Anna Griffin & Amy Graff of the New York Times: “Waterways crested at record levels in several flooded small towns across Western Washington overnight, swamping roads and bridges and forcing people near the Canadian border to scramble into attics and onto rooftops to await helicopter rescue. The swollen Skagit River, which runs through a mountainous agricultural region north of Seattle, continued to rise on Friday morning, with its peak level still hours away. Some 78,000 people in the Skagit Valley have been ordered to evacuate, with more than 100,000 told to leave their homes statewide.”
Patrick looked into Trump's "pardon" of Tina Peters, a Colorado elections official who was convicted in state court of felonies for allowing unauthorized access to voting machines. Donald Trump said he pardoned her. (Story linked below.) Patrick's findings, which he shares in today's Comments, are interesting. If the results Patrick found held up to journalistic scrutiny -- and I suspect they would -- then Trump is just one crazy old man who thinks he controls the world like some cartoon super-villain.
Ryan Nobles & Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: "Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on Friday released a second batch of images from the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's estate. The images include pictures of Epstein with a number of high-profile figures, including ... Donald Trump, longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon, former President Bill Clinton, former Clinton Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, movie director Woody Allen, billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson and prominent attorney Alan Dershowitz. They do not appear to show illegal activity by these individuals.They appeared among 19 photos out of a production that contains more than 95,000 photos." Article includes a number of images. ~~~
~~~ Here are more photos in a BBC liveblog, with commentary. Trump is in three of them. Plus there's this one, which is unexplained. I hope one of those female White House reporters asks Trump about it: ~~~
~~~ The BBC liveblog has been updated to cover a second batch of released photos. ~~~
~~~ The New York Times story, by Michael Gold, is here. It ends, “... one image is of a satirical 'Trump condom' that also appears to be part of the Smithsonian Institution’s collection.” According to the Smithsonian site, “The packaging was designed by Fishs Eddy, a housewares and novelty shop in New York City. On the reverse, 'FISHS EDDY' appears again, along with a link to sayitwithacondom.com, where one can order custom condoms with topical sayings or designs.”
They Are Not Amused. Santul Nerkar & Ken Vogel of the New York Times: “... when ... [Donald] Trump last month freed David Gentile, the convicted fraudster who ran the firm, GPB Capital, just days into a seven-year sentence, it was another bitter pill for the thousands of people fighting to get back their money. The commutation of Mr. Gentile’s sentence undid years of work by prosecutors in Brooklyn to expose a scheme that defrauded thousands of investors, many of whom were older Americans living on fixed incomes. It raised questions among the victims and others involved in the case about why Mr. Gentile was given a second chance and what it meant for those he cheated....
“Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, told reporters this month that the conviction of Mr. Gentile was a 'weaponization of justice' inflicted by the Biden administration. But there is no evidence that any part of Mr. Gentile’s case was politically motivated. The Justice Department’s investigation began under Mr. Trump’s presidency in 2019, and Judge Rachel Kovner, who later presided over the case, was appointed by Mr. Trump.... Starting in 2015, the firm [founded by Mr. Gentile and two others] started paying out some of the distributions with money from new investors, a technique used in Ponzi schemes.” MB: The lies just roll effortlessly off Sweet Karoline's tongue, don't they?
Dan Diamond & Jonathan Edwards of the Washington Post: “Historic preservationists begged ... Donald Trump in October not to rapidly demolish the White House’s East Wing annex for his ballroom project, urging him to wait for federal review panels and allow the public to weigh in. Now a group charged by Congress with helping to preserve historic buildings is asking a judge to block construction until those reviews occur, arguing that the ongoing project is illegal and unconstitutional. The lawsuit from the nonprofit National Trust for Historic Preservation, which was filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, represents the first major legal challenge to Trump’s planned 90,000-square-foot addition and is poised to test the limits of his power. The organization argues that the administration failed to undergo legally required reviews or receive congressional authorization for the project, which Trump has rushed to launch in hopes of completing it before his term ends in 2029.” The AP report is here.
~~~~~~~~~~
Donald Trump Had a Very, Very, Bad, Bad Day Yesterday:
(1) Astounding. Devlin Barrett, et al., of the New York Times: “A grand jury in Alexandria, Va., on Thursday rejected the Trump administration’s effort to bring new charges against Letitia James, the New York attorney general.... The back-to-back failures by prosecutors to secure an indictment amounted to a striking rejection of the administration’s retribution campaign. It highlighted the Justice Department’s unusual strategy of pursuing second indictments despite earlier failures in court and suggested the department would face major hurdles in bringing charges against ... [Donald] Trump’s foes.... The rejection on Thursday was particularly remarkable given that it was the third time in just over two months that prosecutors had sought to lodge charges against Ms. James. It is vanishingly rare for grand juries to decline to indict a case, but in cases involving Mr. Trump’s broader immigration crackdown, grand jurors have repeatedly refused to do so.” The story has been updated. MB: I also updated the link, which now appears to be a gift link. The MS NOW story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Nicolle Wallace of MSNBC read on-air from a DOJ manual that discouraged prosecutors from bringing a case before a grand jury if it failed the first time. The policy requires prosecutors to get sign-offs from officials higher up the food chain before they take another bite at that apple (or the ham sandwich). It's no wonder.
