The Commentariat -- February 14, 2020

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Matthew Lee & Kathy Gannon of the AP: "The United States and the Taliban have reached agreement on a temporary truce that will take effect in the coming days and, if successfully completed, will lead to a formal cease-fire, the start of peace negotiations between all Afghan sides next month and the ultimate withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, a senior U.S. official said Friday. The official said the agreement for a seven-day 'reduction in violence' is 'very specific' and covers the entire country, including Afghan government forces. There were indications a formal announcement could come as early as the weekend."

Amy Goldstein of the Washington Post: "A federal appeals court on Friday struck down the Trump administration's decision to allow states to compel some Medicaid recipients to work or prepare for a job in exchange for their health benefits. In a unanimous decision that blocks the first state that had imposed work requirements, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that President Trump's health officials had been' arbitrary and capricious' in allowing Arkansas to launch a Medicaid program called 'Arkansas Works' two years ago.... The administration did not indicate whether it might appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court." Mrs. McC: Isn't 'arbitrary and capricious' the motto of this administration? I thought it was embroidered in pig-latin on King Donald's fake coat of arms.

See Billy Go. See Billy Try to Fix a Mess. Go, Billy, Go.

     Page 1. This Makes Trump Happy. Charlie Savage, et al., of the New York Times: "Attorney General William P. Barr has assigned an outside prosecutor to scrutinize the criminal case against President Trump's former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn, according to people familiar with the matter. The review is highly unusual and could trigger more accusations of political interference by top Justice Department officials into the work of career prosecutors. Mr. Barr has also installed a handful of outside prosecutors to broadly review the handling of other politically sensitive national-security cases in the U.S. attorney's office in Washington, the people said. The team includes at least one prosecutor from the office of the United States attorney in St. Louis, Jeff Jensen, who is handling the Flynn matter, as well as prosecutors from the office of the deputy attorney general, Jeffrey A. Rosen. Over the past two weeks, the outside prosecutors have begun grilling line prosecutors in the Washington office about various cases -- some public, some not -- including investigative steps, prosecutorial actions and why they took them, according to the people. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive internal deliberations." ~~~

     ~~~ Carol Lee of NBC News: "The inquiry also coincides with recent moves by Trump to vindicate his allies and exact revenge on his perceived enemies, including individuals who were involved with former special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation or testified in the House Democrats' impeachment probe.... The inquiry into Flynn's FBI interview could be aimed at several former officials Trump has repeatedly criticized publicly, including former FBI Director James Comey and former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, people familiar with the inquiry said.... Comey and McCabe signed off on sending two agents to interview Flynn. One of the agents was Peter Strzok.... They also said it could be part of an effort to make a presidential pardon of Flynn more palatable.... [Jeff] Jensen's inquiry seems similar to one Barr assigned to the U.S. attorney in Connecticut, John Durham, examining the origins of the FBI's investigation into potential ties between Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia."

     Page 2. Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "Andrew G. McCabe, the former deputy F.B.I. director and a frequent target of President Trump, will not face charges in an investigation into whether he lied to investigators about a media leak, his defense team said on Friday. The decision by prosecutors in Washington ends a case that had left Mr. McCabe in legal limbo for nearly two years. It also appears to be a sign that Attorney General William P. Barr wants to show that the Justice Department is independent from Mr. Trump: The notification came a day after Mr. Barr publicly challenged the president to stop attacking law enforcement officials on Twitter and said the criticisms were making his job more difficult. The prosecutors informed Mr. McCabe's lawyers of their decision by phone on Friday morning, the lawyers, Michael R. Bromwich and David Schertler, said in a statement." A CNN story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ This Makes Trump Mad. Matt Zapotosky, et al., of the Washington Post: "The move was said to infuriate Trump, who has raged publicly and privately in recent months that McCabe and others he considers political enemies should be charged with crimes.... A White House official said that Trump was not given a heads-up and was upset, and that White House lawyers moved to calm the president. The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to reveal internal discussions, said Trump 'believes very strongly that action should be taken.'"

