The Washington Post offers tips on how to keep your EV battery running in frigid temperatures. The link at the end of this graf is supposed to be a "gift link" (from me, Marie Burns, the giftor!), meaning that non-subscribers can read the article. Hope it works: https://wapo.st/3u8Z705
Sunday
Feb042018
The Commentariat -- February 5, 2018
It Is Treasonous Not to Applaud the Dear Leader. Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "President Trump accused Democrats on Monday of 'treasonous' behavior during his State of the Union address. Trump took aim at Democratic members of Congress who refused to applaud during his speech when he mentioned his achievements over the past year. 'Can we call that treason? Why not?' the president said during a speech in Ohio. 'They certainly didn't seem to love our country very much.'" Mrs. McC: We are down the rabbithole now. And here I was incensed Trump implied one Democratic Congressman was a criminal. Now it turns out they're all traitors. Hang 'em by the neck until dead. ...
... Jim Fallows of the Atlantic briefly reviews several books about the Trump presidency, whatever one wants to call it. "And whether you prefer 'Trumpocracy,' 'dying democracy,' 'tribalism,' or 'fascism' to describe the disease, these books leave no doubt that treatment is needed, now." ...
... President* Accuses Congressman of Illegal Leaking; Says He "Must Be Stopped." Michael Shear, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump accused a top Democratic lawmaker on Monday of being 'one of the biggest liars and leakers in Washington,' calling Representative Adam Schiff of California 'Little Adam Schiff' and accusing him of illegally leaking confidential information from the House Intelligence Committee. In an early-morning tweet, Mr. Trump ominously said that Mr. Schiff 'must be stopped,' though he did not elaborate. The president's insult came as Mr. Schiff is expected to call for a vote on Monday afternoon for the Intelligence Committee to release a Democratic rebuttal to the classified memo that the panel's Republicans released on Friday, which accuses federal law enforcement officials of abusing their powers to spy on a former Trump campaign official.... 'Little Adam Schiff, who is desperate to run for higher office, is one of the biggest liars and leakers in Washington, right up there with Comey, Warner, Brennan and Clapper!,' Mr. Trump tweeted, referring to former James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director; Senator Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia; John O. Brennan, the former C.I.A. director; and James R. Clapper Jr., the former director of national intelligence. 'Adam leaves closed committee hearings to illegally leak confidential information. Must be stopped!'" ...
... Mrs. McC: It is hard to imagine another president cavalierly and without evidence accusing a sitting member of Congress of criminal behavior. But there you go. ...
... President* Casually Provokes International Incident with Ally. Karla Adam of the Washington Post: "President Trump took a swing at Britain's beloved National Health Service on Monday, tweeting that Britons were marching in the streets because their universal health-care system was financially strapped and dysfunctional, and got a swift rebuke from the British prime minister. 'The Democrats are pushing for Universal HealthCare while thousands of people are marching in the UK because their U system is going broke and not working. Dems want to greatly raise taxes for really bad and non-personal medical care. No thanks!' he wrote. But the thousands of Britons who took to the streets over the weekend were marchingin support of the NHS and calling for greater government funding.... A spokesman for [PM Theresa] May said that 'the prime minister is proud of our NHS, that is free at the point of delivery....'... 'I may disagree with claims made on that march but not ONE of them wants to live in a system where 28m people have no cover[,' tweeted British health secretary Jeremy Hunt.]... Responding to Trump's comments, the march organizers said they were campaigning against a U.S.-style health-care system that they said is 'expensive, inefficient and unjust.'" Inspiring Trump's attack: right-wing Brit Nigel Farage on the Fox News segment, who said the NHS was "pretty much at a breaking point" because of a "population crisis." i.e., too many A-rabs. Emphasis added. ...
... Whaddaya mean "unfit for office"?
Kaitlan Collins & Tal Kopan of CNN: "The White House is dismissing an immigration deal brokered by a bipartisan group of lawmakers as a non-starter just hours before it is expected to be formally introduced in the Senate. Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain and Delaware Democratic Sen. Chris Coons are slated to introduce a bill Monday that would grant eventual citizenship to young undocumented immigrants who have been in the country since 2013 and came to the US as children, but it does not address all of the President's stated immigration priorities, like ending family-based immigration categories -- which Republicans call 'chain migration' -- or ending the diversity visa program." Mrs. McC: Big surprise, right?
Nora Ellingsen, et al., of Lawfare obtained FOIA documents proving that Trump & his administration lied when they claimed in May 2017 that one reason for firing James Comey was that he did not have the backing of rank-&-file FBI personnel. For instance, "The president of the FBI Agents Association, Thomas O'Connor, called Comey's firing a 'gut punch.'... [Instead, there was] a reaction of 'shock' and 'profound sadness' at the removal of a beloved figure to whom the workforce was deeply attached. It also shows that no aspect of the White House's statements about the bureau were accurate -- and, indeed, that the White House engendered at least some resentment among the rank and file for whom it purported to speak." The article includes a a pdf of the entire FBI documentation Lawfare received. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I really would like Mrs. Huckleberry to have to answer to Bob Mueller for her remarks. She claimed "she personally had 'heard from countless members of the FBI that are grateful and thankful for the president's decision.'" Okay, fine, Mrs. H. Produce "countless" letters, phone logs, etc. It may not be a crime to lie to the American people but to invent a false narrative to cover up the "real reason" for firing Comey is to participate in obstruction of justice. And that is a crime. ...
... Ed Kilgore: "Whatever else the firing of Comey and subsequent actions by the White House to stop the Russia investigation signify, they show a reckless disregard for the impact on the FBI, which was not demoralized until Trump demoralized it. All the loose GOP talk in connection with the Nunes memo of 'cleansing' the FBI has got to be making the atmosphere a lot worse, particularly among career types who must be in profound shock -- if not seized by hysterical laughter -- by the suggestion that the Bureau has been in the grips of some sort of leftist cabal." Mrs. McC: Yes, but Trumpetmaster Putin is awfully happy to see a U.S. intelligence agency in turmoil.
