Friday
Aug102018
The Commentariat -- August 11, 2018
Afternoon Update:
David Von Drehle of the Washington Post reminds us, "Trump's résumé is rife with mob connections." Von Drehle names a few.
More Twitter Massages for a Rainy Afternoon. Deirdre Shesgreen of USA Today: "... Donald Trump blasted Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Saturday.... Trump's sideswipe at his own chief law enforcement officer came in a pair of afternoon tweets that seemed to allege unspecified malfeasance the Department of Justice in its handling of the Russia investigation. Trump has criticized Sessions before but Saturday's missive was particularly pointed. 'Our A.G. is scared stiff and Missing in Action. It is all starting to be revealed - not pretty. IG Report soon? Witch Hunt!,' the president tweeted from his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey." The story puts the remark in the context of a broader attack." Mrs. McC BTW: Trump's description of Nelly Ohr as "beautiful" is a potshot. She's a perfectly ordinary-looking woman, so the Misogynist-in-Chief naturally uses her appearance to demean her.
😂🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/udVlztbA8X
— Marilynhunny (@GlammaHunny) August 11, 2018
Space please keep them out there. pic.twitter.com/G0yJX9qV5Z
— 🇺🇸 US Army Resistance🇺🇸 (@bobover52) August 11, 2018
... See related stories linked below. Thanks to MAG for the link to this HuffPost piece.
Likely a Ghostwritten Trump Tweet. Brent Griffiths: "... Donald Trump on Saturday called for the nation to 'come together' ahead of the one-year anniversary of a violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. 'The riots in Charlottesville a year ago resulted in senseless death and division,' Trump [Mrs. McC: or somebody] wrote on Twitter. 'We must come together as a nation.'... On Saturday, Trump [Mrs. McC: or somebody] wrote that he condemns 'all types of racism and acts of violence. Peace to ALL Americans!'... The president ... earlier Saturday returned to his criticism of current and former FBI officials, echoing calls from his congressional allies that the Justice Department had not turned over documents related to officials like former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe in a timely manner. 'Why isn't the FBI giving Andrew McCabe text messages* to Judicial Watch or appropriate governmental authorities,' the president wrote. 'FBI said they won't give up even one (I may have to get involved, DO NOT DESTROY). What are they hiding?'" Mrs. McC: Okay, he wrote the earlier tweets. He was probably on the golf course by the time a staffer tweeted the unity stuff.
* Update: What Trump or his ghosttweeter actually typed was "text massages."
Sad! Kyle Cheney & Jimmy Vielkind of Politico: "Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.), who was charged this week as part of an insider trading scheme, is suspending his re-election campaign and will attempt to remove his name from the ballot. The third-term congressman announced the decision Saturday morning on Twitter, just days after he vowed to clear his name and remain on the ballot. Collins is facing multiple counts of securities fraud, as well as charges of wire fraud and lying to investigators. His son and another associate were charged in the scheme as well.... Under New York law, Collins' name can be supplanted on the ballot at this stage of the cycle only if he dies, moves out of state or is nominated for another office.... Erie County GOP Chairman Nick Langworthy ... he noted Collins owns houses in Florida and Washington, D.C."
*****
Trump Is Pretending He's Not on Vacation. Jill Colvin & Jonathan Lemire of the AP: "... Donald Trump is spending his summer vacation at his golf club in New Jersey.... Trump ... has spent his week away mixing downtime and golf rounds with meetings and dinners, intent on projecting the image that he's been hard at work.... Not that it was his idea to leave Washington anyway, he contends. 'We're renovating the White House, a long-term project and they approved it years ago. And I said, "Well, I guess this would be a good place to be in the meantime,"' Trump told reporters invited to the property to document a roundtable discussion ... Thursday.... No staffers had publicly mentioned the need for any rehabilitation work before Trump's departure, and the explanation effort underscores the president's concern about public perceptions as he approaches having spent 150 days of his presidency at his golf properties." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I suppose a president could cede his presidential duties to the veep, 25th Amendment-style, when s/he goes on vacation, but so far no presidents have done that. Thus, the demands of the job require every presidential vacation to be a "working vacation." It's hilarious that this President*, who hates to do the actual work of governing & does as little of it as possible, is so intent on pretending he's working -- when in fact he's mostly goofing off in a manner consistent with his everyday practice.
