Cat Zakrzewski, et al., of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump on Friday said he would impose a new 100 percent tariff on goods from China, escalating tensions with Beijing after Chinese leader Xi Jinping issued new export restrictions that upended months of trade negotiations between the world’s two largest economies. Trump announced the levy shortly after the markets closed — and after stocks sank on his earlier threats to increase tariffs and cancel a meeting later this month with Xi. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down almost 900 points, and the S&P 500 sank 2.7 percent in the biggest one-day drop since April.” ~~~
~~~ Joe Rennison & Rebecca Elliott of the New York Times: “The stock market slumped to its worst one-day showing since tariffs roiled markets in April, as the specter of the trade war returned between Beijing and Washington. The S&P 500 dipped 2.7 percent for the first time in six months, and the Nasdaq Composite also fell by the most it has since April, when ... [Donald] Trump’s tariff plans for dozens of countries spooked markets.”
Carol Leonnig & Ken Dilanian of MSNBC: "The acting U.S. Attorney in Maryland is moving forward quickly to seek criminal charges against ... Donald Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton, according to two people familiar with the case. A complaint or an indictment could come as early as next week, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters without authorization. A grand jury in Maryland has been hearing evidence for several weeks related to claims that Bolton improperly kept classified national security information in his Maryland home. But the pace of the case has recently sped up, the two people said.... Unlike the widespread resistance career prosecutors in Virginia have shown to Trump’s pressure campaign to charge former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, career prosecutors in Maryland consider charges against Bolton to have some factual merit.... Kelly Hayes, the acting U.S. Attorney for Maryland, has told Justice Department colleagues she believes there is a reasonable basis to pursue charges against Bolton...."
Victoria Craw & Alec Dent of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump offered a measured response Friday to being passed over for a Nobel Peace Prize that he openly coveted in favor of Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.... In a post on Truth Social, Trump shared a social media post from Machado in which she credited him for U.S. support of the resistance against an increasingly authoritarian regime in Venezuela. 'We are on the threshold of victory and today, more than ever, we count on President Trump, the people of the United States, the peoples of Latin America, and the democratic nations of the world as our principal allies to achieve Freedom and democracy,' Machado wrote.... Secretary of State Marco Rubio even signed a letter nominating Machado for the Nobel Prize last year, and Trump has called her a 'freedom fighter' in the past. Machado has praised Trump in kind, and in a follow-up to her initial post on X, she dedicated her Nobel Peace Prize 'to the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support of our cause.'...
“While Trump did not offer any direct criticism of Machado, he did thank Russian President Vladimir Putin, attaching a video in which Putin told reporters that the Nobel Prize Committee has awarded the Peace Prize to people who have 'done nothing for the world,' while Trump 'solves complex problems, crises that last for decades.'”
Kathryn Watson of CBS News: "Eight of the Ukrainian children kept in Russia have been returned and reunited with their families in the last 24 hours, first lady Melania Trump announced at the White House Friday, and said there were plans to reunite 'more children in the immediate future.' She also said Russia has agreed to coordinate the return of Ukrainians who were children when they were displaced by the war, but have since turned 18, 'within a short period of time.' CBS News has reported that Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine included the systematic and forcible abduction of children by Russia. Ukraine's state-run 'Bring Kids Back' program, launched by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, says more than 19,500 Ukrainian kids have been abducted. The first lady did not describe the children as 'abducted,' and mostly referred to them as having been separated from their families as a result of the conflict. The first lady said she has been working for months with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his team to bring missing Ukrainian children home, first writing Putin a letter urging him to return Ukraine's children." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Gosh, you might think Melanie was a better deal-maker than her husband.
Tennessee. Kyle Rempfer of the Washington Post: “Nineteen people are missing after an explosion Friday morning demolished part of a munitions manufacturing plant in rural Tennessee, according to local authorities. An undetermined number of people were killed in the blast and four or five people were evacuated to a hospital, Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis said at a news conference Friday afternoon. The building is owned by Accurate Energetic Systems, which manufactures military explosives at a compound in McEwen, about 60 miles west of Nashville. Davis declined to specify how many people died, but said authorities are searching the area.”
Maine Senate Race. Dan Merica & Amy Wang of the Washington Post: “Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a two-term Democrat who drew the national spotlight after sparring with ... Donald Trump, plans to launch a campaign for Senate early next week, according to two people.... Mills, who had been expected to announce a campaign for weeks, would join an already crowded field of Democratic candidates hoping to challenge Sen. Susan Collins (R), who has held the seat for nearly three decades. Democrats see the race as a critical opportunity to flip a seat.... At 77, Mills would be the oldest freshman senator ever.... Meanwhile, several of the other candidates in the Democratic primary — including Maine Beer Co. co-founder Dan Kleban, oyster farmer and veteran Graham Platner, and 'anti-corruption reformer' Jordan Wood — have centered their campaigns on the need to buck the establishment.”
