#^d 2023-05-07 #^h Speaking of Which
Got a late start, and really not feeling it this week. Seems like plenty of links, but not a lot of commentary.
Trump: I got some flak for not taking the E. Jean Carroll lawsuit seriously enough last week, and wound up dropping a couple parenthetical remarks. The case will presumably be wrapped up and given to the jury early next week, so we'll see. One thing I missed was that while Trump cannot be prosecuted for rape (statute of limitations), he can be sued for assault, so this is not just a defamation case. Also, his own deposition makes him look guilty as hell. I'm particularly bothered by the "she's not my type" defense. In order for that to be a thing, he has to have a pretty large population to choose from, and do so with extreme shallowness. (Ok, maybe Trump does have a type, but think about what that says about him.)
Isaac Arnsdorf/Meg Kelly/Rachel Weiner/Tom Jackman: [05-04] Behind Trump's musical tribute to some of the most violent Jan. 6 rioters.
Aaron Blake: [05-06] Trump's affair was huge tabloid news. Now it's apparently news to him. "Quite a thing to forget" in his deposition.
Amy Gardner/Holly Bailey: [05-05] At least eight Trump electors have accepted immunity in Georgia investigation. It seems like it's taking a long time to get to indictments in the Georgia case, but doesn't this suggest some progress?
Kelly McClure: [05-06] Trump slams Biden for not attending King Charles III's coronation: No US president has ever attended a British coronation, nor should one. Worth noting that while Trump was born in the US, his mother was born in the UK, as a British subject, so maybe that contributes to his divided loyalties. (He also owns significant property in the UK.) Or maybe he just doesn't understand the most basic fact and principle in American history.
Charles P Pierce: [05-05] There are some chewy nuggets in the new wave of Mar-a-Lago documents subpoenas: "Somebody Who Knows Things has been singing a lovely aria to special counsel Jack Smith."
Adam Reiss/Dareh Gregorian: [05-03] Trump's lawyers won't present defense witnesses in trial over E. Jean Carroll rape allegation.
Joan Walsh: [05-05] Donald Trump is proud of being a sexual predator: "In his video deposition for E. Jean Carroll's defamation suit, he displayed an arrogant misogyny that didn't help his defense. He doesn't care."
Yastreblyansky: [05-03] All my trials: A quick review of where the Trump cases stand.
Republicans:
Fabiola Cineas: [05-05] The rising Republican movement to defund public libraries.
Rachel M Cohen: [05-05] The Republican push to weaken child labor laws, explained. It's worth noting that this has been an obsession of the Kochs at least as far back as 1980
Ed Kilgore: [05-05] The next right-wing media freak-out: Slavery reparations in California.
Charles P Pierce: [05-04] This is what leaving abortion rights up to the states looks like: "A woman was forced to carry a fetus to term who would die soon after delivery." And other horrifying stories.
Kirk Swearingen: [05-06] Why are Republicans so bad at lying? Surely not for lack of practice.
Emine Yücel: [05-05] Mississippi Gov launches reelection bid with video of him as Clint Eastwood shooting people of color.
No More Mister Nice Blog: {05-04] I thought DeSantis was supposed to be the smart one: Comparing deposition strategies of Trump and DeSantis, he finally notes: "I'm no lawyer, but my general understanding is that when you're doing illegal things, it's considered sub-optimal to tell the world at large, repeatedly and unambiguously, about the illegal things you're doing." That was about "Mr. Formidable Intelligence," aka "Donald Trump with brains," but it's often just as true of the one without the brains."
More Fox fallout:
Zack Beauchamp: [05-04] Why Tucker Carlson's text message about "white men" matters: Jeffrey St Clair (below) writes about this same text. But what strikes me most isn't the patina of racism but the core political identity: if all you know about the victim is that he's anti-fascist, and you see he's being gang-beat for his politics, then the gang is pretty clearly fascist, and Carlson's gut reaction ("I really wanted them to hurt the kid") shows him to be fascist, too. Isn't that exactly what fascists do? And while "fascist" may be overused as an epithet, isn't its application here pretty obvious?
Sara Morrison/Aja Romano: [05-03] Another hint about Tucker Carlson's firing: A racist text.
