Jordain Carney, et al., of Politico: “The Senate moved swiftly to approve legislation Tuesday forcing the Justice Department to release more information about the case it built against the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — acting hours after an overwhelming House vote to send the bill to the desk of ... Donald Trump, who spent months trying to kill it. The Senate acted by unanimous consent, which requires signoff from every senator but does not require them to take a roll call vote. Earlier in the day, the House passed the bill on a 427-1 vote.... Tuesday’s votes caps off a months of drama among congressional Republicans and the White House over how to handle the Epstein files, pitting GOP lawmakers between Trump and their own base. That included a long campaign to circumvent House Republican leaders and White House officials who fought tooth and nail to convince members of their party to oppose the measure.... The issue proved increasingly toxic for Republicans — and Tuesday’s vote became inevitable.... Only Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.), a fervent Trump loyalist, voted against it.” This is an update of the story linked earlier Tuesday afternoon. ~~~
“Things Happen.” Michael Birnbaum, et al., of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump on Tuesday defended Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the killing of Washington Post opinion columnist Jamal Khashoggi, saying “things happen” and that he did not hold the Saudi leader responsible for the 2018 murder despite a U.S. intelligence report assessing the opposite. Trump’s dismissive language offered the highest-level confirmation yet that Mohammed will face few consequences for the killing, as the crown prince makes his first visit to Washington since Khashoggi was dismembered in a Saudi consulate in Turkey.” ~~~
~~~ Shawn McCreesh of the New York Times: “'Things happen.'... In an Oval Office meeting full of news-making moments, that comment by Mr. Trump was perhaps the most astonishing one....” Politico's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Yes, yes, things happen. Sometimes in the normal course of a day you could stub your toe or get a parking ticket. Who knows? Sometimes you might find a pot of gold. And sometimes you walk into a meeting and darned if the people there don't kill you dead and cut your body into little pieces. Fortunately, we have a president* who is very philosophical about such things. ~~~
~~~ Dominick Mastrangelo of the Hill: Donald “Trump attacked an ABC News reporter Tuesday after she asked about the Epstein files, threatening to have the network taken off the air for questioning him about the controversy. After White House reporter Mary Bruce asked about the 2018 death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Trump blasted her network as 'fake news' and called her 'one of the worst' reporters covering the West Wing. But it was Bruce’s question about why Trump has not released files relating to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that set the president off. [MB: During the interview, Trump refers to] Brendan Carr, [his] Federal Communications Commission chair....” ~~~
Porkie Time. Neither the President nor his family have ever engaged, or will ever engage, in conflicts of interest. -- Karoline Levitt, statement to the New York Times ~~~
~~~ Vivian Nereim of the New York Times: “... the mixing of politics and profitmaking during ... [Donald] Trump’s second term has shattered American norms, shocking scholars who study ethics and corruption. On Tuesday, Mr. Trump [is meeting] with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, engaging in sensitive national security talks with a foreign leader who also oversees a major construction project, known as Diriyah, that is in talks over a potential deal with the Trump family business. Even if that deal never comes to fruition, the Trump family’s real estate and other business interests in Saudi Arabia have flourished during his second term. Since Mr. Trump’s election a year ago, Dar Global, a business partner of the Trump Organization that has close ties to the Saudi government, has announced at least four Trump-branded developments in Saudi Arabia. Other business deals involving Mr. Trump’s family and the Saudi government predate the election.”
Charlie Savage of the New York Times: “Amid signs that ... [Donald] Trump is mulling sending U.S. troops into Venezuela to remove President Nicolás Maduro from power, the Trump administration has ... describ[ed] him as the leader of a drug cartel called Cartel de los Soles. That refrain comes from a range of critics including Marco Rubio..., who has accused Mr. Maduro of being 'the leader of the designated narcoterrorist organization Cartel de los Soles' and responsible for 'trafficking drugs into the United States and Europe.' In July, the Trump Treasury Department officially labeled Cartel de los Soles a global terrorist entity. On Sunday, Mr. Rubio announced that the State Department would essentially do the same.... But ... Cartel de los Soles is not a literal organization, according to a range of specialists in Latin American criminal and narcotics issues....
“It is instead a figure of speech in Venezuela, dating back to the 1990s, for Venezuelan military officials corrupted by drug money, they say. The term, which means 'Cartel of the Suns,' is a mocking invocation of the suns Venezuelan generals wear to denote their rank, like American ones wear stars. It is for that reason that the D.E.A.’s annual National Drug Threat Assessment, which describes major trafficking organizations in detail, has never mentioned Cartel de los Soles. Nor has the annual 'World Drug Report” ' by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. “‘Cartel de los Soles” is a label that was invented by Venezuelan journalists,' said Phil Gunson ... of the International Crisis Group.... '... There is no such animal. The organization doesn’t exist as such.'” ~~
~~~ Marie: If Trump starts a war with Venezuela, it won't be a narco-war. It will be a Marco war. L'il Marco is leading Trump around by the nose on this.
Juan Perez of Politico: “The Trump administration is implementing its widely-telegraphed plan to shutter the Education Department by transferring critical responsibilities to other federal agencies. Six department offices would be affected by plans to move operations to four separate agencies, according to two people....”
