The Conversation -- December 16, 2024
Donald Trump gave a press conference Monday afternoon and here's some of the stuff he said, via a New York Times liveblog: ~~~
Michael Shear: "In his first wide-ranging news conference since the election..., Donald J. Trump cited debunked data linking vaccines and autism, vowed to slash taxes and resume construction of his border wall, and accused the Biden administration of hiding the truth about recent drone sightings. Speaking from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Mr. Trump announced a $100 billion investment from SoftBank, a Japanese technology company. But he used the appearance before reporters to jump from one topic to another....
Speaking directly to the reporters, he called the press 'very corrupt' and promised to continue pursuing legal action against news organizations that he believes have not quoted him correctly. He said he planned to sue the Des Moines Register for having a poll before the election that turned out to be wrong. And he said he was pursuing legal action against '60 Minutes' for what he said was a misquote.... Mr. Trump also said that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will cut $2 trillion out of the $6.8 trillion annual federal budget and 'it'll have no impact on people.' In fact, if you rule out cuts to Social Security, Medicare and defense, as Mr. Trump has, cutting $2 trillion would require shutting down almost the entire federal government."
Peter Baker: "Trump cites the horrors of the war in Ukraine and says he is working on it, but makes no mention of his promise to resolve it in 24 hours and to do so before he is sworn in."
Zolan Kanno-Youngs: "As he talks about migration, Trump repeats misleading claims about Latin American nations sending their prisoners to the United States. Most migrants crossing the border are those fleeing poverty, persecution and violence."
Baker: "Trump says Russia wouldn't have invaded Ukraine on his watch. In fact, Russia had already invaded Ukraine's eastern sections in 2014, during the Obama administration, and Trump did nothing to stop the war, which then expanded with the full-scale invasion in 2022.... Trump again throws out numbers about autism that have been debunked. Time magazine fact-checked his answer to the question during its interview.... 'We won in a landslide,' Trump claims, again. In fact, he won the popular vote by just 1.5 percentage points, one of the smallest margins of victory since the 19th century."
Maggie Haberman: "Trump says he would consider pardoning Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City, who has praised Trump repeatedly." ~~~
~~~ Isaac Schorr of Mediaite: "Donald Trump warned Republican senators who oppose his Cabinet nominees that they would likely face primary challenges at a press conference on Monday.... 'If they're unreasonable, if they're opposing somebody for political reasons or stupid reasons, I would say -- has nothing to do with me -- I would say they probably would be primaried'."
Canada. Ian Austen & Matina Stevis-Gridneff of the New York Times: "Chrystia Freeland, the deputy prime minister who led Canada's response to the first Trump administration, resigned abruptly on Monday from her cabinet role in a stinging rebuke to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, marking the first open dissent from any cabinet member and raising questions about his hold on power. The revelation, in a letter of resignation, came hours before Ms. Freeland, who had been the finance minister, was scheduled to outline the government's commitments to improve border security with the United States. Mr. Trudeau's cabinet, which was meeting in Ottawa soon after the letter was made public, seemed stunned by the development.... In her resignation letter, Ms. Freeland indicated that Mr. Trudeau had attempted to force her out of the position on Friday."
Germany. Christopher Schuetze & Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a confidence vote in the German Parliament on Monday, a defeat that effectively ended the increasingly unpopular government he has led since 2021 and set the stage for elections early next year. The collapse of the government just nine months before elections had been scheduled was an extraordinary moment for Germany. This will be only the fourth snap election in the 75 years since the modern state was founded, and it reflected a new era of more fractious and unstable politics in a country long known for durable coalitions built on plodding consensus. German lawmakers voted to dissolve the existing government by a vote of 394 to 207, with 116 abstaining."
Rules for Thee Are Not for Me. Curt Devine of CNN: "... Donald Trump vowed on the campaign trail to do everything in his power to benefit American workers. 'We will build American, buy American and hire American,' he said during a rally in August. Despite that pledge, Trump's own businesses sought to hire more foreign guest workers this year than any other year on record, according to a CNN review of government labor data. Companies linked to some of Trump's top political backers and administration picks also have been given the green light to use guest workers this year. Trump's businesses, including the Mar-a-Lago Club, some of his golf courses and a Virginia winery, have collectively increased their reliance on temporary foreign laborers over the years. Just this year, Trump's businesses received approval from the US government to hire 209 foreign workers, nearly double the number of such laborers his companies received permission to hire about a decade ago."
