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
Wednesday
Jan162019
The Commentariat -- January 17, 2019
Afternoon Update:
William Broad & Annie Karni of the New York Times: "President Trump announced Thursday the results of a missile defense review that he said would update a decades-old system and protect the United States from emerging threats -- adopting a Cold War stance while also promoting futuristic ambitions with his much-touted Space Force.... Mr. Trump also offered condolences to the families of four Americans killed in Syria a day earlier and lashed out at Democrats in Congress for refusing to fund a wall on the border with Mexico -- the central issue that has prompted the government shutdown, now in its fourth week. He accused Speaker Nancy Pelosi of prohibiting Democrats from negotiating with him, calling border security 'another critical matter of national security.' 'Nothing else is going to work,' Mr. Trump said of building a wall. He also said the Democratic Party had been 'hijacked by the open borders fringe.'" ...
... Eric Schmitt, et al., of the New York Times: "The bombing [in Syria that killed 19, including four Americans] raised new questions about Mr. Trump's surprise decision last month to end the American ground war in Syria. Critics of the president's plans, including members of his own party, said Mr. Trump's claim of victory over the Islamic State may have emboldened its fighters and encouraged Wednesday's strike." This story is a substantial of one linked below. ...
... Joe Concha of the Hill: "Fox News national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin reported that a senior foreign diplomat had told the network that the deadly suicide attack on U.S. troops in Syria was a 'direct result of the announcement made by President Trump that U.S. forces are pulling out.' 'U.S. allies remain up in arms about the U.S. announcing it is pulling out of Syria,' Griffin reported on Fox News chief anchor Shepard Smith's newscast on Wednesday afternoon."
Amy Goldstein of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration separated thousands more migrant children from their parents at the U.S. border than has previously been made public, according to an investigative report released Thursday, but the federal tracking system has been so poor that the precise number is hazy. According to the report issued by the inspector general for the Department of Health and Human Services, the separated children include 118 taken between July and early November -- after the administration halted a short-lived family separation effort that provoked a political firestorm and public outrage. The report estimates that thousands of other youngsters were taken starting early in the Trump administration, months before the government announced it would separate children in order to criminally prosecute their parents, through late last spring. Although previous administrations also separated minors from adults at the border in some instances -- usually when they suspected the child was smuggled, or the parent appeared to be unfit -- the report documents a sharp increase in separations under Trump. Based on available records, separated children accounted for 0.3 percent of all unaccompanied minors taken into HHS custody in late 2016, near the end of the Obama administration. By August of 2017, the percentage had increased more than tenfold, to 3.6 percent."
Ha Ha. Eileen Sullivan & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "... Rudolph W. Giuliani backtracked on Thursday from a surprising assertion he made a night earlier that left open the possibility that Trump campaign aides might have coordinated with Russia's election interference in 2016. 'There was no collusion by President Trump in any way, shape or form,' Mr. Giuliani said in a statement on Thursday.... 'Likewise, I have no knowledge of any collusion by any of the thousands of people who worked on the campaign.'... Mr. Giuliani was seeking to clarify an interview on Wednesday night in which he stopped short of defending Trump campaign aides, drawing speculation that he might have inside knowledge of possible coordination with Russia.... Mr. Giuliani's backpedaling was the latest in a series of conflicting comments he has made about the investigation of the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III. The evolution of his statements have suggested shifts in the president's defense strategy, often following developments in the investigations.... Mr. Trump has maintained that his campaign never aided Russia's meddling, even as the special counsel inquiry has revealed communications between Russians and some Trump campaign aides." ...
... Kate Sullivan of CNN: "The House Judiciary Committee chairman said Wednesday that his panel would subpoena special counsel Robert Mueller's final report if William Barr..., Donald Trump's nominee for attorney general, does not release it to the public. 'If necessary, our committee will subpoena the report. If necessary, we'll get Mueller to testify,' Rep. Jerry Nadler, a New York Democrat, told CNN's Anderson Cooper.... 'The American people need the information here.'"
Donovan Slack of USA Today: "An investigation of former Veterans Affairs secretary David Shulkin largely cleared him of allegations he misused his security detail for shopping and other errands, but concluded he violated ethics rules by allowing his driver to provide transportation for his wife, the VA inspector general said in a report Thursday. Investigators determined Shulkin permitted his driver to transport his wife on several occasions.... Using government vehicles for unofficial purposes was prohibited in this case, and the personal transportation services would have qualified as a gift, the inspector general concluded. Federal ethics rules bar employees from accepting gifts from subordinate staff."
Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pa.), who was just elected to a fifth term, announced Thursday that he is resigning from Congress later this month to accept a job in the private sector[.]... The former prosecutor was one of the first House Republicans to endorse Donald Trump and he was an informal adviser to the candidate. Marino has won handily in his heavily Republican Pennsylvania district, but faced a new reality as Democratic seized majority control of the House last November.... President Trump nominated Marino to be the nation's drug czar in 2017, but Marino withdrew from consideration following a Washington Post/'60 Minutes' investigation detailing how the lawmaker helped steer legislation through Congress that weakened the Drug Enforcement Administration's ability to go after drug distributors, even as opioid-related deaths continue to rise."
