Dean Phillips now warming to running on the “No Labels” line in 2024.
Why Did Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 Have A Sealed-Off Emergency Exit In The First Place? The Answer Comes Down To Money
This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis. It was originally published at The Conversation.
The aviation industry is still in shock from a near disaster on Jan. 5, 2024, in which a 60-pound “door plug” blew out from a nearly new Boeing 737 MAX 9 in flight at 16,000 feet, leaving a gaping hole in the fuselage.
Continue reading “Why Did Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 Have A Sealed-Off Emergency Exit In The First Place? The Answer Comes Down To Money”Pay Attention To This
You’ve likely seen there’s now a dispute over what was said in President Biden’s and Prime Minister Netanyahu latest phone call. Unnamed senior administration officials say Netanyahu made clear he’s not necessarily opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state, despite having categorically ruled it out a day before. After those comments from the White House Netanyahu’s office put out a new statement insisting he said no such thing.
This is quite significant but not because of the specifics of what was said or potential support for a two-state solution. Opposition to a Palestinian state is the most consistent and defining element of Netanyahu’s career in politics going back four decades. Given what a schemer he is, though, I think it’s likely he did say some version of this in the call with Biden. But the real issue here is that saying this publicly is something the White House knew would immediately cause Netanyahu trouble with members of his coalition. He would have to respond and deny it. This is best seen as the White House signaling its done with Netanyahu or at least moving toward a more adversarial stance toward his government.
I’m not saying we’re in the process of some big dramatic break. But the consequences of doing this were and are obvious. So best seen in that context.
DeSantis Super PAC Is Breaking New Ground—And, Allegedly, Campaign Finance Law
This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis. It was originally published at The Conversation.
Never Back Down, the Ron DeSantis super PAC, played an outsized role in the Iowa caucuses campaign of the Florida governor. Its impact on the results, in which DeSantis came in second to former President Donald Trump, will likely remain an open question.
But one thing is sure: It mocked the already weak regulatory framework governing money in campaigns.
A PAC, or political action committee, is a group that is formed to support a candidate by raising and spending money on various activities; it is not supposed to coordinate with the candidate it supports, nor should it be controlled by that candidate.
Super PACs have been a force in caucus politics since 2012. That year featured the first nomination cycle after the U.S. Supreme Court in the Citizens United decision opened the floodgates for unregulated contributions and spending by outside groups. The only limits currently imposed are that super PACs can’t contribute directly to federal candidates’ campaign funds, and they can’t coordinate with campaigns. Since 2012, super PACs have spent freely on advertising, dominating broadcast airwaves in 2016 and 2020.
In the 2024 Iowa caucuses campaign, the DeSantis-backing super PAC staked out some new territory by largely funding the candidate’s ground game, recruiting and training organizers in Iowa and sending them out early to engage Iowa Republicans face-to-face.
But the new territory didn’t stop there. Never Back Down appeared to disregard that ban on coordination with the campaign. Super PACs and campaigns have developed methods to allow them to coordinate while preserving the image of independence. Yet, strangely, Never Back Down and the campaign seemed determined to make their coordination transparent.
The super PAC boldly posted online its memo laying out a proposed strategy for the candidate before the first GOP debate in August. The intent was never perfectly clear, but it succeeded in sending advice to the campaign.
Never Back Down appears to have helped pay for the candidate’s air travel, according to The Washington Post.
The super PAC has recruited donors to contribute directly to the campaign. It sponsored candidate events where it picked up the food tab for registered attendees. The candidate arrived on the bus with the can’t-miss “Never Back Down” slogan plastered on the side. And the super PAC touted that the candidate’s wife went door to door with Never Back Down canvassers.
In December 2023, the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan campaign finance watchdog group, filed a complaint to the Federal Election Commission, charging that the campaign and the super PAC engaged “in an illegal coordination scheme.” A DeSantis spokesman called the charges “baseless.”
