The Conversation -- December 22, 2024
⭐Beth Reinhard, et al., of the Washington Post: "When President Joe Biden signed a sweeping pardon for his son this month, he sidestepped the Justice Department's rigorous vetting process for people seeking clemency. Meanwhile, the president kept waiting hundreds of clemency applicants whom the department had recommended to the White House months and even years earlier, according to multiple sources familiar with the clemency process.... Amid the blowback over Hunter Biden's pardon, Biden soon announced almost 1,500 commutations, in what the White House touted as the 'largest single-day grant of clemency in modern history.' Like Biden's son, those people were not individually vetted by the Justice Department, which carefully considers the circumstances of each case before issuing a recommendation. A Pennsylvania judge accused of taking payoffs in exchange for sending kids to juvenile detention made the list, sparking another outcry. The mass commutation benefited only those who had been released from prison into home confinement; the hundreds of people whose clemency petitions have been cleared by the Justice Department -- most of whom remain behind bars -- are still awaiting the president's signature."
Trump Threatens Panama. Eric Bazail-Eimil of Politico: "... President-elect Donald Trump threatened on Saturday that the U.S. would reassume control of the Panama Canal if it felt that Panama wasn't honoring the terms of a 1977 treaty regarding the waterway's legal status. In two lengthy Truth Social posts Saturday evening, Trump accused Panama of charging U.S. vessels exorbitant rates to pass through the critical waterway. He also claimed that the treaties enabling Panama to take control of the canal in the first place also allow for the U.S. to take it back.... Analysts, however, do not believe that those provisions in the treaty would allow for the United States to legally retake control of the canal.... It is unclear what spurred Trump's invective about the canal."
Man Who Saved Trump Gets Undefined State Department Job. Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump has tapped Mark Burnett, the producer who helped turn him into a household name with 'The Apprentice,' as special envoy to Britain.... The show, which debuted in 2004 on NBC and ran through 2017, was credited with rehabilitating Mr. Trump's image after it was tarnished by financial difficulties. As The New Yorker put it, the reality show 'mythologized him anew, and on a much bigger scale, turning him into an icon of American success.' The show presented Mr. Trump as the ultimate successful, self-made billionaire.... It is unclear what Mr. Burnett's duties as special envoy will be. Mr. Trump has already named Warren Stephens, an investment banker and billionaire, as his choice for ambassador to Britain.... Mr. Burnett ... was born in London... [and] was raised [MB: reared!] in Dagenham, Essex." Friedman reprises how, right after the Washington Post published the "Access Hollywood" tape in 2016, Burnett quashed release of what might have been more damning video footage of Trump. Politico's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Robert Tait of the Guardian: Herschel Walker (Bahamas), Charles Kushner (France) and Kimberly Guilfoyle (Greece) "are among a flurry of ambassadorial nominees rolled out by Trump in recent weeks as he rushes to fill his administration at breakneck speed.... Their lack of credentials has prompted one experienced foreign policy analyst to label them a 'diplomatic clown car' -- and a deliberate affront to the countries hosting them. Some appear conspicuously unschooled in the diplomatic arts; others have business links which experts say risk conflicts of interest. Unlike most countries, which fill ambassadors' roles from the ranks of professional diplomats, it is customary for US presidents to reward allies and financial backers with ambassadorial jobs -- with prize postings like London and Paris almost always going to friends of the man in the oval office. But Trump has broken new ground with the sheer volume of ambassadorial nominations -- and his lack of consideration of their professional suitability." Read on.
A Congress to Remember. Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "The 118th Congress ended almost exactly as it began: with chaos in the House of Representatives that threatened to consume its GOP leader and shut down the government.... [Mike] Johnson's dilemma is the same one that bedeviled his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy (R-California), the always-smiling speaker who proved so ineffective he didn't last nine months in the job. Both found themselves in a predicament in which the House GOP held a majority in principle but in practice could not come together to govern. This cycle of political face-plants threatens to derail ... Donald Trump's agenda, as well as Johnson's hold on power.