*****
Eric Schmitt & Ben Hubbard of the New York Times: "American troops were among 15 people killed on Wednesday in a suicide bombing in northern Syria that was claimed by the Islamic State, just weeks after President Trump ordered the withdrawal of United States forces with what he declared the extremist group's defeat. The attack targeted a restaurant in the northern city of Manbij where American soldiers would sometimes stop to eat during their patrols of the area, residents said. After the blast, a number of Americans were evacuated by helicopter, they said. It was not immediately clear how many had been in the area at the time of the blast." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Pence Says What He's Told to Say, No Matter the Facts on the Ground. Jennifer Hansler of CNN: "On the same day that an ISIS-claimed attack killed US service members in Syria, Vice President Mike Pence declared that 'the caliphate has crumbled and ISIS has been defeated.' Pence's remark to the Global Chiefs of Mission conference at the US State Department came about an hour after the US-led coalition confirmed that American troops had been killed in an explosion in Manbij. 'U.S. service members were killed during an explosion while conducting a routine patrol in Syria today. We are still gathering information and will share additional details at a later time,' the tweet from Operation Inherent Resolve said. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, which the ISIS-affiliated Amaq agency said was carried out by a suicide bomber with an explosive vest." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Well, Maybe pence Stepped out Here. David Sanger of the New York Times: "Vice President Mike Pence told American ambassadors on Wednesday that North Korea has failed to take any substantive steps to give up its nuclear weapons, even as President Trump is moving toward a second meeting with Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader. 'While the president has started a promising dialogue with Chairman Kim,' Mr. Pence told the gathering at the State Department, 'we still await concrete steps by North Korea to dismantle the nuclear weapons that threaten our people and our allies in the region.' With the unequivocal statement, Mr. Pence seemed to directly contradict the president's claim on Twitter, after his first summit meeting in June, that 'there is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea.' At the time, many of Mr. Trump's top aides cringed at the declaration, fearing it would take the economic pressure off the North to disarm."
The Trump Shutdown, Ctd.
Trump Exploits Unpaid Workers for His Own Gain. Nancy Cook of Politico: "The Trump administration is pushing the legal boundaries of a government shutdown, fueling fears that the president is manipulating federal agencies and workers to soften the political blow against him. In recent days, agencies have called back to work thousands of furloughed federal employees, restarted services and pursued key policies at shuttered agencies. The activity has legal experts, administration officials and veterans of past shutdowns questioning what actually constitutes a government shutdown if the administration can simply resurrect its preferred services and à la carte policy to-do list nearly a month after funding technically expired for several agencies. So far, the Trump administration has continued to plow forward on its controversial immigration policies, brought back workers to ensure government assistance gets to farmers and ranchers -- a key constituency -- and is weighing whether to recall workers would could assist in the federal rulemaking process that has been stymied during the shutdown, according to administration officials. 'What they are doing is making an obligation and policy without Congress's approval,' said Barry Anderson, former deputy director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. 'Congress is saying there is no money for this and Trump is still doing it.'... Already, House Democrats are questioning some these shutdown decisions, focusing most recently on an Interior Department decision to bring back employees working on offshore drilling efforts, another politically divisive policy move. They slammed the move as illegal and demanded an end to it." ...
... Katie Rogers & Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "As the government shutdown stretches into its fourth week, the Trump administration is reinterpreting longstanding rules to open the federal government piece by piece, forcing thousands of workers to report to work without pay, many of them in sectors that could minimize damage to the president's base.... In past shutdowns, only workers deemed 'essential' to protecting life and property -- a category that would include people like Secret Service agents -- were allowed to work."
Katie Mettler of the Washington Post: "... in public remarks at the White House, at the border and at farming conventions, the president has been talking about tape on the mouths of migrant women. On at least eight occasions over a period of 12 days this month, the president has argued publicly for his proposed wall on the southern border by claiming without evidence that traffickers tie up and silence women with tape before illegally driving them through the desert from Mexico to the United States in the backs of cars and windowless vans. In Trump's telling, the adhesive is sometimes blue tape. Other times it is electrical tape or duct tape.... With an eerie specificity, Trump has characterized these acts as commonplace. Yet human-trafficking experts and advocates for immigrant women have said they are perplexed by this increasingly repeated story in Trump's repertoire -- and are at a loss for where he got his information. It was not from them, they say; in fact, they have no idea what he is talking about." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Could what Mettler describes as Trump's "salacious and graphic" descriptions have anything to do with a preference for tying up women & silencing them? Nah. It's just that some of his lies are weirder than others. Maybe.
Juliegrace Brufke of the Hill: "The House passed a Democratic-backed emergency disaster relief bill on Wednesday that includes an amendment funding the federal government through early February. The bill passed in a 237-187 vote, with six Republicans joining Democrats in voting for the measure, which would reopen parts of the government and fund them through Feb. 8. The legislation introduced by House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) would provide $12.1 billion in disaster relief funding for areas impacted by Hurricane Florence, Hurricane Michael and the California wildfires, as well as other areas impacted by natural disasters last year. The measure is not expected to be taken up in the Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has vowed to not bring any spending measure to reopen the government to the floor unless President Trumphas signaled he will sign it."
