Sheherazad of his thousands of ways to lie about an election

Yesterday I wrote about the world’s largest honeytrap operation – Jeffery Epstein inviting powerful people to his properties to have sex with underage children, filming them as they did so, and giving the recordings to Putin and the KGB. I based my writing on a post on Daily Kos by Thom Hartmann, who based his on an article in the British Daily Mail. My friend and debate partner objected. He asked Google about the reputation of the Daily Mail. What he got back included words such as: misleading, biased, sensationalistic, alarmist, dramatic language to drive reader engagement, and even fabricated. Good point. Amplifying sketchy sources is not something I should do. So I went back to Hartmann’s post. Yes, he linked to the Daily Mail article. However, when discussing various things that show the nasty guy is working for Putin rather than Americans Hartmann provided links to much better quality sources. His links go to: New York Times, The Hill, The Guardian, American Progress, NPR, BBC, CNN, ABCNews, NBCNews, Newsweek, Washington Post, Business Insider, Vox, Politico, Slate, and Daily Beast. So while Hartmann was inspired to write by a “deeply researched investigative report” (Hartmann’s term) in the Daily Mail he backed up his own post with reputable sources. My friend wrote, “Now, I'd love to see the world have the goods on Trump. And everything you wrote might be true.” Friend, I hope you can now think the world does have the goods on Trump. Whether anyone will act on the goods is a completely different hope. Emily Singer of Daily Kos reported that Germany has updated its travel guidance to tell its citizens that due to the violence of the nasty guy’s federal agents in Minnesota and elsewhere that travel to such cities is not advised. If you go stay away from crowds and follow the instructions of the local security forces.

The irony is not lost on us that Germany, which has a sordid history with fascist leaders who violently murdered citizens based on their ethnic backgrounds and political beliefs, is now warning about the same thing happening in the United States.

That advisory also contradicts what the nasty guy has been saying about the US to the world. Oliver Willis of Kos reported that the nasty guy has said he will close the Kennedy Center for two years for repairs. He says it is “tired, broken, and dilapidated” though people who have been there recently would disagree. Besides, it was renovated in 2019. The real reason he wants to close it is, after he slapped his name on it, many performers have refused to perform there, canceling performances. Membership has dropped. Tickets aren’t selling. New performers aren’t signing up. The place is good for propaganda, such as a showing of the Melania movie.

Internationally famous composer Philip Glass announced in January that he was canceling the performance of his symphony “Lincoln,” scheduled for the Kennedy Center in June. “Symphony No. 15 is a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, and the values of the Kennedy Center today are in direct conflict with the message of the Symphony. Therefore, I feel an obligation to withdraw this Symphony premiere from the Kennedy Center under its current leadership,” Glass said in a statement. ... The conveniently announced closure is an effective way to bury stories of performers canceling in between propaganda screenings. The Kennedy Center joins the ever-growing lineup of failed Trump ventures, from Trump Steaks to Trump Airlines to Trump University. But this time a beloved part of America’s cultural heritage is also taking a hit.

My personal fear is this renovation will make the place look gaudy and tacky, like what he’s done to the White House. And somehow Kennedy’s name won’t make it back on the side of the building. In today’s pundit roundup for Kos Chitown Kev quoted Amanda Marcotte of Salon:

To people outside the MAGA bubble, Trump’s obsession with the Kennedy Center is just plain weird. Obviously, he feels intimidated by the looming cultural power of the 35th president and his wife, Jacqueline, and excluded from circles of people with good taste, even though he has no interest in actually learning to appreciate art or music beyond middle-of-the-road Broadway showtunes from the 1980s. He won’t grow up and, as normal people do, be happy not to be included in pastimes that bore him. This manifestation of his deep psychological issues reflects a major resentment that fuels the larger MAGA movement: anger at the larger culture for not dumbing itself down to placate their own pedestrian tastes and bigoted blind spots. ... Yet the faith that they can seize people’s hearts and minds through force has not abated in Trumpworld. As Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times recently wrote, “The only thing Trump and his allies know how to do is use the coercive force of the state.” It seems the president really did think he could just remake the Kennedy Center in his own trashy image, and that people would, like zombies, continue to book shows and buy tickets there. Instead, he got his stink all over the place, and now no one wants to be associated with it.

Last week Wednesday Willis reported that the FBI raided the Fulton County’s Election Hub and Operations Center in Georgia. The ballots from the 2020 election were taken. This county includes most of Atlanta and has been the center of the nasty guy’s efforts to try to overturn the 2020 election, lawsuits related to that are why the ballots haven’t been destroyed yet. Conspiracy theories about the election were in the news for months, though no evidence was produced in 60 court cases. The nasty guy has obsessed with this loss since then, including an attack on the Capitol in an attempt to overturn that election. The next day Doug Bock Clark and Jen Fifield, in an article for ProPublica posted on Kos, reported this marks a significant escalation in the nasty guy’s breaking of democratic norms, something that has not happened before.

The warrant served on the Fulton County election center sought ballots, tabulator tapes, digital data and voter rolls, which it alleged might constitute “evidence of the commission of a criminal offense.” It cited stiff criminal penalties related to “the procurement, casting, or tabulation” of fraudulent ballots. ... Mo Ivory, a Democratic Fulton County commissioner, arrived on the scene shortly after the FBI agents and said that once an error on the warrant was corrected, they backed up lines of trucks to the elections warehouse and spent hours carting away boxes of ballots and other materials. The search began in the morning and was still going well past nightfall.

Fulton County Commission Chair Robb Pitts said the ballots had been safe in the county’s custody, but now the county can no longer say the ballots are still secure. The county will fight back through the courts. This action triggers fears of federal interference in the midterm elections. On Monday Singer took up the story.

Democrats have warned that the raid was a corrupt fact-finding mission in which Trump would concoct evidence to use as the basis to rig the 2026 midterms. And on Monday, that’s exactly what he said he’s trying to do.

Singer then quoted the nasty guy, which was his usual word salad, though the implication was clear. The nasty guy also threatened prosecutions against those who “falsified” the 2020 election results. Singer concluded, “If Trump keeps meddling in elections, at least he’ll finally get that fraud he’s been after.” On Saturday Jessica Huseman, in an article for Votebeat posted on Kos reminds us that the nasty guy cannot cancel the November election, though he has been saying he wants to. He doesn’t have the legal authority and US elections are too decentralized for him to try – there are more than 9 thousand local elections run by local officials and more than 90 thousand polling locations. Even intimidation efforts would face challenges and injunctions and would not affect those who vote early or by mail. And all those election officials are talking to each other on ways to protect the vote. Wrote Huseman:

The election system is under real strain, and bad-faith efforts to undermine it are serious. But after talking with local election officials, lawyers, and administrators across the country, I don’t see evidence that upcoming elections are at realistic risk of not happening at all. Elections happen because thousands of local officials follow state and local law that mandates them — and history shows they’ve done so before, even under immense pressure. The greater danger isn’t no election, but one that’s chaotic, unfairly challenged, or deliberately cast as illegitimate after the fact.

Want to help? Don’t spread fear or distrust. Don’t moan that the election is already lost. Know how the election system works and speak up when you hear something that is wrong. Be a poll worker or volunteer to register voters.

Elections don’t happen just because people assume they will. They happen because people — especially at the local level — show up and do the work.

Mark Sumner, Kos staff emeritus, wrote about Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence and a fan of Putin. Strangely, she was on-site when FBI agents hauled away Fulton County ballots. Maybe not so strangely – she made wild claims about the 2020 election. The important part of Gabbard’s story starts eight months ago. A US intelligence official serving as a whistleblower filed a complaint against Gabbard. It probably has something to do with a “grave threat to national security,” implicates another department in the government, and has something to do with executive privilege. But we don’t know the details. A whistleblower allegation is supposed to go to Congress. But in those eight months Congress is still hasn’t seen it. That’s a long time for a “grave threat.” Gabbard has decided that no one in Congress has the necessary security clearance to look at the charges against her. Revealing the contents would cause “grave damage to national security.” So it was locked in a safe. Gabbard claims the whistleblower was politically motivated – which, according to the law, is what Congress is to determine.

Gabbard isn't performing the legal role of a DNI in terms of evaluating intelligence and coordinating a response to threats. Instead, she's leading Trump's efforts to exhume every false claim he's made over the last six years and create a unified narrative of election vulnerability. She's the chief fabulist to the fabulist in chief; the Sheherazad of his thousands of ways to lie about an election. And he can't afford to lose her.

Nasty guy ally attorney Cleta Mitchell noted that the president has a limited role in elections “except where there is a threat to the national sovereignty of the United States.” The nasty guy has already declared national emergencies so he can send in ICE, attack renewable energy, bomb fishermen, and many more. He does so because declaring an emergency give him a long list of powers, some of which sound like they are for authoritarian regimes.

Trump may not be able to stop the elections, but he can declare a national emergency and station masked stormtroopers outside critical polling stations. He can make every effort to undermine the nation's faith in the election, to make voting seem both pointless and dangerous, and declare that the system of state-run elections is corrupt. The Georgia search and Gabbard’s involvement is happening at the same time that Trump is calling on Republicans to “nationalize elections” and take control away from states.

