly the first time in history that a Speaker of the House has had to negotiate legislation with the leader of a foreign adversary, in this case, Vladimir Putin.
Don & Mike's Excellent Voter Suppression Bill. Jane Timm of NBC News: "... Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson pitched new legislation to crack down on noncitizen voting on Friday, despite the fact the practice is already illegal and occurs rarely. Johnson said House Republicans would introduce a bill to require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote, speaking at Mar-a-Lago next to Trump as he seeks to fend off threats from his right flank.... Requiring documentary proof of citizenship could disenfranchise millions of Americans who do not have access to passports or birth certificates. Several states have tried to require documentary proof of citizenship in the past, but federal law currently prohibits it in federal elections.... For Trump, however, the proposal fuses two of his favorite talking points: immigration and voter fraud." ~~~
~~~ Marie: For most Americans, obtaining documentary proof of their citizenship is somewhere between an inconvenience and an impossibility. If you haven't already obtained a copy of your birth certificate for some other purpose, then you'll have to figure out to get a copy and you'll probably have to pay for it. What if your name has changed? (More likely if you're a woman.) What if there's a mistake on your birth certificate? (There's one on mine.) What if your parents were in the military and you were born outside the U.S.? What if you're adopted? What if you're really old (and likely poor) and your birth was never properly registered? What if your state or local agency is too slow in getting the necessary document(s) to you? What if the elections officials question the documentation you provide? ("Hmm, this is just a copy; the certificate must have an embossed seal.") What Don & Mike cynically call "election integrity" is actually a massive disenfranchisement project. Especially affected would be Americans who are poor, who are women, who have moved recently or temporarily (say, for college), or who were born in other countries and naturalized; IOW, more likely Democratic voters.
Merchan Calls Out Trump Chutzpah. Jennifer Peltz & Michael Sisak of the AP: “The judge in Donald Trump’s hush money criminal case on Friday turned down the former president’s request to postpone his trial because of publicity about the case. It’s the latest in a string of delay denials that Trump has gotten from various courts this week as he fights to stave off the trial’s start Monday with jury selection.... Pointing to Trump’s two federal defamation trials and a state civil fraud trial in Manhattan within the past year, [Judge Juan] Merchan wrote that the ex-president himself 'was personally responsible for generating much, if not most, of the surrounding publicity with his public statements' outside those courtrooms and on social media.... Trump, meanwhile, said Friday that he planned to testify at the trial, calling the case a 'scam.' 'All I can do is tell the truth,' Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. 'And the truth is, they have no case.'”
Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: “Lawyers for ... Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira..., co-defendants of ... Donald J. Trump, argued in federal court in Florida on Friday to dismiss charges of aiding in the obstruction of efforts to recover classified documents.... Judge Aileen M. Cannon considered the defense lawyers’ arguments in her Fort Pierce, Fla., courtroom but ended the two-hour hearing Friday without making a decision on whether the charges against the two men should be dismissed.... Judge Cannon ... suggested that some of their arguments for dismissing the charges were better suited for the jury to consider during the trial.”
Kevin Breuninger of CNBC: “Donald Trump on Friday urged his followers to support his social media app Truth Social, as its parent company’s stock continues to sink lower. Trump in a post on that app said he believes Truth Social embodies the political 'movement' behind his 'Make America Great Again' presidential campaign slogan, adding that 'it shows the Spirit and Love of our Country.'... Trump Media’s share price on Friday morning dipped below $30, a decline of more than $40 from its roaring start. It ended the trading day up 0.6%, but failed to offset an almost 20% decline on the week. Shares are down nearly 50% so far in April. Trump is nevertheless poised to reap a financial windfall from the company.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: This strikes me as a violation of campaign finance laws. Trump is asking people to effectively go around these laws by making their "contributions" to one of his failing businesses instead of to his campaign. And of course people can "contribute" any amount they want. One could argue that the purchase of stocks in Trump Media is similar to buying a MAGA mugshot mug. But a mug is something of value: you can't drink Kool-Aid out of it. Worthless stock is, well, just worthless. As Trump would say, "Nobody's ever seen anything like it."
