The Conversation -- December 9, 2023
Stephanie Saul & Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "The president of the University of Pennsylvania, M. Elizabeth Magill, resigned on Saturday, four days after her testimony at a congressional hearing in which she seemed to evade the question of whether students who called for the genocide of Jews should be disciplined. The announcement, in an email sent to the Penn community from Scott L. Bok, the chairman of the board of trustees, followed months of intense pressure from Jewish students, alumni and donors, who claimed that she had not taken their concerns about antisemitism on campus seriously." The AP's story is here. ~~~
~~~ CNN is running a liveblog about the crisis at UPenn: "Scott Bok, chairman of the board of trustees at the University of Pennsylvania, submitted his resignation effective immediately.... In his statement, Bok acknowledged that Magill erred during her disastrous testimony, describing a 'dreadful 30-second sound bite' following a lengthy hearing. 'Former President Liz Magill last week made a very unfortunate misstep -- consistent with that of two peer university leaders sitting alongside her -- after five hours of aggressive questioning before a Congressional committee,' Bok said.... 'She is not the slightest bit antisemitic.... Worn down by months of relentless external attacks, she was not herself last Tuesday,' Bok said. 'Over prepared and over lawyered given the hostile forum and high stakes, she provided a legalistic answer to a moral question, and that was wrong.'" Clearly, the presidents could have used advice from a few lawyers with less elitist creds. When your inquisitors are scoundrels, get you a scoundrel lawyer. Not for nothing, in an article on the origins of the term "white shoe," the Economist wrote in 2010, "The term used to hint at WASPishness, the kind of place that didn’t promote Jews...." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Bok is probably right. Lauren Hirsch of the New York Times: "Two of the school presidents, Claudine Gay of Harvard and Elizabeth Magill of Penn, prepared separately for the congressional testimony with teams from [white-shoe law firm] WilmerHale.... WilmerHale also had a meeting with M.I.T.'s president, Sally Kornbluth.... Lawyers for WilmerHale sat in the front row at the hearing on Tuesday.... Steven Davidoff Solomon, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, said that the college presidents appeared to be 'prepared to give answers in the court -- and not a public forum.' But the responsibility of university presidents, Mr. Solomon said, is 'not to give legal answers, it's to give the vision of the university.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: Maureen Dowd of the New York Times hit on exactly the same point I did the other day in assessing the performances of the three Ivy League presidents who flunked Congress 101. But she goes on to make a larger point: "I don't understand why I have to keep making the case on matters that should be self-evident. Why should I have to make the case that a man who tried to overthrow the government should not be president again? Why should I have to make the case that we can't abandon Ukraine to the evil Vladimir Putin? Why should I have to make the case that a young woman -- whose life and future ability to bear children are at risk -- should not be getting persecuted about an abortion by a shady Texas attorney general? Why should I have to make the case that antisemitism is abhorrent?" IOW, What Is wrong with you people??? ~~~
New York Times: "On Tuesday, the presidents of three leading American universities -- Claudine Gay of Harvard, Sally Kornbluth of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Elizabeth Magill of the University of Pennsylvania -- were at the center of a contentious congressional hearing on antisemitism on college campuses. In one of the most notable exchanges, the leaders of the schools were pressed on whether they discipline students calling for the genocide of Jews. Their responses -- 'It is a context-dependent decision,' Ms. Magill answered at one point -- drew widespread criticism. But the administrators faced a barrage of other pointed questions at the hearing of the House Education and Workforce Committee, mainly from Republicans, who adopted a prosecutorial tone as they pushed for more definitive answers. Here are some of those exchanges[.]"
Trump Campaign Worries Voters Will Find Out He Will Be a Dictator. Marianne Levine & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "Top officials in Donald Trump's campaign sought Friday to quell discussions about his possible second term in the White House, amid alarms about authoritarianism and reports about personnel. '... unless a message is coming directly from President Trump or an authorized member of his campaign team, no aspect of future presidential staffing or policy announcements should be deemed official,' Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita said in a written statement to the media.... A Trump campaign official ... said Friday's statement came in response to a report that Axios published the previous day that offered a list of potential members of a second Trump administration.... Trump, however, has at times undercut [his campaign's] message...."