Hannah Natanson, et al., of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration moved to begin laying off federal workers Friday while the government was shuttered, fulfilling threats from ... Donald Trump to take advantage of the closure to shave off still more parts of the federal workforce he dislikes. 'The RIFs have begun,' White House budget director Russell Vought posted on X Friday afternoon, using an acronym for reductions in force. A White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the plans, confirmed that the RIFs were starting, and said 'they will be substantial.' The White House did not provide specifics on how many employees were affected, or at which departments.... The shutdown layoffs are the culmination of years of groundwork laid by Vought, an architect of the Project 2025 playbook for Trump’s second term, which outlined a drastically reduced federal bureaucracy.”
“The Enemy Within” Is Trump. New York Times Editors: “America is now in a dangerous period, in which the president can order investigations and indictments against his enemies. Mr. Trump is criminalizing Americans’ ability to challenge their leaders.... Presidents since Watergate have mostly tried to insulate the Justice Department from politics.... Mr. Trump has eroded this system from within. His replacement of a career prosecutor with a crony is only one example. He has staffed the Justice Department and the F.B.I. with loyalists. His administration has pushed out lawyers who investigated misconduct and corruption. He has tried to punish law firms that represent his political opponents. He has repeatedly warned officials, sometimes in public social media posts, that they should not go against him. He has sent a message that federal law enforcement’s main concern should be not the country’s laws or the Constitution but his personal interests.... Mr. Comey and Ms. James’s indictments may be just the beginning....
“Mr. Trump and his supporters claim that Democrats started this era of 'lawfare' with their investigations into him. Yet those investigations were vastly different. Special counsels, chosen to operate more independently than typical prosecutors, carried out the federal inquiries into Mr. Trump.... The investigations into Mr. Trump came in response to his alarming actions, not dubious claims of mortgage problems but efforts to overturn the outcome of a presidential election. The investigations followed a potential crime, not a personal vendetta.” ~~~
~~~ Dueling Editorials. Marie: This is the kind of editorial you will not find in the Washington Post ... because billionaire owner Jeff Bezos has essentially forbidden opinions critical of the administration. He has commanded that the Post write publish happy opinion pieces about "personal liberties and free markets." As Akhilleus points out in today's Comments, what we get from the WashPo is exactly the opposite of a point the NYT editors make. According to the Post editors, Trump is destroying democracy not in darkness but in broad daylight because, "Many Democrats still cannot see how their legal aggression against Trump during his four years out of power set the stage for the dangerous revenge tour on which he is now embarked." The Times says, Nope, the investigations of Trump "came in response to his alarming actions." Indeed, the investigations came far too slowly; and as a result, we are where we are.
MIT Rebuffs Trumpist Extortion Attempt. Susan Svrluga of the Washington Post: “MIT’s president turned down the Trump administration’s offer of priority access for federal funding Friday, publicly releasing a letter that emphasized the elite university’s values including free expression and 'the core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone.'... Sally Kornbluth, MIT’s president, was the first to publicly turn down the offer. She shared her letter to U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon on Friday with the campus community.”
Marie: RAS reminded me I should post this video of Seth Meyers' "A Closer Look," which aired yesterday. The part that begins at about 4:35 in -- about Trump's and Noem's alarming ignorance of the meaning and importance of habeas corpus -- is why I'm posting the video here. Trump's excuse is that he does not have a very good brain. However, the right of habeas corpus is prescribed in Article I of the U.S. Constitution. Article I describes the rights, duties and limitation of the U.S. Congress, so Kristi Noem, what with having been a member of Congress for some years, should have known all along what habeas corpus meant. She and Trump both are certainly required to know its meaning now that they are threatening to suspend habeas corpus (and apparently already have suspended it for hundreds of possibly undocumented immigrants). ~~~
It's All a Game of Chicken. Andrew Duehren of the New York Times: “A political party with total control of Washington wants to put more money back in the pockets of Americans. Doing so is expensive, and so the lawmakers vote to put a new policy in place for only a few years to hold down the cost. The hope is that once it is actually set to end, even lawmakers who initially opposed the policy will want it to continue, fearful of taking a benefit away from voters.... This is the strategy at the heart of the government shutdown. Democrats used it when they passed expanded health insurance subsidies three years ago, scheduling the benefits to expire this year so they had to pay for them only temporarily. Now they want the subsidies continued as part of a deal to reopen the government. It is a tactic with a long history. Republicans have repeatedly used it to transform what were initially temporary tax cuts into permanent reductions in government revenue. Indeed, much of the nation’s current fiscal predicament is a result of lawmakers’ hesitation to let policies expire as scheduled.”
RAS posts this Trump parody post and writes, "... it was probably close to his initial reaction to the Nobel news...." Trump is such a narcissistic revenge machine, it's almost hard to believe the tweet was not from him. The parodist has captured Real Donald Trump. ~~~
~~~ Here's the White House's actual initial reaction, and it's hardly magnanimous: ~~~
~~~ Ashleigh Fields of the Hill: “White House Communications Director Steven Cheung accused the Norwegian Nobel Committee of putting 'politics over peace,' early Friday, after the panel did not select ... [Donald] Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. 'He has the heart of a humanitarian, and there will never be anyone like him who can move mountains with the sheer force of his will,' Cheung wrote in a statement on social platform X, referring to Trump.” MB: I'd like to remind Trump & his goons that the purpose of working for international safety and peace is not to win a shiny gold medal. It is to make conditions better for everyone on Earth. And let me just add that many of the winners of the Peace Prize did their work on their own time, under their own initiative. Making the world safer for democracy is Trump's job. It's what he is supposed to do. Without complaint. Unfortunately for all of us, he is destroying democracy instead, and making the world a less safe place by abandoning the rule of law in his own country and encouraging dictators in other countries.
