December 15, 2025

From the New York Times liveblog, also linked below: “A son of the celebrated Hollywood director Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner has been arrested after the couple were found dead in their Los Angeles home, according to online jail records viewed on Monday.... The son, Nick Reiner, 32, was arrested on Sunday night and is being held in a jail in Los Angeles County on $4 million bail, according to county jail records.” ~~~

~~~ Michelle Price of the AP: “...  Donald Trump on Monday blamed Rob Reiner’s outspoken opposition to the president for the actor-director’s killing, delivering the unsubstantiated claim in a shocking post that seemed intent on decrying his opponents even in the face of a tragedy. The statement, even for Trump, was a shocking comment that came as police were still investigating the deaths of the beloved director and his wife as an apparent homicide.... Trump, in a post on his social media network, said that Reiner and his wife were killed 'reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.' He said Reiner 'was known to have driven people CRAZY by his raging obsession of President Donald J. Trump, with his obvious paranoia reaching new heights as the Trump Administration surpassed all goals and expectations of greatness.'... Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican whom Trump branded a  'traitor' for disagreeing with him, responded to Trump’s message by saying, 'This is a family tragedy, not about politics or political enemies.'”

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Greg Grandin, in a New York Times op-ed: “Mr. Trump, both in his first term and now during the first eleven months of his second, has made clear that the bipartisan post-Cold War consensus — by which the United States oversaw an economically integrated world order governed by common laws regulating property relations, trade and conflict — has outlived its usefulness. In its place the White House offers a vision of the world carved up into garrisoned spheres of competing influence. This month, the White House issued its National Security Strategy report, which ... hits all the notes associated with aggrieved America First nationalism.... America First nationalists have long been the staunchest defenders of the Monroe Doctrine.... Mr. Trump’s renewal of the Monroe Doctrine comes ... identifies Latin America not, as Monroe did in his 1823 statement, as part of a common community of New World nations but as a theater of global rivalry, a place to extract resources, secure commodity chains, establish bulwarks of national security, fight the drug war, limit Chinese influence and end migration.” ~~~ 

~~~ Riley Mellen of the New York Times: “The pilot of a JetBlue flight reported on Friday that he narrowly avoided colliding with a U.S. military aircraft over the Caribbean after an Air Force refueling tanker passed in front of the commercial plane without broadcasting its position, according to air traffic control radio communications. 'They don’t have their transponder turned on, it’s outrageous,' the JetBlue pilot told an air traffic controller, after identifying the type of plane he had encountered. 'We almost had a midair collision up here.'... The air traffic controller [in Curaçao ] said he couldn’t see the tanker on his radar screen either, but suggested the unknown military aircraft was part of a trend. 'They’ve been outrageous with the unidentified aircraft within our airspace,' the controller told the pilot. Just a day later..., air traffic controllers in Curaçao told at least three other pilots ... to be aware of unidentified aircraft in their vicinity, an apparent reference to other planes flying without their transponders on.”

Rick Maese of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration issued a notice of default to the group that manages Washington’s three municipal golf courses, escalating a behind-the-scenes struggle over who will control some of the District’s most visible public land and effectively positioning the president to operate its public golf properties. The move could imperil National Links Trust’s 50-year lease with the National Park Service and clear the way for ... Donald Trump to advance his own vision for redeveloping the courses.... The default notice, dated Oct. 29, did not specify reasons the group was in default or how it could remedy any concerns.” ~~~

Part of the fresco mural, "The Meaning of Social Security" by Ben Shann. Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building. Photo by Timothy Noah. ~~~

~~~ Heather Cox Richardson has a summary of Trump's plans (and "accomplishments"!) to tear down some of the District's 20th-century historic buildings. The golf courses are part of the overall plan. A preservationist, Mydelle Wright, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation have brought separate suits to stop some of Trump's plans. ~~~

     ~~~ Here's the article Richardson cites by Timothy Noah, about Trump's end-run around the GSA so he can demolish four federal buildings, and Wright's suit to stop him. ~~~

~~~ Marie: There are some Trump disasters than can be undone almost as easily as drafting and signing a brief executive order. There are some that could be undone, over time, with good administrative work and/or sensible legislation. But buildings, frescoes, and other works of art subject to Trump's wrecking balls are gone forever. Nothing is left but glossy pictures in art and architecture coffee-table books. 

