December 27, 2025

Liz Oyer in a New York Times op-ed: “... [Donald] Trump took pardon abuse to a new level this year with a string of dubious clemencies that together present a unique case study in how this unfettered executive power can be used to degrade, corrupt and politicize the justice system.... For the most part, [presidents] relied on the Justice Department’s pardon attorney — a position I held for nearly three years — to evaluate clemency applications.... Mr. Trump has flipped the table on the deliberative approach favored by his predecessors. The damage won’t be easily undone.... In March, after being sidelined for weeks, I was dismissed. I was replaced by Ed Martin, an organizer in the Stop the Steal movement who has described his pardon priorities unambiguously: 'No MAGA left behind.'... Mr. Biden diminished the legitimacy of the pardon power at the end of his presidency when he issued a slew of last-minute, pre-emptive pardons to family members and allies.” The link appears to be a gift link. The essay is worth reading. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oyer is wrong about Biden's last-minute pardons. At the time Biden issued those pardons, I too thought he had made a mistake. But Biden was right to spare his family members and others from harassment by Trump's DOJ. Ask Tish James & Jim Comey & Lisa Cook about that. On the other hand, Joe Biden's pardon of Hunter Biden for crimes of which Hunter had already been convicted was a bad call. He should have pardoned his son pre-emptively for any other crimes Trump's DOJ drummed up, but not for crimes he committed. 

Surprise! Trump Lied about the Nigeria Strikes. Ruth Maclean, et al., of the New York Times: “After the U.S. military launched airstrikes on sites in northwestern Nigeria on Thursday..., [Donald] Trump said the targets were Islamic State terrorists 'who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians.' But analysts say that the situation on the ground is far more complicated. Sokoto State, which was hit by more than 12 Tomahawk missiles Thursday night, is populated overwhelmingly by Muslims, who bear the brunt of terrorist attacks there, according to analysts and groups that monitor conflict. Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of Sokoto said recently that the area does “not have a problem with persecution” of Christians. And analysts are divided over the existence of ties between insurgent groups in Sokoto and the Islamic State.... 

“Even as the Nigerian authorities have disputed Mr. Trump’s claims about a Christian 'genocide,' they have chosen to respond to his threats by cooperating with his administration. Nigeria has taken the opportunity to use U.S. firepower against insurgents that have plagued rural communities in the country’s northwest.... The strikes were 'meant to deter further operations of bandits in that area,' ... said [Nigeria’s foreign minister Yusuf Tuggar].” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ The Washington Post is kindlier. They suggest Trump is not so much a liar as he is a dummkopf who doesn't know WTF he's doing: ~~~ 

     ~~~ Rachel Chason, et al., of the Washington Post: “... security analysts warned that Trump administration officials appeared to be stepping into a complex, long-running conflict that they might not fully understand.” MB: Oh please. Trump said he didn't fully understand what part of his body was scanned in his recent MRI, and Susie Wiles says he doesn't fully understand (and never will) what USAID does. You think he fully understands Nigerian rivalries? If he received a briefing, he slept through it. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Ben Ezeamalu, et al., of Reuters: "By publicly cooperating with the United States on a Christmas Day airstrike, Nigeria's government may have averted humiliating unilateral military action threatened a month ago by ... Donald Trump.... While Nigeria has had persistent security challenges, including violence and kidnappings by Islamist insurgents in the north, it strongly denies that Christians are subjected to systematic persecution.... Kabir Adamu ... of Abuja-based Beacon Security and Intelligence Limited..., [said,] 'Trump is pandering to domestic evangelical Christian objectives with his "Christian genocide" narrative.'..." ~~~

~~~ Robert Farley in LG&$: "This feels like meat for Trump’s base… which is of course why it’s ridiculous to focus on Trump’s personal feelings with respect to peace and war. Trump conducts foreign policy as a combination of domestic policy and personal wealth aggregation, which means that he will make war in foreign countries when he sees it to his personal political and financial advantage to make war. There is no Realism; there is no Restraint; there is simply Trump. Beltway foreign policy analysts have tried very hard to pretend otherwise, but this is where we are." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If we take a wider view, as Patrick did at the end of yesterday's Comments, then the absurdity, and perhaps the inevitability, of Donald's African adventure comes into focus. 

Joe Walsh of CBS News: "As prosecutors contend with a massive trove of documents related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein..., [Donald] Trump suggested Friday the Justice Department is spending too much time on the issue — but said prominent Democrats linked to Epstein should be named.... Mr. Trump ... [wrote] on Truth Social late Friday...: 'Now 1,000,000 more pages on Epstein are found. DOJ is being forced to spend all of its time on this Democrat inspired Hoax....' The president went on to allege that Democrats, not Republicans, are 'the ones who worked with Epstein.... Release all of their names, embarrass them, and get back to helping our Country.'..." ~~~