Larry Neumeister of the AP: "Michael Avenatti, a lawyer who gained fame by representing a porn star in lawsuits against Donald Trump, was convicted Friday of trying to extort sportswear giant Nike. The verdict was returned Friday by a Manhattan federal jury after it deliberated charges of attempted extortion and honest services fraud in what prosecutors say was an attempt by Avenatti to extort up to $25 million from Nike with threats to otherwise harm it.... Avenatti, 48, became prominent during frequent cable television program appearances in 2018 and 2019 as journalists courted him for information about porn star Stormy Daniels and her claims of a Trump tryst before he became president and a payoff to remain silent about it. At his peak of notoriety, Avenatti even considered running for president himself."

"I Have an Article 2 Right to Do Whatever I Want." Matt Zapotosky & John Wagner of the Washington Post: "A day after Attorney General William P. Barr publicly warned President Trump not to tweet about the Justice Department, Trump did just that, declaring that he has the 'legal right' to ask his top law enforcement official to get involved in a criminal case. In his tweet, Trump quoted Barr from a television interview Thursday in which he asserted that the president had never asked him to do anything related to a criminal case. 'This doesn't mean that I do not have, as President, the legal right to do so, I do, but I have so far chosen not to!' Trump added in his own voice." Mrs. McC: Barr said Trump's tweets were making it "impossible" for him to do his job. So time to resign, Bill. ~~~

     ~~~ Cristina Cabrera of TPM has the story here. "Additionally, Trump's claim that he has 'so far chosen not to' get involved in a criminal case is a lie: He asked then-FBI Director James Comey to drop the criminal investigation into Michael Flynn in 2017, according to Comey's memos on their meeting and his sworn testimony to Congress."

Adam Bienkov of Business Insider: "UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has canceled a trip to the US planned for next month after a furious phone call from ... Donald Trump in which Trump slammed down the phone on the prime minister. Johnson had been due to visit Washington last month but repeatedly delayed the trip after a series of rows with the president over Iran, Huawei, and a rejected request by th prime minister to extradite the wife of a US diplomat. The disagreements culminated in a phone call last month in which Trump hung up on Johnson, according to officials with knowledge of the conversation." Mrs. McC: So another reason Trump wants to keep staff from listening to his phone calls with foreign leaders: his own behavior is embarrassing.

Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post: "Over the past few months, the Trump administration has quietly been rolling out a Kafkaesque new processing policy for select categories of visas: If any fields on a form are left blank, it will automatically be rejected. Even if it makes no sense for the applicant to fill out that field. For example, if 'Apt. Number' is left blank because the immigrant lives in a house: rejected. Or if the field for a middle name is left blank because no middle name exists: rejected, too.... The policy change, at first affecting just asylum applicants, was announced without fanfare on the USCIS website sometime in the fall."