Hey, Who Reads the Footnotes? Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Republican leaders are acknowledging that a footnote to an FBI application to surveil former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page disclosed the potential political origins of a controversial private dossier cited by the application, undermining the argument of a secret memo they released on Friday and bringing new Democratic pressure on the GOP to declassify more information about the bureau's actions.... 'Neither the initial application in October 2016, nor any of the renewals, disclose or reference the role of the DNC, Clinton campaign, or any party/campaign in funding Steele's efforts, even though the political origins of the Steele dossier were then known to senior and FBI officials,' the memo alleged. But in an appearance on Fox & Friends, [Devin] Nunes was asked about reports over the weekend that the FBI application did refer to a political entity connected to the dossier.... Nunes conceded that a 'footnote' to that effect was included in the application, while faulting the bureau for failing to provide more specifics." ...
... Nancy LeTourneau of the Washington Monthly: "Only a couple of weeks ago, Republicans cooked up a conspiracy theory about a so-called 'secret society' at the FBI that was attempting to bring down the Trump administration. But something that got overlooked during the run-up to the release of the Nunes memo indicates that it was actually a group of Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee that had a secret group meeting to undermine the Mueller investigation. This announcement came on the same day the committee voted to release the memo. 'The House Intelligence Committee, led by Republicans, has opened a new investigation into both the Department of Justice and the FBI. Ranking Member Adam Schiff, D-Calif., told reporters the Democratic minority was informed of the apparently new investigations Monday night 'for the first time.' According to committee rules, the majority has to consult with the minority before opening an investigation. Schiff said Monday night there was no such consultation." The Nunes secret society has worked for weeks & continues to do so behind closed doors. ...
... ** Digby has a good piece in Salon on winger hypocrisy: "In an epic example of projection, the party that launched partisan probes for decades now claims to be horrified." ...
... ** Jonathan Chait: "Once again, as the facts have emerged in full, the underlying conclusions [of the Nunes memo] hyped by conservatives have melted away.... But ... the collapse of the factual underpinnings beneath the conservatives' claims left no impression on them whatsoever. There is no sense of chastening or remorse on the right. To the contrary, Republicans retain all of their initial fervor to use the memo to prosecute their targets in the deep state.... Cultivating distrust in institutions that are designed to play a neutral, mediating role is one of the central functions of conservative politics. It is a game that conservatives know how to win, because they are waging asymmetric warfare. There is no good way for an institution to withstand partisan attack when its existence relies upon maintaining some distance from partisanship.... There is no way to refute bad-faith criticism."
Patrick Rucker of Reuters: "Mick Mulvaney, head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has pulled back from a full-scale probe of how Equifax Inc failed to protect the personal data of millions of consumers, according to people familiar with the matter." Mrs. McC: Because protecting Americans' personal data is so wrong.
** Wow! Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Monday denied a request from Pennsylvania Republicans to delay redrawing congressional lines, meaning the 2018 elections in the state will probably be held in districts far more favorable to Democrats. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., who hears emergency requests from the state, turned down the petition without obvious objection from his colleagues. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court last month ruled that the state's Republican legislative leaders had violated the state Constitution by unfairly favoring the GOP. Although there are more registered Democrats than Republicans in the state, Republicans hold 13 of 18 congressional seats. It is the most significant victory by critics of the way most congressional and legislative districts are drawn and a sign that their efforts will be felt as early as this fall's midterm elections." Mrs. McC: Thanks, Sam. And I mean that. ...
... Barnes spells out why this is a big deal -- and a significant change in Supreme Court "philosophy": "The justices are traditionally reluctant to order changes in an election year, for one thing. And they have never thrown out a state's redistricting plan because they found it so infected with partisan bias that it violates voters' constitutional rights."
*****
Elise Viebeck & Shane Harris of the Washington Post: "Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee dissented Sunday from President Trump's view that corruption has poisoned the special counsel's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. In a sign of a growing rift within the House GOP, four members of the panel dismissed the idea pushed by Trump and other Republicans that a controversial memo criticizing how the FBI handled elements of its Russia probe undermines the investigation led by Robert S. Mueller III into possible coordination between Trump associates and the Kremlin. The memo's release Friday by the Intelligence Committee has raised fears Trump will fire Mueller or Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, who oversees the probe. Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), who helped draft the memo, said Trump should not fire Rosenstein and rejected the idea that the document has bearing on the investigation. 'I actually don't think it has any impact on the Russia probe,' Gowdy, who also chairs the House Oversight Committee, said on CBS's 'Face the Nation.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: In fairness to Trump, he had only "a few hours" to read the memo, so he has had to rely on Sean Hannity to find out what it says. (In the linked commentary, Jonathan Chait doubts that "a few hours" alone with a memo is any guarantee he Trump would read it. "(The television isn't going to watch itself)," Chait explains. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Shane Harris: Former CIA Director "John Brennan accused Rep. Devin Nunes (R.-Calif.), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, of selectively releasing information to accuse law enforcement officials of improperly obtaining a warrant to monitor the communications of a former Trump campaign adviser. 'It's just appalling and clearly underscores how partisan Mr. Nunes has been,' Brennan said in an interview on NBC's 'Meet the Press.' 'He has abused the chairmanship of [the Intelligence Committee],' Brennan said.... He emphasized that the dossier played 'no role whatsoever' in an assessment by all U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia had interfered in the 2016 election. He added that intelligence agencies were also developing their own information on Russia's interference 'on multiple fronts' and that the FBI had its own sources of information." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Jonathan Landay & Doina Chiacu of Reuters: "On Monday, the House intelligence panel will consider whether to release a memo from Democratic lawmakers that is expected to outline what they see as flaws in the Republican memo. Two sources told Reuters ... on Sunday that the intelligence committee would consider declassifying the Democratic memo on Monday and making it public. One said the meeting would take place at 5 p.m. (2200 GMT) and that there would be a vote. A Democratic member of the intelligence committee, Representative Michael Quigley, said on Sunday he was concerned that Trump could censor the Democratic memo that must be sent to him for a five-day security review before it is released under the same rule by which the Republican document was made public." ...