Don’t expect that safe to open soon. The Olympic Opening Ceremonies are tomorrow night. Until the Closing Ceremonies on the 22nd my usual posting schedule will be interrupted. If the TV schedule of the past is followed figure skating will be shown late in the evening so I may be able to do some writing before then.

Gaslighting: insisting ambiguity exists where it does not

My Sunday movie wasn’t a movie, but a series of commercials. Every December the Detroit Film Theater shows the winners of the British Arrows, awards given out for best commercials. They’re a hit in America because the British sense of humor is so different from ours. But last Sunday was still November. Yeah, the Arrows are being shown at the DFT next weekend and I won’t be able to see them then. So I found their website and watched them. And I found out why going to the DFT is an advantage. Their show is just 85 minutes, showing the ones most appreciated by an American audience. I watched over two hours, which wasn’t all of them, and there were many that were just meh. Here are some of my favorites: Paris 2024 Paralympics: Sport doesn’t care about disability. BBC Sport, Welcome to the City of Love – love (of sport) makes us do crazy things. Co-op, Owned By You: A team created animation where each frame was printed on a receipt printer. This explains the process, but alas doesn’t show the final result. Sainsbury’s Big Christmas: A giant gets help Christmas shopping. Barclays, Make Money Work for You: Children playing the parts of adult workers. Apple, Flock: The flock is security cameras with wings watching what you browse on your phone. This is an ad for the Safari browser. Erste Bank, Silent Night: A bit of history and the effect of the most recorded song in history. Montefiore Einsteins Cancer Centre, South Bronx: a video on the rise of break dancing and recognizing the spark in someone else. Papaya, Swing: two guys on gigantic swings (made me wonder about what protected them from falling off). Volvo, Moments: The important ones might be the ones that a good car might prevent happening. This from the viewpoint of a man about to be a father Frameless, Immersive Rembrandt: A piece of art – men in a boat in a stormy sea – brought to life. Scambaiters, Daisy vs Scammers: Daisy is an AI that will happily waste a scammer’s time so they can’t scam you. Report scammer’s numbers to Daisy. British Airways Period Drama: The video explains an airplane’s safety to the residents of a manor house, including showing men on horses how to buckle their seatbelts. Disney, The Boy and the Octopus: This is more like a 4 minute movie rather than an ad. It shows a boy with a small octopus living on his head. Alix Breeden of Daily Kos wrote about how AI is making life worse. Creativity: Stealing existing art to recreate lifeless versions of what humans have made. Critical thinking: AI using students consistently performed worse at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels. People ask an AI tool a question and accept whatever answer it gives. Mental Health: About half the people who reported mental health issues used AI for support, though that support probably wasn’t helpful. Workers: Entry level positions are disappearing. In Monday’s pundit roundup for Kos Greg Dworkin quoted David Schuster of Blue Amp:

The New York Times recently reported what all of us with a functioning optic nerve have seen: Donald J. Trump, the once bombastic showman and snake oil salesman, has shrunk his public schedule and limited his appearances to a tight mid-day window. But instead of addressing concerns like an adult, the President keeps raging like a tyrannical toddler. He has denounced the reporting as unfair, sneered at journalists, and bellowed about his “perfect” tests — as if the nation were comprised only of other gullible children distracted by shiny objects. Whereas previous U.S. Presidents embraced the burdens of office at dawn, Trump appears only after most of the nation has eaten lunch. And when Trump does appear, reporters and staff keep seeing moments that look like fatigue overtaking leadership vigilance, the sort of slump that in most offices would prompt a supervisor to ask whether the employee needed time off or a medical check.

In the comments Wolf Hour posted a cartoon by David Horsey. It is captioned “Elon Musk dines alone...” and shows him surrounded by a feast while a black child stares at him.

Musk: What are you staring at, African kid? Child: Sorry, I don’t mean to be rude, but I haven’t eaten since you killed USAID.

Wolf Hour added:

The disastrous DOGE project has now ended in failure but the damage lives on. Estimates put the death toll from Musk's brutal cuts to USAID at 600,000 people, mostly children, in a year. Bill Gates said it was “the world’s richest man killing the world’s poorest children.”

Back in October (I think) the nasty guy went to his doctor for an MRI, but afterward couldn’t say which part of his body had been imaged. Of course, the medical report issued to the public praised what fine health the MRI showed. Pundits replied that MRIs are not done without an important medical reason, so they’re not buying it showed fine health. Gov. Gavin Newsom of California did some fine trolling by issuing an MRI report of himself from “Dr. Dolittle.” Excerpts:

His cardiovascular scans are the best we’ve ever recorded – his arteries were described as “shimmering,” and his resting heart rate was so steady the EKG machine asked if he was “meditating or just naturally enlightened.” ... While we do not typically comment on the health of other elected officials, we are aware of a letter released today from the White House claiming that President Trump is in “excellent health.” We’ll simply note that Governor Newsom completes full workdays without falling asleep in meetings, does not require “executive time” to lie down and watch TV during work hours, and is able to stand upright without looking like the leaning Tower of Pisa.

In Sunday’s roundup Chitown Kev quoted Paul Krugman, writing for his Substack:

The MAGA war on financial stability is being waged largely on two fronts. First, there’s an ongoing effort within some parts of the Federal Reserve to drastically weaken bank supervision — oversight of banks to prevent them from taking risks that could threaten the financial system. ... The second front of MAGA’s war on financial stability is on behalf of the crypto industry. The Trump administration and its allies in Congress — including, I’m sorry to say, a number of Democrats in this case — are moving to promote wider use of crypto. In particular, the GENIUS Act (gag me with an acronym), passed in July, aims to promote stablecoins. And the fact is that stablecoins are effectively an alternative, weakly regulated and poorly supervised form of banking.

Didn’t the weakening of bank regulation lead to the Great Recession of 2008? Goodness, people have short memories. Then again, a slogan of that time was “Banks got bailed out, we got sold out.” Detroit was hit quite hard. So there might be brutal logic here in that the rich don’t lose (much) yet the poor are oppressed more and again. For many rich people widening the gap between themselves and the poor is desired because that makes themselves look all the better in comparison. Meteor Blades, a Daily Kos Staff Emeritus wrote there are two questions to get to the truth about that Venezuelan boat that was struck twice. The second strike has been described as a war crime. Or murder, because we’re not (officially) at war. Secretary of Defense Hegseth has blamed Admiral Frank Bradley. Hegseth might talk tough, but he’s not going to be responsible, similar to his boss. Both the House and Senate Armed Services Committees have opened investigations into the incident and done so with bipartisan votes. So Admiral Bradley will appear before them. Blades said Chairman Sen. Roger Wicker could accomplish what’s needed with two questions:

“Did Secretary Hegseth order a second strike on the two survivors of a first strike or did you make that decision on your own with no input from him?” If his answer is that Hegseth gave the order, the follow-up question should be, “Did you warn the Secretary that a second strike would be illegal?”

A week ago an Associated Press article posted on Kos reported that the Georgia election interference case has been dropped. This is the case that was started with the nasty guy calling the Secretary of State of Georgia asking him to find 11,780 votes (if my memory is good). Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis did the research and produced 101 boxes of evidence plus an 8 terabyte hard drive. She indicted the nasty guy and 18 others in August 2023. The nasty guy got her removed from the case claiming she had a romantic relationship with a special prosecutor she had hired. Peter Skandalakis, executive director of Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia took over the case last month. He told the court he decided not to pursue the case. So the judge dropped it. While the case against the nasty guy probably wouldn’t proceed while he’s in office, there were still cases against 14 of the co-defendants. They’re also dropped. All4Truth of the Kos community wrote a rebuttal to the decision to drop the case.

When court-assigned prosecutor Peter J. Skandalakis dismissed Georgia’s election-interference case and justified his decision by claiming that “reasonable minds could differ” about Donald Trump’s conduct — and that therefore Trump was “entitled to the benefit of the doubt” — he wrapped a fundamentally misleading conclusion in the language of legal neutrality. But scratch the surface, and the entire rationale collapses. Worse, it shifts the burden of confusion onto the public, asking people to doubt what the evidence clearly shows. That is the essence of gaslighting: insisting ambiguity exists where it does not.

All4Truth offered these reasons: 1. This wasn’t about one phone call. It was a coordinated, multi-front effort involving pressure on state officials and a plan to overturn a certified effort. That means Skandalakis was not offering caution, but confusion. ... 3. “The ‘benefit of the doubt’ standard applies when evidence is uncertain — not when prosecutors refuse to review it. Claiming otherwise is manufactured ambiguity.”

This is the move that most resembles gaslighting: inducing the public to question the clarity of the facts while ignoring those facts entirely.

4. “Prosecutors do not owe ‘benefit of the doubt’ to a convicted felon with an established record of deception.” 5. “Multiple grand juries already determined there was probable cause. Dismissing that is not skepticism — it is disrespect for the system.” ... 7. “The statements follow a classic gaslighting pattern: asserting doubt in the face of overwhelming clarity.”

If we can demand the Epstein files be released, perhaps we should also demand the full evidence in this case at least also be released publicly.

Bill in Portland, Maine, in his Cheers and Jeers column for Kos included a tweet from The Bionic Bee, though the original author is not named.

My leprechaun can’t find his gold. My imaginary friend got kidnapped. The voices in my head won’t talk to me. And my dragon flew away. Oh my, I’m going sane.