Hannah Natanson, et al., of the Washington Post: "Since Trump's rise to the nation's highest office, his inflammatory language -- often condemned as racist and xenophobic -- has seeped into schools across America. Many bullies now target other children differently than they used to, with kids as young as 6 mimicking the president's insults and the cruel way he delivers them. Trump's words, those chanted by his followers at campaign rallies and even his last name have been wielded by students and school staff members to harass children more than 300 times since the start of 2016, a Washington Post review of 28,000 news stories found. At least three-quarters of the attacks were directed at kids who are Hispanic, black or Muslim, according to the analysis. Students have also been victimized because they support the president -- more than 45 times during the same period." Mrs. McC: Don't worry; Melanie's anti-bullying program will fix all this.

~~~~~~~~~~

Shredding the Constitution, Ctd.

Marshall Cohen of CNN: "Emboldened after his impeachment acquittal..., Donald Trump now openly admits to sending his attorney Rudy Giuliani to Ukraine to find damaging information about his political opponents, even though he strongly denied it during the impeachment inquiry. The reversal came Thursday in a podcast interview Trump did with journalist Geraldo Rivera, who asked, 'Was it strange to send Rudy Giuliani to Ukraine, your personal lawyer? Are you sorry you did that?' Trump responded, 'No, not at all,' and praised Giuliani's role as a 'crime fighter.' 'Here's my choice: I deal with the Comeys of the world, or I deal with Rudy,' Trump said, referring to former FBI Director James Comey. Trump explained that he has 'a very bad taste' of the US intelligence community, because of the Russia investigation, so he turned to Giuliani. 'So when you tell me, why did I use Rudy, and one of the things about Rudy, number one, he was the best prosecutor, you know, one of the best prosecutors, and the best mayor,' Trump said. 'But also, other presidents had them. FDR had a lawyer who was practically, you know, was totally involved with government. Eisenhower had a lawyer. They all had lawyers.' Trump had previously denied that he sent Giuliani to Ukraine." Mrs. McC: Not sure why this part of the Geraldo interview is getting so little press attention.

Ukraine Blackmail, Stateside Edition. Kyle Cheney of Politico: "... Donald Trump appeared Thursday to link his administration's policies toward New York to a demand that the state drop investigations and lawsuits related to his administration as well as his personal business and finances. Hours before New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was set to meet the president at the White House, Trump tweeted that Cuomo 'must understand' that 'National Security far exceeds politics,' a reference to his administration's recent decision to halt New York's access to the Global Entry and other 'trusted traveler' programs that allow New Yorkers faster border crossings and shorter airport lines. Trump continued, 'New York must stop all of its unnecessary lawsuits & harrassment, start cleaning itself up, and lowering taxes.' Trump's invocation of 'lawsuits & harrassment' was a reference to the state's numerous lawsuits against his administration and also against Trump'business, which is based in New York.... [Trump's quid pro quo] prompted Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.), one of the House managers who prosecuted Trump's impeachment..., to accuse the president of 'expanding his abuse of power to blackmailing U.S. states (threatening millions of people he supposedly works for). In this case, he's holding New York state hostage to try to stop investigations into his prior tax fraud.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Hilariously, in the same tweet, our mob-boss president* implies Cuomo has and uses mob connections to meet his goals: "... don't bring Fredo," Trump cautions the governor. More important, Trump's latest offer of a quid for a quo demonstrates that he puts his own interest over national security. We know this because he says so: he claims on the one hand that New York State's law disallowing federal immigration agents access to driver license data is an impediment to national safety, while on the other hand saying he will waive the administration's objections to the law if the state drops its lawsuits against him.

Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump said [in a radio interview with Geraldo Rivera] he may end the practice of having national security and foreign service staff listen in on his calls with foreign leaders after a July call with the president of Ukraine triggered his impeachment in the House.... Top White House and national security officials typically listen in on presidential phone calls to keep everyone on the same page and create a record of the conversation." Mrs. McC: Because it's in the interest of national security to have a lying bully who doesn't understand international relations speaking secretly to world leaders. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Al Jazeera: "'What [the prosecutors] did to Roger Stone was a disgrace,' Trump said Thursday during an interview with Geraldo Rivera on Newsradio WTAM1100. 'I don't think they quit the case. I think they felt they got caught,' the president said of the Stone prosecutors. 'I don't think they quit for moral reasons. I think they got caught in the act by me. Now, what am I going to do, sit back and let a man go to jail maybe for nine years when murderers aren't going to jail? You have some of the most serious horrible rapists and everything else. They don't go to jail for nine years,' Trump said." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I suppose it's worth noting that Trump's assertion makes no sense. Prosecutors filed their sentencing recommendation with the court in a document available to the public. The recommendation was within the Justice Department's guidelines, and it was widely reported. The prosecutors did not "get caught in the act by" Trump. Anyone who produced, read or heard media reports knew what the prosecutors suggested. ~~~