Heather Cox Richardson gives a clear account of Trump & Co.'s latest attempts to subvert justice. She mentions something I haven't heard others discuss: "On September 20, Trump posted on social media a message apparently intended privately for Attorney General Pam Bondi — such a communication is a violation of the Presidential Records Act, by the way — demanding prosecution of Comey, James, and Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA)." MB: Theoretically, I think Trump could have used his personal account to DM Bondi, but he would have had to forward a complete copy of the memo to his official account within 20 days. Today is the 20th days since Trump sent the message; do you suppose he's uploaded it to his official account? (Okay, just kidding; of course he hasn't.)
Marie: If you are interested in right-wing billionaire Peter Thiel's paranoid theory of the anti-Christ, then this Washington Post story is for you. Here; I've even made it a gift link. Because somebody's got to read it, and it won't be me.
~~~~~~~~~~
Jonathan Lemire of the Atlantic: “If the secret to understanding a strongman is to identify his greatest weakness, one place to start with Donald Trump is his obsession with his own eventual obituaries.... He ... is aware that when he dies, people will remember his conviction on 34 felony counts.... [He] still seethes at the humiliation he faced.... One Truth Social post late last month was shocking in its directness. In what appeared to have been intended as a private message to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Trump directly called for the prosecution of [former FBI director James] Comey as well as of Senator Adam Schiff of California and New York Attorney General Letitia James.... Trump made his motivation plain, writing in the message to Bondi: 'They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!'... And the president himself, following Comey’s indictment, indicated that his personal vengeance tour is only getting started.” Thanks to akaWendy for this gift link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: I'm shocked, shocked to say that Lemire's observations about Trump's obituary inspired contributor Patrick to initiate a parlor game of writing headlines for Trump's obit. Patrick's contributions as well as those of Akhilleus & akaWendy are quite delightful, in a jolly goulish way, appropriate to the Hallowe'en season. I invite you to look over the entries and perhaps suggest your own. In the best of taste, of course.
Perry Stein, et al., of the Washington Post: “The Justice Department obtained an indictment against New York Attorney General Letitia James on Thursday, accusing her of committing mortgage fraud when she purchased a property in Virginia. The indictment on one count of bank fraud and one of making a false statement makes James the second of ... Donald Trump’s political foes to be charged in the Eastern District of Virginia since Trump pushed out the top prosecutor there and appointed a close ally, Lindsey Halligan, to replace him. Halligan, who had no previous experience as a prosecutor, obtained an indictment two weeks ago against former FBI director James B. Comey on charges of making a false statement to Congress. He has pleaded not guilty. Halligan presented the case against James to a grand jury in Alexandria. It is unusual for a politically appointed top U.S. attorney to present a case herself, suggesting that the office struggled to find a career attorney willing to take on the assignment. A senior career attorney in the office indicated to her staff in recent days that she believed the case was weak and did not want to present it to a grand jury, according to two people....” ~~~
~~~ Here is the New York Times' liveblog. Here's the indictment, via the courts. Thanks to Politico. ~~~
~~~ Lawrence O'Donnell explains how ridiculous the case against AG Letitia James is: ~~~
Isabel Keane of the Independent: “... Donald Trump and the White House apparently shared footage of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in Florida taken months ago — while claiming the 'chaos' was taking place in Chicago, according to a report. As Trump deployed some 500 National Guard troops to Illinois Wednesday, the White House shared footage of masked and armed ICE officers knocking down doors and making arrests.'An incompetent Mayor. A delusional Governor. Chicago is in chaos, and the American people are paying the price,' the White House wrote on its official X account. 'Chicago doesn’t need a political spin — it needs HELP.' The clip includes a voiceover of the president calling Chicago a 'mess' along with images of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, whom Trump has called for the jailing of, despite neither being accused of criminal wrongdoing.... Much of the footage featured in the video, which Trump also shared on his Truth Social account, was filmed in April in Florida, according toThe Daily Beast. ” ~~~
~~~ Christine Fernando & Sudhin Thanawala of the AP: “A judge blocked the deployment of National Guard troops in the Chicago area for two weeks, finding no substantial evidence that a 'danger of rebellion' is brewing in Illinois. It’s a victory for Democratic officials who lead the state and city and have traded insults with ... Donald Trump about his drive to put troops on the ground in major urban areas. U.S. District Judge April Perry didn’t lay out details of any order or say what part of the request she was granting as she spoke from the bench in her crowded courtroom.The lawsuit was filed Monday by Chicago and Illinois to stop the deployments of Illinois and Texas Guard members. Some troops were already at an immigration building in the Chicago suburb of Broadview when Perry heard arguments on Thursday. The building has been the site of occasional clashes between protesters and agents. Perry said the actions of the Department of Homeland Security are largely rooted in ... Donald Trump’s 'animus toward Illinois elected officials.'” ~~~
~~~ Gregory Svirnovskiy of Politico: “A federal judge [-- Sara Ellis, an Obama appointee --] in Illinois has barred federal agents from using force or threatening to arrest journalists in Chicago, as the White House continues to send troops to the city amid ... Donald Trump’s national street crime crackdown. The temporary restraining order came just days after Chicago journalists and protesters sued senior White House officials, including Trump, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, arguing that the government had prevented 'the press, elected officials, religious leaders, and civilians engaged in peaceful protest from exercising their First Amendment rights.' Videos have circulated in recent days of federal agents shooting tear gas and other 'riot control weapons' at protesters — and, city officials say, toward officers from the Chicago Police Department — in response to demonstrations throughout the city.” A Block Club Chicago report is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: This is not something a judge should have to tell federal agents. But Trump, Blondie, Gnome, et al., are lawless & stupid, traits they encourage in the rank-and-file.