Because of the upcoming events on my calendar I probably won’t post for at least one week and maybe not for two. Events include entering my performing group’s concert season and Brother coming for a visit.

We claim the right to report that there's no knowable result

My new computer is closer to what I want and need it to be. I was able to copy my stash of browser tabs from the old computer (you go ahead and debate whether that’s good or bad... I’ll catch up later). I’m still getting used to the different layout of the keyboard. It has lots of new things for Windows 11 (much I’ll probably never use) and some keys, like “End,” are in slightly different positions. The only major computer thing not resolved is what to do about my music composing program – I haven’t had any composing time since before the switch. Walter Einenkel of Daily Kos wrote that Rachel Maddow, on her show Monday night, discussed Republican election games in Georgia. The Republican dominated Georgia State Election Board has passed a bunch of changes that would allow election officials to “question, delay, or otherwise sabotage election certification.” Democrats are trying to stop it. Einenkel wrote:

“I think part of understanding the importance of this tactic is that confusion and mistakes are probably the point,” Maddow explains. “It's one thing to say we want the right to flip an election result. That's going to be sort of a hard sell. It's another thing to say we want the right, and we claim the right to essentially report that there's no knowable result here, that there isn't any discernible result, that there's a big question about it, that it seems like there's a cloud over the result.”

Maddow saw hope in that Georgia’s Republican Gov. Brian Kemp has asked the state attorney general whether or not he has the right to remove obstructive members of the board. Part of Kemp’s effort might be because the nasty guy has been critical of him. Mark Sumner of Kos wrote about campaigns raising and spending money. Harris has significantly outraised the nasty guy, with her mostly drawing from small donations and he drawing mostly from billionaires. As for spending, the New York Times reported that during the 2020 campaign about two-thirds of the money the nasty guy spent went to one company, American Made Media Consultants. What did this money buy? AMMC is a private company, so doesn’t have to say where it spent the money it received. The only hint is that it is run by the nasty guy’s former campaign director Brad Parscale. Also involved are son Eric and the Pandemic Prince. Receiving payment on a smaller scale is Red Curve Solutions. We do know a bit more about this one. Campaign Legal Center says Red Curve is used to pay the nasty guy’s legal bills. Another company is Launchpad Strategies and about this one is no information of who runs it and where the money goes.

These billionaires cut Trump big checks, then the checks go into a big black hole. What comes out doesn’t appear to be any recognizable campaign activity. Even before Harris entered the race, President Joe Biden was outspending Trump three-to-one on television advertising. The money going into these companies seems to disappear … which certainly makes it hard to discern whether Trump is running his campaign in a legitimate fashion or simply pocketing hundreds of millions in bribes.

Matt Davies posted a cartoon he titled Stop the Stale. It shows an elephant approaching the 2024 Word Salad Bar that contains tubs of “Wilted grievances” “Stolen Election Re-hash” “Stale insults” “Belittle Veterans” and a few more. In a pundit roundup for Kos Dworkin quoted William Kristol and Andrew Egger of The Bulwark:

As political obsessives, we confess it: We’re already getting a little sick of the “weird” thing. Weeks of seeing the same point every day about these guys! Surely there’s some other way we can— What’s that? There’s new audio out of JD Vance yukking it up with a podcast host who says that “the whole purpose of the postmenopausal female” is to help raise their grandkids? Okay, a few more days of “weird” won’t hurt.

Contrast that with this meme posted way down in the comments by exlrrp, showing Walz stopping to pet a cat. The caption says, “When you’re famous, they let you do it.” Joan McCarter of Kos reported that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has suspended his campaign for president and endorsed the nasty guy. I heard a lot about this over the weekend and don’t have time to track down the sources. Some say he did it because those who didn’t like Biden and went to Kennedy have now shifted back to Harris. That left Kennedy polling at 7%. All that shows the whole ploy, the whole purpose of his campaign, was to pull voters from Biden to help the nasty guy. McCarter then went on to document all the Kennedy siblings and cousins denouncing his move, much the same way they denounced his candidacy when he started. Kennedy has asked to be removed for several state ballots. He won’t be removed from Michigan’s ballot because he was nominated by a minor party and they don’t have time to hold another convention to nominate someone else. In another pundit roundup Greg Dworkin quoted Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Bunch described the placement of American flags around the hall during the Democratic National Convention.

Moments later, those flags were fanning the last and strongest waves of euphoria at an unforgettable Democratic National Convention, as the vice president pivoted toward defining American freedom as the right to make family choices, breathe clean air, or cast a ballot, and she vowed to defend those rights through strength. The Democratic delegates kept chanting “U-S-A! U-S-A!” — as if they were watching Steph Curry draining three-pointers against France in this cavernous basketball arena instead of an acceptance speech — as Harris staked her claim to the red, white, and blue.

A quote from Molly Ball of the Wall Street Journal:

“I am really happy to see that the Democratic Party is taking our rightful place as the patriotic ones,” said Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland, a rising star in the party who has been arguing for a forceful embrace of patriotism since he ran for office two years ago. “We cannot forfeit this idea of patriotism to people who claim it when they are not actually willing to sacrifice anything for their country.” Yet the convention’s unapologetic embrace of liberal causes, from abortion and gun control to climate change, was also a defiant insistence that their ideology is the new American majority, the new American normal—that it is those who insist on bygone gender roles and restrictive mores who are the “weird” ones, that a diverse, multicultural array of identities can lay claim to apple pie and the American dream. ... One strategist noted after watching Walz’s rural Minnesota football-coach presentation, “We’re not giving up on white guys”—as long as they are the type of white guys who aren’t afraid to cry and support their wives’ careers.

And a quote from Greg Sargent of The New Republic discussing the convention speech Harris gave.

But, in mulling what Harris means by all this, it’s crucial to appreciate what she did not do. Harris offered all this outreach to voters outside the core Democratic coalition without making serious concessions to the ideological preoccupations we associate with MAGA-style right-wing populism. There was no real accommodation with what might be called The World According to MAGA. Instead, Harris treated Trumpism and the MAGA movement as forces that must be decisively repudiated—and unequivocally left behind.

In the comments exlrrp posted a meme from Occupy Democrats listing some of the tough issues Harris avoided, including: “Electric boars versus sharks. ... With wind power you can’t watch TV when the wind isn’t blowing.”

Furious that they’re losing in the marketplace of ideas

The speakers for the second night of the Democratic National Convention look like a good lineup, including Barack and Michelle Obama, but I haven’t listened yet (not even to excerpts). Instead I’ll go to my accumulated tabs about the opposition. Lisa Needham of Daily Kos reported that Indiana enacted an “intellectual diversity” law and a federal judge threw out a lawsuit seeking to block it. The law went into effect July 1. It says getting tenure is based in part on whether the professor fosters “a culture of free inquiry, free expression, and intellectual diversity” and whether students get a “variety of political or ideological frameworks.”

Using the term “intellectual diversity” is the giveaway. It’s a favorite term of the right when they want to complain about how conservative viewpoints aren’t insufficiently coddled by higher education. It’s also the only kind of diversity conservatives really like.

Some of the terms in the law are not defined, so professors don’t have guidance on how to avoid violating the law. Must Holocaust studies include Holocaust denial? Do chapters on slavery have to include the debunked claim that slavery was a benefit to the enslaved? The case was thrown out because professors have not yet been harmed and that is because Universities haven’t spelled out their policies yet. The law is based on the notion that since professors are employees of the government what they say isn’t “free speech” but “government speech” and that can be controlled by the university. All existing court decisions on academic freedom have declared that speech related to teaching or scholarship is free speech. These kinds of games with university professors are also being played out in Florida, Ohio, and Texas. Four states have already restrict tenure at community colleges. Over the last ten years six states have proposed (but not passed) complete tenure bans.

Conservatives will keep doing this because their war against higher education is part of their overall war on modernization and multiculturalism. They’re furious that they’re losing in the marketplace of ideas, and they will keep attacking their own universities until they break under the strain.

Andy Kroll for ProPublica and Nick Surgey for Documented, in an article posted on Kos, reported that Project 2025 has a “plan to train an army of political appointees who could battle against the so-called deep state government bureaucracy on behalf of a future Trump administration.” For that training there are videos, 23 of them, which is 14 hours of content.

The Project 2025 videos coach future appointees on everything from the nuts and bolts of governing to how to outwit bureaucrats. There are strategies for avoiding embarrassing Freedom of Information Act disclosures and ensuring that conservative policies aren’t struck down by “left-wing judges.” Some of the content is routine advice that any incoming political appointee might be told. Other segments of the training offer guidance on radically changing how the federal government works and what it does.

Some of the topics show how to attack specific parts of the government. They explain how to weed out and counter all the government language on climate change. The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) reviews the regulations proposed by the government, so controlling it can control regulations that are approved. Viewers are told Washington is hostile to conservative values (“basic traditional values” – yup, racism is “traditional”) and how to deal with that. There is a section on how to keep career bureaucrats from derailing their efforts. They’re directed to talk to conservative media because that’s what conservative voters trust. They are advised how to avoid leaving a paper trail – talk to other people in person. The nasty guy may be trying to distance himself from Project 2025, but... Joan McCarter of Kos reported that Russell Vought, the architect of the plan, is delighted that JD Vance is the VP pick. Mark Sumner of Kos discussed the financial disclosure forms the nasty guy was required to file to comply with election campaign laws. They’re not as detailed as tax forms, but they are still enlightening. His income comes from peddling Bibles, trading cards, hefty fees at his golf facilities, and various other grifts. He also still owes a lot because of legal settlements he is in no hurry to pay.

