Sunday
Dec222019
The Commentariat -- December 23, 2019
Late Morning Update:
Zeke Miller of the AP: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday that he was not ruling out calling witnesses in ... Donald Trump's impeachment trial -- but indicated he was in no hurry to seek new testimony either -- as lawmakers remain at an impasse over the form of the trial by the GOP-controlled Senate.... 'We haven't ruled out witnesses,' McConnell said Monday in an interview with 'Fox and Friends.' 'We've said let's handle this case just like we did with President Clinton. Fair is fair.' That trial featured a 100-0 vote on arrangements that established two weeks of presentations and argument before a partisan tally in which then-minority Republicans called a limited number of witnesses. But Democrats now would need Republican votes to secure witness testimony -- and Republicans believe they have the votes to eventually block those requests."
Desmond Butler & Michael Biesecker of the AP: "In a back corner of the swank H Bar in Houston..., [Lev & Igor,] two Russian-speaking men offered a Ukrainian gas executive what seemed like an outrageous business proposal. Andrew Favorov, the No. 2 at Ukraine's state-run gas company Naftogaz, says he sat on a red leather bench seat and listened wide-eyed as the men boasted of their connections to ... Donald Trump and proposed a deal to sell large quantities of liquefied natural gas from Texas to Ukraine. But first, Favorov says, they told him they would have to remove ... Favorov's boss and the U.S. ambassador in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital. Favorov says he hardly took the proposal at the early March meeting seriously.... What he didn't know ... was that high-ranking officials in the Ukrainian government were already taking steps to topple his boss, Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolyev. And two months later, Trump recalled U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch.... The gas deal sought by Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman never came to pass. But their efforts to profit from contacts with GOP luminaries are now part of a broad federal criminal investigation into the two men and their close associate, Rudy Giuliani, Trump's personal attorney.... [Lev & Igor's] campaign culminated in May, at a meeting at the Trump International Hotel in Washington that included a lobbyist with deep ties to U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry and a Republican fundraiser from Texas close to Donald Trump Jr." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: We have to assume two things here: (1) Congressional Republicans know at least the broad outlines of these nefarious deals, and (2) they're okay with these methods of doing business and most probably are not above making similar deals themselves.
Betsy Swan of the Daily Beast: "In a detailed memo to senators, the Trump administration is fighting a bill that would punish Turkey for buying Russian missiles, arguing it would drive the countries closer together. Of note, Team Trump opposes a provision in the bill that would help Syrian Kurdish refugees immigrate to the United States. The case is laid out in a seven-page document obtained by The Daily Beast. The memo was sent by the State Department to Capitol Hill ahead of the Senate mark-up of a bill co-sponsored by Sens. Jim Risch (R-ID) and Bob Menendez (D-NJ)...."
Passing Wind. John Bowden of the Hill: "President Trump lashed out again at wind farms on Saturday, claiming that the production of wind turbines causes a large carbon footprint. During a speech to the conservative student group Turning Point USA, Trump told attendees that he 'never understood' the allure of wind power plants, according to a report from Mediaite. 'I never understood wind,' Trump said, according to Mediaite. 'I know windmills very much, I have studied it better than anybody. I know it is very expensive. They are made in China and Germany mostly, very few made here, almost none, but they are manufactured, tremendous -- if you are into this -- tremendous fumes and gases are spewing into the atmosphere. You know we have a world, right?'" Mrs. McC: As you may have noticed, Trump simultaneously "lashed out again" against the English language, presuming the speech was intended to be delivered in English. ~~~
~~~ Update: Philip Bump of the Washington Post translates Trump's remarks. ~~~
~~~ Matt Novak of Gizmodo: "... Donald Trump said a bunch of bizarre shit about windmills over the weekend at a conference in Florida for conservative college students, ranting about the size of the universe and saying 'I know windmills very much.'... Trump, whose brain is mostly just KFC gravy at this point, told college kids at the Turning Point USA conference that the Green New Deal was threatening the very existence of the country.... 'We're in a battle of survival of this nation,' Trump said before using a racial slur against Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren in a rambling diatribe. 'When you look at these people talk, with their Green New Deal. But I don't want to knock it now, if you don't mind,' Trump said. 'I don't want to knock it. I knocked... I knocked the hell out of Pocahontas. I got her down.'"
Spencer Kimball of CNBC: “The Christian magazine that published a blistering editorial calling for ... Donald Trump's removal from office over his 'blackened moral record' has received a boost in subscribers despite a public backlash among leading evangelicals, according to the publication's editor in chief. Mark Galli, the editor in chief of Christianity Today who authored the op-ed, acknowledged to MSNBC on Sunday that the magazine has lost subscribers, but he said there has also been an outpouring of support.' A stereotypical response is "thank you, thank you, thank you" with a string of a hundred exclamation points -- "you've said what I've been thinking but haven't been able to articulate, I'm not crazy,"' Galli said of the response from supporters. 'We have lost subscribers but we've had 3 times as many people start to subscribe.'"
