Month: February 2024

Republicans double down on lies to the Federal Bureau of Investigation

benfell

Neoliberalism

Democratic (neoliberal) Party

Joe Biden


Fig. 1. Joe Biden and Pope Francis, unknown photographer, April 29, 2016, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

[T]he F.B.I.’s trusted informant [Alexander Smirnov, whose testimony Republicans relied upon] appears instead to have been an inveterate liar who successfully injected Russian lies about the President of the United States into a partisan election-year impeachment inquiry.[1]

Susan Glasser thinks the impeachment quest should now be dead, killed with charges against Alexander Smirnov for lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, including the claims that Joe Biden had accepted bribes. The trouble here, as she acknowledges, is that Republicans have only doubled down on this quest. An abject absence of evidence[2] has never stopped white Christian nationalists in the past—remember Benghazi, for crying out loud?—so why should we believe it will now?

It was perhaps no surprise that the House Republicans’ fever dream of impeachment would evaporate. Their revenge play on behalf of the twice-impeached ex-President [Donald Trump] always seemed more about payback and partisan politics than anything else. Since taking back the House and launching their probe of [Joe] Biden last year, they have publicly struggled to find any crime—never mind the requisite high crimes and misdemeanors—to fit the preordained punishment. In the course of their shambolic inquiry, many theories of malfeasance by the President had been advanced, from alleged nefarious doings with China, Kazakhstan, Romania, and other countries to Biden’s alleged money laundering on behalf of his brother. But even the probe’s deepest skeptics could not have imagined this latest twist: a fake Ukrainian bribe, seemingly ordered up to fit the Republicans’ darkest fantasies of Biden, and passed along by a source who would eventually admit to spreading lies given to him by Russian spies.[3]

If Republicans really wanted to get Biden, they’d go after him for being a war criminal.

James Comer, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, has so far stopped short of calling an official halt to the probe, but [Jamie] Raskin said that he had sensed a political shift. “Chairman Comer seems to have given up the ghost on impeachment,” Raskin told me. “They seem to be acknowledging the political math is not there for them.”[4]

I’ll believe this when James Comer actually calls an official halt. He won’t, of course, because Donald Trump’s supporters won’t allow it. So my prediction has to be for many more months of this nonsense. Which Glasser eventually concedes:

In today’s Congress, the fight, somehow, must always go on. For years, [Donald] Trump and his backers have fed elaborate conspiracy theories about the President [Joe Biden] and his son [Hunter Biden] to their base. This particular trope about Biden and Ukraine and the bribe that wasn’t is unlikely to die off swiftly. [Jamie] Raskin readily admitted that some Republicans in Congress were likely to keep pressing the matter even after its source had been discredited—“like Confederate soldiers lost in the woods somewhere,” still fighting on long after the war was over. In the way of conspiracy theories, he fears that [Alexander] Smirnov’s takedown may soon end up being portrayed as just another deep-state plot to cover up Biden’s crimes. I suspect it will not be long before this prediction comes to pass.[5]

Susan B. Glasser, “The Crazy Collapse of the House G.O.P.’s Impeachment Case Against Biden,” New Yorker, February 22, 2024, https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/the-crazy-collapse-of-the-house-gops-impeachment-case-against-biden

Illiberalism

Gilead

Gun nuttery


Fig. 1. “Rally Against Gun Control ‘Come and Take it’ flag at the Minnesota State Capitol,” photograph by Fibonacci Blue [pseud.], April 28, 2018, via Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Jacob Gershman, “Jury Orders Ex-NRA Chief Wayne LaPierre to Pay More Than $4 Million Back to Gun-Rights Group,” Wall Street Journal, February 23, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/jury-orders-ex-nra-chief-wayne-lapierre-to-pay-4-million-back-to-gun-rights-group-24be61fb

  1. [1]Susan B. Glasser, “The Crazy Collapse of the House G.O.P.’s Impeachment Case Against Biden,” New Yorker, February 22, 2024, https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/the-crazy-collapse-of-the-house-gops-impeachment-case-against-biden↩
  2. [2]Susan B. Glasser, “The Crazy Collapse of the House G.O.P.’s Impeachment Case Against Biden,” New Yorker, February 22, 2024, https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/the-crazy-collapse-of-the-house-gops-impeachment-case-against-biden↩
  3. [3]Susan B. Glasser, “The Crazy Collapse of the House G.O.P.’s Impeachment Case Against Biden,” New Yorker, February 22, 2024, https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/the-crazy-collapse-of-the-house-gops-impeachment-case-against-biden↩
  4. [4]Susan B. Glasser, “The Crazy Collapse of the House G.O.P.’s Impeachment Case Against Biden,” New Yorker, February 22, 2024, https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/the-crazy-collapse-of-the-house-gops-impeachment-case-against-biden↩
  5. [5]Susan B. Glasser, “The Crazy Collapse of the House G.O.P.’s Impeachment Case Against Biden,” New Yorker, February 22, 2024, https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/the-crazy-collapse-of-the-house-gops-impeachment-case-against-biden↩

Looks like Donald Trump may have to sell some assets

benfell

Illiberalism

Gilead

Donald Trump
Finances


Fig. 1. Trump International Hotel, Las Vegas, undated image credited to https://www.flickr.com/photos/glynlowe/ [bad link], via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

[Leticia] James’s office calculated last week that, including interest, [Donald] Trump owes more than $450 million. Trump can appeal the decision, but he has to pay the penalty in full first. And unfortunately for him, he accrues more interest every day.[1]

Tori Otten reports that Donald Trump’s lawyers have petitioned for a delay in the fine imposed for fraud, with the logic fairly obviously being that if he had the cash on hand, he wouldn’t have to pray for relief from the court.[2]

The request for delay is likely so [Donald] Trump can try either to raise enough capital to pay the fine, or to find a company willing to help him post a bond. Trump reportedly holds only about $600 million in liquid assets, not nearly enough to pay the millions he owes in this and other legal penalties.