What can be seen from even a casual glance is that, while Trump might not be as wealthy as he claims, he has more than enough income to pay his legal bills, donate to his campaign, and keep up even the most lavish lifestyle. In other words, all the begging he did to get other people to fund his legal expenses was a flat-out scam. ... He just doesn’t want to pay. And why should he, so long as there is a stream of suckers and losers who will sign up to cover his bills?

Sumner wrote about the continuing ways nasty guy supporters are trying to legally disrupt the election. Attempts to disqualify Harris. More attempts to suppress the vote. Attempts in Georgia to challenge the status of voters. I had mentioned that some election officials are ready to block certification. Sumner quoted Rachel Maddow’s opinion piece for the New York Times that considers the possibility that swing states are split and the outcome is up to Georgia:

The point of these certification refusals may not be to falsify or flip a result, but simply to prevent the emergence of one. If one or more states fail to produce official results, blocking any candidate from reaching 270 electoral votes, the 12th Amendment prescribes Gerald L.K. Smith’s dream scenario: a vote in the newly elected House of Representatives to determine the presidency. Each state delegation would get one vote; today, Republicans control 26 state delegations; Democrats control 22; and two are evenly divided.

Sumner added:

Republicans are engaged in a multi-layered approach to destroying democracy. They want to block Democratic voters from voting in the first place. If that doesn’t work, they have election boards ready to block certifications. And if that isn’t enough, they have a plan to simply generate as much confusion as possible, and then take advantage of that confusion. Republicans have put years into building these systems. Democrats aren’t going to remove them between now and November. But we need to be alert, aware, and informed if we hope to minimize the damage.

This afternoon Ari Shapiro of NPR talked to Stacey Abrams, an expert on voting rights and Georgia. They covered many of the same things. The audio is seven minutes and the transcript wasn’t ready when I posted.

I just hope he has the time to finish growing up

An Associated Press article posted on Daily Kos reports that judge Arthur Engoron issued his decision in the penalty part of the case of the nasty guy defrauding banks and others with inflated wealth statements. The ruling imposes a penalty of $364 million. Also the nasty guy cannot serve as an officer or director of any New York corporation for three years. The dollar penalty is high, but not as high as the prosecutors requested. The part about not serving as a corporate officer is much less harsh than expected. Some thought he and his family would be barred from doing business in New York for life and his companies dissolved. The nasty guy gave up his position as the company director when he took the Oval Office and did not formally resume the title when he left office. His sons say he has been involved in some decision making. The nasty guy’s lawyers said it was a “manifest injustice” and “politically fueled witch hunt.” They claimed the verdict would damage the business environment (the business environment for grifters?). They will appeal. Of course they said that and of course they will appeal. Charles Jay of the Kos community reported the US Marshall Service, the officers that protect federal judges, prosecutors, and court workers, have seen serious threats more than double since 2021. Until recently such threats had been made by people angry about a judge’s ruling in their case. Now many more threats are coming from people angry because of politics. Joan McCarter of Kos reported that one Wednesday Speaker Johnson was asked about the Ukraine aid package passed by the Senate. He replied, “We have to address this seriously, to actually solve the problems and not just take political posturing as has happened in some of these other corners.” Political posturing? He said that after his House impeached Alejandro Mayorkas to stick it to the Democrats? Then Johnson complained the Ukraine aid bill “has not one word about the border” after he killed the bipartisan border bill. And he’s too busy working on avoiding a partial government shutdown on March 1. Not that there are any, you know, funding bills on the House calendar. The Senate is out until Feb. 26 for their Presidents Day holiday (nice to get two weeks off rather than just a day the rest of the government gets). And on return their first order of business is the Mayorkas trial (I had said it might die in committee, guess not). Which means they won’t have time to do much shutdown avoidance. McCarter reported that also on Wednesday Johnson held a meeting and was handed the choice of saving the government or saving himself. Yeah, we saw how well that worked for Kevin McCarthy. Johnson was told a government shutdown is “idiotic and would only hurt House Republicans.” So another short term continuing spending bill? Full spending bills should have passed back in September. But the Freedom Caucus had said no more short term bills. A long term bill – just say continue the 2023 spending levels and skip trying to negotiate spending for 2024? But the debt ceiling agreement Biden negotiated with McCarthy means everything gets a 10% cut on May 1. That would be about as unpopular as a shutdown. Or Johnson could be grownup and pass bipartisan funding bills with Democrat help that would also get through the Senate. If he does the Freedom Caucus is likely to boot him. In a third post McCarter reported also on Wednesday Johnson again pulled a vote to overhaul FISA because he hasn’t unified the conference.

Wednesday hadn’t even ended before the headlines like “Republicans admit it. Kevin McCarthy has never looked so good” started appearing.

That headline was in Politico. Those Republicans admitting it:

“Watching Speaker Johnson, who I have great respect for, grow up has been really fascinating. I just hope he has the time to finish growing up,” Rep. Frank Lucas of Oklahoma told Punchbowl News. One senior Republican said that Johnson’s leadership “feels like chaos. Rudderless.”

So what does a rudderless leader do when his followers won’t follow?

So Johnson’s House is packing up and leaving midday Thursday, a day earlier than scheduled, for a nearly two-week Presidents’ Day break. They’ll return on Feb. 28, just two days before the first government shutdown deadline, on March 1. Wheeeee!

In a fourth post McCarter reported:

House Republicans aren’t even waiting for the Justice Department to respond to their demand for the transcripts of President Joe Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur. They are already planning the hearing with Hur probing into how old Biden really is. Hur has been preparing for his starring role. Hur found no evidence against Biden in the documents-handling case he was investigating, which rose to a prosecutable level. But the former Trump official needed to do a solid for Republicans, so he added in a lot of gratuitous hits on Biden’s age in his report, which legal experts have called “a partisan hit job.”

That “preparing for his starring role” includes such things as being given lessons on how to “navigate a congressional hearing” by Sarah Isgur, a nasty guy DoJ PR flak. She’s now making the rounds of the Sunday shows and lying about Hur’s findings.

The honed and smart team of Democrats led by Rep. Jamie Raskin will continue to make a mockery of the Republicans. Their “Truth Squad,” which includes Reps. Greg Casar, Jasmine Crockett, Maxwell Frost, Daniel Goldman, and Jared Moskowitz, has perfected their tactics to derail hearings and flummox Republicans. On these hearings, it’ll be a piece of cake.

Another AP article on Kos reports the FBI informant who had the dirt on Biden and son Hunter receiving payments from Ukrainian energy company Burisma had been lying to his handler. He has been indicted for “making a false statement and creating a false and fictitious record.” If convicted, he could get up to 25 years. Dictinary.com just added the term “greedflation” defined as a rise in prices caused by corporate executives to increase profits already healthy or excessive. That’s been a big contributor to the inflation America has been dealing with. Kerry Eleveld of Kos reported a poll done by Navigator Research has found 85% of voters now see corporate greed as a cause of inflation. And that’s something Democrats can run on.

The country’s economic upswing, coupled with Americans increasing belief in greedflation, suggests voters are ripe for an argument that the high price of consumer goods is a product of corporate greed, not economic missteps. And Democrats have a plan for that.

In a pundit roundup for Kos Greg Dworkin had a couple good quotes. From Paul Waldman, of “The Cross Section” on Substack writing on immigration as a campaign issue. This is after Democrat Tom Suozzi of New York just won a special election by campaigning on immigration.

Despite the GOP’s record of repeated failure to turn immigration into electoral results, the vast majority of the political class in Washington — including Republicans, Democrats, and journalists — remains convinced that the losing Republican strategy is actually brilliant, and it’s the Democrats who need to change their ways. The issue of immigration, they assume, is a kind of electoral magic weapon whose unstoppable power will slay all Democrats who stand before it. But they’re just wrong. The voters keep telling them so, and they refuse to accept it.

From Joe Perticone, writing for The Bulwark about the ongoing yet still unsuccessful attempts to impeach Biden:

What [Hunter Biden associate Tony] Bobulinski actually offered Oversight [Committee] members inside the room turned out to be more of what he’s been trying to sell lawmakers and journalists for years: more conjecture and underwhelming, questionable testimony. The result is as familiar as the process: The impeachment inquiry, though shaking and whirring loudly, remains stuck in the hyperpartisan muck.

