The Conversation -- January 19, 2025
Marie: Sorry, I've been up all night talking to Microsoft about a problem that at first I couldn't fix and then they couldn't fix. The only good thing about Microsoft technicians' not being able to fix what I thought was a simple problem is that I don't feel so stupid for not being able to fix it myself. Anyway, I need some rest.
The New York Times is live-updating stuff about Trump. ~~~
~~~ Maureen Dowd of the New York Times declares, “The mood in Washington is very different this time around. Instead of a rowdy resistance and a women’s march that drew nearly 500,000 here and some five million across the globe — an international swath of pink hats — we have Republicans who have gotten even more sheeplike and Democrats who still seem deflated and flummoxed, with no compelling ideas or pols to lead them out of the wilderness. And this as Trump is surrounded not by advisers, generals and a daughter trying (and failing) to temper him but by fervent loyalists who will help him toss out executive orders the same way he tossed out paper towels in Puerto Rico, with no worries about who might be hit.” ~~~
Marie: The first time Trump was president*, he was the most corrupt president* ever. Now, he's topped Trump I. He'll be riding his crypto-corrupt hobbyhorse right up the Capitol steps before he swears on a Bible & all to preserve, protect and defend whatever. ~~~
~~~ Ben Berkowitz & Brady Dale of Axios: "... Trump launched his own cryptocurrency overnight and swiftly appeared to make more than $25 billion on paper for himself and his companies. The stunning launch of $TRUMP caught the entire industry off-guard, and speaks to both his personal influence and the ascendancy of cryptocurrency in his administration. It also speaks to the nature of the crypto industry that someone could have $25 billion worth of something that literally did not exist 24 hours previously.... Friday night, while Trump was reportedly hosting a 'Crypto Ball' for the industry in Washington, the president-elect launched his own meme-linked cryptocurrency. His website bills it as 'the only official Trump meme.' While a number of Trump-branded meme coins popped up in recent months, none had his official endorsement until now." ~~~
I am extremely proud of what we continue to accomplish in crypto. $Trump is currently the hottest digital meme on earth.... This is just the beginning. -- Eric Trump, in a statement to the New York Times
It is literally cashing in on the presidency — creating a financial instrument so people can transfer money to the president’s family in connection with his office.... It is beyond unprecedented. -- Adav Noti of the Campaign Legal Center ~~~
~~~ Eric Lipton of the New York Times: “... Donald J. Trump and his family on Friday started selling a cryptocurrency token featuring an image of Mr. Trump drawn from the July assassination attempt, a potentially lucrative new business that ethics experts assailed as a blatant effort to cash in on the office he is about to occupy again.... It is yet another sign that the Trump family will be much less hesitant in this second term to bend or breach traditional ethical boundaries.... This newest venture brings Mr. Trump and his family directly into the world of selling cryptocurrency, which is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Mr. Trump recently disclosed he intended to name a cryptocurrency advocate as S.E.C. chairman.”
Derek Seidman of Truthout: “... the breadth of direct corporate sway within the incoming regime goes beyond big campaign donations and individual players like [Elon] Musk. What’s becoming clear is that key spheres of policy-making — energy, finance and tech — will be overseen by wealthy figures plucked from the industries they’re tasked to oversee.... Jeff Hauser, executive director of the Revolving Door Project, which monitors executive branch appointees, told Truthout that, while the first Trump administration was 'catastrophically corrupt,' it still made gestures toward limiting conflicts of interest. But now, he says, 'there are essentially no restraints being promised.'” Read on.
Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: “Bipartisan critics of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are sharpening their arguments that he is unfit to serve as the nation’s top health official, embracing the extra time they have been given while Kennedy waits for his confirmation hearings to be scheduled. The Office of Government Ethics as of Friday was still evaluating Kennedy’s financial disclosures, which are required for potential Cabinet officials, delaying his anticipated hearings in front of the Senate’s finance and health committees.... Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) previewed Thursday how Democrats are likely to examine Kennedy in upcoming hearing.... Many of Warren’s questions — roughly 175 in all — directly quote Kennedy’s past statements, such as his suggestion that the coronavirus may have been 'ethnically targeted' to spare some Jews and Chinese.... Meanwhile, former vice president Mike Pence and his conservative allies this week urged GOP senators to ask whether Kennedy ... is truly committed to restricting access to abortion medication and pursuing other goals long held by the antiabortion movement.”
Paper Tigers? Or a Set-up? Nick Miroff & Maria Sacchetti of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump’s handpicked 'border czar' Tom Homan said in an interview Saturday that the incoming administration is reconsidering whether to launch immigration raids in Chicago next week after preliminary details leaked out in news reports.”