Presidential Race
“MAGA Mike.” Alex Gangitano of the Hill: “President Biden’s reelection campaign unveiled a video Friday linking former President Trump with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) in an attempt to highlight their views on reproductive rights issues. In the video 'MAGA Mike,' first shared with The Hill, the Biden campaign complied remarks from both Republicans about reproductive rights.... The video was released days after Trump said he would not sign a national abortion ban if reelected and such a bill passed Congress, a comment that the Biden campaign quickly dismissed as a lie, citing his record on the issue.” Ad embedded yesterday afternoon. (Also linked yesterday.)
Priscilla Alvarez & Michael Williams of CNN: “Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday called the Arizona Supreme Court ruling that banned abortions in almost all cases an 'inflection point' in the fight over abortion rights and pointed the blame at Donald Trump. Harris headed to Arizona to mobilize voters who see November’s election as a referendum on women’s rights, one of the Biden campaign’s key issues in the upcoming election. The vice president has become a go-to voice for the campaign on abortion rights and quickly announced a trip to Tucson after Tuesday’s ruling.” (Also linked yesterday.) A Washington Post story is here.
Philip Bump of the Washington Post: “There is definitely something weird about Donald Trump and his supporters constantly asking Americans whether they were better off four years ago. Almost no one in America was better off four years ago in April than they are now....” Bump helpfully advises Trump on how to better frame the question. ~~~
~~~ Are You Better Off Than You Were Four Years Ago? Top News in the NYT, April 13, 2020: “President Trump publicly signaled his frustration on Sunday with Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the federal government’s top infectious disease expert, after the doctor said more lives could have been saved from the coronavirus if the country had been shut down earlier.... The tweet came amid a flurry of messages blasted out by the president on Sunday defending his handling of the coronavirus, which has come under sharp criticism, and pointing the finger instead at China, the World Health Organization, President Barack Obama, the nation’s governors, Congress, Democrats generally and the news media.” ~~~
~~~ Are You Better Off Than You Were Four Years Ago? Top News in the NYT, April 12, 2020: “Behind Trump's Failure on the Virus: ... Throughout January, as Mr. Trump repeatedly played down the seriousness of the virus and focused on other issues, an array of figures inside his government — from top White House advisers to experts deep in the cabinet departments and intelligence agencies — identified the threat, sounded alarms and made clear the need for aggressive action. The president, though, was slow to absorb the scale of the risk and to act accordingly, focusing instead on controlling the message, protecting gains in the economy and batting away warnings from senior officials. It was a problem, he said, that had come out of nowhere and could not have been foreseen.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Matt Viser & Tyler Pager of the Washington Post: “The Democratic National Committee has helped cover some of the legal fees that President Biden incurred over the last year amid a special counsel probe into his handling of classified documents, according to recent federal records.... It is unclear whether all the recent payments are related to the Hur investigation [or to other work the attorneys have done for the DNC].... The funds spent on Biden’s legal bills amount to a small fraction of the amount raised so far by the DNC this election cycle, unlike the Trump operation, where about a fourth of the money raised has gone to pay legal bills.”
Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: “The federal judge presiding over Hunter Biden’s gun case in Delaware on Friday rejected Mr. Biden’s claim that he was being subjected to selective prosecution, saying it was 'nonsensical' that the Biden Justice Department would target the president’s son. Abbe Lowell, Hunter Biden’s lawyer, has filed a flurry of motions in the Delaware gun case and a separate indictment in California on tax charges, accusing the government of unfairly singling out his client at the instigation of Republicans and seeking to dismiss the charges. None of those challenges have been successful so far. Judge Maryellen Noreika, who scuttled a plea deal reached between prosecutors and Mr. Biden last summer, said that Mr. Lowell failed to provide evidence that prosecutors had been motivated by animus against Hunter Biden.” The AP's report is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Judge Noreika is being too cute by half. She knows full well that David Weiss -- the special counsel who brought the charges against Hunter -- was a Trump appointee. Weiss became special counsel only when (a) she herself laid waste to the plea deal, and (b) Weiss asked Merrick Garland to make him special counsel. Of course Merrick obliged. (As special counsel, Weiss is not subject to the usual AG supervision.) Oh, and did I mention that Noreika is a Trump appointee, too? All the while these shenanigans were going on, Congressional Republicans publicly (in at least one hearing and who-knows-how-many-times on Fox "News") raked Weiss over the coals for cutting the plea deal with Hunter.