This might not be the biggest story to come out of Iowa. But it sends a notable and disturbing message to federal candidates, Democratic and Republican: Don’t let the law stand in your way.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Great Moments in Dead Bounce Ron Studies
This is mainly just a goof on Ron DeSantis’s ridiculous presidential campaign. But it’s weird and funny enough that I thought I’d share it with you. Clearly Ron DeSantis’s campaign is flatlining about to go down in the history books as one of the most ignominious and vertiginous collapses in presidential primary campaign history. But TPM Reader RS just let me know that despite filing in a lot of other state’s he’ll never get to, DeSantis’s campaign somehow forgot to file paperwork to be a candidate in the New York State Republican primary.
Continue reading “Great Moments in Dead Bounce Ron Studies”War Cabinet Divisions Break Into The Open
It’s been clear for some weeks that there is growing division in the Israeli war cabinet. Now it appears to be breaking into the open, with indications that a new election could come sooner than later.
First a bit of stage-setting and context to explain the moving pieces and what this all might or might not mean.
On October 7th, the day of the Hamas massacres in southern Israel, Israel was led by a narrow and very right-wing coalition government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel had been embroiled for most of the previous year in a highly polarized fight over the government’s effort to dramatically curtail the power of the country’s Supreme Court. The massacres shattered the public’s confidence in Netanyahu, which had kept him in power since 2009 with only one intermission in 2021 and 2022. Soon after the outbreak of the current war, Netanyahu was able to bring one of the two main opposition parties, National Union, into his government.
Continue reading “War Cabinet Divisions Break Into The Open”Is The NRA Nightmare Almost Over?
This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis.
Wayne LaPierre announced on January 5 that he’s retiring as executive vice president of the National Rifle Association. He cited “health problems” as the reason for his resignation, but many speculate he left because of the NRA’s failing financial and political health.
Continue reading “Is The NRA Nightmare Almost Over?”Trump Is Definitely Not Going On Trial In DC In March
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.
CONFIRMED: Trial Date In Jan. 6 Case Is A Bust
I knew it. You knew it. We all knew it.
But U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan all but confirmed yesterday that the March trial date of Donald Trump in the Jan. 6 case in DC is unlikely to hold due to his appeal of his claim that the president enjoys immunity from criminal prosecution.
The acknowledgement came parenthetically in a ruling Thursday that said: No, Special Counsel Jack Smith is not in contempt of court for continuing to meet his discovery obligations to Trump and by filing the occasional motion (though she also said let’s stop with filing substantive motions until you obtain leave of court).
Buried in parentheses, Chutkan quotes herself in a previous status hearing in the case: (“A trial start date of March 4, 2024, gives Mr. Trump seven months between indictment and trial, which I believe is sufficient time to advise with counsel and prepare his defense.”)
That line suggests she will want Trump to still have the same amount of time to prepare for trial once the immunity appeal is exhausted. That’s an interpretation of what she’s saying. She wasn’t quite that explicit: “Contrary to Defendant’s assertion, the court has
not and will not set deadlines in this case based on the assumption that he has undertaken
preparations when not required to do so.”
But it’s pretty clear she is pausing the pre-trial clock while the pre-trial process is paused, and she’ll resume running the clock when the appeal is over.
Trump Makes His Case On DQ Clause To SCOTUS
No surprises in Donald Trump’s brief to the Supreme Court asking it to overturn the Colorado Supreme Court decision striking him from the GOP primary ballot. The contour of his argument remains the same as before:
- The president is not subject to the Disqualification Clause because he’s not an “officer of the United States” and doesn’t take the kind of oath that it requires.
- He did not engage in “insurrection.”
- The Disqualification Clause is not self-executing, meaning Congress must take steps to enforce it.
- The Disqualification Clause doesn’t prevent an insurrectionist from running for office, only from holding office.
- The Colorado court exceeded its authority under the Constitution’s Elector’s Clause.
Say It Ain’t So
Two significant developments yesterday in the unnecessary but perhaps now unavoidable sideshow in the Georgia RICO case:
- The judge in the case scheduled an evidentiary hearing for Feb. 15 on the claims that Atlanta District Attorney Fani Willis was romantically involved with one of the three special prosecutors she hired to help on the case.