I wonder if it’s all a bit of a distraction from what the State Department is actually doing, rather than the font they’re doing it in. -- Tobias Frere-Jones, a type designer ~~~

~~~ Jonathan Corum of the New York Times: “The State Department’s decision to stop using the Calibri typeface in favor of Times New Roman shook one community far removed from the workings of government: type designers.... The governmental order was written in Times New Roman, which the State Department had used from 2004 until it switched to Calibri in 2023.... The State Department’s order noted that Calibri in a 15-point size had been 'recommended as an accessibility best practice during the Biden administration, and described the change as 'yet another wasteful D.E.I.A. program,' referring to the acronym for diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility.” MB: Read to nearly the end, where Corum recounts how Calibri brought down a government. The link is a gift link. I think I goofed up on some recent NYT links I said were gift links because the Times changed its method of allowing gift links, and I only figured that out this morning. I think I got this one right. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This article is posted in memory of MAG, an excellent calligrapher and former Reality Chex contributor. She died five years ago this month. She sent me a few things through the mail, and I saved the items as well as the envelopes they came in because she so beautifully hand-printed the addresses on the envelopes. 

It Will Be a White Man's 250th. Dan Barry of the New York Times: “The Treasury Department unveiled new coins celebrating America’s 250th anniversary. They failed to include planned designs featuring abolition, women’s suffrage and the civil rights movement.... The Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, is authorized by law to make final decisions about coin designs, including these 250th anniversary coins — a dime, a half-dollar and five quarters — which are both collectible and legal tender. But his choices ignored the more diverse recommendations for the quarters by the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee, a bipartisan group mandated by Congress to review the U.S. Mint’s proposed designs for American coins.” Read on. The link is a gift link. Symbols matter. (Also linked yesterday.) 

Driving While Somali. Anthony Bettin & Esme Murphy of CBS News: "Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar said federal immigration agents pulled over her son on Saturday and asked him to prove his citizenship. 'Yesterday, after he made a stop at Target, he did get pulled over by [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] agents, and once he was able to produce his passport ID, they did let him go,' Omar said in an interview.... [Omar] said she 'had to remind [her son] ... that ... [there] are areas where he could possibly find himself in and they are racially profiling, they are looking for young men who look Somali that they think are undocumented.'... On Friday, Omar sent a letter to U.S. Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Todd Lyons, acting director of ICE, accusing federal agents of 'blatant racial profiling' and 'an egregious level of unnecessary force' in the Twin Cities. 'It is clear to me that this surge came in direct response to Trump's racist comments about Somali people, and about me in particular,' Omar wrote." An NBC News story is here.

Anna Barry-Jester & Brett Murphy of ProPublica: “Trump officials were told that cutting aid to South Sudan would exacerbate a deadly cholera epidemic.... Despite the steps to insulate themselves, dire warnings poured in from diplomats and government experts around the world. The cuts would cost countless lives, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the other Trump officials were told repeatedly. The team of aides pressed on, galvanized by two men who did little to hide their disdain for the agency: first Peter Marocco, a blunt-spoken Marine veteran, and then 28-year-old Jeremy Lewin, who, despite having no government or aid experience, often personally decided which programs should be axed. By the third week in February, they were on track to wipe out 90% of USAID’s work.... They traded congratulatory speeches and cut into a sheet cake.... After the funding cuts, cases in South Sudan spiked. It’s the worst cholera epidemic in the country’s history.... Even as lifesaving programs closed in South Sudan, Rubio and other officials maintained they were still active and that no one had died. We found that wasn’t true.”

Laurel Rosenhall & Apoorva Mandavilli of the New York Times: “Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to announce on Monday that California has hired two former leaders of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who accused the Trump administration of abandoning scientific standards. One is Susan Monarez, a former director of the C.D.C., who was fired by the White House in late August after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tried to remove her from her position and she resisted leaving. The other is Dr. Debra Houry, a former chief medical officer of the C.D.C., who quit partly in protest over the firing of Dr. Monarez. Both will now serve as consultants for the California Department of Public Health.”

Jordain Carney, et al., of Politico: “With key Obamacare tax credits set to expire within weeks, Democrats have unified behind a simple message: extend the subsidies and keep health insurance premiums from spiking for more than 20 million Americans. Republicans, meanwhile, have engaged in a wide-ranging blame game while scrambling to coalesce behind an easily digestible plan to lower health care costs. That struggle comes to a head this week as House leaders move to put what they hope will be a consensus GOP plan up for a vote.... There is no clear, unified GOP message on health care going into the year-end deadline when the tax credits expire — and no guarantee that Republicans will be able to pass anything this week to address the loss of beefed-up subsidies instituted under former President Joe Biden.”