In the comments are several cartoons and tweets about Fani Willis. She’s the lead prosecutor in the case of the nasty guy committing election fraud in Georgia. Word recently got out that she hired an assistant, Nathan Wade, then started dating him. Their dates included travel and there is now the claim that the case is so they could profit from it (you expected this to be logical?). With that claim they hope to get her and her team dismissed from the case. Getting a new team ready to take over the case would mean no trial until after the election – another delay tactic for the nasty guy. Willis has been grilled by the defense and the view of her performance depends on the viewer’s politics. First up is a cartoon by Clay Jones about slut shaming. The cartoon shows Willis in the witness stand while a befuddled judge hears a woman bellow, “The district attorney should be removed for wink-win, nudge-nudge, mreow-mreow, ruff-ruff, hubba-hubba, aroooga-aroooga, bow-chicka-wow-wow!” Victoria Brownworth reminds us Willis had to live in a safe house because of MAGA death threats. B McArthur asks “Why is Trump allowed to be represented by a white man and woman who own a law firm together, share the same bed, and whose objective is to profit from lying to Americans?” Terry McMillan noted: “She's smarter than they are and they can't stand that a black woman is not intimidated by them. I love her attitude. If she was white they wouldn't be talking to her like this. And we all know it.” Howard at Law: “It was a hit job on a successful Black woman to satisfy racists. DA Willis literally reminded him who is on trial for actual crimes.” Jennifer Cali: “Only in America can a criminal POS like trump try to overturn an election and make us put the prosecutor on trial. This is some next level white elitism.” Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali: “Roll up on Fani Willis thinking it's a game, and she'll show you Black Girl Magic ain't just a phrase, it's how she gets down. You gon’ learn today!” Prez:

This whole hearing with Fani is a complete and utter sideshow. The defense is not trying to make a case that the relationship creates a conflict of interest. They know it does not. The whole point of this charade is to put Fani and Wade’s personal life to the forefront of jurors minds. Jurors will see the two together and begin to wonder about their sex life. This hearing is nothing more than a hit job on their character and their professionalism and has nothing to do with their ability to prosecute the defendants in these cases.

Needle of Arya:

a reminder that this entire investigation into Fani Willis was brought on behalf of folks who are themselves on trial for trying to overturn a presidential election in Georgia this is revenge for daring to hold Trump accountable for trying to become a dictator

I followed the link to B McArthur’s X feed which, since I’m not a member, only shows his most popular posts. In July 2023 he posted an image of a sign a Beau’s.

Trump Sandwich - White Bread - - full of baloney - w/ Russian dressing and a small pickle

It’s time to brand environmental awareness as masculine

Because of news people saying COVID cases on the rise I downloaded Michigan’s data. I hadn’t done that in the last seven weeks. Yes, cases are up, a small but steady rise since the beginning of July (about the last time I checked the data). Over that time the weekly peaks in new cases per day have been 131, 132, 128, 146, 195, 279, 282, 332, and 364. This is much below last December when there were peaks above 2000 and a year ago when there were peaks close to 3000 (and above 23300 just after New Year in 2022). The deaths per day has been in the single digits since about mid May and has been 2 or fewer deaths in the last four weeks. An Associated Press article posted on Daily Kos reported that though the state of Georgia passed a law to make it easier to ban books out of school libraries, the rate they’re doing so is well below other states with such laws. The reason is that while the process is simpler, it is restricted to actual parents with children in the district. Yeah, parents who join groups such as Mama Bears do challenge books and get them removed. But activist citizens who don’t have children can’t badger schools and libraries. And that makes a big difference. Yesterday I wrote about a CBS poll about nasty guy voters and who they feel is telling them the truth. Today I include another piece of that poll, reported by Kerry Eleveld of Kos. This question asked voters who say honesty is very important who they support. 61%, almost two-thirds, of those who say honesty is important support the nasty guy. In a distant second place is the 17% who support DeathSantis. Yeah, I’m struggling with those who say they value honesty are supporting the guy known for how constantly he lies. The rest of Eleveld’s post is about how convinced the MAGA crowd is that the nasty guy will beat Biden in 2024. And if he’s not the nominee, any Republican will beat Biden.

Only a legitimate cult could believe a guy who twice lost the popular vote, was defeated in 2020, doomed an entire slate of handpicked MAGA candidates in 2022, and is now haunted by four criminal indictments is a shoo-in for 2024.

That may not be such a strange belief when they’re fed a steady diet of videos of Biden stumbling over words and sandbags. If the MAGA crowd is fed a steady diet of a frail and bumbling Biden they could very easily believe that Biden stole the 2024 election too. Joe and Jill Biden went to Hawaii to look over the Lahaina devastation and offer comfort and support. While there he did what Republicans are trying to turn into a scandal. His crime: he petted a dog. Specifically a dog helping to find missing people who might still be under the ashes. That moment, and the Republican reaction to it, prompted Hunter of Kos to review the protocols when a dog presents itself to you. You complement the dog, then you pet it (if the dog is willing). If the dog is accompanied by a human handler you then then acknowledge the handler by complementing the dog. Hunter goes from there. Can’t wait for Republicans to try to broaden the scandal by showing Biden petting dogs. Jen Sorensen of Kos comics noted that conservatives have tried to declare fossil fuels are manly and renewable energy are effeminate. It’s time to flip that script and brand environmental awareness as masculine. One frame says, “Trucks are for wimps. Real men use real muscles.” It shows a man on a bicycle saying to a man in a truck, “Outta my way, softie!” In another pundit roundup for Kos a cartoon by Dennis Goris was posted in the comments. On either side of a child wearing a vest are two women. The kid’s mother tells the other, “I usually don’t like to splurge on back-to-school stuff but it is kevlar.”

His smirking mug on every corner or the apocalypse? A tough sell.

My Sunday movie was Tu me manques. I think the movie said the title translated from Spanish means I miss you in me. (Google translate says something quite different.) It is based on a true story. Gabriel had moved from his conservative Bolivia to New York. There he meets Sebastian, also from Bolivia. They fall in love. The movie actually opens with Gabriel’s father receiving his son’s red backpack and suitcase. A while later he receives his son’s body. Dad goes off to New York to demand from Sebastian what did you do to my son? Dad meets his son’s friends and begins to understand who his son was. There is a scene where Dad talks to a priest about what the Bible says, and doesn’t say, about homosexuality. Sebastian wants to do something about the homophobia in Bolivia and creates a play featuring thirty versions of Gabriel – the audition of these men explaining why they want to be a part of the play is intense – as are several scenes in the movie. The story is not told in a linear manner. There is a lot of jumping between Gabriel and Sebastian falling in love, then Sebastian dealing with Dad, and Dad learning about Gabriel’s life. When Sebastian takes Dad to a restaurant where Gabriel had worked we almost see them in the same scene. I now prefer watching stories with a lot less homophobia. Even so, I recommend this one. The University of Houston LGBTQ Resource Center took a while to get approved and get up and running. That happened only a few years ago. Monique Welch of the Texas Tribune, in an article posted on Daily Kos, reported the UH LGBTQ Center is closing because of a Texas Senate bill that bans diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at public higher education institutions. The law exempts student run programs, but this one was run by the university. Orion Rummler is a writer for The 19th a “trusted source for contextualizing LGBTQ+ and education news.” In an article posted on Kos he started with:

At least 11 states have passed laws to censor discussion of LGBTQ+ issues in public schools, eliminating the potential for queer students to see themselves in their education. But most LGBTQ+ students haven’t been learning about their community in school anyway. Instead, they’ve turned to the internet to learn about their identities as queer and trans young people. Some do online research about LGBTQ+ identities after learning from their friends or seeing representation in fiction.

Schools hadn’t been teaching LGBTQ history, didn’t mention us in sex ed classes. That comes from surveys of students, most in high school, a few in middle school and college. So the Don’t Say Gay laws don’t make much difference. So in some places the students are teaching themselves. One club meets once a week and students present history from the LGBTQ, women’s, and black point of view. Willie Carver, an English teacher, said it was embarrassing to watch teens try to do what professionals should be doing and also inspiring to see them care enough to persist. They’re also more motivated over these topics than they are over the sanitized curriculum. As for learning about their community on the internet there is a lot of good content, and also a lot of very bad content. And a teen may not be able to tell the difference. Mark Sumner of Kos reported that when the nasty guy was indicted last week he boasted that today he would release a report that would result in “complete exoneration.” Then last Friday he signaled that the report and associated news conference was “no longer necessary.” Friday’s announcement included words such as “I believe” and “my lawyers prefer.” Which means, wrote Sumner, that those lawyers convinced him these charges are serious and that litigating in public, and committing more crimes as he did so, rather than in the courtroom would damage his case. That’s some amazing lawyering.

So for the moment, Trump has to bite his lips, scowl, and go without a television appearance in order to please his attorneys. But Trump’s faux contrition is unlikely to last. After all, if Trump can’t run his mouth without limit, isn’t he already in jail?

Greg Dworkin, in a pundit roundup for Kos, quoted a couple articles that discuss the same idea. The 14th Amendment of the Constitution says that a person who committed insurrection shall not be allowed to hold government office. Of course, this is aimed at the nasty guy. Today I heard on NPR (maybe the last half of this show here?) a discussion about this clause in the 14th amendment. One of the basic questions is how does it get triggered? Election officials in one or more states who refuse to put someone on the ballot? Citizens sue to make it happen? (and who has standing to bring the lawsuit?) There was agreement such actions should happen well before the election rather than after. Hunter of Kos noted that Republicans don’t have any policies, they just support whatever the nasty guy wants. So how might Democrats use that to their advantage? One way is to name every bill after the nasty guy: The “Donald Trump American Awesomeness Act” for example.

Now, I'm not thickheaded. I know full well there are two main problems with this plan. The first would be that while we could probably save the planet and certainly society by slapping Trump's name on everything, it would require seeing Trump's name on everything. It would be a hellscape. A hellscape of free health insurance, lower global temperatures, and the continued existence of Florida, to be sure, but if the price is seeing Trump's smirking mug on every corner, then it's quite possible the majority of America would prefer apocalypse. It's a tough sell.