#WheresMitch? Freshman Democrats Went on a Mitch Hunt. They Didn't Find Him. Lesley Clark of McClatchy News: "On Wednesday, [Alexandria] Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York..., called [Mitch] McConnell out on Twitter and for the second time in two days joined a parade of House freshmen who crossed from the House to the Capitol and over to McConnell's Senate office. They delivered a letter calling on McConnell to put the House spending bills up for a vote 'so that we can end this manufactured crisis.'... 'We're here doing our jobs,' Ocasio-Cortez said, standing by McConnell's office. 'We have voted, repeatedly, over and over again to re-open the government. Where's Mitch? That's my question.' She accused McConnell of ducking the members of Congress and said the freshmen wanted to have a 'conversation with him about getting people their paychecks.' McConnell's office provided the House members with use of a copier to run off more letters and McConnell's deputy chief of staff, Don Stewart, said he told them he'd deliver the letter to McConnell."
Jordyn Phelps of ABC News: "A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers from the House Problem Solvers Caucus sat down with President Trump at the White House Wednesday as the president continues to demand funding to build a southern border wall as a condition for ending the partial government shutdown.... The seven Democrats who attended Wednesday's meeting released a statement as they arrived at the White House saying they accepted the president's invitation in order to relay their message that the government must be reopened as a precondition for further in-earnest conversations."
Heather Caygle & Rachel Bade of Politico: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday asked ... Donald Trump to reschedule his State of the Union address -- or deliver it in writing -- as long as the government remains shut down. Pelosi said the partial shutdown has hamstrung both the U.S. Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security, potentially harming the security planning that precedes the primetime address." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I look forward to the first SOTU written in crayon. ...
... Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "The Trump administration on Wednesday pushed back on Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) claim that 'security concerns' caused by the partial government shutdown should force the postponement of President Trump's State of the Union address. 'The Department of Homeland Security and the US Secret Service are fully prepared to support and secure the State of the Union,' Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said on Twitter.... White House officials have been considering using the president's annual address to the nation to admonish Democrats over the shutdown and their opposition to Trump's request for $5.7 billion in funding for a border wall." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Kirstjen there doesn't seem to understand the concept of how to deal with an unwelcome guest. You make up a fake excuse to uninvite them. It's kinda like British Queen Elizabeth's "welcome" to Trump. As a heads-of-state of countries that used to have a "special relationship," Elizabeth was had to invite the Trumps to tea. But she made it a very short, low-key affair, and the other royals all stayed away. No photos of a tête-à-tête in the Queen's parlor, no snaps of Trump playing with the grandkids. ...
... Speaking of Trump's playing with kids ...
... The Bloody Hand of Trump. Ben Schreckinger of Politico: "... the back of Trump's right hand was covered with an adhesive bandage during a Thursday trip to McAllen, Texas, with blood visibly seeping through the dressing. His hand was similarly bandaged again on Monday as he departed for a trip to New Orleans.... The White House said on Tuesday that Trump sustained the injury while playing with his 12-year-old son. 'The President was having fun and joking around with his son Barron and scratched his hand,' White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told Politico." Uh-huh.
Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "The partial government shutdown is inflicting far greater damage on the United States economy than previously estimated, the White House acknowledged on Tuesday, as President Trump's economists doubled projections of how much economic growth is being lost each week the standoff with Democrats continues. The revised estimates from the Council of Economic Advisers show that the shutdown, now in its fourth week, is beginning to have real economic consequences. The analysis, and other projections from outside the White House, suggests that the shutdown has already weighed significantly on growth and could ultimately push the United States economy into a contraction.... Mr. Trump, who has hitched his political success to the economy, also faces other economic headwinds, including slowing global growth, a trade war with China and the waning effects of a $1.5 trillion tax cut." (Also linked yesterday.)
This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd.
Jessica Taylor of NPR: "Officials leasing the Old Post Office Building for the Trump International Hotel in Washington improperly ignored the Constitution's anti-corruption clauses when they continued to lease the government property to President Trump even after he won the White House, according to an internal federal government watchdog. The Inspector General for the General Services Administration, the agency that leased the building to Trump in 2013, said in a report published Wednesday that agency lawyers decided to ignore the constitutional issues when they reviewed the lease after Trump won the 2016 election. 'The GSA Office of General Counsel recognized that the President's business interest in the lease raised issues under the U.S. Constitution that might cause a breach of the lease, yet chose not to address those issues,' said Inspector General Carol F. Ochoa." Thanks to Ken W. for the link.
Garrett Graff of Wired: "It would be rather embarrassing for Donald Trump at this point if Robert Mueller were to declare that the president isn't an agent of Russian intelligence.... We've reached a point in the Mueller probe where there are only two scenarios left: Either the president is compromised by the Russian government and has been working covertly to cooperate with Vladimir Putin after Russia helped win him the 2016 election -- or Trump will go down in history as the world's most famous 'useful idiot,' as communists used to call those who could be co-opted to the cause without realizing it." ...