So a Trump appointee cuts a plea deal with Hunter, Trump's Congressional allies complain about it, then a Trump judge blows up the deal, and the Trump prosecutor gets himself made special prosecutor so he can charge Hunter. It is not "the Biden Justice Department" targeting Biden's son. It is the Trump "Justice" Department. Since nearly all Republicans are now Trump lackeys and Trump promises "retribution" against his political rivals, it's pretty fair to say this is very "selective prosecution." Have I mentioned Republicans don't play fair?
Patricia Mazzei of the New York Times: “A former United States ambassador accused of working for decades as a secret agent for Cuba in one of the biggest national security breaches in years pleaded guilty on Friday and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Manuel Rocha, 73, pleaded guilty to two charges — conspiring to defraud the United States as a foreign agent and failing to register as a foreign agent — as part of an agreement with the federal government. He also faces three years of supervised release, and a $500,000 fine.... In an unusual turn of events, Judge ... Beth Bloom of Federal District Court in Miami ... expressed deep frustration with prosecutors for not seeking more penalties for Mr. Rocha, such as forfeiture of his assets. She demanded changes to the plea deal from the bench and pressed prosecutors to reveal more about when the government learned that Mr. Rocha had become 'an enemy of the United States government.' Prosecutors said details beyond those made public in the indictment were classified.” A CBS News story is here.
Shaila Dewan & Julie Bosman of the New York Times: O.J. Simpson's “dramatic trial, which prompted national conversations about race, celebrity, policing and discrimination, also served as a landmark moment in America’s evolving understanding of domestic violence. Media coverage of domestic abuse surged afterward, and the fervent attention encouraged many abuse survivors to reach out for help, according to the National Domestic Violence Hotline. Donations to women’s shelters poured in.... Before her death, [Nicole] Brown Simpson had tried to get the police to intervene multiple times, but they rarely took substantive action. In 1989, officers found her badly beaten and arrested Mr. Simpson. He was convicted of spousal abuse, but was let off with a fine and probation.... Shortly after Ms. Brown Simpson’s death, the Violence Against Women Act gained final approval in Congress and became law, and her sister, Denise Brown, helped save it from budget cuts the following year.” ~~~
~~~ Rachel Snyder of the New York Times: “For years now, I’ve had advocates who work with survivors of domestic violence tell me that two events in 1994 changed entirely the landscape for victims’ services in their field: the passage of the Violence Against Women Act and the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson.... Ms. Brown Simpson’s murder thrust onto the national stage the idea that even beauty, wealth and whiteness could not offer protection from an enraged and estranged spouse. Her murder, along with Ron Goldman’s — for a time, at least — shook an entire nation into some kind of recognition that domestic abuse crosses all bounds of race, class, sexual identity, ethnicity, age. But if the murders brought a sudden shock of awareness of the problem, the trial also illustrated how hard it is for victims to obtain justice, even in the face of overwhelming evidence.”
