Thursday
Dec272018
The Commentariat -- Dec. 28, 2018
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Isn't This Special? Carol Morello of the Washington Post: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will head a U.S. delegation to Brazil seeking to foster closer ties with the far-right incoming president, Jair Bolsonaro, and discuss ways to counter the Venezuelan government."
Ryan Bort of Rolling Stone: "Though Trump's decision to shut down the government may keep him in Washington for the holidays, it won't keep taxpayers from footing a heavy portion of the bill for Mar-a-Lago's New Year's Eve party. As was noted by Quartz this week, government spending data shows that the Secret Service paid Grimes Events & Party Tents Inc. of Delray Beach, Florida, $54,020 on December 19th for 'TENT RENTAL FOR MAL.' An employee of the company confirmed to Quartz that it is providing tents for the annual for-profit bash at Trump's 'Winter White House' in Palm Beach."
Vanessa Romo of NPR: "As hope for a last-minute resolution to the political standoff that has triggered the government shutdown all but evaporates, Smithsonian officials announced Thursday that all of its museums, as well as the National Zoo, will be shuttered on Jan. 2 unless a deal is reached." Mrs. McC: You know, the shutdown could even cut down on Trump Hotel profits. Too bad. Seriously, the shutdown is a big hit on the District's economy, not to mention businesses around the country that depend on traffic generated by nearby federal government attractions.
The Fruits of His Carelessness. Ben Hubbard of the New York Times: "Syria's most powerful Kurdish militia has called on President Bashar al-Assad's government to send forces to protect it against an attack by Turkey, the first sign of shifting political alliances in eastern Syria since President Trump announced that he would withdraw American troops.... The call by the Syrian Kurdish militia was notable in that a United States ally was calling on an enemy of the United States to protect it against another American ally.... For the most part, the other powers in Syria's multisided war have avoided attacking the area for fear of provoking the United States. But Mr. Trump's surprise announcement last week that he would pull American troops out of Syria cleared the way for a possible scramble by those competing forces to take advantage of the resulting vacuum." Mrs. McC: You can bet Jim Mattis & other advisors told Trump something like this would happen.
... MEANWHILE, Back in the USSA:
... Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "The Trump administration announced on Friday a plan designed to make it easier for coal-fired power plants, after nearly a decade of restrictions, to release into the atmosphere more mercury and other pollutants linked to developmental disorders and respiratory illnesses. The limits on mercury, set in 2011, were the first federal standards to restrict some of the most hazardous pollutants emitted by coal plants and were considered one of former President Barack Obama's signature environmental achievements. Since then, scientists have said, mercury pollution from power plants has declined more than 80 percent nationwide. President Trump's new proposal does not repeal the regulation, known as the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, but it would lay the groundwork for doing so by weakening a key legal justification for the measure. The long-term impact would be significant: It would weaken the ability of the E.P.A. to impose new regulations in the future by adjusting the way the agency measures the benefits of curbing pollutants, giving less weight to the potential health gains." ...
... This is the Fuck Everybody Administration. As Melanie might ask, "They really don't care, do you?"
What a Mess! Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "The North Carolina state elections board dissolved on Friday under a court order, two weeks before its much-anticipated hearing to consider evidence of possible absentee ballot fraud in the disputed November election for the Ninth District's seat in Congress. The unwinding of the State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement was a consequence of a long-running battle over partisan power in North Carolina and separate from the election fraud investigation. Yet the dissolution heightened the possibility that the Ninth District seat would remain empty for weeks or even months, and it plunged the chaotic fight for the House seat into deeper turmoil."
Chris Rodrigo of the Hill: "President Trump on Friday threatened to 'close the Southern Border entirely' if Democrats do not agree to provide money to 'finish' building a wall on the Mexican border."
Joel Shannon of USA Today: "The U.S. Office of Personnel Management has offered federal workers affected by the partial government shutdown a guide for negotiating with creditors, landlords and mortgage companies while their income is cut off. The Thursday tweet notes that workers should consult with a 'personal attorney' for advice but offers templates for how one might seek financial assistance for various financial obligations. Among the suggested strategies: A furloughed employee might offer to trade maintenance services such as painting or carpentry work in exchange for a reduction in rent." Mrs. McC: So these federal workers, more than half of whom are required to work without pay, should make ends meet by singing for their suppers? Or calling their personal attorneys? I wonder how many TSA bag checkers & federal jail guards have "personal attorneys." But, hey, according to Donald Trump, these guys are as happy as Santa's elves because they support his shutdown & border wall/fence/whatever. ...
