The Conversation -- December 16, 2023
Marie: Last year, former prosecutor James Zirin wrote in a Hill opinion piece: "In Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization, Justice Samuel Alito gleefully declared that any recognition of abortion was surely 'calculated to perpetuate give-it-a try litigation' before judges 'assigned an unwieldy and inappropriate task.' Continued adherence to that standard,' he said, 'would undermine, not advance, the evenhanded, predictable, and consistent development of legal principles.' That's legalese for getting the courts out of the abortion business." But, it turns out, Alito was just kidding. He and his Supreme pals were not at all interested in "getting the courts out of the abortion business." ~~~
~~~ ** Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: "Religious fanatics on the Supreme Court have yanked America back to back alleys. American women are punished, branded with Scarlet Letters, forced to flee to get procedures.... The Savonarola wing of the Supreme Court -- all Catholics except Neil Gorsuch, who was raised Catholic and went to the same suburban Washington Catholic prep school as Brett Kavanaugh -- could go to even more extreme lengths. The court announced Wednesday that it will consider curtailing the availability of a pill used to terminate first-trimester pregnancies.... Conservative judges who assured the Senate that Roe was settled law in their confirmation hearings could barely wait until Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died to throw it in the constitutional rights rubbish bin. The more we learn, the more infuriating it is that our lives and choices about our bodies are determined by conniving radicals. The Supreme Court is way, way out of order."
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Edward Wong & Michael Crowley of the New York Times: "The Biden administration has 43 presidential nominees still awaiting confirmation in the Senate as Congress prepares to break for the holidays, a delay that is putting American national security and foreign policy interests in jeopardy around the world, the State Department said on Friday. Any nominee not confirmed before the Senate ends its session, which is expected as soon as next week, will have to be renominated by the White House next year, leading to further delays.... The blockade of diplomatic nominees has continued as many Republicans in Congress have sought to condition support for [President] Biden's foreign policy priorities on winning right-wing policy concessions.... A single senator can hold up a nomination, and several G.O.P. senators have put holds on the nominees, similar to what Senator Tommy Tuberville, Republican of Alabama, did for months with at least 425 nominees to Pentagon positions, before senators in his own party rebelled against him.... Republican senators who have placed holds on ambassador nominees during Mr. Biden's presidency include J.D. Vance of Ohio, Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky."
MEANWHILE, in a Senate Hearing Room. Charlie Nash of Mediaite: "A congressional staffer filmed a gay porn video in a Senate hearing room, according to footage leaked to the Daily Caller on Friday. In the footage, a nude man can be seen engaging in anal sex before the cameraman shows that the act is taking place in a Senate hearing room. 'A source identified the room to the Daily Caller as Senate room Hart 216- The Judiciary Room. The Caller blurred out his face because his identity has not been confirmed,' reported Daily Caller chief national correspondent Henry Rodgers, who added, 'It appears to be unprotected sex.' The video was reportedly 'shared in a private group for gay men in politics,' where it was then leaked to the Daily Caller. While the report stated that it could not confirm the identities of either man in the video, Rodgers went on to retweet several posts identifying one of the men...." MB: The report names the alleged porno star, but I won't do so here.
"Worst. Congress. Ever." Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "What do House Republicans have to show the voters for their year in power? A bipartisan debt deal (on which they promptly reneged) to avoid a default crisis that they themselves created. A pair of temporary spending bills (both passed with mostly Democratic votes) to avert a government-shutdown crisis that they themselves created. The ouster of their speaker, nearly a month-long shutdown of the chamber as they sought another, and the expulsion of one of their members, who is now negotiating himself a plea deal.... On Thursday, the House, exhausted from its labors, recessed for a three-week vacation, leaving behind a pile of urgent, unfinished business...." Read on. Milbank has a good deal to say on the Impeachment About Nothing, like how Jim Comer said he would bring in Hunter Biden to testify in a deposition or committee hearing, whichever he chose. But when Hunter chose a public hearing, Comer said no, and he & Gym Jordan announced they would charge Hunter Biden with contempt of Congress. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: RAS has some breaking news that could (but won't) shut me up about the Impeachment About Nothing: "James Comer announces that they have proof that Christmas presents Hunter Biden received in 1976 were actually from Joe Biden and not in fact from Santa Claus. Several elves are expected to give depositions."