Rubio Resets Trump Bar. Well, he's had the nuclear codes for a year and a half, and we've been all right. -- Sen. Marco Rubio, in a Weekly Standard interview
It's been a year and a half, and no nuclear war yet. Success! -- Jonathan Chait
I suspect that one day we'll learn that Kelly, McMaster or Mattis has wrested the "football" from Trump's tiny hands more than once. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie
Carlotta Gall & Jack Ewing of the New York Times: "A worsening dispute between the United States and Turkey reverberated through the global economy on Friday, hastening a broad flight of money from emerging markets and sowing instability throughout the Middle East as relations between the NATO allies neared a breaking point. The immediate crisis -- accelerated by a hostile tweet from President Trump -- flared over Turkey's continued detention of an American pastor, Andrew Brunson, who was jailed 21 months ago in a widespread crackdown after a failed coup in Turkey. But the outsize effect reflected deepening concerns over Turkey's economic management by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was re-elected in June with near-authoritarian powers. It also increased the risk that the problems in Turkey, which borders Iran, Iraq and Syria, could destabilize economies well beyond the region." ...
... Trump No Longer Able to Get Along with Dictators. Rebecca Morin of Politico: "... Donald Trump announced on Friday that he is doubling tariffs on Turkey after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan asked citizens to convert foreign currencies, including U.S. dollars into local lira -- leading to a dramatic drop in the Turkish currency. 'I have just authorized a doubling of Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum with respect to Turkey as their currency, the Turkish Lira, slides rapidly downward against our very strong Dollar! Aluminum will now be 20% and Steel 50%. Our relations with Turkey are not good at this time!' Trump tweeted." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd.
Cabinet Job for Sale! Rachel Weiner, et al., of the Washington Post: "A bank CEO who helped President Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort obtain $16 million in loans hoped for a Cabinet-level position in the administration, a bank employee testified in federal court Friday. The bank employee, Dennis Raico, was called as a witness after a confusing morning at Manafort’s trial in Alexandria, Va., during which U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis III huddled privately with prosecutors and defense attorneys, delaying the start of testimony until midafternoon. A transcript of those discussions was sealed. No reason was offered for the delay, but when Raico finally took the stand, he described how the CEO, Steve Calk, was willing to depart from bank policies to approve loans for a friendly and well-connected political operative."
Spencer Hsu & Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "A federal judge has found a witness in contempt for refusing to testify before the grand jury hearing evidence in special counsel Robert S. Mueller II's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. U.S. District Chief Judge Beryl Howell made the ruling Friday after a sealed hearing to discuss Andrew Miller's refusal to appear before the grand jury. Miller is a former aide to longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone. Miller's lawyer Paul Kamenar said after the hearing that Miller was 'held in contempt, which we asked him to be in order for us to appeal the judge's decision to the court of appeals.' Howell stayed her order while Miller';s legal team appeals the judge's decision." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Jason Leopold & Anthony Cormier of BuzzFeed News: "Just a day after he finished a report suggesting he was working with Trump campaign officials [to obtain Hillary Clinton's emails]..., [Peter Smith] transferred $9,500 from an account he had set up to fund the email project to his personal account, later taking out more than $4,900 in cash. According to a person with direct knowledge of Smith's project, the Republican operative stated that he was prepared to pay hackers 'many thousands of dollars' for Clinton's emails -- and ultimately did so.... The money trail, made public here for the first time, sheds new light on Smith's effort, in which he told people he was in touch with both Russians on the dark web and Trump campaign officials -- particularly Michael Flynn, who was then a top adviser to the Trump campaign...."
Joe Davidson of the Washington Post: "A new report by the Government Accountability Office [on the costs of building a border wall] raises serious issues about poor Trump administration planning that could lead to increased costs. This comes in the wake of repeated Trump threats to shut down the government if Congress does not provide the wall funding he wants.... The GAO found that the strategy of the Department of Homeland Security ... did not fully analyze projected costs or properly follow the acquisition process.... Though his administration has not fully done its job in preparing for the wall, Trump is willing to shut down the government if his Republican-controlled Congress doesn't fund it, while blaming Democrats."