The presentation to a federal grand jury (1) requires only a majority vote to indict: 12 out of 23 jurors. There is (2) no defense presented, so grand juror don't ever hear "the other side of the story." AND they don't have to think that the subject of the proposed indictment is guilty; they only have to determine that (3) "a preponderance of the evidence" suggests he is guilty; that is, there's at least a little better than a 50% change the perp is guilty. When you consider that the legalese in a mortgage agreement can be pretty dense and confusing, it seems to me that an ordinary grand juror might not quite understand it all but figure that James must have signed off on "something" that was illegal, and she's a lawyer so she should have known better. But that's not what a majority of ordinary people thought. This time or last week.
(2) A-mazing. Mitch Smith of the New York Times: “Republican members of the Indiana Senate bucked ... [Donald] Trump on Thursday and joined Democrats in voting down a new congressional map that would have positioned Republicans to sweep the state’s U.S. House seats. The 19 to 31 vote was a highly public defeat for Mr. Trump, who has spent significant political capital pushing for redrawn maps in Republican-led states and who repeatedly threatened political consequences for Indiana Republicans who did not fall in line.... The rejection of the map in the State Senate, where Republicans hold 40 of the 50 seats, followed months of presidential lobbying that turned increasingly pointed in recent weeks as it became clear that some holdouts were not budging. Mr. Trump called some of them out by name on social media, openly questioned their loyalty to the party and pledged to back primary challengers against them.” The AP's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Nick Corasaniti & Mitch Smith of the New York Times: “... the failure of Mr. Trump’s gambit in deep-red Indiana is likely to reverberate around the country as the parties head into the 2026 midterm elections.... In Congress and across the conservative media sphere, cracks within the president’s MAGA movement have appeared on issue after issue, including the Epstein files, military action in Venezuela, health care, tariffs — and redistricting.”
(3) Maria Sacchetti & Jeremy Roebuck of the Washington Post: “A federal judge in Maryland ordered the 'immediate release' of Kilmar Abrego García from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, saying Justice Department attorneys 'misled' the court at a hearing last month. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis said she ordered his release in part to ensure that he had a fair immigration process after the Justice Department and an ICE witness last month said immigration officers had no option but to deport him to the African nation of Liberia because the Central American country of Costa Rica was no longer willing to offer Abrego refuge. The judge cited reporting by The Washington Post and ABC that found that Costa Rica had 'never wavered' in its commitment to accept Abrego, Xinis said. A brief AP story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
(4) Maya Tekeli & Jeffrey Gettleman of the New York Times: “Denmark’s military intelligence service raised concerns for the first time about the United States in its annual threat assessment, saying in a report released Wednesday that shifts in American policy are generating new uncertainties for Denmark’s security. The report points to the United States’ use of tariffs against allies and its intensified activity in the Arctic, and raises many of the same concerns that European leaders have voiced about the direction of ... [Donald] Trump’s America-first foreign policy. 'The United States uses economic power, including threats of high tariffs, to enforce its will, and no longer rules out the use of military force, even against allies,' the report said.” Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Let's not forget Trump's specific threat against Denmark's sovereignty. Also from the NYT report: Donald “Trump has vowed that 'one way or the other' he will 'get' Greenland, a huge, strategically important island that is a territory of Denmark but lies just off the coast of Canada.” ~~~
~~~ ⭐Paul Krugman: "According to Donald Trump, anything he doesn’t like is a threat to national security.... But some of America’s allies — and many of us here at home — are becoming increasingly open about saying that the real danger is coming from inside the White House: Trump himself has become the biggest security threat facing the U.S. and, indeed, all the world’s democracies.... In a world of growing geopolitical conflict, it has become increasingly clear whose side the Trump administration is on — the side of Trump’s personal interests, grudges and biases.... Trump’s foreign policy is not about securing the safety and well-being of the United States. It’s about playing to Trump’s ego, about appealing to his incessant psychodrama of domination and sycophancy.... This betrayal of America’s security interests extends to Trump’s international economic policy and his clear misuse of tariff laws."
