December 6, 2025

 

~~~ David Smith of the Guardian: “To the surprise of no one, Donald Trump won the inaugural Fifa peace prize on Friday at a cheesy, gaudy and gauche World Cup draw expertly designed to flatter the world’s most precious ego. 'This is your prize – this is your peace prize!' gushed Gianni Infantino, the bald-headed Fifa president, after Trump took the stage at the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in snowy Washington. There on a plinth, with 'Donald J Trump' emblazoned on it in capital letters, was the uncoveted trophy: a golden globe resting on five golden hands big enough to compensate any tiny-handed recipient feeling sore about the Nobel peace prize. But wait, there was more. 'There is also a beautiful medal for you that you can wear everywhere you want to go,' added Infantino.... Glowing oranger than usual under the stage lights, Trump eagerly put the medal around his neck without waiting for Infantino to do the honours. He told the audience of 2,000 people: 'This is truly one of the great honours of my life.'” MB: This is a straight news story by a straight news reporter who cannot keep a straight face for this one. Kind of a fun read. ~~~

~~~ David Gilmour of Mediaite: Internet trolls mock Trump, FIFA. ~~~ 

~~~ Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: This past week, Donald Trump “repeatedly switched between touting his peace deals and threatening new conflicts. He defended his administration’s boat strikes in the Caribbean and threatened a land war with Venezuela — then touted the wars he has 'ended' and reveled in the rebranding of the U.S. Institute of Peace to bear his name. On Friday, he received a new peace award created by FIFA..., in another tribute tailored to Trump.” 

⭐Trump's Racist Assessment Aims to Destabilize Democracies. Michael Shear, et al., of the New York Times: “The Trump administration said on Friday that Europe was facing the 'stark prospect of civilizational erasure' and pledged that the United States would support like-minded 'patriotic' parties across the continent to prevent a future in which 'certain NATO members will become majority non-European.' The grim assessment of Europe’s future was released overnight as part of an annual update to the United States’ national security strategy around the world. Without naming them directly, the document says the United States should be 'cultivating resistance' across Europe by supporting political parties that fight against migration and promote nationalism. That describes several right-wing populist parties like Reform U.K. in Britain and the Alternative for Germany, known as the AfD, which has been classified as an extremist party by German intelligence services.... [The assessment] It warns that Europe is on a path to becoming 'unrecognizable' because of migration policies that it claims are undermining the national identities of European countries. 

“And it says that the policy of the United States should be to help Europe 'correct its current trajectory' over the course of the next several decades.... And it echoes some of the language of the Great Replacement Theory, a nationalist conspiracy theory embraced by some of his top aides that warns of a deliberate effort to replace white people with nonwhite immigrants.... Within hours of its release, the document was already provoking sharp retorts from across Europe.” ~~~

     ~~~ You can peruse this great American screed here, courtesy of the White House.  

     ~~~ Marie: So this is not just one Crazy Old Man in the White House spitting out racist insults. This is official U.S. policy. Somebody wrote it down. Somebody typed it. Somebody printed out multiple copies. Somebody bound the copies in neat folders and distributed them. Somebody uploaded the document to the White House Website. And it's damned scary. What is Trump going to do to "help Europe 'correct its current trajectory'"? Blow up some boats carrying African migrants across the Mediterranean? On the other hand, perhaps the whole thing is inconsequential. It could be nothing more than an updated version of Stephen Miller's high school senior thesis. ~~~

We seek good relations and peaceful commercial relations with the nations of the world, without imposing on them democratic or other social change that differs widely from their traditions and histories. -- U.S. National Security Strategy ~~~

~~~ Anton Troinovski of the New York Times: “The world as seen from the White House is a place where America can use its vast powers to make money.... [Donald] Trump has shown all year that his second term would make it a priority to squeeze less powerful countries to benefit American companies. But late Thursday, his administration made that profit-driven approach a core element of its official foreign policy, publishing its long-anticipated update to U.S. national security aims around the world. The document, known as the National Security Strategy, describes a world in which American interests are far narrower than how prior administrations — even in Mr. Trump’s first term — had portrayed them. Gone is the long-familiar picture of the United States as a global force for freedom, replaced by a country that is focused on reducing migration while avoiding passing judgment on authoritarians, instead seeing them as sources of cash.... [The document] provoked an outcry from European politicians, echoing the shock when Vice President JD Vance castigated German officials in February for trying to blunt the rise of the country’s far-right party. Carl Bildt, a former Swedish prime minister, posted on social media that the National Security Strategy 'places itself to the right of the extreme right in Europe.'...