Donnie Junior Unaware of Photoshop. Also, Can't Spell "America." Aaron Rupar of ThinkProgress: "Donald Trump Jr. took to Instagram on Thursday to tout his father's approval rating. 'Amazing,' Don Jr. wrote. 'I guess there is a magic wand to make things happen and @realdonaldtrump seems to have it. #maga #amreicafirst [sic]' Don Jr. included a cable news screencap showing President Trump's approval rating at 50 percent.... There was just one problem -- the screengrab Don Jr. posted was clearly and sloppily photoshopped. '50%' was just pasted over '40%' to make President Trump's approval rating 10 points higher than it really is.... Despite many commenters pointing out to Don Jr. that he was spreading fake news..., the post remains live more than 12 hours after it was initially posted. (UPDATE: Sometime between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Friday, the post was deleted.)"
Omarosa's Brilliant Literary Career, Ctd.
Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "Omarosa Manigault Newman was offered a $15,000-a-month contract from President Trump's campaign to stay silent after being fired from her job as a White House aide by Chief of Staff John F. Kelly last December, according to a forthcoming book by Manigault Newman and a document viewed by The Washington Post. But she refused, according to the incendiary new book, 'Unhinged: An Insider Account of the Trump White House,' which also depicts Trump as unqualified, narcissistic and racist. Excerpts of the book were obtained by The Post.... Manigault Newman does not offer evidence for some of her most explosive charges but extensively recorded her conversations in the White House. The Post has listened to several of the recordings made by Manigault Newman, which match quotations recounted in the book excerpts.... The original [White House] plan was to ignore the book, but Trump grew angry, the officials said, prompting [a] statement from [Sarah] Sanders." ...
... Here's the full White House statement, via TPM. ...
... Stef Kight of Axios lists what he calls "the juiciest claims" from Omarosa's book. Mrs. McC: I admit I didn't exactly read them. And, no, it's not because I'm awaiting my very own copy of the book. ...
... David Smith of the Guardian: "Donald Trump is a 'racist' who has used the 'N-word' repeatedly, Omarosa Manigault Newman, once the most prominent African American in the White House, claims in a searing memoir. The future US president was caught on mic uttering the taboo racial slur 'multiple times' during the making of his reality TV show The Apprentice and there is a tape to prove it, according to Manigault Newman, citing three unnamed sources.... She also claims that she personally witnessed Trump use racial epithets about the White House counselor Kellyanne Conway's husband George Conway, who is half Filipino. 'Would you look at this George Conway article? she quotes the president as saying. 'F**ing FLIP! Disloyal! Fucking Goo-goo.' Both flip and goo-goo are terms of racial abuse for Filipinos. Critics have previously questioned Manigault Newman's credibility...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Perhaps I should give Trump more credit that I have done. If Omarosa's story is true -- and I would be one to "question Manigault Newman's credibility" -- Trump knows at least two more racial slurs than I did. P.S. Omarosa's "tell-all" sounds like a Trump set-up to me. He would much rather we talk about his racism -- as it gives him creds with his base -- than with his tax cuts for himself or "this Rusher thing" or Wilbur the Walking Thief or, or, or. ...
... Update. Tamara Keith of NPR: Omarosa Manigault Newman told NPR's Rachel Martin Friday that she had heard a tape in which Trump used the N-word on the set of his old TV show "The Apprentice." "But that's not what it says in her tell-all book, Unhinged, due out on Tuesday. When asked by Martin about the discrepancy during the interview, Manigault Newman insisted Martin must not have read the book (she had) and pointed to a section at the very end of it. But in that section, Manigault Newman doesn't actually describe hearing the tape. During the interview with Martin, Manigault Newman read the section aloud, then insisted it described her hearing the tape rather than what the words on the page state, which is that she heard an account of what was on the tape. 'I heard the tape,' she said when pressed." Mrs. McC: Yeah, Omarosa is totally credible. ...
... Annie Karni & Eliana Johnson of Politico: "Manigault Newman has lately been telling people that ... she has given copies of her taped conversations with Trump to family members for safekeeping in the event that she is murdered, said a person familiar with the conversations. She has also said she is taking meetings in disguise -- dressed in a baseball hat, sunglasses and baggy clothes -- out of a growing paranoia that the president will come after her." Mrs. McC Note to Omarosa: Do not walk down Fifth Avenue if Trump is in town.
"Space Force All the Way!" Rebecca Morin of Politico: "The Russian Embassy in the United States early Friday morning seemingly mocked ... Donald Trump's campaign for a logo for the administration's newly announced 'Space Force.'... Trump in an email asked supporters to vote on six proposed logos.... Using Trump's favorite mode of communicating, the embassy tweeted 'Good Morning, Space Forces!' along with a graphic of a rocket being launched and features the Russian flag. The tweet also links to a Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation's Space Forces website.... Vice President Mike Pence said during the revealing at the Pentagon that weapons being developed by Russia and China...." ...