Paul Krugman: “Warner Bros. Discovery, which among other things controls CNN, has agreed to sell itself to Netflix. But it isn’t a done deal, because Paramount has made a rival, hostile bid.... This is a bigger story than usual.... First, there’s an antitrust issue.... Second, there’s a financial issue. On its own, there is no way that Paramount, which is deeply in debt and whose credit rating is 'a notch below “junk”' could afford to buy Warner.... But it’s not just about the money.... It’s about democracy.... Ominously, Trump and Trumpism have powerful allies that had no counterpart in previous competitive authoritarian regimes. Namely, there is a network of deeply anti-democratic tech billionaires, of which [Larry] Ellison [-- who says he'll financially back the Paramount bid --] is a very significant player.... Consistent with their agenda of disabling a pluralistic, democratic society, the broligarchy is engaged in an effort to seize control of media, both traditional and social.... It’s a terrifying prospect that we are so close to authoritarian media capture. Just take a look at Hungary or Venezuela to see what that leads to.”

Michael Hirschorn in a New York Times op-ed: “The ruling in the 2010 Citizens United case, among others, invited the super rich to exert all the influence on policy and politics that their money could buy — and then enjoy all the wealth that influence secured for them in return. Thanks to ever-more-obliging tax policies, the billionaire class grew absurdly rich over the years that followed.... The billionaires could have kept on like that forever. All they had to do was keep their mouths closed.... But they won’t stop yapping about it.... It’s as if the sheer scale of this wealth, which beggars even the riches of the Gilded Age, has induced a kind of class sociopathy.” Hirschorn goes on to liken what's happening in today's society to what happened to in the era before the French Revolution: “That story did not end well. This one may not either.” Thanks to akaWendy for this gift link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I have understood since I was a child poring over the society pages of the New York Times that the rich "are different from you and me": that I wasn't going to have a coming-out party, and my engagement would not be announced on the pages I perused with childish wonder. Fitzgerald -- and the Times -- were writing about those who had inherited wealth, and -- as ever -- today's billionaire bros are not the sons of billionaires. Also as always, that means these self-made men have more to prove than do those to the manor born. The nouveaux riches are not only more gauche; they're more greedy. Despite their bravado and their bullying, they're as uncomfortable as a 7th-grader at a sock hop (okay, I'm seriously dating myself!). But it is not the billionaires who are the root of the problem. They are billionaires only because the Congress and the Supreme Court allow them to be so. Sure, Johnny & the Dwarfs are getting their cuts, and so are the MOCs. But their slices are paper-thin by comparison. 

The job for the rest of us is to elect people to Congress (and to the presidency) who have the fortitude to stand up to billionaires. It seems impossible, but it is not. As Hirschorn writes, “At a moment when income inequality, the looming threat of A.I. and the rise of authoritarianism seem to be straining American societal cohesion, a revolt against self-dealing elites may be the only cause compelling enough to bring us together.” (Also linked yesterday.) 

Julia Jacobs of the New York Times: “Rob Reiner, the son of a pioneering television comedian who became a popular sitcom actor himself before directing a slate of beloved films, including 'This Is Spinal Tap,' 'When Harry Met Sally …' and 'The Princess Bride,' died on Sunday. He was 78. His death, along with that of his wife, Michele, was announced by Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Police Department said it was investigating “an apparent homicide” at the Reiners’ home. Mr. Reiner, who initially rose to fame playing Meathead, Archie Bunker’s son-in-law, on the sitcom “All in the Family” in the 1970s, went on to become a remarkably versatile film director....  He also led a vibrant political life, lending his celebrity to a variety of liberal causes, including gay marriage.” ~~~

Alex Marshall of the New York Times: “Michele Singer Reiner, who was found dead age 70 at home in Los Angeles on Sunday, along with her husband, Rob Reiner, was working as a photographer in the late 1980s when she inadvertently changed the course of movie history. One day, she visited the New York set of the romantic comedy 'When Harry Met Sally…' and was watching a scene in which Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal’s lovesick characters argue with each other when Mr. Reiner, the film’s director, spotted her in the distance.... 'I look over and I see this girl, and “Whoo!” I was attracted immediately,” he told The New York Times in 1989, recalling the pair’s meeting. A few months later, the photographer and director married — and their relationship inspired Mr. Reiner to change the ending of his most famous movie. 'Originally, Harry and Sally didn’t get together,' he told the Guardian in 2018. 'But then I met Michele and I thought: “OK, I see how this works.’” Harry and Sally had to marry each other, too.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I came across Rob Reiner at the same time. One afternoon when I lived on Washington Square West in Manhattan, I was walking home and got stopped at the northeast corner of the square. The whole area was closed for filming "When Harry Met Sally," and a guard told me I couldn't get through to my apartment building, a block away. I told the guard I lived right there & pointed to my building. Reiner & Billy Crystal were in earshot, sitting on director's chairs. I gave them a ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Reiner smiled and told the guard to let me though. Both he and Crystal said hello & Reiner apologized for the inconvenience. Nice men.