There is a lesser problem that if we’re using the nasty guy’s name he’d want a cut. Though that might start a bidding war with billionaires. The other way is for Joe Biden to change his name to Donald Trump. The base would get the second term they’re clamoring for. Biden could claim he’s the original and that guy in Florida is the impostor. We’re already used to the nasty guy contradicting himself. And the old Trump is likely going to prison where he can’t object to what the new one says. I had written that since liberal justice Janet Protasiewicz joined the Wisconsin Supreme Court and flipped the court to a progressive majority the conservatives on the court have become quite annoyed. Quinn Yeargain of the Daily Kos Elections community discussed two of those conservatives, Justice Rebecca Bradley and Chief Justice Annette Ziegler. The chief justice is annoyed because the liberals are limiting her power, saying she’s been abusing it. As for Bradley, she sounds like a full throated conservative, criticizing everything and everyone that doesn’t conform to her beliefs and getting in her way of imposing those beliefs on others. She tosses out a great deal of projection along the way. Hunter reported that in Georgia Republican State Senator Colton Moore is calling on the governor to call a special session of the legislature to “review” what Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis did in indicting the nasty guy. That review is to consider impeaching her and stripping funding of her office (and he adds a “donate here” button). Hunter wrote that Moore’s move is deplorable but right on brand for Republicans. As for the party as a whole...

Republicanism is a fascist movement, and fascist movements operate from the core presumption that they are allowed to commit crimes and promote violence as long as it is in service to expanding movement power.

In the comments of one of Greg Dworkin’s pundit roundups for Kos there is a cartoon by Christopher Weyant in which a mob boss is playing poker with his associates and he tells one, “Get our consigliere. We want to sue Trump for giving organized crime and racketeering a bad name.” And a cartoon by the Daily Felltoon shows the devil in a MAGA t-shirt in bed next to a very surprised evangelical. The devil says, “Oh, come on, now... Who did you really think you were in bed with?” In another roundup is a cartoon by Bob Englehart. A black man is talking to a white man. The black man speaks first.

What are you white people so afraid of? That you will treat us the way we treated you! You mean lynch you and rape your women? And steal our jobs! So, you’re afraid of revenge. (pause) That and justice.

Rat Season in such numbers even attorneys are fed up

In a Ukraine update from last Friday, almost a week ago, Mark Sumner of Daily Kos discussed the perilous situation in Bakhmut (and almost a week later Bakhmut still remains in Ukrainian control). Ukraine is also poking at Russia’s defenses at other places along the line. Sumner also reported on the situation in Georgia (the one south of Russia). The Dream Party (aligned with Russia) proposed a bill that employees of Non Governmental Organizations (which is a large part of Georgian society) had to register as foreign agents. There were two days of massive protests and the legislation was withdrawn. Sumner included images of the size of the protest crowds. Russian propaganda is blaming foreign “Anglo-Saxon” agitators. Nope, this protest is all homegrown. A couple things related to that. First, Russians and Russian supporters in Georgia are so worried that the Russian friendly government might fall they are fleeing back to Russia, or otherwise deciding now is a good time for a holiday somewhere else. Second, since Russia has about 97% of its military engaged in Ukraine, there aren’t available soldiers to force an end to the protests in Georgia. If the people do topple the government there could be major shifts across the region. In an update from last Saturday Sumner noted the Russian death count was over 1000 for that day for a total of over 158K Russian dead. They also lost 10 tanks and 20 armored personnel vehicles that day. However, Sumner’s big story of the post is about the wave of Russian citizens ratting each other out.

All over Russia, it’s open season on anyone. All it takes is a quick suggestion that they said something against Putin, the war, or the Russian military. Or a claim that they were caught saying anything favorable about Ukraine. No evidence required. Rat Season has only been boosted by new legislation that has upped penalties and added even more restrictions about what it’s permissible to say. Russians are ratting Russians out in such numbers that even attorneys are fed up over dealing with the cases. Those who have long harbored a grudge are using this as an opportunity to get back at the guy they didn’t think was respectful enough in the local bar, or the neighbor who played his music too loud. And the worse things get in Ukraine, the more “traitors” they’re going to find.

In an update posted Sunday Kos of Kos discussed whether Bakhmut is still a good place to kill off Russian soldiers or has the cost to Ukrainian soldiers become to high? Is it better for Ukraine to pull out of the city to the higher ground to the west? Kos (as does Sumner) reminds us that Zelenskyy and the military leadership know more about the situation than he does. An Associated Press article posted on Kos discusses the efforts and problems of sanctioning Russian oligarchs. There is an effort to sell off the huge yachts that had been seized, with cases coordinated by KleptoCapture. The money would go to Ukraine. The effort can be slow because each case has to go through proper legal and judicial procedures. Another effort is to go after the wealth managers, those who facilitate keeping an oligarch’s wealth hidden from prosecutors. The managers can be indicted on conspiring to violate and evade US sanctions. In a Wednesday update Sumner reported that Bakhmut’s position is still dangerous. And Zelenskyy came for a visit. That is a signal to the world that Ukraine hasn’t given up on the town in spite of the danger. Kos discussed Switzerland’s neutrality, which kept the country out of two world wars. A big way that the Swiss remain neutral is they have a pretty good arms industry. But that arms industry needs exports to survive. Yet, Germany is getting infuriated with its neighbor because the Swiss refuse to permit armaments sold to Germany to be given to Ukraine. That fury means Germany will stop buying Swiss weapons, which threatens the viability of those weapons companies, and thus Swiss neutrality. There’s another aspect of this. Switzerland is not under threat by the NATO countries that surround it. But the Swiss refusal to give defensive weapons to Ukraine helps Russia. That’s another hit to their claims of neutrality.

The Swiss care about one thing: money. Their banking industry, friendly to money launderers everywhere, holds between $50 and $200 billion in Russian assets. The Swiss have sanctioned just $8 billion of that amount. It’s a weird kind of “neutrality” that only benefits the aggressor.

In a pundit roundup Chitown Kev of Kos quoted Maxim Trudolyubov of the independent Russia media outlet Meduza discussing why Putin is incapable of ending the invasion.

This incapacity is rooted in the political system Putin himself has created, part of which is the disorganized, unwieldy, and uncontrollably violent military that doesn’t stop at crimes against civilians. No leader can conduct a war marked by atrocities like those that shocked the world when the Russian army retreated from the Kyiv region, without forfeiting his chances of shaping the conditions for peace. As a leader, Putin cannot extricate himself from this war without facing the gravest accusations and possibly even threats to his life. As a result, his only way out of warfare is to crush the adversary, if he can. But given how big an ‘if’ this is, his best option is to perpetuate the war, since any conditional peace would probably mean Putin’s removal from power, followed by severe repercussions.

Another AP story posted to Kos is about Machaela Cavanaugh of the Nebraska legislature. A bill to allow gender affirming therapy for those 18 years and younger has been proposed. Cavanaugh is fighting it with all she has – which is quite a bit. She has been personally filibustering that bill and is now three weeks into the effort. That has ground the legislature to a crawl. And this is a legislature that is in session only 90 days.

Both Cavanaugh and the conservative Omaha lawmaker who introduced the trans bill, state Sen. Kathleen Kauth, said they're seeking to protect children. Cavanaugh cited a 2021 survey by the Trevor Project, a nonprofit focused on suicide prevention efforts among LGBTQ youth, that found that 58% of transgender and nonbinary youth in Nebraska seriously considered suicide in the previous year, and more than 1 in 5 reported that they had attempted it. “This is a bill that attacks trans children,” Cavanaugh said. “It is legislating hate. It is legislating meanness. The children of Nebraska deserve to have somebody stand up and fight for them.” Kauth said she's trying to protect children from undertaking gender-affirming treatments that they might later regret as adults. She has characterized treatments such as hormone therapy and gender reassignment surgery as medically unproven and potentially dangerous in the long term — although the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychiatric Association all support gender-affirming care for youths. Cavanaugh and other lawmakers who support her filibuster effort “don't want to acknowledge the support I have for this bill," Kauth said. “We should be allowed to debate this," she said. “What this is doing is taking the ball and going home.”

Kauth’s reasons are all bunk. When the AMA, AAP, and APA support gender affirming care they mean the hormone therapy the Kauth claims is unproven. Such therapy is very much proven. As for the gender reassignment surgery, that isn’t done on those under 18. Surveys have shown adults rarely regret the treatments. There is more harm in preventing treatment for those who need it than harm in those who regret it. The chamber’s leadership praises Cavanaugh’s use of the filibuster, but apparently is making no effort to withdraw the offending bill in order to get everything else done.