... Jake Johnson of Common Dreams: "With his baseless claim that 'many' federal workers support the government shutdown quickly falling apart in the face of objections from public employees themselves..., Donald Trump suddenly shifted ground in a tweet Thursday morning, declaring -- also without any evidence -- that 'most of the people not getting paid are Democrats.'... 'At best, it looks like Trump is willing to keep the shutdown going because he believes it won't hurt the people who vote for him,' Rafi Schwartz of Splinter News wrote. 'At worst, it looks like the president of the United States -- who unambiguously declared that he would 100 percent own this shutdown -- is admitting that he's deliberately punishing "most of the people not getting paid" purely as an act of political retribution.' Trump's tweet came as federal workers who are already living paycheck to paycheck took to social media to share how the government shutdown has impacted them and their families...."
*****
Nicholas Fandos & Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "Republican leaders gave up hope on Thursday of reopening the government before the new year, leaving the border wall impasse to House Democrats as they assume the majority next week -- and presenting Representative Nancy Pelosi with her first major challenge as speaker. House Democrats, who take control on Wednesday, are weighing three approaches to getting funds flowing, none of which would include additional money for President Trump's proposed wall along the southwestern border. Whichever path they choose, party leaders said they would vote promptly on Jan. 3, hoping to project the image of Democrats as a steadying hand in Washington even as Republicans try to blame Ms. Pelosi and her party for the shutdown and lax border control." ...
... Erica Werner, et al., of the Washington Post: "Washington all but gave up Thursday on resolving the partial government shutdown before the New Year, as lawmakers were told not to expect votes this week and signs of negotiations were nonexistent. On Capitol Hill, the hallways were quiet and leadership offices were shuttered. At the White House, President Trump retreated from public view and tweeted recriminations at Democrats for blocking funding for his border wall. Behind the scenes, Democratic aides were working to draft legislation to reopen the government once they take over the House on Jan. 3. It was day 6 of the third partial government shutdown of the year, and, barring a surprise resolution, it will become the second-longest of the decade when Congress convenes next week to open its 116th session in a new divided Washington." ...
... Sam Stein & Asawin Suebsaeng of The Daily Beast: "Days into a partial government shutdown that has left tens of thousands of federal workers furloughed, President Donald Trump and his close allies have begun feeling more confident about the political perch they occupy.... Increasingly, they see an upside in forcing likely incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi to have to spend the first days, if not weeks, of the next Congress engaged in an argument over border wall funding rather than her preferred agenda: a mix of sweeping ethics and election reforms and congressional oversight. And they continue to believe that a conversation around immigration and border security is in the president's best political interests." --s
This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd.
** Peter Stone & Greg Gordon of McClatchy DC: "A mobile phone traced to President Donald Trump's former lawyer and 'fixer' Michael Cohen briefly sent signals ricocheting off cell towers in the Prague area in late summer 2016, at the height of the presidential campaign, leaving an electronic record to support claims that Cohen met secretly there with Russian officials, four people with knowledge of the matter say. During the same period of late August or early September, electronic eavesdropping by an Eastern European intelligence agency picked up a conversation among Russians, one of whom remarked that Cohen was in Prague, two people familiar with the incident said. The phone and surveillance data, which have not previously been disclosed, lend new credence to a key part of a former British spy's dossier of Kremlin intelligence describing purported coordination between Trump's campaign and Russia's election meddling operation.... Both of the newly surfaced foreign electronic intelligence intercepts were shared with Special Counsel Robert Mueller, people familiar with the matter said." --s (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Sounds like a smoking phone to me. ...
... BUT. Rafi Schwartz of Splinter: "In response to McClatchy's report, Cohen has once again denied having been to Prague.... [Michael Cohen tweet Thursday afternoon:] 'I hear #Prague #CzechRepublic is beautiful in the summertime. I wouldn't know as I have never been. #Mueller knows everything!'" ...