~~~ Victoria Edel of People: "Rob Reiner has died at the age of 78. He and his wife, Michele, were found dead by apparent homicide inside their Brentwood, Calif., home on Dec. 14, TMZ reports. The outlet reports that the two suffered wounds consistent with a knife attack. Authorities are currently investigating. The Reiners had been married since 1989." (Also linked yesterday.) At 11:30 pm ET, major news media are reporting that "two people were found dead at a home owned by Rob Reiner," but the stories all give the ages of the two as the ages of Rob & Michele Reiner. ~~~

     ~~~ Greg Hanlon of People: "Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, were killed by their son, Nick, according to multiple sources who have spoken with family members. Police have not yet confirmed the account." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times is running a liveblog into the investigation of the deaths.   

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Rhode Island. New York Times liveblog: “Law enforcement officials on Monday urgently renewed their search for the gunman who killed two people at Brown University in Rhode Island over the weekend, after investigators released a person of interest because they could not find enough evidence connecting him to the shooting. Mayor Brett Smiley of Providence, R.I., said Sunday night that officials had no way of knowing if the attacker, who killed at least two students and injured nine others in the attack on Saturday, was still in the city. The turn in the investigation came hours after the authorities said they had detained a person of interest. Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director, said that federal investigators had found the person in a town near Providence after receiving a lead from the city police.”

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Australia. Kristen Gelineau, et al., of the AP: “An attack at a famous Australian beach killed 16 people, including a child, officials said Monday, after two gunmen opened fire at a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney’s Bondi Beach. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called it an act of antisemitic terrorism. Hundreds of people had gathered Sunday at the beach for an event to celebrate the first day of Hanukkah, when gunmen opened fire. At least 38 others were injured in the attack.” Related NYT report linked below. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times is liveblogging developments: “Australian police said on Monday that they expected to bring criminal charges against the surviving gunman in a deadly shooting spree that targeted a Jewish holiday celebration in Sydney. The authorities said they have concluded that the attack on Sunday at Bondi Beach, which they said was carried out by a father and son, was an act of terrorism.... At least 38 people remained hospitalized following the mass shooting. Hundreds of people had gathered at the beach, a famed half-mile crescent of sand, for a Hanukkah event.... Gunshots ripped through the celebration.... Investigators did not release the names of the suspects, but described them as a 50-year-old man and his 24-year-old son. The older man died after being shot by officers. The younger man sustained critical injuries, the police said on Monday afternoon.”

