Sunday
Apr032016
The Commentariat -- April 4, 2016
Afternoon Update:
** Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Monday unanimously ruled that states may count all residents, whether or not they are eligible to vote, in drawing election districts. The decision was a major statement on the meaning of a fundamental principle of the American political system, that of 'one person one vote.' As a practical matter, the ruling mostly helped Democrats.... The court did not decide whether other ways of counting were permissible.” The decision, writen by Justice Ginsburg, is here. -- CW ...
... Ian Millhiser: "Justice Ginsburg just shut down one of America’s most notorious white rights activists." -- CW
Jennifer Rubin, the WashPo's official winger-blogger, writes a very good takedown on Trump the Ignoramus & traveler on the long whining road. And kudos to Chris Wallace of Fox "News" (no, really!) for challenging Donald the Dunce. -- CW
David Siders of the Sacramento Bee: California "Gov. Jerry Brown [D], casting a living wage as a moral imperative while questioning its economic rationale, signed legislation Monday raising California’s mandatory minimum to $15 an hour by 2022, acting within hours of a similar bill signing in New York.... Brown, a fiscal moderate, had previously expressed reservations about a wage increase. But amid growing concern about income inequality in California and the national thrust of the labor-backed 'Fight for 15' campaign, his hand was forced." -- CW
Matt Yglesias of Vox on the Panama Papers: "Even as the world's wealthiest and most powerful nations have engaged in increasingly complex and intensive efforts at international cooperation to smooth the wheels of global commerce, they have willfully chosen to allow the wealthiest members of Western society to shield their financial assets from taxation (and in many cases divorce or bankruptcy settlement) by taking advantage of shell companies and tax havens." -- CW
*****
Steve M.: "... Republicans will probably obstruct any appointee by President Hillary Clinton if they hold the Senate next year." CW: Sounds alarming, doesn't it? But I don't see any sensible argument to refute Steve's. What? You think Mitch & Chuck are going to get all sweet & cuddly?
Elizabeth Kolbert of the New Yorker: Researchers have found evidence that "the West Antarctic Ice Sheet ... [is] vulnerable to collapse.... The researchers concluded that just a few more decades of 'unabated' carbon emissions could result in more than three feet of sea-level rise from WAIS [alone] by the end of this century.... [Donald] Trump has repeatedly used Twitter ... to scoff at the very notion of climate change. 'Hoax' and 'con job' are some of his more nuanced comments. 'Bullshit' is another. Ted Cruz is, if anything, worse; he recently claimed that the federal government was 'cooking the books' to demonstrate warming that doesn’t exist.... Disaster is looking like a good bet." -- CW
Presidential Race
Brian Bennett of the Los Angeles Times: "Hillary Clinton said Sunday that the FBI has not asked to question her about her use of a private email server when she was secretary of State, a controversy that has dogged her presidential bid." -- CW ...
... Also, too, Hillary feels sorry for the kids who believe Bernie. Sometimes. Who says Hillary Clinton isn't compassionate? Sometimes. --CW
Patrick Healy & Yamiche Alcindor of the New York Times write something of a post mortem of the Sanders campaign." -- CW
An Ordinary Couple. Connon O'Brien of Politico: "Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday dismissed criticism that he hasn't released his full tax returns, even though Democratic rival Hillary Clinton has released eight years worth. Pushed by Jake Tapper on CNN's 'State of the Union' over why he only released a 2014 summary of his returns, the Vermont senator said..., 'My wife does our tax returns. We have been a little bit busy lately,' Sanders said.... Sanders said he would work to make as much of his personal tax information public as soon as possible, but said expectations should be tempered for what will be revealed." -- CW
Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "After a contentious vote on Sunday, North Dakota Republicans elected 25 unaligned delegates to send to the Republican National Convention this summer in Cleveland, offering a presage of the confusion and chaos that seems certain to unfold there if the party remains unable to unite behind a nominee.... A disagreement erupted on the convention floor after a group of Republicans challenged party leaders to bring more clarity to the process by asking delegate candidates to declare which presidential candidate they would support in Cleveland.... Even the prospective delegates seemed confused." -- CW ...