So people are picking on Ron DeSantis for the self-coaching he likely engaged in just before the very last RNC-sponsored 2024 Republican debate began. Marie: But I read a headline someplace that said Rhonda won the debate although almost nobody watched. So those practical thoughts worked! (to the extent that your aria is a sensational hit when you sing it in the shower). Thanks to RAS for the link:
The Daily Show providing us with Ron Desantis’s internal thoughts. pic.twitter.com/ZGD6rL0yU1
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) December 8, 2023
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Maegan Vazquez of the Washington Post: "resident Biden privately met with University of Nevada-Las Vegas students and community members Friday after a shooting there this week that left three people dead. Biden participated in the meeting at the site where he later delivered a speech on federal high-speed rail investments. He addressed the shooting at the start of his remarks from the podium, saying, 'This is not normal and we can never let it become normal.'" More on President Biden's visit to Las Vegas linked under "Presidential Race 2024."
John Blake in a CNN opinion piece: "Tyranny of the Minority...' [a book] by Steve Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt ... argues that the US must reform its Constitution and political institutions because they are dangerously antiquated.... The book's authors say the Founding Fathers were progressive and even radical for their time, but they birthed a now-outdated political system that allows a partisan minority in the US to thwart the popular will and rule over popular majorities.... They direct some of their most pointed criticisms at contemporary politicians who they describe as 'semi-loyal' to democracy because they refuse to work with ideological rivals even when democracy is on the line.'... 'Many of the politicians who preside over a democracy's collapse are just ambitious careerist trying to stay in office or perhaps win a higher one,' they write." Thanks to Ken W. for the link.
Dana Milbank of the Washington Post -- after excoriating Speaker Mike Johnson with some obscure details you may not know -- gets to "the Three Stooges of the House's Biden investigations... Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan is Moe, thundering and blundering in his repeated failures to prove Biden's 'weaponization' of the government. Jason Smith, the in-over-his-head chairman of Ways and Means, is Larry, brainlessly reciting whatever script is in front of him. And Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer is Curly, perpetually getting a pie in the face when the 'evidence' he produces is immediately debunked." Latest smoking gun? Joe Biden helped his son buy a pickup truck, and Hunter repaid his dad in shockingly incriminating "monthly payments." MB: Totally impeachable. (Also linked yesterday.)
Dareh Gregorian of NBC News: "A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. on Friday upheld but narrowed the gag order that had been imposed on ... Donald Trump in his D.C. election interference case prohibiting him from making critical comments about potential witnesses and prosecutors." The story has been substantially updated and extended: "The new version of the gag order bars Trump and his lawyers from making 'public statements about known or reasonably foreseeable witnesses concerning their potential participation in the investigation or in this criminal proceeding,' but also allows him some leeway if a high-profile witness makes disparaging comments about him.... 'Mr. Trump is a former President and current candidate for the presidency, and there is a strong public interest in what he has to say. But Mr. Trump is also an indicted criminal defendant, and he must stand trial in a courtroom under the same procedures that govern all other criminal defendants. That is what the rule of law means,' [the order reads]." MB: And of course Trump responded by lying about the content of the order. It's what he does. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "A federal appeals court narrowed an order limiting what ... Donald Trump can say about people involved in the criminal case alleging that he tried to subvert the 2020 election results, saying he cannot talk about witnesses' involvement or single out other individuals in ways likely to interfere with the case.... The ruling upholds a ban on Trump speaking about the participation of witnesses in the investigation and likely testimony. But it removes from the gag order Special Counsel Jack Smith. Commentary on other lawyers involved in the case, as well as court staff and both groups' family members, are barred 'if those statements are made with the intent to materially interfere with, or to cause others to materially interfere with, counsel's or staff's work in this criminal case, or with the knowledge that such interference is highly likely to result.'" The story has been substantially updated. (Also linked yesterday.)
