Happy Diwali! This is the weekend of the Hindu celebration of the triumph of light over darkness, of good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance — it’s a holiday that has taken on even more significance for me over the last seven years, and one that is much needed as we head into the 2024 election. I’ll be keeping this week’s round up short, not just because of Diwali, but also because I am in Santa Fe, New Mexico, for the third annual Spies, Lies & Nukes conference. I know that Diwali and nukes don’t seem like two ideas that go together but I listened to a fabulous presentation by former CIA officer Valerie Plame last evening on the future of nuclear order and the reasons she has hope that we can move back towards disarmament and nonproliferation, so that seems fitting. This town is also beautiful — I’ll definitely be sneaking out of the conference a bit today to shop!
While I do that, check out this week’s podcast: Renato and I had a great discussion unpacking Trump’s crazycakes testimony earlier this week in his New York civil fraud trial, as well as the legal arguments he has made to try get his January 6 charges in D.C. thrown out of court:
Notable clips this week:
My clipping service was apparently hacked last week so I am sadly unably to grab my ABC News segments during Trump’s Monday testimony. But click here for a one that was posted to Twitter by ABC.
Articles worth reading:
Two must-reads this week, regarding Trump’s plans for office if he is elected to a second term. The first involves a piece in The Washington Post reporting on Trump’s plans to weaponize the Justice Department to exact revenge on his enemies (including former members of his staff who were not sufficiently loyal) — he has since echoed these themes in his own speeches
The second is this latest reporting from The New York Times on Trump’s planned immigration policy in his second term, which includes “sprawling camps” at the border, mass deportations, deployment of the military domestically, ideological screenings for visas, and attempts to end birthright citizenship. Read it all the way to the end. You’ll be shocked to learn that the architect is Stephen Miller.
Upcoming events:
November 14, 2 p.m. EST: Class guest speaker Colin Clarke, Director of Research for The Soufan Group. I thought of Colin as I was writing my last post on Yevgeny Prigozhin, as he has followed and written about Prigozhin’s The Wagner Group over the last several years. He will offer some great insight connecting what we are covering in class with the war in Ukraine and Russia’s global operations. Zoom link will be sent to paid subscribers at 11 a.m. The talk will be recorded and posted the following day.
Zoom Office Hours, November 30, 12 p.m. EST, Zoom office hours to discuss the latest. Zoom link will be sent to paid subscribers at 9 a.m.
“Section 702 for Dummies,” December 5, 4 p.m. EST: You asked, I answered. Former NSA litigation counsel and current fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, George Croner, will join us to explain Section 702. George speaks to my National Security Law class every year and breaks down exactly what Section 702 is and what it isn’t so that you can follow the debate as we inch closer to the expiration of this critical surveillance tool at the end of this year. Zoom link will be sent to paid subscribers at 1 p.m. The talk will be recorded and posted the following day.
Wine & Fries Club, December, tentative date December 17, 8 p.m. EST: I am SO excited that I will be hosting a holiday Wine & Fries happy hour withMary L Trump, author of theThe Good in Us by Mary L. Trump Substack and the amazing Backstory Serial! I always love talking to Mary and getting her thoughts on the Donald and everything else going on in the world. I hope you can join us! Zoom link will be sent to Wine & Fries members at 5 p.m.
January, Wednesday, January 17, 12 p.m.: Freedom Academy Book Club with by Scott Shapiro, author of Fancy Bear Goes Phishing: The Dark History of the Information Age, in Five Extraordinary Hacks. Zoom link will be sent to paid subscribers at 9 a.m. The talk will be recorded and posted the following day.
May the rest of your weekend be filled with light! 🪔
That NYT article on trump and immigration was the most depressing thing I've read recently. Will he also sandblast the inscription on the Statute of Liberty? Or just demolish it?
To those who go on about how undocumented immigrants are ipso facto "criminals" simply by being here, are they aware that in fact if you entered the country legally but overstayed your visa, you are not in fact guilty of a crime? Such people are in civil, not criminal, violation of the immigration laws. I know a number of such people who have been here for decades--harder working folks I have rarely encountered.
Happy Diwali!!
Celebrate wearing this rainbow flag teeshirt: rb.gy/87qjdg