... Shane Goldmacher of Politico: "Ted Cruz’s preferred candidates won the vast majority of convention delegates available in North Dakota over the weekend, taking 18 of 25 slots in the state in another show of organizational strength over Donald Trump. It’s still not clear how loyal all of Cruz’s slate will be if the Republican nomination heads to a contested convention in Cleveland, as several included on it told Politico they were only leaning toward Cruz, or simply opposed to Trump." -- CW
Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump’s private meeting in Washington on Thursday featured nearly a dozen industry leaders, including a veteran lobbyist and the chief executive of a major airline trade organization, attendees confirmed.... Yet Mr. Trump routinely makes 'special interests' and lobbyists a focus of derision in his stump speeches, making the meeting something of a surprise." His campaign spokesperson said Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) arranged the meeting with lobbyists. -- CW
Brian Bennett: "Donald Trump refused on Sunday to rule out running as an independent if he fails to win the Republican presidential nomination, renewing a threat that party leaders thought they had quashed months ago. 'I want to run as a Republican. I will beat Hillary Clinton,' Trump said on 'Fox News Sunday. 'When pressed to rule out an independent run, the New York billionaire said, 'I'm gonna have to see how I was treated.'" -- CW
Jose DelReal of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump on Sunday called on Ohio Gov. John Kasich to drop out of the GOP nominating contest, accusing him of siphoning away potential Trump voters and telling reporters that he expressed his displeasure while meeting with Republican National Committee officials last week.... 'It’s very unfair because he’s taking our votes...,' Trump said." (Emphasis added.) CW: It is clear that in the World According to Trump, anyone who doesn't vote for him, or do his bidding, or bow & curtsy appropriately, is being "very unfair." It's beyond question what he means when he says he won't run as an independent unless "the "party treats him unfairly"; that is, unless he wins the nomination.
... MEANWHILE. Ari Melber of NBC News: "The Donald Trump and Ted Cruz campaigns are working to prevent John Kasich from appearing on the ballot at the Republican National Convention in July, msnbc has learned, an aggressive strategy suggesting the GOP's leading candidates are girding for a contested convention to select the party's nominee. On Sunday, Trump told a supporter that 'Kasich shouldn't be allowed to continue and the RNC shouldn't allow him to continue.... 'I expect the Rules Committee to require a level of support that would leave only two candidates on the ballot at the convention,' a senior Cruz Campaign aide told msnbc." -- CW
Steve Coll of the New Yorker: “'We’re a country that doesn’t have money,' [Donald Trump] told the Times.... 'At some point, we cannot be the policeman of the world.'... In all probability, the U.S. can afford its global-defense commitments indefinitely, and an open economy, renewed by immigration and innovation, should be able to continue to grow and to share the cost of securing free societies. The main obstacle to realizing this goal is not an exhausted imperial treasury. It is the collapse of the once-internationalist Republican Party into demagoguery, paralysis, and Trumpism.” -- CW
Trump "Made Too Many Wrong Mistakes." E.J. Dionne thinks, finally, the Trump candidacy is finished: The past week's episodes "ratify what Trump skeptics said all along: that he is utterly unprepared to be a serious candidate, let alone president of the United States; that an endless stream of insults against all who get in his way wears thin over time; that he is winging it and stubbornly refusing to do the homework the enterprise he’s engaged in requires; and that trashing ethnic and religious minorities can win you a fair number of votes but not, thank God, a majority of Americans." -- CW ...