“The Middle East, it says, is 'a source and destination of international investment.' The document calls for  'dropping America’s misguided experiment with hectoring these nations — especially the Gulf monarchies — into abandoning their traditions and historic forms of government.' In Latin America, the document says, the United States will 'reassert and enforce the Monroe Doctrine to restore American pre-eminence in the Western Hemisphere.' Along the way, American diplomats are to hunt for 'major business opportunities in their country, especially major government contracts.'” ~~~

~~~ ⭐Heather Cox Richardson: “To achieve their white supremacist country, the document’s authors insist they will not permit 'transnational and international organizations [or] foreign powers or entities' to undermine U.S. sovereignty. To that end, they reject immigration as well as 'the disastrous “climate change” and “Net Zero” ideologies that have so greatly harmed Europe, threatened the United States, and subsidize our adversaries.' The document reorients the U.S. away from traditional European allies toward Russia.... In place of the post–World War II rules-based international order, the Trump administration’s NSS commits the U.S. to a world divided into spheres of interest by dominant countries. It calls for the U.S. to dominate the Western Hemisphere through what it calls 'commercial diplomacy,' using 'tariffs and reciprocal trade agreements as powerful tools' and discouraging Latin American nations from working with other nations.... It went on to make clear that this policy is a plan to help U.S. businesses take over Latin America and, perhaps, Canada.... The document calls this policy a 'Trump Corollary' to the Monroe Doctrine, linking this dramatic reworking to America’s past to make it sound as if it is historical, when it is anything but.”

Julian Barnes & Charlie Savage of the New York Times: “The two survivors of the U.S. military’s first boat strike on Sept. 2 climbed atop the overturned hull and waved to something overhead, according to multiple people who have seen video of the attack.... Some of the people viewing the video thought the waving by the survivors could have been an attempt to surrender.... Others who viewed the video said the most logical explanation was that the two survivors had seen the American aircraft above them and started signaling for a rescue.... There were no other unknown aircraft or boats in visual range, according to officials who attended classified sessions on Thursday in which military officers briefed lawmakers. The military officers said the survivors could have been trying to beckon to other alleged drug traffickers in a plane or boat to come get them....” Update: The link is now a gift link. ~~~

~~~ Natasha Bertrand of CNN: “The alleged drug traffickers killed by the US military in a strike on September 2 were heading to link up with another, larger vessel that was bound for Suriname — a small South American country east of Venezuela – the admiral who oversaw the operation told lawmakers on Thursday, according to two sources with direct knowledge of his remarks.According to intelligence collected by US forces, the struck boat planned to 'rendezvous' with the second vessel and transfer drugs to it, Adm. Frank Bradley said during the briefings, but the military was unable to locate the second vessel. Bradley argued there was still a possibility the drug shipment could have ultimately made its way from Suriname to the US.... US drug enforcement officials say that trafficking routes via Suriname are primarily destined for European markets.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So here's how the story stands. Back in September, Trump "said that the U.S. military is attacking boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific because of the large numbers of fentanyl deaths in the United States, and he claims that those boats come from Venezuela." But "the fentanyl used illegally in the United States does not come from Venezuela." Now we learn from Bertrand that the boat struck September 2 was not headed for the U.S. at all, but was part of an operation to move cocaine, not fentanyl, to Suriname, and from there the coke would most likely go to Europe, not to the U.S. So there was almost no chance that the eleven people the U.S. killed were transporting fentanyl that would kill people living in the U.S. All this would have been known to Hegseth, Bradley & a number of other U.S. officials before the U.S. struck that boat the first time. Hegseth should have conveyed all that to Trump (which is not saying that he did, but we have no idea). IOW, there was nothing about this strike that was righteous, even from a Trumpian POV. Update: As RAS points out in today's Comments, Bradley also knew that U.S. intel & surveillance came up short: they couldn't find the second boat that was supposed to relay the drugs to Suriname. 

~~~ Heather Cox Richardson, in her December 4 newsletter, has a bit more on our Murder at Sea program. ~~~

~~~ Alex Griffing of Mediaite: Rep. Don Bacon (R-Nebraska), a retired Air Force general, slams Pete Hegseth for an abundance of "what I call just poor decision-making." Bacon says, "I've seen enough."