⭐Patrick Marley of the Washington Post: “In a stinging setback for ... Donald Trump and Republicans, a federal court on Tuesday blocked a newly drawn congressional map in Texas that Republicans hoped would have given them an edge in five more House seats. In a 2-1 ruling, a judicial panel issued a preliminary injunction blocking the new map and found the state had to instead use the map it drew in 2021. The ruling is a major victory for Democrats because it will likely allow them to hang onto five seats in next year’s midterm elections. Trump pressed Texas to take the unusual step of redrawing its map in the middle of the decade instead of waiting until the next census is complete in five years.” This is a breaking news story. ~~~
~~~ Nick Corasaniti & David Goodman of the New York Times: “In a 160-page opinion, the court found that 'substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 Map.'... Texas Republicans are likely to appeal Tuesday’s decision, and the case could ultimately make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.” Politico's story is here. The court's opinion & order, via the court system, is here.
Cecilia Kang of the New York Times: “Meta did not break the law when it bought nascent rivals Instagram and WhatsApp, a federal judge said on Tuesday, handing a major win to the $1.51 trillion company and dealing a blow to the government’s efforts to rein in the power of tech giants. Judge James E. Boasberg of the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia said in an 89-page ruling that the company did not create a monopoly in social networking through the acquisitions. The Federal Trade Commission had sued Meta, accusing it of breaking antitrust law by acquiring Instagram and WhatsApp in a 'buy or bury' strategy to cement its social networking dominance.”
~~~ BTW, if you are wishing you had a conspiracy theory of your own but maybe don't have the originality of your average QANON fantasist, RAS has found a very handy chart to help you out.
~~~~~~~~~~
Marie: There are several sites -- like Politico & Axios -- which I can't access this morning because a content deliver network called Cloudflare is blocking them. This seems to be a widespread problem, or as Andrew Griffin of the Independent put it, "parts of the Internet just stopped working." Update at 9:35 am ET: Looks like maybe he sites are all back up, though I've tried only a few of them.
Farnaz Fassihi of the New York Times: “The United Nations Security Council on Monday approved ... [Donald] Trump’s peace plan for Gaza, a breakthrough that provides a legal U.N. mandate for the administration’s vision of how to move past the cease-fire and rebuild the war-ravaged Gaza Strip after two years of war. The Council’s vote was also a major diplomatic victory for the Trump administration. For the past two years, as the conflict between Israel and Hamas has raged, the United States had been isolated at the United Nations over its staunch support for Israel. The U.S. resolution calls for an International Stabilization Force to enter, demilitarize and govern Gaza. The proposal, which has attached Mr. Trump’s 20 point cease-fire plan, also envisions a 'Board of Peace' to oversee the peace plan, though it does not clarify the composition of the board. The resolution passed with 13 votes in favor and zero vetoes. Russia and China, either of which could have vetoed the resolution, abstained, apparently swayed by the support for it from a number of Arab and Muslim nations.” (Also linked yesterday.) A CBS News story is here.
Tyler Pager of the New York Times: Donald “Trump said on Monday that he would not rule out deploying U.S. troops on the ground in Venezuela, but he also said he was leaving open the possibility of talking to Nicolás Maduro, the country’s authoritarian leader and the target of the Trump administration’s intensifying pressure campaign. 'I don’t rule out anything,' the president told reporters in the Oval Office. 'We just have to take care of Venezuela.' But his remarks, giving himself considerable leeway on how to proceed, underscored how vague the president has been in public about his intentions for military action and what his immediate goals are.”
Alexandra Hutzler of ABC News: "... Donald Trump on Monday said he would sign the bill to compel the Justice Department to release all files relating sex offender Jeffrey Epstein if it comes to his desk. 'I'm all for it,' he said as he took reporter questions during an event in the Oval Office, contending the controversy is deflecting from his administration successes." MB: As Akhilleus pointed out Monday morning, this makes no sense: all Trump needs to do is order Pam Blondie to release the files. Today. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Annie Karni & Tyler Pager of the New York Times: Donald “Trump denounced calls for the release of the Epstein files as a Democratic hoax. He dispatched aides to warn Republicans that backing it would be seen as a 'hostile act.' He placed personal calls to those who dared to do so, and even dispatched his attorney general and F.B.I. director to meet with one in the White House Situation Room in efforts to get her to flip. In the end, none of it worked.... Mr. Trump could have ordered the release of the files without an act of Congress, and has not. And it remains to be seen whether his Justice Department will ultimately release the files. But his reversal has opened the floodgates of Republican backing for the bill, which is expected to come to a vote in the House as early as Tuesday and appears likely to pass unanimously. It has also raised questions about Mr. Trump’s ability to impose his will on Republicans and the nation, suggesting a slip in his iron grip on his party amid his falling polling numbers, rising prices and rifts within his political coalition. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Calling the Epstein matter a hoax is an insult to the hundreds of girls and young women whom Epstein and his coterie abused. But Donald Trump is more comfortable insulting women than any public figure I have ever heard. Update: See People story linked below. ~~~