~~~ David Goodman of the New York Times: “Gov. Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma, a Republican and the chairman of the National Governors Association, on Thursday criticized the deployment of Texas National Guard troops to Illinois.... His comments, in an interview with The New York Times, marked the first time a Republican governor has questioned the interstate deployment of National Guard troops over a governor’s objections. Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois and other Democratic elected officials have been strongly critical of the move and have implored Republican governors to join the opposition. Mr. Stitt on Thursday said, 'We believe in the federalist system — that’s states’ rights,' adding, 'Oklahomans would lose their mind if Pritzker in Illinois sent troops down to Oklahoma during the Biden administration.'... Mr. Stitt said Mr. Trump should have moved to federalize the troops in Illinois first.... 'As a federalist believer, one governor against another governor, I don’t think that’s the right way to approach this.'” Politico has a story here.
Natalie Allison & Riley Beggin of the Washington Post: “In the eight days since the government shut down..., Donald Trump and his allies have engaged in a furious public campaign against Democrats, blaming them for the closure, trolling political opponents online and urging party leaders to accede to their demands. Behind the scenes, Trump and his aides have still not engaged with Democrats at all. The stance comes despite the potential political ramifications of the closure, which polling has shown the public blames more so on Republicans than Democrats.”
Quack, Quack. Calling Doctor Kennedy. Thomas Beaumont & Laura Ungar of the AP: “Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Thursday reasserted the unproven link between the pain reliever Tylenol and autism, and suggested people who opposed the theory were motivated by hatred for ... Donald Trump. During a meeting with Trump and the Cabinet, Kennedy reiterated the connection, even while noting there was no medical proof to substantiate the claim. He also mistakenly described a pregnant woman’s anatomy and linked autism to circumcision. 'Anybody who takes the stuff during pregnancy unless they have to is, is irresponsible,' Kennedy told Trump and fellow Cabinet members. 'It is not proof. We’re doing the studies to make the proof.'
“Kennedy noted during the meeting that he had seen a TikTok video on Thursday, which he said featured a pregnant woman 'gobbling Tylenol' and cursing Trump. 'The level of Trump derangement syndrome has now left the political landscape and now in the realm of pathology,' he said. Kennedy also said the woman was taking Tylenol 'with a baby in her placenta.' A fetus develops in the uterus, not the placenta. The placenta is a temporary organ that develops in the uterus during pregnancy and provides oxygen, nutrients, and hormones to the growing fetus.”
No funds for starving children, BUT ~~~
(1) Alan Rappeport & Maria Abi-Habib of the New York Times: “The Trump administration moved forward on Thursday with its bailout of Argentina, making a direct purchase of pesos and finalizing terms of a $20 billion lifeline, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.... Mr. Bessent said the funds would come in the form of a currency swap with Argentina’s central bank. Big global investors have been anxiously awaiting the details of the bailout, which critics have said will benefit wealthy fund managers at a time when American farmers are struggling and the U.S. government is shut down.... The administration’s decision to rescue Argentina’s economy is raising concerns about whether the real aim is to help rich investors whose bets on Argentina could falter if its economy sinks. Those efforts have been complicated by the fact that major hedge funds, including those led by friends of Mr. Bessent, stand to benefit financially from an Argentina economic lifeline. Funds at investment firms including BlackRock, Fidelity and Pimco are heavily invested in Argentina, as are investors such as Stanley Druckenmiller and Robert Citrone, both of whom worked with Mr. Bessent when he was an investor for George Soros.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: One of the critics of the Bessent Buddies Bailout: Paul Krugman. See his post, linked here yesterday. ~~~
(2) Adam Taylor, et al., of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration is considering whether to spend up to $50 million in foreign aid to protect polar bears in Greenland and $25 million for snow leopards in Nepal, proposals strikingly at odds with a parallel initiative to slash humanitarian and wildlife programs deemed incompatible with ... Donald Trump’s 'America First' agenda.... The move ... stunned diplomats and elected officials from the United States and other nations, as well as scientific researchers who work on conservation efforts for the animals involved, many of whom noted the administration’s dramatic cuts to other U.S. foreign assistance....