Peter Wade: [05-07] Tucker Carlson is quietly 'preparing for war' on Fox News. But currently he's still bound to Fox until January 2025, at $20M/year.
Courts:
Timothy Bella: [05-05] Who is conservative activist Leonard Leo? A friend of Clarence Thomas. As head of the Federalist Society, Leo has had more to say about who's on the Supreme Court than any president. Looks like he's also helped keep his conservative justices loyal to the cause, notably by arranging for Thomas's wife Ginni to be paid "tens of thousands of dollars for consulting work just over a decade ago, specifying that her name be left off billing records."
Justin Elliott/Joshua Kaplan/Alex Mierjeski/Brett Murphy: [05-04] Clarence Thomas's friend acknowledges that billionaire Harlan Crow paid tuition for the child Thomas was raising "as a son".
Eric Levitz: [05-07] What Conservatives Can't Say About Clarence Thomas.
Ian Millhiser:
[05-04] The real reason for the Supreme Court's corruption crisis.
[05-03] Oklahoma begs the Supreme Court to stop it from killing a man: "The murder case against Richard Glossip is so weak that even Oklahoma's Republican attorney general says he should not be executed."
[05-02] A new Supreme Court case seeks to make the nine justices even more powerful. The assumption has long been that the courts shouldn't overrule administrative decisions without real good reason, but with a Democratic administration, and Republican-dominated courts, lots of cases are appearing where special interests are looking to the courts for advantage. Loosening the general rule, which more than the substance of this case, is likely the goal here, will only give lower courts more leeway in ruling according to political whim.
Nicole Narea: [05-05] The courts are sending a message: January 6 insurrectionists will answer for their crimes: Five members of the Proud Boys were convicted of crimes, four of seditious conspiracy. This follows the previous conviction of members of the Oath Keepers for the same crimes.
Charles P Pierce: [05-04] Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's objectivity in Bush v. Gore has long been in shreds: "But reporting in CNN sheds new light on her role in the affair."
Slow civil war: Section name derives from Jeff Sharlet's book (see below). Mostly assorted right-wing wackos taking pot shots at whoever, but it doesn't seem to be random circumstance.
Sarah Jones: [05-06] Drowning in the Undertow: "Reporting from Trump's America, Jeff Sharlet finds a slow-motion civil war." Review of Sharlet's book, The Undertow: Scenes From a Slow Civil War.
Intelligencer Staff: [05-07] At least 7 dead after SUV drives into group of migrants in Texas: A group of people at a bus stop in Brownsville, Texas.
Chas Danner: [05-07] What We Know About the Texas Outlet Mall Attack.
Jack Douglas, et al: [05-07] Texas gunman's white supremacist views eyed as possible motive: On Saturday, eight people were killed and seven injured by a gunman, Mauricio Garcia, shot and killed by police. [Or: 7 killed, 10 injured.]
Michael Tomasky: [05-07] The gun industry wants America's malls and schools to be war zones.
Economy:
Arthur Delaney: [05-06] Let's not play the blame game, say lawmakers blamed for bank failures: "Authors of a 2018 law rolling back bank regulations are oblivious to a damning report from the Federal Reserve."
Kevin T Dugan: [05-05] Jerome Powell can now pivot to saving the economy from imploding.
Laurence H Tribe: [05-07] Why I changed my mind on the debt limit: He's arguing now (unlike he did in 2011) that Biden should simply declare the debt limit law unconstitutional, as it violates the 14th amendment. That works for me. Sure, it would be cleaner if Congress had simply repealed the law, as many urged it to do last year, but the effect is the same (give or take a lawsuit). It goes without saying that if McCarthy wants to cut back on future appropriations, he's in the ideal position to do that. What he can't do is cancel spending money that's been legally appropriated just because he thinks he has some newfound leverage. By the way, see: Jim Tankersley: [05-02] Is the debt limit constitutional? Biden aides are debating it.
Paul Krugman: [05-07] In defense of debt gimmicks: Several more ideas for dodging the debt limit.
Li Zhou: [05-03] Why the Fed's latest interest rate hike is controversial. Another quarter-point hike, to 5.25%, despite evidence that inflation is reduced, and fears that recession is coming. Unfortunately, the latter seems to be what Fed Chairman Powell is aiming for (or won't be satisfied until he gets there).