Lisa Rubin, et al., of NBC News: "An expert witness in the $250 million civil fraud trial against Donald Trump said in court Friday that the former president's political action committee has paid for a portion of his fees to testify on behalf of the defense. Eli Bartov, an accounting professor at New York University, said that his $900,000 in compensation was split between the Trump Organization and Trump's Save America PAC. While it's not unusual for a defendantin a trial to pay expert witness fees -- in this case, the Trump Organization -- the use of campaign-oriented funds underscores the large amount of money being spent by Trump's PAC on his legal battles."
Presidential Race 2024
Anjali Huynh of the New York Times: "Just a few months ago, President Biden rarely said the name of his likely opponent in the 2024 presidential election.... But speaking in Las Vegas on Friday, Mr. Biden didn't hold back.... 'He likes to say America is a failing nation. Frankly, he doesn't know what the hell he's talking about.' Mr. Biden was in Las Vegas to announce $8.2 billion in funding for passenger rail projects, and he used the opportunity to criticize his predecessor's approach to infrastructure, saying that 'the last administration tried to cancel' a rail project in California and that his [own] latest investments 'stand in stark contrast.' 'He always talked about "infrastructure week," four years of "infrastructure week," but it failed -- he failed,' Mr. Biden said, referring to Mr. Trump. 'On my watch, instead of infrastructure week, America's having "infrastructure decade."'"
CNN Announces Top Secret GOP Debate Plans! Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: "With great fanfare this week, CNN announced it would host the network's first debate of the 2024 presidential campaign, gathering the Republican candidates for a marquee event on Jan. 21 at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire.... Saint Anselm had no idea what CNN was talking about. 'We were surprised to be included on a press release by a network about a debate which we had not planned or booked,' Neil Levesque ... of Saint Anselm said in a statement on Friday. The chairman of New Hampshire's Republican Party, Chris Ager..., said in an interview. 'I'm still scratching my head. And I still haven't been contacted by CNN at all.' There is, however, a competing debate scheduled to take place three days earlier, hosted by CNN's rivals at ABC News. The ABC debate, on Jan. 18, is set to be held at Saint Anselm, and it has the approval of both the college and state Republican officials." (Also linked yesterday.)
Whatever Donald Wants ... Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "The Republican National Committee is pausing its participation in 2024 GOP primary debates, the organization decided Friday. The RNC's decision, made by a 16-member internal body, means that any forthcoming debates will be hosted by networks independently of the committee. Two outlets -- ABC and CNN -- have announced plans to host future debates in Iowa and New Hampshire ahead of early state voting.... Donald Trump has refused to participate in any of the RNC-sponsored debates. He has aggressively pressured RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel to forgo hosting debates, arguing that he has a wide lead in the polls and that the committee should be focused on preparing for the general election."
Maria Sacchetti of the Washington Post: "A federal judge in San Diego on Friday approved a settlement that prohibits U.S. officials from separating migrant families for crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally and offers aid to thousands of parents and children forced apart under the Trump administration. The settlement involves a 2018 lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union to block the Trump administration's 'zero tolerance' policy, which called for separating parents from their children to prosecute the adults for crossing the border illegally. Officials sent parents to detention centers and children to shelters, without a plan to reunite them, under the policy. Some were apart for months, some for years.... Trump ... has continued to praise his administration's zero-tolerance policy." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. An AP story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Oh, and thanks to you, Jeff Sessions & Stephen Miller, you racist slimeballs. I couldn't understand why the Biden administration continued to defend Trump's policy, but it appears there was a strategy: by opposing the ACLU, the administration managed to effect a settlement outcome that may be better for Trump's victims and for the government than what was in the original ACLU ask.
Matthew Cullen of the New York Times: "The Food and Drug Administration announced [Friday] that it had approved a gene editing treatment for sickle cell disease, the debilitating blood disorder caused by a single mutated gene. The therapy, called Casgevy, will become the first available treatment for humans in the U.S. to use the revolutionary gene editing tool CRISPR. The approval -- which was announced alongside a second gene therapy that does not use gene editing -- offers hope for the 100,000 Americans, most of them Black, who live with the disease. But the one-time treatments -- so effective in clinical trials that they have been hailed as cures -- come with both technical and financial obstacles that limit their reach." The ABC News report is here.