(5) Riley Beggin & Lauren Gurley of the Washington Post: “The U.S. House approved a measure overturning ... Donald Trump’s executive order eliminating union rights at federal agencies, but the rebuke of Trump’s restriction on public-sector unions is unlikely to pass the Senate because Republicans largely oppose it. The House voted 232-194 to repeal the order signed in late March, which barred collective bargaining for workers at more than two dozen federal agencies. Twenty-two Republicans broke with their party to support the measure.” (Also linked yesterday.) Politico's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Not a Good Day for Bible Mike, Either. Michael Gold of the New York Times: “In the House of Representatives, the speaker controls everything, from office space to what legislation can get a vote on the House floor. But lately, time and again, Speaker Mike Johnson appears to have lost his grip. It happened on Thursday, when Mr. Johnson was forced to stand by, powerless to stop a group of breakaway Republicans from teaming up with Democrats to pass what amounted to a rebuke of ... [Donald] Trump, delivered by a legislative body run by his own party. In a 231-to-195 vote, the House approved a bill by Representative Jared Golden of Maine, a conservative Democrat, that would overturn a Trump executive order that stripped union protections from scores of federal workers.”
(6) Gabriela Angueira of the AP: “A federal judge in Massachusetts on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to restore billions of dollars in canceled FEMA disaster mitigation funding, siding with 22 states and the District of Columbia that sued over the canceled grants this summer.... Donald Trump’s administration said in April it was 'ending' the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program, which helped communities with predisaster projects to harden infrastructure and improve resilience against the increasing threats of climate change.” More on FEMA linked below.
(7) A new AP/NORC poll came out Thursday that showed that Trump's job approval rating as well as approval ratings for his handling of the economy & immigration have all slipped. ~~~
~~~ Evan Hurst of Wonkette, after going over the numbers and providing other context, adds this as a cautionary note: "Trump will get less and less popular, but Orbán and Putin are loathed by their people. They [i.e., the people] just don’t have the ability at the moment to do anything about it, because the state isn’t accountable to the people anymore. (Though there are big elections coming in Hungary that might reveal that Orbán’s power is not absolute.) Preventing that shift [from accountable to invincible] is the single most important thing on the American people’s plate right now."
Chris Geidner, the Law Dork: "... on Thursday, a series of developments only connected insofar as they are pieces in ... Donald Trump’s authoritarian project show the reality: Trump’s authoritarian gambit is a house of cards. The power Trump and allies are seeking is real — but so much of the power they claim to already have is imagined.... On Thursday morning, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered the immediate release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from ICE custody. By close of business, his lawyer told NBC News that Abrego Garcia had been released from custody.... In the early afternoon, news broke that DOJ — again — could not get a grand jury to indict New York Attorney General Letitia James.... Republicans in the Indiana Senate rejected Trump’s efforts to force a mid-decade, political redistricting — ignoring far-right threats as they did so."
Derek Hawkins & Alec Dent of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump said Thursday that he has pardoned Tina Peters, a former county clerk in Colorado who was convicted in state court on felony charges related to efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.... 'Today I am granting Tina a full Pardon for her attempts to expose Voter Fraud in the Rigged 2020 Presidential Election!' [Trump wrote on his social media site. It was unclear whether Trump was asserting that he has the power to free Peters from state prison.... Presidents have the power to pardon defendants convicted in federal courts, but previous presidents have not claimed that authority in a state case.” ~~~
~~~ Joe Walsh of CBS News: "'Tina Peters was convicted by a jury of her peers, prosecuted by a Republican District Attorney and in a Republican county of Colorado and found guilty of violating Colorado state laws including criminal impersonation,' Democratic Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement Thursday. "No President has jurisdiction over state law nor the power to pardon a person for state convictions....'... Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold [D] said in a statement Thursday that 'Tina Peters was convicted by a jury of her peers for state crimes in a state Court. Trump has no constitutional authority to pardon her. His assault is not just on our democracy, but on states' rights and the American constitution.'... Under the Constitution, the president's pardon power applies to 'Offences against the United States,' which is almost universally understood not to include state crimes. But Peters' lawyer, Peter Ticktin, laid out a theory that the power could extend to the states. Ticktin acknowledged that the issue 'has never been raised in any court.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: It would be just like the Supremes to decide that presidents had pardon authority over people convicted of state crimes. Of course they might not decide this till they've put in place a system that virtually guarantees that only Repubicans can win presidential elections.
Catherine Rampell in the Bulwark: "There are many items on ... [Donald] Trump’s agenda that are hurting the U.S. economy: the pointless trade wars, the socialization of the private sector, the mass deportations, and much more. But in the long run, the most damaging policy of all might be one that’s gotten scant attention, at least from non-finance-nerds: Trump’s quest to crush the Federal Reserve. If Trump succeeds, he may doom the United States to high inflation for years, if not decades, to come. Bullying the Fed has long been one of Trump’s favorite pastimes.... If he’s successful [in purging the Fed chair and other Fed officials], Trump could seize direct control of the money supply and turn America into Venezuela." ~~~
~~~ Heather Cox Richardson's "letter," which starts out discussing Trump's approach to the economy, moves on, beginning with republishing (in full, I think) a social media post he wrote right after giving a speech in the Poconos that was supposed to be about the economy. Richardson's essay is worth reading just for the recitation of Trump's absurd post, only bits of which have been reported in other stories I've linked. ~~~
~~~ Marie: The more Trump boasts about "acing" his frequently-administered cognitive tests (or what he has characterized as remarkably difficult IQ tests that hardly anyone can pass), the more it become obvious that his doctors, his family, his staff, et al., have been lying to him about the purpose and results of the tests. These are not IQ tests and are "difficult" only if you can't recall how to read time on an analog clock or don't remember what a tiger and a camel look like. If Trump thinks the tests are difficult, I expect it's because he found them difficult. (Besides, if you mess up and call a camel a tiger, I don't think the test administrator gleefully hits a buzzer & announces your mistake.) If you want to see cognitive something, how about the cognitive dissonance that would rattle Trump to the core if some doctor sat down with him and explained what those cognitive tests were really designed to do (and perhaps told him he didn't "ace" them).