... But BUT. Steve M." "The phone evidence doesn't say he was in Prague, just in the vicinity. Is that a non-denial denial? I dunno...." Mrs. McC: Steve has a point. I don't know if Michael Cohen is capable of subtle teasing, but if he is, this could be an example: "... as I have never been" has an implied predicate, not a stated one. Maybe the predicate is "impressed by it" or "to the famous historic center." And the next sentence, "#Mueller knows everything," rather than ruling out the possibility there is something to know, suggests that there is plenty of something, and that Cohen told Mueller "everything" about his mysterious European jaunt.
... Kevin Drum: "There are two things that are interesting about this. First, if it's true, it’s a huge shot-in-the-arm for the credibility of the entire Steele dossier, where this allegation originated. Second, it means that special counsel Robert Mueller knows about all this and decided to keep it closely held instead of using it in the charge sheet against Cohen.... The alleged purpose of Cohen's trip to Prague was to visit with Russian intelligence folks in order to come up with a plan for making cash payments to the hackers who were working with Team Trump to take down Hillary Clinton. Even for Mitch McConnell, I assume this would be considered an impeachable offense, and it's the kind of thing you'd really want to nail down solidly before you make it public." ...
... Martin Longman in the Washington Monthly: "While there could have been innocent explanations why Cohen had traveled surreptitiously to Europe, those are no longer available because Cohen made the decision to deny that the trip ever took place. That there are reportedly intercepts that independently confirm his presence there is the exact kind of corroboration that is required to lock down that there has been a gigantic coverup.... Of course, this will be more assured if Cohen tells the full story under the glaring lights of a House Judiciary Committee impeachment hearing. It's too early to say whether or not that will happen, but if it does there will not be a defense available for Trump. Cohen's trip would be sufficient evidence of the type of collusion and conspiracy that has been suspected all along."
Matt Miller & Mimi Rocah in The Daily Beast: "On Friday, CNN revealed [Trump's] most astonishing act yet [of obstruction of justice], one that in our view clearly violated the law. According to CNN's reporting, the president recently 'lashed out' at acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker over court documents referencing the president in the guilty plea by his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen. Worse, a week later Mr. Trump pushed Whitaker on 'why more wasn't being done to control' the Southern District of New York prosecutors.... In pressuring Whitaker, who as acting attorney general oversees the investigation, the president was unquestionably trying to coerce him into blocking prosecutors in New York from either looking at or implicating him or his family members in criminal conduct. In our view, that action clearly constituted a criminal attempt by the president to obstruct justice, one that is even more clear-cut than the president's prior attempts to thwart the federal investigation into Russia's 2016 election interference." --s
Elizabeth Drew in a New York Times op-ed: "An impeachment process against President Trump now seems inescapable.... His political status, weak for some time, is now hurtling downhill.... The odor of personal corruption on the president-s part -- perhaps affecting his foreign policy -- grew stronger. Then the events of the past several days ... instilled a new sense of alarm among many Republicans.... It always seemed to me that Mr. Trump's turbulent presidency was unsustainable and that key Republicans would eventually decide that he had become too great a burden to the party or too great a danger to the country. That time may have arrived.... But it may well not come to a vote in the Senate. Facing an assortment of unpalatable possibilities, including being indicted after he leaves office, Mr. Trump will be looking for a way out."
Paul Sonne & Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "A day after President Trump's surprise visit to American forces in Iraq and Germany, questions persisted about whether he had jeopardized the political neutrality of the U.S. military by leveling partisan attacks and signing red 'Make America Great Again' hats for the troops.... While the president cheered troops with his visit to Iraq, thanking them for their sacrifices and wishing them a merry Christmas, he otherwise approached his appearance much as he would a political rally or event.... He even imported the traditional stagecraft of his political rallies to Iraq, entering to the tune of Lee Greenwood's 'God Bless the U.S.A.' and exiting to a rendition of the Rolling Stones' 'You Can't Always Get What You Want.'... One of the ways the military historically has earned [public] trust is by steering clear of politics and assuring Americans that uniformed officers will carry out the lawful orders of whatever civilian leadership the country elects without bias.... The reason for the norms [Trump broke], according to Rosa Brooks, a ... national security expert at Georgetown University, is to ensure that an institution endowed by the American public with tremendous power 'isn't being used for partisan ends.'" ...
