NATIONAL SHOP FOR TRAVEL DAY UPDATES
Because We Should All Have Our Passports Updated and Ready to Go ... Somewhere ...
-The first confirmation hearing of the second Trump regime has begun - and it is one of the most contentious (which is saying quite a bit): Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth is now facing a Senate hearing that was once threatened would not happen, which is yet another example of Trump bluster not amounting to anything that actually happened (may that continue to be a trend).
-Senate Majority Leader John Thune has told Team Trump that Hegseth has the votes, and if that is the case reports indicate it will be in large part because Trump repeated the Matt Kavanaugh confirmation strategy of incomplete FBI vetting, gaps in reporting about certain areas of his life, and in particular intimidation of (and flat-out refusing to interview) most if not all of the women Hegseth reportedly attacked and/or abused - and one of those reports come from the New Yorker's Jane Mayer, so this may be worth watching as there has been one appeal to allow one of Hegseth's reported victims to testify against him anonymously.
-Hegseth for his part used his opening statement to (of course) claim character assassination and, in case that doesn't work. a conversion to Christianity that would cover the alleged attacks (and, presumably, the volumes of stories and visuals from Fox of drinking). The hearing has also already featured MAGAts chanting "USA! USA!" upon Hegseth's entrance, several interruptions by protestors, and the revelation from lead Senate Democrat Jack Reed that Hegseth refused to meet with any Democratic Senators, part of Reed's withering opening statement in which the constantly-blinking Hegseth was told Reed would be an emphatic NO! vote.
-The key vote in the committee will be Jodi Ernst of Iowa, who started out very concerned but seemed to be mollified by Team Trump in the early days of Hegseth's announcement and the blizzard of stories about the sexual assault and drinking, not to mention the racist tattoos on his chest and the chauvinism and the LGBTQI bigotry and the financial improprieties and the etc. etc. etc. ...
-(STANDS ON SOAPBOX)
-Is Hegseth qualified? Are ANY of these nominees qualified? We ALL know the answers to that. The real question becomes what happens if this guy gets confirmed? Sure, The Plan according to Project 2025 is to hollow out the government so looting and Christian dominion can be created - but given the hits Hegseth has received and his utter lack of any kind of administrative experience or talent of ANY kind, and the known sophistication of what is one of the largest bureaucracies on Earth, and (as MSNBC reminded us) the layers of new administrative and legal protections that have been created to slow or gum up the Heritage Foundation's dream of making DC a forever theocratic stronghold, it sure seems a LOT of political capital is being spent on someone who would enter this job both profoundly damaged as a leader and with no kind of ability of any kind to walk down the halls of the Pentagon and not get lost while sober - if he can even do that.
-Hope his nomination goes down in flames, but man this dude has EPIC FAIL tatted in bigger letters than that Dominionist tat he has, no matter how long he stayed on the job. If he gets the job at all - and, given that only one round of questions will be allowed to be asked and a series of reports about Hegseth's career and positions have to be entered via Democrats inserting them as part of their questions, it may still be a good bet pending some other late-breaking news about him.
-(STEPS OFF SOAPBOX)
-Former Special Prosecutor Jack Smith's report was released to the public late last night after a last-ditch attempt to block it failed to sway Bestest Most Trumpist Judge EVAH Aileen "ofTrump" Cannon, and while little will surprise anyone who followed the various investigations, it was again infuriating - and this time deeply sad - that Smith concluded that, even with the guardrails erected around Trump by The Suck-Up Six of the Supreme Court, he likely could have and would have gotten Trump convicted of trying to fix the 2020 Presidential election that Trump lost to Joe Biden.
-The full report on January 6 is being dissected by legal reporters nationally (with some evidence being requested by states who are still prosecuting the 2021 coup attempt, particularly in Arizona), the broader focus now switches to the second Smith report on the stolen (ALLEGEDLY) (EYEROLL) documents case, which Cannon continues to insist cannot be released despite questions of jurisdiction over whether she can stop even that case or not. Whether this will impede Cannon and what many suspect may be a nomination to the Supreme Court to replace a retiring Samuel Alito or Clarence Thomas remains to be seen.
-With all of this going on, Trump continues to focus on preparing to re-enter the White House doing what he has always done: shit-posting on social media in the middle of the night. Last night, Trump again claimed the Smith report "fully exonerated" him (FALSE), again continued to give his wee tiny middle finger to California by claiming Gavin Newsom is holding back tons of water from northern California that could snuff out the fires in a matter of seconds (WRONG) (INSANE) (MORONIC), and attacked Seth Myers for a joke that hurt Trump's fee-fees (PETTY) (SHALLOW) (SAME AS IT EVER WAS).