Cecilia Kang of the New York Times: Donald “Trump signed an executive order on Thursday that aims to neuter state laws that limit the artificial intelligence industry, a win for tech companies that have lobbied against regulation of the booming technology. The order grants broad authority to the attorney general to sue states and overturn laws that do not support the 'United States’ global A.I. dominance,' putting dozens of A.I. safety and consumer protection laws at risk. If states keep their laws in place, Mr. Trump directed federal regulators to withhold funds for broadband and other projects. Mr. Trump, who has said it is important for America to dominate A.I., has criticized the state laws for generating a confusing patchwork of regulations. He said his order would create one federal regulatory framework that would override the state laws, and added that it was critical to keep the United States ahead of China in the technology.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: I'm not sure Trump's order meets Constitutional muster, but assuming for the moment that it is, it would make sense -- but only IF the federal government actually had a "regulatory framework." But it doesn't. Except for crap like this: ~~~
~~~ Maria Curi of Axios: "The Trump administration on Thursday released guidance for federal agencies to try to ensure that the AI models they procure are not spitting out 'woke' responses.... The guidance from the Office of Management and Budget states that agencies looking to buy AI systems must determine whether the models comply with what it calls two 'unbiased AI principles' — 'truth-seeking' and 'ideological neutrality.'"
Lily Kuo of the New York Times: “In its rivalry with the United States, China has racked up a series of wins in recent weeks. The Trump administration has softened its criticism of China’s Communist Party in a strategy document. It has reopened a channel for high-end chip sales that Washington once treated as untouchable. And ... [Donald] Trump has held his tongue as a key U.S. ally in Asia faces Chinese intimidation for backing Taiwan.... Some commentators in China have hailed these developments as irrefutable signs of American decline and Chinese ascendancy.... Mr. Trump’s national security strategy, released last week...., recast the U.S.-China rivalry as chiefly an economic contest and not a struggle over security or political systems. The strategy’s stated priority: establishing a 'mutually advantageous economic relationship with Beijing.'” ~~~
~~~ Washington Post Editors: “If the government is setting trade policy based on national security considerations, as the administration insists it is, there’s indisputably a stronger case for blocking advanced chip sales to China [-- which will allow China to catch up with the U.S. in the development of artificial intelligence --] than for taxing Americans extra when they buy Canadian car parts, South Korean dishwashers or Swiss pharmaceuticals.... Ironically, just hours before Trump’s announcement ... that he will allow the export of Nvidia’s H200 chips to China..., the Justice Department announced the government shut down a criminal network that has sought to smuggle more than $160 million worth of Nvidia chips, including H200s, to China.... The most protectionist president in 100 years ... has invoked national security to put tariffs on toys, food and clothing while going out of his way to permit the export of high-end technology to China.”
