Markers of permanence surround us.
January 2, 2025
Two incidents described as terror attacks marked the first day of 2025. In the wake of such tragedies, our first and last thoughts should be about the victims and their families. In New Orleans and Las Vegas, there are dozens of families dealing with tragedy on a day meant for celebration and reflection. They deserve the support, care, and concern of the American people and their government. In the days to come, we must not allow coverage of the terrorists and their methods to overwhelm the human toll of their acts.
Reports regarding the two incidents have changed in material respects throughout the day, especially regarding the potential existence of co-conspirators (in New Orleans) and the nature of the attack (in Las Vegas). As I write, the supposed “facts” are still in flux. So, I recommend two sources for the current understanding of the facts, recognizing that they are provisional.
As to the attack in New Orleans, see FBI, FBI Statement on the Attack in New Orleans. The FBI’s statement includes the following:
Today, at approximately 3:15 a.m. CST, an individual drove a pickup truck into a crowd of people on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing at least 10 and injuring dozens of others. After hitting the crowd, he exited the vehicle and fired upon local law enforcement. Law enforcement returned fire, and the subject was pronounced deceased at the scene. Two law enforcement officers were injured and transported to a local hospital.
The subject has been identified as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a U.S. citizen from Texas. He was driving a Ford pickup truck, which appears to have been rented, and we are working to confirm how the subject came into possession of the vehicle.
An ISIS flag was located in the vehicle, and the FBI is working to determine the subject's potential associations and affiliations with terrorist organizations.
Weapons and a potential IED were located in the subject’s vehicle. Other potential IEDs were also located in the French Quarter.
As of Wednesday evening, reports are conflicting as to the existence of co-conspirators in the New Orleans attack.
As to the Las Vegas incident, see CNN, Tesla Cybertruck explosion at Trump hotel in Vegas investigated as a possible terrorist act, law enforcement official says.
Authorities believe fireworks, gas tanks and camping fuel were connected to a detonation system controlled by the driver in the Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside a Trump Hotel in Las Vegas Wednesday morning, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation.
Surveillance video shows a driver passing by the Trump Hotel in Vegas about an hour before the car explodes, and then circling back near the end of that hour and stopping in front of the hotel, where the car explodes several seconds later, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation.
The FBI is working to determine whether the incident was a terrorist act, Jeremy Schwartz, acting special agent in charge for the FBI’s Las Vegas office, said Wednesday. The agency believes it was an isolated incident and there is no further danger to the public, Schwartz noted.
To reiterate, the Las Vegas incident is being investigated as a terror attack, although no firm conclusion has been reached regarding the nature of the attack. In contrast, President Biden said in remarks on Wednesday evening that the FBI identified a video posted on social media in which the New Orleans attacker expressed sympathies for ISIS.
The domestic political environment in which the attacks took place
Trump's nominees view federal law enforcement and security agencies as enemies of the people
The attacks occur as the nominees of the incoming administration have been hand-picked to dismantle or neuter the capabilities of intelligence agencies designed to prevent the types of attacks that occurred on Wednesday. The president-elect’s nominees view the FBI and federal intelligence agencies as enemies of the people.
One of the president elect’s first acts will be to pardon insurrectionists who sought to prevent the peaceful transfer of power by mounting a violent attack on the US Capitol. What message will those pardons send to aspiring terrorists?
What message will potential domestic terrorists take from the appointment of a Secretary of Defense who was flagged as a possible “insider threat” by the US military based on Christian nationalist symbols tattooed to his chest? The Independent, (11/15/24), Pete Hegseth flagged as possible ‘Insider Threat’ over tattoo that’s associated with white supremacist groups.
What message will domestic terrorists take from statements by the FBI Director nominee Kash Patel praising QAnon, a group identified by an FBI field office as a domestic terror threat? See Mother Jones, (8/2/19), FBI Names QAnon, Conspiracy Theories Domestic Terrorism Threats.
And what are foreign terrorists to make of the fact that the president elect has nominated an NSA director who is sympathetic to Syria’s Assad and Russia’s Putin? See AP, Tulsi Gabbard's sympathetic views toward Russia cause alarm, and NBC News, (12/9/24), Democrats and Republicans in Congress worried that Gabbard might leak to Assad regime.
We live in a world in which terror threats are real, though remote. Keeping them at bay requires a disciplined, serious, and professional national security organization. Trump seems intent on destroying that organization because it investigated his connections to Russia.
Sadly, the tragic events in New Orleans and Las Vegas remind us once again that there are real-world, destructive consequences to Trump's ego-driven effort to destroy everyone and everything he considers to be disloyal to him. The events in New Orleans and Las Vegas remind us that Trump's nominees for national security and law enforcement positions are dangerous to American national security and must be defeated.
Trump attempted to blame the New Orleans attack on immigrants
Shortly after the New Orleans attack, Trump posted a statement on his vanity social media platform that referred to the attack and said, in part,
When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the Fake News Media, but it turned out to be true. The crime rate in our country is at a level that nobody has ever seen before. Our hearts are with all of the innocent victims and their loved ones, including the brave officers of the New Orleans Police Department.
See The Independent, Trump uses New Orleans attack to slam migrants without offering proof one was involved.
The FBI has identified the New Orleans attacker as a US citizen from Texas who is an Army veteran.
Fox News piled on by reporting that the truck involved in the New Orleans attack was driven across the US-Mexico border two days ago. See Fox News, New Orleans suspect's truck came across border in Eagle Pass, Texas | Fox News Video. The FBI later reported that the attacker rented the truck using the Turo app, which operates like an “AirBnB” for autos.
The fact that the New Orleans attacker turned out to be a US citizen, Army veteran, and resident of Texas has punctured a hole in the right-wing narrative about the nature and sources of crime (and terrorism) in the United States. Indeed, both assassination attempts on Trump were by US citizens.