The Editorial Board of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has come out against voting for Trump tomorrow. However, I have to disagree with them equating Bernie Sanders with Trump as being "the wrong standard-bearer for voter concerns." --unwashed
... Also Has No Idea What Newspapers Do. Rebecca Savransky of the Hill: "... Donald Trump on Sunday compared his Twitter account to owning his own newspaper. 'This is a modern form, it's like owning my own newspaper,' Trump said during a Fox News town hall on Sunday, in response to a question from anchor Greta Van Susteren about whether he'd stop tweeting if he is elected president." -- CW
According to Richard Zombeck at HuffPost Politics Donald Trump never wanted to be President: "What began as a con will end as a con. Trump will continue to make bombastic, ludicrous and inane comments, proving to the media—who are all too eager to give him all the attention he wants—that he is wholly unqualified for the job. Other republicans will chastise him for the things that he says, proving to his followers that he is being targeted by an establishment that is afraid of him. Trump will walk away unscathed, his brand strengthened and his dignity intact. He will be the guy who nearly became president, but was too much for people to take." -- CaptRuss
Lady Liberty. A Former Mrs. Trump Knows the Value of Immigrants. Caitlin Yilek of the Hill: "Donald Trump’s ex-wife [Ivana Trump] defended the Republican presidential front-runner’s immigration policies in an interview published in Sunday's New York Post.... 'As long as you come here legally and get a proper job … we need immigrants. Who’s going to vacuum our living rooms and clean up after us? Americans don’t like to do that,'” she added." (Emphasis added.) -- CW
Gabriel Sherman of New York magazine provides an inside look at Operation Trump." 'I’m the strategist,' Trump told me. Which would make him, no matter what your feelings about his beliefs or his qualifications to govern a country, one of the greatest political savants of the modern era." -- unwashed
Congressional Races
David Herszenhorn of the New York Times: "Florida is again likely to play a crucial role in who wins the White House this year, but the wild, wide-open and largely forgotten race to replace Senator Marco Rubio could also determine which party controls the Senate, which in turn could decide the ideological balance of the Supreme Court.... The White House has weighed in heavily, and remarkably early, in favor of [Rep. Patrick] Murphy in his primary fight against Representative Alan Grayson, who has cultivated a reputation as a liberal firebrand with a willingness to buck party leaders." -- CW
Amanda Terkel of The Huffington Post: "Obama's Endorsement of Debbie Wasserman Schultz Brings In Serious Money...For Her Challenger."
"Tim Canova, a progressive law professor taking on Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), pulled in more than half a million dollars in the first three months of 2016...In the four days following Obama’s endorsement, Canova received nearly $100,000, according to his campaign — almost a quarter of what he raised in the three-month period, even though they never actually fundraised off the endorsement." -- unwashed
Beyond the Beltway
Los Angeles Times Editors: "Even before Southern California Gas Co. plugged the damaged storage well blamed for the worst methane leak in U.S. history, its executives promised to fully offset the emissions released during the break.... Gov. Jerry Brown attempted to hold SoCal Gas to its word ... [by directing] regulators to develop a program, to be funded by the utility, that would cut greenhouse gas emissions in the state. Now that the California Air Resources Board has prepared that program, however, the utility has balked.... SoCal Gas made its position clear in a letter to the air board: The mitigation plan is voluntary and the utility will make good on its pledge in any way it sees fit." -- CW
Way Beyond
Luke Harding in the Guardian: "A network of secret offshore deals and vast loans worth $2bn has laid a trail to Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin. An unprecedented leak of documents shows how this money has made members of Putin’s close circle fabulously wealthy. Though the president’s name does not appear in any of the records, the data reveals [sic!] a pattern – his friends have earned millions from deals that seemingly could not have been secured without his patronage." -- CW ...
... The Panama Papers: "The files expose offshore companies controlled by the prime ministers of Iceland and Pakistan, the king of Saudi Arabia and the children of the president of Azerbaijan.... World leaders who have embraced anti-corruption platforms feature in the leaked documents. The files reveal offshore companies linked to the family of China’s top leader,Xi Jinping, who has vowed to fight 'armies of corruption,; as well as Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who has positioned himself as a reformer in a country shaken by corruption scandals. The files also contain new details of offshore dealings by the late father of British Prime Minister David Cameron, a leader in the push for tax-haven reform." -- CW ...