Joe DePaolo of Mediaite: "In a speech at the New York Young Republican Club's gala on Sunday night, Steve Bannon ... floated the prospect of Trump making a fourth consecutive run for the White House in 2028.... 'Since [the Constitution] doesn't actually say consecutive, I don't know, maybe we do it again in '28?' Bannon said, to cheers from the crowd."
That didn't take long. Krugman is on Substack: ~~~
~~~ "Crypto Is for Criming." Paul Krugman: "The tech bros who helped put Trump back in power expect many favors in return; one of the more interesting is their demand that the government intervene to guarantee crypto players the right to a checking account, stopping the 'debanking' they claim has hit many of their friends. The hypocrisy here is thick enough to cut with a knife. If you go back to the 2008 white paper by the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto that gave rise to Bitcoin, its main argument was that we needed to replace checking accounts with blockchain-based payments because you can't trust banks; crypto promoters also tend to preach libertarianism, touting crypto as a way to escape government tyranny. Now we have crypto boosters demanding that the evil government force the evil banks to let them have conventional checking accounts.... The real reason banks don't want to be financially connected to crypto is that they believe, with good reason, that to the extent that cryptocurrencies are used for anything besides speculation, much of that activity is criminal.... [And] what [Elon] Musk and [Marc] Andreesen are demanding could be seen as a call for the U.S. government to intervene to make life easier for criminals. And if you think such a thing would be inconceivable under the second Trump administration, you haven't been paying attention."
~~~~~~~~~~
Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: "More than 120 House Democrats have signed a letter asking President Joe Biden to urge the nation's archivist to recognize the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment by publishing the amendment first Hill's report is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Essentially, the Democrats are arguing (elliptically) that the 1982 deadline imposed by the Congress in the early 1970s was outside the bounds of their authority because the amendment met the Constitutional requirements when Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the amendment in January 2020. But you can see where Congress would not want to officially lift the arbitrary deadline because barefoot and pregnant. ~~~
~~~ The Democrats' letter to President Biden is here. Via the House.
Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post: "Without minimizing the many factors responsible for reelecting the most unfit presidential candidate in U.S. history, we must not forget the singular role played in 2021 by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) in preventing ... Donald Trump's removal from office in his second impeachment trial, thereby enabling his return to office. It is therefore grotesquely hypocritical for McConnell now to bemoan the danger to the nation posed by the revival of Trump's 'America First' foreign policy."
Thanks for Encouraging Trump, ABC News! David Enrich of the New York Times: A "small flurry of threatened defamation lawsuits is the latest sign that the incoming Trump administration appears poised to do what it can to crack down on unfavorable media coverage. Before and after the election, Mr. Trump and his allies have discussed subpoenaing news organizations, prosecuting journalists and their sources, revoking networks' broadcast licenses and eliminating funding for public radio and television. Actual or threatened libel lawsuits are another weapon at their disposal -- and they are being deployed even before Mr. Trump moves back into the White House.... On Saturday, ABC News said it had agreed to give $15 million to Mr. Trump's future presidential foundation and museum to settle a defamation suit that Mr. Trump filed against the network and one of its anchors, George Stephanopoulos.... The deal set off criticism of ABC News by those who perceived the network as needlessly bowing down to Mr. Trump. And it led some legal and media experts to wonder whether the outcome would embolden Mr. Trump and others to intensify their assault on the media...." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Steve M. argues that Trump will be sorry when he's managed to force every media outlet to heel and "there are no media outlets left for Trump to sue because they're all self-censoring? Who'll be left for him to crush if they're all courtiers and sycophants?... If Trump neutralizes all opposition, it will eventually be clear that bad things going on in America are his fault." MB: I'm not convinced. Although it's technically possible Trump can shut up the opposition by jailing or executing everyone who persists in criticizing him (what would it take to shut up Lawrence O'Donnell?), the right is very good at identifying "enemies of the people," and they certainly aren't all media figures or entities. In fact, most are cultural "enemies," from Black Lives Matter activists to feminists to teachers and librarians. Apparently if you watch Fox sporadically, you'll find out there are so many bad guys out there that you'll want to lock yourself up to avoid them.