... As David Graham notes (linked next), "Once people have voted in [Trump's Space Force logo] poll, naturally, they are invited to donate to Trump's reelection.... The Trump campaign appears to be selling the logo rights to the Space Force in exchange for campaign donations, turning the government into a tool for Trump's own political enrichment."
... David Graham of the Atlantic: "The Space Force and the White House's rollout for it are the most focused exercises in Trumpian branding the nation has seen since the president took office, a project reminiscent of Trump University. Trump is selling the public one idea -- a glitzy, pathbreaking new wing of government -- and giving it instead a potentially kludgy reorganization of existing government functions.... Overpromising and underdelivering were staples of Trump's business career -- see all the allegedly sold-out luxury buildings that turned out to be undersubscribed or dubiously constructed. Those have become signature moves during his presidency, too. Take his summit with Kim Jong Un in Singapore, which produced tremendous fanfare but, as becomes clearer each day, little in the way of concrete agreements, despite the president's claims. The same goes for Trump's border wall, which is the subject of repeated announcements of new construction, even though none has started." Thanks to Patrick for the link. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I'm not certain who's being scammed here: (1) Just the public or (2) Trump and the public. It seems quite plausible -- as I think Ken W. suggested the other day -- that Secretary Mattis, et al., have fooled Trump into thinking he got his way & is the progenitor of a grand new Star-Warzy branch of the military while in fact the Pentagon is just moving around the deck chairs to appease the Ignoramus-in-Chief. Anyway, I'm glad Star Wars Space Force! is a sham.
Erica Green of the New York Times: "Education Secretary Betsy DeVos formally moved Friday to scrap a regulation that would have forced for-profit colleges to prove that the students they enroll are able to attain decent-paying jobs, the most drastic in a series of policy shifts that will free the scandal-scarred, for-profit sector from safeguards put in effect during the Obama era. In a written announcement posted on its website, the Education Department laid out its plans to eliminate the so-called gainful employment rule, which sought to hold for-profit and career college programs accountable for graduating students with poor job prospects and overwhelming debt. The Obama-era rule would have revoked federal funding and access to financial aid for poor-performing schools.... Ms. DeVos has brought into her administration former for-profit leaders who are known for their strong opposition to the industry's regulation."
Michael Shear of the New York Times: "On Christmas Eve 1998, five days after the House impeached President Bill Clinton, Brett Kavanaugh urged his boss -- Kenneth W. Starr, the independent counsel -- not to pursue a criminal indictment of Mr. Clinton until after he left office. Judge Kavanaugh ... delivered the advice in a private memorandum made public on Friday by the National Archives in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. It shows that Judge Kavanaugh believed -- rightly, it turned out -- that the Senate would fail to convict the president for the 'high crimes and misdemeanors' that Mr. Starr and Mr. Kavanaugh had enumerated for Congress after Mr. Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky. 'After the Senate has concluded, I would send a letter to the attorney general explaining that we believe an indictment should not be pursued while the president is in office,' Judge Kavanaugh wrote. He urged Mr. Starr to close the independent counsel's office, which had spent four years pursuing Mr. Clinton, so 'the next president can decide what to do.'"
Florida Senate Race. Patricia Mazzei of the New York Times: "Cryptic comments from Senator Bill Nelson of Florida this week alluded to a secret Russian plot to tap into Florida's election systems. 'They have already penetrated certain counties in the state, and they now have free rein to move about,' the Democratic senator told The Tampa Bay Times on Wednesday. He declined to elaborate or offer any proof. A day earlier, he had described details as 'classified.' But the suggestion that Russian hackers might have breached voter systems, vague as it was, has set off a political maelstrom in Florida less than three weeks before the state's Aug. 28 primary election. On Friday, Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican who is running against Mr. Nelson for the Senate, accused his opponent of scaremongering and demanded that he back up his claims with evidence."
Kansas Gubernatorial Race. John Hanna of the AP: "Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach stepped aside from his duties as the state's top elections official Friday until his hotly contested Republican primary challenge to Gov. Jeff Colyer is resolved, but Colyer argued that Kobach still has a conflict of interest because Kobach is handing his responsibilities to his top deputy.... Kobach's duties will go to Assistant Secretary of State Eric Rucker. Colyer was pressing Kobach to have state Attorney General Derek Schmidt advise county election officials -- something Kobach argued isn't allowed by law.... Colyer has accused Kobach of giving county election officials guidance 'not consistent with Kansas law,' and said Friday on Fox News that he was worried that some mail-in ballots were not being counted as required."