Samantha Schmidt, et al., of the Washington Post: “The seizure this week of the oil tanker Skipper off the coast of Venezuela appeared to signal a new stage in the Trump administration’s effort to oust President Nicolás Maduro by strangling with sanctions and military pressure an economy that relies heavily on overseas oil sales, primarily to China. As part of the campaign, the United States is likely to capture more sanctioned oil vessels off the Venezuelan coast, according to three people.... The Treasury Department on Thursday announced sanctions against three nephews of Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores and a business executive close to Maduro. All four were previously sanctioned, although the Biden administration lifted the measures against the nephews during a prisoner exchange deal. Six other oil tankers, and the companies to which they’re registered, were added to the list of sanctioned vessels.” An ABC News story is here. ~~~
~~~ Bill Kristol notes in the Bulwark that the U.S. seizure of oil tanker is a reminder that "The U.S. government has the ability to seize boats, sailors, and cargo without killing anyone. The Coast Guard does this routinely and has for years. The military is able to coordinate with and support law enforcement in such efforts. Steps can be taken ahead of time to ensure such efforts are legal. But the Trump administration has chosen to do none of these things as, over the past three months, it has conducted strikes against at least 22 vessels, killing more than 80 helpless civilians.” Via Rebecca Schoenkopf of Wonkette. ~~~
~~~ Jennifer Rubin of the Contrarian: "Two Democratic congressmen [-- Jim Himes (Conn.) & Adam Smith (Wash.) have distinguished themselves in their dogged search for a full accounting of the [killing of two shipwrecked men], including disclosure of the complete videotape of the Sept. 2 strike. Proof of their effectiveness: Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Rep. Mike D. Rogers (R-Ala.) told reporters he wants to end the whole oversight effort.” ~~~
David Bauder of the AP: “The New York Times, attacked by ... Donald Trump for reporting about his physical condition, said on Wednesday that it wouldn’t be deterred by 'false and inflammatory language' that distorts the role of a free press. The president had posted on his Truth Social platform that he believed it was 'seditious, perhaps even treasonous' for the Times and other media outlets to do 'FAKE' reports on his health. 'They are true Enemies of the People, and we should do something about it,' Trump wrote. The 79-year-old president wouldn’t specify, but the newspaper has posted a handful of reports about his health in recent weeks. In a Nov. 25 story headlined 'Shorter Days, Signs of Fatigue: Trump Faces Realities of Aging in Office,' reporters examined Trump’s public and travel schedules to conclude Americans were seeing less of him than they were used to. A story on Dec. 2, accompanied by a video, said that Trump 'appeared to be fighting sleep' during a Cabinet meeting that day.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Our New Partners in Crimes Against Earth. Eric Niiler of the New York Times: “The Trump administration sided with officials from Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iran in a successful effort to block part of a United Nations report about the dire state of the planet because it called for phasing out fossil fuels, switching to clean energy and reducing plastics, according to two participants. The section targeted was a summary of the Global Environment Outlook 7, a 1,210-page report that translates scientific evidence collected and reviewed by 300 experts into plain language that can be used by governments around the world. It was issued on Monday at the U.N. Environment Assembly in Nairobi. It was the first time that countries failed to issue a 'summary for policymakers' since the United Nations Environment Program began publishing outlook reports in 1997. During negotiations over the document in October, the U.S. sided with Russia, Saudi Arabia and Iran to block the summary from being included....”
John Ismay of the New York Times: “The Navy has sent Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office a report evaluating the role of Senator Mark Kelly, Democrat of Arizona and a retired Navy captain, in participating in a video last month telling members of the military that they must refuse unlawful orders. Whether the Pentagon’s investigation of Mr. Kelly, part of a series of moves by the Trump administration to seek retribution against President Trump’s perceived political enemies, will continue is unknown. Any decision on pursuing potential disciplinary action against Mr. Kelly would be up to the secretary of the Navy, John Phelan, and not Mr. Hegseth. Mr. Phelan’s conclusion, if any has been made, remains unclear.... [Donald] Trump accused the six lawmakers [who participated in the video] of sedition and threatened them with the death penalty.” The Hill's report is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Phelan is a wealthy former investment fund manager & fundraiser for Trump. He has no military or related experience. We're about to find out if somebody with that background has the right stuff to stand up to Trump. My own investment advice here: don't bet on it.
... it is both preposterous and offensive for the government to bring someone into the United States against their will and then turn around and seek ICE detention because that person is here “illegally.” The government needs to decide what its priorities are: ginning up deportation stats or prosecuting alleged criminals. -- U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia M. Faruqui, in a written order ~~~
~~~ “Feds Bring Woman to U.S. to Face Charges, Then Say She’s Here Illegally.” Salvador Rizzo of the Washington Post: “Federal prosecutors spent over a year working to extradite a Belarusian woman accused of smuggling more than $2 million in sensitive U.S. aviation equipment into Russia as it waged war on Ukraine. But the case could fall apart because the defendant, Yana Leonova, is now at risk of being deported before going to trial. Trump administration officials issued an immigration detainer for Leonova shortly after she was paroled into the United States on Nov. 3 to face a 10-count indictment charging her with fraud, smuggling and money-laundering offenses.... [U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia M. Faruqui] called the situation 'Kafkaesque.'...” Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ DHS, from the absurd to the cruel ~~~
~~~ Marianne LeVine of the Washington Post: “Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem faced a combative congressional hearing Thursday, as Democratic lawmakers repeatedly demanded that she resign, accusing her of lying and violating the law.... Republicans, by contrast, heaped praise on Noem for reducing illegal immigration.... Democrats pressed her to explain why scores of U.S. citizens have been detained during immigration enforcement operations and highlighted cases of immigrants who have lived in the United States for decades being deported — including some who served in the U.S. military. Protesters interrupted Noem’s opening remarks, with one shouting, 'Get ICE off our streets, stop terrorizing our communities' — a reference to Immigration and Customs Enforcement — before being escorted out of the hearing room.... Democrats were further angered after Noem left the hearing early to oversee a meeting of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which falls under DHS. However, that meeting was postponed.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Wonder why Noem hightailed it out of the hearing? Because of questioning like this from Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-R.I.): ~~~
Scott Dance of the New York Times: “A task force that ... [Donald] Trump created to explore an overhaul of the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Thursday abruptly postponed a meeting where it had been scheduled to vote on recommendations to reshape the agency. Less than an hour before the meeting’s scheduled 1 p.m. start, members of the panel, known as the FEMA Review Council, did not appear to be aware of the postponement. One was Kristi Noem.... She left early from an appearance before the House Homeland Security Committee, saying she had to attend the council’s meeting.... The report had been highly anticipated.... But after Thursday’s turn of events, some analysts questioned whether the council would be influential after all.... Sarah Labowitz ... [of] the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace..., said, 'It seems clear the White House is driving the train and that the council has been undercut.'” ~~~
~~~ Thomas Frank of Politico: “The [cancellation] came after Trump officials were angered that CNN had obtained a copy of the FEMA Review Council’s final report and published an article on its website Wednesday.... One review council member told a person close to the panel that officials canceled the meeting to demonstrate that the leaked report has not been finalized and is subject to change.”