Trump owes writer E. Jean Carroll $88.3 million for sexually assaulting her in the mid-1990s and then defaming her twice when denying it. He also owes thousands of dollars in fines that he racked up during his recent trials for attacking courtroom staff, and $400,000 to The New York Times.[3]

Trump likely has the assets, but he’d have to sell them or offer them as collateral. Bill Cohan thinks that might be painful for our delusional raging narcissist-formerly-in-chief.[4] I’d be looking for more grift, you know, like some golden tennis shoes.[5]

Joe Hernandez, “What to know about the debut of Trump’s $399 golden, high-top sneakers,” National Public Radio, February 20, 2024, https://www.npr.org/2024/02/19/1232438349/donald-trump-golden-high-top-sneakers

Aaron Katersky and Peter Charalambous, “Letitia James says she’s prepared to seize Trump’s buildings if he can’t pay his $354M civil fraud fine,” ABC News, February 20, 2024, https://abcnews.go.com/US/letitia-james-shes-prepared-seize-trumps-assets-pay/story?id=107381482

William D. Cohan, “Sussing the Trump Estate Sale,” Puck, February 21, 2024, https://puck.news/sussing-the-trump-estate-sale/

Tori Otten, “It Sure Looks Like Trump Can’t Pay the Bond in His Fraud Trial,” New Republic, February 22, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/179203/trump-pay-fraud-trial-judgment-delay

Imperialism

Israel

Palestine

07_09:10:47-2
Fig. 2. The ruins of a terminal at the Gaza airport. Image by Said Khatib (Agence France-Presse) on September 9, 2018, via the Times of Israel,[6] fair use.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has finally unveiled Israel’s plans for Gaza after hostilities end in the enclave, submitting to his war cabinet a formal proposal that directly contradicts the objectives of the US.

The one-page document, released overnight by his office, makes no mention of any role for the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank-based rival to Hamas that the Biden administration wants to see take over control, and rejects unilateral international steps towards recognition of a Palestinian state.

It also foresees a sizeable security buffer within the besieged enclave, an outcome the US has made clear it opposes.[7]

Mehul Srivastava, Neri Zilber, and Heba Saleh, “Israel unveils plan for complete postwar control of Gaza,” Financial Times, February 23, 2024, https://www.ft.com/content/063495e8-645c-4cec-8b8e-290fdc32044f

  1. [1]Tori Otten, “It Sure Looks Like Trump Can’t Pay the Bond in His Fraud Trial,” New Republic, February 22, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/179203/trump-pay-fraud-trial-judgment-delay↩
  2. [2]Tori Otten, “It Sure Looks Like Trump Can’t Pay the Bond in His Fraud Trial,” New Republic, February 22, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/179203/trump-pay-fraud-trial-judgment-delay↩
  3. [3]Tori Otten, “It Sure Looks Like Trump Can’t Pay the Bond in His Fraud Trial,” New Republic, February 22, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/179203/trump-pay-fraud-trial-judgment-delay↩
  4. [4]William D. Cohan, “Sussing the Trump Estate Sale,” Puck, February 21, 2024, https://puck.news/sussing-the-trump-estate-sale/↩
  5. [5]Joe Hernandez, “What to know about the debut of Trump’s $399 golden, high-top sneakers,” National Public Radio, February 20, 2024, https://www.npr.org/2024/02/19/1232438349/donald-trump-golden-high-top-sneakers↩
  6. [6]Agence France-Presse and Times of Israel, “20 years after its opening, destroyed Gaza airport embodies grounded peace hopes,” Times of Israel, September 12, 2018, https://www.timesofisrael.com/20-years-after-its-opening-destroyed-gaza-airport-embodies-grounded-peace-hopes/↩
  7. [7]Mehul Srivastava, Neri Zilber, and Heba Saleh, “Israel unveils plan for complete postwar control of Gaza,” Financial Times, February 23, 2024, https://www.ft.com/content/063495e8-645c-4cec-8b8e-290fdc32044f↩

COVID-19 and polarization

benfell

Imperialism

Russia

Ukraine


Fig. 1. “Destroyed Russian military vehicles located on the main street Khreshchatyk are seen as part of the celebration of the Independence Day of Ukraine in Kyiv, August 24.” Photograph by Gleb Garanich for Reuters, August 24, 2022,[1] fair use.

Spanish intelligence services have no doubt that the long hand of the Kremlin is behind an unprecedented crime: the assassination in Alicante of Maxim Kuzminov, the Russian captain who defected last August and crossed over to Ukraine with his Mi8 combat helicopter. Publicly, the Spanish government has been very cautious regarding who was possibly responsible for the murder. “We have to let the Civil Guard [a national law enforcement force] do its job and for the investigation to progress,” said government spokesperson Pilar Alegría on Tuesday. However, diplomatic sources recognize that, although they are still waiting to gather enough information, it is a “very serious” matter. If the involvement of the Russian authorities is confirmed, they add, Spain will give a “forceful response.”[2]

There’s no word on what this “forceful response” might be and I kinda suspect that such words would be on Vladimir Putin’s vodka bingo card if he drank.

Miguel González and Carlos E. Cué, “Gunmen sent by Moscow killed defector sheltering in Alicante, Spanish intelligence services say,” El País, February 22, 2024, https://english.elpais.com/international/2024-02-22/gunmen-sent-by-moscow-killed-defector-sheltering-in-alicante-spanish-intelligence-services-say.html

COVID-19 Pandemic


Fig. 2. Cartoon by Peter Brookes, October 3, 2020, via the Times, fair use.