~~~ Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: “The fact is that if Mr. Trump chooses to, he can ... order more files released — with or without legislation — much as he did in other cases of intense public interest, including the killings of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and President John F. Kennedy.... 'We’ve already given 50,000 pages,' Mr. Trump complained on Monday, adding, 'No matter what we give, it’s never enough.' But a federal judge has said there are more than 100,000 pages of files and materials related to the Justice Department’s investigation into Mr. Epstein, and the Justice Department has confirmed that it possesses more than 300 gigabytes of data and physical evidence, including files that must be withheld.” ~~~
~~~ The Liar in Winter. Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: “This weekend, Donald Trump picked a fight with two Republicans in Congress and lost.... On Friday Trump attacked Thomas Massie, the eccentric conservative who, along with the California Democrat Ro Khanna, spearheaded a maneuver to bypass House leadership and force the Epstein measure to the floor. Massie’s wife of three decades died unexpectedly last year, and on social media, Trump mocked him for remarrying. 'Boy, that was quick!' he wrote, adding, 'His wife will soon find out that she’s stuck with a LOSER!' Then, on Saturday, Trump lashed out at Marjorie Taylor Greene, a MAGA die-hard who has been loudly demanding transparency on Epstein, calling her, among other things, a traitor.... What [Trump] cannot avoid, however, is the growing disillusionment among conservatives with their deeply unpopular lame-duck leader.... We may never see a Republican stampede away from Trump, but some of his supporters are experiencing a moment of clarity about his character.” ~~~
~~~ Heather Cox Richardson is equally optimistic: “The signs were clear: Trump had lost control of the House Republicans.... Trump seems to be losing his iron grip on the Republican Party.” And this is kind of funny: “On Thursday, November 13, the people behind the White House social media account seemed to be trying to combat the Epstein story by pushing the image of Trump as a happily married family man. The account posted an image of Trump and First Lady Melania Trump listening to the U.S. Marine Band and chatting, then a video of Trump behind the Oval Office desk, giving a medallion and a pen each to four small children. The caption read, 'The best president,with a heart emoji. On Friday, November 14, the White House social media account posted an image of Trump and the First Lady embracing under the caption 'I can’t help falling in love with you,' along with an emoji of musical notes and a heart. On Sunday, November 16, it posted a picture of the two of them striding toward the cameras holding hands, under the caption 'America’s power couple,' with an eagle and an American flag emoji.” ~~~
~~~ In anticipation of a House vote -- possibly today -- on releasing the Epstein files, survives of Epstein's abuses speak out in this PSA. Thanks to RAS for the lead: ~~~
~~~ Vimal Patel of the New York Times: “Lawrence H. Summers, Harvard’s former president and a former Treasury secretary, said Monday that he would be stepping back from public commitments following the release of emails between him and Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender. 'I am deeply ashamed of my actions and recognize the pain they have caused,' Mr. Summers said in a statement Monday.... Mr. Summers added that he would continue teaching as an economics professor at Harvard, though he did not specify which public commitments he would be stepping back from. But the Yale Budget Lab said Mr. Summers has indicated he would be withdrawing from his role in its advisory group. And a spokeswoman for the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank, said he would be ending his fellowship there immediately.”
“Earlier on Monday, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts had called on Harvard and other institutions to sever their relationship with Mr. Summers. 'For decades, Larry Summers has demonstrated his attraction to serving the wealthy and well connected, but his willingness to cozy up to a convicted sex offender demonstrates monumentally bad judgment,' Ms. Warren, a former Harvard Law School professor, said in a statement on Monday....” MB: Harvard should not allow Summers anywhere near female students. The Harvard Crimson story is here. ~~~
~~~ Dhruv Patel & Cam Srivastava of the Harvard Crimson: “When former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers was pursuing a romantic relationship with a woman he described as a mentee, he sought guidance from a longtime associate: convicted sex offender Jeffrey E. Epstein. In a sequence of texts and emails between November 2018 and July 5, 2019, Summers turned to Epstein for advice on his pursuit of the woman.... The messages became public after House Republicans released more than 20,000 files from the Epstein estate on Wednesday. Summers’ correspondence with Epstein ... ends just one day before Epstein was arrested on new sex trafficking charges [in 2019]. Together, the messages show Summers ... placing an extraordinary degree of trust in Epstein, asking him for help in navigating a relationship that blurred the boundaries of his professional and personal lives. Summers, who has been married since 2005, told Epstein he thought the woman was reluctant to leave him because she valued his professional connections.” MB: I'd say Mrs. Summers has some thinking to do.
Meredith Kile of People: “During a Nov. 14 press gaggle on Air Force One..., when an off-camera female reporter — later identified as a Bloomberg reporter — began to ask if there was anything 'incriminating' in the Epstein emails, Trump pointed a finger in her face. 'Quiet. Quiet, Piggy,' he said menacingly.... Two days after the Air Force One viral moment, Trump snapped at another reporter for asking him about Tucker Carlson's recent interview with far-right podcaster Nick Fuentes.... When the reporter began to ask a follow-up as Trump was still talking, the president responded, 'Will you let me finish my statement? You are the worst.... You're with Bloomberg, right?' he continued. 'You are the worst. I don't know why they even have you.'” Although Kile doesn't specifically say so, she implies that the first reporter is, well, not thin. Kile also doesn't say so, but the second reporter also is a woman.