Theodoric Meyer, et al., of the Washington Post: “The Senate blocked a bill Thursday to extend Affordable Care Act health insurance subsidies, all but ensuring they will expire at the end of the year. The vote was the culmination of Democrats’ months-long push to extend the subsidies and prevent premiums from rising for millions of Americans — a campaign that helped trigger the longest federal government shutdown in history. Republicans promised to hold the vote as part of a deal to end the shutdown. Four Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Dan Sullivan (Alaska), Josh Hawley (Missouri) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) — voted for the Democratic bill, which needed 60 votes to advance. It got 51, with 48 senators voting against. The Senate also blocked a Republican health care bill that Sens. Bill Cassidy (Louisiana) and Mike Crapo (Idaho) drafted as an alternative to the Democratic one. That bill, which also needed 60 votes to advance, failed 51-48, with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) joining every Democrat in voting no.” The AP's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
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South Carolina. Teddy Rosenbluth of the New York Times: “More than 250 people who were exposed to measles, including dozens of unvaccinated school-aged children, are quarantining in South Carolina as the state wrestles to contain an outbreak that has sickened more than 110 people. The outbreak comes during what has already been one of the worst years for the virus since it was declared eliminated in the United States more than two decades ago. Cases have been centered in Spartanburg County, along the northern border of the state, and the virus appears to be widely spreading through the community.... The outbreak, which started in October, shows no signs of slowing, likely because of the county’s 'lower-than-hoped-for vaccination coverage,' Dr. Linda Bell, South Carolina’s state epidemiologist, said at a news conference on Wednesday.” The AP's report is here. MB: No mention of RFKJ in either article.
MEANWHILE, in Texas: ~~~
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Ukraine/Russia, et al. Maria Varenikova of the New York Times: “President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that a compromise peace plan backed by the United States still called for Ukraine to withdraw from the eastern Donbas region, a concession that Mr. Zelensky said his country would not make. Speaking to reporters in Kyiv, Mr. Zelensky made clear that territorial questions remained a major unresolved issue, a day after Ukrainian and European leaders sent to the United States a counterproposal to end the war. Security guarantees to prevent Russia from invading Ukraine again after any halt in the fighting are another primary issue still under negotiation. Mr. Zelensky said that under the American vision, the territory in the Donbas that Ukraine still holds would become what the Trump administration calls a 'free economic zone' where no Ukrainian or Russian troops would be present. At the same time, Russia would be free to keep troops in the parts of the Donbas it has seized from Ukraine.”
19 comments:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/us/troops-involved-in-boat-strikes-face-a-moral-injury-risk-experts-say.html
My comment: Not to diminish the moral quandaries of the military, but anyone at all associated with our crude, lawless leader suffers moral injury, either directly or in a distant but still real way.
Even when we don't like it (and there's a lot not to like) when he acts lawlessly, crudely, corruptly, selfishly and nastily, he's acting in our name, and the injury he does us and the nation either directly or distantly goes beyond red-faced embarrassment.
Malicious Malefactor in Chief
Tish James 2 - Fat Asshole 0
Oh, and that goose egg also applies to Eva Braun Bondi.
As all three former federal prosecutors on the Sisters-in-Law podcast, Barb McQuade, Joyce Vance, and Jill Wine-Banks agreed, none of them in all their years, have ever gotten a no bill from a grand jury. Ever. And as highly unusual as it is to get the heave-ho once from a grand jury, it's virtually impossible to get it twice, making it equally impossible for any future jury to conclude that what's going on here amounts to malicious and vindictive prosecution.
Of course, as the sisters all pointed out, you'd have to be STOOPID to try to bring such specious case lacking sufficient evidence before a grand jury. Not only is it a waste of time and resources, but it demeans the entire department. That, however, is a given. This is, after all, not the Department of Justice, this is a Trump law firm, replete with suck ups, sycophants, incompetents, pettifoggers, ambulance chasers, and quiescent quacks, not even up to the level of Groucho's lawyers, Hungadunga, Hungadunga, Hungadunga, Hungadunga, and McCormick
But we're talking here about a vindictive dick, a petty, malignant, fat little twit, so don't be surprised if these malicious churls try again.