I had not attributed the present state of extreme polarization to the COVID-19 pandemic. I had seen it as an intensification of the polarization I first observed, I think, with Jimmy Carter, certainly with Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, in which a president could be considered illegitimate by virtue of his political party affiliation.

But Starbucks Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz attributed it to the pandemic:[3]

Some of the problems seemed bigger than Starbucks, rooted in a country that had taken a dark turn during the pandemic, [Howard] Schultz said. He visited Nashville, Phoenix and Long Beach, Calif. Workers routinely told him that their customers had grown angrier, more aggressive and demanding. He traveled to New York, Chicago, St. Louis and Denver. He heard more and more from baristas about frightening encounters with homeless people and drug addicts in their store’s bathrooms.[4]

To be completely honest, this hadn’t even occurred to me. Even now, I’m not completely persuaded, but as I reflected on that article, I began to see that Schultz had a point with intense resentment against the lockdown, social distancing rules, masking rules, and even vaccine requirements. From all this, I took the message that we value capitalism even more than human life,[5] and certainly nothing I’ve seen since contradicts this.

What did it all mean? There are lots of takes on what happened, many of them plausible even as they contradict one another. A non-crazy case gets made that the period was just as epoch-changing as it seemed: a million people died of the plague in America; schoolkids were deprived of instruction and left behind in ways that may be impossible to remedy. The paranoia that was already rampant in the social-media age intensified, advancing the corrosion of institutional trust. Another non-crazy case gets made that much of the damage was self-inflicted: the schools should never have been closed; the elaborate pantomime of masking may have saved some lives but may not have; and, amid high-handed edicts, the price we paid in the erosion of social trust was higher than it needed to be.

At the same time, a non-crazy case can be made that the restrictions and restraints did not go far enough and were abandoned too soon, so that now, with the pandemic still rampant—very few families have not been through at least two or three cases—we have simply decided to ignore the bug, even as it refuses to ignore us. The cases are less lethal, but significant numbers of people suffer from long covid—with ongoing uncertainty about whether this is a thing, or several things, or a combination of things and non-things. Many immune-suppressed people argue that we are indulging, in the name of exhaustion, a collective callousness to the welfare of others, particularly the most vulnerable.[6]

This is 20/20 hindsight. Even outdoor workers were told to stay home because we did not know that COVID-19 is less dangerous when everyone is socially distanced outdoors. We did not know as much as we do now about how COVID-19 spreads. We did not know how susceptible children were. We did not know how likely children were to spread the disease. And we didn’t initially have vaccines that lessen the danger for most people.

There is a lot we did not know. And this is the nature of science. What scientific knowledge we possess is always tentative, subject to revision. But the scientific reversals led many people to conclude the experts did not know what they were talking about and therefore were to be ignored.

Adam Gopnik argues that the real problem with pandemics is that they defy human agency.[7] This is the sense most of us have of autonomy, of being able to make our own decisions, and ethicists view that agency as crucial. And it was challenged not only by the disease itself, but by well-intentioned rules which were meant to protect us, but were perhaps dubious in hindsight.[8]

I haven’t reached a final conclusion about all this. I think we can safely say that my initial theory was inadequate because COVID-19 did happen and was more significant than I had understood. But I’m certainly never going to attribute all of the polarization to COVID-19, because it was there before, and because Gopnik does not actually explain why, nearly uniformly, Democrats behaved and reacted one way and Republicans another.

Adam Gopnik, “Did the Year 2020 Change Us Forever?” New Yorker, February 19, 2024, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/02/26/did-the-year-2020-change-us-forever

Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh

Infrastructure


Fig. 3. Post-collapse scene at the Fern Hollow Bridge, photograph by National Transportation Safety Board, January 29, 2022, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

Paula Reed Ward and Julia Felton, “NTSB blames Fern Hollow Bridge collapse on lack of maintenance, repair, oversight,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, February 21, 2024, https://triblive.com/local/ntsb-meets-to-reveal-probable-cause-of-fern-hollow-bridge-collapse/

Jacob Geanous, “Latest phase of the Mon-Fayette Expressway unveiled,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 22, 2024, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/transportation/2024/02/21/mon-fayette-expressway-plans-west-mifflin-turnpike-commission/stories/202402210110

  1. [1]Reuters, “Ukraine puts destroyed Russian tanks on display in Kyiv,” August 25, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/ukraine-puts-destroyed-russian-tanks-on-idUSRTSALV9Q↩
  2. [2]Miguel González and Carlos E. Cué, “Gunmen sent by Moscow killed defector sheltering in Alicante, Spanish intelligence services say,” El País, February 22, 2024, https://english.elpais.com/international/2024-02-22/gunmen-sent-by-moscow-killed-defector-sheltering-in-alicante-spanish-intelligence-services-say.html↩
  3. [3]Greg Jaffe, “Howard Schultz’s fight to stop a Starbucks barista uprising,” Washington Post, October 8, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/10/08/starbucks-union-ceo-howard-schultz/↩
  4. [4]Greg Jaffe, “Howard Schultz’s fight to stop a Starbucks barista uprising,” Washington Post, October 8, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/10/08/starbucks-union-ceo-howard-schultz/↩
  5. [5]David Benfell, “The capitalist death cult,” Not Housebroken, March 27, 2020, https://disunitedstates.org/2020/03/27/the-capitalist-death-cult/; David Benfell, “An impatient capitalist god demands human sacrifice. Now,” Not Housebroken, April 17, 2020, https://disunitedstates.org/2020/04/15/an-impatient-capitalist-god-demands-human-sacrifice-now/; David Benfell, “Surprise! Surprise! The capitalist god is greedy!” Not Housebroken, May 25, 2020, https://disunitedstates.org/2020/05/23/surprise-surprise-the-capitalist-god-is-greedy/↩
  6. [6]Adam Gopnik, “Did the Year 2020 Change Us Forever?” New Yorker, February 19, 2024, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/02/26/did-the-year-2020-change-us-forever↩
  7. [7]Adam Gopnik, “Did the Year 2020 Change Us Forever?” New Yorker, February 19, 2024, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/02/26/did-the-year-2020-change-us-forever↩
  8. [8]Adam Gopnik, “Did the Year 2020 Change Us Forever?” New Yorker, February 19, 2024, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/02/26/did-the-year-2020-change-us-forever↩

Chinese water torture on student loan relief

benfell

Neoliberalism

Academic repression

Student loans


Fig. 1. Unattributed and undated image via James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal,[1] fair use.