Rebecca Ruiz & Eric Lipton of the New York Times: “The Trump family business and its Saudi-based development partner, Dar Al Arkan, have a new project drawing on two of the family’s most successful moneymaking enterprises: cryptocurrency trading and real estate development. The pair announced on Monday the latest real estate deal to which the Trump Organization would license its name: a luxury hotel in the Maldives with a new funding structure allowing a broader group of investors to buy into the deal. Unlike other Trump-branded projects that the partners have in the works, the new venture will involve 'real estate tokenization,' allowing investors to purchase fractional interests in the property via digital tokens that can be bought and sold on a blockchain platform. The deal was announced just as ... [Donald] Trump prepares to host Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, in Washington this week.... The model could make it much harder to track the identities of investors in the project, opening up yet more opportunities for foreign players to try to help enrich the Trump family and its business partners.”
Emergency! Management Needed for Federal Emergency Management Agency. Scott Dance & Maxine Joselow of the New York Times: “David Richardson has resigned as acting administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, injecting even greater uncertainty into the Trump administration’s plans to overhaul the federal role in disaster response. Karen Evans, a senior political appointee at FEMA who earlier this year led an overhaul of the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, will take over as acting FEMA administrator Dec. 1, according to the Homeland Security Department, which oversees both agencies. Ms. Evans, like Mr. Richardson, lacks experience in emergency management, which is a legal requirement to lead FEMA.Ms. Evans has played a central role in the Trump administration’s efforts to cut costs at FEMA....” (Also linked yesterday.) Politico's story is here.
Another Way Trump & RFKJ Are Killing Americans. Allyson Chui of the Washington Post: “From the end of February to August, [the Trump administration terminated] grants for 383 clinical trials..., and the funding disruptions affected more than 74,000 trial participants, according to new research published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine.... Approximately 1 in 30 trials lost funding, according to the study.”
~~~ CBS News (Nov. 14): "Fans of the Buddy Holly crosswalk in his hometown of Lubbock, Texas, with a painted depiction of the rock and roll legend's iconic glasses, will soon have to say goodbye to it. That'll be a day that will possibly make them cry. Lubbock City Council members said this week they have no choice but to remove it, to comply with a directive from the Trump administration and Republicans to rid the public roadways of any political messages or artwork. Over the summer, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced stricter enforcement of a 2013 rule of the Federal Highway Administration that said any art in crosswalks – apart from certain patterns in earth tones – degraded pedestrian safety." The New York Times story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Emily Cochrane & Jamie McGee of the New York Times: “A Tennessee judge on Monday temporarily blocked the deployment of the National Guard in Memphis, siding with state and local lawmakers who argued that Gov. Bill Lee had overstepped his constitutional authority in sending troops to the city.... Seven elected officials went to state court and challenged Mr. Lee, a Republican who deployed the Guard after Mr. Trump said he wanted to crack down on crime in Memphis.... The state has five days to appeal before the pause takes effect....”
Garrett Graff: “In the last few days, roving Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino decamped from Chicago, where his military-style raids have terrorized that community for weeks, for Charlotte, North Carolina — a somewhat inexplicable new target ... — and a move that underscores what has to be the growing conclusion of the now six-month-old campaign of 'acting president' Stephen Miller to turbocharge immigration enforcement: It’s failing. Bigly. The Border Patrol retreated from Chicago in defeat, not victory.” Graff compares Bovino to Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, who raided and terrorized communities in Kentucky and Tennessee & laterbecame the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.... He goes on to posit the why and how the Trump/Miller/Bovino terror binge isn't working.
Andrew Jeong of the Washington Post: “More than 130 people have been arrested in the first two days of the Department of Homeland Security’s immigration raids in Charlotte, the agency said Monday, in the latest Trump administration crackdown on illegal immigration. In a news release, DHS said 44 of those people, who are suspected of being in the United States illegally, had criminal records that ranged from driving under the influence to assault with a dangerous weapon.”
Laurel Rosenhall of the New York Times: “The Trump administration has filed a lawsuit against Gov. Gavin Newsom, challenging a California law he recently signed that prohibits law enforcement officers from wearing masks, a practice that became common this year amid the president’s immigration crackdown. The suit claims that the mask ban, and a companion measure requiring federal agents to wear identification, are unconstitutional because states do not have the power to regulate federal agencies. It says federal law enforcement agencies will not comply with the pair of state laws, which take effect on Jan. 1, and asks the court to strike them down. 'California’s anti-law enforcement policies discriminate against the federal government and are designed to create risk for our agents. These laws cannot stand,' Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement.... Supporters have argued that the measure is constitutional because state and local governments can require federal agencies to follow general laws, such as speed limits.” The AP report is here.
Alan Feuer of the New York Times: “A federal magistrate judge said on Monday that the criminal case against James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, could be in trouble because of a series of apparent errors committed in front of the grand jury by Lindsey Halligan, the inexperienced prosecutor picked by ... [Donald] Trump to oversee the matter. The remarkable rebuke of Ms. Halligan came in a 24-page ruling in which the magistrate judge, William E. Fitzpatrick, ordered her to give Mr. Comey’s lawyers all of the grand jury materials she used to obtain the indictment and raised the question of whether “government misconduct” in the case might require dismissing the charges altogether. In his ruling, Judge Fitzpatrick said that when Ms. Halligan appeared — by herself — in front of the grand jury in September to seek an indictment accusing Mr. Comey of lying to and obstructing Congress in 2020 testimony, she made at least two 'fundamental and highly prejudicial' misstatements of the law. He also pointed out that the grand jury materials he ordered her to turn over to him for his review this month appeared to be incomplete and 'likely do not reflect the full proceedings.'” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Politico's report, by Kyle Cheney & Josh Gerstein, is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: I tried to find an article that would provide some detail on Halligan's disastrous handling of the indictment of Jim Comey. The best I found, among several, was this one by David Kurtz of TPM.