Lena Sun, et al., of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump has tapped the 71-year-old [Dave Weldon] former Army doctor [and former Congressman] to run the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.... Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the longtime vaccine skeptic..., proposed Weldon for the job.... Weldon's past record of promoting the disproven link between vaccines and autism in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence attesting to the safety and efficacy of vaccines raises concerns among some public health experts about his ability to run the CDC. If confirmed, Weldon could undermine confidence in the lifesaving shots at a time when infectious-disease threats such as measles and whooping cough are on the rise, they say. A Washington Post review of Weldon's public comments, media appearances and congressional letters along with accounts of those who worked with him reveal a portrait of a politician and physician who emphasized the experiences of individuals while dismissing dozens of studies based on data from hundreds of thousands of patients that showed no link between vaccines and autism." ~~~
~~~ Marie: The plan, it appears, is to knock the CDC back to the Dark Ages. But, hey, maybe potions and incantations will control diseases just as well as vaccines.
Julianne McShane of Mother Jones: "Devin Nunes, the ex-California congressman and current head of Trump's struggling social media platform, Truth Social, is getting his prize for being the next president's long-serving yes-man. On Saturday, Trump announced that he would appoint Nunes as chairman of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board.... Nunes will draw on a robust track record of foot entering mouth.... The Bee famously once called him 'Trump's stooge.' That seems to be the main qualification needed for the next admin."
Tom Boggioni of the Raw Story: "CEO's and business execs hoping to dissuade Donald Trump from enacting what they and many economists believe will be ruinous tariffs are finding he won't budge and that has them scrambling to find a way to get through to him.... As the [Wall Street] Journal's Brian Schwartz wrote, 'Trump isn't budging' before adding, 'So far, executives are facing setbacks as they canvass Trump's aides for advice on how to influence the president-elect's next steps. Trump is largely acting on his own, leaving his incoming team of advisers with few opportunities to shape his thinking.' The report adds that Trump's proposals often come late at night on his social media platforms leaving his advisors, who have been left in the dark, trying to catch up afterwards."
Astrid Galvan & Alayna Alvarez of Axios: "A handful of top U.S. universities are urging international students who travel home for winter break to be back in the country before ... Trump takes office.... Trump has vowed to crack down on both illegal and legal immigration, and school leaders are worried one of his first actions could be an executive order limiting entrance to the U.S. like he did with the Muslim Ban in 2017.... At least 10 universities, mostly on the East Coast, have told international students to be back stateside before the Jan. 20 inauguration. They include the University of Southern California, Brown University, University of Pennsylvania, MIT and others. USC [University of Southern California in an email to students on special visas said they are expected to be in class when the semester starts on Jan. 13, and that this 'is especially important given that a new presidential administration will take office on January 20, 2025, and -- as is common -- may issue one or more Executive Orders impacting travel to the U.S. and visa processing.'"
What Could Possibly Go Wrong? Jackson Barton of the Washington Post: "Dallas-based start-up American Rounds rolled its first automated retail ammo [vending] machine into a Fresh Value grocery store in Pell City, Alabama, late in 2023, selling various brands of rifle, shotgun and handgun ammo. The company advertises its machines as a safer and more convenient way to buy ammo than at a large retail store or online. But public health experts have questioned whether the company's suicide prevention efforts are sufficient, and elected officials in areas where machines were set up have worried that the easy availability of ammunition could lead to impulsive purchases by people who seek to do harm." (Also linked yesterday.)
For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? -- Jesus, note to Jeff Bezos (Matthew 16:26)
The shockingly dangerous working conditions at Amazon's warehouses revealed in this 160-page report are beyond unacceptable. Amazon's executives repeatedly chose to put profits ahead of the health and safety of its workers by ignoring recommendations that would substantially reduce injuries. -- Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), in an Addendum of Matthew 16~~~
~~~ Noam Scheiber of the New York Times: "For years, worker advocates and some government officials have argued that Amazon's strict production quotas lead to high rates of injury for its warehouse employees. And for years, Amazon has rejected the criticism, arguing that it doesn't use strict quotas, and that its injury rates are falling close to or below the industry average. On Sunday, the majority staff of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, which is chaired by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, published an investigation that found that Amazon itself had documented the link between its quotas and elevated injury rates. Internal company documents collected by Mr. Sanders's investigators show that Amazon health and safety personnel recommended relaxing enforcement of the production quotas to lower injury rates, but that senior executives rejected the recommendations.... The report also affirmed the findings of investigations undertaken by a union-backed group showing that injury rates at Amazon were almost twice the average for the rest of the industry.