... Bradley Moss in the Atlantic: Trump's visits to Iraq & Germany "... were marred ... by the president's overtly political rhetoric and by his encouragement of the small number of uniformed personnel who offered him their 'Make America Great Again' hats to sign, or who displayed campaign banners. It's the latest instance of the erosion of long-standing commitments to apolitical institutions -- and the comparative indifference with which these acts were greeted ought to worry all of us.... The presence of campaign paraphernalia at a presidential visit -- and the president's blithe disregard for protocol in choosing to sign some of that paraphernalia, to say nothing of his politically tinged speech to military personnel in a war zone -- runs afoul of at least the spirit, if not the letter, of written rules.... Democracy does not die in darkness -- it dies with indifference." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: There remains a great deal of controversy over that Trump campaign paraphernalia which magically appeared during Trump's visits to troops in Iraq & Germany. Here's a CNN report on it, which includes a video discussion, & here's a New York Times report that raises the issue. Sarah Sanders gave CNN what I would call a non-denial denial. She said the White House didn't distribute them. Well, no, but maybe the campaign or some other entity did. In a tweet, Trump wrote, "We brought or gave NO hats as the Fake News first reported!" If you believe that, then you believe Trump personally handed out 10 percent raises to the military. The Times report says the Defense Department is trying to figure out where the MAGA hats & banners came from. Contributor OGJerry links this critique by Jim Wright about the SEALs suiting up & posing for pictures with the Clown-in-Chief. ...
... Steve Benen on Trump's remarks to troops serving in Iraq: "About halfway through his remarks..., he told servicemen and women: 'I don't know if you folks are aware of what's happening. We want to have strong borders in the United States. The Democrats don't want to let us have strong borders -- only for one reason. You know why? Because I want it.... You know, when you think about it, you're fighting for borders in other countries, and they don't want to fight -- the Democrats -- for the border of our country. It doesn't make a lot of sense.... We have secured a record increase to our military budget, and we are purchasing all of this great equipment -- $700 billion last year; $716 billion.... We were fought very hard by the Democrats and others. But I said, "We have to take care of our military.'" The factual errors obviously matter -- there was no big partisan fight over military equipment, for example -- but of greater concern are the errors of judgment.... The sitting president traveled halfway around the world, arrived on foreign soil, and slandered his American political opponents back home in front of active-duty troops serving abroad. And while I realize Trump often benefits from low expectations, it's tough to make the argument that these antics are OK." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Philip Issa of the AP: "... Donald Trump's surprise trip to Iraq may have quieted criticism at home..., but it has infuriated Iraqi politicians who on Thursday demanded the withdrawal of U.S. forces. 'Arrogant' and 'violation of national sovereignty' were but a few examples of the disapproval emanating from Baghdad following Trump's meeting Wednesday with U.S. servicemen and women at the al-Asad Airbase.... This trip came as curbing foreign influence in Iraqi affairs has become a hot-button political issue in Baghdad, and Trump's perceived presidential faux-pas was failing to meet with the prime minister in a break with diplomatic custom for any visiting head of state.... The visit could have unintended consequences for American policy, with officials from both sides of Iraq's political divide calling for a vote in Parliament to expel U.S. forces from the country."
Josh Marshall of TPM: "The Saudis and the Israelis have been the pillars of a regional alliance that Trump has backed fulsomely. But reading the tea leaves here [as he minimized Israeli complaints about pulling out of Syria] strongly suggests it's the Saudis driving Trump's policies in the region, with the Turks and the Russians playing a more contingent second role. Trump's aggressive/defensive response to [a reporter's] question [about how Israel would be affected by pulling U.S. troops out of Syria], and implicitly to Netanyahu, is quite telling." --s
Emily Flitter of the New York Times: "Wall Street's roller-coaster ride extended into Thursday with stocks staging a late-day recovery as investors turned their attention to fresh data about the United States economy."
Jeffrey Jones of Gallup: "For the first time in 17 years, a woman other than Hillary Clinton has been named by Americans as the woman they admire most. Former first lady Michelle Obama, who finished second to Clinton three times and is currently touring to promote her recently released autobiography, won by a significant margin this year. Oprah Winfrey was second, with Clinton and Melania Trump next. Meanwhile, former President Barack Obama was the winner among men for the 11th consecutive year.... Donald Trump ranks second for the fourth year in a row."
Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Yesterday I mentioned that I doubted Matt Whitaker's victims saw his actions against them, in service of the fraudulent World Patent Marketing scam, as petty. Colin Kalmbacher of Law & Crime excerpts some of the FTC complaints against him & WPM.
Beyond the Beltway
North Carolina. Emery Dalesio of TPM: "With Republicans' veto-proof majority ending in days, the North Carolina legislature on Thursday overrode the Democratic governor's veto of legislation that would keep campaign finance investigations confidential and allow the GOP to possibly dump their nominee in a still-undecided U.S. House race marred with ballot fraud allegations. The override would require new primaries as well as a general election in North Carolina's 9th Congressional District if the ongoing state elections board investigation into suspected ballot fraud forces new voting.... Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper said last week he vetoed the measure because it would also force the state elections board to keep its campaign finance investigations confidential and have a separate commission secretly review whether prosecutors are notified." --s ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: On the upside, at least North Carolina Republicans still have enough shame to try to hide some forms of their party's rampant election fraud.
Ohio. Olivia Exstrum of Mother Jones: "Despite efforts of conservative lawmakers and activists, the Ohio Legislature failed on Thursday to override a veto by Republican Gov. John Kasich on controversial abortion bill HB 258, also known as the 'fetal heartbeat ban,' after passing it earlier this month. The measure, considered one of the most restrictive in the country, would have banned abortions after a fetal heartbeat is heard, which can happen as early as six weeks into pregnancy.... When the measure passed, it was unclear if the Legislature could gather enough votes to cancel a veto by the governor. Although the House on Thursday had enough votes to nullify the veto, the Senate came up one vote short." --s
Way Beyond
Ben Hubbard of the New York Times: "King Salman of Saudi Arabia shook up the kingdom's cabinet on Thursday, naming new ministers and security chiefs but keeping the levers of power firmly in the hands of his son and designated heir, Prince Mohammed bin Salman."
News Lede
Haaretz: "Amos Oz, a giant of Israeli letters for his works that explore human nature and the Israeli experience, died Friday at 79 from cancer, his daughter wrote on Twitter." ...
... Oz's New York Times obituary is here.
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Reader Comments (21)
More pretty numbers:
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/poll-47-americans-blame-trump-government-shutdown-n952466
Sometimes coming in way second is good.
It won't be long before Trump meets his makers and takers and has to dethrone. There are those like Paul Street and Sheldon Wolin ( his classic study "Democrats Incorporated: Managed Democracy ...") who make the case that the U.S. is no longer a "democracy"–- if, indeed, it ever really has been. At best, this nation has become, in Wolin's words, "a managed democracy where the public is shepherded, not sovereign."
"Ironically, the most effective means of achieving his removal may be to revolt, albeit in a fashion radically different from the one the president has envisioned. America must instead engage in civil unrest that targets not just the current inhabitant of the Oval Office but the entire bipartisan ruling class that birthed his monstrous presidency. Forget Watergate; think sit-down strikes and the march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala." (Street)
Perhaps we could don some yellow jackets and forge ahead like those in France but I think we'll just continue to plod along, force the baby out on his ear and then deal with Pence, that Christian fascist who we'll say––"but he talks a lot nicer, don't he?"
Just Deserts and Just Dessert.
I've been meaning to comment on an article linked for us by PD a couple of days ago, the Alexander Hurst piece in the New Republic addressing the various possible ways out of the Trump morass, especially for his screaming acolytes and supporters.
A couple of things. First, I'm of two minds about impeachment. It likely won't work, that is, it won't produce the desired result. Just removing Trump (and impeachment doesn't guarantee his defenestration) from office isn't enough, at least not for me. I want him to suffer "humiliations galore" as they say in the "Princess Bride". I want his followers to witness his abject toppling, and I want someone to go to prison. It won't be Fatty, but I'd be okay with Junior or maybe Kushner. Collusion and treason are serious crimes against the nation.
But as emotionally satisfying as that would be, it won't change minds and hearts. It will only, I believe, petrify already embedded beliefs and hatreds.
