January 5, 2025

     ~~~ Ha ha. Thanks to RAS for the lead.  

Megan Lebowitz, et al., of NBC News: "Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said in a statement Monday that he is ending his re-election bid and will not seek a third term. Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee, cited heightened attention on fraud allegations in Minnesota, adding that 'the political gamesmanship we’re seeing from Republicans is only making that fight harder to win.... As I reflected on this moment with my family and my team over the holidays, I came to the conclusion that I can’t give a political campaign my all.'..."

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The New York Times' live updates of developments in the Venezuelan crisis are here. 

The Monroe Doctrine is a big deal, but we’ve superseded it by a lot, by a real lot. They now call it the Donroe Doctrine.... Under our new national security strategy, American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again. -- Donald Trump, Saturday 

Edward Wong of the New York Times: Donald “Trump on Sunday night asserted again that the United States was 'in charge' of Venezuela, hours after his top diplomat had pivoted away from such earlier suggestions of direct control [of the country].... 'We’re dealing with the people that just got sworn in,' Mr. Trump told reporters as he flew back to Washington from Florida. 'And don’t ask me who’s in charge, because I’ll give you an answer, and it’ll be very controversial.' 'What does that mean?' a reporter asked. 'It means we’re in charge,' the president said.... When asked what he needed from Ms. Rodríguez, Mr. Trump said: 'We need total access. We need access to the oil and to other things in their country that allow us to rebuild their country.' On Sunday morning, Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared to recast Mr. Trump’s assertion a day earlier that the United States would 'run' Venezuela, saying instead that the administration would keep a military 'quarantine' in place on the country’s oil exports to exert leverage on the new leadership there.” MB Update: I changed the link to one that may be a gift link. ~~~

~~~ Yan Zhuang of the New York Times: Donald “Trump suggested on Sunday that the United States could take action against other countries after its attack on Venezuela. He threatened Colombia and its president, described Cuba as 'ready to fall' and reasserted his desire to take control of Greenland.... On Air Force One, Mr. Trump told reporters that Colombia was being 'run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States.... He’s not going to be doing it for very long,' he said of Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, who has frequently criticized Mr. Trump. 'He has cocaine mills and cocaine factories.'... Asked whether his administration would carry out an operation targeting Colombia, Mr. Trump replied, 'It sounds good to me.' Mr. Trump also suggested that the United States could take action against a number of other countries, including Mexico and Iran, over a range of issues.” ~~~

     ~~~ A Politico story is here. An AP report is here.

Yeah, those perverse bastards are proud of themselves: ~~~

~~~ Missy Ryan & Ashley Parker of the Atlantic: “The country that gave the world the Truman Doctrine and the Reagan Doctrine as well as Trump’s apparent favorite, the Monroe Doctrine, now embraces the plainest and most ostentatiously bellicose of national-security policies: Fuck around and find out. Trump’s own Pentagon chief, the self-styled (until Congress approves the title change) secretary of war, Pete Hegseth, said as much when he told the nation that Maduro 'effed around, and he found out.'... Some experts reject the idea that something this crude even earns the right to be called a doctrine.... (In [an] ... Atlantic interview last year, Trump said that 'America First' is whatever he says it is: 'Considering that the term wasn’t used until I came along, I think I’m the one that decides that.')” Thanks to akaWendy for this gift link. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I guess I should reiterate here what the Monroe Doctrine was, because commentators often imply it was a lot closer to Trump's view of U.S. Western hemisphere hegemony. Here's the Wikipedia short form version: "The Monroe Doctrine is a United States foreign policy position that opposes European colonialism in the Western Hemisphere. It holds that any intervention in the political affairs of the Americas by foreign powers is a potentially hostile act against the United States." Monroe articulated his policy in 1823, when the U.S. didn't have much of a military or the capability to enforce the "doctrine." In any event, the doctrine was not about the U.S. taking over or controlling other Western hemisphere countries; rather, it was about discouraging Europeans colonizers from re-asserting their power over colonies that had become independent or were on the brink of becoming so. 