Trump, Implicated? Ken Dilanian, et al., of MS NOW: "The man charged with planting pipe bombs outside Republican and Democratic national party headquarters before the Jan. 6 Capitol riots told the FBI he supported Donald Trump and believed Trump won the 2020 election, according to two people familiar with his interview.... While in custody, Cole confessed to planting the pipe bombs, which did not detonate, two sources familiar with his interview with the FBI told MS NOW." ~~~

~~~ Ryan Reilly of NBC News: "The man charged with planting two pipe bombs near the Democratic and Republican party headquarters on the eve of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol told the FBI he believed conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, according to two people familiar with the matter. Brian Cole Jr., 30, is cooperating with the FBI, NBC News has reported, citing a separate person familiar with the matter. Cole is expected to make his first court appearance on Friday. He was charged Thursday with leaving pipe bombs outside the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee in the hours before Donald Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol.... The suspect appeared in federal court for the first time since his arrest on Friday, wearing a prison jumpsuit. Cole, who vowed to answer all questions asked honestly, told the judge he graduated from high school and hadn’t had any alcohol or drugs that would impact his ability to understand what was happening." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Pierre Thomas, et al., of ABC News: "The man who is accused of placing two pipe bombs outside the Democratic and Republican National Committee offices on Jan. 5, 2021, told investigators he was 'disappointed' in the results of the 2020 election, according to U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro.... Pirro confirmed ABC News' reporting that Cole is talking to authorities and that they say he expressed concern about the 2020 election. She said 'it really isn't clear' if Cole is a supporter of either ... Donald Trump or former President Joe Biden. 'This guy was an equal opportunity bomber,' Pirro said. 'He put a bomb outside the Republican National Committee and the Democrat National Committee. He was disappointed to a great deal in the system, both sides of the system....'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So all those wacko conspiracy theories -- looking at you, Dan Bongino -- about there being a connection between the pipe bombings and something, something MAGA? Well, yeah. Maybe just not exactly the something, something you had in mind. ~~~ 

~~~ Glenn Thrush & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: “Dan Bongino, the No. 2 official at the F.B.I., spent much of Thursday basking in praise for his role in catching a man charged with planting two pipe bombs near Republican and Democratic party headquarters.... He ended [the day] with a stunning suggestion that his previous claim that the case was an 'inside job' abetted by a federal cover-up had been fodder for his lucrative podcast. 'I was paid in the past, Sean, for my opinions..., but that’s not what I’m paid for now,' Mr. Bongino told Sean Hannity on Fox, after being asked about a November 2024 episode in which Mr. Bongino said he had 'zero doubt' that placement of the devices was a setup. 'I’m paid to be your deputy director, and we base investigations on facts,' he added. That the case appeared to involve a set of facts utterly at odds with his prior narrative did not seem to bother Mr. Bongino. 

“But others on the right were not nearly as willing to move on so quickly.... The claim that the pipe bombs were part of an inside job is a crucial element of the debunked but enduring belief among fervent Trump loyalists: that the Capitol riot was ... a shadowy conspiracy by government and political operatives to sow chaos and discredit the Trumpist movement. Mr. Trump has used the full powers of government and his pardon pen to rewrite the history of the Jan. 6 attack as an assault against — not by — himself and his supporters. The revelation, according to initial accounts, that Mr. Cole was not hostile to the president and may indeed have supported him does not appear to neatly fit that story line.”

Carol Leonnig & Ken Dilanian of MS NOW: "FBI Director Kash Patel has — on more than one occasion — ordered that the security detail protecting his girlfriend escort one of her allegedly inebriated friends home after a night of partying in Nashville, according to three people with knowledge of the incidents. Patel’s girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins, asked FBI agents on her security team at least two times, including once this spring, to drive her friend home, and agents objected to diverting from their assignment.... But Patel insisted they do as Wilkins requested and in one case called the leader of Wilkins’ security detail and yelled at him to do so." (Also linked yesterday.)  

Uh, She's Still There. Devlin Barrett & Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: “A federal judge ruled last week that the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Lindsey Halligan, a Trump loyalist, had been unlawfully appointed as the U.S. attorney by the Trump administration. As a result, the judge ordered the dismissal of ... high-profile indictments against [former FBI director James] Comey and [New York attorney general Letitia] James. But while that decision, by Judge Cameron McGowan Currie, who was brought in from a district in South Carolina to handle the question, found Ms. Halligan’s appointment invalid, it did not expressly order her removed from the office. The Justice Department has seized on the lack of explicit instruction to keep Ms. Halligan in place for now, eliciting the judges’ irritation. On Thursday morning, one judge removed Ms. Halligan’s name from a court filing and questioned the administration’s argument that she could still hold the job.” The link is a gift link.