Sapna Maheshwari, et al., of the New York Times: “Hours before a federal law banning TikTok from the United States was set to take effect on Sunday, the Chinese-owned social media app went dark, and U.S. users could no longer access videos on the platform. Instead, the app greeted them with a message that said 'a law banning TikTok has been enacted.' 'We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution,' the message said. 'Please stay tuned!' In addition, TikTok’s sister app, Lemon8, stopped working and showed U.S. users a message saying that it 'isn’t available right now.' Both TikTok and Lemon8 are owned by ByteDance, a Chinese internet giant. Apple said it removed TikTok and other ByteDance apps, including Lemon8, from its app store, and users said that Google’s U.S. app store also removed TikTok.” Here's a Politico story. ~~~
~~~ David Ingram & Alexandra Marquez of NBC News: “... Donald Trump told NBC News’ 'Meet the Press' moderator Kristen Welker in a phone interview Saturday that he will 'most likely' give TikTok a 90-day reprieve from a potential ban in the U.S. after he takes office Monday.”
~~~~~~~~~~
North Carolina. Good for Me But Not for Thee. Doug Clark of ProPublica: “As a member of the Army National Guard in 2019 and 2020, Jefferson Griffin voted in North Carolina elections using military absentee ballots. Now, as he seeks to overturn the results of a state Supreme Court election that went against him, Griffin is asking that same court to disqualify the votes of around 5,500 people who voted in the same manner as he had. Since Democrat Allison Riggs won reelection to the state’s highest court last year by 734 votes, Griffin, now a Republican judge on the state’s Court of Appeals, has repeatedly tried to nullify her victory. Last week, the Republican majority on the state Supreme Court temporarily blocked the certification of Riggs’ win after Griffin filed a legal petition arguing that the election should be awarded to him.”
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Israel's Wars. The New York Times live updates of developments Sunday in Israel's wars are here: “A long-awaited agreement between Israel and Hamas for a cease-fire and hostage release went into effect on Sunday morning, a step that is widely seen as the best chance to end the devastating 15-month war in the Gaza Strip. After a delay of just over two hours, Israel received the names of three hostages expected to be released later on Sunday, according to two Israeli officials speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue. Israel had said the cease-fire would not come into effect until it had received the list. Israeli officials have not announced the names of the hostages set to be released, pending permission from their families. Hamas had earlier announced the names of the hostages on social media.” ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Sunday are here.
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Reader Comments (13)
For a sort of explanation of what cryptocurrency is, I went to
Wikipedia. It's not to be confused with 'virtual currency.' I learned
about virtual currency last summer when I had a yard sale and a
dozen or so college kids arrived. One wanted to buy a CD ($1.00)
and said all we use is virtual. He explained. I gave him the CD
since I didn't have any faith in that system.
Wiki says that there are 25,000 cryptocurrencies in the marketplace
as of June 2023. Mind boggling.
What's next? Kleptocurrency?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptocurrency
Not a sermon. A review of a great American sermonizer who let others do the talking.
https://www.populist.com/31.02.Winkes.html
While writing this, I came across "Stud's Place" (some of you may remember it) for the first time and watched one of the shows preserved on the internet. People just met at Stud's Place and talked, and their talk quietly conveyed a message.
I liked it.
Wouldn't $trumpet be a more appreciate name for what the Trump family is doing?
Lina Khan and the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice shown the door just when we need them most.
Heather Cox Richardsonon substack, describes Surveillance pricing
"'Initial staff findings show that retailers frequently use people’s personal information to set targeted, tailored prices for goods and services—from a person's location and demographics, down to their mouse movements on a webpage,” said FTC chair Lina Khan. 'The FTC should continue to investigate surveillance pricing practices because Americans deserve to know how their private data is being used to set the prices they pay and whether firms are charging different people different prices for the same good or service.'"
----
She also writes:
"Meanwhile, last night, while the leaders in the cryptocurrency industry were at a ball in honor of President-elect Trump’s inauguration, Trump launched his own cryptocurrency. By morning he appeared to have made more than $25 billion, at least on paper. According to Eric Lipton at the New York Times, 'ethics experts assailed [the business] as a blatant effort to cash in on the office he is about to occupy again.'”
and then:
"Today in Washington, D.C., the National Mall was filled with thousands of people voicing their opposition to President-elect Trump and his policies. Online speculation has been rampant that Trump moved his inauguration indoors to avoid visual comparisons between today’s protesters and inaugural attendees.
....
On social media, one user posted: 'MAGA doesn’t realize the symbolism of [Trump] moving the inauguration inside: The billionaires, millionaires and oligarchs will be at his side, while his loyal followers are left outside in the cold. Welcome to the next 4+ years.'"
"National Mall was filled with thousands of people voicing their opposition to President-elect Trump and his policies"
Uh, have we learned nothing from this guy? He'll claim they are his adoring fans, media will publish it, and so it goes.