Meet Your Democratic Congressional Candidates
Andrew Seidman of philly.com: "Michael Soliman is a longtime aide and confidant to Sen. Bob Menendez [D].... Since 2015, Soliman has also lobbied Menendez and other members of Congress on behalf of the government of Qatar, arranging meetings for the country's ambassador to the U.S. and raising issues important to Qatar's relationship with Washington. Should Menendez defeat Republican Bob Hugin in November and Democrats take control of the Senate, the senator would be poised to chair the Foreign Relations Committee -- potentially boosting Soliman's value as a lobbyist, government watchdogs say." Mrs. McC: Hey, it's not a revolving door if you can stand in the threshold with one foot on one side and one foot on the other. Bob Menendez is what you would call a "New Jersey politician." That would be a pejorative. (Also linked yesterday.)
Congressional Race. Greg Bluestone of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "A Democratic candidate for Congress in a conservative north Georgia district who was convicted this week of drunken driving challenged the officers who stopped him to a fight and repeatedly insulted the county he was running to represent.... Steven Lamar Foster boasted about how many times he's been arrested and called the officers who arrested him 'Barneys' in dash-cam footage of the September arrest obtained by The Dalton Daily Citizen-News. 'Eleven years I served this county,' Foster told police in the dash-cam video. 'I hate this county. I prayed to God that he would curse it. And guess what? He did. Man, I saw it hit and cursed, and I saw people laid off right and left -- white people. I hate this county...'" Mrs. McC: Seems like an excellent candidate. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... But, hey, Foster seems better than this former Georgia Democratic Congressional candidate:
... Noah Feit of the (South Carolina) State: "A woman who recently ran for a congressional seat was arrested for murder among other charges Wednesday, according to the Aiken County Sheriff's Office. Curt Cain, the man that Kellie Lynn Collins is charged with shooting to death, worked on her failed congressional campaign in Georgia, the Augusta Chronicle reported. He also might have been her husband, according to Captain Eric Abdullah.... Collins was previously a Democratic congressional candidate in Georgia's 10th district..., but she dropped out of the race before the primary, 'for personal reasons.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Carl Campanile of the New York Post: "Actor Richard Gere's name is being floated as a potential [Democratic] candidate for Congress in the northern suburbs [of New York City], The Post has learned." Mrs. McC: Well, that's nice. I can tell you from second-hand gossip that Gere is not the candidate for the #MeToo era. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Heather Long of the Washington Post: "Rising prices have erased U.S. workers' meager wage gains, the latest sign strong economic growth has not translated into greater prosperity for the middle class and working class. Cost of living was up 2.9 percent from July 2017 to July 2018, the Labor Department reported Friday, an inflation rate that outstripped a 2.7 percent increase in wages over the same period. The average U.S. 'real wage,' a federal measure of pay that takes inflation into account, fell to $10.76 an hour last month, 2 cents down from where it was a year ago. The stagnant pay comes despite accelerating U.S. growth, which has increased in the past year and topped 4 percent in the second quarter of 2018 -- the highest rate since mid-2014."
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Aaron Rupar of ThinkProgress: "Two days ahead of what is expected to be a small white supremacist rally in Washington, D.C., NPR gave rally organizer Jason Kessler a national platform to peddle junk 'race science.'... [During the interview with Kessler] -- who also organized last year's Unite the Right white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., in which a counter-protester named Heather Heyer was murdered when a neo-Nazi drove a car into a crowd -- host Noel King earnestly asked him, 'Do you think that white people are smarter than black people?' Kessler proceeded to rank the races by intelligence.... King served up a number of softball questions to Kessler throughout the interview.... King didn't mention Heyer's name.... After the nearly 7-minute interview ended, NPR transitioned to an interview with a Black Lives Matter activist, a setup implying that white supremacists and people advocating for racial justice are two sides of the same coin." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Millions of nice Americans think NPR is actually "fair and balanced." It isn't. Rupar's report is exemplary. ...