... Conservative Charles Sykes of the Bulwark: "Hanlon's Razor is a common sense aphorism [link fixed] that reminds us, 'Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.' It is a distant cousin of the more famous Occam's Razor, which postulated that simpler explanations are more likely to be correct than complex and convoluted theories. So, the question I've been asking is whether Hanlon's Razor can be applied to the question of Trump's bizarre romance with Vladimir Putin. Is it malice? Or stupidity?... There are really only two plausible explanations for all of this: (1) Donald Trump is a witting tool of Russia, either from conviction or because of some, as yet unknown, kompromat, or (2) he is a naive fool whose vanity blinds him to the depths of his ignorance and recklessness." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: If Vladimir Putin is as wily as many U.S. intel specialists think he is, he did not hire Trump as an asset. As Trump himself has claimed, Vlad told him that "Moscow's cyberoperators are so good at covert computer-network operations that if they had dipped into the Democratic National Committee's systems, they would not have been caught." Remember, it took the CIA a decade to catch dangerous double-agent Aldrich Ames. But Trump is a blundering buffoon. His support for all things Russia is so obvious that the FBI started investigating his ties to Russia soon after he took office, & they were investigating Trump's subordinates months before that. The AP reported yesterday, "Top Russian officials ridiculed the idea that ... Donald Trump could have worked for Russia's interests, dismissing them Wednesday as 'absurd' and 'stupid.' They could be telling the truth. Trump clearly is not qualified for the job.
Erin Banco of the Daily Beast: "Rick Gates, the former campaign aide to Donald Trump, is cooperating with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe into whether individuals from the Middle East worked with the Trump campaign to influence the election, according to two individuals with first-hand knowledge of the investigation. Gates has answered questions specifically about Psy Group, an Israeli firm that ex-employees say drew up social media manipulation plans to help the Trump campaign, according to sources familiar with the questions. Mueller's team also asked Gates about interactions with Psy Group's owner, Joel Zamel, and Lebanese-American businessman George Nader, who worked as an emissary for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the sources said.... Gates requested proposals in 2016 from Psy Group that would help Trump in his campaign for president, The New York Times reported last year. Those proposals included social media manipulation tactics such as creating fake avatars to engage voters and Republican campaign delegates.... Psy Group employees told The Daily Beast they have been interviewed by the FBI...."
Rudy Contradicts Donaldovich. Again. Caroline Kelly of CNN: "Rudy Giuliani said Wednesday that he never denied ... Donald Trump's campaign colluded with the Russian government during the 2016 campaign, only that the President himself was not involved in collusion. In an interview with CNN's Chris Cuomo..., Giuliani ... said he doesn't know if other people in the campaign, including former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, were working with the Kremlin during the 2016 presidential race. 'I never said there was no collusion between the campaign, or people in the campaign,"' Giuliani said.... 'I said the President of the United States....' It's another remarkable statement from Giuliani, given that the President and his supporters have repeatedly denied any collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. A person familiar with the matter told CNN last week that Manafort, while serving as Trump's campaign chairman, tried to send internal polling data from the Trump campaign with two Kremlin-supporting Ukrainian oligarchs through his associate Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian national who is linked to Russian intelligence. When Cuomo asked if Manafort sharing such data with foreign agents constituted collusion, Giuliani said Trump never shared the polling data himself and only found out about it recently in the news."
Here's a screenshot of a New York mag "Daily Intelligencer" "report" on Mueller's redacted court filing supporting prosecutors' claims that Paul Manafort lied to investigators (related story linked below):
Matt Novak of Gizmodo: "According to a strange new report in the Wall Street Journal..., Michael Cohen hired a small tech company called RedFinch Solutions to rig online polls in favor of Trump.... Cohen even paid to have a vanity Twitter account made called WomenForCohen which described the attorney as 'strong' a 'pit bull,' and, perhaps least convincing, a 'sex symbol.'... According to the WSJ, the guy who operates the tiny tech company hired by Cohen, John Gauger, got stiffed on payment. Gauger also claims that the fraction of the money he was finally paid was only paid in cash that was stuffed inside of a Walmart shopping bag. Seriously.... Gauger is also reportedly the CIO at Liberty University in Virginia, operated by Trump ally and morally confused sack of shit Jerry Falwell Jr.... Ultimately, Cohen billed the Trump Organization for the full $50,000 despite only paying out the roughly $13,000 in cash to Gauger."
Jordain Carney of the Hill: "The Senate on Wednesday narrowly rejected a Democratic-led effort to block President Trump from lifting sanctions against three Russian businesses. Senators voted 57-42 to end debate on the resolution, falling short of the 60 votes needed. With all Democrats supporting the measure, they needed to win over 13 GOP senators." (Also linked yesterday.)
