America Hates Filthy, Shitty-Ass Cabinet It Bought from “Funny” Salesman
Much like the new president, not a single top Trump nominee has won over most of America
Nov. 21: Netanyahu, Hamas leader indicted … Growing number of senators oppose arming Israel … Poll shows Trump cabinet falling short … Hedge-funder gets 18 years in prison …
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Netanyahu Indicted for War Crimes
Arrest warrants have been issued this morning for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a second Israeli official, and a Hamas official.
The warrants for alleged war crimes were issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC). Israel argued that the ICC has no jurisdiction because Israel’s not a signatory to the international pact that established the ICC.
But the Palestinian Authority, which claims Gaza — Hamas control notwithstanding — is a signatory. So, in legal terms, tough noogies.
Alleged Oct. 7 mastermind Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, also known as Mohammed Deif, was charged with “crimes against humanity, including murder, extermination, torture, and rape and other form of sexual violence, as well as the war crimes of murder, cruel treatment, torture, taking hostages, outrages upon personal dignity, and rape and other form of sexual violence.”
Israel charged Deif with an airstrike in September, but Hamas hasn’t confirmed that he’s dead.
Also charged is former Israel Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
The court said it has “reasonable grounds” to believe that Netanyahu used “starvation as a method of warfare” and is guilty of “the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.”
Netanyahu didn’t immediately comment, but it’s hard to deny when it’s basically his campaign platform. Netanyahu remains at large and is believed to be armed-by-the-U.S. and dangerous.
Awkward Timing
News of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s indictment came less than 24 hours after the U.S. Senate voted to keep criminally supplying weapons for Netanyahu to keep criminally using in his war crimes.
That said, the three votes reflected the growing impact of Gaza horror stories and the U.S. protests, including Vice Pres. Kamala Harris’s defeat. Three resolutions voicing disapproval of military sales failed, but got more support than such efforts have received in the past, when there were more Gazans.
Nineteen senators, including three Jewish senators, voted to block $61 million in explosive rounds for Israel. Led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who introduced the resolution, the other senators, 17 Democrats and one independent, were:
Martin Heinrich - NM
Mazie Hirono - HI
Tim Kaine - VA
Angus King - ME
Ben Ray Luján - NM
Ed Markey - MA
Jeff Merkley - OR
Chris Murphy - CT
Jon Ossoff - GA
Brian Schatz - HI
Tina Smith - MN
Elizabeth Warren - MA
Peter Welch - VT
Dick Durbin - IL
Chris Van Hollen - MD
Jeanne Shaheen - NH
Raphael Warnock - GA
America Hates Filthy, Shitty-Ass Cabinet It Bought from “Funny” Salesman
Remember how Vice President Kamala Harris tried to win over Democratic voters by assuring them that she’d deny them at least one cabinet seat and instead give that cabinet seat to the party supporting the fascist who hated democracy and remember how somehow that didn’t work?
It was a more innocent time.
A close analysis of RePresident-elect Donald Trump’s nominees so far reveals no trace of Democrats or of anyone giving a shit. It also reveals no trace of Black people or non-white women.
Instead, Trump appears committed to ensuring his cabinet includes a number of Fox-American agency heads. To ensure that Fox-American diversity-hires get jobs they’re not qualified for — or that MSNBC-Americans, CNN-Americans or non-TV-binary-Americans are more qualified for — Trump is prepared to simply install his cabinet without the help of the ostensible professionals in the Senate. In fact, he’s willing not even to ask them for advice or consent.
Trump’s DIY approach so far isn’t pleasing his customers. New polling about eight top Trump nominees shows not a single one is viewed favorably by most of the country. (The findings are backed up by multiple bad Yelp reviews.)
The appointees polled are:
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) - State
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. - Health
Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) - Intelligence
Fox guy Pete Hegseth - Defense
Former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) - Justice
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy - pretending to shrink the government
Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD) - Homeland (sic).
Musk is the most popular. Or, more appropriately, he’s the least least-popular. Musk is the one who comes closest to fooling half the country.
The most least-popular are Noem, who admits killing a dog, and Gaetz, who denies knowingly raping a girl. Both still get almost 30% approval from whatever country we are now.
Hilariously and tellingly, the Washington Post notes that Trump’s sheep approve of his appointments more than they like the appointees.
Meaning: Even people who don’t like Gaetz think yeah, great choice for attorney general, Mr. Trump, sir, your presidentness. Please, sir, may I have another rapey cabinet appointee?
Overall, however, even the appointments don’t clear the half-way bar. Which makes sense given that new vote counts show that Trump won the presidency without getting a majority of the vote.
The counts are still going on for reasons we probably shouldn’t freak out about. But as of earlier this week, Trump had 49.94% to Harris’s 48.26%.