While we can expect Trump and Republicans to admonish Democrats not to “politicize” the terror attacks by discussing the cause and nature of US domestic terrorism—including white supremacy—it was Trump who sought to politicize the attacks within hours and before definitive facts were known regarding the attacker.
To state the obvious, it is reprehensible that the president-elect would use a tragedy to promote disinformation about immigration. The false implication promoted by Trump after the tragedy should have provoked a firestorm of condemnation in the legacy media. But they have (again) looked the other way—thereby normalizing and excusing Trump's grotesque behavior.
Convening of new Congress on January 3, 2025
The 119th Congress will convene on Friday, January 3, 2025. The first order of business in the House will be election of the new Speaker. It remains unclear whether Mike Johnson has the votes to be elected Speaker. See HuffPo, GOP Lawmaker Says Mike Johnson Doesn't Have The Votes To Be Speaker.
When the new Congress begins, Democrats (and Hakeem Jeffries) will have 215 votes. Republicans will have 220 or 219 seats (depending on whether Matt Gaetz takes the oath of office).
A reader asked if I believed that Hakeem Jeffries could win the Speakership. Although it is possible, it is unlikely. Assuming that Gaetz shows up and takes the oath, Hakeem Jeffries would need six Republicans to abstain (or vote for a candidate other than Johnson) in order to win. If any Republican voted for Jeffries (highly unlikely), then Jeffries would inch closer to a majority with each additional vote. See the chart below:
So, as shown above, Hakeem Jeffries could win if six Republicans abstained or voted for someone other than Johnson.
In any event, the vote is likely to be complicated, although it is doubtful that it will go 15 rounds as it did with Kevin McCarthy.
Opportunity for Reader Engagement
If you are in North Carolina, see the opportunity below on Sunday, January 5:
Please join the North Carolina Democratic Party on Sunday, January 5, at 1:00 p.m. Eastern for Together We Rise, a rally in downtown Raleigh. We’ll hear from NCDP Chair Anderson Clayton, Justices Allison Riggs and Anita Earls, Sen. Sydney Batch, Mayor Weyling White and others as we celebrate our victories over extremist candidates, protest power grabs and organize for the work ahead.
North Carolina Democrats have a lot to be proud of: flipping two statewide seats (Lt. Governor and Superintendent of Public Instruction); breaking the supermajority in the state legislature; winning the Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, and Supreme Court Justice races; and holding a tough Congressional seat. We’ve shown our power at the ballot box. Now, let’s rise to meet this moment, together. Sign up for updates from NCDP.
RSVP for the rally at ncdp.org/rally.
Concluding Thoughts
In February and March of last year, Jill and I drove down the Mississippi from Minneapolis-St. Paul to New Orleans to visit groups of readers of this newsletter. As is our custom, we visited every cathedral along our route. Our first stop was St. Paul’s Cathedral in St. Paul. It is magnificent; I encourage anyone who has the opportunity to visit the cathedral to do so. St. Paul Cathedral marked the starting point of our journey down the Mississippi.
The endpoint of our drive was St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans, which sits on the bank of the Mississippi. I took the photo of St. Louis Cathedral (below) from the intersection of Bourbon and Orleans Streets in the French Quarter. (Note: I used Photoshop to remove parked cars and pedestrians.)
As I was reading about the New Orleans attack on Wednesday morning, I saw the intersection of Bourbon and Orleans Streets prominently featured in news coverage. According to reports, an improvised explosive device was planted at the intersection shown below—two blocks from St. Louis Cathedral.
It is unnerving to have been at a location that was the target of a terror attack several months later. That is, of course, the point of a terror attack. To instill fear out of proportion to the attack. Millions of Americans have visited the French Quarter over the last decades, and most have made it a point to walk to the intersection of Bourbon and Orleans Streets.
The view of St. Louis Cathedral from the intersection has remained unchanged since 1794, five years after the founding of the United States of America. Over the course of 231 years, the Mississippi has flowed past the cathedral as America grew from a fledgling nation into a global power.
The intersection and the cathedral have endured for centuries, silent witnesses to a growing nation. The act of a lone (?) terrorist measured against a span of centuries disappears into insignificance—except for the tragic loss of life and injuries. As with our present troubles, the scale and heft of America will ensure that it endures long after the acts of political terrorism that beset us today have receded into insignificance.
We are surrounded everywhere by similar markers of the permanence and stability of America. We need only raise our eyes above our present troubles and to see the markers around us.
We will make it through this difficult period. We need only stay strong and endure!
Daily Dose of Perspective
In furtherance of my message about the permanence and scale of America, I include below an image of the North America Nebula. The nebula is 2,600 light-years from Earth and has a radius of 45 light-years.
"When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats " - so nice to see Trump has not waivered from shooting off his mouth with a lie before he knew the facts and proved Democrats to be right once again. We can never listen to anything this man says without waiting for the real facts to drop. Most of us know that, but we have to remain vigilant for 4 years.
What worries and distresses me the most is not only that Trump once again spews migrant lies about the attacker in New Orleans, but that his followers will have heard this part, and will apparently pay no attention to the facts: the attacker is a US citizen, from Texas, and a war veteran. He does have an Arabic name, so of course all slurs and suspicions about him are fair game. I believe our mission in the next 4 years is not only to point out Trump’s lies, but we must somehow reach all those who don’t pay attention to legacy media. They have an uncanny ability to believe Trump or his surrogates, even when the facts to the contrary become evident. It would, of course, be ideal if all media would review the FACTS of any case like this. If Joe Rogan, for example, were to remind his listeners that the attacker in New Orleans was NOT a migrant, maybe just maybe some of Trump’s followers would at least have to consider the truth. We are in a truly dystopian world.