Alan Blinder & Anemona Hartocolis of the New York Times: "Harvards president apologized for her testimony before Congress about how she responded to antisemitism on campus -- another sign that the controversy over her remarks and similar comments by the presidents of M.I.T. and the University of Pennsylvania was not going away. 'I am sorry,' Claudine Gay, Harvard's president, said in an interview that the campus newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, published on Friday. 'Words matter.'" CNN's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Oh, Look. The Federal Government Can Be Good for the Economy. Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post: "Americans might be loath to believe it, but on paper, the U.S. economy is doing pretty well. So well, in fact, that we're outperforming forecasts made even before the pandemic began.... Overall employment is now 2 million jobs higher than was expected by now in forecasts made way back in January 2020 by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office[.]... The overall size of the economy, as measured by gross domestic product, is larger than it was expected to be.... The International Monetary Fund says that U.S. gross domestic product is higher today, in inflation-adjusted terms, than it had expected at the beginning of 2020.... Forecasters obviously did not anticipate the pandemic. They also did not anticipate the unprecedentedly enormous government response to the coronavirus.... Such stimulative measures helped get people back to work sooner, and avoided the long, painful slog back to normal that had followed the Great Recession. Hence, faster job growth. They also massively stoked consumer demand...."
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Texas. Ashley Killough & Ed Lavandera of CNN: "Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has petitioned the Texas Supreme Court to intervene in the case of a pregnant woman who was granted permission by a lower court judge on Thursday to obtain an emergency abortion. A Texas judge ruled Kate Cox, who sued the state seeking a court-ordered abortion, can legally terminate her pregnancy." The story has been updated to reflect the Texas Supremes' decision to block court approval for Ms. Cox's abortion. MB: Early Friday, D in MD & others came up with some novel -- and surely well-intentioned -- ideas about how to instill some empathy in Ken Paxton. We'll have to up the ante now. (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story is here. ~~~
~~~ Update. Maegan Vazquez of the Washington Post: "The Texas Supreme Court on Friday temporarily halted an order allowing a woman who is 20 weeks pregnant to get an abortion -- reversing a lower-court ruling that marks the first case of a pregnant woman seeking a court order for the procedure since Roe v. Wade was overturned last year. The order was issued Friday night." MB: We are just going to have to get us a warren-full of dead rabbits and some extra porcupine quills. Seriously, what is the matter with these people? Allow that hapless women to get her necessary abortion and pull your fat chins over it later.
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Europe. Adam Satariano of the New York Times: "European Union policymakers agreed on Friday to a sweeping new law to regulate artificial intelligence, one of the world's first comprehensive attempts to limit the use of a rapidly evolving technology that has wide-ranging societal and economic implications. The law, called the A.I. Act, sets a new global benchmark for countries seeking to harness the potential benefits of the technology, while trying to protect against its possible risks, like automating jobs, spreading misinformation online and endangering national security. The law still needs to go through a few final steps for approval, but the political agreement means its key outlines have been set. European policymakers focused on A.I.'s riskiest uses by companies and governments, including those for law enforcement and the operation of crucial services like water and energy. Makers of the largest general-purpose A.I. systems, like those powering the ChatGPT chatbot, would face new transparency requirements. Chatbots and software that creates manipulated images such as 'deepfakes' would have to make clear that what people were seeing was generated by A.I...."
Israel/Palestine
The Washington Post's live updates of developments Saturday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "The United States on Friday blocked a U.N. Security Council draft resolution that called for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, as well as the unconditional release of all hostages. It had near-unanimous support from member states. Israel's ambassador to the United Nations praised the move, calling the resolution 'distorted,' while Human Rights Watch said it puts the United States at risk of 'complicity in war crimes.'... Friday's vote was the third time the United States vetoed a Security Council recommendation calling for a cease-fire since the war in Gaza began following the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. A U.S. envoy defended the vote, calling the resolution, introduced by the United Arab Emirates, divorced from reality.'... The Israel Defense Forces on Friday reported a new round of battles in Khan Younis, southern Gaza's largest city. Commanders said the IDF hit 450 targets from air, sea and land. They described close-quarters fighting." ~~~
~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Saturday are here.