Mrs. McCrabbie: Constitutional law professor Larry Tribe was on MSNBC & made the same point I did yesterday: that Bill Barr has set up a fail-safe excuse for never releasing negative and incriminating information about Trump. Bob Mueller -- who also reportedly believes a president* cannot be indicted -- should rethink that, given Barr's Senate testimony. If Mueller were to indict Trump -- even if the Supremes eventually decide that Trump is untouchable -- he can load the indictment & subsequent filings with whatever evidence he has collected against Trump. Alternatively, I suppose Mueller also could get in a good deal of incriminating evidence against Individual A into indictments of Trump's associates. I suspect this second method necessarily would leave significant gaps in the narrative, but it might be better than nothing Barring a successful legal challenge from the House (which could include subpoenaing Mueller to testify), I don't see another way for the public -- and the House -- to find out what Mueller's team has uncovered about Trump. ...
... Michael Schmidt & Charlie Savage of the New York Times review the options.
The Trump-Tyson Plan: No Plan. Jonathan Swan of Axios: "When a frustrated adviser once tried to convince President Trump to consider a strategic plan, the president launched into a story about his friend Mike Tyson, the former world heavyweight boxing champion.... 'Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth,' Trump said, echoing a famous Tyson quote. I had asked the adviser whether Trump ever expressed frustration that his West Wing lacked enough of a plan for the crises ahead. 'He gets frustrated when there is a plan,' the adviser said. 'He's not a guy who likes a plan. ... There's an animosity towards planning, and there's a desire to pick fights that have nothing to do with us.' 'We can plan all this stuff out but it'll change,' the president continued. 'So let's just not go through the effort.' The adviser said that Trump's 'main view was that all this stuff wasn't predictable, ... which is unfortunately not accurate. ... It absolutely is predictable.' Trump used the Tyson quote as evidence that detailed strategic plans are pointless and said, in the adviser's recollection, 'We've just gotta fight every day and that's how we win.'" (Also linked yesterday.)
Uh, About The U.S. Trade Deficit. In the abstract to a paper by Andrew Rose of the National Bureau of Economic Research, Rose writes, "I conservatively estimate that the >20 percentage point decline in foreign approval of American leadership between 2016 (the final year of Obama's presidency) and 2017 (Trump's first year) lowered American exports by at least $3 billion." Via New York's Daily Intelligencer. Mrs. McC: Somebody should tell Trump if he's as concerned about the trade deficit as he continually claims to be, he should quit his job.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Federal authorities on Wednesday arrested a metro Atlanta man they said was plotting to attack the White House but instead got entangled with the FBI. Hasher Jallal Taheb, 21, of Cumming, was taken into custody in Gwinnett County while allegedly trying to exchange his vehicle for explosives. He later appeared in court in downtown Atlanta in the case brought the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force. Authorities said Taheb was acting alone and they made no accusation that had ties to any terrorist group. He was arrested after a tip from a resident who said the young man had been radicalized." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I'm guessing, based on very sketchy information, that Taheb is a native-born black American. If I'm right (and I'm not sure I am), obviously Trump's Muslim ban would not have caught him.
Alexander Kaufman of the Huffington Post: "Andrew Wheeler, the former coal lobbyist chosen by ... Donald Trump to serve as the next Environmental Protection Agency administrator, downplayed the threat of climate change at his confirmation hearing on Wednesday. He refused to call the rapid warming of the planet a crisis. He repeatedly misrepresented his own agency's findings about a rule to gut an Obama-era power plant regulation, inflating the emissions cuts the new proposal would mandate. He even mixed up two of the most important climate science reports to come out in the last three months, admitting he hadn't fully read the report co-authored by researchers at his own agency. 'I believe climate change is a global issue that must be addressed globally,' Wheeler said. 'I would not call it the greatest crisis, no sir.' It was a brazen if not unexpected stance from the nominee to become the EPA's 15th administrator. Wheeler isn't new to the job: Last month, he became the longest-serving acting chief in the agency's history, having taken over in July when former Administrator Scott Pruitt resigned in disgrace amid mounting scandals."
Tracy Jan, et al., of the Washington Post: "A top Department of Housing and Urban Development official is leaving the agency Thursday following disagreements with other members of the Trump administration over housing policy and the White House's attempt to block disaster-recovery money for Puerto Rico, according to five people with direct knowledge of the situation. Deputy Secretary Pam Patenaude, second-in-command at the agency helmed by Ben Carson and widely regarded as HUD's most capable political leader, is said to have grown frustrated by what a former HUD employee described as a 'Sisyphean undertaking.'" Mrs. McC: The story makes Patenaude sound like the only political appointee at HUD who had any institutional experience or who gave a rat's ass about carrying out its mission. That may be so. So what is she going to do with her retirement? 'I'm going to continue to be supportive of the president and his agenda. I'm going to be working very hard for his reelection." Excellent.