Ukraine War: Jeffrey St Clair (see below) offers a long quote from an El Pais interview with Lula da Silva, where the key point is: "This war should never have started. It started because there is no longer any capacity for dialogue among world leaders." He didn't single out the US in this regard -- the country he condemned was Russia, which "has no right to invade Ukraine" -- but by focusing on the question of how to prevent wars from starting, the US is most clearly negligent. The US has lost its capacity to act as an advocate for peace because US foreign policy has been captured by the merchants and architects of war.
Connor Echols: [05-05] Diplomacy Watch: Breaking down the pope's peace 'mission': "Is the Holy See working on a secret plan to end the war in Ukraine?" Seems time for a "hail Mary" joke. Echols settles for "why could blame a pope for believing in miracles?"
Julia Davis: [05-03] Kremlin cronies compare alleged drone attack to 9/11. On the other hand, I saw a tweet somewhere comparing it to 1950s B-movie special effects.
Mary Ilyushina: [05-05] Leaked US files show deep rift between Russian military and Wagner chief. I've seen reports of Wagner pulling back from Bakhmut, complaining of ammunition shortages, and further reports of them staying in the fight.
Fred Kaplan: [05-04] So, who was behind that drone attack on Putin? "It might remain a mystery, but let's review all the theories." None are convincing.
Anatol Lieven: [05-05] Applebaum & Goldberg: Truth attended by a bodyguard of lies: "In the Atlantic writers' latest attempt to frame the war as a global struggle between good and evil, they cut too many corners to ignore."
Zachary Paikin: [05-01] Where has US leverage with Russia gone? This article could be sharper. US leverage with Russia "has gone" because it was wasted on posturing instead of being used for value. The US could easily trade an end to sanctions, arms reductions, a rollback of the NATO defense perimeter, even economic favors, in exchange for Russia giving up claims on Ukraine and reducing its own threat projection. These chits are all effectively leverage, but they're useless until you're willing to put them in play.
Michael Weiss/James Rushton: [05-05] 'We will keep killing Russians,' Ukraine's military intelligence chief vows: Maj. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, feeling very bully, especially in Ukraine's ability to kill Russians in Russia. Most of what we read is shaped propaganda, this more than most.
World:
Connor Echols: [05-03] NATO foray into Asia risks driving China and Russia closer together: So, NATO's opening a "liaison office" in Tokyo -- something they've also done in Ukraine, Georgia, Kuwait, and Moldova. As I've noted many times, the prime mission of NATO over the last 10-20 years has been to promote arms sales (mostly US but also European), often by provoking threats. The war in Ukraine would seem to validate their prophecies -- and indeed has been a boon for arms sales, with more to come in Sweden and Finland. A similar US sales pitch has been racking up big sales in Taiwan, so it's not so surprising that European arms makers want a piece of the action, and NATO gives them a calling card. While China is less likely to be bullied into a war, the risks are even greater.
Ben Freeman: [05-01] 'Acceptable' versus 'unacceptable' foreign meddling in US affairs: "It all seems to depend on whether the offending nation is an ally or adversary." And (talk about elephants in the room) not even a word here about Israel.
Frank Giustra: [05-03] De-dollarization: Not a matter of it, but when. The US has been able to run trade deficits for fifty years because the world has uses for dollars beyond buying American-made goods. (One, of course, is buying American assets, including companies.) But when the US levies sanctions, it motivates others to find alternatives to the dollar, to make themselves less dependent on the US. This has been tempting for a long time, but war with Russia and efforts to intimidate China are quickening the pace.
Daniel Larison: [05-05] US military driving and exacerbating violence in Somalia: "Americans have been intervening there for decades. Isn't it past time to ask whether we are the problem?"
Blaise Malley: [05-02] In Washington, China is a four-letter word and the excuse for everything: "Lawmakers have introduced nearly 275 measures this session, while bureaucrats are busy using the CCP to justify ballooning budgets."