“... The State Department said that biodiversity funding was being considered only because it was mandated by Congress before Trump returned to the White House.... The Trump administration previously has flouted lawmakers’ intent on federal spending.... The focus on Greenland and Nepal — a country nestled between superpowers India and China that has recently seen a bloody period of political unrest — has led to some alarm among observers. Trump has suggested that he would consider using military force to take Greenland if the territory is not sold to the United States.”
All the Best People, Ctd. Daniel Lippman of Politico: “Paul Ingrassia [-- , the White House liaison for the Department of Homeland Security --] has been investigated for allegedly harassing a lower-ranking colleague, according to administration officials. Fearing retaliation, the woman later withdrew a complaint, and Ingrassia denied wrongdoing.... The fallout ... adds to a swirl of controversy surrounding Ingrassia, a 30-year-old conservative lawyer and activist who is ... Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Office of Special Counsel, which deals with federal employee whistleblower complaints and discrimination claims. Ingrassia would be two decades younger and less experienced than recent leaders of the agency.” MB: Ingrassia allegedly lured a subordinate to his hotel room by cancelling her room reservation -- and he is the guy who is overseeing discrimination claims? Donald Trump really despises women.
Robert Jimison & Megan Mineiro of the New York Times: “The Senate approved legislation on Thursday that would authorize $925 billion for national defense, giving overwhelming bipartisan support to the annual defense policy bill. The vote set up a potentially contentious series of negotiations with the House, which has loaded its version of the measure with a range of conservative social policy dictates that the Senate mostly avoided. The 77-to-20 vote took place late on Day 9 of a federal government shutdown, advancing legislation that would authorize everything from new submarines and fighter jets to the annual pay increase for troops. The bipartisan bill also overhauls how the military buys weapons and supports the large network of private and public organizations that provides the U.S. government with materials, products and services for defense and military operations.”
Zach Montague of the New York Times: “Escalating a standoff with federal prosecutors, a judge in Washington on Thursday formally declined to accept an indictment against a man whose case he said had morphed into an 'unprecedented workaround' of the normal system of justice. The highly unusual rejection came from Judge Zia M. Faruqui, a magistrate judge, who refused to accept an indictment that prosecutors secured from a local grand jury in Washington only after a federal grand jury had declined to indict the man on the same charge. It represented the latest turn in a remarkable stand by Judge Faruqui, who has accused federal prosecutors of executing an 'end run' around the normal course of justice. And it came as federal grand juries have repeatedly declined to indict people ensnared in ... [Donald] Trump’s campaign to boost arrests and prosecutions in Washington.... The tug of war with Judge Faruqui has infuriated federal prosecutors, drawing a sharp rebuke from Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia....”
Alex Isenstadt of Axios: "Dominion Voting Systems — the voting machine behemoth that [Donald] Trump and his allies baselessly attacked after the 2020 election — has been sold to a Missouri-based company run by a former Republican election official.... Liberty Vote purchased Canada-based Dominion for an undisclosed sum.... Liberty does appear to be aligning itself with Trump's vision for a paper ballot-centered election system."
Adam Nossiter of the New York Times: “Ruth Weiss, a South African journalist forged by the Nazi persecution she experienced as a child in Germany, who covered the malignant flowering of apartheid in the early 1960s and later wrote about the brutal white regime in Rhodesia before being expelled from the country, died on Sept. 5 at a hospital in Aalborg, Denmark. She was 101.”
~~~~~~~~~~California Gubernatorial Race. Laurel Rosenhall of the New York Times: “... late Tuesday, [former Rep. Katie] Porter [(D-Calif.), who is running for California governor,] went viral for the wrong reasons after a video of her exchange with a local television journalist became a must-see clip for the political set. In the three-minute video, she dismissively rejected a question that suggested she needed to reach out to Republicans and threatened to abandon the interview after she was frustrated with several follow-ups. Rivals from both parties seized on the interview to mix it up in what’s been, until now, a very sleepy race. Fellow Democratic candidates said Ms. Porter 'thinks she’s already won,' 'can’t answer basic questions' and that the governor’s race is 'no place for temper tantrums.' One opponent called on her to drop out of the race.” The video is on X here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: This is not the first time Porter (of whom I've been a fan) blew up on-camera. ~~~
~~~ Melanie Mason & Blake Jones of Politico: “A newly surfaced video shows Katie Porter — the front-runner in next year’s race for California governor — blasting a staffer who interrupted a meeting the former House member was taping for the Biden administration. 'Get out of my fucking shot!' Porter said after the employee came into view. Video of the exchange ... shows an online conversation between Porter and then-Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm in July 2021. Several minutes in, Porter’s staffer interjected to correct something the Democratic representative had said about electric vehicles. Porter then reprimanded her employee, who had also previously appeared periodically in the background during the recording.... A final, edited version of the webinar that was published by the Department of Energy did not include the exchange.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Israel/Palestine, et al. From a New York Times liveblog: “Israel’s government on Friday approved an agreement brokered by ... [Donald] Trump that paves the way for a cease-fire in the two-year-old war in Gaza and the return of all remaining hostages held by Hamas. The approval by Israel’s cabinet — after midnight in Israel, on Thursday in the United States — came hours after Mr. Trump and the chief Hamas negotiator, Khalil al-Hayya, each declared that the war in Gaza was over. In a televised speech, Mr. al-Hayya said Israel and Hamas had 'reached an agreement to end the war,' and that the United States had provided guarantees that it was over. Mr. Trump said that he would travel to the Middle East this weekend to attend the signing of the agreement, and that the return of Israeli hostages — and a subsequent exchange of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel — would take place 'Monday or Tuesday.'” ~~~
~~~ Liam Stack & Aaron Boxerman of the New York Times: “The Israeli military said on Friday that a cease-fire had come into effect at noon and that its soldiers were repositioning themselves within Gaza. In a statement, the military said that soldiers in the Southern Command would 'continue to remove any immediate threat.'” ~~~
~~~ Konstantin Toropin & Michelle Price of the AP: “The United States is sending about 200 troops to Israel to help support and monitor the ceasefire deal in Gaza as part of a team that includes partner nations, nongovernmental organizations and private-sector players, U.S. officials said Thursday. The officials ...said U.S. Central Command is going to establish a 'civil-military coordination center' in Israel that will help facilitate the flow of humanitarian aid as well as logistical and security assistance into the territory wracked by two years of war. The remarks provide some of the first details on how the ceasefire deal would be monitored and that the U.S. military would have a role in that effort.”