Hachette Job. Axios: "Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie settles scores in 'Let Me Finish,' a memoir out Jan. 29 from Hachette Books, writing that President Trump 'trusts people he shouldn't, including some of the people who are closest to him.'... Christie asserts that Trump has a 'revolving door of deeply flawed individuals -- amateurs, grifters, weaklings, convicted and unconvicted felons -- who were hustled into jobs they were never suited for, sometimes seemingly without so much as a background check via Google or Wikipedia.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Ed Pilkington & Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "Chris Christie, who was ousted as chairman of Donald Trump's White House transition team in 2016, has written a blistering attack on Jared Kushner, whom he accuses of having carried out a political 'hit job' on him as an act of revenge for prosecuting his father, Charles Kushner, a decade ago.... Even for a White House that has generated an extraordinary cornucopia of hypercritical kiss-and-tell books, Christie's is exceptional for its excoriating description of events at which he was present." (Also linked yesterday.)
Will Sommer of the Daily Beast: "Notorious alt-right figure and Holocaust denier Chuck Johnson met with two Republican lawmakers in Congress on Wednesday. Johnson's visit was first noted by a HuffPost reporter, who tweeted a picture of Reps. Andy Harris (R-MD) and Phil Roe (R-TN) walking with Johnson.... Johnson, a former Breitbart reporter, has denied the magnitude of the Holocaust, expressing doubt that gas chambers were real and questioning whether six million Jews were really killed -- a figure that has been well documented by scholars and historians. He also ran crowdfunding efforts for white supremacist causes, including the neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer. In statements, the lawmakers confirmed that they had met with Johnson to discuss genetic testing and DNA, but claimed they weren't aware of Johnson's history of making racist statements."
Presidential Race 2020. Laura Santhanam of PBS News: "With the 2020 presidential election already underway, 57 percent of registered voters said they would definitely vote against ... Donald Trump, according to the latest poll from the PBS NewsHour, NPR and Marist. Another 30 percent of voters said they would cast their ballot to support Trump, and an additional 13 percent said they had no idea who would get their vote."
Beyond the Beltway
Sarah Mervosh & Julia Jacobs of the New York Times: "John Engler, the interim president of Michigan State University, plans to resign after recent remarks he made that some of the victims of the former university and U.S.A. Gymnastics doctor Lawrence G. Nassar appeared to be enjoying 'the spotlight,' a member of the university's board of trustees said Wednesday evening.... Mr. Engler, a former three-term Republican governor of Michigan, has been criticized by ... board members in recent days.... Mr. Engler, 70, has served as interim president of the university since early last year, after Lou Anna K. Simon resigned as president the same day that Dr. Nassar was sentenced for sexual abuse. She was later charged with lying to the police about what she knew of the abuse allegations against Dr. Nassar."
Way Beyond
Heather Stewart, et al., of the Guardian: "Theresa May has survived as prime minister after weathering a dramatic no-confidence vote in her government, but was left scrambling to strike a Brexit compromise that could secure the backing of parliament. In a statement in Downing Street on Wednesday night, the prime minister exhorted politicians from all parties to 'put aside self-interest, and promised to consult with MPs with 'the widest possible range of views' in the coming days. She had earlier announced that she would invite Jeremy Corbyn and other party leaders for immediate talks on how to secure a Brexit deal, although Labour later said Corbyn would decline the invitation unless no-deal was taken off the table."
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Reader Comments (22)
All y'all should Take the Trump-Russia Quiz by Gail Collins today. I bet every RCer will get a perfect score.
So it sounds like case of treason against Manafort is pretty nailed shut. Life in jail isn't good enough, he needs his name sullied in history books forever.
There is zero possibility that Trump somehow knew how to order federal workers into unpaid slave labor. This is the ultimate Confederate wet dream, dreamed up, executed and defended by GOP operatives. Blame Drumpf, sure. But he's just taking the fire from the callous Republicans exploiting the federal working class they not-so-secretely despise.
I don’t even play a lawyer on TV, but if I were to go all lawyer-y on Rudi’s statement that “The President of the United States [did not collude with the Russians] I would point out that, at the time, trump wasn’t the President.
Welcome to the Pretender's ala carte Shutdown.
Menu changes daily.*
*which I'd think would provide a crack or two in the shutdown wall for legal eagles eager to exploit.
Tails of the Half-Pence (rat tails, that is)
So here’s how alternate the Trumpy-pencey world is. The little halfpence announced that ISIS was defeated forever. But he did it AFTER word came about an ISIS attack killing 15 people, including American service members.
They’re not just liars, they’re blatant, obvious liars who insist that their version of the world is correct and the rest of us better get in line and go along. Well, the entire Party of Traitors is in line.
In other news the halfpence declared something, something North Korea. Yes, well, we’ll take that under advisement, little mikey. In the meantime maybe Mrs. halfpence can go visit Kim Jong Un and teach him un-gay arts and crafts. An ashtray in the shape of a bomb blast crater would look nice on the coffee table, I’m sure.
No truth, no reality, and whatever you do, Jesus, god, NO GAYS!!
Can’t you see it now? Tea time at the Blight House with Trump as the Mad Hatter and little mikey as the white rabbit. Over in one corner is Melanie trying on a new jacket that says “Didn’t I tell you once? I still don’t care!”, over in the other is Mrs. halfpence knitting a scarf that says “Cuz Jesus Sez So”.
