I went back and forth a few times about writing this post. But here goes. We were thinking earlier this month of doing a TPM Gift Guide, recommendations for holiday gifts. We ended up not doing that and I did my standard book recommendations list. But I had knocking around my head one gift or thing that I really did want to recommend. Now, just to reassure you, I’m not planning on getting into the tech review or tech recommendation business. But again, this was one thing I got this year that seemed dramatically better than any version of the same thing I’d used before. So I thought I’d share my experience. Read More
After meeting with Trump, Graham now says US is in a “pause situation” on Syria and that the President is reevaluating his decision.
Graham: Trump now in a "pause situation" on Syria pullout. pic.twitter.com/NWlxDayu9c
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) December 30, 2018
Remarkable update here from The Palm Beach Post. It’s an update to an earlier story about how Mar-a-Lago members were abuzz about whether they’d get their moneys worth if the President didn’t show up, as promised, for the New Year’s Eve party they paid good money to attend …
President Donald Trump has canceled plans to spend the New Year’s holiday at Mar-a-Lago. A source who had planned to attend the Mar-a-Lago New Year’s Eve party said Friday Palm Beach was abuzz with members and guests talking about their own plans to bail on the Trump family’s annual gala.
2018 was the year the on-going storm of phony GOP claims of voter fraud collided head on with the biggest voting fraud scandal in decades, courtesy of a GOP House campaign in North Carolina (sub req).
“He owed us a lot of money. And he was offering ways to pay it back.”
That’s the most intriguing and enticing quote from an article published today by Time. The quote is from a guy named Victor Boyarkin, who Time tracked down at a conference in Greece, apparently after quite a bit of sleuthing. Boyarkin works for Oleg Deripaska, the Russian oligarch and he’s talking about Paul Manafort. Read More
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You may have seen the obituaries today for the famed Israeli writer and activist Amos Oz. Read those for insights into his fiction, non-fiction writing, activism. There’s another part of this story that resonates with me. Amos Oz wasn’t born Amos Oz. The name change itself isn’t that strange for Israelis of his generation. Many were hebraizing their names. Ehud Barak was born Ehud Brog for instance. There are countless other examples. But for Oz this came with a deeper rebellion and transformation. Oz was born in Jerusalem in 1939 as Amos Klausner. Read More
TPM is pleased to announce the winners of the 12th Annual Golden Dukes Awards, which honor the public figures who managed the most corruption, made the craziest comments, and carried out the most craven deeds, all in the spirit of former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, the father of the modern political scandal.
That story out of Alabama raises an important question. Once we have figured out just the scope of what Russia was doing in the 2016 election cycle (and going forward) we need to grapple with the fact that there are lots of entities offering and already providing these services to the highest bidder. The fact that Russia’s 2016 operation was mounted by a hostile foreign government coordinating with the beneficiary campaign is a huge, central issue. But it’s not the only issue. Read More
A very interesting snippet from yesterday’s traveling press pool …
Response to question on how the U.S. withdrawal from Syria will impact Israel:
Trump: “I don’t see it that way. I spoke with Bibi. I told Bibi, you know we give Israel 4.5 billion dollars a year. And they are doing very well at defending themselves.”
“We’ll always be there for Israel.”
“I’m the one that moved the embassy to Jerusalem. I was the one who was willing to do that”
“So that’s the way it is we are going to take great care of Israel. Israel is going to be good. We give Israel 4.5 billion a year. And we give frankly a lot more than that if you look at the books. They’ve been doing a good job.”