... Philip Carter, in Slate: "Trump betrayed the intelligence community to save his own skin.... Trump signaled ... that ... between the integrity of government investigations and his own political interests, he'll choose the latter. If he's willing to overrule his senior intelligence and law enforcement leaders over something so inconsequential and fake as the Nunes/Patel memo, it's frightening to think what he would choose in an actual crisis, when we really need him to put America first." ...
... E.J. Dionne invokes Hannah Arendt's The Origins of Totalitarianism to put Devin Nunes' memo in context. ...
... Make That "Memos." Jonathan Swan of Axios: "'The memo' -- which pitted the Justice Department against the White House and brought ugly partisan sniping into stark relief -- is only the beginning. Republican sources close to Devin Nunes tell me he's assured them there's much more to come.... Republicans close to Nunes say there could be as many as five additional memos or reports of 'wrongdoing.'... A Republican member briefed on Nunes' investigations told me: 'There are several areas of concern where federal agencies used government resources to try to create a narrative and influence the election. Some have suggested coordination with Hillary Clinton operatives, [Sidney] Blumenthal and [Cody] Shearer, to back up the false narrative.' I'm told the Nunes team has discussed producing additional reports or disclosures that don't require declassification." ...
This Week in Wingnutia. Republicans have increasingly claimed that the memo written by GOP staff members of the House Intelligence Committee, which was declassified by President Trump on Friday, shows how the FBI conspired with Democrats to interfere in the election and even spy on the Trump campaign. [For instance:]
#FISAMemo shows real collusion between Dem operatives & key officials at the FBI & DOJ to spy on the #Trump campaign & interfere in the 2016 election. The politicization of our intelligence & law enforcement agencies should concern every American. More: https://t.co/ajJzczgB78 -- [Rep.] Raúl R. Labrador [RTP-Id.], February 2, 2018... The GOP memo provides no evidence that the FBI spied on the Trump campaign. Instead, it shows that the court order for surveillance of Page was obtained weeks after Page and the Trump campaign had said Page was no longer part of the campaign. Trump has asserted that he never even met or spoke to Page. Moreover, the GOP memo confirms that the separate investigation into Russian contacts with the Trump campaign was prompted by information that was not contained in the Steele dossier. One wonders if Republicans making claims of FBI spying on the Trump campaign have even read the memo. -- Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post (Thanks to MAG for the link.) ...
... Juan Cole: "The confident pronouncements by pundits and politicians that the Nunes memo is a dud, dead on arrival, neglect to consider the main tactic of the Republican right wing for some time now. It is a conspiracy theory, and conspiracy theories carried Trump to the White House and many Republicans into Congress or state legislatures.... Nunes and Trump know that Rupert Murdoch's lying Fox Cable News will be happy to become The Nunes Memo Network 24/7. They know that Sinclair radio stations ... will play it up big time. They know that NewsMax and Breitbart and other right wing webzines will beat this drum continually.... They already have 36% of voters and just need to create doubts in or support for Trump in 15% of voters who are independents, and they keep winning politically." --safari ...
... Molly McKew in Politico Magazine: "Russian bots and their American allies gamed social media to put a flawed intelligence document atop the political agenda.... The #releasethememo campaign came out of nowhere. Its movement from social media to fringe/far-right media to mainstream media so swift[ly] that both the speed and the story itself became impossible to ignore. The frenzy of activity spurred lawmakers and the White House to release the Nunes memo, which critics say is a purposeful misrepresentation of classified intelligence meant to discredit the Russia probe and protect the president." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: That is to say, having helped elect Trump, Putin/Russia is now helping to protect him from U.S. law enforcement agencies. Think about that. There is a reason the Founders went out of their way to try to protect the presidency from foreign coups (the president & veep must be native-born). See also Emoluments Clause (a/k/a Title of Nobility Clause). Unfortunately, the Founders could not foresee bots. So congratulations! Many of you have now become subjects of the nation ostensibly ruled by Prince Donaldovich von Putin von Clownstick. The rest of you will be deported.
... Update: AND, as safari pointed out in yesterday's Comments, the whole exercise has given Russian intelligence a view of the timeline of the surveillance of Page & thus a good idea of what the U.S. has on him & on the Russians with whom he interacted. This is really why DOJ & FBI officials said releasing the memo was so reckless, & other intelligence officials (like former CIA director Brennan )are so bent out about it.>
... ** Ezra Klein of Vox, reviews How Democracies Die: "Demagogues and authoritarians do not destroy democracies. It's established political parties, and the choices they make when faced with demagogues and authoritarians, that decide whether democracies survive.... '2017 was the best year for conservatives in the 30 years that I've been here,' Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said this week. 'The best year on all fronts.'... If you want to know why congressional Republicans are opening an assault on the FBI in order to protect Trump, it can be found in that comment." Read on. --safari
Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "In mid-April, hundreds of members of the payday lending industry will head to Florida for their annual retreat featuring golf and networking at a plush resort just outside Miami. The resort just happens to be the Trump National Doral Golf Club. It will cap a year in which the industry has gone from villain to victor, the result of a concentrated lobbying campaign that has culminated in the Trump administration's loosening regulatory grip on payday lenders and a far friendlier approach by the industry's nemesis, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.... Two weeks ago, [Mick] Mulvaney[, whom Trump installed as the new head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau] put the brakes on a contentious rule, ushered in by [Obama appointee Richard] Cordray, that was set to impose tight restrictions on short-term payday loans." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: This is just one of a thousand cuts Trump & Co. have used to bleed ordinary Americans. Trump's pretense of populism was the biggest cons ever pulled on a gullible public. But it sure is nice of these chiselers to kick back a little something to Trump by way of their annual confab.