"Johnson's first plan ... drew the intense opposition of [Elon] Musk, who acted like the unelected prime minister demanding Republicans oppose the bill.... Dozens upon dozens of Republicans revolted at the massive size of the bill, which included three months of funding and $110 billion in disaster relief that carried an additional 1,400 pages or so of policy riders. [Johnson']s 'Plan B,' a concoction cooked up by Trump, included a few trillion dollars' worth of new treasury borrowing authority. That bill met the same fate as many fallback plans in recent House history when the far right bucked Trump. That left Johnson scrambling Friday to beat a midnight countdown clock and ultimately reverting to a slimmed-down version of the original legislation. A simple extension of government funding and disaster funds passed after 6 p.m. Friday -- but only because, as he has so often done, Johnson pleaded with Democrats to save him." ~~~
~~~ Marie: This seems a fair summary of the week that was, though I had to "edit in" tge sentence about Musk that Kane had laid in further down the story. Anyway, we cannot say that the Washington Post has failed to highlight on it's online main page a story that ridicules Congressional Republicans and doesn't do much for our president*-elect and president*-not-elected, either. ~~~
~~~ Washington Post Editors: "Mr. Trump should not have spurred a last-minute frenzy to keep the government running during the holidays when a reasonable bipartisan compromise had already been reached. The negotiators' job was made harder by the fact that Mr. Trump and Elon Musk, the president-elect's confidant..., seemed to be at cross-purposes in their demands. Mr. Musk said the stopgap's spending levels were 'criminal' and called for shutting down the government until Mr. Trump's inauguration.... Chiming in later, Mr. Trump criticized some of the spending but also issued a very different demand: that Congress lift the debt limit or eliminate it entirely.... If Mr. Trump wanted to assure Americans that his second term will be less chaotic than his first, this was not the way. If anything, the addition of Mr. Musk to the mix appears to have made things even more volatile.... Last-minute, ad hoc legislative theatrics will gain Mr. Trump -- and the country -- far less than a more reasonable approach would." ~~~
~~~ Minho Kim of the New York Times: "President Biden on Saturday signed the spending package that allowed federal funds to keep flowing until mid-March, formally ending the week's unexpected drama over the issue a few hours after the deadline for a shutdown had technically passed." The AP report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Minho Kim of the New York Times: "... two of the measures that had been dropped from the final bill, which continued most government spending..., were salvaged as separate bills and passed by the Senate. The bills, which include funding for pediatric cancer research and changes in the terms of the lease of a Washington, D.C., stadium, passed the House in the spring, allowing them to quickly clear the Senate without amendments and through a voice vote that required unanimous consent. Here's a rundown of how those two bills were revived at the last minute.... But three other cancer-related measures were scrapped at the end of 118th Congress. Those include a new policy that would have made it easier for low-income children on Medicaid to cross state lines for specialized cancer treatment, and two bills aimed at incentivizing pediatric cancer drug development."
~~~ Sylvan Lane of the Hill: "The top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee accused Elon Musk of tanking a bipartisan spending bill because it included a provision that could limit his businesses' ability to operate in China. In a Friday letter to congressional leaders, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) claimed Musk derailed the deal that would have avoided a government shutdown 'in order to protect his wallet and the Chinese Communist Party at the expense of American workers, innovators and businesses.' The spending agreement released Tuesday included a bipartisan provision to limit and screen U.S. investments in China, among dozens of other proposals attached to the 1,500-page bill. As the CEO and largest stockholder in Tesla, Musk has extensive business connections to China. The company operates a major manufacturing plant in Shanghai and has sought to build deeper connections with Chinese companies.... [In his torrent of posts lambasting the original compromise bill,] Musk ... did not appear to mention restrictions on investments in China." Thanks to Patrick for the link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Of course we can't know what's in Musk's heart (because it's an impenetrable stone harder than diamonds), but a sensible person would share DeLauro's suspicions. Several stories, including a WashPo one I first linked last Thursday, reported on the provisions re: doing business with China. I assume Musk has legislative analysts who warn him about every piece of pending legislation that could be unfavorable to his businesses, but even if the analysts failed him, the media gave him fair warning. Musk's tirade was Wednesday; Reuters, for one, reported on the China provisions Tuesday. (The story, also republished by Yahoo! News, cites DeLauro's advocacy for the provisions. Naturally, she's hopping mad Johnson stripped the China restrictions; she's ranking member on the Appropriations Committee, so it's likely her staff wrote the provisions.
