The Conversation -- February 21, 2024
Danielle Douglas-Gabriel of the Washington Post: "Starting Wednesday, President Biden will email 153,000 student loan borrowers enrolled in his signature repayment plan to let them know their debts -- totaling $1.2 billion -- have been forgiven. The notice makes good on the administration's promise to accelerate forgiveness for borrowers with low original balances who are enrolled in the Saving on a Valuable Education (Save) plan. Rather than wait 20 to 25 years for relief through other income-driven repayment plans, enrollees in the Save plan who borrowed less than $12,000 can have their debt wiped clean after 10 years of payments. The Education Department had originally planned to begin forgiveness in July but started identifying eligible borrowers this month."
Isaac Arnsdorf, et al., of the Washington Post: Donald Trump & his allies are planning massive, militarized deportations & detention camps for undocumented immigrants, should he be re-elected. "But his deportation proposal is one part of his emerging platform that experts, current and former government officials and others described as especially alarming, impractical and prone to significant legal and logistical hurdles.... Reflecting on the ideas Trump and his team discussed during his presidency, former Immigration & Customs official Jason Houser said, 'Their ideas were psychotic.'... 'Trump is following the 20th century dictator's playbook of dehumanizing vulnerable groups in order to isolate them and justify cruelty by the state,' Genevieve Nadeau, a former DHS lawyer, said in a report by the nonpartisan organization Protect Democracy."
David Sanger of the New York Times: "American intelligence agencies have told their closest European allies that if Russia is going to launch a nuclear weapon into orbit, it will probably do so this year -- but that it might instead launch a harmless 'dummy' warhead into orbit to leave the West guessing about its capabilities. The assessment came as American intelligence officials conducted a series of rushed, classified briefings for their NATO and Asian allies, as details of the American assessment of Russia's intentions began to leak out. The American intelligence agencies are sharply divided in their opinion about what President Vladimir V. Putin is planning...."
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Behold the Useful Idiots. They Are Serving Members of Congress. Marie: Jim Comer, Jim Jordan & other GOP House leaders are not only meddling in the 2024 presidential election, they have been doing so under the guidance of Russian intelligence operatives. These powerful members of the House are essentially willing dupes of & mouthpieces for Vladimir Putin. ~~~
~~~ Hannah Rabinowitz of CNN: "Prosecutors ... said [FBI informant] Alexander Smirnov has been 'actively peddling new lies that could impact US elections' after meeting with Russian spies late last year.... Smirnov claims to have 'extensive and extremely recent' contacts with foreign intelligence officials, prosecutors said in [a federal court] filing [in Nevada]. They said he previously told the FBI that he has longstanding and extensive contacts with Russian spies, including individuals he said were high-level intelligence officers or command Russian assassins abroad. Prosecutors with special counsel David Weiss' team said Tuesday that ... in a post-arrest interview last week, 'Smirnov admitted that officials associated with Russian intelligence were involved in passing a story about Businessperson 1,' referring to President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden....