... Fusion has a short list of "famous politicos" outted in the papers. -- CW
Demitrus Nellas of the AP: "An agreement between the European Union and Turkey to deport migrants currently on Greek islands back to the Turkish mainland is to take effect Monday morning, but the operation is threatened by a shortage of personnel." -- CW
Reuters: "Thousands of people have attended a pro-choice rally outside parliament in Warsaw after the leader of Poland’s ruling party backed a call from Catholic bishops for a full ban on pregnancy terminations. Poland already has one of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe. Official statistics show only a few hundred abortions are performed every year, but pro-choice campaigners say underground abortions are common." -- CW
Tempus Fugit. In honor of the upcoming 40th anniversary of his death Gil Troy of The Daily Beast writes an informative tribute to the "Singing Journalist" Phil Ochs. I can only think Phil's been spinning in his grave for the last 15 years. --unwashed
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Reader Comments (17)
Based on your entry alone about the So Cal - we should be so grateful to you for every entry you post during this "transition."
As for Alan Grayson. No way! I am a former fan who dropped off after I found out he owns a questionable hedge fund and has made millions--all the while pretending to be a populist. Our congress is filled with Ass Hats like this. Let's not elect another.
Along the same lines: For those of you who have not read Jane Mayer's "Dark Money," here is a link to the NYRB review by Bill McKibben. This. Is. A. Must. Read. America is truly done in by greed! And, if you have the courage, read the book too! It will become a classic.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2016/03/10/koch-brothers-new-brand/
I commented on the Mossack Fonseca leaks yesterday. I put in a number of links before Putin became the headline that are worth a quick look. Putin might be click bait, but is one of many. The first link is to the ICIJ - The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which seems to be at the heart of the investigation. They say "The leaked data covers nearly 40 years, from 1977 through the end of 2015. It allows a never-before-seen view inside the offshore world — providing a day-to-day, decade-by-decade look at how dark money flows through the global financial system, breeding crime and stripping national treasuries of tax revenues." And "The offshore system relies on a sprawling global industry of bankers, lawyers, accountants and these go-betweens who work together to protect their clients’ secrets. These secrecy experts use anonymous companies, trusts and other paper entities to create complex structures that can be used to disguise the origins of dirty money."
Perhaps the sheer magnitude of the Panama Papers will cause some action, but since so many world leaders and organisations (e.g. CIA) use these structures to move black money around, I'm not optimistic.
@Gloria: Thank you. Have you figured out from your readings what these papers consist of, where they were held &/or how they came to be leaked? I don't have time to get past the headlines, but I'm having trouble imagining what-all is in the cache. Bank account records?? Letters among the crooks?? And where's Not-President Romney in all this?? Surely he's among the crooks, if only, by international standards, a small-time crook. (Kinda fun to think of the Mittster in those terms.) And I do wonder if Not-President Trump will figure into the story.
Marie
Update: Okay, I see all the papers come from a law firm. So probably one source.
@Gloria: "The Panama Papers" seem quite a story to me, too! Yet, when I went looking for the NYTimes take on this, the story wasn't there. Well, it didn't show up on my initial searches.. until 'Aha!' finally found it "buried" in the World section. Apparently it wasn't/isn't worthy of front page above the fold coverage by the Grey Lady.
...almost dismissive. Curious, isn't it? Yet graft in Brazil gets a top spot on Page One as does "Lost in Nicaragua, a (Chinese) Tycoon’s Canal Project"
RC Question: What is the difference between CW boldface and '--CW' in plain italics with linked articles?
@MAG: CW is the person who linked that story. CW is the person who wrote, "What a crock!" They work from the same cheap laptop, & they're pretty much done till this afternoon.
Marie
The Papers are all from one law firm, Mossack Fonseca. The 40 years worth of leaks were received about a year ago, and the ICIJ have been working with about 400 journalists and 107 news organisations to process the information. I believe the documents consist of Company records, bank accounts and letters. Not everyone in the dump is a crook. A disservice is being done to the public by highlighting Putin, as he is not named, and he is a distraction from the other crooks. I read as the story was breaking that the Mittster is named, but I can't find it now.