Person of the Year is Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Spirit of Ukraine

One of my favorite pieces of music is the Concerto for Piano, Violin, and String Quartet in D major, Opus 21, by Ernest Chausson. Yes, this is classical chamber music. Chausson, who was French, did his writing towards the end of the 19th Century, the end of the Romantic Era. He died way too young from a bicycle accident. The piece is somewhat a cross between a violin concerto and a violin sonata. A concerto is music for a solo instrument and orchestra, though in this case the orchestra is reduced to a piano and four string players. A violin sonata would be for violin and piano, but this has the addition of the string quartet. I’m sure I first heard this piece on a classical music radio station. Not long after that I bought a CD of it. I’ve long wanted to hear a live performance. I mention all this because there was a live performance this evening and I didn’t attend. Violinist Itzhak Perlman and friends came to Ann Arbor sponsored by the University Musical Society. I knew they were coming and have it on my calendar. But because of COVID I didn’t want to buy a ticket too far ahead of time. I checked the UMS website last night. The concert was close to sold out and the remaining tickets were expensive. So there was the price. Also, I didn’t care for the other pieces on the program. Also, while Michigan’s COVID numbers are down considerably the Ann Arbor area is still designated yellow by the CDC and I would be sitting in a nearly full hall with 3500 other people. Because of all that I decided not to go. Instead, I looked for performances on YouTube and chose one where I could watch the performers. And it turned out to be a good one! The quartet wasn’t mic’d as clearly as I would want, but still pretty good. Even so, I very much enjoyed the musicality, intensity, and drama of the playing. This performance was led by by Janine Jansen. The quartet players are named individually, but not as a quartet. The piano was played by Kathryn Stott. It is close to 45 minutes. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona has been the lesser of two Democrats who have kept important bills from passing in the last two years. She’s in the headlines this week for shifting her party affiliation from Democrat to Independent. Notably, she did this days after Rafael Warnock won the election to keep him as a senator from Georgia and giving Democrats a 51st seat and better control of the Senate. Laura Clawson of Daily Kos discussed two reasons why Sinema left the Democratic Party – primary challenge and seeking attention. That second one first. Yup, her name is all over the news, including an op-ed she wrote for Arizona’s major newspaper with lots of words about why she did it. Clawson explained why all those words are just a lot of blather. Also, before every bit Senate vote there is a reminder she will have to get special treatment to woo her vote. As for the primary challenge, Sinema is quite unpopular with Arizona’s Democrats. Some notable party members were already hinting they were ready to challenge her in a primary in 2024. But as an independent she won’t be participating in a primary. I’ve heard from a few sources today that Arizona is about one third Republican, one third Democrat, and one third independent. The winner in a statewide race is the one that can convince the most independents. But as an Independent, will Sinema attract enough of both Republicans and Democrats to win? Or will being a third person in the race split the Democrats, giving Republicans the win? The 2024 race for Arizona senator has begun. David Nir of Daily Kos Elections explains that Sinema’s actions do not throw control of the Senate to Republicans. That may be the reason why she waited until Warnock won his race. There are three things Sinema might do. First is to caucus with Democrats. She has said this is what she’ll do and two other independent senators – Bernie Sanders and Angus King – already do that. Democrats keep their 51-49 lead. Second is she could be her own party of one and caucus with neither party. Democrats keep a 50-49 lead. Third, she switches to caucus with Republicans. If that happens the Senate is back to 50-50 with Kamala Harris breaking ties and Democrats keeping control as they did over the last two years. So don’t fret over that. There are, of course, lots of cartoons about Sinema’s switch. Most of them are about Sinema doing whatever necessary to keep rich donors happy. This one is an example. Back to the race Rafael Warnock won. His Republican opponent was Herschel Walker, great on the football field years ago, but cringe inducing on the campaign trail. Rebekah Sager of Kos explained why he was such a bad choice for a candidate and why Republicans ran him anyway. Why he was a bad candidate:

For months, Daily Kos has covered Walker’s past, from his ubiquitous lies to the hypocrisies, incidents of domestic violence, and his pervasive, troubling and incoherent comments—not to mention his virulent hatred of the LGBTQ community.

And why Republicans ran him anyway:

Walker’s candidacy was humiliating for any logical American. But for Black Americans in particular, he represented every demeaning trope we have tried to run away from since being kidnapped and dragged to this nation and forced into slavery for centuries. For Black men specifically, Walker’s the trope of the absent father and uncontrolled and violent monster. He can barely complete a sentence, and when he does, it’s not just cringe-worthy but opaque and baffling. He’s a trophy-winning athlete, and we all know what white Americans think of the physicality of Black people. The GOP even gave him a campaign slogan, “Run Herschel, Run,” without ever thinking for a second what those words meant to Black Americans. Lastly, he’s self-loathing, the GOP’s favorite flavor of Black person—like Ye, Justice Clarance Thomas, and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, to name a few. So, why would the GOP run this guy? Because he is all those awful tropes. And most of all, he can easily be controlled because of them. They ran him because his skin is the same color as his opponent’s, and that is all Republicans see when they look at the two men. Sen. Raphael Warnock, 53, with all of his accomplishments and experience, is no different in their eyes than Herschel Walker, compulsive liar and bigot.

Thanks to the voters of Georgia, especially the many black voters, Walker won’t be going to the Senate. Andy Marlette tweeted a cartoon about a clown at the side of the road with his thumb out for a ride. The father in the passing car says, “Don’t worry kids, it’s just another Herschel Walker voter. They’re moving to Florida where clowns still win elections!” Mark Sumner of Kos reported that this year Time magazine got their Person of the Year right. It is Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Spirit of Ukraine. He has been doing a masterful job of guiding his country and the world in the effort to defeat Putin’s immoral and unprovoked invasion. The Spirit of Ukraine has been shown repeatedly over the last nine months as citizens taunt, resist, and expel the invaders who want to destroy them and their culture. For taunting the best example is the woman who told Russian soldiers to put sunflower seeds in their pockets so when they died and were buried at least something good would come of them. Sumner included a video of that encounter. He also included one of the Ukraine spirit, a refugee who sang with backup provided by Lithuanians. Time awards their Person of the Year to the person or people who most influence the world’s events for bad or good. And Zelenskyy’s good has been far more influential than Putin’s bad. In a report from a week ago Sumner wrote about Irpin, a suburb of Kyiv. This is another example of the Ukrainian spirit. Irpin was heavily damaged in the first weeks of the war. There were abandoned cars and empty strollers as people grabbed their children and ran. And now the city is rebuilding, or at least drawing art on the damaged buildings. And one can buy a Christmas tree. In a report from ten days ago Sumner wrote that in major wars a new technology makes a big difference. In WWII it was planes and aircraft carriers. In the Vietnam war it was helicopters. In this war of Ukraine liberation it is drones. Both sides are using them much more often, more effectively, and in more imaginative ways than had been used in previous wars. It may get to the point where we think of “pilot” as someone who guides a drone while keeping feet firmly on the ground. A week ago ChrisO_wiki tweeted a thread:

People across Russia are freezing in their homes in temperatures as low as -38°C because essential utility workers have been mobilised – even after the supposed end of mobilisation – and sent to Ukraine, hindering repair and maintenance work at home. The "We can explain" Telegram channel reports that several regions and cities in Russia, including Astrakhan, Krasnodar and Rostov, are suffering problems with their communal heating systems because the engineers responsible for maintaining them have been mobilised.

For those not used to Celsius -38°C is about -34°F. Mighty cold.

They adopted the fascist solutions to each of their problems

I downloaded Michigan’s COVID data. The peak in the number of new cases per day at the end of July was revised to 3026. The two peaks since then are at 2704 and 2232. They’re going in the right direction, but it is too soon, and the numbers too likely to be revised, to say this is a genuine downward trend. I heard on the news that America still has about 500 deaths from COVID per day. At first I thought Michigan is ahead of the rest of the country. But deaths per day here has been fluctuating at or above 10. So the state is at or above average. Joan McCarter of Daily Kos reported that “Defund the FBI” is now a thing with Republicans. If law enforcement is a threat to the nasty guy it “must be deterred, blocked, punished, or fired.” Democrats are beginning to prepare for that. The Republican effort probably won’t get far while Biden is in the White House and if Democrats keep the Senate. Even so Republicans could block every judicial or executive nominee (if Rs take the Senate) and legislative effort and tie Biden up with dozens of phony hearings. If they do have budgetary power they could defund the FBI and related departments and even punish individual justice (and federal) employees. Hunter of Kos discussed an article in the Washington Post about the most destructive things the nasty guy has planned for a second term, if he should ever get there. These were taken from various public pronouncements. “Execute drug dealers” was because he fantasized on what Rodrigo Duterte, dictator of the Philippines, had been doing. “Move homeless people to outlying ‘tent cities’” is a standard real estate tycoon fixation that the presence of homeless people reduces property values. That sounds quite a bit like sending the poor to concentration camps. “Deploy federal force against crime, unrest, and protests” – hurt and kill protesters really is a part of fascism.

It was also a central part of his coup plans; the Trump coup team hoped that Mike Pence could be convinced to throw the election into chaos, upon which time Trump would declare emergency powers under the Insurrection Act to snuff out whatever protests of the stolen election developed, and/or use the military to literally seize the voting machines. A fully fascist plan. Trump is still pissed that it didn't work.