** A Binder Full of Secrets. Jeremy Herb, et al., of CNN: "A binder containing highly classified information related to Russian election interference went missing at the end of Donald Trump's presidency, raising alarms among intelligence officials that some of the most closely guarded national security secrets from the US and its allies could be exposed, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.... The binder contained raw intelligence the US and its NATO allies collected on Russians and Russian agents, including sources and methods that informed the US government's assessment that Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to help Trump win the 2016 election, sources tell CNN.... The binder was last seen at the White House during Trump's final days in office. The former president had ordered it brought there so he could declassify a host of documents related to the FBI's Russia investigation." Cassidy Hutchinson fingered Mark Meadows, testifying she saw him leave the White House with the unredacted file, but Meadows denies it. The file was not found among the stolen files the FBI found at Mar-a-Lago. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: Donald Trump "suggested, during an April 2021 interview for a book about the Trump presidency, that Mr. Meadows still had the material. 'I would let you look at them if you wanted,' Mr. Trump said in the interview. 'It's a treasure trove.' Mr. Trump did not address a question about whether he himself had some of the material. But when a Trump aide present for the interview asked him, 'Does Meadows have those?' Mr. Trump replied, 'Meadows has them.'... A court filing ... submitted in August described the binder as about 10 inches thick and containing about 2,700 pages. The publicly released version includes fewer than 600 pages, many heavily redacted; it is not clear what accounts for the discrepancy."
~~~ Marie: I have a theory about this, and I'm only half-kidding. Last night, contributor Jeanne wrote, "So who has it? My money is on Meadows, since he has lied on several occasions about his residence, his kid's wedding during Covid lockdown, he vows his 'work' was all federal work, and he was burning stuff in the fireplace at work ... again, WTF??" And why did Meadows agree to be chief-of-staff when he had what was probably a secure seat in the House, he was a founder of the Freedumb Caucus and was popular with members of Congress. Even Democrats liked him, so he was bound for a significant House leadership slot.
By contrast, the job of chief-of-staff to Trump was humiliating, and -- like all of his predecessors -- Meadows was likely a very temporary chief. But he stuck like glue to Trump and jumped every time Trump said jump. He knocked himself out helping Trump try to effect a coup, which -- if successful -- would have created a nearly-unprecedented destabilization of the quasi-democratic republic, possibly leading to civil war & in any event, radically diminishing the position of the U.S as a world leader. Subsequently, he appeared to cooperate with the House January 6 committee, then he suddenly stopped, without explanation. Now he's doing everything he can to avoid coming clean about what he knows about the insurrection. This all makes sense if Meadows had some kind of nefarious ulterior motive. I would not be surprised if he was a foreign operative, probably for Russia. And I won't be shocked if Meadows suddenly disappears, either of his own volition or with the help of Russians who dissolve his body in a vat of acid.
** Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "A federal jury on Friday ordered Rudolph W. Giuliani to pay two former Georgia election workers more than $148 million for destroying their reputations and causing them extreme emotional distress by spreading baseless lies that they had tried to steal a victory from ... Donald J. Trump after the 2020 presidential election. The award came after Judge Beryl A. Howell of the Federal District Court in Washington had ruled that Mr. Giuliani, who helped lead Mr. Trump's efforts to remain in office after his defeat, had defamed the two workers, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss. The jury in the civil trial had been asked to decide only on the amount of the damages.... Mr. Giuliani's net worth is unknown because he refused to comply with routine trial disclosures." The story has been updated & expanded. The AP's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: After the verdict, Rudy went out & told reporters a bunch of lies. He said, for instance, that he "was not allowed to put in one piece of evidence in defense." No, (1) for months, he chose not to participate in the case-in-chief, forcing the judge to issue a judgment against him and (2) his lawyer chose not to mount a defense in the damages aspect of the case because he didn't have one. He said he didn't testify because the judge threatened him, maybe with jail time, if he made one little mistake during testimony. It's true Rudy might have been charged with perjury because he's a raving liar, but the judge didn't threaten to jail him if he misspoke & said it was raining the day he held a presser at Four Seasons Landscaping. And he said his comments implicating Freeman & Moss "were supportable." ~~~
~~~ Politico's story, by Josh Gerstein & Kyle Cheney, has some of Giuliani's response to the verdict, including his telling reporters, "My country had a president imposed on it by fraud." And this anecdote: Giuliani's lawyer, John "Sibley left the courthouse by another door shortly after the verdict and was not at his client's side as he spoke to reporters." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ bmaz on emptywheel: "This was absolutely a damning verdict, and there is no way for Rudy to hide from it. Nor Trump, who will blithely act like he never knew Rudy. Fun times, but there is a LOT ahead. Stay tuned." ~~~
~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "Please send donations of Johnnie Walker Black to the Super 8 Motel in Yonkers. Your periodic reminder that 'what happened' to Rudy is 'nothing.' Indeed, he was a canary in the authoritarian coalmine[.]"
Jason Morris, et al., of CNN: "A federal appeals court appeared skeptical of former Donald Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows' attempt to move his Georgia election interference criminal case to federal court during a hearing Friday morning. Meadows attorney George Terwilliger argued that he should be protected because the Fulton County racketeering charges against him stem from his time in the White House and therefore were part of his role as a federal official. Moving the case to federal court could let Meadows get the charges dismissed altogether by invoking federal immunity extended to certain individuals who are prosecuted or sued for conduct tied to their US government roles.... Previously, US District Judge Steve Jones, an Obama appointee, found that his alleged actions in the sprawling Fulton County indictment weren't part of his federal responsibilities." (Also linked yesterday.)
AP: "The apology letters that Donald Trump-allied lawyers Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro were required to write as a condition of their plea deals in the Georgia election interference case are just one sentence long. The letters, obtained Thursday by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution through an open records request, were hand-written and terse. Neither letter acknowledges the legitimacy of Democrat Joe Biden's win in Georgia's 2020 election nor denounces the baseless conspiracy theories they pushed to claim Trump was cheated out of victory through fraud. 'I apologize for my actions in connection with the events in Coffee County,' Powell wrote in a letter dated Oct. 19, the same day she pleaded guilty to six misdemeanors accusing her of conspiring to intentionally interfere with the performance of election duties. 'I apologize to the citizens of the state of Georgia and of Fulton County for my involvement in Count 15 of the indictment,' Chesebro wrote in a letter dated Oct. 20, when he appeared in court to plead guilty to one felony charge of conspiracy to commit filing false documents.... The letters written by the other two defendants to plead guilty -- Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis and bail bondsman Scott Hall -- were longer and more specific." ~~~
~~~ Axios reproduces images of Chesebro's & Powell's "apology" letters, which are handwritten on grade-school lined paper. They look like something Bart Simpson wrote, but Bart had to write his apologies 100 times. And his "apologies" were more on point: ~~~
~~~ Marie: Chris Hayes & his guests Shan Wu & Josh Marshall agreed last night that neither the district attorney nor the judge overseeing the plea deals should accept these fake apologies as meeting the conditions of the deals.
Sebastian Murdock of the Huffington Post, republished by Yahoo! News: "A Florida Proud Boy who claimed he was trying to help police on Jan. 6, 2021, by throwing a rock at the Capitol doors was sentenced to five years in prison on Friday. Anthony Sargent, 47, pleaded guilty earlier this year to a felony charge of civil disorder and six misdemeanor charges including engaging in physical violence in a restricted building and disorderly conduct. The day of the Capitol attack, Sargent could be seen on video repeatedly throwing a rock at the Capitol doors and encouraging others to attack the building. Sargent also 'physically separated a law enforcement officer' from a rioter and 'prevented the officer from apprehending the rioter,' according to the Justice Department."