- Willis filed a motion in the special prosecutor’s divorce case to quash his wife’s subpoena seeking Willis’ testimony.
I highlight “evidentiary” because this isn’t simply a motion hearing where the sides will argue over the law. The judge wants evidence put forward, which almost certainly means Willis is going to have to say something on the record about the claims. In the meantime, she has a Feb. 2 deadline to respond to the pending motion in writing.
As for the Willis filing in the divorce case, she has a number of plausible arguments for why she shouldn’t be dragged into the divorce proceedings – but it does not contain a denial that Willis had a romantic relationship with the special prosecutor. In that respect, it’s similar to comments she made in a Black church in Atlanta over the weekend where she admitted to not being perfect but did not deny the substance of the allegation.
As general matter, even if the claims are true, they should not lead to the dismissal of the case. But they’re a complicating factor in a monumental case with incredibly high stakes. How complicating? It’s too early to say. We’ll have a better read after Willis’ Feb. 2 filing is made.
E. Jean Carroll Trial Resumes Next Week
The trial judge became even more acerbic during Thursday’s trial proceedings, continuing to pound Trump’s attorneys as E. Jean Carroll’s testimony ended and expert witnesses took the stand. More analysis and insights on the case:
- Marcy Wheeler: “Trump is attending this trial, which will almost certainly result in much larger award for Carroll than she would otherwise get, in order to delegitimize it. And Trump has decided it is worth millions to do that.”
- Daily Beast: Trump Team’s New Courtroom Argument: E. Jean Carroll Is Lucky He Defamed Her
- Trump is following Rudy Giuliani’s treacherous path:
DOJ Wants Navarro Jailed For Six Months
Ahead of next week’s sentencing of Trump White House official Peter Navarro for his contempt of Congress conviction, the Justice Department filed its sentencing memo recommending six months in prison and a $200,000 fine.
Truer Words Never Spoken
In the months ahead, the courts of the United States will be tested up to, and beyond, the breaking point, like they have never been tested in history and will never be tested again.
— @judgeluttig (@judgeluttig) January 19, 2024
Not Looking Good
NBC News: Disinformation poses an unprecedented threat in 2024 — and the U.S. is less ready than ever
House GOP Is Up To The Same Old Antics
A government shutdown was averted for now with another continuing resolution, but Speaker Mike Johnson once again needed Democratic help to overcome the split House GOP.
Quote Of The Day
If we keep extending the pain, creating more suffering, we will pay the price at the ballot box. At this point, we’re sucking wind because we can’t get past the main object in the road. … We need to get the hell out of the way. Cut the best deals we can get and then get on with the political year.
Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), on Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and the House GOP’s internal impasse on government funding for 2024
The Current Environment
Threats against members of Congress increased in 2023, Capitol Police reported.
2024 Ephemera
- Nikki Haley: Trump’s going birther on me because he’s “threatened” and “insecure.”
- Politico: The New Hampshire primary ain’t what it used to be.
- An interview with the NYT Pitchbot guy: “My tweets critique how the media frames things. They help get to the bottom of all the both sidesing and ridiculous framing that goes on at places like the New York Times.”
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Congress Boots The Government Funding Can Down The Road, Again
Under pressure from an impending snowstorm (translation for non-D.C. weather babies: a predicted couple-inch sprinkling), both chambers of Congress Thursday passed a continuing resolution to keep the government funded until early March.
Continue reading “Congress Boots The Government Funding Can Down The Road, Again”WTF? Or, The Latest on Fani Willis
A Georgia state judge has scheduled a hearing on allegations that Fulton County DA Fani Willis had an affair with one of the lawyers she appointed to work as a lead prosecutor in her prosecution of Donald Trump and others.
The Post write-up says that the hearing is is about whether Willis “engaged in an improper relationship and mishandled public money.” When I read this I thought it wasn’t clear if the relationship was actually improper aside from the allegations of misuse of public money. But my momentary double take captures the uncanny dualism of this story.
Continue reading “WTF? Or, The Latest on Fani Willis”