In the [student loan forgiveness] round announced on Wednesday [February 21], people in the SAVE plan who originally borrowed up to $12,000 and who have made at least 10 years of qualifying monthly payments will have their debt wiped out.[2]

Yawn.

Megan Tomasic, “Biden administration to forgive $1.2 billion in student loan debt, impacting 153,000 borrowers,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 21, 2024, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-nation/2024/02/21/biden-administration-to-forgive-1-2-billion-in-student-loan-debt/stories/202402200105

Zolan Kanno-Youngs, “Biden Chips Away at Student Loan Debt, Bit by Bit, Amid High Expectations,” New York Times, February 21, 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/21/us/politics/biden-student-loan-forgiveness-debt.html

Illiberalism

Gilead

Donald Trump
Finances


Fig. 1. Trump International Hotel, Las Vegas, undated image credited to https://www.flickr.com/photos/glynlowe/ [bad link], via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

Bill Cohan thinks Donald Trump can come up with the money, but it might be painful.[3] Letitia James has her eye on 40 Wall Street.[4]

Aaron Katersky and Peter Charalambous, “Letitia James says she’s prepared to seize Trump’s buildings if he can’t pay his $354M civil fraud fine,” ABC News, February 20, 2024, https://abcnews.go.com/US/letitia-james-shes-prepared-seize-trumps-assets-pay/story?id=107381482

William D. Cohan, “Sussing the Trump Estate Sale,” Puck, February 21, 2024, https://puck.news/sussing-the-trump-estate-sale/

  1. [1]Richard K. Vedder, “Eliminate or Radically Restructure Federal Student Loans,” James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, September 16, 2020, https://www.jamesgmartin.center/2020/09/eliminate-or-radically-restructure-federal-student-loans/↩
  2. [2]Zolan Kanno-Youngs, “Biden Chips Away at Student Loan Debt, Bit by Bit, Amid High Expectations,” New York Times, February 21, 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/21/us/politics/biden-student-loan-forgiveness-debt.html↩
  3. [3]William D. Cohan, “Sussing the Trump Estate Sale,” Puck, February 21, 2024, https://puck.news/sussing-the-trump-estate-sale/↩
  4. [4]Aaron Katersky and Peter Charalambous, “Letitia James says she’s prepared to seize Trump’s buildings if he can’t pay his $354M civil fraud fine,” ABC News, February 20, 2024, https://abcnews.go.com/US/letitia-james-shes-prepared-seize-trumps-assets-pay/story?id=107381482↩

Donald Trump can pay

benfell

Illiberalism

Gilead

Donald Trump


Fig. 1. Donald Trump, depicted in an orange jumpsuit, reportedly by the Drudge, via Mediaite,[1] fair use. Apparently, no mugshot was taken when he was actually arrested over hush money paid to Stormy Daniels.[2]

Bill Cohan writes:

Like many on Wall Street, I’ve been left wondering how Donald Trump will be able to afford the more than $450 million penalty, including interest, that Judge Arthur Engoron imposed on him last week as a result of the civil fraud lawsuit brought by New York State Attorney General Letitia James as well as the $83.3 million he owes E. Jean Carroll after he lost two defamation cases she brought against him. Assuming that at some point he loses all his appeals, can he get the cash he needs to pay his debts? Is he liquid enough for the appeal bond in the meantime? Will he be able to find someone to post the bond and take the risk of his credit? And that ignores, for the moment, the increasing possibility that he might also have to pay the I.R.S. $100 million or so in back taxes, as a result of his improper deductions over the years.[3]

Tim O’Brien appeared on “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” Monday to remind Americans — who last week witnessed the former president slammed with a more than $350 million civil fraud judgement — that money problems are nothing new to Trump.

“This problem was there in 2016 when Trump was elected,” O’Brien said. “Trump was trying to get a real estate deal done in Moscow while he was running for president.”

O’Brien said the pattern continued during his term as president when he did political favors for the Saudis and, after he left the White House, his son-in-law and former treasury secretary “got billions.”[4]

Peter Baker, “Poll Ranks Biden as 14th-Best President, With Trump Last,” New York Times, February 18, 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/18/us/politics/biden-trump-presidential-rankings.html

Kate Sullivan, “Trump avoids condemning Russia for Navalny’s death,” CNN, February 19, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/19/politics/trump-navalny-death-response/index.html

Kathleen Culliton, “‘That makes him a mark’: Expert explains problem sending broke Trump back to White House,” Raw Story, February 19, 2024, https://www.rawstory.com/trump-2667318211/

William D. Cohan, “Sussing the Trump Estate Sale,” Puck, February 21, 2024, https://puck.news/sussing-the-trump-estate-sale/

Finances


Fig. 2. Trump International Hotel, Las Vegas, undated image credited to https://www.flickr.com/photos/glynlowe/ [bad link], via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

William D. Cohan, “Sussing the Trump Estate Sale,” Puck, February 21, 2024, https://puck.news/sussing-the-trump-estate-sale/

Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh

Infrastructure


Fig. 3. Post-collapse scene at the Fern Hollow Bridge, photograph by National Transportation Safety Board, January 29, 2022, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

The National Transportation Safety Board was scathing on Pittsburgh’s neglect of the Fern Hollow Bridge.[5] It’s all consistent with my observation that Pittsburgh simply does not take care of business. It just doesn’t.