~~~ Rebecca Solnit (Dec. 20 ??): "...  there is likely something in the [Epstein] files that further incriminates [Donald Trump]. This is why a thousand FBI agents frantically scoured the files earlier this year to find mentions of him (an outrage that has not received nearly enough attention), why he had public meltdowns this summer about the issue, why Pam Bondi and the Department of Justice, which had already been reorganized to protect him rather than us, to twist the law to that end rather than uphold the law, had to be forced by an act of Congress to release the files. And why they have failed to obey in full.... The Trump Administration, whether it's the attack on reproductive rights, Pete Hegseth's attacks on women in the military, the dismantling and demonization of diversity-equality-inclusion programs, is also attacking women and seeking to return us to a status of extreme inferiority. The regime is headed by Jeffrey Epstein's best friend, who surely thought there would be no consequences for his decades of dehumanization of women that has continued with his creepy comments, lecherous and hateful, about women this year." Via Heather Cox Richardson.  

Jordan Rubin of MS NOW: "...  Donald Trump this week touted his administration’s dramatic cuts to the federal workforce, as remaining workers steeled themselves for another potential government shutdown — and more possible cuts — in the new year.... [In a post on his social media site, Trump] cited jobs numbers from earlier this month showing federal employment at its lowest in more than a decade, down 271,000 jobs since he took office. The Trump administration casts those numbers in a wholly positive light, as indicative of a strong private sector, even as the labor market stalls." 

Ashley Fields of the Hill: “FBI Director Kash Patel on Friday said the FBI’s J. Edgar Hoover building in Washington, D.C., will be 'shut down permanently' after previously discarding plans to move the bureau’s headquarters to Maryland. Instead, employees will report to the Ronald Reagan Building to occupy the former location of the U.S. Agency for International Development, which was dismantled by the Trump administration earlier this year. 'After more than 20 years of failed attempts, we finalized a plan to permanently close the FBI’s Hoover headquarters and move the workforce into a safe, modern facility. Working directly with President Trump and Congress, we accomplished what no one else could,' Patel wrote in a post on ... X.... Lawmakers from Maryland have criticized the move, citing congressional approval [of a Maryland campus] under the Biden administration.... Last month, Maryland sued the Trump administration alleging it wrongly diverted $555 million in funding [from the Maryland site]....”

Tim Balk of the New York Times: “The leader of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington has sent a letter threatening litigation against a musician who canceled an annual Christmas Eve jazz concert at the institution. Richard Grenell, the Kennedy Center’s president, sent the letter after the musician, Chuck Redd, canceled the concert in protest of the site’s new name, the Trump-Kennedy Center. Mr. Redd had hosted the show for nearly two decades. But he said he would not hold the concert after the members of the center’s board of trustees, handpicked by President Trump, voted last week to change the name.... 'This is your official notice that we will seek $1 million in damages from you for this political stunt,' [Mr. Grenell wrote to Mr. Redd].” The AP report is here.

Alexandra Marquez of NBC News: "White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced Friday that she and her husband are expecting a second child, due in May.... Leavitt and her husband, who is 60, met in 2022 when she ran unsuccessfully for Congress in New Hampshire.... A spokesperson for the White House did not immediately respond to NBC News’ questions about whether Leavitt plans to take maternity leave after the birth of her daughter and whether anyone would fill in for her if she does." (Also linked yesterday.)