Michael Schaffer of Politico Magazine: For some reason, "Former first lady Melania Trump [is] slated to be the honored guest speaker today at a naturalization ceremony for new citizens in the rotunda of the [National] Archives' headquarters.... How did it happen that a resident of the same Mar-a-Lago estate whose bathrooms were used to store thousands of allegedly ill-gotten Archives documents won an invite to speak in the same room as the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence? For that matter, how is it that a federal agency is giving the spouse of any presidential candidate a star turn in a heart-warming photo-op less than a month before the Iowa caucuses?" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Early this week (Dec. 11), Akhilleus wrote, in part, "First, Melanie ain't in no way, no how, in any conceivable universe, an exemplar for immigrants hoping to become American citizens. She cut the line by being Donald Trump's girlfriend and was given an Einstein Visa.... 'In March 2001, she was granted a green card in the elite EB-1 program, which was designed for renowned academic researchers, multinational business executives or those in other fields ... who demonstrated "sustained national and international acclaim." Also included are applicants who demonstrate 'exceptional abilities'. I'm pretty sure 'national and international acclaim' doesn't extend to 'nice ass' and 'exceptional abilities' don't include getting naked and rolling around on a rug.... As soon as Melanie became a citizen, she used chain migration to bring her parents here. But as soon as her fat asshole of a husband slithered into the White House, he put the kibosh on immigration of all kinds, including the EB-1 program and chain migration." ~~~
~~~ Update. Olivia Renaldi of CBS News: "Former first lady Melania Trump made a rare public appearance Friday at a naturalization ceremony in Washington, D.C., to congratulate 25 new American citizens at the National Archives -- which happens to be at the center of one of the federal indictments against her husband ... Donald Trump. Melania Trump spoke candidly about the difficulties she faced in becoming a citizen after she emigrated to the United States from Slovenia for her fashion career in 1996, recalling the 'labyrinth of organizing paperwork' she had to navigate."
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Ohio Congressional Race. Ally Mutnick & Olivia Beavers of Politico: "House Republicans are scrambling to fix a potential nightmare that's unfolding in a must-win race in northwestern Ohio. The GOP is eager to block J.R. Majewski from winning its nomination to challenge veteran Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur. Majewski lost his previous bid for Congress last year, after a news report on his military records indicated he lied about combat duty in Afghanistan. Republicans turned to former state legislator Craig Riedel to beat Majewski in this cycle's primary. But last week, an audio tape surfaced of Riedel calling Donald Trump 'arrogant' and vowing not to endorse the former president. Now the primary looks poised to become a referendum on which is worse in today's GOP: criticizing Trump or allegedly lying about one's military valor." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Pardon me for laughing at the GOP's quandary because for the good of the republic, it isn't all that funny. Ohio Republicans redrew the district's lines before the 2022 election, shifting its voter makeup from blue to purple, so one of these two reprobates could become a member of Congress. Still, these two guys are illustrative of the quality of the GOP's handpicked candidates. Trump backed Majewski in the 2022 GOP primary, after Majewski "gained public attention after painting a giant mural in support of ... Donald Trump across his lawn." Still Majewski has other qualifications, like he's a "hip-hop performer and promoter of QAnon...."
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Israel/Palestine. The Washington Post's live updates of developments Saturday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "The Israeli military said its forces shot the three hostages after mistakenly identifying them as a threat, and expressed 'deep remorse.' Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was an 'unbearable tragedy,' while the White House described the news as ;heartbreaking.'... The announcement that Israeli forces had mistakenly killed three Israeli hostages in Gaza brought grief and outrage, with hundreds gathering outside a military compound Friday in protest. A group of the families of hostages is meeting urgently on Saturday, planning to raise pressure on Israeli leaders to secure the release of all hostages taken in the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.... U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is visiting the Middle East this weekend, with stops in Israel, Qatar and Bahrain. He is expected to discuss 'next steps in the conflict' with Israeli military leaders, including when and how the war will move to less intense ground operations and airstrikes, the Department of Defense said."