"The false information that Smirnov reported, prosecutors wrote, '... targeted the presumptive nominee of one of the two major political parties in the United States. The effects of Smirnov's false statements and fabricated information continue to be felt to this day,' prosecutors said, making an apparent reference to the turmoil in Congress over the discredited bribery allegations -- which were a key element of the GOP impeachment probe." ~~~
~~~ Glenn Thrush & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "A former F.B.I. informant accused of making false bribery claims about President Biden and his son Hunter -- which were widely publicized by Republicans -- claimed to have been fed information by Russian intelligence, according to a court filing on Tuesday.... 'He is actively peddling new lies that could impact U.S. elections after meeting with Russian intelligence officials in November,' [prosecutors said in the filing].... [Some of Alexander Smirnov's] allegations, which prosecutors now say were brazen fabrications motivated by Mr. Smirnov's animosity toward the president, were widely promoted by congressional Republicans who cited it as a justification for their now-stalled effort to impeach Mr. Biden.... Also on Tuesday, Hunter Biden's legal team filed motions in federal court arguing that the arrest of Mr. Smirnov -- while unrelated to the charges Mr. Biden faces -- has tainted the public's perception of their client, making fair trials impossible." ~~~
~~~ The government's filing is here, via the federal courts. MB: Russia's compromising of top House Republicans should be the scandal of the year, but it isn't, because Donald Trump has generated so many other scandals. I advise against President Biden & Hunter Biden's holding their breaths while waiting for abject apologies from Comer, Jungle Gym & the rest of the miscreants. In the meantime, I do wonder (1) how long Trump/Garland-appointed special prosecutor David Weiss has known Smear-nov was lying about the Bidens and (2) when he clued in Comer, Jordan & the other Keystone Kops. And do you suppose Merrick the Unready is having the slightest qualms about appointing two Biden-bashers -- Weiss & Robert Hur -- as special counsels to "investigate"/trash his own boss and family? A fish rots from the head down, Merrick. ~~~
~~~ Update. Marie: I see Dan Goldman agrees with me: ~~~
~~~ Colby Hall of Mediaite: "Rep. Dan Goldman [D-N.Y.] did not mince words in his Tuesday night appearance on CNN, where he and host Anderson Cooper discussed news that the source for the Biden bribery scandal had ties to Russian intelligence, which he directly connected to charge the House GOP as 'operating at the behest of Russian Intelligence and Vladimir Putin.'"
Tom Friedman of the New York Times: "... Donald Trump could sell white flags at $1,000 a pop that say, 'We surrendered Ukraine to Russia,' autographed by him and the House and Senate MAGA sycophants he's assembled to deny Ukrainians the weapons they need to stave off Vladimir Putin's onslaught. For an extra $500, you could get a white flag autographed solely by Trump and J.D. Vance and emblazoned with Vance's immortal words, 'I don't really care what happens to Ukraine.' Or one signed by House Speaker Mike Johnson, big enough to sum up his worldview: I was for Ukraine aid until I was against it, but I could be for it again if Trump is not against it. This is a matter of principle for me. Either way, it's all Biden's fault.[']... For an extra $1,000, a giant white surrender flag, made from the softest Sea Island cotton, signed by Lindsey Graham, that says: 'I gave up the principles of John McCain and a free Ukraine because Trump told me to. But I got a round of golf at Trump's West Palm Beach course. Can I still be on "Meet the Press"?'... I've never seen so many people in one party behave with so little respect for themselves or the nation's interests at one time." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Oh, how sad it is when a leading both-siderist/centrist loses faith in one side! Is that a teensy white flag I see, Tom?
Michael Luciano of Mediaite: Tuesday night, "... Donald Trump claimed on Fox News that he was not required to hand over government documents he kept after leaving office.... Trump ... falsely insisted the Presidential Records Act gave him the right to take the documents. 'I was allowed to do what I did,' he said. 'Absolutely allowed.'... [Trump then claimed he would have handed over the docs:] 'We were talking and then all of a sudden they raided Mar-a-Lago.'" MB: Of course, Trump is lying here, too. As we all know, he went to great lengths to hide the documents, involving two of his staff, who are not under indictment with him. I think what he's doing here is setting up a fake defense: trying to show he had no consciousness that he was doing anything wrong; then pretending it was his intention to comply with the National Archives & FBI demands. Yeah, government stooges set up Honest Don for a fall.
The Contemptuous Mr. Navarro. Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A federal judge Tuesday threatened to hold former Trump White House trade adviser Peter Navarro in contempt of court for failing to return dozens if not hundreds of presidential records to the National Archives, giving him one month to turn over emails from his time in office that he has withheld despite court orders. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ordered Navarro to return the records last March after the Justice Department sued, saying ... Donald Trump's trade and manufacturing policy adviser used at least one nonofficial email account to do government business and failed to copy emails in an official account or respond to the archivist's request for their return.... In a six-page opinion Tuesday, Kollar-Kotelly said her review of a sampling of 50 emails and their attachments found that at least 24 percent and potentially up to 56 percent of the records did in fact assist in the discharge of presidential duties."