This cannot obviously be blamed on Ed Gainey who had taken office[6] a mere 25 days before the bridge collapsed.[7] And it’s worth noting that Gainey’s efforts to remedy the city’s snowplowing operations[8] do seem to have borne fruit.

But it’s clear the corruption in Pittsburgh is deep-seated and I’m not at all clear that Gainey is doing a thing about it.

Paula Reed Ward and Julia Felton, “NTSB blames Fern Hollow Bridge collapse on lack of maintenance, repair, oversight,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, February 21, 2024, https://triblive.com/local/ntsb-meets-to-reveal-probable-cause-of-fern-hollow-bridge-collapse/

  1. [1]Alex Griffing, “Drudge Puts Trump in an Orange Jumpsuit as Site Monitors His Potential Indictment,” Mediaite, August 29, 2022, https://www.mediaite.com/news/drudge-puts-trump-in-an-orange-jumpsuit-as-site-monitors-his-potential-indictment/↩
  2. [2]Sarah D. Wire and Alexandra E. Petri, “Trump charged with 34 felony counts in alleged hush money cover-up case,” Los Angeles Times, April 4, 2023, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-04-04/donald-trump-alleged-hush-money-investigation-indictment-arraignment↩
  3. [3]William D. Cohan, “Sussing the Trump Estate Sale,” Puck, February 21, 2024, https://puck.news/sussing-the-trump-estate-sale/↩
  4. [4]Kathleen Culliton, “‘That makes him a mark’: Expert explains problem sending broke Trump back to White House,” Raw Story, February 19, 2024, https://www.rawstory.com/trump-2667318211/↩
  5. [5]Paula Reed Ward and Julia Felton, “NTSB blames Fern Hollow Bridge collapse on lack of maintenance, repair, oversight,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, February 21, 2024, https://triblive.com/local/ntsb-meets-to-reveal-probable-cause-of-fern-hollow-bridge-collapse/↩
  6. [6]Olafimihan Oshin, “Ed Gainey sworn in as Pittsburgh’s first Black mayor,” Hill, January 3, 2022, https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/588041-ed-gainey-sworn-in-as-pittsburghs-first-black-mayor↩
  7. [7]Ed Blazina et al., “‘A boom, then a monster sound’: 10 hurt after bridge over Pittsburgh’s Frick Park collapses,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 28, 2022, https://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2022/01/28/pittsburgh-bridge-collapse-forbes-braddock-avenue-point-breeze-squirrel-hill/stories/202201280075↩
  8. [8]Julia Felton, “Pittsburgh looks to add more plows to address concerns about snow, ice removal,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, February 7, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-looks-to-add-more-plows-to-address-concerns-about-snow-ice-removal/; Julia Felton, “Pittsburgh to add 12 snowplows to city fleet for rest of winter,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, February 8, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-to-add-12-snow-plows-to-city-fleet-for-rest-of-winter/↩

Israel faces music it doesn’t even understand it needs to face

benfell

Imperialism

Israel

Palestine

07_09:10:47-2
Fig. 1. The ruins of a terminal at the Gaza airport. Image by Said Khatib (Agence France-Presse) on September 9, 2018, via the Times of Israel,[1] fair use.

What’s also not changing is the growing global perception that Israel is at odds with the international system and reliant on the United States to shield it from further censure. Israeli officials were incensed by U.N. Secretary General António Guterres’s claim last year that the Hamas attack on Oct. 7 did not occur in a “vacuum” — an observation which Israel argued was justifying Hamas terrorism.

But this week’s proceedings in The Hague dig into what Guterres was invoking, reckoning with more than a half century of deeper, tragic context. The current drumbeat of extreme rhetoric from [Binyamin] Netanyahu’s political allies to the right — including rejections of any talk of Palestinian statehood or equal political rights, calls to carry out de facto ethnic cleansing in Gaza and even denials of the existence of the Palestinian people — offers a reminder of the parallel conversation taking place within Israel.[2]

Polina Ivanova, “Israel grapples with ‘Eichmann’ dilemma over Hamas attack trials,” Financial Times, February 21, 2024, https://www.ft.com/content/dbdc4ea2-d33f-43ce-b029-52a7cb8d2ae4

Ishaan Tharoor, “The world confronts Israel over its occupation of Palestinian lands,” Washington Post, February 21, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/02/21/israel-occupation-palestine-gaza-un-icj-hearing/

Neoliberalism

Academic repression

Student loans


Fig. 2. Unattributed and undated image via James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal,[3] fair use.

I’m afraid Megan Tomasic’s report isn’t terribly helpful in explaining who will benefit from Joe Biden’s latest round of student loan relief. Instead, she spends more space retreading Biden’s initial program, which was struck down by the Supreme Court. Look for an email, I guess.[4]

Megan Tomasic, “Biden administration to forgive $1.2 billion in student loan debt, impacting 153,000 borrowers,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 21, 2024, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-nation/2024/02/21/biden-administration-to-forgive-1-2-billion-in-student-loan-debt/stories/202402200105