David Sanger & William Broad of the New York Times: "A treaty committing the United States and Russia to keep their long-range nuclear arsenals at the lowest levels since early in the Cold War goes into full effect on Monday. When it was signed eight years ago, President Barack Obama expressed hope that it would be a small first step toward deeper reductions, and ultimately a world without nuclear weapons. Now, that optimism has been reversed. A new nuclear policy issued by the Trump administration on Friday, which vows to counter a rush by the Russians to modernize their forces even while staying within the treaty limits, is touching off a new kind of nuclear arms race.... The Pentagon envisions a new age in which nuclear weapons are back in a big way -- its strategy bristles with plans for new low-yield nuclear weapons that advocates say are needed to match Russian advances and critics warn will be too tempting for a president to use. The result is that the nuclear-arms limits that go into effect on Monday now look more like the final stop after three decades of reductions than a way station to further cuts." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Thanks, generals! Nothing like tempting Trump to go nuclear. Fortunately, I guess, he won't be going nuclear against Russia.
Dan Barry, et al., of the New York Times: "For more than a year, an F.B.I. inquiry into allegations that Lawrence G. Nassar, a respected sports doctor, had molested three elite teenage gymnasts followed a plodding pace as it moved back and forth among agents in three cities.... Nearly a year passed before agents interviewed two of the young women.... The accumulating information included instructional videos of the doctor';s unusual treatment methods, showing his ungloved hands working about the private areas of girls lying facedown on tables. But as the inquiry moved with little evident urgency, a cost was being paid. The New York Times has identified at least 40 girls and women who say that Dr. Nassar molested them between July 2015, when he first fell under F.B.I. scrutiny, and September 2016, when he was exposed by an Indianapolis Star investigation. Some are among the youngest of the now-convicted predator's many accusers -- 265, and counting.... The [FBI's] silence had dire consequences, as the many girls and young women still seeing Dr. Nassar received no warning."
** Julia Manchester of the Hill: "Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Christopher Coons (D-Del.) will introduce immigration legislation on Monday in an effort to reach a budget deal before the federal government's current funding runs out on Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported. The bipartisan piece of legislation provides recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, commonly known as 'Dreamers,' an opportunity for citizenship while ordering a study to figure out what border security measures are needed, according to the Journal. Senate aides told the Journal that the plan would provide people who have resided in the U.S. since Dec. 31, 2013, with legal status and a path to citizenship. The Journal reported that the legislation is similar to House legislation introduced by Reps. Will Hurd (R-Texas) and Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.)." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: On its face, this plan sounds so simple sensible I don't see how it can pass. And giving Trump a "study" is perfect, though I don't suppose he'd settle for that. I'm hearing screams of "Amnesty!" P.S. In case you forgot, the federal government will run out of money again at the end of this week. ...
... Niraj Warikoo of the Detroit Free Press reports on what it's like for one 39-year-old family man to be deported from the U.S. to a country where he hasn't lived since he was 10 years old. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Amy Wang of the Washington Post writes of a chemistry professor, husband & father whom ICE is about to deport. He has lived in the U.S. for 30 years. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: It would appear both of these men could embark on a path to citizenship under the McCain-Coons bill. Since they both apparently have been good citizens for decades, why wouldn't we want them to stay here & continue the life they've built? Well, maybe because these men are not from Scotland, Germany or Norway & we're nasty xenophobes & racists. But other than that.
Congressional Races
Nick Corasaniti & Kate Zernike of the New York Times rehash the case against Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) which federal prosecutors dropped last week after the judge threw out many of the charges, following a mistrial caused by a hung jury. Menendez is up for re-election this year. Mrs. McC: Uh, still not the best candidate.
The Best Candidates. Jay Silverstein of Newsweek: "Arthur Jones, [an Illinois] anti-Semite..., is ... the only GOP candidate for a congressional spot representing parts of Chicago and its suburbs.... His campaign website features a page called 'Holocaust?' that includes a typed note calling the murder of six million Jews by Nazis 'the biggest, blackest, lie in history' and falsely claiming there is no proof of the Holocaust beyond 'a few professional concentration camp survivors.' The website also features a page calling the Confederate flag 'a symbol of White pride and White resistance' and the LGBT rainbow flag 'an attack on traditional Christian morality and religious freedom.' Jones' campaign includes the slogan, 'It's time to put America First!.'... Jones last ran for office in 2016, when he expressed his support for Trump's candidacy, noting that his only concern was that Trump's daughter Ivanka is married to a Jew, Jared Kushner. (He has since said he regrets voting for Trump because the president has 'surrounded himself with hoards of Jews.')... The Illinois Republican Party ... made clear it has no support for the man who seems to destined to represent it this year.... Jones is all but guaranteed to lose in November to one of the Democratic candidates -- incumbent Representative Dan Lipinski or challenger Marie Newman -- since the 3rd Congressional District leans heavily to the left."
Gubernatorial Race
The Best Candidates. Natasha Korecki of Politico: "A new ad that's been denounced as anti-immigrant, 'racist,' 'sexist' and 'transphobic,' is causing an uproar in Illinois, with leaders from both parties calling for its removal. But Republican state Rep. Jeanne Ives, whose campaign produced the ad in her primary election challenge to Gov. Bruce Rauner, is refusing to pull the spot, saying it exposes Rauner's 'betrayal' of GOP voters. The new ad mockingly thanks the governor for clearing a path in support of a series of social issues. Then it taps just about every conservative bogeyman in Illinois politics, and every lightning-rod cultural issue."