Amie Parnes of the Hill: "... behind the scenes in recent months, former President Obama has gone to bat for [Sen. Elizabeth] Warren (D-Mass.) when speaking to donors reluctant to support her given her knocks on Wall Street and the wealthy. And if Warren becomes the nominee, Obama has said they must throw the entirety of their support behind her. The former president has stopped short of an endorsement of Warren in these conversations and has emphasized that he is not endorsing in the Democratic primary race. But he also has vouched for her credentials, making it clear in these private sessions that he deems her a capable candidate and potential president, sources say."
David Gelles of the New York Times: "Boeing on Monday fired its chief executive, Dennis A. Muilenburg, whose handling of the company's 737 Max crisis had angered lawmakers, airlines, regulators and victims' families. The company said Dave Calhoun, the chairman, would replace Mr. Muilenburg on Jan. 13. Until then, Boeing's chief financial officer, Greg Smith, will serve as interim chief executive, the company said. The Boeing board made the decision on a call on Sunday, after a string of disastrous announcements for the company, according to two people briefed on the matter.... Mr. Muilenburg has stepped down effective immediately.Boeing has been mired in the worst crisis in its 103-year history since the crashes of two 737 Max jets killed 346 people. The plane has been grounded since March, and Boeing has faced cascading delays as it tries to return the Max to the air." The AP story is here.
Michael Schwirtz of the New York Times: "For years, members of a secret team, Unit 29155, operated without Western security officials having any idea about their activities. But an attack on an arms dealer in Sofia helped blow their cover.... Western security and intelligence officials say the Bulgaria poisonings were a critical clue that helped expose a campaign by the Kremlin and its sprawling web of intelligence operatives to eliminate Russia's enemies abroad and destabilize the West.... Russia cannot compete economically or militarily with the United States and China, so Mr. Putin is waging an asymmetric shadow war." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: This cloak-and-dagger story provides an outline, BTW, of how the CIA & other Western intelligence agencies actually go after international malefactors. They do not ask the POTUS* to call up the new president of Ukraine & ask him to investigate a U.S. politician -- in exchange for $391MM in military aid.
Adam Nossiter of the New York Times: "Algeria's de facto ruler, Gen. Ahmed Gaïd Salah, who this year managed the ouster of one president and the ascent of another amid deep civil unrest, died on Monday, according to the state news agency and Algerian press reports. General Gaïd Salah's unexpected death at 79 -- his official age, though he was most likely older -- less than two weeks after the army's favored candidate was elected president, creates a power vacuum in the vast North African nation, a major oil and gas producer. A survivor from the generation that led Algeria to independence from France in the early 1960s, General Gaïd Salah was the man who increasingly blocked the demands of the popular protest movement that has rocked the country's politics since last February." A BBC story is here.
~~~~~~~~~~
Happily, there is no news. I guess I could post some cat videos.
S.V. Date of the Huffington Post: "... Donald Trump has pushed his taxpayer-funded golf tab past $118 million on his 26th visit to Mar-a-Lago, his for-profit resort in Palm Beach, Florida, with a Saturday visit to his course in neighboring West Palm Beach. The new total is the equivalent of 296 years of the $400,000 presidential salary that his supporters often boast that he is not taking. And of that $118.3 million, at least several million has gone into Trump's own cash registers, as Secret Service agents, White House staff and other administration officials stay and eat at his hotels and golf courses.... If Trump continues golfing at the pace he has set in his first three years, he will surpass in just one term the total number of days [President] Obama spent golfing over two full terms -- despite having repeatedly criticized Obama for playing too much golf and having promised, as a candidate, that he would be too busy to play any golf at all."
Brief Encounter. John Bowden of the Hill: "President Trump briefly met with his attorney Rudy Giuliani on Saturday as Giuliani faces a federal investigation over possible campaign finance violations, Bloomberg News reported. The two men met Saturday night at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in West Palm Beach, Fla., where Trump spent the weekend ahead of this week's Christmas holiday. It was unclear what the two men discussed, according to Bloomberg."
Presidential Race 2020
Thomas Beaumont of the AP: "'Field of Dreams' actor Kevin Costner returned to Iowa on Sunday to go to bat for Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, pitching the small-town mayor as someone worth listening to in the crowded lineup of White House hopefuls. 'Whether your road leads you to Pete, like mine has, that's for you to judge,' Costner, a self-described independent, told more than 1,000 people in the high school gymnasium of Indianola, a town of about 16,000 people located south of Des Moines. 'When Pete speaks of unity, it's the kind of unity I've been waiting and hoping to hear about.'" Mrs. McC: Huh. I would have guessed Costner was a John Wayne sort of jerk. Turns out he's not. Good for him and my bad.