Norway. Steve Hendrix the Washington Post: “The Norwegian Nobel Committee on Friday awarded its 2025 Peace Prize to María Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader who has become a symbol of democratic resistance against an increasingly authoritarian regime, even as she has been forced into hiding and barred from holding public office. The decision, announced in Oslo’s grand City Hall, elevates Machado from a besieged political figure in her own country to the world stage, joining the ranks of Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi and other laureates who have challenged autocratic rule.” A Reuters story is here.
~~~ Marie: The award of the prize to Ms. Machado appears to me to be a direct, intentional rebuke of Donald Trump, a pathetic narcissist who has whined incessantly that he should receive the award for "ending eight wars." But while he was not ending eight wars, Trump was doing precisely the opposite of what Ms. Machado has done: he was creating an authoritarian regime and demolishing what had been the world's most prominent democracy. In addition, he has repeatedly ordered the murders of Ms. Machado's on the unsupported claim that the men were terrorists, so "enemy combatants." Peace? Ha!
24 comments:
So no Peace prize for Don the War Monger. Such a surprise. I’m guessing he’s green with envy. Hmmm…orange hair, green face, with a purple tie he’d make a pretty gruesome Halloween decoration out on the Blight House lawn, right next to Melanie, the Wicked Witch.
Thinking of a green Donnie, I slipped back into last night’s parlor game mode.
Green as a pea…? Okay. That gets me here, the old children’s rhyme:
Pease porridge hot, Donnie’s too old
Pease porridge Alzheimer’s, ninety years old
Most want him in a plot, heart is too cold
Most think he’s over fed, ninety days dead
I’d settle for one day, but there ya go.
Yeah, aint it the irony, as Marie points out.
My wife adds the further observation on this year's Peace Prize award. The Pretender is attempting to govern like the Maduro he pretends to despise. Still have to write that piece on every day is Opposite Day in the White House.
Had that "I met a traveller in an antique land..." line running through my head for a while this AM before I knew why. It was Patrick's and Akhilleus' fault.
Obit Headline: "Stroke takes Don, no mulligan"
Trump Parody, but it was probably close to his initial reaction to the Nobel news before his people hid his phone from him.
Here is the whiney WH statement on Fat Hitler not winning his most coveted award “Politics Over Peace”.
Though the ketchup thrower praised María Corina Machado earlier this year for her work.
UPS Is Trashing Packages
"Thousands of U.S.-bound packages shipped by UPS are trapped at hubs across the country, unable to clear the maze of new customs requirements imposed by the Trump administration. As packages flagged for customs issues pile up in UPS warehouses, the company told NBC News it has begun “disposing of” some shipments."
Kristi doesn't know what habeas corpus is either.
Who could have seen this coming?
"Trump Labor Department Says His Immigration Raids Are Causing a Food Crisis
The Department of Labor’s new rule cutting farmworker wages bluntly states that souped-up immigration enforcement has devastated the agricultural workforce and created a significant “risk of supply shock-induced food shortages,” according to a document filed in the Federal Register last week. The document also indicates that American workers are simply not interested in and do not have the skills to perform agricultural jobs, at odds with Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins’s claim that the farm workforce will soon be 100 percent American."
As seen on Bluesky -
Hegseth announces a Qatari air force facility at the Mountain Home Airbase in Idaho
Laura Loomer draws a line and vows to not vote in 2026
So, a couple of things about Fatty's reactions, both imagined and actual, to his Nobel snub.
First, the imagined one is pretty good except for the fact that he refers right off the bat to fjords in Norway. Unh-uh. I'm guessing he couldn't find Norway on a labeled map never mind pick out one its more characteristic geologic features. AND it was spelled correctly. Not possible. Even with spell check, would the software be able to correctly parse "feeords"?