Here's a peculiar story about the 118th Congress: ~~~
~~~ WCBM (Baltimore): "Rep. Kay Granger [R] has served as the representative for Texas's 12th Congressional District since 1997. However, she suddenly disappeared from the public eye around July this year....[Carlos Turcios,] a ... reporter at the local Dallas Express newspaper did some digging on Granger's whereabouts. [He wrote,] 'We ... received a tip from a Granger constituent who shared that the Congresswoman has been residing at a local memory care and assisted living home for some time after having been found wandering lost and confused in her former Cultural District/West 7th neighborhood.... Two employees [at the home] confirmed that Granger is indeed living at the facility.'... Granger had already announced her retirement at the end of this Congress." ~~~
~~~ Marie: This is a sitting member of Congress. It is odd that she just "went missing" and nobody, including the Speaker of the House, whose caucus held the slimmest of majorities, seemed to notice. What about her staff? There's more to this story.
After an incredible amount of thought, contemplation, and encouragement from so many, I have decided to remove my name from consideration for the United States Senate. -- Lara Trump, on X, Saturday ~~~
~~~ Cat Zakrzewski of the Washington Post: "Lara Trump announced on Saturday that she was removing herself from contention for a Florida U.S. Senate seat.... Donald Trump had previously communicated to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that he wanted Lara Trump to take the seat, which would be open if Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (R) is confirmed to serve as secretary of state. DeSantis is tasked with appointing Rubio's replacement. Speculation that Lara Trump, who is married to Trump's son Eric, would take the role increased this month after she stepped down as co-chair of the Republican National Committee.... Asked on Monday whether he expected DeSantis to appoint her, Donald Trump told reporters: 'No, I don't, I probably don't.... Ron's going to have to make that decision, and he'll make the right decision.... I also know that Lara's got so many other things.... People want her to be on television, they want to give her contracts.'" As to those "many other things," Lara wrote, "I do have a big announcement that I'm excited to share in January, so, stay tuned." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Oh, we will, Lara, we will. We're so "incredibly" interested in your personal journey. On another note, I wonder what Lara Trump credits as an "incredible amount of thought and contemplation" as opposed to a "credible amount of thought and contemplation." Indeed, the meaning of incredible being "impossible to believe," I do find it impossible to believe that Lara Trump puts much, if any, "thought and contemplation" into her decisions. It appears in this instance, it was Daddy Donald, he of the very good brain, who did all the thought and contemplation.
Really, My Dear, One Hasn't the Time to Report. Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "Justice Clarence Thomas failed to disclose two additional trips from a billionaire patron that had not previously come to light, Senate Democrats revealed on Saturday after conducting a 20-month investigation into ethics practices at the Supreme Court. The findings were part of a 93-page report released by Democratic staff members of the Judiciary Committee along with about 800 pages of documents. It said the two trips, both of which had been previously unknown to the public, took place in 2021 and were provided by Harlan Crow, a real estate magnate in Texas and a frequent patron of Justice Thomas&;s. One trip took place that July by private jet from Nebraska to Saranac N.Y., where Justice Thomas stayed at Mr. Crow's upstate retreat for five days. The other came in October, when Mr. Crow hosted Justice Thomas overnight in New York on his yacht after flying him from the District of Columbia to New Jersey for the dedication of a statue.... Justice Thomas had not disclosed the trips, even after refiling some of his past financial forms, and the committee learned about them through a subpoena to Mr. Crow, the report said." The AP's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Senate Democrats wrapped up their extensive investigation of Supreme Court justices' ethics practices Saturday, issuing a report blasting two conservative justices [Clarence Thomas & Samuel Alito] for accepting expensive gifts from wealthy benefactors and slamming Chief Justice John Roberts for a lackadaisical response to ethical lapses by his colleagues. 'Now more than ever before, as a result of information gathered by subpoenas, we know the extent to which the Supreme Court is mired in an ethical crisis of its own making,' outgoing Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin said in a statement. 'Whether failing to disclose lavish gifts or failing to recuse from cases with apparent conflicts of interest, it's clear that the justices are losing the trust of the American people at the hands of a gaggle of fawning billionaires.'" MB: Gee, Dick, couldn't you find a better time to bury this story than the Saturday before Christmas? AND Hanukkah? (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ The Senate Majority report, via Politico, is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
~~~~~~~~~~
New York. Hurubie Meko, et al., of the New York Times: "New York City's top uniformed police officer, the chief of department, abruptly resigned Friday night following allegations of sexual misconduct, setting off local and federal investigations and extending years of turmoil at the Police Department. The former chief, Jeffrey Maddrey, submitted his resignation and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch accepted it, according to a statement from the department on Saturday. Mayor Eric Adams had vocally supported Mr. Maddrey, a close ally, as recently as October. But on Saturday, a spokeswoman for the mayor, Kayla Mamelak Altus, said that he was working with Commissioner Tisch to conduct a 'separate departmentwide review to ensure no high-ranking officers are using their power inappropriately.'"