~~~ John Wagner, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Thursday suggested that the forewoman of the federal jury that heard the case against his friend Roger Stone had 'significant bias,' his latest intervention ahead of Stone's scheduled sentencing next week. 'Now it looks like the fore person in the jury, in the Roger Stone case, had significant bias,' Trump wrote on Twitter. 'Add that to everything else, and this is not looking good for the "Justice" Department.'... The juror's identity was always known to both Stone's defense and prosecutors throughout pretrial proceedings, and she disclosed her background, including a Democratic bid for Congress, in public pretrial jury selection proceedings. Stone's defense and his trial judge had the opportunity to question Hart directly and challenge her eligibility.... According to a court ruling released Wednesday, Stone's defense did move, unsuccessfully, to seek a new trial alleging bias by another juror, but not [Tomeka] Hart[, the foreperson]." ~~~

~~~ Josh Kovensky of TPM: Trump claim against the Stone jury forewoman "lacks founding in reality, and ignores the numerous chances that Stone and his defense attorneys had to examine all potential jurors in the case.... 'What he [Trump] is doing is attempting to intervene directly in a pending criminal case involving a political ally,' retired federal judge Nancy Gertner, now a lecturer at Harvard Law School, told TPM. 'This is what banana republics do.'"

Stone Hires a Mob Lawyer. Ali Dukakis of ABC News: "With his sentencing fast approaching, Roger Stone is bolstering his defense team with a veteran criminal defense attorney whose past roster of clients included John Gotti Jr. and other high-profile figures allegedly involved in organized crime.... At one point, in 2010, [the attorney, Seth Ginsberg,] was banned from a Manhattan federal detention center after he was caught walking in with marijuana in his bag while on his way to visit an alleged associate of the Gambino crime family. He also previously represented an alleged member of the Luchese crime family." Mrs. McC: You can't make up this stuff. This is the long-time buddy of the President* of the United States, the buddy convicted of covering up possible crimes committed by the President* of the United States. Banana republic? Nahhhh.

Here's Bill Barr Trying to Save His Own Ass. Anne Flaherty of ABC News: "Attorney General Bill Barr told ABC News on Thursday that ... Donald Trump 'has never asked me to do anything in a criminal case' but should stop tweeting about the Justice Department because his tweets 'make it impossible for me to do my job.... I think it's time to stop the tweeting about Department of Justice criminal cases,' Barr told ABC News Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas.... [Barr] said he was supportive of [Roger] Stone's convictions but thought the sentencing recommendation of seven to nine years as excessive. When news outlets reported the seven to nine year sentencing recommendation last Monday, Barr said he thought it was spin.... Barr said Trump's middle-of-the-night tweet [decrying the sentencing guidelines in Stone's case] put him in a bad position. He insists he had already discussed with staff that the sentencing recommendation was too long.... He said it was 'preposterous' to suggest that he 'intervened' in the case as much as he acted to resolve a dispute within the department on a sentencing recommendation." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ A portion of the interview begins at about 1:23 min. in:

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Interesting that Barr chose to sit down for an interview with a real journalist at an MSM outlet instead of Sean Hannity or Laura Ingraham. ~~~

Zach Montague of the New York Times reports key remarks Barr made during the interview. Mrs. McC: Here's my favorite:

If he were to say, go investigate somebody, and you sense it's because they're a political opponent, then an attorney general shouldn't carry that out, wouldn't carry that out.

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha. See article linked below by Charlie Savage & others. And how about those trips you took to Italy, Bill? And those remarks you made in 2017 advocating for the DOJ's investigating the Clinton Foundation & Hillary Clinton's tangential participation in the Uranium One case? (More on this in this January 29 WashPo post.) ~~~

~~~ Kate Riga of TPM: "Barr professed his independence, proclaiming that he won't be' bullied by anybody ... whether it's Congress, newspaper editorial boards, or the President.' Barr said directly that he has 'a problem with some of the tweets,' adding that it makes it difficult to keep the criminal process 'sacrosanct' and devoid of any 'political influence.'... When asked if he is prepared for the President's inevitable backlash to his statements, Barr was succinct: 'of course.' The attorney general said that he makes decisions based on what he thinks is 'the right thing to do.'" ~~~

~~~ Complete This Sentence: "President Trump is making it impossible for me to do my job because...."

     "...      when he publicly announces he wants me to pervert the course of justice, it makes it obvious I'm perverting the system at his direction and in his personal interest, and that outs me as a corrupt lackey.    

     ~~~ OR Shorter Version: "...     how do you expect me to cover up all your shit if you shine a light on me?"    -- Bobby Lee ~~~

     ~~~ OR "...       I'm not an idiot, Donald. I already know what you want. But your blabbing gives the game away, so just shut up and let me politicize the Justice Department on my own."     -- Kevin Drum of Mother Jones ~~~

This Barr interview is DeNiro in Goodfellas yelling at Johnny Roastbeef for buying his wife a Cadillac after the Lufthansa heist. -- Matt Miller, in a tweet ~~~