     ~~~ AP: “A bystander seen in a widely circulated video disarming a gunman during a deadly shooting rampage at a popular Australian beach is being heralded as a hero who saved lives. Video footage posted to social media shows a passerby dressed in a white T-shirt and dark pants crouching behind a parked car before sneaking up behind a gunman, grabbing him and wrestling away his firearm. The bystander then points the weapon at the gunman, who falls to the ground. The intervention drew wide praise, including from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. New South Wales Premier Chris Minns called it the 'most unbelievable scene.' The bystander was identified as 43-year-old Ahmed Al Ahmed by 7NEWS Australia, which interviewed his cousin.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Sean Rubensztein-Dunlop, et al., of ABC (Australian) News: "Australia's domestic intelligence agency, ASIO, examined one of the Bondi Beach gunmen six years ago over his close ties to a Sydney-based Islamic State (IS) terrorism cell, the ABC understands. Naveed Akram, 24, and his father, Sajid Akram, 50, killed 15 people on Sunday evening when they opened fire on the Chanukah by the Sea event celebrating the first day of the Jewish festival.... Heavily-armed police on Sunday night raided their home in Bonnyrigg, in south-west Sydney, as well as an Airbnb property in Campsie where the men had been staying." ~~~

~~~ How Reasonable Governments React to Mass Shootings. Charlotte Graham-McLay of the AP: “Australian federal and state government leaders on Monday agreed to immediately overhaul already-tough national gun control laws after a mass shooting targeted a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney’s Bondi Beach, leaving at least 15 people dead. The action would include renegotiating the landmark national firearms agreement that virtually banned rapid-fire rifles after a lone gunman killed 35 people in Tasmania in 1996, galvanizing the country into action, the nine leaders’ said in a statement after an emergency meeting.” ~~~

     ~~~ Paul Campos in LG&$: “The reflexive right wing idiot reaction to this sort of incident is that strict gun laws 'don’t work,' but America’s homicide rate is 570% higher than Australia’s (.85 per 100K v. 5.7 per 100K), because 99.5% of gun homicides in the US are not public terror mass shootings like that at Brown University yesterday, but rather much more prosaic murders that get zero national media attention because they’re just part of the fabric of everyday life. Or as Charlie Kirk once put it, they’re just the price 'we' pay for Freedom ™.” 

Chile. Emma Bubola of the New York Times: “José Antonio Kast ... was elected as Chile’s president [on Sunday] on his third try, scoring a resounding victory against his leftist opponent and pushing the country decidedly to the right as Chileans’ sought iron-fisted solutions to increased violence and illegal immigration. Mr. Kast, a stern father of nine with deep ideological roots in conservative Catholicism and economic neoliberalism, belongs to a global right-wing movement that has risen to power around the world by prioritizing strict law and order and sealing borders. He obtained 58 percent of the vote on Sunday.” The Guardian's story is here.

Greenland. William Booth of the Washington Post: “A reassertion of 'Inuit pride,' especially among young people, is giving Greenlanders the strength to push back against a new would-be territorial governor: ... Donald Trump, who vowed 'one way or the other' that he would 'get' Greenland. For years a Cold War backwater, covered by a mile-high ice sheet, Greenland has emerged on the world stage mostly because of Trump — who burst back on the scene just as Greenland is undergoing a kind of postcolonial revival.” 

Hong Kong. Christian Shepherd, et al., of the Washington Post: “Hong Kong newspaper founder Jimmy Lai, a leading figure in the city’s pro-democracy movement and an ardent critic of the Chinese Communist Party, was convicted Monday on three charges of sedition and collusion with foreign forces in a landmark national security case.... The 855-page verdict, handed down by three government-approved judges, will be seen as further proof that Beijing has swept away any last remaining press freedoms and judicial independence in the city, essentially ruling that one man was responsible for a mass movement that saw almost a third of Hong Kong’s 7 million people take to the streets.”