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Florida, Where Cruelty & Abuse Meet Bullying the Vulnerable. Alejandra Borunda of NPR: "Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a law that prevents cities or counties from creating protections for workers who labor in the state's often extreme and dangerous heat. Two million people in Florida, from construction to agriculture, work outside in often humid, blazing heat. For years, many of them have asked for rules to protect them from heat: paid rest breaks, water, and access to shade when temperatures soar. After years of negotiations, such rules were on the agenda in Miami-Dade County, home to an estimated 300,000 outdoor workers.... The loss of the local rule was a major blow to Miami-Dade activists and workers who had hoped the county heat protection rules would be in place before summer.... Heat risks have grown dramatically in recent years.... The U.S. experienced its hottest-ever summer in 2023, and Florida recorded its hottest-ever July and August." ~~~
~~~ Marie: When is the American Psychiatric Association going to accept Republicanosis as a psychiatric disorder and list it in the DSM?
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Europe. Lorne Cook of the AP: “Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo announced on Friday an investigation into suspected Russian interference in June’s Europe-wide elections, saying that his country’s intelligence service has confirmed the existence of a network trying to undermine support for Ukraine. 'Belgian intelligence services have confirmed the existence of pro-Russian interference networks with activities in several European countries and also here in Belgium,' said De Croo, whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union.... He said [a Czech] probe showed that members of the European Parliament were approached and offered money to promote Russian propaganda.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Sure makes me wonder if Trump, Miss Margie & their cohort are getting cash payments from Russia in addition to the less direct assistance Russia has been serving up all along.
Israel/Palestine, et al.
CNN's live updates of developments Saturday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "The US currently expects that Iran will carry out strikes against multiple targets inside Israel and that Iranian proxies could also be involved in attacks, according to a senior administration official and a source familiar with the intelligence.... Israel said its warplanes targeted 'military buildings' used by Hezbollah fighters in parts of southern Lebanon on Friday. Hezbollah subsequently fired about 40 rockets toward northern Israel.... At least one Palestinian was killed after hundreds of armed Israeli settlers stormed a village in the occupied West Bank, setting fire to homes and cars in one of the largest attacks by settlers this year, according to local officials.
Eli Stokols, et al., of Politico: “President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel 'sooner rather than later,' delivering a pessimistic assessment even as he warned Tehran against taking such an action. Answering questions from reporters after delivering remarks to a convention of civil rights leaders, Biden said his grim outlook was based on intelligence reports that he was not at liberty to describe further. Asked what he would say to Iran about a potential attack, Biden was terse. 'Don’t,' he replied. Expectations for a retaliatory attack have risen in the days since an Israeli strike on an Iranian embassy in Syria killed a number of senior commanders on April 1. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had said that Israel 'must be punished' for the embassy attack though Israel has not claimed responsibility for it.”
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How to con morons.
The other day, a fat man waddled into, of all places, a Chik-fil-A fast food establishment in Georgia. OMG! It’s Donald Trump! Just a regular guy, stopping by to share something chicky with the common people, the black citizens of Georgia. Spontaneous outpourings of Trump Love! A woman (black, natch) rushes over in unrehearsed adulation as regular guy Donald sez “Give me hug”!
Fox covers this moment as a spontaneous outpouring of affection bordering on mania as if it were the announcement of a cure for cancer.
Guess what? It was just another Fatty scam.
Yup.
A complete set up. A fraud. Like all things Trump.
“MeidasTouch Network on Friday reports, ‘Trump’s Viral Hug At Chick-fil-A Was With a MAGA Operative,’ and notes the woman Trump supposedly spontaneously hugged, Michaelah Montgomery ‘is a ‘political consultant’ and former Georgia GOP intern.’
Former CNN commentator Keith Boykin, the co-founder of the National Black Justice Coalition, wrote: ‘I knew it! Trump’s Chick-fil-A stop was a staged photo op with Black Republican supporters. Michaelah Montgomery, the Black woman who told Trump that ‘we support you,’ actually runs a conservative group and worked with Candace Owens’s Blexit Foundation.’”
Yeah, Mr. Regular Guy, at some point to be on trial for trying to deny Georgians of their votes in the 2020 election, who famously rails against an Atlanta DA in the most blatantly racist screeds, is a beloved figure down there.