... ** "The White Nationalists Are Winning." Adam Serwer of the Atlantic: "Despite the controversy over the [Charlottesville] rally and its bloody aftermath, the white nationalists’ ideological goals remain a core part of the Trump agenda. As long as that agenda finds a home in one of the two major American political parties, a significant portion of the country will fervently support it. And as an ideological vanguard, the alt-right fulfilled its own purpose in pulling the Republican Party in its direction. A year after white nationalists in Charlottesville chanted, 'You will not replace us!' their message has been taken up and amplified by Fox News personalities." Mrs. McC: And on NPR.
Katie Shepherd of Willamette Week: "A federal jury [Friday] acquitted an FBI agent who had been accused of lying to investigators looking into the events leading up to the fatal shooting of anti-government militant Robert 'LeVoy' Finicum. Prosecutors alleged that W. Joseph Astarita, who was a member of the FBI's hostage rescue team, had lied about firing his gun at Finicum during an encounter that accelerated the end of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation. Finicum was fatally shot by an Oregon State Police officer. Astarita's trial lasted three weeks, but the federal jury cleared him of all charges. He testified that although two bullets from his gun were found in Finicum's truck, he had not realized on that day that he had fired." Mrs. McC: One way to "realize" he had fired his gun might have been to check its chamber to see how many bullets were left before making an untrue statement to investigators. I wonder if prosecutors questions him on that point.
Beyond the Beltway
Casey Michel of ThinkProgress: Authorities have arrested a suspected arsonist for starting a huge fire in Southern California. "On Wednesday, local officials arrested 51-year-old Forrest Gordon Clark, charging him with two counts of felony arson, as well as another felony charge of threatening to terrorize.... The Washington Post reported that Clark had texted a local firefighter before the fire that the area was 'going to burn just like we planned.' (It was unclear who else Clark may have been referring to).... A quick skim [of Clark's Facebook page] reveals just how many conspiracy theories Clark promulgated — and why he may have allegedly started the fire in the first place. Indeed, it appears there was no conspiracy theory too ludicrous for Clark to buy into.... Clark appeared to be a fan of Alex Jones and InfoWars...."
Free Speech for Me but Not for Thee. Erin Logan of the Washington Post: A white Brooklyn immigrant woman & virulent Trump backer called police on black Democratic state legislator Jesse Hamilton who was passing out campaign literature on a sidewalk near a subway entrance. When the police wouldn't do something about a political candidate exercising his rights, the woman continued to harass him. 'It's a disturbing trend of people calling 911 for situations that have no criminal activity,' Hamilton said. While Hamilton may be right, I have an idea the Trumpbot lady would have called the cops on anyone who was passing out anti-Trump literature.
News Ledes
New York Times: "V.S. Naipaul, the Nobel laureate who documented the migrations of peoples, the unraveling of the British Empire, the ironies of exile and the clash between belief and unbelief in more than a dozen unsparing novels and as many works of nonfiction, died on Saturday at his home in London. He was 85."
New York Times: "An airline employee took off in a stolen plane at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Friday night in an episode that frustrated stranded travelers, riveted witnesses and ended with the plane crashing about 30 miles from the airport, the authorities said. The man, a 29-year-old who acted alone, was thought to be suicidal, said officials in Pierce County, where the plane crashed. No one else was believed to be on the 76-seat plane or injured on the ground." ...
... Update. BuzzFeed News: "An airline employee stole a plane from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Friday night, attempted to perform stunts in the air, then crashed after being chased by two fighter jets, killing himself." Includes home videos & Air Traffic Control audio. ...
... Update 2. New York Times: "The man who stole a plane and flew it for about an hour on Friday evening over Puget Sound in Washington State before crashing on an island has been identified as Richard B. Russell, according to a law enforcement official. Mr. Russell, a ground service agent at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, took off around 8 p.m. local time in an unauthorized flight.... He flew around the Seattle-Tacoma area, chatting sometimes calmly and sometimes in a frenzied stream of consciousness with air traffic controllers who tried to guide him to a safe landing. But the plane came down in a fiery crash on Ketron Island in the Puget Sound, about 30 miles from the airport. Alaska Airlines said in a statement that the person who took the plane was employed by Horizon Air, a subsidiary."
Share Article
Comments for this entry have been disabled. Additional comments may not be added to this entry at this time.
Reader Comments (15)
Digging into the weeds a bit here but just came across it and thought it a good illustration of how the Pretender's administration is rushing to duplicate the spoils system Andrew Jackson was infamous for.