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Reader Comments (10)
Yesterday Marie posted: Tell me again why the Saudis gave Jared
two billion dollars.
The saudis own thousands of acres of farm land in the southwest
USA. Arizona has threatened to deny them water for their crops
because of their high use of ground water. They also farm in drought
stricken California.
I think they're hoping DJT will get back in office and then Jared can
convince him to overrule the southwestern states efforts to cut off
the Saudi water supply to their farms.
I'm hoping their gamble fails, for more reasons than one.
@Forrest Morris: Very good point. Since more than one state is involved, and since the EPA (oh, how Trump would make the EPA great again!) already has jurisdiction over groundwater (if the Supremes haven't yet taken away the EPA's authority), the administration would have an easy argument for overruling any state orders and give the Saudis all the groundwater they wanted. If people, plants and animals die of thirst, well, too bad; the schmucks should have given Donald & Jared more money than the Saudis did.
"From each according to is ability to each according to his needs," a saying often attributed to Karl Marx that certainly doesn't seem to apply to court ordered judgements against the very rich.
From what I can tell, Alex Jones still hasn't paid a penny of the hundreds of millions assessed against him from the Sandy Hook trials, The Pretender hasn't paid any of the 5.5 million he owes from the first E. Jean Carroll trial (it's in a court controlled account while the Pretender appeals the decision and who knows how long that farce will continue), and if I were those poor, abused ladies from Georgia that Rudy now owes, I wouldn't rush out and start spending.
I can think of little that better illustrates how money distorts our legal--I won't say justice-- system in favor of those who have. Money obviously provides impunity to wealthy scofflaws.
"Equal justice under the law?" Bah!
Try that with a traffic ticket.
@Ken Winkes: I keep wondering why Rudy's homeowner's insurance hasn't seemed to figure into this lawsuit. I seem to recall that O.J.'s insurance company paid off his debt to family members of his (alleged!) victims, and I know that -- in general -- homeowners' insurance is supposed to cover random civil suits against homeowners, and not just in those case that are related to the property itself, like an errant flagstone a visitor trips on.
It's possible Rudy didn't have homeowner's insurance, but if he had a substantial mortgage on his fancy New York condo, the bank would have made him get insurance. It's also possible that since Rudy is such a colossal jerk, his policy had a special waiver against paying out on claims like Freeman & Moss's.
I checked the Internets for an answer, and didn't get one.
I would really like to see a "less intense air strike." The receiving end generally feels they`re all pretty intense.
Rudy may have homeowners insurance, but there are options (riders)
that would cost extra. Maybe he couldn't afford the extra coverage.
Personal injury coverage is an optional endorsement on the standard
homeowners policy that provides protection for libel, slander,
defamation of character, false arrest, and on and on.
Could be that his insurance company took into consideration his
character, making that rider so expensive that he thought it wasn't
worth it.
Hindsight is better than no sight.
@Forrest Morris: Thanks.
BBC
"A Russian propaganda campaign involving thousands of fake accounts on TikTok spreading disinformation about the war in Ukraine has been uncovered by the BBC.
Its videos routinely attract millions of views and have the apparent aim of undermining Western support.
Users in several European countries have been subjected to false claims that senior Ukrainian officials and their relatives bought luxury cars or villas abroad after Russia's invasion in February 2022.
The fake TikTok videos played a part in the dismissal last September of Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, according to his daughter Anastasiya Shteinhauz.
The BBC has uncovered nearly 800 fake accounts since July. TikTok says it was already investigating the issue and says it has taken down more than 12,000 fake accounts originating in Russia."
Here's a solution to homelessness courtesy of Florida governor Ron DeSantis: https://floridapolitics.com/archives/649462-ron-desantis-mental-homeless/
Bobby Lee,
I read it and have a slightly different take on the matter.
A mental institution might be a good solution for the problem of DeSantis (and others we could name).