Ken,
I'm reading reports of flooding all along the Skagit River. Hope you and yours are safe on high ground.
So nice to see the brave Homeland Insecurity floozy, Kosplay Kristi, skeedaddle out of that congressional hearing. She should have been wearing one of her Natasha Fatale get ups, or maybe brought along one of her ICE tasers and her Bond villainess duds to try to bully those impertinent congressional Democrats daring to ask HER some questions. Don't they know who she is? Harrumph!
None of these Fat Hitler cronies are worth the powder to blow them to hell. They're all tough and mighty when they strut around before the cameras but when called on the carpet, they show their craven hearts and turn tail to run away as fast as ever they can.
Braggarts and cowards. Just like the Fat Fascist.
@Ken Winkes: Make that a "me, too" to Akhilleus' remark. I was glad to see your comment this morning. I reckon you could not be commenting from a canoe while attempting to maneuver the Skagit River rapids. (Well, maybe your wife could do all the deft paddling while you sat behind reading & writing away on a waterproofed iPad.)
I listened with barely containable fury yesterday to Jeanne Shaheen on NPR lecturing everyone about how important it is that the ACA subsidies continue.
Seriously, Jeanne? Remind me, weren't you one of Chuck Schumer's 'fraidy cats who caved to Fat Hitler and his snarling PoT mustache twirlers in Congress? Did you really believe they were going to work out some kind of deal to help 24 million Americans keep their healthcare? Hell no! Their motto is now and always has been, "Fuck you, Charlie, I got mine". They all get wonderful, free healthcare. No way are they going to buck the Fat Fascist and make sure these people are taken care of. And then we have to listen to John Thune sniff that the Traitors are looking after "the people" not the insurance companies.
Very white of you, Johnny. Meantime, Mr and Mrs Soon to Die are going to get monthly bills in the range of $1,500 when previously they were paying $300 or $400.
Chutzpah, like you read about.
If RFKJ doesn't kill them, the Party of Traitors will make sure of it.
But BEFORE they kill you....
While Nancy Mace is leveling airport personnel with a barrage of barroom epithets that would make career sailors blush, maybe she should pay attention to what her Party of Traitor male colleagues and their far-right influencer pals are up to.
"Recently several Republican congresswomen have been complaining, on and off the record, that their party’s leaders, especially Mike Johnson, the House speaker, don’t take them seriously. It started with Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a onetime MAGA icon who is resigning next month. 'They want women just to go along with whatever they’re doing and basically to stand there, smile and clap with approval, whereas they just have their good old boys club,' she said in September. It turns out she’s not alone in her frustration."
Of course Bible Mike doesn't care what women say. They're just uppity broads who should be at home making babies and changing diapers. The Bible sez so. But it gets worse. A lot worse.
Because I'm not tapped in to the comm lines running through the fever swamps, I do double takes when some of the real Krazy bubbles up to the surface. I've been reading now that there is a movement afoot to take the vote away from women. Also, to make birth control pills illegal.
And before we say "Oh, that could never happen", just look at what the Supines have done in just a few years. The killed Roe, and are getting ready to completely chloroform voting rights, they've made a fat dementia patient a king above the law, flipped the Constitution on its head, and are gearing up for more madness. So don't say "That can't happen here." We're murdering civilians. We have a moron running the military, we have armed, masked thugs disappearing people off the streets.
It CAN happen here. And ladies, they're coming for you. For all of us. Nancy Mace too.
Thanks for the good wishes, folks. We are safe enough, having retreated.south 20 miles or so away from the raging mad dog river. Actually down in the flats where we live relatively placid, just very high. Orders came to evacuate Wednesday night and since we're obedience-trained we did, tho' local authorities agreed with me that the order was 24 hours premature.
Last night was the peak river level in Mt. Vernon and per online reports it is already receding. I expect we will get back to our hamlet, five miles south of Mt. Vernon, later today.
The damage upriver is/was severe in some places. We'll learn more later. Don't know if the river over-toped the dikes anywhere or if there were any dike failures.
Reminds me of those school decisions: to close or. not to close because of snow? Better safe than sorry? Or an abundance or an excess of caution? Damned if you do--or don't? Glad I no longer live where the buck stops.
BTW, Marie, my wife thinks you are very funny. I kinda do.
South Park wrote a song for Mike Johnson and all the lady haters Akhilleus mentioned.
Jonathan V. Last
"Trump and the Oligarchs Are Killing Corporate Media
The oligarchs only care about money. The dictator only cares about power. They can make that arrangement work."