News Ledes
New York Times: "Rickey Henderson, the thrilling and charismatic Hall of Fame outfielder who, with his signature crouched stance, blazing speed and unlikely home run power, was widely regarded as the greatest leadoff hitter in Major League Baseball history, died on Friday. He was 65."
New York Times: "Five people were injured on Saturday after a man drove his pickup truck through the glass doors of a J.C. Penney in a mall in Killeen, Texas, and continued to drive through the building before he was shot and killed by the police, the authorities said. At about 5 p.m., the driver, whose identity was not released, was in a black pickup truck on a highway when officers tried to stop him for possible drunken driving, said Sgt. Bryan Washko with the Texas Department of Public Safety. Instead of stopping, the driver drove to the Killeen Mall and smashed his car through the doors of the J.C. Penney, Sergeant Washko said. The man drove through the mall and hit multiple people, five of whom had injuries that were minor to severe. Those injured ranged from 6 to 75 years old, Sergeant Washko said.
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Reader Comments (14)
Marie: I'm moving forward this comment by Akhilleus in yesterday's thread because it got stuck in Squarespace limbo.
By Akhilleus:
Highest court, lowest standards
Coke Can Clarence and Insurrection Ginni had MORE undisclosed luxury trips??
Man, I’m so glad the court has that pinky swear ethics code now.
I’m sure the high ethical standards (*choke*) adopted by the Supine Court will absolutely guarantee that Little Johnny and the Dwarfs will hold Fatty and his horde of lawless billionaires and criminal Nazis to account over the coming plague years.
Right. And I’m getting my own Gulfwing for Christmas. See you in the Bahamas, Clarence!
@Akhilleus: Wait! You and Clarence (AND Ginni) are going to the Bahamas? You-all say hi to Ambassador Herschel for me.
Marie,
Yup. And I’m bringing along a plastic G-Man badge my kid got a few years ago in a cereal box. Me and Herschel gonna have a fake lawman badge smackdown. I’m gonna make him show me the back of his badge thingie. If it says “Made in China”, I win. Mine says “Made in the USA”. We’ll have an island cocktail drinking contest to see which of us gets to arrest Clarence and Gin fir bring no good, lowdown dirty liars. And unethical too.
Here's a link showing Elon's new 100 million. dollar penthouse in
West Palm Beach.
Wonder who he's having an affair with. I can't recall anyone
important living in that area.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DD4W400SSbb/
@Forrest Morris: I don't think anyone has asserted Musk actually bought the place. "Rumors" that he was "eyeing" it are all I've been able to find.
Here we are at the beginning of Winter Solstice, when in our northern hemisphere the sun seems to stand still in the sky for about two weeks.
Now that the government funding crisis is averted, I'm wondering if we have entered a period of political solstice, all standing still in the dark, with our eyes on the heavens, just awaiting the inevitable?
No Worries
"A new investigation from The New York Times suggests that SpaceX founder Elon Musk has not been reporting his travel activities and other information to the Department of Defense as required by his top-secret clearance.