Nothing like a gang of politically appointed judges who have to pass nothing but an ideological litmus test to qualify determining who's eligible for disability and who's not.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/07/trump-takes-control-of-hundreds-of-federal-agency-judges.html
Don't have a law degree, but I do have a large view of such things, and would see no problem with retiring the presidunce forthwith on full (he's earned it over and over) disability.
Hey, Junior is like really smart too!
The Trump family fetish for fake news (I.e., lying) continues unabated. Famous moron Junior posted a terrible photoshopped graphic from CNN to “prove” his daddy is more popular than that horrible nee-groe Obambi. The obviously doctored image is so poorly done, it looks like a 7 year old did it (you can still see Trump’s original low score underneath the fake number). Good job, Junior!
But even better? He misspelled America!
The Trump Imbeciles: making Ameirca Grate Agen.
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-jr-ridiculed-photoshop-magic-fake-trump-approval-rating-instagram-post-1068311?amp=1
@Akhilleus: Maybe this is an element of Junior's ploy to get out of any charges related to the Trump Tower conspiracy: too dumb to collude. Next we're going to hear him argue that he had no idea Russians were foreigners. After all, they're white, aren't they? They look like Americans. Can't speak English? Well, his own mother & stepmother speak foreign, too. And they're definitely Americans.
And, you know, it's a pretty good defense. Donnie is too stupid to know WTF is going on most of the time. He's proved it again & again.
Confederates in space! I think the Secretary of HUD should be
sent to oversee that new housing on Mars, or wherever. He could
also be in charge of MUD, Mars Urban Development.
And who exactly owns that Martian property? Wouldn't we be
kinda like aliens on someone else's planet? Undocumented aliens.
And who's worried about a government shutdown in less than 2
months? Not me. It would take this president* a lot longer than
2 months to find that government on/off switch. Hope he doesn't
mistake the football switch for the shutdown switch. I'll be under
my desk with hands over head until it's over. Remember that cold
war exercise?
And I wonder if trumpie knows that our military is helping those
hated Canadians with their military exercises up in Alberta. The
lumber delivery man, a reservist, told me last week that he had just
been in Northern Alberta assisting the Canadians. I guess it's like
a reciprocal thing. They train in the Southwest US because they
have no deserts.
'Way back in the WaPo Business Section is this piece by Jeff Stein, about the Missouri vote against right to work.
The gist of the piece is that many Trump voters who are union members, in Missouri, support DiJiT but don't go along with his anti-labor program. A great quote about how these folks are confused is:
" ... But some labor leaders say support for the measure was less about politics and more about a sense that corporate leaders shouldn’t be reaping all the benefits of a prosperous economy.
“... This was not about Democrat vs. Republicans,” said Pat White, president of the St. Louis Labor Council, which organized to defeat the measure. “This is about workers vs. CEOs.” "
So ... failing to recognize that "CEOs" equals "Republican anti-labor policies" ; and failing to understand that "politics" is basically about who gets what, enforced by government, allows these guys to believe that they like someone who is kicking them in the nuts because they also like the nice things he says while he does it.
Reminds me of a lot of old Pat and Mike jokes, which usually play on how stupid and trusting Pat the immigrant Irish laborer is. Which I won't repeat here, but note that Pat often gets physically injured in those racist jokes.
David Graham in the Atlantic, about how "Space Force" is the same kind of scam as "Trump U".
@Patrick:
“... This was not about Democrat vs. Republicans,” said Pat White, president of the St. Louis Labor Council, which organized to defeat the measure. “This is about workers vs. CEOs.”
You've really hit something elemental here, Patrick. Evidently a lot of people -- and this could include people of any political persuasion -- have no idea that "politics" determines what corporations can & can't do to screw workers, taxpayers, customers, whomever.
Pat there apparently thinks of the Republican party as (a) nice guys he knows who are Republicans and/or (b) the one that's against abortion & "illegals" & for Christians and honoring the flag and freeedom to own & fire an AK-whatever. (c) Also, Republicans are white people who "understand Pat's values."
What this means to me is that Democrats are in fact being elitists because they don't explain, ad nauseum, what voting Republican really means to ordinary people (and their children & parents), whether those "ordinary people" are $250K earners or $25K workers.
If people switch their votes in November from Democratic to Republican, for many of them it simply means switching from a Congresscritter who they decided wasn't "effective" enough to somebody they hope will be. Now that is -- Sad!