I cannot use either of my computers, so looks like I am done for the day
When Fat Hitler first heard about kleptocurrency, he called it a scam. That was partly because he didn’t understand it and, career crook and con man that he is, assumed that anything he doesn’t understand (the Library at Alexandria couldn’t hold the millions of volumes needed to record everything this fool doesn’t understand) must be shady, ergo corrupt, ergo a scam.
But like a stopped clock, he was right. Klepto IS a scam (Sam Bankman-Fried, anyone?). I’m 100 percent sure he STILL doesn’t understand it, but his corrupt idiot spawn and the Kleptokings tossing money at him have convinced him that it could be HIS scam. Just like with his gaudy sneakers and cheap Trump-branded carnival gewgaws he’s been hawking, there are millions of sheep out there waiting to be fleeced. Hell, if he orders it, they fleece themselves. And this time around he doesn’t even have to have anything to sell. Nothing. No gewgaws, gizmos, or gutter-produced, Fatty “authorized” ripoffs like the Trump Bible.
All he has to do is say “Just imagine being rich like me” and the other con artists and fleeceable fuckheads line up.
And who’s gonna stop him? Another do nothing Congress populated by morons and lackeys? An equally corrupt Supreme Court (you just know Coke can Clarence and Insurrection Gin-gin are thinking about their own scammy Klepto—Thoma$!)? Never!
No one. And he’s not even the fucking president yet!!
$25 billion and he didn’t have to lift a tiny finger.
I have not listened to anuything happening today or plan to for tomorrow. I am reading RC as usual, and will welcome Charlie Pierce's takes on everything, but emptywheel is too smart, too detailed and too involved to read anymore. It is all so exhausting. I know you all feel the same, and some of you are willing to go the extra miles to document what is happening, but for today, utter nausea. Thanks for putting it all on paper.
We are inaugurating a corrupt, toxic, criminal enterprise. It is really trump.org. and no one is monitoring the vast ocean of money he is sweeping into his and their pockets, no, not the US treasury, his own personal bank accounts. It's not enough to just hate him, but we get to also hate his rotten family, and the people around him and with him. It all feels wretchedly inevitable, and although we should not be complacent, we cannot count on anyone in the palace to understand, try to keep him and them between the lines, or actually be FOR any people other than themselves.
I read that now Bill Gates has kissed Fatso's flabby, stinky ass. I guess it is a damn good thing Gates' wife divorced him. I doubt if any of these tech bros have good relationships-- none of them would be capable of empathy, compassion, thoughtfulness, grace or unselfish behavior. The boys are in charge now, honey-- go clean the kitchen.
So great that Elmo Penis-Rocket lost another griftmachine. So nice of them to donate it, in flaming pieces, to the Caribbean.
Jeanne,
We have a criminal grifter ready to swallow the country whole, an imbecile chomping at the bit to bring back polio, measles, mumps, and maybe the Black Death. Idiots, traitors, and scheming tech bros flexing their new found political muscle…many enemies all around, but “Elmo-Penis-Rocket” made me laugh out loud.
Thanks for that on this cold snowy morning.
@Marie
As maddening as your situation must be to you, you might think of it as a chance to take a long rest you well deserve.
@Ken: Oh, how I wish this were a break. It was worse than listening to what-his-name's speech. Luckily, I'll be at BestBuy exactly when he's going to be speaking tomorrow and I won't be able to find a video of it later.
In the meantime, the computers that help us so much have 24 hours of my time, with more to come.
Not even in office yet,
T**** Triggers a Crisis in Denmark
Anne Applebaum, in The Atlantic
"the most difficult aspect of the crisis [triggered by the demand to buy Greenland] is not the need to prepare for an unspecified economic threat from a close ally, but the need to cope with a sudden sense of almost Kafkaesque absurdity. In truth, Trump’s demands are illogical. Anything that the U.S. theoretically might want to do in Greenland is already possible, right now. Denmark has never stopped the U.S. military from building bases, searching for minerals, or stationing troops in Greenland, or from patrolling sea lanes nearby.
....
Trump himself cannot articulate, either at press conferences or, apparently, over the telephone, why exactly he needs to own Greenland, or how Denmark can give American companies and soldiers more access to Greenland than they already have. Plenty of others will try to rationalize his statements anyway. The Economist has declared the existence of a 'Trump doctrine,' and a million articles have solemnly debated Greenland’s strategic importance. But in Copenhagen (and not only in Copenhagen) people suspect a far more irrational explanation: Trump just wants the U.S. to look larger on a map."
@ laura
And because the Pretender habitually confuses himself with the country, he wants to make himself look bigger, too.
I think his ego motivates everything he does and says.