I could see the Supine Court issue a shadow docket order that Tina Peters should be released until all the courts can deal with the "question" of does the president have the authority to pardon state crimes. It is what they have been doing on a lot of the settled and obviously illegal stuff Fat Hitler and his administration have done. They get to let the unconstitutional shit continue without having to formally rule on it now while they still believe their power is not yet absolute. It gives them an out in case things go badly and they are forced to justify their actions in the future. They'll claim that they haven't actually ruled on the constitutionality of them. They would probably reverse course pretending that they were always going to side with the Constitution in the end to try to distance themselves from Fat Hitler in an attempt to save their own skins.
"Pluralistic: Instacart reaches into your pocket and lops a third off your dollars
The economy is riddled with surveillance pricing gouging."
“Keep showing up,”
"A big queer Texas wedding party celebrates LGBTQ+ marriage while it’s under threat
A new law allows judges to refuse to perform same-sex weddings. An Austin judge responded by doing eight weddings and two vow renewals at a flower-filled event."
@RAS: I like your conspiracy theory about the Supremes better than mine. I think yours is somewhat probable; that is, they will keep on shadow-docketing all kinds of obviously-unconstitutional stuff till they find out the results of the next presidential election. If a Republican wins, they could get around to devising signed opinions that lets the new president do whatever he wants; if a Democrat wins, they could issue opinions finding all the various matters beyond Constitutional presidential powers.
AND, down the road, since stare decisis no longer means anything to them, they can always hear new, nearly identical cases, and issue new decisions reversing their old ones when and if a change of party demands.
When you think about it, one does have to be fairly bright (and have bright clerks) to be a Supreme Court justice, but as long as you can think up phony excuses for your decisions, it's quite easy to be corrupt, inequitable and partisan. People in political offices -- Cabinet members, for instance -- may have to appear before Congress or some other body to justify (or stonewall) their bad acts. But Supreme Court justices answer to no one, and "decorum" allows them to keep mum about their decisions after the fact.
Waldman on JFK, Jr.
https://paulwaldman.substack.com/p/the-rfk-jr-catastrophe-holds-an-important
Most interesting to me was junction of white, home-schooled evangelicals. Not a great argument for the superior mentality of Caucasians....
Google AI has its uses, it can save time. I'm not sure how you would cross-check accuracy wihout taking more time, but so far so good.
I asked AI if there was a pardon document for Tina Peters (CO. DiJiT says he pardons her, the governor says nuh-uh). AI said inter alia (I would have italicized that but, not going to mess with it today):
"... While Donald Trump claimed to have pardoned election clerk Tina Peters, who was convicted of state crimes in Colorado, there is no official, signed federal pardon document found on the Pardon Attorney's website or elsewhere ... "
Can he pardon someone without paper? In his mind, like with declassification, I guess.
He's not even trying hard anymore, just moving air past his larynx.
White House: ASL Interpreters Hurt Trump’s Image
"The White House is making an unusual argument as it resists advocates’ push for sign language interpretation at press briefings conducted by President Donald Trump and press secretary Karoline Leavitt. Providing American sign language interpretation in press conferences “would severely intrude on the President’s prerogative to control the image he presents to the public,” Justice Department attorneys argued in a lawsuit filed by the National Association for the Deaf."
Ah yes, his public image. The orange pancake makeup with the pale circles around his bulging eyes with the straw hair combover from the back of his head as he falls asleep while sycophants lie about how he out works them with his 26 hour days as he sits in a chair to rest his swollen cankles. That image.
"I can't even hear what they are saying" Fat Hitler probably said.
So FAT Hitler is worried about the image he projects and thinks…what? That using an ASL interpreter would make him look like…a decent human being who cares about all Americans? Or maybe he thinks it would make him look like a weak liberal squish who is afraid to kick people who have it tougher than a fat Richie Rich who has everything handed to him?
This is an indefatigable asshole who thinks making fun of disabled people is a riot. His astonishing insulting of a disabled NY Times reporter, behaving like an ignorant fifth grader was bad enough, but to tell his chief of staff (a former Marine Corps general) that he didn’t want to see any disabled veterans in a parade because it made him—a draft dodging coward—look bad, was on another level of assholism entirely. He once shit on John McCain saying, snarkily, that he wasn’t able to raise his hand to vote no on the ACA. McCain had been unable to raise his arms above his head after years or torture by the Viet Cong, while he was safe at home grabbing pussies.
I am still flabbergasted that the so-called ‘Merica First MAGA “patriots” who wrap themselves in the flag at every opportunity, think the serial insults directed at veterans by Cadet Bone Spurs merit a pass when they scream bloody murder about any Democrat they believe insults veterans by questioning the ever burgeoning Pentagon budget.
His image? His image is graven on a tombstone that says “Here lies the United States, decency and humanity”.
The Beginning of the Decline of US Democracy
"25 years ago today, SCOTUS elected George W Bush president of the United States by blocking completion of a voting canvass in Florida. A subsequent canvass by the Associated Press showed that Bush's rival, Al Gore, had won the race in Florida—and thus the contest for the presidency—by 700 votes."
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