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Reader Comments (27)
It's being reported that mike pence is infuriated at North Korea's "hijacking" of the Olympic games and is going to personally head to South Korea and make the US's displeasure known by giving his signature "Who farted?" stare into space.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/04/mike-pence-north-korea-winter-olympics
I'm doubtful the North Korean athletes are 100% clean and probably bear an enormous burden to bring home a medal for the Dear Leader, but given the current circumstances it seems like giving sports diplomacy the opportunity to deescalate tensions seems like a pretty fair tradeoff from all the "fire and fury" talk of late. If the Drumpf administration were competent at all, they'd be exploiting this opportunity to press their case behind the scenes, instead of pouting on the sidelines.
And if mike pence really wanted to fight against a country "hijacking" the sanctity of sport, fairness, and the Olympic tradition, maybe he could throw some shade at Drumpf's new BFF Vlady, whose steroid-ridden athletes will still be allowed to compete, albeit with an asterisks, despite the fact that, "Russia is acknowledged to have committed the sporting fraud of the century, by manipulating doping samples of more than 1,000 athletes across 30 sports from 2010-15 and corrupting the Winter Games in Sochi in 2014." Vlady's Russia is reemerging in visionary image, exporting its country's treasures to the world: corruption, corrupted athletes, world class money laundering schemes, and the world's finest and most dedicated internet troll army.
Putin is obsessed with looking strong, and his unprecedented doping plan has backfired spectacularly, exposing his system as a Wizard of Oz curtain show. A few snide remarks about Russia's need to juice to compete against world-class competition would be a tactful yet poignant diplomatic shiv, but pence hasn't got the will nor the cojones to poke the benefactor bear.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/feb/02/winter-olympics-russian-doping-ban-pyeongchang
The NYTimes has a video story (but I really don't care to learn more about this jerk) Elliott Kline, a.k.a. Eli Mosley, is a rising white supremacist leader. But our investigation found that his personal narrative — like much of the movement’s messaging — is built on deception.
Don't know whether my reaction is burying my head in the sand or more likely so sick and tired of these repulsive individuals getting noticed in front page stories...such as the person Bea McCrab mentioned today "... "Arthur Jones, [an Illinois] anti-Semite..., is ... the only GOP candidate for a congressional spot representing parts of Chicago and its suburbs..."
Often I think such exposure doesn't embarrass or humiliate these 'guys' but broadens their appeal to their basest of bases.
My opinion of ICE grows more distasteful day by day, the outrageous deportation stories are, frankly, unAmerican. Or what I thought America stood for. It's one thing to track down anyone entering the US and coming here to destroy (such as the 9/11-ers), but to deport individuals who came as CHILDREN and have lived, raised families, & worked here for decades as good 'citizens' is unconscionable.
Fascinating how certain Republicans are beginning to hedge their positions. Trey Gowdy, for instance...and even Paul Ryan beginning to
wavierwaffle. Let's hope the Democrats memo gets released. Why not? It is discouraging to read the stories that people in Nunes district have little interest in what he is doing, in fact, too many seem supportive....and a P.S. to PDPepe: Really, PD I knew you how you meant your description of Everett Dirksen yesterday. Wasn't picking on you! But, the word 'white' seems to have developed such a negative imagery and pops up in all the worst places: From White supremacists to the Great White Hope, to White Lightening, and, alas, even poor Orca! However, white is apparently OK in pant suits! and thanks, Bea for your note.
The groveling, obsequious, submissive response by the entirety of the GOP (those who claim to be wary of Trump’s autocratic moves are coming with too little too late and so get the same tar brush as the rest of the traitors) has emboldened the little dictator and revved up his most treasonous and anti-democratic urges.
Putin could not possibly have envisioned that his plan to develop a chiseling, self-promoting real estate con man as a Russian asset would be so wildly successful. In addition to knee-capping America’s hated democratic institutions, Trump has brought along his entire party which is now, in addition to its status as a warren of traitors, the Party of Moscow. The Order of Lenin is waiting, for Ryan, McConnell and, of course, Trump, assuredly as it did for Kim Philby and other members of British intelligence who spied for Russia and then defected to escape being hung as traitors.
But Trumpskyev and the Party of Moscow haven’t just folded the sails of democracy for its Russian masters, they, and especially Comrade Donaldavich, have invited further Russian meddling in American elections. Not just invited, they’ve cleared all obstacles, paved the road, and, with the Nunes-Trump-GOP memo, provided road signs and warnings of potential dangers. By offering their masters a look at the FBI investigation into their idiot agent Carter Page, along with a timeline, they have done the work of dozens of highly placed informers.
And into the bargain, Trump has very gallantly removed all the toll booths that would have made Putin pay a price for driving on the Party of Moscow Highway by declining any and all sanctions for such interference.
Trump has put the United States on a par with minion satellite states of the former Soviet Union. And he’s done it with the full backing and cooperation of traitors like Sean Hannity and the entire Fox organization.
Trump, in one year, with his party of traitors, has done more to undermine the vitality of American democracy and the strength of its institutions than could have been accomplished by a phalanx of marching Russian agents and a shooting war on our soil.
He is democracy’s anti-Christ.
I found Ezra Klein's piece today riveting––how Democracies Die––oh, no, we say, that could never happen here––this is after all the greatest country on earth we have been told over and over.
"The simple fact of the matter is that the world has never built a multiethnic democracy in which no particular ethnic group is in the majority and where political equality, social equality and economies that empower all have been achieved.
Perhaps we will be the first. But if we have learned nothing else from this era, it should be to take seriously the possibility that we could fail. That is the challenge of our immediate future. Nothing less is at stake than American democracy itself."