Trump thinks he can use federal criminal prosecutions for any purpose, which is to say to promote his foreign policy views, to promote his vendettas, to promote his self-interest and to promote his perceived political interests. -- Bruce Green, ethics professor & former federal prosecutor ~~~

~~~ Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: “Two Latin American strongmen were charged in Manhattan with ... using state power to import hundreds of tons of cocaine into the United States. One, the former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, was abruptly pardoned by ... [Donald] Trump last month. The other, President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela, was captured on Saturday in a military raid that Secretary of State Marco Rubio characterized as a law enforcement operation.... The divergent fates of the two men accused of similar crimes by the same prosecutor’s office underscore the way [Mr.] Trump and his aides are using the federal justice system to conduct a highly personalized geopolitics. Mr. Trump, when asked on Saturday about his December pardon of Mr. Hernández, [said], 'The man that I pardoned was, if you could equate it to us, he was treated like the Biden administration treated a man named Trump.... This was a man who was persecuted very unfairly. He was the head of the country.'... 'You cannot credibly argue that drug trafficking charges demand invasion in one case, while issuing a pardon in another,' Senator Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia, said in a statement on Saturday.” The link appears to be a gift link.

Jennifer Bahney of Mediaite: “... Donald Trump took time out of his very busy day deposing Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro to 're-Truth' a social media post outrageously questioning whether Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) ordered the assassination of Minnesota State Rep. Melissa Hortman (D). The original post by @LightOnLiberty asked, 'Was Minnesota State Rep Melissa Hortman murdered because she voted against and was exposing a multi-billion dollar money laundering fraud going to illegal immigrants in Minnesota?!' The post continued, 'The fraud that she voted against that heavily implicated illegal aliens, specifically Somalians, who have been racketing this kind of child care, health care rackets and cooperating with our corrupt government?'” (Also linked yesterday.) 

     ~~~ Update. A Washington Post story, here, debunks some of the lies and false conspiracy theories Trump promulgated in pushing his ridiculous accusation against Gov. Walz. ~~~

     ~~~ Raquel Uribe of NBC News: "The children of slain Minnesota state lawmaker Melissa Hortman are urging ... Donald Trump to remove a post on Truth Social that promotes a conspiracy theory alleging the state's governor, Tim Walz, was involved in Hortman’s death." 

Trump Threatens New Venezuelan Leader. Michael Scherer of the Atlantic: “In a telephone interview this morning..., Donald Trump issued a not-so-veiled threat against the new Venezuelan leader, Delcy Rodríguez, saying that 'if she doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro.'... Trump made clear that he would not stand for what he described as Rodríguez’s defiant rejection of the armed U.S. intervention that resulted in Maduro’s capture. During our call, Trump ... reaffirmed to me that Venezuela may not be the last country subject to American intervention. 'We do need Greenland, absolutely,' he said, describing the island — a part of Denmark, a NATO ally — as 'surrounded by Russian and Chinese ships.' And in discussing Venezuela’s future, he ... [said,] 'You know, rebuilding there and regime change, anything you want to call it, is better than what you have right now. Can’t get any worse,' he said.” Thank you to akaWendy for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) 

Adam Taylor, et al., of the Washington Post: “...  as the smoke clears in Caracas a day after ... Donald Trump said triumphantly that the United States would now 'run' Venezuela, the reality of how Washington will administer that country in the weeks and months ahead appears uncertain and stubbornly complex.” The report goes on to recount some of those complexities. Then, buried way down the page, is this: ~~~

“Trump ... effectively dismissed the prospects of Venezuela’s democratic opposition, including Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado, whose stand-in candidate, Edmundo González, won more than two-thirds of the vote in an election last year that saw Maduro refuse to leave office. 'It’d be very tough for her to be the leader,' Trump said when asked about Machado on Saturday, adding that she 'doesn’t have the support or the respect within the country.'... Two people close to the White House said the president’s lack of interest in boosting Machado, despite her recent efforts to flatter Trump, stemmed from her decision to accept the Nobel Peace Prize, an award the president has openly coveted. Although Machado ultimately said she was dedicating the award to Trump, her acceptance of the prize was an 'ultimate sin,' said one of the people. 'If she had turned it down and said, “I can’t accept it because it’s Donald Trump’s,” she’d be the president of Venezuela today,' this person said.” ~~~