~~~ Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "... even if Barr made this decision before Trump's tweets and Trump never directly requested the action ... this is still highly problematic. It's the president's most senior political appointee in the Justice Department personally intervening in an unorthodox manner in the case of perhaps Trump's longest-serving political ally. It's precisely the kind of case in which you would want to make sure you try doubly hard to avoid even the appearance of political influence of any kind.... Instead, Barr decided this was a situation he needed to get involved in. And to be clear, Barr confirmed in the interview that he was personally responsible for the decision, which is as significant a revelation as anything else." ~~~

~~~ Marcy Wheeler: "In its story writing up its 'exclusive' 'interview' with Attorney General Bill Barr, ABC gets to the core of the issue: The Attorney General not only intervened to override the sentencing recommendation of career prosecutors, but he did so in defiance of the sentencing guidelines recommended by the Probation Office.... Yet ABC didn't ask Barr about the sentencing guidelines, at least not in the clip posted. Nor did Pierre Thomas ask any ... follow-up questions about that[.]"

This Federal Judge Has More Guts than John Roberts and Bill Barr. Cody Fenwick of AlterNet, republished in the Raw Story: "After ... Donald Trump's attacks on Judge Amy Berman Jackson overseeing the criminal case against his ally Roger Stone, the chief judge in the U.S. District Court in Washington D.C. spoke out Thursday against undue influence. 'Public criticism or pressure is not a factor' in sentencing decisions, Chief Judge Beryl Howell said in a statement.... 'The Judges of this Court base their sentencing decisions on careful consideration of the actual record in the case before them; the applicable sentencing guidelines and statutory factors; the submissions of the parties, the Probation Office and victims; and their own judgment and experience,' Howell said."

Rick Wilson in Rolling Stone: "The sentence [Roger] Stone faced [as the original prosecutors recommended] was appropriate because his actions weren't simply a criminal -- and criminally stupid -- defense of the president. They were just one part of a wider assault from the transparently corrupt Trump-Barr kleptocracy on the entire administration of justice in the United States.... Barr's bull-in-a-china-shop efforts on Stone's behalf were comically absurd, driven by a Trump tweet.... Like Trump, Barr is unbound, uncontrolled, and has no fear of congressional power.... [Stone will] never get out from under his legal bills.... His days as a provocateur are over.... Long sentence or short, everything Trump touches dies -- even his most loyal henchman." --s

** Charlie Savage, et al., of the New York Times: "Trump administration officials investigating the government's response to Russia's election interference in 2016 appear to be hunting for a basis to accuse Obama-era intelligence officials of hiding evidence or manipulating analysis about Moscow's covert operation, according to people familiar with aspects of the inquiry. Since his election, President Trump has attacked the intelligence agencies that concluded that Russia secretly tried to help him win.... Questions asked by [U.S. Attorney John H.] Durham, who was assigned by Attorney General William P. Barr to scrutinize the early actions of law enforcement and intelligence officials..., suggest that Mr. Durham may have come to view with suspicion several clashes between analysts at different intelligence agencies over who could see each other's highly sensitive secrets.... Mr. Durham appears to be pursuing a theory that the C.I.A., under its former director John O. Brennan, had a preconceived notion about Russia or was trying to get to a particular result.... But officials from the F.B.I. and the National Security Agency have told Mr. Durham and his investigators that such an interpretation is wrong.... Mr. Durham's questioning is certain to add to accusations that Mr. Trump is using the Justice Department to go after his perceived enemies, like Mr. Brennan...." TPM has a summary report here.

David Corn of Mother Jones: "... Trump's hostile take-over of the Justice Department this week is yet another sign that the task of countering Trump's extremism is becoming both harder and more crucial.... Trump is rigging the justice system, trashing norms that have been in place for decades, and attacking the notion that the rule of law is essential for democratic governance.... Barr has already done so much of Trump's bidding ... his declaration of independence was too late, if not ludicrous."