"Libel Tourism." Why POS Devin Nunes Filed Frivolous Lawsuits in Virginia. Justin Jouvenal of the Washington Post: "The suits are part of a string of splashy defamation claims by politicians and the A-list star seeking nearly $1 billion in damages in Virginia courts this year, even though many of the cases have only loose connections to the state.... Several of the defendants -- including Twitter ... -- say the filing location is aimed at exploiting the state's weak protections for defamation defendants. Some legal experts say Virginia law allows those with deep pockets to bulldoze targets with frivolous, protracted and expensive litigation they couldn't pursue in many other states. The true goals of the suits, the defendants argue, are to stifle critics, blunt aggressive journalism and settle scores. Some deride the legal maneuvers as 'libel tourism' and see a growing trend not just in Virginia but in other states that similarly lack safeguards. The suits have prompted Virginia lawmakers to look at changing the law." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: In the spirit of the season, the best thing would be to put Nunes and, say, Ken Cuccinelli or Stephen Miller in a locked room with some lethal weapons, right after telling each of them that the other made a yo-mama-type insult against the other. Let them fight it out. Gruesome & macabre? Yes. But just what the rat-bastards deserve.
Way Beyond the Beltway
Saudi "Justice." Bethan McKernan of the Guardian & Agencies: "Five men have been sentenced to death and another three face 24 years in prison for their roles in the gruesome murder of the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last year, the Saudi public prosecutor's office has said. All 11 people on trial were found guilty of the killing, which triggered the kingdom's biggest diplomatic crisis since the 9/11 attacks as world leaders and business executives sought to distance themselves from Riyadh. However, Saudi state television also reported the Saudi attorney general's investigation showed that the crown prince Mohammed bin Salman's former top adviser, Saud al-Qahtani, had no proven involvement in the killing, after being investigated and released without charge. Al-Qahtani has been sanctioned by the US for his alleged role in the operation. The court also ruled that the Saudi consul-general in Istanbul at the time, Mohammed al-Otaibi, was not guilty. He was released from prison after the verdicts were announced." Those convicted can appeal the verdicts. Update: The Washington Post story is here.
Share Article
Comments for this entry have been disabled. Additional comments may not be added to this entry at this time.
Reader Comments (18)
Pssst..God. I just want to point out that there are a lot of morally bankrupt and entirely repugnant individuals, too numerous to list, in a single location in Florida. Is your famous wrath really a thing? If so, might I suggest a fulsome display might be in order.
Anon:
Amen to that!
Thinking back to yesterday it seems very appropriate to place the Trump presidential library in Briny Breezes trailer park. Architects could design the biggest and flashiest double wide ever, to hold the cabinet containing the two coloring books. There could be an outdoor auditorium playing recorded tweets from a Russian server with a background chant of "Lock Her Up!"
As an aside it won't matter much where it goes in the county, where the highest elevation is 53 feet above sea level.
Careful there, @Bobby Lee. Trump may want to hire you as his chief architect. Suggestion: if you take the job, get paid up front.
I envision the library more along this line. Small, with only his books in it. And it won't be free. I'm sure he'll charge a bigly amount.
Anonymous,
Jesus! (Sorry, son.) I don’t know what I could have been thinking when I created you people. And that bit about how I created you in my image and likeness? Not on your life.
That fat guy you elected? What, are you all nuts? A bunch of my earlier creations came up with a pretty good plan for a decent society. Liberty and justice for all? Good stuff. I waited millions of years for youse guys to get that far. I was ready to give up and chuck the whole thing. The fire next time, remember? I guess that’s what I get for giving you all free will. Cuz what would be the point otherwise? Fucking robots. That’s what I would’ve had. Robots. I can get those on Amazon.
But now you put this fat slob, a clutching, scheming, greedy, lying pain in the ass, in the damn White House? And he don’t look like me, no way. I don’t wear my neckties down around my knees. And that orange spray tan? Jesus (oops, sorry again there, sonny—he’s a good kid, but sensitive).
So I’m ready to wash my hands of the lot of you. I thought about your suggestion, of going full Old Testament on him and all his nasty band of douchebags (I knew there was another reason I invented those things: good name), but I figure that would be too easy. Besides then you have all those other idiots who voted for him. They think he’s, well, they think he’s me fer crissakes (oh, Jesus, there I go again). I mean, I’d have to cook every last one of those eejits.
So my best plan now is to leave it up to all of you. Do me a freakin’ favor, Willya? Vote this a schmuck out of office. When I invented democracy I thought it was a pretty nifty idea. Give you guys a chance to change leaders without poisoning them or knocking them on the head or any of that nutty stuff you were all into. So please. Vote. I need a fucking rest.
Oh, yeah. Amen. (I was originally gonna make that word “weedja-weedja” —hey, I got a sense of humor, right?—but a few of the angels (boring bastards) said “amen” was more classy.)