Presidential Race
Natalie Allison & Lisa Kashinsky of Politico: "Delivering what her team billed as a 'state of the race speech' [Tuesday,] a defiant [Nikki] Haley vowed to remain in the race even as she polls far behind [Donald] Trump in upcoming primaries across the map.... Haley unleashed a torrent of criticism against the former president, calling him a 'bully' who's 'getting meaner and more offensive by the day.' She argued that Trump is 'completely distracted' from the campaign as he splits his time in courtrooms. She repeated her oft-used refrains that Trump has 'gotten more unstable and unhinged.' And the former U.N. ambassador painted Trump as weak on national security, bashing him for 'inviting' Russian President Vladimir Putin to 'invade NATO countries.'... 'I feel no need to kiss the ring,' Haley said." ~~~
~~~ Nick Robertson of the Hill: "Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung predicted Tuesday that Nikki Haley would 'kiss ass' to former President Trump when she 'quits' the presidential race." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Check yesterday's Comments. D in Md found just the right accessory to wear for that kiss-ass moment. Cheung is such a tasteful guy, isn't he?
Patrick Svitek, et al., of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump and some of his allies continue to compare his legal problems to the plight of Alexei Navalny, while the former president has yet to condemn the Friday death of the imprisoned Russian dissident who was President Vladimir Putin's strongest critic. 'It's a form of Navalny,' Trump said a Fox News town hall on Tuesday, responding to a question from Laura Ingraham about the $355 million fine against his businesses after a New York civil trial. 'It's happening in our country too.'... Trump has long fueled concerns that he is too cozy with Putin, but the latest episode is part of an especially stark chapter.... Those comments -- as well as Trump's handling of Navalny's death -- have given his last serious presidential primary rival, Nikki Haley, a new opening to criticize Trump and highlight her foreign policy experience as his onetime U.N. ambassador." A Politico story is here.
M.L. Nestel of the Raw Story: "... Donald Trump burned through $3 million of campaign cash to pay attorneys as one super PAC bailed out another, according to the Daily Beast. The Trump-backing 'Save America' PAC confirmed they had only collected $8,508 from donors spanning the entire month of January, according to the Daily Beast.... Public findings released on Tuesday by the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) that the Trump campaign raised about $8.8 million, spent about $11.5 million and reported a loss of more than $2.6 million in January. In contrast, Trump's rival former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley flexed $11.5 million in fundraising for January. That marks the first time where Haley's outraised Trump, the outlet confirmed."
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court declined on Tuesday to hear a challenge to new admissions criteria at an elite public high school in Virginia that eliminated standardized tests, clearing the way for the use of a policy intended to diversify the school's student body. As is its custom, the court gave no reasons for turning down the case. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. issued a dissent, joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, that was harshly critical of an appeals court's ruling in the case upholding the new criteria and rejecting the challengers' argument that they unlawfully disadvantaged Asian Americans." A CBS News story is here. MB: Sorry, boys, you should know your place of business is otherwise occupied this term trying to clean up on Aisle Trump. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Insufferable Sam Writes Another Bigoted Screed. Abbie VanSickle of the New York Times: "Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. on Tuesday renewed his criticisms of the Supreme Court's landmark decision recognizing the right to same-sex marriage, saying that people who oppose homosexuality risk being unfairly 'labeled as bigots and treated as such.' The justice included his warning in a five-page statement explaining why the court had rejected a request to hear a Missouri case about people removed from a jury after voicing religious objections to gay relationships. The case, Justice Alito wrote, 'exemplifies the danger' from the court's 2015 decision, Obergefell v. Hodges. The ruling, he added, shows how 'Americans who do not hide their adherence to traditional religious beliefs about homosexual conduct will be 'labeled as bigots and treated as such' by the government." MB: You're right, Sam. You are a nasty bigot, and I will treat you as such. I don't think the shame is on me. And you wrote this all down for the record, Sam, because why??? ~~~
~~~ Colin Kalmbacher of Law & Crime: "U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito complained about the impact of legalizing same-sex marriage on 'society' in a statement about a case that does not have anything to do with same-sex marriage on Tuesday. The underlying case was an employment discrimination lawsuit filed by a lesbian prison guard -- which she won. On Tuesday, in orders, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal filed by the Missouri Department of Corrections over part of the jury selection process." Emphasis added.