     ~~~ David Gilmour of Mediaite does highlight Trump's fragile ego as the reason he didn't try to put opposition leaders in power. 

Edward Helmore & Ed Pilkington of the Guardian: “Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, and prominent Republicans swiftly backpedaled from Donald Trump’s assertion that the US will run Venezuela in transition after US forces snatched the president, Nicolás Maduro, and brought him to the US to face federal criminal charges. Rubio appeared on numerous US politics shows on Sunday morning to defend the US operation in the early hours of Saturday to capture Maduro and his wife despite critics calling the operation illegal on multiple levels and the White House failing to demonstrate how it would run the South American nation.... Rubio said on ABC that the US had 'leverage' over the country.... He added that the US would 'set the conditions' so that Venezuela is no longer a 'narco-trafficking paradise' aligned with US adversaries.... Rubio told CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday morning that ... it was too soon to know how the Venezuelan leadership would now respond to the US’s audacious action in the country and, now, pressure to conform to US plans to stop drug trafficking and control its oil operations. 'We are going to make our assessment on the basis of what they do, not what they say publicly....'” (Also linked yesterday.) Here's a related NPR report. 

Alexandra Marquez of NBC News: “Just one day after the U.S. conducted a military operation that led to the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated a warning to Cuba, telling NBC News’ 'Meet the Press' that he thinks 'they’re in a lot of trouble.'... Rubio’s latest remarks come after he and ... Donald Trump signaled at a news conference Saturday that the administration could begin targeting Cuba’s government next, with the secretary of state issuing a stern warning to Cuban officials: 'If I lived in Havana and I was in the government, I’d be concerned.'”

Frances Robles of the New York Times: “A day after a blistering speech in which she accused the Trump administration of illegally kidnapping Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s head of state, the country’s new acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, released a statement on Sunday night striking a much more diplomatic tone. In a statement posted on social media, Ms. Rodríguez said that Venezuela 'aspires to live without external threats' and 'has a right to sovereignty.' But she continued in a more conciliatory tack. 'We extend an invitation to the U.S. government to work together on a cooperative agenda, oriented toward shared development, within the framework of international law, and to strengthen lasting community coexistence,' she wrote.... Ms. Rodríguez’s missive on Sunday, notably, did not demand Mr. Maduro’s release.... On Sunday, the Venezuelan Supreme Court declared her the country’s acting president.”

Jack Nicas of the New York Times: The U.S. attack on Venezuela “shook Latin America perhaps more than any single event this century — but its meaning depends on whom you ask. To the Latin American left, it confirmed what certain leaders have been warning for decades: The United States is an imperial power willing to invade and exploit its southern neighbors for its own gains and their natural resources. To the Latin American right, Mr. Trump had just rescued a broken Venezuela from a leftist dictatorship and now would finally realize the nation’s immense economic potential.Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Spain and Uruguay — all led by leftists — jointly denounced the bombings and capture as 'an extremely dangerous precedent' and warned against 'any attempt at governmental control, administration, or external appropriation of natural or strategic resources' in Venezuela. President Javier Milei of Argentina, the region’s most prominent right-wing leader, cheered the U.S. action....

“In the 30 years before the current Trump administration, U.S. foreign policy in Latin America had largely focused on supporting democracy and free trade. Mr. Trump has overhauled that approach to focus on what is in it for the United States — or, in many cases, for him.... The United States is the most crucial economic partner for much of the region, and Mr. Trump has proved willing to intervene economically, politically and now militarily against countries that cross him.”

New York Times: “At least 40 people were killed in the U.S. attack on Venezuela early Saturday, including military personnel and civilians, according to a senior Venezuelan official.... About half a dozen soldiers were injured in the overall operation to capture Mr. Maduro, according to two U.S. officials....” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update from the NYT liveblog yesterday: “The death count from Saturday’s attack has risen to 80, between civilians and members of security forces, according to a senior Venezuelan official. He added that the number could rise further.” 