~~~~~~~~~~
Israel/Palestine, et al.
The Washington Post's live updates of developments in Israel's wars are here: "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he spoke with ... Donald Trump and discussed the 'need to complete Israel's victory' and efforts to release hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. Calling Trump 'my friend,' Netanyahu said the conversation was 'very friendly, warm and important.' The two spoke Saturday night, Netanyahu said in a statement Sunday. The Israeli government approved a plan Sunday that would expand settlements in the occupied Golan Heights, a move that Qatar, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates criticized. Israel said it was acting 'in light of the war and the new front facing Syria,' as it uses the power vacuum next door to consolidate security on its border and advance its aims of growing settlements. In his video statement, Netanyahu said he wanted to clarify that Israel has 'no interest in confrontation' with Syria, saying that 'our policy toward Syria will be determined by the reality on the ground.'"
Hiba Yazbek of the New York Times: "Israel's military said it carried out strikes and raids in northern Gaza on Sunday after days of deadly bombardments across the territory. The military said in a statement that it had targeted a 'terrorist meeting point' in the northern town of Beit Hanoun, among other actions. Wafa, the Palestinian Authority's news agency, reported that Israeli forces had raided a school building in the town and forced displaced families sheltering there to evacuate in unsafe conditions, killing and wounding several amid bombardment and gunfire."
Vivian Yee of the New York Times: "Israel struck Syrian weapons depots and air defenses overnight, a group monitoring the conflict said Sunday, in what appeared to be part of an effort Israel says is aimed at depriving 'extremists' of military assets after rebels seized power in Syria. In all, Israel struck its neighbor 75 times in attacks that began Saturday night near the Syrian capital, Damascus, and the cities of Hama and Homs, according to the group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based organization that has long tracked the conflict in Syria. There were no immediate reports of casualties."
Isabel Kershner of the New York Times: "Israel announced on Sunday that it was closing its embassy in Dublin in light of what it described as 'the extreme anti-Israel policies of the Irish government.' The decision came days after Ireland announced that it would file an intervention in support of South Africa's case against Israel in the International Court of Justice in The Hague. South Africa has accused Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, a charge Israel vehemently rejects. Israeli officials said shuttering the embassy in Ireland did not mean that Israel was severing diplomatic relations with Ireland. Officials from both countries noted that Ireland's embassy in Tel Aviv will continue to function."
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It's time I took a look at "A Confederacy of Dunces" again. Must have an old copy of it around here somewhere. Its title sure fits the times.
Maybe someone be inspired to write a sequel... ."A Confederacy of Cranks" perhaps?
And they call the denial of sanity "populism." Makes me wonder when insanity first became popular enough to elect someone to office?
AP News
"The Senate is pushing toward a vote on legislation that would provide full Social Security benefits to millions of people, setting up potential passage in the final days of the lame-duck Congress.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Thursday he would begin the process for a final vote on the bill, known as the Social Security Fairness Act, which would eliminate policies that currently limit Social Security payouts for roughly 2.8 million people.
Decades in the making, the bill would repeal two federal policies — the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset — that broadly reduce payments to two groups of Social Security recipients: people who also receive a pension from a job that is not covered by Social Security and surviving spouses of Social Security recipients who receive a government pension of their own"
Synecdoche for the Unenlightened (aka shitheads)
Of all the dangerous, delusional, debased, and dehumanizing douchebags poised to Trumpify both the federal government and the nation as a whole, perhaps the most representative of this bunch of Bizarro World bungholes is none other than Devin Nunes, whose sole accomplishment as an elected official was being able to find the congressional dining room without a map.
He’s being promoted to something, something intelligence?!?
“Nunes” and “intelligence” go together like “MAGA” and “fact based”.
Here’s a guy who has overseen the moribund manqué mediocrity that is Fatty’s antisocial bulletin board of bullshit. It’s valuation went from (supposedly) billions to bullion cubes in a matter of months. Good job, Dev! I suppose one can’t entirely blame this sad sack for Trump’s horrible business sense. He’s never been successful at any business other than taking the money and leaving investors holding the bag.