Kaitlan Collins of CNN: "The US attorney whose nomination for a top Treasury Department job was yanked because she ran the office that oversaw Roger Stone's prosecution has resigned, an administration official tells CNN. Jessie Liu, who previously headed the US attorney's office in Washington, submitted her resignation to the Treasury Department, effective Wednesday evening. She went to the Treasury Department with the intention of filling a Senate-confirmed position, which is no longer available after her nomination was withdrawn earlier Wednesday, the official said." (Also linked yesterday.)

Mrs. McCrabbie: In a couple of tweets, Trump hit back late last night at his former chief of staff, John Kelly, who -- among other criticisms of Trump, stood up for Alexander Vindman (story linked in yesterday's Commentariat). Trump suggests Kelly, by taking the chief-of-staff job, forever forfeited his First Amendment right to disagree with Trump: "When I terminated John Kelly, which I couldn't do fast enough, he knew full well that he was way over his head. Being Chief of Staff just wasn't for him. He came in with a bang, went out with a whimper, but like so many X's, he misses the action & just can't keep his mouth shut,.... ....which he actually has a military and legal obligation to do. His incredible wife, Karen, who I have a lot of respect for, once pulled me aside & said strongly that 'John respects you greatly. When we are no longer here, he will only speak well of you.' Wrong!" Emphasis added.

Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Hope Hicks, a close aide to President Trump who resigned nearly two years ago, will return to the White House in a new role, administration officials said Thursday. Ms. Hicks, 31, worked on Mr. Trump's 2016 campaign from its inception and followed him to the White House after he was elected, eventually becoming communications director.... She will report to Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and senior adviser, and work with the White House political director, Brian Jack. Her title will be 'counselor to the president.'" The Hill has a developing story here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Connor O'Brien & Caitlin Emma of Politico: "The Trump administration plans to sap money intended to build fighter jets, ships, vehicles and National Guard equipment in order to fund barriers on the U.S.-Mexico border, the Pentagon told Congress on Thursday, a move that has agitated Democrats and even drawn condemnation from a top House Republican. The surprise reprogramming of another $3.8 billion, transmitted to Congress..., means the Pentagon will have forked over nearly $10 billion since last year to help pay for ... Donald Trump's border wall. But this shift in funding marks a new phase for the administration, which until now had used money set for military construction and counterdrug operations, not combat equipment." You can thank the Supremes for this (link is to a July 2019 WashPo story). (Also linked yesterday.)

Henry Foy of the Financial Times: "The US Treasury has justified sanctions against Oleg Deripaska by citing reports that the Russian tycoon helped President Vladimir Putin launder money. In a letter sent to Mr Deripaska's lawyers and seen by the Financial Times, the Office of Foreign Asset Control, the agency overseeing US sanctions policy, writes that Mr Deripaska was in 2016 'reportedly identified as one of the individuals holding assets and laundering funds on behalf of Russian President Vladimir Putin'." --s ~~~