David Nakamura of the Washington Post: “Despite a federal judge’s ruling in September that immigrants in the country lawfully are protected by the First Amendment, federal authorities have continued to revoke visas from foreign visitors over statements the administration has called dangerous and un-American.... In October, several major labor unions — the United Auto Workers (UAW), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the Communications Workers of America — filed a lawsuit alleging the government is deploying a 'vast surveillance apparatus' powered by artificial intelligence and other emerging technology that has stifled participation in public life among noncitizens.” 

Rhian Lubin of the Independent: “... Donald Trump has promoted Mora Namdar — an attorney, part-time salon owner and former Project 2025 author — in a senior role that oversees visa approvals, issuing passports, and is responsible for the welfare of U.S. citizens overseas. Namdar, of Texas, whose parents are Iranian immigrants, was sworn in this week as the State Department’s new assistant secretary for the Bureau of Consular Affairs after working on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and North Africa within the agency. The 38-year-old’s new role could see her deciding the fates of migrants applying for visas who have been critical of the Trump administration, according to testimony she gave before a Senate committee in October.... Namdar ran her own law firm before she entered politics, alongside launching a beauty business called Bam Beauty Bar, with salons located throughout her home state of Texas.... [She] was the author of a section of ... [the] Project 2025 blueprint that accused the media and academia as a 'center of Leftist power.'” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The important qualification is that Namdar has adopted the Mar-a-Lago Look. If you live in Texas, ladies, I expect you can stop by your local Bam Beauty Bar and get the look for yourself. Bear in mind that if the Botox doesn't kill you, you still might end up looking less like Namdar and more like our ambassador to Greece. 

Geng Ngarmboonanant, who worked in Janet Yellen's Treasury Department, in a New York Times op-ed, warns that the government should be worried about who is buying the ballooning U.S. debt. “Over the past four years, hedge funds have doubled their footprint in the U.S. debt market, making the Cayman Islands — where many hedge funds are officially based — the place where the most U.S. debt outside the United States is held.... [This means] the Treasury market is now more exposed to profit-driven market forces than before, and the country has high amounts of debt, making upswings in interest rates and changes in other borrowing terms very costly.... Recently, the United States has seen investors demanding higher premiums to invest in our long-term debt — a reflection of growing uncertainty about the country’s economic and fiscal outlook.”

Kavanaugh Addresses “Kavanaugh Stops.” Heather Cox Richardson: “On Tuesday, December 23, the U.S. Supreme Court made a preliminary finding that ... Donald J. Trump’s deployment of federalized National Guard troops in the Chicago area beginning in October was unlawful.... In September the Supreme Court majority allowed immigration officers to stop individuals on the basis of their apparent race or ethnicity, speaking in Spanish or with an accent, working in certain sectors, or being present at certain locations, like an agricultural site.... In his support for that decision, Kavanaugh wrote that when ... [legal residents] ... are stopped and questioned, 'the questioning in those circumstances is typically brief, and those individuals may promptly go free after making clear to immigration officers that they are U.S. citizens or otherwise legally in the U.S.'... In his concurrence in Tuesday’s decision, Kavanaugh added a footnote saying: 'The Fourth Amendment requires that immigration stops must be based on reasonable suspicion of illegal presence, stops must be brief, arrests must be based on probable cause, and officers must not employ excessive force. Moreover, the officers must not make interior immigration stops or arrests based on race or ethnicity.'” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I don't know that Kavanaugh's footnote will have any effect whatsoever on what ICE thugs do on the streets, but I want to congratulate every journalist and commentator who has pointed out the ridiculous naivety of Kavanaugh's original rosy assumption that "the questioning ... is typically brief" and folks who are here legally will "promptly go free." Thanks to everyone who has used the term "Kavanaugh stops" to describe individual instances of ICE brutality. It worked. O'Kavanaugh looked up from his beer long enough to take note. And the efforts to expose the Kavanaugh stops for what they were could affect the outcome of future decisions at all levels of the judiciary. Maybe there's some utility to the shadow docket, after all: it can expose the stupidity of off-the-cuff opinions before they determine a final decision.  