Second, in the actual response from Blight House human fecal firehose, Steven Cheung (or as Joe My God calls him "Temu Oddjob") refers to Fatty as a great humanitarian. Cheung's dictionary and all the others on the planet must be seriously at odds. He must have meant "human-a-scarium" cuz in no possible universe could Doctor Doom, who demanded immigrants be shot in the legs if they escaped his alligators and poisonous snakes be considered even a halfway decent human being, never mind a humanitarian.
And Marie is quite right. Keeping his nation safe from conflict is his fucking job. He's already getting paid a shitload of money, not even counting the billions he has grifted by being president*. Instead, he's dropping bombs, calling out the military on his own citizens, utterly failing to stop the two biggest conflicts on the planet, ones he promised he could halt within 24 hours.
Now here's something to think about. Should there be a halt to Israel's genocidal destruction in Gaza, and should it come about that Fatty might have had a hand in it, should he get next year's Nobel?
Absolutely not. First, he could have ended things a lot sooner by telling Israel to knock that shit off or no more money, no more bullets, and no more nicey-nice. But he didn't. Also, Hamas accepting any kind of a deal has more to do with other Arab nations applying pressure (it's to their benefit to do so) rather than their being scared of Fat Boy. And we won't even mention the fact that his 21 point plan, or whatever it is, was created with zero input from the Palestinians. He didn't even bother to ask the guy with the food cart across the street who sells felafel and hummus what he thought. Oh, that's right. He had ICE drag the guy off to be beaten.
Also, I believe the Nobel committee has to take into account the history of a potential recipient. If a Mafia hit man spends his whole career bumping people off, but then, on the way to another hit, stops to help an old lady cross the street, does he deserve a Good Guy medal? There's a reason we call him "Fat Hitler" and it ain't because of his ubiquitous peaceful intentions. Trump is a mean spirited, vicious thug. He cares nothing for the Palestinians, or for that matter, the Israelis. His goal, as with everything else he does, is to make himself look good.
Sorry, Fatty, peace prizes are not for the likes of politicians who scream "Punch him in the face! I'll pay your lawyer bills!" or people who threaten nuclear retaliation or talk about second amendment types going after a political rival.
Hey, you still have that medal you got for making your bed...
Patrick,
Your use of golfing terms is a thing of beauty. I tried to come up with something else along that line but my efforts were either too obscure (caught on the un-fairway, sliced up, one too many yips) or too meandering, none with the succinct punch of "Stroke takes Don, no mulligan".
Check out this podcast from the Daily Beast with Michael Wolff and the Beast's content officer, Joanna Coles. Wolff has seen The PICTURES. This I did not know. We've all heard about smoking gun evidence of the Fat Rapist and his connections with BFF Jeffrey Epstein, but Wolff talks about actual pictures, pictures which Democrats were inquiring about in the hearing the other day with Eva Braun Bondi, Trump's personal defense attorney. Just go to 13.10 of this video. Very interesting stuff.
What I wonder, and Wolff brings this up, is what has happened to these pictures. Where are they? Have Fatty's henchmen already destroyed them?
We cannot (and Democratic pols should not) allow the Epstein stuff to get swept into the memory hole, despite Bible Mike's desperate attempt to keep a duly elected Democratic member of Congress from being sworn in (he misplaced his Bible? He forgot the swearing in words?) in order to keep a lid on the Epstein Files. My fear is that if the hidden documents finally do appear, all mention of Fatty will have been duly eradicated by his cronies and the pictures Wolff saw are no more, at which point the PoT assholes and Fatty will do a Dance of Full Exoneration. But the fact that they are still stonewalling seems to indicate that supremely damaging stuff is still extant.
Check it out.
Are they fucking kidding???
A Qatari Air Force base on US soil??
The fix is in. And Drunk Pete, famous for his Islamaphobe tatoos must be getting his cut. He "welcomes" a training base for Qatari fighter pilots. Hey, being right there in Idaho, they won't have to go very far to bomb American citizens. Very conveeeeenient.
Even if there's little chance of these guys killing Americans....WTF?
Oh, and per the Bluesky link Wendy posts, Loony Loomer sez she ain't voting in 2026 cuz of this Qatari base. Cool. Can we get her to agree not to breathe also?
Again, for about the 1,356th time. Just imagine...
Joe Biden takes $20 billion (that's billion, with a B) of taxpayers' monies, and hands it over to a shithole country with a failing economy cuz he's buds with the loser leader.
Fox would implode. MAGA heads would burst in a collective dispersal of fetid brain matter.
THEN, Obama tells his Mooslim pals in Uzbekistanstan that they can build a military facility right here in the good ol' US of A. AFTER they have given him a billion dollars and a nice big aeroplane for his very own.
MAGAts would be calling in sick to their jobs, saying "The voices said 'Stay home and clean the guns'"
But Fat Hitler does both those things and....meh. Oh, except for Loony Loomer and MTG, who are both savvy enough to get that this is one time they can buck the trend towards total authoritarianism without any serious blowback.
Here's a good piece in "The Bulwark" about the weaponization of the DOJ by Hitler and his bimbo AG, but there's also a line I found even more interesting, wherein the now Trumpified Washington Post blames Democrats!!! for Fatty's Revenge Tour! I kid you not!