If we want our country back, that's not the way to do it. Hurst points out the essential unfairness of having Democrats, minorities, and the many various groups Trump and his followers have demeaned and attacked to again be the grownups in the room and do the hard work of the process of reconciliation (if such is even possible). But rather than slip even further into depression at the thought of the difficulty of "deprogramming" Trumpbots (if such is even possible), Hurst offers a glimmer of hope by reminding us of Eastern Europe after the fall of the wall (another wall that did no good), and Northern Ireland. Surely if those places could succeed in transmogrification, then we could do it.
But as I read that I was thinking, "Yeah, but..." Eastern Europe and Northern Ireland were SO fucked up, with no semblance of normality, that there must have been a readiness on the part of many citizens for something better.
Here in TrumpLand, things proceed as if there's not much difference between now and 20 years ago. This is, of course, the frog in the pot syndrome.
So I dunno. I do know that I've never seen the likes of this sort of thing in my life. I read about a report that just came out from some righty-right religious group, a bunch of high-ranking pastors and such and such decrying the usual list of sins. Among them was adultery. And interestingly, the person they singled out for excoriation was Bill Clinton. Not Trump. In fact, in an interview I heard later on, one of the authors of this report replied to an incredulous interviewer, that they were giving Trump a complete pass because he is now born again. He has repented and has been restored to god's good graces.
Fucking shoot me now.
Are you kidding me? When was Fatty "born again"? Did I miss that? Certainly not. This is the brain trust of a major right-wing religious group finding some way to overlook Trump's many sins, sins they have no problem attaching to a Democrat.
Can you deprogram that?
I'll believe it when I see it.
Very likely, Trump will become too expensive for wingers to carry and at some point, they'll just let it be. Some will hang on to the bitter end, and all of them will blame Democrats (because Republicans are never responsible for anything).
My sense is that a figure like Trump deserves public humiliation and punishment for the damage he has done to our country. But this is unlikely because, as someone once said, deserves got nothin' to do with it. So we'll have to take what we get. As long as his fat ass is out on the street, that will have to be sweet enough.
This Cohen-Prague thing is puzzling. Is there not other documentation that could place Cohen in the Czech Republic? Maybe he wasn't hanging out by the Prague Astronomical Clock, but if he was there at all wouldn't there be records of plane and hotel reservations? Did he swim there? Did he sleep under a bridge? Remember this was during the campaign when Mickey the Dunce was still a big dog in the Trump kennel.
He, like the rest of the dunces and dogs, had no reason to suspect that someone might be watching or at some future date, someone like Mueller would want to know who, what, where, when, and why, so why would he have tried to enter the country under a different name and passport or using some other bit of subterfuge to hide his Mission to Moscow? He very likely went as "Michael Cohen, Asshole Attorney". He worked for Trump. These guys were (are) like the mob. They did all kinds of illegal shit and got away with almost everything. Anything they got caught on, they paid a fine or bought their way out of. Are we really hanging on by cell phone tower records?
And if he was there, why hide it now? He's going to the slammer. Hiding additional information might not be his best bet.
This is weird.
@Akhilleus: I agree. In the best of all worlds, the humiliation would work like this: mike pence -- who pretends to be completely in the dark on everything -- has in fact been complicit in a number of impeachable offenses. In this scenario, not only Trump, but also mike pence, would be impeached, tried & tossed out of office. That would be humiliating enough, but of course the most humiliating part of all would be that Nancy Pelosi, assuming she becomes speaker next week, would become president.
Do I think there's a chance in hell that 67 Senators (which would have to include a passel of Republicans) would vote to convict mike pence, knowing Pelosi would become president? I do not. Even if he shot someone in broad daylight on Pennsylvania Avenue, they wouldn't. But it would be the greatest comeuppance in U.S. political history.
@Akhilleus
Don't know if you looked at reader comments on Elizabeth Drew's NYTimes piece on the inevitability of the Pretender's impeachment yesterday, but the majority of those I read echoed my own sentiments.
Barring another war, the longer the doofus is in the White House, the worse it is for the Repugnants. Let him continue to be front and center, twisting in the winds of change, with each gyration and each moment identifying himself and all his stupidity, corruption, obvious lies, naked racism and erratic behavior more closely with the party that propelled him to the highest office in the land.