~~~ Jack Nicas of the New York Times: “Cuba said on Sunday that 32 of its citizens had been killed in the U.S. attacks in Venezuela, including military or intelligence personnel — a rare public signal of Cuba’s importance to Venezuela and the Maduro government. President Miguel Díaz-Canel of Cuba said the casualties were personnel from the country’s armed forces or its interior ministry who were on a mission at the request of Venezuela, according to Cuban state media. 'Our compatriots fulfilled their duty with dignity and heroism and fell, after fierce resistance, in direct combat against the attackers or as a result of the bombings,' Mr. Díaz-Canel said. He announced two days of mourning. The revelation was an exceptional public admission by Cuba, whose leftist government has deep, longstanding ties with Venezuela’s, that its agents are in the country.”

Teo Armus, et al., of the Washington Post: “Trump has made deporting recently arrived Venezuelans a priority in his second administration, and at a news conference Saturday said that many of the nearly 1 million Venezuelan immigrants in the United States 'want to go back to their country.' But whether Maduro’s ouster helps or harms Trump’s quest to deport large numbers of Venezuelan migrants is far from certain. In the short-term, many are unlikely to return while Maduro’s allies remain in power and the nation’s economy in shambles.... If the country descends into deeper calamity, immigration experts warn it could also spark a new exodus. Neighboring Colombia immediately moved to fortify its border with Venezuela after the U.S. military action.”

Noah Robertson & Theodoric Meyer of the Washington Post: “In early November, hours before the Republican-led Senate rejected bipartisan legislation to block the Trump administration from conducting a military attack on Venezuela, Secretary of State Marco Rubio sought to reassure lawmakers it didn’t intend to. He told them that the United States lacked legal authority to invade the South American country and oust its president, Nicolás Maduro.... Top Democrats [now] are accusing Rubio of deliberately misleading Congress. During a news conference [Saturday at Mar-a-Lago]..., Rubio ... told reporters that he and other top officials had planned the Maduro operation for months.... In an interview with The Post later Saturday, Rubio ... cast the attack as a 'law enforcement operation' that required military assets to conduct. Lawmakers previously asked whether the administration 'would be invading Venezuela,' Rubio said. 'This was not that,' he added. Democrats were incredulous at the argument.... Rep. Adam Smith of Washington state, the senior Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee..., said that he had asked Rubio directly whether the administration’s military buildup in the region would result in attacks on Venezuelan territory and that the secretary had said no.”

David French of the New York Times: “... the attack on Venezuela harks back to a different time, before the 19th century world order unraveled, before two catastrophic world wars, and before the creation of international legal and diplomatic structures designed to stop nations from doing exactly what the United States just did.... In Summa Theologica, written in the 13th century, [Thomas] Aquinas outlined three cardinal requirements of what came to be known as just war theory.... The Trump administration — acting entirely on its own and without seeking congressional approval — decided it was in the best interests of the United States to remove Maduro from power. But when it struck, it violated every principle of just war.” Read on. The link is a gift link. Without directly saying Trump is a villain, French does a mighty good job of letting competing theories of war finger Trump as a world-class villain.

Julian Borger of the Guardian: “In terms of global stability, the worst thing about the Maduro rendition is that it worked. Trump’s belief in his own global omnipotence, and his desire to grab the territory and natural resources of other countries has been held in check until now by his fear of entanglement in foreign wars.... He was clearly thrilled by the drama of the Maduro operation.... The attack on Venezuela suggests the allure of foreign lands, oil and minerals is now glimmering brighter than the Nobel prize.... Trump ... looks at the world through the eyes of a 19th-century imperialist, but with 21st-century weapons.... [The Venezuelan project] accelerates the slide from a mostly rules-based world to one of competing spheres of influence, to be determined by armed might and the readiness to use it. One US commentator, David Rothkopf, called it the 'Putinization of US foreign policy'.” (Also linked yesterday.) 

Trump's Mar-a-Lardo "War Room"