  1. [1]Agence France-Presse and Times of Israel, “20 years after its opening, destroyed Gaza airport embodies grounded peace hopes,” Times of Israel, September 12, 2018, https://www.timesofisrael.com/20-years-after-its-opening-destroyed-gaza-airport-embodies-grounded-peace-hopes/↩
  2. [2]Ishaan Tharoor, “The world confronts Israel over its occupation of Palestinian lands,” Washington Post, February 21, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/02/21/israel-occupation-palestine-gaza-un-icj-hearing/↩
  3. [3]Richard K. Vedder, “Eliminate or Radically Restructure Federal Student Loans,” James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, September 16, 2020, https://www.jamesgmartin.center/2020/09/eliminate-or-radically-restructure-federal-student-loans/↩
  4. [4]Megan Tomasic, “Biden administration to forgive $1.2 billion in student loan debt, impacting 153,000 borrowers,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 21, 2024, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-nation/2024/02/21/biden-administration-to-forgive-1-2-billion-in-student-loan-debt/stories/202402200105↩

Vladimir Putin sends his love

benfell

Imperialism

Russia


Fig. 1. Historic Russian empire, from the New York Times, possibly March 6, 2014, fair use.[1]

I shouldn’t have to say this. I should be able to assume that the U.S. is in fact studying what’s going on with Vladimir Putin and Russia very carefully. With the stupidity I see around me pretty close to 100 percent of the time, I cannot.

But if indeed Putin is sending a message (see below), then I hope an understanding of that message is being taken into account with these as yet unannounced sanctions.[2]

In 2021, [Joe] Biden told reporters that if [Alexey] Navalny died, the consequences for Russia would be “devastating.” Asked directly about that on Friday, the president said his remark was three years ago, and they’ve faced “a hell of a lot of consequences” since then.[3]

I also hope these sanctions will actually prove effective.

Matt Berg, “US to announce ‘major sanctions package’ on Russia following Navalny death,” Politico, February 20, 2024, https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/20/russia-sanctions-navalny-putin-00142183

Ukraine


Fig. 1. “Destroyed Russian military vehicles located on the main street Khreshchatyk are seen as part of the celebration of the Independence Day of Ukraine in Kyiv, August 24.” Photograph by Gleb Garanich for Reuters, August 24, 2022,[4] fair use.

A man’s corpse, found riddled with bullets and run over by a vehicle in Spain last week, was identified as that of Russian military pilot Maksim Kuzminov, who flew his Mi-8 helicopter to Ukraine in a dramatic defection in August, Ukrainian officials said.

His apparent murder — after a very public threat to his life last year on Russian state television — has raised questions about whether this was a Russian-ordered assassination carried out on European soil.

News of Kuzminov’s violent demise emerged just days after the sudden death in prison of Russian political opposition leader Alexei Navalny, which European and U.S. officials have framed as evidence of the Russian government’s unchecked brutality.[5]

In this era, when you see two attacks at about the same time from the same source, it’s time to look for a less obvious message.

Robyn Dixon, “Bullet-riddled body found in Spain was Russian defector, Ukraine says,” Washington Post, February 20, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/20/spain-russia-ukraine-kuminov-assassination-defector/

Israel

Palestine

07_09:10:47-2
Fig. 1. The ruins of a terminal at the Gaza airport. Image by Said Khatib (Agence France-Presse) on September 9, 2018, via the Times of Israel,[6] fair use.

Susie Coen, Nataliya Vasilyeva, and Nick Gutteridge, “US moves to stop Israel’s invasion of Rafah,” Telegraph, February 19, 2024, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/02/19/us-use-un-force-israel-halt-rafah-invasion-hamas-idf/

  1. [1]New York Times, “Ukraine Crisis in Maps,” n.d., http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/02/27/world/europe/ukraine-divisions-crimea.html↩
  2. [2]Matt Berg, “US to announce ‘major sanctions package’ on Russia following Navalny death,” Politico, February 20, 2024, https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/20/russia-sanctions-navalny-putin-00142183↩
  3. [3]Matt Berg, “US to announce ‘major sanctions package’ on Russia following Navalny death,” Politico, February 20, 2024, https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/20/russia-sanctions-navalny-putin-00142183↩
  4. [4]Reuters, “Ukraine puts destroyed Russian tanks on display in Kyiv,” August 25, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/ukraine-puts-destroyed-russian-tanks-on-idUSRTSALV9Q↩
  5. [5]Robyn Dixon et al., “Bullet-riddled body found in Spain was Russian defector, Ukraine says,” Washington Post, February 20, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/20/spain-russia-ukraine-kuminov-assassination-defector/↩
  6. [6]Agence France-Presse and Times of Israel, “20 years after its opening, destroyed Gaza airport embodies grounded peace hopes,” Times of Israel, September 12, 2018, https://www.timesofisrael.com/20-years-after-its-opening-destroyed-gaza-airport-embodies-grounded-peace-hopes/↩

Personalities I’d prefer not to pay attention to

benfell

Imperialism

Russia


Fig. 1. Historic Russian empire, from the New York Times, possibly March 6, 2014, fair use.[1]

I try to avoid focusing on personalities. Sometimes, as with Donald Trump, that’s impossible. Yevgeny Prigozhin, too, compelled my attention with his brazen mutiny.

And so, I mostly have not paid much attention to Alexey Navalny. I understand he was no friend to Ukraine. But I would be taking this too far to let his death pass without notice.

Julia Ioffe, “The Tragedy of Navalny,” Puck, February 19, 2024, https://puck.news/the-tragedy-of-navalny/

Illiberalism

Gilead

Donald Trump


Fig. 2. Donald Trump, depicted in an orange jumpsuit, reportedly by the Drudge, via Mediaite,[2] fair use. Apparently, no mugshot was taken when he was actually arrested over hush money paid to Stormy Daniels.[3]

Were you expecting anything else?

[Donald] Trump, who has a long history of praising [Vladimir] Putin, went days without publicly mentioning [Alexey] Navalny and spoke for about an hour and a half at a campaign rally in Michigan over the weekend without weighing in on he opposition leader’s death. When asked in the hours after news of Navalny’s death broke if Trump had a response, his campaign pointed CNN to a post by Trump on Truth Social that bashed [Joe] Biden and claimed, “America is no longer respected,” but did not mention Navalny or Putin.