In the short term, the Pretender is certainly not good for the nation, but he is already good for Democrats and longer term for our tattered democracy.
It's just hard to watch it play out.
I'm surprised that the Pretender's Office of Personnel Management didn't place the option of consulting a payday lender at the top of its list of recommendations.
And on the furloughs, another thought beyond and behind the Pretender's initial confusion about government employees' support of the wall fit he's bent on having.
First, the employees were all for it, he said. Now the majority of those furloughed are Democrats. The first time he was just making it up. About the Democrats, though, he's probably right.
I'm guessing government employees are more likely than Republicans to be educated and/or to have some sense of or even directly feel an obligation to perform public service.
If those guesses are accurate, Democrats are the deep state.
@Akhilleus: I'm going to assume for argument's sake that Cohen went to the Czech Republic to arrange for secret payoffs for the Hillary hackers. Of course I have no idea if this is true, but given what we do know, it's not an insane conspiracy theory.
We know Cohen went to Europe in the summer of 2016. "His passport stamps show that he traveled twice to London in 2016 and once to Italy, from July 9 to July 17."
I can tell you from personal experience that it is not impossible to get from Italy to the Czech Republic without having your passports stamped or even checked. Once when Aldo & I were leaving Prague, we took back roads for a reason I forget, and of course we got lost. Aldo was concerned about asking for directions because the only language he knew that rural Czechs might understand was German, & the Czechs dislike the Germans. But when he finally got out & approached some farmers for directions, he found out we were already in Germany (or maybe Austria; I forget). After the EU got up & running, Aldo & I crossed in & out of Italy many times without being stopped by border guards. Many times we travelled from one end of a country to another without ever having to give our names to any officials, & if we didn't stop for any reason (tho of course normally we did stop), no one could ever have proved we were there.
So it might have been a bit of a pain for Cohen to get to his destination circuitously, but it was hardly impossible, & it stands to reason he would have had knowledgeable guidance on how to get there from Italy. He would not have had to use a false identity, because he would not have had to reveal any identity at all.
It also stands to reason that, assuming his mission was to arrange for illegal payoffs, he would have tried hard to keep secret the trip & the meeting.
The McClatchy reporters admit their info is still sketchy & they don't know the whole story. So more answers may be forthcoming. So probably, yes, there is more documentation. The McClatchy team has been working on this for a long time; they published an earlier, even sketchier report in April, I think it was. At that time, they didn't present any physical evidence -- the pings!
As for Cohen's hiding the Czech Rep. meeting now, this could be because the Mueller team has told him & his attorneys to keep mum about it. That could explain why he pleaded guilty to lying to Congress on the Trump Tower Moscow thing & not a secret payoff meeting.
Bea,
My world-traveling Spokane sister who was with us for a few days this week and I had a conversation last night that almost precisely paralleled your take on Cohen's purported Prague visit. She supplied the absence of EU border checks, I the possibility that Cohen's denials, including his most recent denial, were per Mueller's orders, issued with the intent of keeping the Pretender's guard down.
We do live in a sea of conspiracies and conspiracy theories. It would be nice if the right ones turned out to be true.
Marie,
Thanks for the travel information. I probably should have thought of that. In any event, if Cohen's trip really was, as you suggest as a possibility, to pay off the hackers, that would be a dagger in Fatty's tiny heart.
Something to think about while waiting for Mueller's magnum opus.
As the country endures another day of the Trump-Republican Shutdown, it's instructive to look back at what the Glorious Leader had to say about responsibility during the last Republican Shutdown.
In an interview on Faux (where else?), Fatty McTraitor demanded that President Obama be fired because the leader has to take responsibility (even though, at the time, Republicans shut down the government because poors and middleclass moochers were getting healthcare courtesy of the ACA).
"'If you say, 'Who gets fired?' it always has to be the top,' Trump said on Fox News in 2013.
'The problems start from the top and they have to get solved from the top. The president is the leader, he has to get everyone in a room and lead,' Trump added at the time."
Oh, wait. But that's only if the president is a Democrat. Now, even though the Fat One declared that he would be solely responsible for the latest shutdown, he is running from that pledge faster than a Fox news star from charges of sexual abuse.