The wind is blowing in a right-wing direction and right now is strong enough to rip off some pretty strong branches. If we see a change in the voting in 2018–-dems winning bigly–-we may breathe easier, but I think, at least for me, to take our democracy, as flawed as it might be, for granted is a fool's paradise.
Bloomberg: Trump Rebuked Over Tweet on U.K. Health System
The Tweet:"The Democrats are pushing for Universal HealthCare while thousands of people are marching in the UK because their U system is going broke and not working. Dems want to greatly raise taxes for really bad and non-personal medical care. No thanks!"
So thousands want a fix for a problem and millions want UHC.
Source of major policy:"The trigger for Trump’s remark appeared to be an appearance by former U.K. Independence Party leader Nigel Farage on Fox & Friends. Farage, a key figure in the campaign to leave the European Union, partly blamed overcrowding at NHS hospitals on immigration, according to media reports."
So FOX 'News' is the primary source. Their advantage is not just what Trump loves, it provides information that doesn't require reading. Trump will never go to London.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-05/britons-sick-of-nhs-trump-tweet-prompts-new-transatlantic-spat
@MarvinS: Have a friend from the UK who recently underwent surgery in a hospital in the Boston area. She couldn't wait to get out the place. For five days no bed linens were changed, a nurse or nurse's aide tossed a bed pan onto the bed (person had foot surgery and is unable to walk) then left the room! No further assistance offered. There was more that upset her. Around Thanksgiving my brother was in the hospital (PA) for five days and was also dismayed by the conditions and care that he encountered.
Remember when hospitals had that strong antiseptic smell?
Now we're warned about the dangers of encountering infections
should we require a hospital stay.
Remember when nurses wore crisp white uniforms, hose, Red Cross shoes and the nifty 'nurses caps' —not wrinkled, pulled from the dryer scrubs!
Remember nonprofit hospitals? If there's a buck to be made whether healthcare, prison systems, schools, infrastructure, etc...privatization is not the answer.
Our healthcare system needs a major overhaul in many ways.
Marvin,
Regarding Trump's latest misunderstanding (based on 1. his own stupidity, and 2. non-stop injection of Fox propaganda), Brits are marching because their healthcare system, which has been working since the end of WWII, is being nickel and dimed by Trump's right-wing counterparts in Britain. Wingers, if their cherished ideological fantasies cannot be realized or have no basis in fact, do whatever they can to force their vision to take shape, even if it means hurting (or killing) millions of citizens.
A healthcare system that needs tweaking (and which one doesn't?) is not the same as "terrible, awful, not working..." or whichever Trumpian disparagement is on offer on any particular day.
But this is what Trump and his winger mob have been doing to healthcare in this country. A system that was amazingly successful has been dynamited so he can point to the wreckage and say "See! Toldja it wasn't working!"
Adam Schiff (D-CA) is exactly correct when he suggests that Fat Boy leave off with the Fox television obsession and the attack tweets and do some fucking work for a change. Lazy fucker.
Team Trump
Just came across a well done piece on the NYRB site by Andrew Cohen putting the Nunes Treason Memo in context. Here's how he describes Team Trump:
"On one side is the president, his Republican allies in Congress, scions of finance and commerce who are cashing in on the administration’s widening corruption, white nationalists and their enablers, the resentment-nursing, swindled “forgotten men and women,” and the gleeful Russians. On the other side are the rest of us, including longtime public servants at the Justice Department and the FBI, and congressional Democrats who have the facts but clearly not the power on their side."
So, liars, weasels, ideological maniacs, opportunistic corporate chieftains, the one percenter me-me-me's, haters, self-described victims, bigots, Fox watchers, and the intelligence apparatus of an antagonistic foreign government whose sworn duty is to bury the United States and piss on its grave.
Team Trump.
This morning I listened to several members of Team Trump blather on about how they were the only ones standing between America and eternal damnation on the Cross of the Partisan FBI. It was like listening to an arsonist talk about saving all those houses he burned down from the unfit families that were living in them. The TT members went on at length, aggressively and arrogantly whining about how it's the Democrats and the horrible DOJ and FBI that are politicizing the surveillance issue related to the Carter Page FISA warrant, and that Nunes and Trump, et al are merely acting on wrongdoing that they've discovered, and should they just sit by idly while partisan Democratic hacks destroy this great nation, god bless it, and try to take down those noble patriots like poor Devin Nunes while they're at it??
I thought of that when I read E.J. Dionne's piece, linked above, which begins with this perfect description of what I had heard:
"The autocratic leader lies and then falsely charges his opponents with lying. He politicizes institutions that are supposed to be free of politics by falsely accusing his foes of politicizing them. He victimizes others by falsely claiming they are victimizing him.
The autocrat also counts on spineless politicians to cave in to his demands. And as they destroy governmental institutions at his bidding, they insist they are defending them."
Team Trump.
Akhilleus, You are right, it's the right wing. A major part of the current problems in UK healthcare is Brexit. A large number of physicians and other healthcare workers who came from other European countries are leaving.
We will see the same. ICE will throw away lots of scientists, educators and more.
I've seen a bunch of stories about ICE deporting doctors, professors, fathers, mothers, solid members of their communities for decades, but at this point, not a single breathless tale of the arrest and imminent deportation of one of those drug lords, rapists, or murderers Trump promised were here by the millions. If there were so many criminals and dangerous, murderous gang members being caught up in what seems will be a perpetual ICE dragnet, why haven't we heard about them? I guarantee if they caught a guy here illegally who had more than three parking tickets or who was regularly stopped for jaywalking, the little dictator would have tweeted the breathless news for days and Hannity would be doing around the clock specials about how Trump saved America once again!
I mean, the clock strikes twelve, Trump takes credit for it. If there were all those millions of hardened criminals "dragging down 'merica", and they were caught, we'd hear about it.
We haven't.