Jonah Bromwich, et al., of the New York Times: “A defense lawyer representing two prominent targets of the White House on Monday accused an administration housing official, Bill Pulte, of transforming his agency into an arm of ... [Donald] Trump’s revenge campaign. The lawyer, Abbe D. Lowell, represents the New York attorney general, Letitia James, and a federal reserve governor, Lisa Cook. His attack on Mr. Pulte came in separate documents related to each case. In one, a motion to dismiss a criminal case against Ms. James, Mr. Lowell characterized Mr. Pulte’s aggressive championing of the prosecution as so improper that it amounted to “outrageous government conduct” and a violation of Ms. James’s Fifth Amendment rights. Mr. Lowell also sent a letter to the Justice Department, which is investigating Ms. Cook after Mr. Pulte sent two criminal referrals about her mortgage paperwork. In the letter, he said that Mr. Pulte had coordinated with the White House to smear the president’s enemies....
“The agency’s acting inspector general, John Allen, had been looking into aspects of the referrals made by Mr. Pulte when he was removed from his post a little over a week ago.... Mr. Allen returned to his prior job as chief counsel for the agency’s inspector general. On Monday, a group of Democratic senators led by Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts called for the Government Accountability Office, a watchdog with investigative powers that is not answerable to the Trump administration, to investigate Mr. Pulte’s work at the housing agency.”
Another Trump “Patriot” Charged with Sex Crimes Against Children. Amanda Moore of the Intercept: “A pardoned January 6 rioter has been charged with sex crimes against two children. Andrew Paul Johnson was arraigned in a Florida court in October on multiple charges, including molesting a child as young as 11 years old, joining a growing list of U.S. Capitol rioters pardoned by ... Donald Trump who now face new legal trouble. Johnson dangled the prospect that one of the children could receive money because, Johnson claimed, he was entitled to $10 million as part of reparations for his January 6 arrest, according to a police report from a Hernando County Sheriff’s Department detective. Those convicted and later pardoned for involvement in the January 6 riot have not been rewarded any reparations, though Trump and January 6 rioters have floated the idea of a compensation fund.... Johnson faces two criminal cases in county court, one for each child. In one case, he has been charged with lewd or lascivious molestation of a child under the age of 12. In the other case, he faces a charge of lewd or lascivious behavior to a child under the age of 16, transmitting harmful information to minors, and exhibition with a victim under the age of 16.”
Paul Krugman has a sense of humor.
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Kansas. Caroline O'Donovan of the Washington Post: “Joe Ceballos has been winning elections in this tiny ranching town [Coldwater] for more than a decade, securing his second mayoral term in a landslide earlier this month..... Ceballos, [a Mexican immigrant] who has a green card, came to Coldwater as a teenaged ranch hand. When he turned 18, a teacher at his high school took him to the county courthouse to register for the draft and to vote..., [which] was common for teachers in town to do so at that time. He was hired as a city employee as a young man and, eventually, ran for city council.... But the day after he was reelected mayor, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach (R) said Ceballos had illegally voted in three elections, starting in 2022, charging him with voter fraud and perjury — felonies that could strip him of his elected office and land him in prison for years. It is illegal for noncitizens to vote in Kansas and in all but a small number of localities across the United States. Ceballos has been voting regularly as a registered Republican since 2020, according to the Comanche County clerk’s office. He could be deported after more than four decades in the country if convicted.”
Indiana. Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs & Christina Morales of the New York Times: “A man in Indiana was charged with manslaughter on Monday in the death of a cleaning woman who was shot through a front door when she arrived at the wrong house this month. The man who was charged, Curt Andersen, 62, owned the home in Whitestown, a suburb of Indianapolis, where the cleaner had arrived with her husband before dawn on Nov. 5. Mr. Andersen was charged with voluntary manslaughter, a felony that can bring between 10 and 30 years in prison, and he was booked into jail.”
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Ecuador. Michael Scott & Joe Daniels of the Financial Times: "Ecuadorean voters roundly rejected conservative President Daniel Noboa’s plans to allow a US military base and rewrite the constitution, dealing the Trump ally a heavy blow only months into his second term. Noboa wanted new tools to fight a wave of drug-related murders and extortion that has terrified citizens in the once-tranquil Andean nation. But in a referendum on Sunday, more than 60 per cent of voters turned down his proposals to allow foreign military bases and create a new constitution. Noboa, the 37-year-old son of a billionaire banana magnate, had triggered protests weeks earlier by cutting a popular but expensive subsidy on diesel fuel. Referendum voters also said No to cutting state funding for political parties and reducing the number of lawmakers."
30 comments:
See the NYTimes digital page placed these two stories side by side.
Because they’re linked?