The first time Trump mentioned Navalny’s name in the wake of his death was when he shared a piece by the tippinsights editorial board on Sunday with the headline “Biden:Trump::Putin:Navalny,” that baselessly claimed there are “some parallels between how the Biden administration is targeting the former president of the United States and how President Putin went after his arch-nemesis.” . . .

Appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union,” former Wyoming GOP Rep. Liz Cheney — a leading critic of the former president — said Sunday she believes “the issue this election cycle is making sure that the Putin-wing of the Republican Party does not take over the West Wing of the White House.”[4]

Peter Baker, “Poll Ranks Biden as 14th-Best President, With Trump Last,” New York Times, February 18, 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/18/us/politics/biden-trump-presidential-rankings.html

Kate Sullivan, “Trump avoids condemning Russia for Navalny’s death,” CNN, February 19, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/19/politics/trump-navalny-death-response/index.html

Neoliberalism

Democratic (neoliberal) Party

Joe Biden


Fig. 3. Joe Biden and Pope Francis, unknown photographer, April 29, 2016, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

Joe Biden apparently earns credit in presidential rankings for evicting Donald Trump, named the worst president in U.S. history, from the White House.[5]

Indeed, Mr. [Joe] Biden may owe his place in the top third in part to Mr. [Donald] Trump. Although he has claims to a historical legacy by managing the end of the Covid pandemic; rebuilding the nation’s roads, bridges and other infrastructure; and leading an international coalition against Russian aggression, Mr. Biden’s signature accomplishment, according to the historians, was evicting Mr. Trump from the Oval Office.[6]

So what happens if Biden loses this November? Where will he rank then?

Walker Bragman, “Analysis: The Age of Biden,” Opt-Out, February 17, 2024, https://www.optout.news/newsletters/biden-and-the-media

Peter Baker, “Poll Ranks Biden as 14th-Best President, With Trump Last,” New York Times, February 18, 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/18/us/politics/biden-trump-presidential-rankings.html

  1. [1]New York Times, “Ukraine Crisis in Maps,” n.d., http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/02/27/world/europe/ukraine-divisions-crimea.html↩
  2. [2]Alex Griffing, “Drudge Puts Trump in an Orange Jumpsuit as Site Monitors His Potential Indictment,” Mediaite, August 29, 2022, https://www.mediaite.com/news/drudge-puts-trump-in-an-orange-jumpsuit-as-site-monitors-his-potential-indictment/↩
  3. [3]Sarah D. Wire and Alexandra E. Petri, “Trump charged with 34 felony counts in alleged hush money cover-up case,” Los Angeles Times, April 4, 2023, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-04-04/donald-trump-alleged-hush-money-investigation-indictment-arraignment↩
  4. [4]Kate Sullivan, “Trump avoids condemning Russia for Navalny’s death,” CNN, February 19, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/19/politics/trump-navalny-death-response/index.html↩
  5. [5]Peter Baker, “Poll Ranks Biden as 14th-Best President, With Trump Last,” New York Times, February 18, 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/18/us/politics/biden-trump-presidential-rankings.html↩
  6. [6]Peter Baker, “Poll Ranks Biden as 14th-Best President, With Trump Last,” New York Times, February 18, 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/18/us/politics/biden-trump-presidential-rankings.html↩

Publicly, Donald Trump wants a ‘deal’ on abortion. Privately, he likes a 16-week ban because it’s a ‘round number’

benfell

Illiberalism

Gilead

Abortion, reproductive freedom and health


Fig. 1. Sign at demonstration in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, May 3, 2022. Janni Rye, via Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.

Chris Geidner, “Trump dodges on abortion as SCOTUS cases highlighting anti-abortion extremism approach,” Law Dork, February 18, 2024, https://www.lawdork.com/p/trump-abortion-scotus-cases

Neoliberalism

Work


Fig. 2. The spectre of Death, in the form of a large skeleton, rises with the smoke and flames of the burning Asch Building during the Triangle fire, as people jump and fall to their death. Artist unknown, from International Ladies Garment Workers Union Photographs (1885-1985) at The Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

Charlotte Lytton, “AI hiring tools may be filtering out the best job applicants,” British Broadcasting Corporation, February 16, 2024, https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20240214-ai-recruiting-hiring-software-bias-discrimination

The possible collapse of Donald Trump

benfell

Illiberalism

Gilead

Donald Trump


Fig. 1. Original caption: “Your Honor, in an effort to insure a fair trial, we move for a change of venue to the defendant’s imagination.” Cartoon by Teresa Burns Parkhurst, apparently February 16, 2024, via the New Yorker, fair use.

Something I’ve learned over the decades is that when things go bad, the various factors in my situation compound each other in unexpected ways, much as general systems theory might predict, to produce emergent problems. Not only do I now have the problems I started out with, I have unexpected new problems making it all worse.

It feels like society kicking me when I’m down and I thought this was a problem for the poor, like me, on a downward skid, and when I try to do things well, to do them right, it is in part a desperate attempt to avoid potentially compounding problems.

It’s possible I am wrong about this being a problem only for the poor: Donald Trump’s problems now compound each other: The money he has to put up to appeal his fraud and his defamation convictions will crimp his campaign.[1] He’ll actually have to be present for criminal trials, constraining campaign appearances. More of his supporters may decide he really is a crook and that, yes, that matters.

Bloomberg Billionaires Index recently estimated [Donald] Trump’s net worth at $3.1 billion, with about $600 million in cash assets. The fines and penalties levied by Engoron could eat into well over half of that fortune, accumulated over many years, and could prompt the company to sell more real estate if it wants to free up cash. Last year, Forbes downgraded its estimate of the former president’s net worth to $2.5 billion, $600 million less than its previous estimate.