~~~ Betsy Swan of The Daily Beast: "Something strange happened in mid-December involving Oleg Deripaska, the Russian oligarch. Late last year, the U.S. government signaled that it was about to level a new round of sanctions targeting people and entities linked to Deripaska, according to two Western officials with knowledge of the communication.... Until December, that is. What's strange is that despite the signal, Treasury didn't follow through and the sanctions -- which would have targeted the unnamed people and entities because of their proximity to Deripaska -- didn't materialize. It's been two months since the U.S. indicated that the new sanctions were about to come out, and there's been no movement from Treasury on the oligarch." --s

Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Corey Dickstein of Stars & Stripes: "Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Thursday defended the Pentagon's effort to strip Stars and Stripes of all of its federal funding as part of its fiscal year 2021 budget request, telling reporters in Brussels that the independent news organization is not a priority.... Pentagon officials acknowledged Wednesday for the first time that the budget proposal completely cuts the subsidy that the department provides Stars and Stripes.... Stars and Stripes receives about [$15 million out of the $705.4 billion total spending proposal.]... Stars and Stripes first appeared during the Civil War, and it has been published continuously since World War II. It produces daily newspapers for U.S. military troops around the world and operates a website that is updated with news 24 hours per day." --s Emphasis added.

Marianne Levine & Andrew Desiderio of Politico: "The Senate on Thursday passed a resolution limiting ... Donald Trump's authority to attack Iran without congressional approval, delivering the president another bipartisan foreign-policy rebuke and flexing its constitutional power over military actions. The 55-45 vote came nearly six weeks after Trump ordered an airstrike that killed Qassem Soleimani, a top Iranian general who led the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps' elite Quds force. The strike drew immediate condemnation from Democrats and some Republicans, and it prompted Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) to introduce a War Powers resolution aimed at re-asserting Congress' constitutional authority to declare war. Kaine's resolution ... is expected to pass the House later this month, but Trump is likely to veto the measure. It needed only a simple majority to clear the Senate."

Presidential Race

Marc Caputo, et al., of Politico: "Nevada's powerful Culinary Workers Union will not endorse in the presidential primary, while criticizing Bernie Sanders' signature Medicare for All proposal. In declining to pick a candidate -- but calling for 'choices' in health care -- the union created an opening for Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar, two moderate Democrats with little demonstrated support in the state. And it was a further setback for Joe Biden, who has been desperate to reassert himself after two demoralizing performances in Iowa and New Hampshire."

Bernie Is No Socialist & Pete Is No Economist. Paul Krugman: "... Bernie Sanders isn't actually a socialist in any normal sense of the term. He doesn't want to nationalize our major industries and replace markets with central planning; he has expressed admiration, not for Venezuela, but for >Denmark. He's basically what Europeans would call a social democrat -- and social democracies like Denmark are, in fact, quite nice places to live, with societies that are, if anything, freer than our own.... But if Sanders becomes the Democratic presidential nominee, his misleading self-description will be a gift to the Trump campaign.... Over the past few days Pete Buttigieg has chosen to pose as a deficit hawk, thereby demonstrating that while he may be a fresh face, he has remarkably stale ideas.... Where Sanders is playing right into one disreputable Republican political strategy, Buttigieg is playing into another: the strategy of hobbling the economy with fiscal austerity when a Democrat occupies the White House, then borrowing freely as soon as the G.O.P. regains power." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: No member of Congress, president or veep should be allowed to take the oath of office without being able to correctly answer this basic economic question: Why, in general, should a country run up deficits & debt during a recession & pay it down during good economic conditions?

"Mr. Man" v. Actual Brave Man. Alan Fram of the AP: "Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh drew bipartisan criticism Thursday for saying the country won';t elect Pete Buttigieg president because he's been 'kissing his husband' on stage after debates. Limbaugh's comments came eight days after ... Donald Trump awarded him the nation's top civilian honor during the State of the Union address. Trump said Limbaugh inspires millions of people daily and thanked him for 'decades of tireless devotion to our country.'... 'They're saying, "OK, how's this going to look?"' Limbaugh said Wednesday, imagining Democrats' thinking. '"Thirty-seven-year-old gay guy kissing his husband on stage, next to Mr. Man, Donald Trump."'... Limbaugh also said some Democrats may believe they should 'get a gay guy kissing his husband on stage, ram it down Trump's throat and beat him in the general election. Really? Having fun envisioning that.'" Mrs. McC: Pretty mild "criticism" from Republicans, a number of whom pleaded ignorance.

Amy's Dirty Trick. William Saletan of Slate: "In a dramatic exchange [during the New Hampshire Democratic presidential debate, Amy] Klobuchar rebuked [Pete] Buttigieg for belittling the Senate impeachment trial. In the debate and in subsequent TV interviews, she used his impeachment comments to portray him as unserious. It was a clever attack. It was also deceptive." Klobuchar claimed during the debate, "what you said, Pete, as you were campaigning through Iowa -- as three of us were jurors in that impeachment hearing -- you said it was exhausting to watch and that you wanted to turn the channel and watch cartoons." Buttigieg did say that or something like it on several occasions, but it was a predicate to his true point: that Americans must resist the temptation to become demoralized & tune out the trial. Mrs. McC: I wonder why Buttigieg did nothing to correct the record then & there, inasmuch as moderators always give candidates a chance to answer the charges, and his truthful answer would have devasted Klubuchar. (Also linked yesterday.)