Carol Rosenberg of the New York Times: “A federal judge ruled on Friday that the Trump administration exceeded its authority in holding migrants designated for deportation at the U.S. Navy base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. But Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., stopped short of ordering Kristi Noem, the secretary of homeland security, to shut down the detention operation there. Instead, the judge rejected a government request to dismiss a class-action challenge brought by the American Civil Liberties Union. A lawyer for the A.C.L.U. said the legal group would soon seek a closure order. Judge Sooknanan found that the law did not give the administration the power to hold detainees designated for deportation at offshore military bases.”

The Buck Stops with Barbie. But She's Not Talking Much. Steve Thompson of the Washington Post: “Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem said in a federal court filing Friday evening that she was the one who decided Venezuelan detainees aboard two airplanes bound for El Salvador in March would be handed over to that country despite a judge’s order temporarily barring their removal. Noem’s declaration came as a federal judge in D.C. resumes a long-stalled inquiry into whether she or any other official should be referred for a potential contempt prosecution for disobeying the order. Chief U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg of the District of Columbia is looking into whether a criminal contempt referral is warranted after the Trump administration, justifying their action under the little-used Alien Enemies Act, continued to fly two planeloads of mostly Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador to be held in the country’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT.... The lack of details in Noem’s declaration, as well as those from two other Trump administration officials Friday, may prompt Boasberg, who has said he intends to learn why his order was not followed, to seek testimony from them in court.”

Emily Bregel of the (Tuscon) Arizona Daily Star: “Agents with Homeland Security Investigations carried out targeted enforcement operations at multiple Taco Giro restaurants in Tucson early Friday, which federal officials said was the result of a years-long investigation into immigration and tax violations. The HSI operation at a Taco Giro restaurant at 610 N. Grande Ave., in Barrio Hollywood on Tucson's west side, later led to a clash between protesters and federal agents, who deployed pepper spray and flash-bang grenades against the crowd.” ~~~

⭐~~~ AND This. Amy Wang of the Washington Post: “Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-Arizona) said Friday that she was pepper sprayed by immigration enforcement agents in Tucson as she tried to find out more information about a raid taking place at a restaurant in her district. In a video posted to social media, Grijalva said the incident took place Friday afternoon outside a Taco Giro, a small chain of Mexican restaurants in Arizona, where she estimated about 40 Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in multiple vehicles were being confronted by protesters. She said she identified herself as a member of Congress but 'was sprayed in the face by a very aggressive agent' and 'pushed around by others.'... Video from the scene ... shows ICE agents both deploying tear gas and firing pepper balls at protesters....

“'Get out of the way. Stop. You guys need to clear, now,' an agent tells [Grijalva in another video provided by her office]. Shortly afterward, an agent shoots a projectile from a canister toward Grijalva and a cloud of white smoke appears at her feet. In the video, Grijalva is standing next to a reporter for the Tucson Sentinel who was sprayed directly in the face as the lawmaker’s staff tries to protect her. Grijalva said she also witnessed ICE agents spraying at least two of her staff members.” The AP's story is here. ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE. Tom Durante of Mediaite:  Kristi Barbie posted a video of herself wearing a huge hot pink sombrero at a different Mexican restaurant. One person (handle: Scary Larry) tweeted, "Kristi Noem celebrating her birthday at a Mexican restaurant is like Hitler holding his birthday party at a Jewish deli. What’d she do afterward, visit the humane society?"

Cruelty Is the Point. Sarah Betancourt if GBH News (a PBS/NPR affiliate): “Becoming a U.S. citizen takes years and involves immigrants acquiring a green card, extensive interviews, background checks, classes and a citizenship test. The naturalization ceremony is the final step to the process, where the oath of allegiance and a citizenship certificate are granted. Immigrants approved to be naturalized went to Faneuil Hall Thursday — known as the country’s cradle of liberty — for that long-awaited moment to pledge allegiance to the United States. But instead, as they lined up, some were told by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officials that they couldn’t proceed due to their countries of origin. The same situation is playing out at naturalization events across the country as USCIS directed its employees to halt adjudicating all immigration pathways for people from 19 countries deemed to be 'high risk'. 'People were plucked out of line. They didn’t cancel the whole ceremony,' [said Gail Breslow, director of Project Citizenship and an attorney for a Haitian-born client who showed up for the ceremony but was told her naturalization event was cancelled].”