Kinda reminded me of Mr. Kissinger’s brand of foreign policy.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/17/us/politics/trump-f35-jets-saudi-arabia.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/17/world/middleeast/un-security-council-gaza-peace-plan.html
As Mr. Peace (*cough-cough*), the Fat Warmonger, struts around proclaiming himself a god-king for this sketchy Gaza plan, he's welcoming with open arms another in the rogues gallery of dictators and bad actors to get the red carpet treatment from the Trump Reich.
I don't really read the WaPo much anymore since it's behind a firewall, and besides, it's owner is a fascist ball-sack sucking fraud who has turned a once great newspaper into a sop for MAGA grievances and Trump Crime Family scams, but I'm just wondering if Bozos will allow his paper to make any mention of that paper's one time journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, who was tortured, beaten, murdered then carved up by MBS's thugs for attempting to do serious reporting about the Middle East, which resulted in articles MBS felt "tarnished his image".
I wonder if Bozos thinks that's a good enough reason to dismember a former WaPo writer with a bone saw, carving him up into little pieces. Oh, and one more thing. MBS was also upset that Khashoggi was publishing material critical of his good friend and business partner, one Donald Trump. Likely another reason Fatty loves giving MBS the royal treatment. That and the fact that the Trump Crime Family has made billions off the Saudis.
Maybe in honor of Jamal, someone will give both Fatty and MBS the Piece Prize.
@Akhilleus: A very good question, and the answer is yes, yes, Bozos let mention of Khashoggi slip right thru, both in the subhead & in the lede to its story about Mr. BS coming to town. To wit, "The de facto Saudi ruler was branded an outcast after the 2018 killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Now, U.S.-Saudi relations are approaching a high point." AND "Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is set to meet President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday, a remarkable turnaround for the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia who had been branded a pariah in 2018 after the CIA concluded that he had approved the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi."
There's more on the murdering de facto leader in the body of the story, so I made this a gift link.
Calling the current ICE assault on Charlotte, NC "Charlotte's Web" is a sick joke. EB White's classic tale is all about a resourceful spider's attempt to save Wilbur the pig from the dinner table. The fact that White's animals show more humanity and decency than Fatty's cowardly masked thugs makes the co-opting of this wonderful little story even more disgraceful. EB's granddaughter made a point of the comparison, commenting on how her grandfather would have responded:
“'He believed in the rule of law and due process,' Martha White said in a statement, referring to her grandfather. 'He certainly didn’t believe in masked men, in unmarked cars, raiding people’s homes and workplaces without IDs or summons.'"
Yesterday, Marie linked EB's heartfelt paean to freedom in the face of creeping fascism, a condition we all know too well these days. If you have never read it, please do, and if you have never read any of his wonderful essays, I am envious of your first encounter with such wonderful writing.
In this piece, EB assays the responses of several New York City acquaintances to the first Hitler's takeover of Europe and its inherent destruction of democratic governments. One man sniffs that anyone who believes in any form of government is a "gullible fool". I'm guessing that guy lived in a walled castle with gun turrets bristling with firearms. But I'm thinking that this is exactly the thinking of Fat Hitler. His casual dismissal of democratic institutions and disdain for the rule of law and even basic human decency, his creation of his own version of "L'etat c'est moi", and his weaponization of every branch of government to serve his every hateful whim demands a little co-opting of my own.
Charlotte, in her first attempt to save Wilbur from knives and forks, weaves an encomium to his special qualities (really, in EB' s world, an acknowledgement of the special nature of all beings), but I have no compunction in swiping her line and applying it to the Orange Monster:
"Some pig!"
"AI Is The Ultimate "Forced Meme"
There are few things in this world more insufferable than a rich person trying to force their shitty ideas on everyone else. And in 2025, there are very few things that feel more forced than “Generative AI.”
By Janus Rose
here is an incomplete list of the ways tech companies have been trying to get people to adopt AI tools over the past year:
Microsoft sent a memo instructing its employees to either use the company’s AI tools or be fired.
YouTube is now testing AI “hosts” that interrupt your music listening with trivia and ads.
Google told its employees to give their health information to an AI tool or they’d lose their healthcare benefits.[...]"
What Conspiracy Is Right For You?
Buddy Holly? Really? One would think Fat Hitler's authoritarian strumpets would make a carve out for a Texas town celebrating it's world famous favorite son, but I suppose if you're against art of all kinds, unless it supports and fulfills authoritarian goals, "that'll be the day". it's all on the chopping block. Ya gotta love the rationale for eradicating public art on sidewalks and crosswalks as "degrading public safety". Degradation is occuring alright, just not the way they think. The degradation is the traumatic Trumpification of all aspects of American life, including the arts.
Authoritarians have always hated the arts. And for good reason. Art creates outlets for symbolic and actual resistance to ideas and movements anathema to free thinking and a fully realized human spirit.
Plato got it. Now don't get me wrong, I love Plato for some ideas and in spite of others. In "The Republic", Plato rants on about what a pain the arts can be. He saw artists as agents of disruption to a calm and rational society. It's not that he was against critical thinking, but he saw theatrical events as places where people could get riled up and pissed off about certain conditions that were better dealt with by his philosopher kings. So yeah, the arts should get gone, or at least should keep a lid on things, dammit!
