This article was originally published at ProPublica, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ decadeslong friendship with real estate tycoon Harlan Crow and Samuel Alito’s luxury travel with billionaire Paul Singer have raised questions about influence and ethics at the nation’s highest court.
Continue reading “It’s Not Personal: Why Clarence Thomas’ Trip To The Koch Summit Undermines His Ethics Defense”One big mystery about today’s events in Israel, which I alluded to in the previous post, is how exactly Israel was caught quite this unprepared. An attack of this scale required very large numbers of people to be read into the preparations if not the operational planning for the attack. Israel has long had a dense network of informants and collaborators in the territories. That’s layered over with signals intelligence and various forms of surveillance. And yet Israel appears to have been caught totally unawares and unprepared. It’s not just that they didn’t know something like this was happening today. They don’t seem to have known that an operation of this scale and audacity was even being considered.
That’s an intelligence failure that’s hard to overstate.
Continue reading “The Key Mysteries and Unexplaineds”For more on the last day’s events in Israel, I recommend the sources and the list I noted in the post immediately before this one.
The following are just some best guesses on my part and what I would call guidance in where to find the best information and how to think about what is unfolding.
The first point is that Israel has been in a state of political paralysis and stalemate for the better part of a year. Both leaders of the opposition have now offered to join an emergency national unity government for the duration of this conflict. I’ve seen people saying maybe this is how Netanyahu finally puts his political problems behind him because of national unity in the face of war. Alternatively, that the opposition leaders are being craven in offering to join.
Continue reading “Some Thoughts and Speculations on the Crisis in Israel”If you’re looking for information on the coordinated Hamas attacks in southern Israel I recommend this Twitter list of (mostly) English language news sources from Israel, if you’re on Twitter. The Times of Israel, the English language version of Haaretz and Ynet are also good. This is one of those moments when I need to remind people that often when we don’t cover something that doesn’t mean we don’t think it’s important. Often it’s because we have nothing unique to add. If you’re just waking to this, what happened overnight (US time) in southern Israel is dramatically different from the occasional rounds of rocket fire from Gaza we’ve seen over the last couple decades. The initial reports are still chaotic and incomplete. It’s unclear how much has or will happen in other areas. But the gist is that in addition to rocket fire Hamas was able to launch a big and highly successful operation in which it infiltrated large numbers of paramilitaries into many Israeli towns in the South of the country, mostly but not only in the areas bordering Gaza.
These fighters went into these Israeli towns lighting homes on fire, killing at least dozens of civilians, wounding hundreds and taking a still unclear number of civilians and soldiers hostage. Some appear to have been taken back into Gaza. Some are now part of active hostage situations within those Israeli towns as the IDF streams into these towns in force. Hamas is claiming to have captured “high level” IDF officers. But as yet there have been no details or solid confirmation of that.
As I write the latest numbers are more than 100 killed in Israel and more than 800 wounded. Reports suggest about twice each of those numbers in the Israeli retaliation which followed the attack according to Palestinian authorities, though both sets of numbers should be seen as tentative and almost certain to rise.
Continue reading “Attacks Across Southern Israel”Chaos inflicted on the House over the past several weeks by a small cohort of MAGA Republicans may claim one main victim besides Kevin McCarthy’s dignity: aid to Ukraine.
Continue reading “How House Republicans Fought Ukraine Aid Like They Fight The Social Safety Net”This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis. It was originally published at The Conversation.
The United Auto Workers union isn’t backing down as it bargains for more compensation and better benefits in its new contracts with General Motors, Ford and Stellantis. Under the deft leadership of its president, Shawn Fain, and other officials elected in March 2023, the union has thrown the three companies off balance with a strike that began on Sept. 15 – the minute its prior contracts expired.
Continue reading “Why The UAW Union’s Tough Bargaining Strategy Is Working”Readers, listeners, TPM fans of all stripes —
I’m thrilled to announce that we’re debuting a new podcast under the TPM banner. Belaboring the Point, hosted by me, will encapsulate what I love most about working here: an obsession with ideas, our dedication to cover politics not like sports or a game, but to interrogate how our underlying systems manifest in our politics, and what narratives grow out of those. We like to tell you not just what’s happening, but why it’s happening.
Continue reading “Introducing Belaboring The Point”President Trump won several more weeks to file some motions in his D.C. election interference case, but the March 2024 trial date will remain the same, a federal judge ruled on Friday.
Continue reading “Judge To Trump: Explain Why You Think The Law Doesn’t Apply To You”Before thrusting the House into chaos this week, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) actually denounced House Republicans’ baseless efforts to impeach President Joe Biden as “unserious” during an invitation-only fundraiser held over Zoom last week, according to audio obtained by NBC News.
Continue reading “Gaetz Calls The Biden Impeachment Inquiry What It Is: ‘Unserious’”Lawyers for the individual voters and organizations challenging Louisiana’s congressional map tried to impress upon a skeptical 5th Circuit Court of Appeals panel Friday that the state’s actions all drive in one direction: delaying the process so long that it has to use the likely unconstitutional map in 2024.
Continue reading “Lawyers Try To Convince Resistant 5th Circuit That Louisiana Is Slow-Walking Map Process On Purpose”