"An editorial from the new-look, more Trump-forgiving Washington Post editorial board this week cast the current moment along those lines. 'Many Democrats still cannot see how their legal aggression against Trump during his four years out of power set the stage for the dangerous revenge tour on which he is now embarked,' it mourned. Those who were trying to hold Trump accountable had “show[n] little restraint” in their investigations—a big part of why he was now “showing still less restraint” while hitting back. It’s unfortunate that he lashed out at you like that—but maybe you shouldn’t have made him so mad."
Another example of how in so much of the MSM, and that collective surely encompasses the Post, Republicans are not responsible for anything. It's all the fault of Democrats.
"Trump shoots a ten year old in the head. Democrats to blame...'Well, his parents are Democrats and they voted against me. They should know better' said the emotionally wounded president as the boy's body was carted away. When asked for comments as to why they caused the death of the ten year old, Chuck. Schumer said 'We're looking into it'. AG Pam Bondi says no charges will be filed against her boss, considering it was justifiable homicide. She is, however, filing charges against all Democrats everywhere."
Paul Waldman on Slow Learners:
https://substack.com/home/post/p-175814927
The "legal aggression" against djt was because HE BROKE THE FUCKING LAW. REPEATEDLY. AND AGAIN AND AGAIN.
The November issue of The Atlantic is introduced by Jeffrey Goldberg, writing that this issue commemorates "the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States com[ing] not long after the 249th anniversary. We are publishing this at the end of 2025 for a number of reasons: This month marks the launch of an Atlantic project meant to explain the meaning of the Revolution and its consequences, which we will carry through all of next year. We wanted to place ourselves, in the coming discussion, ahead of the curve (and ahead of our more voluptuous competitors). We also recognize that the American experiment is under extraordinary pressure at the moment, and we think it important to do anything we can to illuminate the challenges we face."
Fintan O’Toole writes today's chapter which speculates What the Founders Would Say Now
"The originalist fallacy that dominates the current Supreme Court—the pretense that it is possible to read the minds of the Founders and discern what they “really” meant—in fact turns the Founders into ventriloquists’ dummies. We express our own prejudices by moving their lips.
Yet asking what the Revolutionary leaders would think of America now has long been a spur to critical thinking. The interrogation of how well or badly the present condition of the nation matches the founding intentions is one of the vital forces behind the American political project. "
Will Republicans pay heed?
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/business/first-brands-bankruptcy-wall-street.html
Naw.
Oh hey, I forgot. The Trump Crime N Grift Family has a deal with Qatar for a $5.5 BILLION Golf Resort. Well, I guess that makes this new Qatar Air Force Base in Idaho okay then. He's not just getting a giant luxury jumbo jet for his own personal use, he's getting billions for him and his Grift N Graft criminal enterprise.
Do the MAGAts not care that this cheap crook treats the entire United States as if every square inch belongs to him personally and he can monetize any parcel of land he sees fit to line his own pockets?
I guess "America Last-Trump First" doesn't have quite the same ring to it, does it?
Just wondering how all the white supremacist militia psychos up in Idaho will feel about Qataris, pals to Iran financial supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, flying American F-16s over their heads. I'm guessing Fatty will have Idaho residents build this facility for Qatar, otherwise, the place might be raided by ICE like that auto plant in Georgia and everyone zip tied and dragged off in unmarked vans.
And what about Pete Kegseth who is so obsessed with American LETHALITY and making sure no dirty Mooslims get nothin' on us? Drunk Pete is "pleased" to announce this handing over of American sovereign land to a foreign government with ties to people he despises.
Fucking crooks and despicable hypocrites, all of 'em. And by the way, doesn't, or shouldn't this "deal" require congressional approval, or at least some kind of okay from Idahoans?
Not, I guess, if there's moolah in it for Droopy-Face Al Seimer in the Blight House.
The phenomenon of which the WaPo editorializes (comment above by Akhilleus) is an example of Murc's Law:
"Murc’s Law is “the widespread assumption that only Democrats have any agency or causal influence over American politics”. In other words, Democrats are responsible for Republicans being the way they are and doing the things they do, either because Democrats provoked them or failed to control them."
People have decided that "Republicans gonna republicanate", so Democrats need to treat them with kid gloves so as not to provoke them into ... doing what they always do anyway.
I'm no historian, but it seems to me that humans in groups have acted like idiots since writing. Before that too, probably, but there's no record.
And ... humans as individuals, too.
I got some great editons of Shakespeare this summer ( great quality, great prices, Everyman Library, Knopf), and re-reading the Tragedies am reminded that in politics there is nothing new under the sun (which is a different book, Ecclesiastes, but I digress ...)
@Akhilleus: Your reminder of Trump's Qatari golf resort -- and of course that Qatari-gifted golden jet plane sweetener -- make me quite certain that the Qatari royals bribed Trump to pressure Bibi into pretending to maybe agree to a peace deal with Hamas ahead of Norway's Nobel Peace Prize announcement.
No wonder Pam Blondie felt so confident in flipping off the Senate with a canned statement that the FBI determined that Tom Homan did nothing wrong when he accepted a bagful of cash in exchange for a vague promise of government contracts. Blondie's boss thinks he should get the world's grandest prize for fulfilling his part in a much bigger bribery scheme.
Post a Comment