Fatty is no philosopher king, Neither were Hitler, Stalin, Pinochet, Castro, and any other authoritarian asshole you can think of. Art they don't like or which criticizes their policies, their control, or their wonderfulness is routinely described as "degenerate". Trump sticks like glue to this mindset.
So paint over Buddy Holly.
Jesus. See, Plato? This is another fine mess you've got us into.
What the holidays are all about - tearing families apart.
"Agencies within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) intend to implement a comprehensive plan to target Spanish-speaking churches across the country during the upcoming holiday season between Thanksgiving, Nov. 27, and Christmas, Dec. 25."
The "don't paint nothing but traffic guides on no streets nowhere" rule is an example of bureaucratic bullishness. Someone wanted to erase all the "Black Lives Matter " and similar slogans in some particular places. But to execute specific bans requires all sorts of paper, public comment, and judicial risk.Easier for a competent authority (DOT?) To write that pavement symbols anywhere that are not traffic guides are public hazards. Out goes BLM etc. Normally, local jurisdictions like Lubbock would "forget" to erase Buddy Holly's synechdoche frames. But I'll bet someone decided to scrub them to illustrate that you can cut off your nose to spite your face just as easily as any bigot.
This btw is BS. Local traffic management is not a fed authority.
First two stories I came across this morning discuss changes the t**** admin are making that add risk to the financial systems.
Colby Smith & Stacy Cowley, for The New York Times, The Fed Is Cutting Bank Oversight. Critics See Risks
"Top officials at the Federal Reserve’s Washington headquarters and 12 reserve banks received a short memo on Oct. 29 with an unmistakable message. The way the central bank had long monitored and addressed risks across the financial system was in for a drastic overhaul.
The memo, which was reviewed by The New York Times, contained a list of directives for Fed examiners and supervisory staff across the country that significantly curtailed how closely they scrutinized lenders. It followed a host of changes made by Michelle W. Bowman, a Fed governor, who since becoming vice chair for supervision at the start of the summer had been providing regulatory relief to banks. One day after the memo was sent, Ms. Bowman announced a 30 percent cut in staff across her division in Washington."
David Frum, in The Atlantic, on The genius act
"The Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act purports to create a regulatory framework for a type of cryptocurrency called stablecoins. Despite their reassuring name, stablecoins—which promise a constant value relative to real-world currencies, usually the U.S. dollar—are by far the most dangerous form of cryptocurrency. Their danger lies in the way they are meant to be safe."
Then Michael Scherer & Ashley Parker, for The Atlantic, write about t****'s continuing fundraising, currently at $2 billion raised since the election
"Trump’s relentless fundraising has alarmed ethics watchdogs who have worked for years to reduce the role of large donations in buying access or protection from government regulation.
While it is not unusual for lame duck presidents to fundraise for their Libraries, what we are seeing from President Trump in his first year of office is shockingly unprecedented,” Trevor Potter, a former Republican chair of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) who now runs the Campaign Legal Center, told us in a statement. “The president’s seemingly insatiable drive for money from corporations and billionaires seeking government favors (or merely hoping to procure protection from Trump attacks on their business interests) sends a clear signal to everyday Americans that their needs come far behind those of the ultrawealthy who are buying access and favor.”
"
After redactions, the Epstein files will be 'and' and 'the.'
Why bother.
Merry Christmas Grandma, but no presents for you.
"Fox News guests are now telling people not to buy Christmas gifts for grandma to save money."
Isn't watching ICE raids on Christmas Day enough of a gift to warm the old heart. And with the rolling back of healthcare and the rising prices of food and the anti-Christ in the White House the apocalypse should be here soon so those presents would go to waste anyway. Happy Holidays.
Wendy,
It's unrestrained greed. A crooked president's last chance to cash in--with the blessings of a feckless Congress and a supine Supreme Court.
The Pretender has always used other people's money and stuck a lot of it in his own pocket.
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/trumps-use-campaign-funds-pay-legal-bills
Ken - must be unrestrained greed as the reason our wealthy masters of the universe allow him to stay in office, too, given how he drifts into word salad rambles. From the McDonald's Impact Summit:
please skedaddle!
Texas
"Federal Judges Block Texas’s Redrawn US House Map
Texas cannot use a new congressional map drawn by Republicans in hopes of securing the party additional U.S. House seats, a panel of three federal judges ruled Tuesday.[...]
“The public perception of this case is that it’s about politics. To be sure, politics played a role in drawing the 2025 Map. But it was much more than just politics. Substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 Map,” the ruling states."
"Things Happen" and he had it coming, also please be nice to Fat Hitler's murderous dictator friend.
"President Donald Trump on Tuesday defended Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the killing of Washington Post opinion columnist Jamal Khashoggi, saying “things happen” and that he did not hold the Saudi leader responsible for the 2018 murder despite a U.S. intelligence report assessing the opposite.
Trump’s dismissive language offered the highest-level confirmation yet that Mohammed will face few consequences for the killing, as the crown prince makes his first visit to Washington since Khashoggi was dismembered in a Saudi consulate in Turkey.
“A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about. Whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen, but [Mohammed] knew nothing about it,” Trump said in response to a question. “And we can leave it at that. You don’t have to embarrass our guest by asking a question like that.”"