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Florida. Mia Cathell of the Washington Examiner: “Federally indicted Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL), who is accused of spending stolen disaster relief funds on a $109,000 diamond ring, has edited out what appears to be the jewelry in question from her congressional headshot. Cherfilus-McCormick posted a photoshopped picture of herself on Christmas Day. Noticeably missing from the photo, an un-doctored version of which serves as Cherfilus-McCormick’s House portrait, is a yellow diamond ring with an accompanying band previously seen on her left hand. In November, Cherfilus-McCormick was charged with stealing $5 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency funds, laundering the proceeds, and then making illegal campaign contributions to herself with those gains.... According to the 15-count indictment, Cherfilus-McCormick allegedly cashed a cashier’s check worth approximately $109,000 to buy a ring with the laundered money on or about Sept. 1, 2021." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: A photo that depicts a person from the waist up is not a "headshot." It's a "half-length portrait." 

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Australia. Doktor Zoom of Wonkette: “Ahmed Al Ahmed, the hero who tackled and disarmed one of the two gunmen who opened fire on a Hanukkah celebration at Australia’s Bondi Beach on December 14, received a check last Friday for more than $1.65 million while recovering from his wounds in a Sydney hospital. More than 43,000 people from around the world contributed to a GoFundMe campaign that collected over $2.5 million in funny little Australian dollars.... Al Ahmed has also been visited in the hospital by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and by Chris Minns, premier of New South Wales state, which is always fun to abbreviate because 'NSW' looks like it might be something naughty. Even billionaire shithead hedge fund jerk Bill Ackman took a brief break from being a shithead and donated $99,000 US to the fund before returning to his usual pastimes of trying to destroy Harvard and praising Elon Musk as a visionary.” Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)

Ukraine/Russia, et al. Casandra Vinograd of the New York Times: “Powerful explosions boomed in the skies over the Ukrainian capital early Saturday as Russia launched waves of missiles and attack drones. The hourslong attack came as President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine prepared to meet with ... Donald Trump on Sunday to discuss a plan to end the war.” ~~~  

~~~ Tim Balk of the New York Times: “As ... [Donald] Trump prepares for an expected meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine on Sunday, he is facing some pressure from within his party to take a tough approach to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. Three Republican senators joined five of their Democratic colleagues in issuing a statement on Thursday that described Mr. Putin as a “ruthless murderer who has no interest in peace” and who “cannot be trusted.” It decried Russian attacks on Ukraine that continued over the Christmas holiday. The statement was signed by the Republican senators John Barrasso of Wyoming, Jerry Moran of Kansas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina. It did not criticize Mr. Trump’s handling of the peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, and it was not joined by the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Jim Risch, Republican of Idaho and a close Trump ally, nor by most of the G.O.P. members on that committee....  Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the committee, led the statement. ” ~~~

~~~ Sophia Cai of Politico: “... Donald Trump on Friday cast himself as the ultimate arbiter of any peace deal between Ukraine and Russia.... In an interview, Trump appeared lukewarm to Zelenskyy’s latest overture and in no rush to endorse the Ukrainian president’s proposal. 'He doesn’t have anything until I approve it,' Trump said. 'So we’ll see what he’s got.'” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So the most arrogant, overbearing man in the world once again claims that Zelensky must bow low to him, and this is Cai's very next sentence: “The president’s comments underscore the degree to which Ukraine’s fate rests on convincing Trump that it is conceding enough to satisfy a president who, at times, has appeared inclined to lean toward Russia if it means an end to the war.” “At times”? Trump has been Putin's puppet for at least a decade. Read on. Trump says that the meeting with Zelensky is “going to go good” and that he's going to speak with Putin “as much as I want.” Oh, and this: “I have Zelenskyy and I have Bibi coming. They’re all coming. They all come. They respect our country again.” No, every time this pathetic, needy narcissist opens his mouth, respect for our country drops a little more. ~~~

~~~ Sean Seddon of BBC News: "Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky has said he will meet ... Donald Trump in Florida at the weekend, as talks continue on ending Russia's full-scale war. Zelensky said he expected the meeting to take place on Sunday and to focus on a US-brokered 20-point peace plan, as well as separate proposals for US security guarantees. Meanwhile, the Kremlin says President Vladimir Putin's senior aide has held further talks with US officials over the phone, and that Russia has committed to continuing with the negotiations." (Also linked yesterday.)