 

 ~~~ Paul Krugman: “Two days after the abduction [of Maduro], it’s clear that Trump ... [is] like a mob boss trying to expand his territory, believing that if he knocks off a rival boss he can bully the guy’s former capos into giving him a cut of their take.... Trump’s self-image as the ultimate dealmaker explains why he was so ready to believe, falsely, that he controlled Venezuela. It also explains his insistence that by, as he imagined, seizing Venezuela, he had gained a valuable prize in the form of its oil.... But you know who doesn’t think there’s a lot of money to be made in Venezuela? Oil companies.... The snatch [and grab of Maduro] gave Trump an opportunity to strut, and assuage his Obama envy: Trump’s minions set up a 'war room' at Mar-a-Lago that looks as if it was designed to let him emulate the famous photo of Obama and his officials tracking the killing of Osama bin Laden. Obama’s team did not, however, have X/Twitter on the screen behind them.... The confrontation with Venezuela has nothing to do with the national interest. It’s all about Trump’s self-aggrandizing delusions. And it will accomplish nothing except to make America look even less trustworthy and weaker than it did before.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I borrowed the photo of Trump's Mar-a-Lardo "war room" from a Daily Beast story (which I can't otherwise access) which is titled "War Room Photos Catch Trump and Goons Scrolling Social Media."

Robert Reich on Substack: "Maduro’s system of oppression is still entrenched [in Venezuela]. It includes the national guard, the army, the national police, the intelligence service, and the Colombian guerrilla group ELN.... Maduro’s top lieutenants also remain, including several who were involved in his alleged crimes. Not to mention his thugs and narco-traffickers who have been controlling Venezuela through violent repression and stolen elections.... There’s no way to determine the emerging balance of power between pro- and anti-Maduro camps, but it’s a safe bet that any power void is likely to be filled with violence.... Since August, America has had an arsenal of warships, jet fighters, and some 15,000 troops on Venezuela’s doorstep, which hasn’t stopped oil shipments.... Meanwhile, the Trump regime is fanning the flames of anti-Americanism, both in Venezuela and elsewhere in Latin America.... This is nuts. Trump is already on his way to destroying the rule of law in America. Now he’s destroying the rules-based system of international law and diplomacy that the United States created in the wake of the horrors of World War II."

From the Right. Timothy Carney of the Washington Examiner: "Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio both justified the United States’s overnight invasion of Venezuela and capture of its president, Nicolas Maduro, as a law-enforcement action, rather than an act of war. Thus, they argued, Trump didn’t need congressional authorization. But Trump’s own words — his description of the attack, his justification for the attack, and his plans for Venezuela’s future — make it clear this was in fact an act of war. Presidents are not allowed to wage war without authorization from Congress.... Trump called it a 'military operation,' as Eric Boehm at Reason pointed out.... Trump also stated that the U.S. would 'run' Venezuela until we could install a new government. This is the description of a regime change, not an arrest. If we were really arresting Maduro on drug charges, we would let Venezuela deal with succession matters. Trump made it clear we’re not doing that.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Christiaan Triebert & Anatoly Kurmanaev of the New York Times: “At least 16 oil tankers hit by U.S. sanctions appear to have made an attempt to evade a major American naval blockade on Venezuela’s energy exports over the last two days, in part by disguising their true locations or turning off their transmission signals. For weeks, the ships had been spotted on satellite imagery docked in Venezuelan ports, according to an analysis by The New York Times. But by Saturday, in the wake of President Nicholas Maduro’s capture by U.S. forces, all were gone from those locations. Four have been tracked by satellite sailing east 30 miles from shore, using fake ship names and misrepresenting their positions, a deceptive tactic known as 'spoofing.'... The other 12 are not broadcasting any signals and have not been located in new imagery....The departures could be seen as an early act of defiance of interim President Delcy Rodríguez’s control.... Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday [that Mr. Trump's blockade] was one of the largest 'quarantines' in modern history, and was successfully 'paralyzing' the regime’s ability to generate revenue. The blockade has notably exempted oil shipped by American company Chevron to the U.S. Gulf Coast.”

Genevieve Glatsky & Annie Correal of the New York Times: “The United States unsealed an indictment on Saturday against Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, that charges him with narco-terrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine. The four-count indictment also charges Mr. Maduro’s wife, his son, two high-ranking Venezuelan officials and an alleged leader of the Tren de Aragua group, a gang that the Trump administration designated as a terrorist organization last year.... The indictment states that Mr. Maduro and his allies worked for decades with major drug trafficking groups to move large quantities of cocaine to the United States.... [Donald] Trump has asserted that the campaign [against Venezuela] is targeting drugs killing Americans, but most U.S. overdoses involve fentanyl, which doesn’t come from South America, experts say.... Experts ... have said Venezuela is not a major drug producer and have described it as a minor cocaine transit country, with most of the cocaine flowing through Venezuela heading to Europe, not the United States.” ~~~

    ~~~ CNBC has a copy of the indictment here. (You can blow it up to nearly full-page by clicking on the square in the lower right-hand corner.)

Heather Cox Richardson points out how unpopular the idea of an invasion of Venezuela has been within the U.S. "But officials in the administration no longer appear to care what the American people want, instead simply gathering power into their own hands for the benefit of themselves and their cronies, trusting that Republican politicians will go along and the American people will not object enough to force the issue." MB: So let me just thank nearly every MSM talking head, who begins his "analysis" (no matter how much he may go on to pan the invasion), by marveling at what a fabulous, thrilling, perfect job the CIA & military did in kidnapping Maduro and how proud we should be of their stellar performance. This of course plays right into Trump's fake "patriotic" narrative.

Jones Hayden of Politico: “Denmark was outraged on Sunday after a rightwing podcaster in the U.S. pivoted from Washington’s Venezuela operation directly to Greenland, the autonomous Danish territory that ... Donald Trump has coveted. Katie Miller, a former U.S. administration official-turned-podcaster and wife of Trump’s deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, posted an image on X late Saturday showing a map of Greenland in the colors of the Stars and Stripes with a one-word caption: 'SOON.'... 'We expect full respect for the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark,' Copenhagen’s ambassador to the U.S., Jesper Møller Sørensen, said in a post on X that included Miller’s posting, in what he termed a 'friendly reminder' of the longstanding defense ties between the two countries.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

[It makes] absolutely no sense to talk about the need for the United States to take over Greenland. The U.S. has no right to annex any of the three nations in the Danish kingdom. I would therefore strongly urge the U.S. stop the threats against a historically close ally and against another country and another people, who have very clearly said that they are not for sale. -- Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Sunday ~~~