Fox spent more time on coverage of this phony baloney photo-op than the very real consequences of the Arizona abortion ban, triggered in large part by this sane fat man’s successful scheme to deny women their reproductive rights.
“Fox figures heaped praise on Trump for his visit, highlighting his ‘mingling with an adoring crowd,’ while an on-screen chyron read ‘Trump’s ease with voters on display at Chick-fil-A.’
The network repeatedly attempted to juxtapose President Joe Biden's attendance at a state dinner as elitist while claiming Trump's stop at Chick-fil-a showed he was a man of the people.”
As someone else pointed out, what are odds of Trump just casually walking into a fast food place in Georgia full of his very own supporters, and black supporters, to boot.
Some other idiot on Fox gushed that Biden walks into an ice cream parlor, gets his scoop and walks out. Trump walks into a place, is mobbed by adoring fans and buys everyone lunch.
Hang on…hahahahaha…Trump BUYS? Anyone who claims that this cheap prick pulls out his wallet and uses his own money to buy anything for anyone is either a liar or a Trump campaign operative. Oh, wait. This is Fox. They’re both.
Another con job.
Akhilleus: A couple weeks ago there was a photo of Trump taking a picture with several black guys on a stoop that was floating around. Turned out that time it was AI generated, but the narrative being pushed was look at the man of the people stopping in the black neighborhood to take pictures with his lessers. Of course this is inbetween his $50 million dollar dinner fundraiser where you could pay $800 grand to sit at the orange man's table.
@RAS: I wonder if the young men in that fake Trump-in-the-hood photo are as drop-dead gorgeous as they appear in the photo, or if they're the beneficiaries of some AI touch-ups, too. Anyhow, I guess the guy who thought it would be fine to promote Trump-bro figured he would hang out with only the best-looking Black guys.
Yesterday I was working on my car and wished I had three hands at one point. Then today I saw the AI story above (DiJiT surrounded by happy black people), and the AI-photo of a canvasser with three arms talking to a man on a porch filled me with envy. If I were AI, I could have had those three arms too! Just born too soon, I guess.
Traitors and the US Capitol
The infamous Trump riot, that wave of insurrectionist minded thugs set upon the Capitol building by a fat loser, was not the first time that iconic structure was beset by traitors. In fact, even before construction of extensions and the dome were completed in the 1860’s, the Capitol was marred by treasonous intent.
Currently reading through “Visual Shock: a history of art controversies in American culture” by the historian Michael Kammen, I came across the story of the Statue of Freedom, the 19 foot tall figure perched atop the Capitol dome. Quite an amazing history.
The statue, created by sculptor Thomas Crawford, underwent a number of design changes. The original design, Freedom Triumphant in Peace and War, emphasized both states, peace, through an olive branch held in one hand of the female figure, and war, via a sword in the other.
Through several iterations, peace was given the heave-ho. So was something else. In the second version of the statue, the figure wore a pileus, a sort of conical cap, and carried a wooden rod known as a vindicta. Both were significant in Roman history as indicators of a slave being freed. In Roman culture, when a slave won, or was granted his freedom (this mostly applied to men), a praetor, a kind of legal officer or magistrate (Cicero was a praetor) would tap them with the vindicta, their head was shaved and they were given a felt cap, the pileus, to signify their new status as a freeman.
Pretty cool stuff.
But the pileus was rejected out of hand by the guy put in charge of Capitol renovations. Jefferson Davis. Here’s his ruling on the pileus:
“It’s history renders it inappropriate to a people who were born free and would not be enslaved.” Pretty snooty coming from a slave owner who would soon be in charge of a full scale war of treason against the United States. And in the 1860’s there were tens of thousands born every year who weren’t free. They were born in chains attached by Davis and his confederate pals.
Davis’s additional design “suggestions” made the statue increasingly war-like (big surprise), you can see the design iterations here.
Clearly, Davis, just as current Party of Traitors members, and their king, the Fat Fascist, believe, felt that the country was meant only for certain people. Blacks need not apply.
The statue is still up there. And treason still mars that building.