Jon Stewart is very sorry he trashed President Biden last week, then takes pointers from TuKKKer Carlson on how to interview a diabolical world leader who tells remarkable whoppers:
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Alabama. Roni Rabin & Azeen Ghorayshi of the New York Times: "An Alabama Supreme Court's ruling that frozen embryos in test tubes should be considered children has sent shock waves through the world of reproductive medicine, casting doubt over fertility care for would-be parents in the state and raising complex legal questions with implications extending far beyond Alabama. On Tuesday, Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said the ruling would cause 'exactly the type of chaos that we expected when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and paved the way for politicians to dictate some of the most personal decisions families can make.' Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One as President Biden traveled to California, Ms. Jean-Pierre reiterated the Biden administration's call for Congress to codify the protections of Roe v. Wade into federal law.... Infertility specialists and legal experts said the ruling had potentially profound effects, which should be of concern to every American who may need to access reproductive services like in vitro fertilization.... Reproductive medicine scientists also blasted the ruling, saying it was a 'medically and scientifically unfounded decision.'" ~~~
~~~ An AL.com story (Feb. 16) is here. Thanks to Forrest M. for the link.
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Israel/Palestine, et al.
The Washington Post's live updates of developments Wednesday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: ";U.S. officials are expected to defend Israel at the International Court of Justice on Wednesday as part of six days of hearings on the legality of what the court has called 'occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.'... The ICJ hearings deal with the broader topic of control of the occupied West Bank, annexed East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, but they could put added pressure on Israel over its military campaign in Gaza. Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen fired two anti-ship missiles at a civilian ship carrying humanitarian aid to Yemen on Monday, U.S. Central Command said. One of the missiles caused minor damage, but the MV Sea Champion, a Greek-flagged, U.S.-owned bulk carrier, successfully unloaded its grain at the port of Aden, Centcom said."
Farnaz Fassihi, et al., of the New York Times: "The United States on Tuesday cast the sole vote against a United Nations Security Council resolution that would have called for an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, saying it feared it could disrupt hostage negotiations. It was the third time Washington wielded its veto to block a resolution demanding a stop to fighting in Gaza, underlining America's isolation in its continued, forceful backing of Israel.... Thirteen Security Council members voted in favor of the resolution, which was drafted by Algeria, while Britain abstained."
Russia
Neil MacFarquhar of the New York Times: "For more than two decades, [Yulia] Navalnaya has shunned any open political role for herself, saying that her purpose in life was to support her husband [Aleksei Navalny] and to protect their two children. That changed on Monday. Ms. Navalnaya faces a distinct challenge in trying to rally a disheartened opposition movement from abroad, with hundreds of thousands of its adherents driven into exile by an increasingly repressive Kremlin that has responded to any criticism of its invasion of Ukraine two years ago with harsh jail sentences. Her husband's political movement and his foundation, which exposed corruption in high places, were declared extremist organizations in 2021 and barred from operating in Russia. While not dismissing the difficulties, friends and associates believe that Ms. Navalnaya, 47, has a shot at succeeding through what they call her combination of intelligence, poise, steely determination, resilience, pragmatism and star power." (Also linked yesterday.)
Serhii Korolchuk, et al., of the Washington Post: "A man found riddled with bullets and run over by a car last week in Spain is Russian defector Maksym Kuzminov, who flew a military helicopter to Ukraine in a dramatic operation, according to Ukrainian officials. The body was found at the entrance to a residential complex in Villajoyosa, in Alicante, and witnesses told local media that gunmen shot him several times, then ran him over and escaped in a car. Spanish police ... now believe [this is] ... potentially the latest example of Russian special services carrying out an assassination on European soil. The spokesman for Ukraine's intelligence service, Andriy Yusov, confirmed to The Washington Post on Tuesday that the body was that of Kuzminov.... According to [a Russian television documentary aired last month]..., Russia's military intelligence, known as GRU, had already received an order to eliminate him." (Also linked yesterday.)