Trump’s numbers are unlikely to improve when the counting is done, given that most of the remaining votes are near enough to water to reflect some semblance of sanity. Which means his margin over Harris will be quite small (hee hee) and he’ll fail to secure a mandate from a majority of voters.
And if Trump installs his cabinet on his own, that changes things moving forward. Republican senators will be much less inclined to show his cabinet deference in the future — especially on technical issues small enough that Trump isn’t paying attention, but big enough to move meaningful needles.
It will also delegitimize Trump’s cabinet if (a) a majority didn’t vote for him, (b) the FBI didn’t check them, (c) the Senate didn’t confirm them, and (d) the public hates them, as those polls suggest.
All of which will embolden Republicans and Democrats to push back against shitty future cabinetry.
Now, let’s take a look at some of those cabinet pieces. Because we got word last night that one doesn’t move the way the instructions say it’s supposed to.
Hegseth. Nominee Pete Hegseth may not be qualified to run the Defense Department, but he has a robust record of offense, according to a police report released Wednesday night. Any cabinet is supposed to have pieces that move back and forth but when a woman in his hotel room wanted to leave, Hegseth remained stuck in front of the door, blocking her way, she told police.
He also took her phone. And then sexually assaulted her. Even though, the police report says, she “remembered saying ‘no’ a lot,” the way Republican Senators will not if they vote on his nomination.
This is the same case in which Hegseth paid a settlement to keep her quiet, like you do when you could instead sue her for terrible, terrible lies.
McMahon. Education Department nominee Linda McMahon is problematic less because of her incredibly thin résumé than because of her mandate. The same mandate any Trump nominee will have.
If you missed last night’s TFN Bonus Story™, your deep-diving TFN looked at the origins and history of the Department of Education to see what they reveal about modern-day Republican opposition to it.
Turns out, it’s not just modern-day opposition. Republicans and Democrats were flipped in the 1800s, with Republicans defending Black people. But, sure enough, the Democrats opposed federal education because they wanted their corrupt, racist clowns to run the schools.
Oh, and as in any media story where you don’t hear Jesus mentioned, there’s a very important Jesus angle involved, too.
AS IS
Trump is selling his cabinet to America without any of those messy consumer protections. Once upon a time…like, now…the FBI did/does background checks on presidential nominees. After winning re-election somehow, Trump said fuck that.
Trump is refusing to sign the agreement to let the Justice Department launch background checks. Senate Republicans plan to start pretending to vet Trump’s nominees when they take control of the Senate on Jan. 3 and then on Jan. 20, Inauguration Day, launch an intensive process of rubber-stamping confirmations.
The background checks are done for two reasons. One is for national-security clearances, which are moot because both parties agree that presidents should have the power to hand out clearances like jelly beans or Big Macs.
The other reason for background checks is so the Senate knows who they’re confirming. Which is also moot for a number of reasons. One, they confirm these nominees anyway even when they know precisely who they are. Even when they’re Clarence Thomas. Or Brett Kavanaugh.
Two, what the fuck more would any senator need to know about Gaetz or Hegseth? Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) said “Of course” she’s concerned about the Gaetz allegations. “That’s why it’s important that the Senate go through its process of making sure that we have a background check.”
In Gaetz’s case, the allegations are why background checks are not important. We already know Gaetz has exactly the kind of things a background check would surface!
Saying you need more info is a way of saying what you already know isn’t enough. Which is another way of saying it’s not disqualifying!
But also, why the fuckity juicebag fuck is the Senate letting itself be held hostage to the White House here?
We’ve known for years that the Trump White House held its thumb on the scales for Kavanaugh’s background check the way Kavanaugh held his body on women who weren’t questioned for his background check. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) released a report just last month on just how corrupt the process was.
So why the fuckity juicebag fuck hasn’t the Senate moved to do its own background checks after Kavanaugh’s confirmation six fuckity j****ebag fuck years ago?
It’s doubtful the feckless Senate will start doing background checks on their own any time soon. But in the meantime, what recourse does America have for its buyer’s remorse?
Sorry: You break it you bought it!
(Just kidding, there’s a lot they you we can do and TFN will be focusing more on that as we go forward.)
The Resistance Runs Out of Persistence
The New York Times has what I think is an important story not about Today’s Evil Trump Thing but about what America’s going to do about it.
It’s important enough that TFN is sharing a gift link to it so that, instead of rewarding the New York Times — which lives off the reporting of small and indie journalists1 — you can use your hard-earned money to support outlets like, oh yes, TFN.
Anyhoo, the point is that The Resistance is tired. Its ranks have concluded, the Times reports, that first-term Pres. Donald Trump didn’t care about marches, petitions, protests, or even that most deadly of modern political weapons, the dreaded hashtag.
So, they’re bailing. Or, in the case of Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, they’re making up.
So, why did The Resistance fail? First of all, it didn’t.