Kiyoshi Sugawa: [05-02] Should Japan defend Taiwan?: Biden says the US will defend Taiwan. It is rare, at least since WWII, for the US to enter into a war without enlisting support of its nominal allies, so this prospect is something every US ally should think long and hard about. Still, it's striking how easily the US has recruited former occupiers into its "coalition of the willing": for Iraq, not only the the UK sign up, but so did Mongolia. Japan occupied Taiwan from 1895-1945, a time that few there remember fondly.
William Hartung/Ben Freeman: [05-06] This is not your grandparents' military industrial complex: "Arsenals of influence, the consolidation of contractors, the blob -- all would make Eisenhower blink with unrecognition."
Ellen Ioanes: [05-06] Serbia's populist president pledges "disarmament" after mass shootings: File this under "it can't happen here." Note that Serbia is tied for the third-highest rate of civilian gun ownership in the world (39.1 firearms per 100 residents; US rate is 117.5), but mass shootings are "quite rare" (vs. more than 1 per day in the US). In the two events, a 13-year-old boy killed nine people at a Belgrade-area elementary school, and a day later a 20-year-old killed eight people and wounded 14.
Umair Irfan: [05-01] Smaller, cheaper, safer: The next generation of nuclear power, explained. Still, those terms are only relative, and the old generation of nuclear power plants, which are nearing the end of their planned lifetimes, have set a pretty low bar. I can imagine a scenario where nuclear complements other non-carbon sources of energy, but first you have to solve two problems that are more political than technical: figure out what to do with the waste, and end the linkages between nuclear power and bombs, by disposing of the latter. Of course, you'll still have economic questions: how cost-effective nuclear power is compared to alternatives that are still compatible with climate goals. Even then, perhaps on some level nuclear power is still just too creepy.
Benjamin Keys: [05-07] Your homeowners' insurance bill is the canary in the climate coal mine. As climate disasters mount, their cost is going to be average out over everyone, with the result that insurance will become increasingly unaffordable. For most people, this will happen before actual disasters happen, which will make it hard to see and understand. But in the long run, I think this will fundamentally change the way government has to work.
Tyler Koteskey: [05-04] 'Mission Accomplished' was a massive fail -- but it was just the beginning.
Keren Landman: [05-05] What the ending of the WHO's Covid emergency does (and doesn't) change: "For Americans, the coming [May 11] end of the US public health emergency will have much bigger impacts."
Bruce E Levine: [05-05] Once radical critiques of psychiatry are now mainstream, so what remains taboo?.
Eric Levitz: [05-03] The Biden administration just declared the death of neoliberalism.
Nicole Narea/Li Zhou: [05-05] How New York City failed Jordan Neely: A black, unhoused person, choked to death on a New York subway, by "a white 24-year-old former Marine," who hasn't been named, much less arrested. Also:
Errol Louis: [05-06] Jordan Neely Was Already Dead: "New York reckons with a homeless epidemic and a killing."
Bridget Read: [05-04] 'I was always in awe seeing him dance'.
Elizabeth Nelson: [05-02] The Ed Sheeran lawsuit is a threat to Western civilization. Really.
Jeffrey St Clair: [05-05] Roaming Charges: How White Men Fight.
Emily Stewart: [05-04] What the lottery sells -- and who pays. I know a guy who signs his emails with: "lottery (n.): a tax on stupidity." My reaction was that it's more like a tax on hopelessness, or maybe just on hope, for the set of people who realize they'll never have a chance to make qualitatively more than they have, but are willing to give up a little to gain a rare chance of change. Still, I'm not one of them. I've never bought a ticket or a scratch card of whatever form they take -- even before I got taken to task for using the "if I won the lottery" rhetorical foil (my cousin pointed out that if I did, I'd never be able to tell who my real friends are, which she insisted would be a worse problem than the supposed gain). Still, I'm glad that the state runs the racket, instead of leaving it to organized crime. Same is true for all other forms of gambling. Beware all efforts to privatize them.
Aric Toler/Robin Stein/Glenn Thrush/Riley Mellen/Ishaan Jhaveri: [05-06] War, Weapons and Conspiracy Theories: Inside Airman Teixeira's Online World: "A review of more than 9,500 messages obtained by The New York Times offers important clues about the mind-set of a young airman implicated in a vast leak of government secrets."