"Meal Service Goes Viral With Epstein List Satire
The campaign uses a winkingly [is it?] exaggerated style of political satire to explain how Tovala’s very real “too good to be true” smart oven and meal delivery service works and dramatize to a wider U.S. audience that the brand is the best choice for effortless, high-quality and nutritious homemade meals."
Wonderful news that Texas redistricting was blocked! (And, presumably, Lloyd Doggett - who has been the most communicative US rep - will run for district 37) -
Adding the Texas Tribune version of the story Major blow for Republicans
Lloyd Doggett borrows from Mark Twain
House Votes 427-1 To Release Jeffrey Epstein Files
Many thanks to Lewis Carrol for the word “chortle”.
Chortle, chortle, chortle…
Here is KKKaroline, Fatty’s Taco-belle saying:
“Neither the President nor his family have ever engaged, or will ever engage, in conflicts of interest”
Hang on…
Hahahahahahaha!!
First, KKKaroline, the correct verb is “has” not “have”, but being a MAGA communications expert I guess you know bettah.
Second, my guess is that for the Taco-Belle, the concept of conflict of interest doesn’t extend to anything that interferes with the Trump Crime Family’s ability to scam, grift, con, and gobble up as much illegal loot as they can while that fat fuck and his greedy idiot spawn can use the office of the President to line their pockets.
Piggy
"Marco terrorists",,,,does that also mean makers of water glasses that cause drinkers to look stoopid?
Little Marco clearly is looking to reverse his image as a dull, dimwitted, galactically punked Fatty penis puller by going full Warlord because of some term invented by Venezuelan journalists.
I suppose it's hard to see the real world when your tongue is doubling as an enema hose slid up the spotted, flabby royal bum.
Is this really how Rubio envisioned himself when he began his political career? As a poorly informed, war mongering fascist manqué vying for a bit of half-hearted applause from a demented wannabe monarch? Better stick to water glasses.
RAS,
Yeah, my thoughts exactly. Let's not even talk about a president*. What decent person of any rank or position with a shred of character and courteousness responds to a serious question from someone whose job it is to ask it of him, by calling him or her a "piggy" and then refusing to answer?
This is a seriously warped, foul, fetid, nasty narcissist who believes himself better than everyone when in fact, I could find dozens of homeless persons sleeping under bridges with nothing going for them and nothing to look forward to who have more refinement, dignity, and graciousness than this spoiled, fat blob who has had everything handed to him. He is a vile embarrassment to this country.
I say again, "Some pig", and I don't mean it in the way Charlotte did.
Wendy,
Here's to Lloyd Doggett for his continued electoral success, unencumbered by the sleazy Fatty impelled election rigging of MAGA traitors in Texas.
I do have one caveat for him (and us) however. He voices his hope that the Supine Court will support the lower court ruling that Fatty's attempt to grab more seats to bolster his authoritarian takeover of the country is DOA. I, however, am not nearly so sanguine about the prospect of Little Johnny and the Dwarfs standing up for democracy. They have demonstrated time and again that democracy and voting rights are to them as clean water was to the Wicked Witch of the West.
My sad belief is that they will not only side with the MAGA traitors in Texas, but excoriate any judges who see fit to short-circuit their attempt to pack the House with additional pro-fascist traitors.
Wait, wait....critical resposibilities of the Department of Education are being transferred to "other departments"?
Hmmm...which might those be? Will the responsibility for seeing that the basics of sound pedagogy be handed to some barely literate Fat Hitler flunky who was kicked out of school for beating up younger kids? Maybe instruction of sobriety will be conferred on Drunk Pete. How about teaching kids to be good neighbors? Cosplay Kristi can develop a curriculum in the use of cattle prods to nudge neighbors to be more like she is. Hey, Eightball Junior can help kids stay awake to do their homework..."Here's the straw, there's the blow...now... go for a big blast..." And I'm sure Melanie will be happy to coach kids into "NOT CARING".
Nothing to worry about. Edumacation like you read about.
Okay, one last thing for now. Last night Ken Burns's documentary on the American Revolution ended with a stirring segment on the writing, signing, and publicizing of the Declaration of Independence, the sacred document which Fatty is using like a dorm room poster of Hulk Hogan. He thinks it was written after the Civil War.
When the Declaration was read out to citizens in New York, the litany of outrages perpetrated by King George so inflamed the populace that a crowd ran to the downtown bowling green to pull down the statue of the king. It was broken up into pieces, melted down and turned into thousands of musket balls to be used against Georgie's redcoats.
There isn't any giant statue (yet) of our fat "king", but one can only hope that a collection of No Kings patriots would pull that one down as well. Unfortunately, breaking it up and melting down an effigy of that load of blubber would only result in a giant mound of marshmallow fluff. Not good for anything. Just like him.
Akhilleus - I get that there is a risk that the court could step in (and also that Lloyd Doggett sometimes sounds pollyannaish on the question of whether the country will hold free and fair elections in 2026 and 2028 :-().
But there is a filing deadline for candidates of 12/8/25. Pollyannaish-ly, I hope that prevents the traitors from interfering in 2026 or drawing out a decision....
Akhilleus,
Maybe we can get a crowd together to tear down Fat Hitler's ballroom. Though we should watch out for asbestos. I'm not sure what we can repurpose the marble for, but we might be able to return the gold decor to Home Depot.
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