Disinformation Is the Point. Shannon Bond of NPR: "The State Department is instructing its staff to reject visa applications from people who worked on fact-checking, content moderation or other activities the Trump administration considers 'censorship' of Americans' speech. The directive, sent in an internal memo on Tuesday, is focused on applicants for H-1B visas for highly skilled workers, which are frequently used by tech companies, among other sectors.... The Trump administration has been highly critical of tech companies' efforts to police what people are allowed to post on their platforms and of the broader field of trust and safety, the tech industry's term for teams that focus on preventing abuse, fraud, illegal content, and other harmful behavior online." MB: Because, let's face it, Trump in particular & Republicans in general have advanced their sorry careers primarily with the help of "abuse, fraud, illegal content, and other harmful behavior."

Lena Sun & David Ovalle of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump on Friday ordered federal health officials to review the childhood immunization schedule and consider recommending fewer shots to align with other developed countries. His directive came hours after an influential vaccine advisory panel voted to lift a long-standing recommendation that all newborns receive a vaccine for hepatitis B, marking the most significant change to the childhood immunization schedule under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The advisers frequently invoked countries that have a more targeted recommendation.... Medical associations have argued that the U.S. schedule has been thoroughly studied and have credited it for controlling once-rampant pathogens.... 'Children in the United States are at risk of different diseases than children in other countries,' [said Romero of the American Academy of Pediatrics]. 'We also have a completely different health system. The bottom line is vaccine recommendations in the United States are designed to help children resist serious illnesses so they can stay healthy, and our communities can stay healthy.'” ~~~

     ~~~ A related Politico story is here. ~~~

~~~ Apoorva Mandavilli of the New York Times: “After contentious debates and three failed attempts at a vote, a federal vaccine committee decided on Friday to end the decades-long recommendation that all newborns be immunized at birth against hepatitis B, a highly infectious virus that leads to chronic liver disease in most infected children. The vote was a victory for Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has sought for decades to overhaul the childhood vaccine schedule. But the divisiveness and dysfunction of the committee in making the decision raises questions about the reliability of the process and left at least one critic 'very concerned about the future' of the Centers for Disease Control.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Surina Venkat of the Hill: “A trustee of the American Medical Association (AMA) denounced a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) panel’s vote to change hepatitis B vaccine guidance as 'reckless' and urged the agency to reject the recommendation. 'The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice’s (ACIP) vote to weaken the birth-dose recommendation for the Hepatitis B vaccine is reckless and undermines decades of public confidence in a proven, lifesaving vaccine,' Dr. Sandra Adamson Fryhofer, the AMA trustee, said in a statement. 'Today’s action is not based on scientific evidence, disregards data supporting the effectiveness of the Hepatitis B vaccine, and creates confusion for parents about how best to protect their newborns,' she added.” ~~~

~~~ Steve Benen of MS NOW: “Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a former physician who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which has oversight of the Department of Health and Human Services, has raised related concerns.... [In a post on X late Friday morning, he wrote,] 'As a liver doctor who has treated patients with hepatitis B for decades, this change to the vaccine schedule is a mistake. The hepatitis B vaccine is safe and effective. The birth dose is a recommendation, NOT a mandate. Before the birth dose was recommended, 20,000 newborns a year were infected with hepatitis B. Now, it’s fewer than 20. Ending the recommendation for newborns makes it more likely the number of cases will begin to increase again. This makes America sicker. Acting CDC Director O’Neill should not sign these new recommendations and instead retain the current, evidence-based approach.'...