The Trump-Republican Shutdown will go on until Democrats take over in a few days. Then Fatty can tweetie-bird his way to insignificance, along with the rest of the useless R congress.
I want to know more about that "nude selfie" that Mueller is in
possession of. But if it's trump or pence, please God, don't let
me see it.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/does-robert-mueller-photo-
trumps171700275.html
@forrest morris: A Daily Beast story I read this morning but decided not to link has the answer:
"Special Counsel Robert Mueller has collected at least three million pages of material from the email and social media accounts of accused Russian trolls, including random spam and 'nude selfies.'
"This is according to a new filing by Washington, D.C., lawyer Eric Dubelier, who’s representing one of the defendants in Mueller’s case against the Internet Research Agency, the St. Petersburg troll farm....
"In rifling through the files, though, Dubelier found lots of seemingly innocuous content like spam, personal messages having nothing to do with election interference, and 'personal naked selfie photographs.'..."
In other words, the selfies are probably of Russian trolls & their lovely friends.
Sonne and Rucker wrote "A day after President Trump’s surprise visit to American forces in Iraq and Germany, questions persisted about whether he had jeopardized the political neutrality of the U.S. military by leveling partisan attacks and signing red 'Make America Great Again' hats for the troops"
Trump has politized the troops every chance he has gotten since in office. A couple of months ago he sent thousands of troops to the border for a political stunt in front of the midterms. He turned kneeling before football games for equal justice into disrespecting the troops. He inserts politics into everything, even the boyscouts. His ranting at the troops was no different than his rally at the CIA, the sherriffs, and while overseas. Attacking the Democrats is one of the few things that Trump enjoys about being president. Everything is Trump versus his enemies. He loves to hate. And now that Trump is the Republican Party whenever he talks about himself it becomes political.
You know what, mebbe it's true.
Michael Cohen saying that he wasn't in Prague.
On the other hand perhaps he went to Cesky Krumlov, Kutna Hora, Litoměřice, Brno, Znojmo, or Ceske Budejovice, or any of countless regional villages.
Nope. So he wasn't in Prague.
He didn't say he wasn't in the Czech Republic, did he?
Forrest,
Jesus H. Christ on a dance pole, dude.
Don't spray that stuff out here without prior warning. Just the idea of a selfie of Fatty or little mikey in the altogether conjures up images of a wretched gonfalon of gorbellied Trumpiness and the paralyzed, pecksniffian, pencified penile pud, the mere adumbration of which heartily aggrieves good taste.
Mueller must possess a stern constitution.
More numbers about walls:
"There's ... a Criminology Journal study from March 2018 that examined states' reported rates of violent crime and illegal immigration. From 1990 through 2014, that data found a negative correlation — meaning that the more a population was made up of unauthorized immigrants, the lower the violent crime rate seemed to be."
Which would suggest the Pretender wants to wall out the wrong people.
Then:
"In China alone, around 670,000 people die prematurely per year as a result of coal-related air pollution. The 'Coal Kills' report estimates that in India coal contributes to between 80,000 to 115,000 premature deaths annually. In the United States coal kills around 13,000 people annually, and 23,300 in Europe."
End Coal | Health
https://endcoal.org/health
But guess we're not much interested in a wall for that.
@Akhlleus: You have a way with words which I don't possess.
My words would be: shit, I'm fucking gonna' vomit if I have to
look at any nude photos of any of those assholes.
And I don't even swear cause my granny would have hit me over
the head (but just with a pillow). She was a southern belle who
instilled the three Rs in me. Reality, reality, reality.
@ Marie: your argument re: travel into countries is something I heard some months ago from someone on Rachel's program and he described the same scenario you did (although sans Aldo and Marie). And MAG's point is well taken. The McClatchy reporters tell us that the people they are working with are trustworthy. We'll see.
Forrest,
Your granny strikes me (without the pillow) as a true southern belles-lettres. We should all be so lucky. Unfortunately, the dissolute fat liar in the White House doesn’t know from either belles or lettres. Likewise reality. Thus, “fucking vomit” and “asshole” are entirely appropriate expressions, your granny’s sensitive and sensible constitution notwithstanding.
Puke away.