Odds and Ends — 21 November 2024

The International Criminal Court on Thursday issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and the former Israeli defense minister, Yoav Gallant, for crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Gaza Strip.

Matt Gaetz Won’t Go After Enemies for at Least a Week

Said Gaetz: “Look, I’m not going to go there and indict Liz Cheney, have storm troopers bust through the studio door at MSNBC, and arrest Anthony Fauci in my first week.”
…it prompted a few senators to ask, with a laugh: What happens thereafter?

https://twitter.com/theliamnissan/status/1859421998906024389
https://twitter.com/AdamKinzinger/status/1859396902095077720

The Harsh Reality of Trump on Immigration

Immigration Is the Glue Holding the MAGA Coalition Together

https://twitter.com/GlasnostGone/status/1859323924942815629
https://twitter.com/Tendar/status/1859260374526169551
https://twitter.com/RadioFreeTom/status/1859066418831978592
https://twitter.com/kvistp/status/1859193028608500006
https://twitter.com/olex_scherba/status/1859542580158955576

Russia’s War Economy Is Hitting Its Limits

Key weapons are running out as Moscow tries to mobilize ever more labor and resources.

https://twitter.com/RpsAgainstTrump/status/1859122717175284122

Past Nominees Have Been Undone by Far Less

The legal and ethical issues surrounding some of President-elect Donald Trump’s selections for top administration jobs, not to mention their history of eyebrow-raising public statements, are far more profound than the kinds of revelations that have killed nominations in the Senate in the past.
What once passed as disqualifying for a presidential nominee seems downright benign in comparison to allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use by his attorney general pick detailed in a secret congressional report, a sexual assault accusation followed by a paid settlement for his choice to head the Pentagon and an acknowledged former heroin addiction by the would-be health secretary.
It was not so long ago that nominees for high-level jobs and even some of the more obscure ones had to be above reproach, to the point where a relatively minor tax issue could derail them. But times are evidently changing when it comes to nominations at the dawn of the second Trump administration.

https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1859041270137819521
https://twitter.com/DGComedy/status/1859409822917054833
https://twitter.com/GretaGrace20/status/1859417370806071423
https://twitter.com/KrangTNelson/status/1859400213531607340
https://twitter.com/kevsaucebro/status/1859082409414713697

Mandate? Fuller Election Results Show GOP Gains Were Small

We learned a while back that Republicans lost most of the swing-state Senate races — four of five. They flipped the chamber because they won in three red states that Trump carried by double digits.
Then we learned that Trump didn’t even win a majority of the popular vote, and his popular-vote margin over Vice President Kamala Harris (currently at 1.7 points and falling) ranks on the low side for recent history. He still won — and swept the swing states in a surprisingly decisive electoral-college result — but a majority of voters didn’t support him.
And now it’s increasingly evident that Republicans could actually lose ground in the House.

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1859262168752930899
https://twitter.com/DoctorHenryCT/status/1858994876156891345
https://twitter.com/Timodc/status/1859263818225856965

A year-end crisis: Farm Bill set to expire without agreement on key programs and GOP taking charge

Programs such as crop insurance, commodity support and nutrition assistance are set to expire at the end of the year…

https://twitter.com/RBReich/status/1859306976347398552

Trump Tells Republicans to ‘Kill’ a Reporter Shield Bill

President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday instructed congressional Republicans to block the passage of a bipartisan federal shield bill intended to strengthen the ability of reporters to protect confidential sources, dealing a potentially fatal political blow to the measure — even though the Republican-controlled House had already passed it unanimously.

https://twitter.com/MaryLTrump/status/1859030575652499512