This is one firm in one "haven". The story is truly the tip of an iceberg.
Major news outlets around the world are leading with this and I, too, am amused by the NYT subsuming it under a Putin headline. It is the biggest document dump ever, and the full list of company disclosures will be made in May. It will be interesting!
Here's Juan Cole's piece on the Panama Papers:
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_panama_papers_and_middle_east_leaders_secret_bank_accounts_20160404
How Donald sought the advice & counsel of that brilliant (hah!) Jeff Sessions " Operation Trump " is explained in Gabriel Sherman's New York mag feature. There's more, much more in the article re the Team Trump, Roger Ailes, et al. You'll want to read it.
Fits well with the Maggie Haberman story that --CW links above.
manic noun. man·i·cal·ly \-ni-k(ə-)lē\ adverb.
Please correct misspelling, manickly or put a sic or something.
--a spelling nerd
@Kate: Yes, Jane Mayer's book, "Dark Money," should be required reading for anyone concerned with political influence writ large. One of my favorite items is this:
"they[the Fred Kochs'] had four sons: Frederick, Charles, and a pair of twins, David and William. The first two were raised by a German governess who “enforced a rigid toilet-training regimen requiring the boys to produce morning bowel movements precisely on schedule or be force-fed castor oil and subjected to enemas.” Luckily for the twins, she left for home when they were born, apparently because “she was so overcome with joy when Hitler invaded France she felt she had to go back to the fatherland in order to join the führer in celebration.”
So perhaps that piss-poor toilet training did a number on poor Freddie and Chucky––produced a shit load of angst and anger along with a fetish for strict regimens that retained great gains while doing big dumps on the less fortunate.
The John Oliver clip is depressing––not that we didn't know about the infinite time spend on fund raising, but the description of those cubicles at the call center made it even more horrific. and my congressman, Chris Murphy ( stellar lad) says he doesn't bother calling anyone who can't do a thousand or more. I guess I'll never get one of those calls.
What a sad state of affairs––and what's even sadder is nothing is being done to change it.
@CW: Sunday's Commentariat was 58.3% CW. Today's is 82.7%.
Have you a minimum contributor input in mind? Or perhaps a deadline for this experiment to reach a 50% contributor level?
@Trish Ramey: Offensive material removed. And, really, thanks a bunch for your contribution. Your what makes realtychex grate.
Marie
Marie: Your just two good for us! (Reference to Trish Ramey).
Ide be won of those contributers, however, my busy season starts
next week, like seven days a week, until fall (landscaping). Ciao.
I finally got around to making a modest contribution and I have to say, Marie's directions are excellent, because it worked on the first try. Unfortunately, my PC is going in for a much needed tune-up tomorrow but after that I hope to contribute more. And my gratitude to Marie for continuing to shoulder the bulk of the effort.
Well, hot damn, if Jennifer Rubin hasn't stepped up to the plate and given us something we can digest easily. I always thought the Chris Wallace interviews pretty decent––I like the way he zeros in and doesn't let go. The Trump interview with the other Chris M. the other night was lauded as "simply wonderful" which I disagree with. Other than the abortion business Chris, loving the sound of his own words, is a lousy interviewer.
@MAG: thanks for The Operation Trump piece.
I thought the statement by Ivana Trump––" … we need immigrants. Who’s going to vacuum our living rooms and clean up after us? Americans don't like to do that," should be plastered on huge billboards throughout the country with a picture of Ivana in a silken gown standing next to Donald, fingers pointing like the old Uncle Sam
posters––"WE NEED YOU!"
@ forrest: Good luck on your busy season––mae it bee fruitiful and fullfilling.
Oh my-- with a name like Forrest, you just HAD to go into landscaping! Good work! (And good luck--)
And thanks, Marie, for being here still, too much, of course, but you're a good person. Wish I could help. Too dumb.