So there's one of two things happening. Either there aren't millions of those rapists and career criminals sent here by Mexico, or ICE is just going after low hanging fruit. Waiting in front of a guy's house as he gets ready to drive his kids to school. All those ICE hard guys surely couldn't be expected to go after really tough criminals, could they? Instead, they spend their time dumping out water left in the desert to help keep people alive, then arrest the people who put it there.
Team Trump.
Adam Schiff in Esquire, Trump Wants to Make the FBI His Instrument: http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a16560965/schiff-trump-fbi-instrument/?src=nl&mag=esq&list=nl_enl_news&date=020518
Do we think it's odd that this president* has criticized almost every
country and leader in the world except one? The one with the worst
record of abuse of power, probably the largest mafia known, money
laundering and on and on. There must be a reason he hasn't turned
on Putin. Time will tell, hopefully.
And according to Wikipedia, there are 3,163,084 self-reported
Russians and 409,000 Russian born citizens in the USA. That's
more than our population of full-blooded Native Americans.
Forrest,
I'm guessing ICE won't be looking for any Russians to deport.
Do svidaniya!, have a nice day now. Oh, if you're thirsty, comrade, we have this nice water we took from the desert. Comrade Donaldavich told us to pour most of it out, but we kept some for his friends. Help yourself.
Projecting again!
Liar and Leaker in Chief, Comrade Trumpskyev, characterizes California congressman Adam Schiff as a liar and leaker. Hmm...I guess he'd know.
He's the one who leaked highly classified information to the Russians--in the freakin' OVAL OFFICE! How bad was this leak?
From Wikipedia entry on Trump's Classified Disclosures:
"Intelligence expert Amy Zegart of Stanford University noted that Trump revealed code word intelligence, which is the highest layer of classification, even higher than the 'top secret' classification. Such information, if revealed could reasonably be expected to cause 'exceptionally grave damage' to the national security of the United States. She wrote, "so just how bad is the damage? On a scale of 1 to 10—and I'm just ball parking here—it's about a billion.'"
And that's not his only leak. On a phone call to fellow authoritarian dictator Rodrigo Duterte, Leak-boy Trump let on the locations of two US nuclear submarines...also highly classified information. There have likely been many more leaks by this imbecile.
How stupid is he? On a scale of 1 to 10...
Chait's post, linked in this afternoon's update, struck a chord with me. Over the weekend, a friend who isn't interested in politics phoned me. During the course of the conversation, just to gauge what people who aren't paying attention thought about The Memo, I asked him if he'd heard about it. He said, "Yeah, something, but I don't really listen to that stuff," after which he explained it away with the usual "all politicians are liars" excuse.
Right around there I managed to slip in stats that Akhilleus had uncovered last week about how many indictments & convictions came out of each recent presidential administration & how the Obama administration, unlike the others, had zero. Now that did cause my friend pause, & he seemed to acknowledge that not all politicians are equal. But I have no doubt he will revert to the old "all politicians are liars" trope by sometime in the distant future, like today.
This is how Republicans win. If they can convince the public that everyone is a crook, that no government institution can be trusted, then they inoculate themselves every time they're caught with cookie crumbs on their fat little hands. Sure, Trump is making money off the presidency, but he's a businessman! And Benghaaazi! And the e-mails! If you listed 500 awful things Trump has done (and that's possible), they'd say "Monica Lewinski." If you showed them the FBI & the FISA court had dotted the "i"s & crossed the "t"s in the Carter Page warrant, they say, "J. Edgar Hoover."
And, as Chait point out, institutions do deserve criticism. They're made up of people, & people make mistakes. Sometimes they make them on purpose, for selfish reasons. Plus, it's easy to dislike the government at every level. It "takes" our money. It makes us do stuff we don't want to do. It imposes thousands of rules that affect our everyday lives -- every day. Are there places you would like to drive faster than the posted speed limit? Of course. Would you prefer not to pay taxes? Yep. Is it fun separating garbage from recyclables? Not to me. Would you rather toss your receipts than save & sort them at tax time? The majority of the time we have some contact (or indirect contact) with government officials, it's a hassle. If you own a small business ... well, never mind.
When others complain that Trump's & the GOP's attacks on institutions like the FBI, the Mueller investigation & the press are "eroding Americans' faith in democratic institutions," Republicans don't recoil in shame or even have second thoughts. "Eroding Americans' faith in democratic institutions" is their goal. They don't see such claims as criticisms but as validations. It's working!
The Audience for Political Lies
Supporting Marie's thesis about the ubiquitous in flagrante delicto aspect of mendacious Confederate pronunciatmentos, I listened to an interview on NPR this afternoon that encapsulates the essential difference between decent people and GOP liars and flacks.
The interviewee was Benjamin Wittes, a journalist and senior fellow at the Brookings. Wittes, having filed a number of FOIA requests, subsequent to Liarby Sanders' and Trumpy's declarations regarding the Comey firings, that rank and file FBI agents were thrilled that their hee-roe, Trumpado, had given Comey the boot and that they all agreed with the Glorious Leader that the agency was corrupt and horrible and all senior agents who were engaged in the Trump/Russia investigation, secreted Muslim flags in their garages and pulled the sheets over their spouses' heads at night so they could fart them into oblivion.
Wittes' FOIA discoveries were the exact opposite from the lying Trumpies' declarations, as you probably would guess. A declaration that it was a nice day from any one of these mendacious twits would demand an NOAA readout and first hand reports before it could be corroborated and accepted as truth.
And now here's where it gets interesting.
The NPR interviewer then pressed Wittes on his connection to Comey, suggesting that his enmity toward the lying Trumpies had more to do with his friendship with Comey than with an interest in the truth.
Okay. Take a breath here. Switch this around. Say NPR was asking a Confederate the same question. Something like "Isn't it true that your friendship with Right Wing Joe Shit the Rag Man had a lot to do with your investigation and attempt to prove that his firing wasn't legitimate.