Hunter Walker of Yahoo! News: "While the Democratic National Committee over the past 10 days has tried to distance itself from the troubled app that threw the results of the Iowa caucuses into disarray, a copy of the contract and internal correspondence provided to Yahoo News demonstrates that national party officials had extensive oversight over the development of the technology.... The contract, which was signed on Oct. 14, 2019, and refers to Shadow as the 'Consultant,' specified that the company had to work with the DNC and provide the national party with access to its software for testing."

BBC News: "Incidents of white supremacist material being spread across the US rose by 120% in 2019, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). It was the second year that the circulation of racist and nationalist posters and banners more than doubled, the hate monitoring group said. One Texas-based group was responsible for two-thirds of all propaganda.... Last week, FBI Director Christopher Wray acknowledged that racist extremists in the US are now considered a 'national threat priority' presenting the same danger as foreign terror organisations such as the so-called Islamic State. About 90% of all incidents came from three groups - Patriot Front, American Identity Movement and the New European Heritage Association." --s

David Brooks Has a Good Idea! And It's So Socialist! "The 19th-century Nordic elites did something we haven't been able to do in this country recently. They realized that if their countries were to prosper they had to create truly successful 'folk schools' for the least educated among them. They realized that they were going to have to make lifelong learning a part of the natural fabric of society.... The German word they used to describe their approach, bildung, doesn't even have an English equivalent. It means the complete moral, emotional, intellectual and civic transformation of the person. It was based on the idea that if people were going to be able to handle and contribute to an emerging industrial society, they would need more complex inner lives.Today, Americans often think of schooling as the transmission of specialized skill sets -- can the student read, do math, recite the facts of biology. Bildung is devised to change the way students see the world." Mrs. McC: The next thing you know, Brooks will be wearing a big ole Sanders 2020 button.

News Lede

The New York Times' live updates of developments in the coronavirus epidemic are here.

Comments

[PD Pepe]

"If the Democrat can't take advantage of this election-year horror script, they really are in trouble." John Cassidy (New Yorker)

"Trump’s budget should be a gift to Democrats, but if they end up nominating someone like the ex-Republican billionaire Mike Bloomberg or the McKinsey neoliberal Pete Buttigieg as their candidate, going after Trump for waging a class war on working people will become very difficult. The obvious candidate who can authentically challenge Trump and call out his class war on working families is, of course, Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has replaced Joe Biden as the Democratic frontrunner. Sanders gave us a preview of how he would go after Trump in a statement responding to the president’s absurd budget on Monday." (I'll link this later) Conor Lynch (Truthdig)

Amy's cartoon bash re: Pete was underhanded and actually twisted into a fabrication otherwise known as a lie. A sign, perhaps, of a tenancy to get what you want by any means necessary––not something I consider especially worthy. Of course in today's atmosphere it's small potatoes compared to what we are dealing with, and what we are dealing with is ––let's use that word one more time––UNPRECEDENTED.

Happy Valentine's Day everybody––love is in the air–-hearts and flowers––thump, thump, and dump!

[PD Pepe]

Here's the link to Sander's call to Congress to reject Trump's budget:
https://www.budget.senate.gov/ranking-member/newsroom/press/sanders-calls-on-congress-to-reject-trumps-budget-of-by-and-for-the-1-percent

[RAS]

Barr is a known liar who works for a known liar. He just doesn't like his unethical behavior being broadcast worldwide by Trump. He is not working in the national interest, but in Trump's interest, per usual. And Barr is mad that Trump brags about it to everyone. Barr is used to working with people whose bad behavior is done quietly. Trump is not capable of that. Barr's statements are just cover for is accomplices to continue their work and the rest of the DOJ to continue to look the other way and do nothing.

[RAS]

I guess this is what people meant when they talked about Bloomberg buying the election