“[Cassidy could do more than write tweets.] He could concede publicly that confirming Kennedy was a tragic mistake; he could call for Kennedy’s resignation; he could even schedule hearings and haul officials from HHS, CDC and the FDA to Capitol Hill to demand answers and changes.” 

~~~ Leanna Sun of the Washington Post: “Though the [hepatitis B birth dose] vaccine will still be available to parents who request it, the change will have many negative effects and might be even more alarming than it initially seems.... There is no evidence that the birth dose is unsafe, and no evidence that waiting until two months offers any advantage to safety or efficacy. What ending the universal recommendation does do is inject complexity into a system that already struggles to reach every infant, especially those whose families lack a regular pediatrician.... Plus, transmission doesn’t just happen mother-to-baby. Hepatitis B can spread through casual contact, including shared household items, small amounts of blood or saliva on toys and surfaces.... And the stakes for infants are high: About 90 percent of infected babies go on to develop chronic hepatitis B, a lifelong incurable disease that can silently damage the liver for decades before it manifests as liver failure. Many will develop liver cancer, which has a five-year survival rate of less than 20 percent.” 

Abbie VanSickle of the New York Times: “The Supreme Court announced on Friday that it would hear a landmark dispute over the constitutionality of ... [Donald] Trump’s effort to end birthright citizenship. The legal fight stems from an executive order signed by the president on his first day back in office declaring that children born to undocumented immigrants and to some temporary foreign residents would no longer be granted citizenship automatically. The executive order, which was immediately paused by courts without going into effect, would upend the commonly accepted view of American citizenship guaranteed since 1898: that citizenship should be extended to anyone born in the United States. It could throw into doubt the citizenship of hundreds of thousands of babies born each year.... Allies of Mr. Trump have argued that the 14th amendment was intended to extend citizenship only to the children of formerly enslaved people and has been wrongly interpreted as applying to the children of undocumented migrants. The theory was once considered a fringe view, but Mr. Trump’s embrace has popularized it among conservative thinkers.” MB: “Conservative thinkers”? Maybe make that “racists.” The AP's report is here.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: “Only two decades ago, all nine Supreme Court justices agreed that extreme partisan gerrymandering could violate the Constitution, though they differed on what courts should do about it. On Thursday, by contrast, the court’s conservative majority allowed Texas to use voting maps made to disadvantage Democrats in the 2026 election, without a hint of constitutional difficulty. To the contrary, the majority chastised a lower court for not taking the state at its word that politics, not race, motivated the maps. The court, it said, had 'failed to honor the presumption of legislative good faith.' In the space of a generation, then, the Supreme Court’s attitude toward partisan gerrymandering has shifted from tolerating it as a necessary evil to embracing it as savvy politics.” ~~~

~~~ So in Indiana. Jane Timm & Zoe Richards of NBC News: “The Indiana House on Friday approved a new congressional map designed to net Republicans two seats, setting up a clash over the redistricting effort pushed by ... Donald Trump in the state Senate. The bill passed the state House, 57-41. But Republican leaders in the Indiana Senate have said there is not enough support for the map, which is designed to give the GOP control of all nine of the state's congressional districts. But the White House has pressured reluctant Indiana lawmakers for months to redraw their map as Trump seeks to shore up his party's narrow U.S. House majority ahead of next year's midterm elections. 'The Indiana Senate must now pass this Map, AS IS, and get it to Governor Mike Braun’s desk, ASAP, to deliver a gigantic Victory for Republicans in the “Hoosier State,” and across the Country,' Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Friday night.” ~~~

~~~ Paul Waldman on Substack: "...  this [Supreme] Court has created a crisis, and Democrats need to start thinking about how they’re going to solve it.... Pressure needs to be built so that when the 2028 Democratic presidential nominating contest begins (it will commence immediately after the 2026 midterms), all the candidates feel compelled to take serious, aggressive stands in favor of dramatic and sweeping.... Democratic voters have to force their candidates to embrace real, aggressive Supreme Court reform." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. 

Annals of “Journalism,” Ctd. Scott Nover of the Washington Post: “Vanity Fair said Friday that it is cutting ties with journalist Olivia Nuzzi amid the fallout from new allegations from her former fiancé about the extent of her inappropriate relationships with her high-profile sources, including ... Robert F. Kennedy Jr.... Ryan Lizza, Nuzzi’s former fiancé, has made myriad accusations in a sprawling and sometimes lurid series of articles published in his Substack newsletter, Telos News, about the scope and nature of Nuzzi’s alleged acts of journalistic malfeasance. (Lizza himself was fired from the New Yorker in 2017 for an unspecified sexual misconduct allegation.)” Mediaite's story is here. ~~~ 

     ~~~ Marie: This parting of the way is kind of funny because Vanity Fair is not a serious journalistic endeavor; rather, it's a glossy magazine with swell fashion photos best known, I guess, for "in-depth" celebrity-gossip articles. So the magazine should be delighted that one of its own has not only reached celebrity status but also was the subject of gossip, was willing to write about it & allowed the magazine to excerpt the gossipy story. But, as the magazine's silly editor Mark Guiducci said of the split, “There’s so much good journalism underway here and we have so much momentum — oh, and a big party to plan — and I don’t want anything to distract us from all of that.” Yes, an Oscars after-party to plan! I'll bet Nuzzi, who was Vanity Fair's glamorous West Coast editor, could have helped with that.

Nicolai Ouroussoff of the New York Times: “Frank O. Gehry, one of the most formidable and original talents in the history of American architecture, died on Friday at his home in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 96.” (Also linked yesterday.)

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