And this is the brain trust running the country.
"They also serve who only stand and wait."
@safari & @Ken Winkes: You have to give Trump credit for turning lemons into Trump-ade. (No sugar added.) He had no idea the kind of havoc a government shutdown would wreak. He was happy not to pay workers because they're all Democrats anyway. (Not true, but so what.)
Then he found out that some workers not working could be bad for him. So he ordered them back to work without pay. (He signed a bill that guaranteed they'd be paid some time in the far distant future.)
If you're a government employee, good luck. If you happen to work as a regulator, you get to stay home, or as one factotum put it, "enjoy your vacation!" (paraphrase) If, on the other hand, you're a low-paid prison guard, too bad. Show up. You're on your own paying for child care, gas, etc. Have a yard sale this weekend! You work for the IRS? Come to work if you process refunds. Stay home if you audit returns.
In other words, Trump is now "governing" the way he wants to: forcing some useful slaves to work & forcing others to stand and wait.
I would recommend the NYT's piece on the sidebar "The Malign Incompetence of the British Ruling Class"––some history of truly disastrous decisions by the rulers of that once Great Empire and how its ramifications have had lasting effects world wide.
Having pondered the possibility of Trump being a Russian agent of sorts–- had he been that calculating and devious–-I have dismissed that scenario. I'm going with Syke's "useful idiot" and a "naive fool whose vanity blinds him to the depths of his ignorance and recklessness." I think that sums it up pretty darn accurately.
Watched part of the Wheeler hearing and when Bernie, all red faced and "in your face" addressed Wheeler and asked whether he thinks climate change IS a crisis and Wheeler responded by saying it certainly was an important issue but didn't think it was a crisis, Bernie was apoplectic! "You, Mr. Wheeler are in charge of the EPA–-(here he gestured toward republicans on his right) there are those in this body that deny that Climate Change even exists and you don't think it's a crisis??!!!" The frustration here is palpable and it's another example of those in charge of our government agencies and those in charge of putting those in charge of those agencies are incompetent fools who are tools of whomever are paying them.
Just a comment about Mrs. Pence––Karen–-the story from yesterday re: her teaching at that school of prejudice and pride of doing the Lord's work. If the missus here does take over the role of First Lady wouldn't this be a deterrent? God in his mercy may shower the Pences with holy hegemony but wouldn't their stink filter through?
Re: the Trump/McConnell shutdown
So the idea today is bring workers back but don't pay them, becaaauuusssse...
People suffering makes Fatty look bad?
Isn't the point of a shutdown to cause pain? Isn't that the whole idea? You make your point by ensuring that as many people as possible suffer, thus forcing your opponent to cry "uncle" and give in to make the pain go away.
At least that's the idea. But as with everything else he does, Trump has no idea how to play the game. If you're telling everyone that guv'mint workers are all having a great time on their vacation, where's the impetus for anyone to get upset about things? It's like you get into the ring but instead of punching your opponent, you throw balloons at him.
Then he (or she, in the case of Pelosi), punches you in the face and knocks you on your fat ass.
If "incompetence" wasn't already a word in constant use to describe Republicans, it would have to have been invented just for Fatty.
What wonderful new idea will he come up with tomorrow?
Too much winning!
PD,
The Useful Idiot scenario is entirely plausible. In fact, years ago, when Trump was a younger idiot, he was engaged (secretly, natch) to stand in for a spy. All sides tried to figure out why such an imbecile was chosen for such high level espionage. It turned out that his incompetence became his shield. Watch how he did it.
So let me get this straight. Fatty cut his hand while....playing with Barron?
First, I find it incomprehensible that Fatty has ever played with a kid or even knows how. Maybe they play Monopoly (and Fatty cheats).
Second, if in fact he was "playing" with the kid, what were they doing that caused bodily injury? Could be that Fatty was showing Barron how to carve a Trump Steak, but the thing was so tough the blade couldn't make a dent and slid across the back of his hand.
Or maybe they were playing mumbety-peg, but Fatty forgot that you don't put your hand down on the ground before the other player tries to throw his knife so that it sticks in good.
Whatever, just another bit of weirdness from Trump World. And, of course, another lie.
Rudy Strikes Again
"Yeah, my client's campaign colluded with the Russians. So what? My guy didn't do any collusioning, so you can't impeach him."
Nice going, Rudy.
Remind me not to hire this schmo if I have to contest a speeding ticket.
"Well, your honor, my client's car was going 73 in a 30 mph school zone, but he didn't know anything about it."
"What kind of bullshit is that? Guilty. Pay the clerk $575 please. Next!"
@Akhilleus: On the bloody hand thing, my first guess would be that Trump had a skin cancer lesion removed. The blood in one picture I saw was in a circular pattern, which does not indicate a "scratch," as Mrs. Huckleberry claimed; it's more likely from a wound. Trump plays a lot of golf & he's light-skinned like me (no, I'm NOT orange), so he's highly susceptible to skin cancer. Since stitches are required, it takes awhile to heal, so it makes sense that he had to have a bandage covering the area for several days, as apparently he did. I had two cancerous lesions removed, both on the backs of my hands.