-Trump did get some good news about the Inauguration, however. Unlike 2017, Trump will finally get a few semi-names to perform at the soiree. Besides obvious, er, talent like Jason Aldean and Lee Greenwood and Robert Richie, the wealthy Detroit performer who cosplays as a working-class singer under the name Kid Rock, it was announced yesterday that Carrie Underwood will sing "America the Beautiful" as what she calls "a gesture of unity."
-In another even odder gesture, the lone original member of the Village People announced that he will bring other costumed performers to DC to sing "YMCA" "despite our candidate not winning." What is making this seem like an even emptier gesture is that Victor Willis - aka The Cop - is now insisting that the gay anthem is ... not a gay anthem ... and perhaps with arrhythmic white people awkwardly trying to perform the spelling and the incoming President (TRIGGER WARNINGS!) insisting his wee-tiny-fistie pumping and grinding which many have observed looks like someone publicly masturbating men with real penises but which this writer believes may be attempts to cover increasingly public defecations (most recently reported by French reporters at the rededication of the Notre Dame Cathedral), all I know is, I'm not planning to watch ...
-MEANwhile, reports about a cease-fire and peace agreement between whatever is left of HAMAS and Israel continue to circulate in both areas. The Associated Press reports HAMAS has agreed to a text agreement for a cease-fire, the BBC reports negotiations are in their "final stages," and Newsweek calls a deal "imminent." Terms remain murky, but it is also being noted that these negotiations have been going on for months, with Trump ally Benjamin Netanyahu only getting serious about ending fighting days before his bud Trump gets into office. Nonetheless, a cease-fire should be celebrated given the brutality of that conflict.
-From there, world attention will turn to Ukraine, where that war grinds on and both Ukraine and the invading country of Russia try to solidify what territorial gains have been made and potentially begin entering peace talks. It has been widely assumed that Trump BFF Vladimir Putin will welcome what Putin will see as a force to lean hard on Ukraine to accept concessions Russia would want - but given the precarious status of the Russian economy and deeply-eroded military force that Ukrainians exposed, there is now at least a little bit of question about whether an agreement would be as fully weighted against Ukraine as was once suspected.
-At a minimum, Ukraine is in a much stronger military and diplomatic position, and NATO despite political tumult within a number of countries (that was generated by Russia, which is much better at battling Western politics than Eastern armies) and increasingly defiant and shaky alliances with the Kremlin (because being buddies with Putin didn't help the Assads in Syria much in the last few months, did it?). One thing is for sure: barring a shocking development within the highest levels of leadership, do not expect a 24-hour settlement like Trump promised while campaigning.
-And, as always and forever, SLAVA UKRAINI!
-THIS JUST IN: Joining yours truly in not attending or watching the Trump installation: Michelle Obama, who also to be fair did not attend the funeral of Jimmy Carter, what with Barack having drawn the short straw to sit next to Trump and forced to make small talk until the service began, after which Trump (and George W. Bush) dozed off.
-Would that he did that in mid-oath ...
-NEWS ON THIS DATE: In 1784, the Treaty of Paris was signed, formally ending the American Revolution. In 1954, Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe married. In 1970, Diana Ross and the Supremes performed in their final concert. In 1973, the Miami Dolphins won Super Bowl VII and capped the only undefeated season in NFL history to date. In 2011, the wave of Democratic protests and overthrowing of despots through the Middle East continued with the resignation of the repressive President of Tunisia in the Jasmine Revolution.
-DEBUTS ON THIS DATE: TOSCA (1900), THE TODAY SHOW (1952), The Human Be-In and the Summer of Love (1967), SANFORD AND SON (1972), THE BIONIC WOMAN (1976), CENTERFIELD (1985).
-HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Mark Antony, Hal Roach, John dos Passos, William Bendix, Mark Goodson, Andy Rooney, Carole Cook, Gerald Arpino, Don Garlits, Allen Toussaint, Jack Jones, Julian Bond, Faye Dunaway, Holland Taylor, Marjoe Gortner, Nina Totenberg, T-Bone Burnett, Carl Weathers, Lawrence Kasdan, Sydney Biddle Barrows, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Chas Smash, Steven Soderbergh, Mark Addy, Shepherd Smith, Emily Watson, Zakk Wylde, LL Cool J, Dave Grohl, Jason Bateman, Byron Leftwich, and Declan Rice.
-REST IN PEACE/REST IN POWER: Lewis Carroll, Humphrey Bogart, Jeanette MacDonald, Anais Nin, Peter Finch, Brooks Atkinson, Ray Kroc, Donna reed, Jerzy Grotowski, Uta Hagen, Shelley Winters, Ricardo Montalban, Conrad Bain, Mae Young, Alan Rickman, Hugh Wilson, and Norm Snead.
-FEED THE WORMS: Benedict Arnold and Maureen Dowd entered Earth on this date.
-TODAY'S MUSIC INTERLUDE: Released on this date in 1956 ...