Still, Nunes was put in place as a sop for his service as sniveling, Stasi-like snitch for the Orange Monster, running to Papa to tattle tale about goings on in congressional chambers.
He is manifestly unfit to hold any job in the real world, so he has sinecured a cushy do-nothing position with Trump’s team of bug-eyed wrecking balls.
So we have an FBI hater in charge of the FBI, a lifelong misogynist and drunk whose brothers in arms deemed him too whacko to stand guard running the military, a serial liar overseeing Voice of America, a vengeance agent seeking to turn the Justice Department into Trump’s own personal injury law firm, Pee Wee German planning to build concentration camps, and a moronic stool pigeon setting up shop as an intelligence expert.
Synecdoche for the stoopid, thy name is Devin. Mooooo.
Synecdoche for the Unenlightened (aka shitheads)
Of all the dangerous, delusional, debased, and dehumanizing douchebags poised to Trumpify both the federal government and the nation as a whole, perhaps the most representative of this bunch of Bizarro World bungholes is none other than Devin Nunes, whose sole accomplishment as an elected official was being able to find the congressional dining room without a map.
He’s being promoted to something, something intelligence?!?
“Nunes” and “intelligence” go together like “MAGA” and “fact based”.
Here’s a guy who has overseen the moribund manqué mediocrity that is Fatty’s antisocial bulletin board of bullshit. It’s valuation went from (supposedly) billions to bullion cubes in a matter of months. Good job, Dev! I suppose one can’t entirely blame this sad sack for Trump’s horrible business sense. He’s never been successful at any business other than taking the money and leaving investors holding the bag.
Still, Nunes was put in place as a sop for his service as sniveling, Stasi-like snitch for the Orange Monster, running to Papa to tattle tale about goings on in congressional chambers.
He is manifestly unfit to hold any job in the real world, so he has sinecured a cushy do-nothing position with Trump’s team of bug-eyed wrecking balls.
So we have an FBI hater in charge of the FBI, a lifelong misogynist and drunk whose brothers in arms deemed him too whacko to stand guard running the military, a serial liar overseeing Voice of America, a vengeance agent seeking to turn the Justice Department into Trump’s own personal injury law firm, Pee Wee German planning to build concentration camps, and a moronic stool pigeon setting up shop as an intelligence expert.
Synecdoche for the stoopid, thy name is Devin. Mooooo.
Heather Cox Richardson, in last night's Letters from an American provides some history on
The 50th anniversay of the safe water act
"The new law dramatically improved the quality of drinking water in the U.S., making it some of the safest in the world. Over the years, the EPA has expanded the list of contaminants it regulates, limiting both new man-made chemicals and new pathogens."
...However...
"President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to increase production of oil and gas—although it is currently at an all-time high—and such projects are often slowed by environmental regulations. On Tuesday, December 10, he posted on social media, “Any person or company investing ONE BILLION DOLLARS, OR MORE, in the United States of America, will receive fully expedited approvals and permits, including, but in no way limited to, all Environmental approvals. GET READY TO ROCK!!!”
closer to my home, we learn
Tesla’s massive GigaFactory in Austin, Texas released egregious amounts of pollution into the nearby area
While i'm paywalled from the original WSJ investigative story, this story in MotorTrend quotes
"Perhaps the most troubling is the account of an environmental-compliance staffer who claims that they were asked to lie multiple times. 'Tesla repeatedly asked me to lie to the government so that they could operate without paying for proper environmental controls,' wrote the staffer in a 2024 memo to the EPA."
This, in addition to the better reported water pollution attributed to Space-X. Maybe 'conflict-of-interest' will be next years word of the year.
Wait, a Musk owned operation that gets millions in government subsidies, suborning lying to the government?
Why, of course. It’s Musk.
Media Literacy
"Being able to identify hoaxes, avoid scams and debunk propaganda is a civic skill required in today's information society. That's why the curriculum of students in Finland includes media literacy lessons, aimed at safeguarding a precious resource: the truth."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/12/16/trump-immunity-ny-hush-money-conviction/?
A suggestion to the Da Judge:
I'd go for four years of home confinement (preferably in Florida---sorry, Bobby Lee--- and wearing an ankle monitor.