U.S. v. Peace. Farnaz Fassihi, et al., of the New York Times: "The United States on Friday vetoed a United Nations resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has launched hundreds of strikes, relief efforts were faltering and people were growing so desperate for basic necessities that some were stoning and raiding aid convoys. The U.N. secretary general, António Guterres, and most members of the Security Council had backed the measure, saying that the humanitarian catastrophe in the coastal enclave where 2.2 million Palestinians live could threaten world stability. But the United States, which is one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, blocked the resolution, arguing that Israel has the right to defend itself against Hamas attacks. The vote was 13 to 1, with Britain abstaining and some U.S. allies like France voting for a cease-fire." The AP's story is here.
News Ledes
New York Times: "Bystanders stopped a 26-year-old woman from setting fire to the home where Martin Luther King Jr. was born after she poured gasoline on it, the authorities said. Two visitors from Utah interrupted the woman as she was pouring gasoline on the porch and on the door of the home, Darin Schierbaum, the Atlanta police chief, told reporters on Thursday. Two off-duty New York Police Department officers who had been visiting the house then chased her down and detained her until the officers from the Atlanta Police Department arrived, he said. 'That action saved an important part of American history tonight, he added." An ABC News story is here.
New York Times: "The teenager who committed the deadliest high school shooting in Michigan history, killing four students and injuring seven other people, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Friday. Ethan Crumbley was a 15-year-old sophomore at Oxford High School in suburban Detroit on Nov. 30, 2021, when he pulled a 9 millimeter Sig Sauer handgun out of his backpack. He had persuaded his father to purchase the gun for him just days earlier. Killed in the attack were Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Tate Myre, 16; Justin Shilling, 17; and Hana St. Juliana, 14. Michigan does not have the death penalty, so the sentence imposed by Judge Kwamé Rowe was the harshest available. In September, he ruled that despite being a minor, and despite his difficult life, Ethan was eligible for a sentence of life without parole. He had pleaded guilty to 24 charges, including first-degree murder." CNN's report is here.
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Why the right is after Time Magazine's person of the year, Taylor
Swift.
She has millions of followers, mostly young people, and she is
actively encouraging them to register and vote next November.
Vote for Democrats and democracy.
Here's her message to Donald: "After stoking the fires of white
supremacy and racism your entire presidency, you have the nerve to
feign moral superiority before threatening violence? We will vote
you out in November."
A note to women: Don't let yourself be photographed full bodywise.
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They can subscribe to this app for only $9.95 per month.
The inner thoughts of Ron DeSantis before the debate.
Wealth distribution
After Republicans quit is the one time they might tell a truth or two. Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy “I became leader when we took the minority, and this was a turning point for me,” McCarthy said, describing having attended the 2019 State of the Union address.
“I’d just become leader and I’m excited and President Trump’s there. And I look over at the Democrats and they stand up. They look like America,” he told Sorkin. “We stand up. We look like the most restrictive country club in America.”
MoDo wonders why… Oh Maureen!! Remember when you had Al Gore “lactating?” The Dick-n-Dumbya conflagration was made possible thanks to a free an fair political press that styled Gore aloof and Dumbya down-to-earth, and merrily made up so many, many similar lies. (Remember the Daily Howler?) Some lefty blogger likened the W disaster to the great Chicago fire and you, MoDo, to Mrs. O’Leary’s cow. Why, MoDo? Republicans. That’s why. Republicans and a conniving, above-it-all, bothisiderist political press. That would be you, MoDo. YOU! You made Republican alternative facts possible and, so, inevitable.
As a friend said, "a breath of fresh air, though his message in this piece is rather sad and sobering." As Zach Gottlieb, the author says, "Lets start talking."
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-12-10/los-angeles-high-school-cancel-culture-free-speech