But Trump probably is afraid having skin cancer would make him seem weak & sickly to Trumpbots, so he made up the playing-with-Barron lie. At any rate, as you say, there's zero chance he was horsing around with the kid.
Okay kids, vocab time.
Since there seems to be a plethora of liars in and around the Blight House, I thought it would be useful for us to hone our lexical chops regarding all things mendacious in case we get tired of calling Fatty a liar all the time.
Here's the Liar, Liar Quiz.
Oh, and you will run across perhaps the most creative answer choice I've ever seen in these quizzes.
A word for one who pretends to be sick in order to avoid work (and no, it's not "Republican". They really ARE sick):
Duke of the Nether Willies.
I'll let you figure out if it's true or not, although "nether willies" sounds like something one might get if invited to work for Fatty.
Marie,
I figured it had to be something like that, but I can't refrain from making shit up to poke fun at the little dictator.
Once again, Trump miscalculates. Plenty of people past a certain age and of light skin have had skin cancer lesions removed (raising my hand here--Irish skin). It's a terribly common thing, and one which, if he hadn't lied about it, could serve to make him more, well, for lack of a better word, human, or normal, or something more relatable than his chosen guise of Best Smartest Most Perfect Most Best in Shape Guy Ever, none of which is remotely believable.
If he just came out and said "You know, I went to the dermatologist and he decided to remove this thing. I got a couple of stitches, but it'll be fine in a week or so" he would come across as a lot more of a regular guy.
I'm sure "regular guy" is the last thing Fatty wants to be seen as, but it's better than "lying sack of shit traitor", if you ask me.
Oh, and one other thing about the skin cancer issue.
If that is, in fact, the case (and very likely it is), Fatty missed a great opportunity to promote healthy lifestyles for other Americans. Had he come out and said "I had a lesion removed. You know, I like the sun, but it doesn't like me. So take it from me, when you're out in the sun, don't forget sunscreen" he could have helped a lot of people, and done himself some good into the bargain by appearing to care for something or someone other than himself. But...NPD. so NFW (no...way).
I don't think trumpbots worry about skin cancer. They only come
out at night and then only when trump is in town.
Their biggest concern is if they get divorced, will they still be
cousins. (This came from my sister in Ga.)
oh, okay. maybe it is cancer. I thought he really had been playing with Barron -- until Barron bit him.
@Victoria: Yeah, that's actually plausible, too.
Mean Girl Donalda has put the kibosh on a congressional visit to Afghanistan. Because Waaaaaaahhhhhh....
That awful Nancy Pelosi, who has been kicking orange butt around the block, was scheduled, with a congressional delegation, to leave the country but was stopped in her tracks by a Fat Orange Baby, who stamped his little feet and banged his tiny fists because that mean ol' Nancy asked him to postpone his State of the Trump Propaganda.
"Less than 24 hours after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told President Donald Trump that he should reconsider delivering his State of the Union on January 29, the famed counter-puncher struck back. Bigly.
'Due to the Shutdown, I am sorry to inform you that your trip to Brussels, Egypt, and Afghanistan has been postponed,' Trump wrote to Pelosi in a letter tweeted by White House press secretary Sarah Sanders Thursday afternoon. 'In light of the 800,000 great American workers not receiving pay, I am sure you would agree that postponing this public relations event is totally appropriate.'"
Well, by that token, Fatty going on the TV to spout and lie is equally inappropriate while government employees are working without pay, something Pelosi pointed out originally.
But Fatty waited until Pelosi and the congressional delegation were all packed and loaded on a bus to the airport to call them and stamp his little feet and say "NO, no, no, no, no!!!!"
And, right on cue, Trump's poodle, Lindsay Graham sed "Well (sniff) "One sophomoric response does not deserve another" wah-wah. As always, Graham is all about making himself look good, or at least less despicable.
So Heather Trump in the Blight House waits until everyone is on board the bus and all packed and ready to go, then she pulls the plug.
But Graham thinks this is no different than Nancy Pelosi suggesting that Trumpskyev postpone his State of the Fatty address because he's shut down a good portion of the government.
Anyone who tries to go all "Both Sides" on this deserves eternal perdition. This is nothing less than Fatty going full mean girl on Pelosi.
I hope he's happy with his nail color. Black.
Well, all you people can speculate on the bandaged hand but when I told my mister about this he came up with something that might very well be the reason: Trump, not being able to indulge in his past hanky pankies and getting mighty frustrated by what he has to deal with lately needed a little shoot and release strode over to Melania's bedroom, dived into those silk sheets and WHAM! she done bite him on his tiny hands good and proper. Sound plausible?
@AK: what an interesing quiz –-thanks. I, too, zeroed in on that "Duke of the Nether Willies"––we could have a lot of fun with that.
I did much better on Gail's quiz that Ak's which must prove that I'm not a very good liar. However, even though the presidunce is a professional liar I'd bet that he'd do even worse.