“The financial penalties that are being placed on Trump and the Trump Organization are likely to put serious strain on Trump’s business in a way that hasn’t happened to date,” said New York Law School adjunct professor Steven M. Cohen, a former top official in the New York attorney general’s office, citing Friday’s decision and the recent $83.3 million verdict in E. Jean Carroll’s defamation lawsuit.[2]

If it happens, a collapse need not happen all at once. And it is possible that events may forestall that collapse. But I am watching for it now.

Lukas I. Alpert, “Trump is backed further into a financial corner after losing control of his company,” MarketWatch, February 16, 2024, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-is-backed-further-into-a-financial-corner-after-losing-control-of-his-company-85aa467e

Lloyd Green, “Trump, the ‘law-and-order’ candidate, is an adjudicated fraudster,” Guardian, February 16, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/feb/16/donald-trump-organization-legal-woes

Jonathan O’Connell, “Hefty fines, penalties will rock Trump family’s business and fortune,” Washington Post, February 16, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/02/16/trump-verdict-civil-fraud-trial/

Finances


Fig. 2. Trump International Hotel, Las Vegas, undated image credited to https://www.flickr.com/photos/glynlowe/ [bad link], via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

Lukas I. Alpert, “Trump is backed further into a financial corner after losing control of his company,” MarketWatch, February 16, 2024, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-is-backed-further-into-a-financial-corner-after-losing-control-of-his-company-85aa467e

Jacob Gershman and James Fanelli, “Judge Orders Trump to Pay More Than $350 Million for Misrepresenting His Wealth,” Wall Street Journal, February 16, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/donald-trump-new-york-civil-fraud-trial-ruling-6447c2cd

Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling, “Trump Enters Full Meltdown Mode Over $355 Million Verdict in Fraud Trial,” New Republic, February 16, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/179110/trump-meltdown-reaction-civil-fraud-trial-verdict

Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling, “Very Stable Genius Trump Hammered to Tune of $350 Million in Fraud Trial,” New Republic, February 16, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/178566/trump-verdict-bank-fraud-trial

Joy Wiltermuth, “No quick end to Trump’s real-estate business after New York fraud case ruling,” MarketWatch, February 16, 2024, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/no-quick-end-to-trumps-real-estate-business-after-new-york-fraud-case-ruling-7c29db55

Lloyd Green, “Trump, the ‘law-and-order’ candidate, is an adjudicated fraudster,” Guardian, February 16, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/feb/16/donald-trump-organization-legal-woes

Jonathan O’Connell, “Hefty fines, penalties will rock Trump family’s business and fortune,” Washington Post, February 16, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/02/16/trump-verdict-civil-fraud-trial/

Hush money


Fig. 3. Cartoon by Jesse Duquette, undated, via “Minneapple23” [pseud.] on Imgur, April 1, 2023, fair use.

Lukas I. Alpert, “Trump is backed further into a financial corner after losing control of his company,” MarketWatch, February 16, 2024, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-is-backed-further-into-a-financial-corner-after-losing-control-of-his-company-85aa467e

Lloyd Green, “Trump, the ‘law-and-order’ candidate, is an adjudicated fraudster,” Guardian, February 16, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/feb/16/donald-trump-organization-legal-woes

Jonathan O’Connell, “Hefty fines, penalties will rock Trump family’s business and fortune,” Washington Post, February 16, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/02/16/trump-verdict-civil-fraud-trial/

Coup attempt

2024

Fig. 4. Cartoon by Ben Jennings, January 24, 2024, via the Guardian,[3] fair use.

Lukas I. Alpert, “Trump is backed further into a financial corner after losing control of his company,” MarketWatch, February 16, 2024, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-is-backed-further-into-a-financial-corner-after-losing-control-of-his-company-85aa467e

Lloyd Green, “Trump, the ‘law-and-order’ candidate, is an adjudicated fraudster,” Guardian, February 16, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/feb/16/donald-trump-organization-legal-woes

Neoliberalism

Democratic (neoliberal) Party

Joe Biden


Fig. 1. Joe Biden and Pope Francis, unknown photographer, April 29, 2016, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

If it’s getting harder to see how Donald Trump wins this November despite his intensifying legal difficulties, it is also hard to see how Joe Biden overcomes doubts about his age. Walker Bragman thinks the issue isn’t going away.[4]

Walker Bragman, “Analysis: The Age of Biden,” Opt-Out, February 17, 2024, https://www.optout.news/newsletters/biden-and-the-media

  1. [1]Lukas I. Alpert, “Trump is backed further into a financial corner after losing control of his company,” MarketWatch, February 16, 2024, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-is-backed-further-into-a-financial-corner-after-losing-control-of-his-company-85aa467e; Lloyd Green, “Trump, the ‘law-and-order’ candidate, is an adjudicated fraudster,” Guardian, February 16, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/feb/16/donald-trump-organization-legal-woes; Jonathan O’Connell, “Hefty fines, penalties will rock Trump family’s business and fortune,” Washington Post, February 16, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/02/16/trump-verdict-civil-fraud-trial/↩
  2. [2]Jonathan O’Connell, “Hefty fines, penalties will rock Trump family’s business and fortune,” Washington Post, February 16, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/02/16/trump-verdict-civil-fraud-trial/↩
  3. [3]Ben Jennings, “Ben Jennings on Donald Trump’s progress along the Republican nomination trail – cartoon,” Guardian, January 24, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2024/jan/24/ben-jennings-on-donald-trumps-progress-along-the-republican-nomination-trail-cartoon↩
  4. [4]Walker Bragman, “Analysis: The Age of Biden,” Opt-Out, February 17, 2024, https://www.optout.news/newsletters/biden-and-the-media↩