Now...think about what someone like Paul Ryan would say....
"FUCK NO!!! There is NO possible way that my personal connection with my pal Joe Shit the Rag Man had ANYTHING to do with my FOIA request. I am only interested in the continued preservation of American interests and the Constitution and George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and god and Jesus and Ronald Reagan!! Goddamit! Anyone who sez different is a fucking traitor!!"
You KNOW that's how they would respond. They've been responding exactly that way about Trump's lies and baseless allegations concerning the Mueller investigation into Trumpy's treason.
But here's how Wittes responded (I'm paraphrasing):
"Well, sure I'm a friend of Jim Comey's but the fact is that his firing had no basis in reality" or words to that effect.
The further fact is that this is partly why Democrats don't get the benefit of the doubt that constantly goes to Confederates who lie through their teeth. Few Americans expect people to lie so frequently and so brazenly in the face of contrary facts. So they MUST have a leg to stand on, doncha think? I mean, would they really lie like that?
And that's how they win. Because YES they'd lie like that. They do it every day. And three times on Sunday (morning shows).
Democrats don't. At least not like THAT. And that's why they get screwed.
I'm not suggesting that we lie too (few Democrats are as experienced at blatant lying as Republicans, but that's a different issue) in order to compete with the Trumpies, but that we find a way to restore an appreciation of nuance. Confederates appeal to the essential third grader in all their voters. Democrats appeal to adults.
Fox appeals to first graders.
Trump to infants.
Are we now close to a president inferring that a political opponent should be assassinated? How long before some idiot takes a shot at Congressman Schiff?
"He must be stopped". And just how Mr. President?
Dan,
Great point. And this is not the first time the little dictator has suggested that his "enemies" needed to be "taken out".
He gave the go ahead to his thuggish horde to shoot and kill Hillary Clinton, wondering why "Second Amendment people" didn't act on his demand to remove his rival.
Trump promotes idiocy and provides safe harbor for the most vile haters and violent scumbags. But they, according to Trumpskyev, are just "good people", even if they're murdering Nazis. No wonder he loves Putin.
We are so far around the bend, I see a Mobius Strip road up ahead.
Just checked into RC for the day and my head is spinning to such a degree I have no coherent thoughts about the present.
Have instead been reading the Brands Grant biography. I'm now in
Grant's presidency during the Reconstruction period, which sad to say though we're talking 150 plus years ago, doesn't offer that much of a contrast to the present.
In fact, found Andrew Johnson, with his late term Southern sympathies not Andrew Jackson, who Bannon told the Pretender his behavior recalled, was a much better Pretender parallel, impeachment and all.
Problem. A. Johnson's impeachment failed largely because too many senators did not care for the man, Benjamin Wade, who would have replaced him...
Wade apparently played the part of the Pence of his time.
I'm really disappointed that the Democrats didn't stand
during the president's* STFU address. They should have stood
and yelled "you lie" after every lie and exaggeration a la
Joe Wilson and his "you lie" yelled at Obama.
Still giggling at the "STFU address"...
And hey, Digby says that "after years of sleazy partisan attacks, Republicans are outraged". Quite so. But here's the thing.
They're outraged at truth, not "sleazy partisan attacks" because Democrats are not coming at them with the same sort of hammer and tong mendacity and shabby punk-ass bullshit Confederates are famous for. GOP prevaricators are incensed that their lies are met with truth.
A fate worse than death.
Oh, and one other thing...
"Stocks went into free fall on Monday, and the Dow plunged almost 1,600 points -- easily the biggest point decline in history during a trading day. "
Biggest point decline in history. Easily.
Has Fat Ass, Fox Lover, Liar in Chief, who presents himself as Economic Giant-Wall Street Hee-roe, figured out how in the fucking world he can pin this "biggest decline in history" on Obama-Clinton-Democrats-Comey-FBI-Rosenstein-DOJ-Immigrants-Uppity Broads-Minorities-Santa Claus-Hardy Boys-Americans Who Read, but Not Winger Lies types?
Don't worry. He will.
Yes, the Dow plunged 1,175 today, beating the previous point drop by almost 400. No sweat, they say, it's a modest percentage, 4.60%, they say.
The Dow dropped a greater percentage twice during the Obama administration. According to Wikipedia, it dropped 4.62% on August 10, 2011 and 5.55% on August 8, 2011. Why is that?
Standard and Poors downgraded the US credit rating from AAA to AA+ on August 6. There was also great fear over European sovereign debt, or Euro crisis going on.
Credit rating agencies have not always been fair team players in the game of money (2007, anyone?). Clearly they weren't reading Krugman at the time.
An NPR blurt said that the President or the White House said that the fundamentals are strong. I remember John McCain using those very words in 2007. Fuckers, all of 'em.
I think after reading today's news and comments here we can conclude that our divisions in this country can be summed up by Nisky who slapped four words together to describe the poltroonery of "thems" that are bringing the house down:
"FUCKERS, ALL OF 'EM."
Ak I have to disagree with you on how cons would lie in reply to accusations of partiality towards pals. They would say, and do say, "don't know the guy, never met him, don't know who you're talking about". As in "trump never met with Papadopoulos", photographic proof notwithstanding. You are clearly a lib/prog with those fifth rate lying skills.
Looks like Wall St. was treasonous today, too.
Democrats' fault.
Can't wait for the tweet.
I'm thinking about messaging (words matter), which I believe is very important in our short attention span, low info world, and which Dems are weaker at because they believe policy and details are more important. A few (lame) ideas that could be tweaked for individual races and inserting candidate names:
Reason not Treason
Take America
backforwardBetter Stronger Fairer
Fight for Fifteen
Democrats: Still fighting Nazis
Democrats working for everyone ... not watching tv (with pic)
I'll keep my day job .... but Dems have to get someone talented working in this stuff, like, really!