"...people of any persuasion–-have no idea that "politics" determines what corporations can and can't do to screw workers, taxpayers, customers, whomever." Marie
You bet! I recall being taken aback by someone I thought I knew who, when I interjected something about this issue, quickly shut me up by saying "I don't do politics," as though that was something like not being "into" sports.
Here is Lawrence O'Donnell's exchange with Bill Maher ––on several subjects––all, I would say having to do with that thing called politics:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/lawrence-odonnell-donald-trump-presidency_us_5b6e8a5de4b0ae32af98414e
Yes, Patrick does have it exactly right. Politics is fundamentally about the distribution of resources, which is why when the R's complain about re-distribution, what they really mean is that they like the distribution, as unfair as it might be, exactly as it is.
All else is a distraction.
The last three pieces I wrote for "The Stand" the AFL-CIO online paper here in WA State were attempts to say much the same thing, going at those distractions and over again, from a slightly different angle each time out.
I've written about how working people have been cozened by offerings of "false freedoms" (see Bea's list above); about the outrages working people have gone along with and even been complicit in which have led to their present sorry state; and most recently about the divide and conquer techniques used against them, too often at their own invitation.
Of course, I don't know if I've made any sense at all to the people who count, made any worker see what been happening to them as a class, prompted any adjustment in perspective or any change in voting behavior. A teacher's self-doubt doesn't go away even in retirement.
I do know human beings have a very hard time getting one side of their heads to talk to the other. Inconsistency (hobgoblin or not, Mr. Emerson) is a common affliction, and I don't know if it's differently distributed by educational experience, economic class or political affiliation.
OK, OK, since Ken writes about the persistence of stupid, I'll share ONE Pat&Mike joke, racist as it is. It sort of illustrates what we're talking about. I'll shorten it, and leave off the brogue.
Pat and Mike are digging a ditch, and it's hot, exhausting work. Mike goes off to get some water, and while he's gone the supervisor, Mr. Sterling, walks by Pat at work. Pat leans on his shovel for a bit and comments to Mr. Sterling that the work sure is hard, and then asks how come all of the men pushing a spade have to work so hard. Mr S. says "Pat, it's all about intelligence", to which Pat asks "what's that." Mr. S tells Pat to climb up to where he is, standing next to a tree. He puts his hand in front of the tree and says to Pat "Go ahead and punch my hand." after much back and forth, Pat punches at Mr. S' hand with all his might, Mr. S pulls his hand away and Pat slams the tree with his fist, causing him great pain. Mr. S says "that, Pat, is what intelligence is all about," and moves on.
Mike comes back and asks Pat what he and Mr. S were talking about. Pat says "intelligence", and Mike asks "what's that."
Pat says its easier to show Mike than explain it, puts his hand in front of his face, and say "Hit me hand as hard as you can."
Yikes! Patrick–- and it would be so much more "in your face" WITH a brogue.
Here's another oldie but goodie: the video cartoon of "The Screw You Strategy." Mike and Pat could relate without realizing it.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2014/11/14/1344549/-Cartoon-The-screw-you-strategy
Photoshoppers of the World come together for superb results over on 'Space Farce"—spotted on HuffPost, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/stephen-king-donald-trump-space-force_us_5b6e90c8e4b0ae32af9843f7
I do like what Dawn did!
Patrick,
Thanks for the oldie but goodie.
And I see that the part of MY brain that was listening to my wife talking about her/our next trip (for good reason she does the planning) distracted me from my typing as I wrote the above. Left out an "over."
Would like to believe that in the glory days of my early maturity I could pay attention to two things at once, but I'm probably kidding myself.
Kidding myself. That's my Republican part.
Me thinks Donnie Jr is moonlighting as an interpreter for some
Chinese manufacturers. On the package of cupcake papers I bought
today is this: "Happy life! Healthy life! will take your health
responsibility by the superlative quality."
And donaldovitch had another one of his miss-spokes, I'm sure.
It's not Space Force, it's Space Farce. Just another little diversion.
You all have to admit that having some kind of defense against adversaries taking out our communication and navigation satellites is a reasonable thing to pursue right? Its just too bad that the idea gets proposed by a bunch of buffoons. I mean just this week you were in a tizzy because your web page was looking like it could fail. What if all of the web is held hostage by some foreign power threatening to take out a few satellites? What would become of all the online gamers and Facebook addicts? Talk about social unrest!