Robyn Dixon of the Washington Post: "Russia's Federal Security Service announced Tuesday the arrest of a 33-year-old [Los Angeles] woman on treason charges, accusing her of taking part in pro-Ukraine protests outside Russia and of sending aid to Kyiv. The woman, a dual American-Russian citizen, was not identified in a statement issued by the Federal Security Service, or FSB, which said she 'was involved in providing financial assistance to a foreign state in activities directed against the security of our country.'... The FSB statement said the woman repeatedly took part in public protest actions outside Russia 'in support of the Kyiv regime.'" (Also linked yesterday.)
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Reader Comments (15)
We've been here before.
Not a new thought but a reminder of what's old, which I tumbled to reading Maddow's "Prequel."
A short version here that reminds us of the worms within:
https://spiritone.com/~gdy52150/1930sp5.html
Re: That photo of Trump and Johnson yesterday doing their fake
smiles, 'A picture is worth a thousand words' comes to mind, but I
have only one word for it, sycophants.
I'll save the other 999 for later.
Lindsey Graham has been put on Russia's terrorist watch list. That
means he could be arrested if he decides to visit Putin, and all of his
rubles can be impounded.
He should apply for a transfer to that government compound inside
a mountain in Virginia where I once did a tour of duty. It's top secret
and they would never find him there (ha!).
https:www.newsweek.com/lindsey-graham-terrorist-russia-1871682
How long until we see women being charged with child neglect for freezing their eggs and never visiting? What about if they stop paying storage fees for the frozen eggs? Would that be neglect or murder? The right-wing is full of deluded fantasists living in their own crazy dystopian world.
So Save America PAC raised only 21 Trump sneakers worth in January. That's bigly sad. The campaign brought in 22k sneakers worth, but spent 28.75k sneakers worth. That's is why Trump is as successful a business goblin as he is.
History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.
D,
And there's this, a darn good book I thought about something else I didn't know.
Bought it for a son who likes only used books. So read it before I gave it to him.
https://www.zinnedproject.org/materials/bad-mexicans/
From above: "... (perhaps) ... Russia is going to launch a nuclear weapon into orbit, it will probably do so this year — but that it might instead launch a harmless 'dummy' warhead into orbit to leave the West guessing about its capabilities."
Schrodinger's nuke?
Why spend the rubles to put up a ruse? They can just say that a satellite that they launched last year contains a suitcase nuke with a targeting lens, guess which one?
They love to mindfork the intell community.
Thanks Ken,
Just put in a hold request from my local library.
I've been thinking about what RAS posted about sneakers worth,
above.
We should get rid of the dollar $ystem and just go with sneakers.
Help wanted: it pays 2 sneakers a week.
Or, my investment portfolio is up 200 sneakers this month.
Maybe not. Sneakers wear out fast and come in different sizes, like
50cent sneakers, or 25cent sneakers.
Oh well, back to the drawing board.
So the Trump goon squad wants to round up undocumented workers
and deport them or put them in cages.
Do they have any idea what that would do to the economy if those
corporations would have to hire US Citizens and pay a living wage?
Those CEOs would have to take pay cuts in the millions of dollars.
According to economists, there's already a shortage of workers as
the US population ages and drops out of the work force.
Just make those immigrants 'legal' and let them get back to work.
There are help wanted signs all over our town, especially restaurants
which have a different minimum wage system, like, two to three
dollars an hour. No wonder they keep looking for help.
https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/comment-u-s-short-3-million-
workers-amid-immigration-fight/
Oooo...Oooo....I know!!!
Let's just reinstitute slavery for all non-white people. Then we wouldn't have to pay them at all. They'd do all the work, the economy would prosper, and we could just sit back and chill. And they would be grateful for all the job skills they would learn.
@D in MD: I think there are at least two Supreme Court Justices
who would vote against that, but then there's also one who would
like it since he could just sit back and enjoy his beer, served by those
happy, singing, dancing darkies who haven't a worry in the world
what with free food, free housing, free clothing and not taxes.
Oh, for the good ole days (sarchasm).
@ForestMorris Florida is working on an alternative to your plan. If we only lower the age for kids to work in potentially dangerous jobs, and increase the hours they can work per week we can send that skilled Honduran roofer back where he came from and replace him with a 15 year old unskilled worker. The only thing I haven't seen them talk about increasing is the wages paid.
New GOP logo just announced:
https://democraticunderground.com/100218707010