Trump was checked on lots of things in lots of ways. But it’s worth considering that many of Trump’s victories came about not because protesters shared memes, but because donors funded left-wing and civil-rights lawyers and non-governmental organizations, who used that money to block Trump in court.
If The Resistance — and the NeverTrumpers™ — failed, it was because they were primarily aiming at the president. A guy.
Of course you’re tired after spending four years telling your best friend their boyfriend is a jerk and then they get back together four years later. Because the problem isn’t the boyfriend. The problem is the friend. The friend needs to do some work.
But bailing outright isn’t an option. There are people whose necks are on the line and we need to share information (TFN’s got you!) and support the lawyers working those briefs past midnight because they give a shit.
The right-wing didn’t score its victories by (just) aiming at presidents. They built multiple movements, chipped away at systemic barriers. For half a century. Subtly enough that Democrats abetted it.
Know what that work wasn’t? Fun! Or cool!2 Sometimes it wasn’t even joyous!
Your foresighted TFN has written before — even before Morning Joe’s detente! — about how efforts to move Trump can go differently this time.
But as TFN gets its shit together, we’ll try to offer some thoughts on how we can help our mutual friend get better so we don’t have to worry about any toxic boyfriends ever again.
Crime Watch
UNLAWFUL BIGNESS The Justice Department wants Google to uninstall Chrome.
Prosecutors last night asked a judge to order Google to sell or spin off Chrome, as part of the Justice Department lawsuit against Google for excessive bigness. Prosecutors say that Google violated antitrust laws with the sneaky-ass and bullying-ass ways it made Google the default search engine on Chrome. And on iPhones. And Android devices. And your brain next year probably.
And our trusty government lawyers must have been reading Cory Doctorow, the tech/regulatory/non-fiction/fiction writer of whom I’m a fan and who coined the term “enshittification” to describe how tech products start off nigh-miraculous to woo us and then become shitty to screw us and extract our money. Because here’s what prosecutors said:
“The playing field is not level because of Google’s conduct, and Google’s quality reflects the ill-gotten gains of an advantage illegally acquired.”
How big a danger is Google to other companies? One rival who said it can’t compete is Microsoft which is a macro-company. How big a danger is Google’s plan to use your search queries to train its artificial intelligence? Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said it would be a “nightmare.”
(And RePresident-elect Donald Trump may not rescue Google, here. His approach to Big Tech, as with most things, is, shall we say, erratic? And Vice President-elect JD Vance has said he’s a fan of Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan, the antitrust champion.)
THIEVES Remember yesterday TFN told you how Better Markets, those vicious finreg watchdogs, recommended sending Archegos hedge-fund mastermind Bill Hwang to prison for 20 years? Well, he was sentenced yesterday to 18 years, almost like a “real” criminal!
(Notice I didn’t even explain his crimes. If you’re reading TFN, “hedge-fund” ought to be the only explanation you need.)
And now, whaddaya know, one of the richest men in the world was indicted yesterday on charges of bribery and fraud. India’s Gautam Adani is accused of a multi-billion-dollar scheme involving bribery and fraud, explaining how he got to be one of the richest men in the world.
Specifically, he’s accused of handing out a quarter billion in bribes to Indian officials to get solar contracts with a $2-billion profit margin. First of all, thank you for supporting local government. Secondly, at last, green white-collar crime! We’ve won, hippies! Thirdly, if contracts for an energy source that literally falls from the sky extract $2 billion in profit from the people maybe that’s the real crime?
None of the people charged in the scheme are in the U.S. or in custody. So who knows whether they’ll ever be caught. And with RePresident-elect Donald Trump taking office in January, there’s a 50/50 chance Adani’s our next Treasury secretary.
Of course, Adani’s entitled to the presumption of innocence by the courts, but since TFN isn’t a court, and since he has billions of dollars, TFN is inclined to give him the presumption of guilt.
TCB
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Go get ‘em, kids.
Inside-baseball gripe: If The Bumfuck Herald-Tribune reports that the mayor said “Nazis suck!” and the Times reads that story and calls the mayor and asks if it’s true, journalistic ethics say it’s okay for the Time to report that without crediting the Herald-Tribune. So when you’re supporting the NY Times — understandably! — just know you’re often paying them for journalism done first by smaller, poorer journalists. The Washington Post, too. Including off of me. Boo!
Okay, sometimes it’s both, but mostly it’s just work.
We are a fucking stupid country. Beyond stupid. The lunatics have taken over the asylum. I am literally scared shitless.
This stuff might be over my head.
But, Microsoft whining about Google being too hard to compete against is probably just Microsoft wanting to grab the power as soon as Google drops it.
Both of these huge monopolistic companies need to be broken up some.
Not a good look that one monopoly is at the table targeting another, you know?
Oh, and Microsoft, maybe you just suck at making a search engine. (Plus, most people don't have a reason to switch when Google is doing good enough that nobody is curious about others).