Have wondered if all contributors to RC include their (optional) email address.
Which prompts this question, Bea:
If you and/or Squarespace now have access to God's email address, could you be persuaded to share it?
On a related subject. This from CNN,
https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/23/politics/don-mcgahn-testimony-white-house/index.html
made me think of the Three Branches in terms of the Three Stooges, who stumble around and can't get out of one another's way.
Of course, the Pretender likes the chaos.
Was thinking we could use an assist from the orderly mind of the Creator in 2020 and would like to put in my request.
@Ken Winkes: Sorry, Ken. God did not leave her e-mail address. (Really, she didn't.)
....in a speech to conservative students?
I don't wonder about the Pretender. We know he talks like a gibbering idiot because he is one.
But have to wonder what kind of students (students of what? of what age? of what accomplishment? ) listening to this dreck could hear it and not break into gales of laughter or sit on their hands, red-faced, stifling their terminal embarrassment.
If instead, they nodded their heads in dumb acquiescence, their teachers must be considering an immediate career change.
@Ken Winkes: Turning Point USA, the group who got to listen to
the president* ramble on about windmills and toilets, is a conservative
nonprofit 501(c)3 organization. They have a professor watch list
listing college professors whom it alleges discriminate against
conservative students and those who supposedly push left-wing
propaganda in the class room. (Probably propaganda like equal rights,
womens rights, etc.)
Closely connected with the NRA and the Independent Petroleum
Association of America.
Financed by the likes of the DeVos Foundation (Betsy's in-laws.)
Thanks, Forrest, for the background.
Pictures of the students I found in the Palm Beach Post chilled my heart. They were actually cheering and holding up dumb signs. Clean-cut, well-dressed, white stormtroopers in the making.
@Ken Winkes: You might not have realized it before, but once upon a time @Forrest Morris never understood conservo-kids. Now he understands them very much. He' studied it better than anybody. But they’re manufactured tremendous — if you’re into this — tremendous fumes. They stink so much they kill birds. But not as much birds as they go flying into Trump skyscrapers. Splat!
I hope that's clear.
Bea,
It was--after I read it twice.
Thanks for the laugh.
The NYT's has a little interactive quiz with some 52 photos...and you must type in the name to see if you are correct. My result was pretty high, not perfect...the only two sports figures that I recognized were Serena Williams and Tom Brady. Not so good with bizarre hair colors and makeup, but got almost all political figures except for John Delaney or Dempsey or Delaury. Yeah, who remembers him? And when the orange menace image appeared, I simply typed in a seven letter word that rhymes with bowl or atoll...apparently an unacceptable response!
Wanna try yourself, link below: Most Americans Can’t Name All of These Famous Faces. Can You?
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/23/upshot/recognizability-quiz.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
Dear Lord (or “Oh, Dear Lord!”),
Wasn’t sure that you’d been listening. (Gotta brush up on my Faith, eh?) So I thank you for making an appearance here. Oh - What kind of computer do you have? I’m on the cusp of buying a new one. Any suggestions? I’ve only been a little bit naughty. (I know. I must stop using that “F” word.) Yet my friends and mentors say I’m very nice. (Okay. To my face.). BTW: I’m absolutely *not* requesting that you gift me that sweet iMAC I’d window-shopped the other day. But - just curious - does your sleigh ever deliver to non-Christians? (FYI: I do pray.) And I actually have a chimney here! But the fireplace’s not much bigger than this studio apartment (What size are you now?), which someone referred to as “a thimble”. But it’s a *rent stabilized* thimble, so I thank you for your real estate smarts back then, God. Again, just curious. And thanks much for appearing here and for your continued support. Hattie’s not my “given” name but . . . but of course you know who I am and where I live. (That could sound kinda scary. If I were paranoid. But I’m not. Yet.)
A warm hello to Mrs. Santa. Or, if you’ve become more fluid, to Mr. Right. (And it’s a-okay to be single, too, Lord knows.)
shits ‘n giggles,
“Hattie”
Here's the entertainment at the Turning Point lunch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDuHXTG3uyY
So McTurtle is not ruling out witnesses. I’ll bet. Let’s see, Uday, Qusay, Devin Nunes AND his cow, The Fox and Friends numbskulls, Rush Limbaugh, Rudy, Lev, Igor, and Vlad. That should do it. Oh, and no Democrats will be allowed to question any of the witnesses,l because we have to be fair to the Orange Menace. I’m guessing it will all be over in two shakes of a turtle’s tail. Maybe a single shake.
Just received an excellent e-card (which may be in wide circulation) with a photo of Barr. Pompeo, despot-us & pence, standing at attention and sporting excrement-eating grins (as much as pence’s frozen facial muscles could allow), with large lettering across them -
TREASON’s GREETINGS