~~~ CBS News/AFP: "The prime minister of Denmark on Sunday called on ... [Donald] Trump to 'stop the threats' about taking over Greenland after the U.S. president reiterated his wish to take over the Danish territory.... 'We do need Greenland, absolutely. We need it for defense,' [Trump] told the [Atlantic Sunday (story linked above)]. Later that night, Mr. Trump again told reporters aboard Air Force One, 'We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it.... We'll worry about Greenland in about two months.... Let's talk about Greenland in 20 days.'"

Sahil Kapur of NBC News: “The House and the Senate are scheduled to return this week after the holidays and confront a growing list of tasks and potential agenda items in early 2026. Top of mind for many is President Donald Trump's decision over the weekend to launch strikes in Venezuela and capture its leader, Nicolás Maduro, in addition to his assertion that the U.S. will 'run' the country for the foreseeable future. It'll add to an already substantial to-do list for Congress in the early part of the year as November's midterm elections draw closer. Here are five issues facing Capitol Hill[.]”

⭐Adam Liptak of the New York Times: “Supreme Court justices take two oaths. The first, required of all federal officials, is a promise to support the Constitution. The second, a judicial oath, is more specific. It requires them, among other things, to 'do equal right to the poor and to the rich.' A new study being released on Monday from economists at Yale and Columbia contends that the Supreme Court has in recent decades fallen short of that vow. The study, called 'Ruling for the Rich,' concludes that the wealthy have the wind at their backs before the justices and that a good way to guess the outcome of a case is to follow the money. The study adds to what Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, in a dissent in June, called 'the unfortunate perception that moneyed interests enjoy an easier road to relief in this court than ordinary citizens.'... Republican appointees [are] far more likely than Democratic ones to side with the wealthy. That is starkly different from the middle of the last century, when appointees of the two parties were statistically indistinguishable on this measure.”

Aaron Wiener of the Washington Post: “German political leaders were incensed when they learned in 2013 that U.S. intelligence had been eavesdropping on Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone calls. 'Spying among friends, that just does not work,' Merkel said. At roughly the same time, however, Germany’s foreign intelligence agency was listening in on some of President Barack Obama’s calls on Air Force One, according to a new book about the relationship between Germany and the United States. The intelligence agency, called the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) discovered that some calls on Air Force One were unencrypted and it was able to tap into radio frequencies that were used for those calls, according to the book, 'The Grown-Up Country: Germany Without America — A Historic Opportunity,' by Holger Stark, a German journalist.”

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