According to the newspaper, concerns about Musk's reporting practices have led to reviews by three different bodies within the military; the Air Force, the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security, and the Defense Department Office of Inspector General."
Lara Trump. Ooooh…the name itself flutters through the aether conveying to our mortal ears the superior gentility of unearned, undeserved, illegitimate, putrid, and malefic nepotistic privilege.
Running for the senate?
Even if a guaranteed an automatic win would mean occasionally venturing out beyond the castle walls and hobnobbing with the smelly and poorly clad little people. Ewwww!
Then, claiming victory after expending an entire two joules of effort (as opposed to the cheap ass costume jewels hubby Eric swipes from some poor lady to bestow upon Princess Lara), she would have to leave the sacred confines of chez Trump to listen to interminable babbling about insignificant folderol such as healthcare for the filthy poors and the looming dangers of climate change, which matters not to the rich and famous, and according to Daddy, isn’t even a thing.
Better to be invited now and then to Fox studios where she might enlighten us all with her learned insights about the state of the nation.
In other words, “I’d have to do crap I don’t like? When I can just lay in bed and tweet bullshit all day? Fuck that. Daddy will send us plenty of booty swiped from stupid taxpayers.”
Besides, if she fucked up, she might have to go be ambassador to stinky Mediterranean country, like Kimberly!
Ahhh…deep thinking is so rewarding.
@Akhilleus: You're not crediting the incredible Lara with much in
the way of her incredibly talented past.
After all, she attended the French Culinary Institute in New York.
She was so great working on daddy-in-law's campaign that she
was paid $180,000.00 per year.
And in 2023 she released a music video "I Won't Back Down"
which became #6 on Billboard's Country Digital song sales chart.
Now she's writing her own music to be released after the Christmas
holidays.
So she would be perfect for that Senate seat since she has
absolutely no experience in government other than campaigning
for daddy-in-law.
I suspect that DiJiT's threat about the Panama Canal is just revenge for being stripped of his hotel there back in 2018, which probably bruised his ego and may have deprived him of a money laundering outlet.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/05/trump-panama-hotel-standoff-loses-physical-control
Coincidentally (/s) the US Ambassador to Panama resigned his ambassadorship early and retired from the US Foreign Service just before DiJiT lost his hotel. "Policy differences" was given as the reason. I have not checked it out, but have always assumed he (the ambassador), who is a totally honorable and smart guy, would not put the USG's diplomuscle into DiJiT's ownership brouhaha. It would be irresponsible not to speculate.
We'll see more and more of these revenge threats as DiJiT goes down his revenge list.
Lara did French chef school?
Incroyable!
Rogé Karma, in The Atlantic, looks at The California Job-Killer That Wasn’t, reviewing the result of raising the minimum wage to $20 an hour.
"Notwithstanding the law’s broadly positive real-world consequences, the nonstop negative press about it has turned it into a political liability. In November, California voters narrowly rejected a ballot measure that would have raised the state’s minimum wage for all industries to $18 an hour, following a massive industry-led campaign centered on the claim that the state’s fast-food minimum-wage experiment had been a disaster.
The biggest losers from this misleading narrative won’t be Californians themselves. It will be workers in the 20 states that still have a minimum wage at or below the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, 19 of which voted for Trump in 2024. California’s government, like many Democratic-controlled cities and states around the country, has had plenty of mistakes to its name in recent years, but raising the minimum wage isn’t one of them. If Republicans in Washington are serious about delivering for the working-class voters who brought them to power—and who overwhelmingly support raising the minimum wage—they might consider following California’s lead just this once."
Here's a link to that incredibly talented Lara Trump doing her
"I Won't Back Down" video.
She's sitting on a horse and the horse appears to be wearing a large
diamond necklace. That's probably where the $180,000.00 pay per
year went.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zirep3E6h3Q
Huffpost has a story on the missing Texas representative. Reading it sure gives the impression that along with the family Speaker Johnson knew the story.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/texas-kay-granger-senior-living-facility-dementia_n_67684ef6e4b0a0e013ac53ae