“Strip job protections for federal workers” sounds banal but it’s really about replacing all competent federal workers with loyalists. This is the Russian model in which underlings help the boss with his corruption and their minions are hired to help the underlings with their corruption. And... “In a government based on willingness to overlook corruption, corruption becomes the primary task of government.” The result is a Russia who got bogged down trying to invade Ukraine. So what if by the time he’s gone the country is in ruins. He won’t care because he got to be the one who got rich doing it. This is now standard Republicanism. So far it is mostly revenge on whistleblowers. It will expand. “Eliminate the Education Department” really isn’t a nasty guy thing because that would require work and he doesn’t do work. It is a Republican thing to make sure the lower classes can’t get educated. “Restrict voting to one day using paper ballots” – yeah, the Republicans were for vote by mail when they assumed only old people did it. Now that the pandemic showed young people how nice vote by mail is they’re against it.

All of this has gone far beyond one man's uncontrollable narcissism. Trump didn't get the job the first time around because of his supposed promises or claims that he was smarter than every scientist, military general, and world leader on the planet. He got it because he was a mean, blustery asshole willing to spout more hate more openly than anyone else on the debate stage—and Republican voters absolutely love that stuff. They don't want good government; they want government that will punish their enemies while elevating their own paranoias.

Republicans may not care where the homeless live or whether drug dealers are executed. But controlling elections, firing competent federal employees, and crushing protests ...

That's standard-issue Republicanism now. All of the candidates will be promoting that. DeSantis, Hawley, Cruz, Graham, Cotton, McCarthy, Abbott—all of them. It's carved into the movement now, and there's no evidence it can be scraped back out. They happen across the fascist solutions to each of their problems, and adopt the fascist solutions as their answers.

Rebekah Sager of Kos reported on an article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that says every major county in Georgia is scrambling to find poll workers. Some are confident they’ll meet targets by the time voting starts. The high vacancy rate is understandable, given the testimony of two election workers caught in the nasty guy’s smear campaign. The job also doesn’t pay well. ABC News and the Brennan Center for Justice say it isn’t just Georgia. It’s a national problem. Vet the Vote is now recruiting veterans and their relatives to be poll workers. Other poll workers would be reassured working alongside veterans, who aren’t easily intimidated.

The most powerful people in the world pretend they can do nothing

I mentioned yesterday that an Arab won the mayoral election in Dearborn, Michigan. That winner is Abdullah Hammoud. But he wasn’t the only one. Aysha Qamar of Daily Kos reported Dearborn Heights elected Muslim Bill Bazzi, who had been appointed to the job in January, and now won a direct election. And Hamtramck elected Muslim Amer Ghalib. Hamtramck, surrounded by Detroit, has been known as the Polish neighborhood. It is now the city in the area with the highest percentage of immigrants. Ghalib’s election means this will be the first time in a century Hamtramck doesn’t have a mayor of Polish descent. The small city is now more than half Arab. The Detroit metro area has the largest Arab population outside the Middle East. Much of it is centered in Dearborn and Dearborn Heights. And now Arabs are speaking for themselves. Hunter of Kos reported the Federal Election Commission has decided that foreign people and governments may contribute money to state ballot initiatives. Yes, it is illegal for foreigners to donate to elections. But the FEC has said people running for office are elections, but ballot initiatives are, technically, not. The specific case that prompted the decision is the Canadian subsidiary of an Australian mining giant wanted to fund opposition to a Montana ballot measure about tightening water pollution rules for the mining industry. Hunter wrote:

Any world power with a bit of spare change could, for that matter, fund pro-gun, pro-militia ballot measures in all fifty states just to screw with our national security a bit more than the homegrown versions have managed. There's a political party who'd happily help, and a whole movement of people who would take time out from their pro-revolution and anti-vaxxer podcasts to jump on that bandwagon. The good news is that this is near-instantaneously fixable. All that needs to happen is that Congress needs to clarify existing laws to bar foreign cash from influencing any ballot measure, rather than just races for elected office. Surely, we cough, that would be a bipartisan 10-minute effort that could be done by Christmas. Similarly, each state could close the loophole itself. ... Seriously, could we just fix this one without drama? Looking at you, McConnell. Looking at you, Manchin.

Bills to close the foreign loophole have been introduced. We’ll see how far they get. Kerry Eleveld of Kos reported on a recent Kos/Civiqs poll asking about voter grievances, ten months into Biden’s term. At the top of the top ten is “State of Democracy.” That got a dissatisfied response from 88% of all who responded, 86% from Democrats, 90% from Republicans, and 87% from Independents. Eleveld wrote:

This is not to say that Democrats, Republicans, and independents agree on what’s ailing our democracy, just that it’s a key area of dissatisfaction for all three groups.

Other grievances in the top ten, ordered by total percent dissatisfied: gas prices, price of household goods, race relations, personal savings, wealth gap (91% Dems dissatisfied, 20% GOP), quality of education, price of health care, freedom to live as one pleases (51% D, 73% R), and local infrastructure. I add: When Republicans want freedom to live as one pleases it surely includes freedom to discriminate against others. Greg Dworkin, in his pundit roundup for Kos, quoted HuffPost’s article on Brad Raffensperger, famous as the Secretary of State in Georgia who refused to “find” 11,000 votes to allow the nasty guy to win the state. Many believe he is politically doomed.

He is seeking reelection in Georgia, where a crowded field of primary candidates have lined up to dethrone a man now considered public enemy No. 1 by adherents of the MAGA movement. Almost nobody thinks he can win. “He’s dead in the water,” Jay Williams, a Georgia GOP consultant, told HuffPost.

Laura Clawson of Kos reported that now that the COVID vaccine is available for children 5-11 the Boston Globe has all kinds of stories about parents who are hesitant or opposed to their kids getting the jab. But the story that appointments are getting snapped up so quickly that one would be very lucky to find an appointment within an hour of Boston within the next ten days? Crickets. Such a story should be easy to write. Sheesh, Kos did it. Instead, the Globe chose fear. April Siese of Kos reported that earlier this week Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados, gave a speech to the COP26 conference. Her main message: “Try harder.” Barbados is not a primary cause of the problem and can’t afford to reduce greenhouse gases without foreign help. The amount of money promised has not come and the little bit promised is not enough. So what will it take to get lawmakers to act? Siese quoted a tweet from Joel Scott-Halkes

Nearly every world leader at #COP26 is male. The #patriarchy seems abstract until you realise that the future or humanity rests this week almost exclusively in the hands of men.

Meteor Blades, in his Earth Matters column for Kos, says there is a lot of nice talk at COP26, but there isn’t a lot of precedent for turning all that talk into action. One example of the nice talk is the Global Methane Pledge to cut methane emissions by 30% over the next eight year. 100 nations have signed. But pledges are words, not actions. Russia, one of the worst methane emitters, didn’t sign. And the US commitment may be blocked by the Supreme Court. In 2007 the Supremes ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency is required to regulate greenhouse gases. The current Supremes may consider a way to make the EPA inoperable. Other stories Blades mentioned: Many diverse candidates put environmental justice at the center of their campaigns... and won. Climate disinformation on Facebook comes mostly from just ten sources, which are listed. Corporations are pledging to be “net-zero” by a certain date – are such pledges just greenwashing? Amy Westervelt tweeted:

Boy sure is infuriating watching the most powerful people in the world pretend they can do nothing about anything.

Last week Brandi Buchman of Kos reported on a hearing by the House Oversight and Reform Committee with top oil executives in the hot seats. A big topic was oil companies putting a green face to the public while paying $452 million since 2011 lobbying the federal government, at least partly through the American Petroleum Institute. So if these companies are claiming they disagree with the API and its lobbying against electric vehicles would they commit to ending their relationship with it? That was a question by Rep. Ro Khanna. The response: Silence. Then weasel words – gosh, the API does a lot of other things we like. Khanna said:

If your money is going to organizations that are against the fundamental values you claim you stand for, don’t you think you have some obligation to monitor where the money is going and to make some commitment today? You’re just saying ‘we’re going to just keep spending, we’ll keep having conversations and if they want to do false advertising, fine, we will talk to them behind the scenes’? Is anyone prepared to make a statement saying we are going to take accountability on something important and stop funding groups that are actively engaged in any form of climate disinformation? Is there any form of commitment in any way? Even with a bunch of weasel words would be great.

April Siese reported Rep. Katie Porter took over and posted a couple videos of her questioning. Siese wrote:

During Porter’s questioning of Shell President Gretchen Watkins, the California congresswoman held up a jar filled to the brim with M&Ms, each of which represented about $50 million. Altogether, the M&Ms signified upwards of the $22 billion Shell’s 2020 annual report called for spending on renewable energy in the near term. The near term must add up to almost a decade, because Watkins said Shell is only spending $2 billion to $3 billion on renewables this year. Porter noted that Shell will be spending between $16 billion and $17 billion this year on oil, gas, and chemical operations, with another $3 billion going towards marketing. “Mrs. Watkins, to me, this does not look like an adequate response to one of the ‘defining challenges of our time,’” Porter said, quoting Watkins’ own testimony. “This is greenwashing,” Porter added.

Porter then zeroed in on the API leasing huge plots of land, nearly 14 million acres, which they have yet to exploit. Yet the API is in a legal battle with the Biden Administration because Biden has banned any more leasing. To demonstrate this one Porter considered a grain of rice to be one acre. She then showed the back of an SUV holding 479 pounds of rice. She asked those at the hearing if they would support a ban on further leasing. She cut them off quickly when they veered into weasely answers. She said this acreage is the size of New Jersey and Maryland combined. What’s next – Iowa and Colorado? This is our public land and for the API “too much is never enough.”