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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

The Hollywood Reporter has the full list of 2024 Oscar winners here.

Ryan Gosling performs "I'm Just Ken" at the Academy Awards: ~~~

Marie: If you don't like birthing stories, don't watch this video. But I thought it was pretty sweet -- and funny:

If you like Larry David, you may find this interview enjoyable:


Tracy Chapman & Luke Combs at the 2024 Grammy Awards. Allison Hope comments in a CNN opinion piece:

~~~ Here's Chapman singing "Fast Car" at the Oakland Coliseum in December 1988. ~~~

~~~ Here's the full 2024 Grammy winner's list, via CBS.

He Shot the Messenger. Washington Post: “The Messenger is shutting down immediately, the news site’s founder told employees in an email Wednesday, marking the abrupt demise of one of the stranger and more expensive recent experiments in digital media. In his email, Jimmy Finkelstein said he was 'personally devastated' to announce that he had failed in a last-ditch effort to raise more money for the site, saying that he had been fundraising as recently as the night before. Finkelstein said the site, which launched last year with outsize ambitions and a mammoth $50 million budget, would close 'effective immediately.' The New York Times first reported the site’s closure late Wednesday afternoon, appearing to catch many staffers off-guard, including editor in chief Dan Wakeford. As employees read the news story, the internal work chat service Slack erupted in what one employee called 'pandemonium.'... Minutes later, as staffers read Finkelstein’s email, its message was underscored as they were forcibly logged out of their Slack accounts. Former Messenger reporter Jim LaPorta posted on social media that employees would not receive health care or severance.”

Washington Post: “The last known location of 'Portrait of Fräulein Lieser' by world-renowned Austrian artist Gustav Klimt was in Vienna in the mid-1920s. The vivid painting featuring a young woman was listed as property of a 'Mrs Lieser' — believed to be Henriette Lieser, who was deported and killed by the Nazis. The only remaining record of the work was a black and white photograph from 1925, around the time it was last exhibited, which was kept in the archives of the Austrian National Library. Now, almost 100 years later, this painting by one of the world’s most famous modernist artists is on display and up for sale — having been rediscovered in what the auction house has hailed as a sensational find.... It is unclear which member of the Lieser family is depicted in the piece[.]”

CNN: “Jon Stewart is heading back to 'The Daily Show.' The comedian, who during his 16-year run as host of the Comedy Central program established it as an entertainment and cultural force, will return to host the show each week on Mondays starting February 12, Showtime and MTV Entertainment Studios announced Wednesday. Stewart, who returns as the 2024 presidential election season heats up, will also executive produce the show and work with a rotating line-up of comedians who will helm the program the rest of the week, Tuesdays through Thursdays.”

~~~ Marie: I don't know if this podcast will update automatically, or if I have to do it manually. In any event, both you and I can find the latest update of the published episodes here. The episodes begin with ads, but you can fast-forward through them.

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Click on this link to e-mail Marie.

Sunday
Jul152018

The Commentariat -- July 16, 2018

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

I watched about 90 seconds of what I think was the press's first question in the TrumPutin presser. The questioner, Jeff Mason of Reuters, cited Trump's a.m. tweets blaming the U.S. for poor U.S-Russia relations & asked Trump if Russia had done anything wrong. Trump said yes, & it's Bob Mueller's fault if the world blows up in a nuclear Holocaust. So I'm not watching any more. I will cite reports of the fake answers from two of the world's nastiest strongmen. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie ...

... Apparently it got worse. From the New York Times' live updates: "Asked whether he believes his own intelligence agencies, which say that Russia interfered in the 2016 United States election, or Mr. Putin, who denies it, Mr. Trump refused to say, but he expressed doubt about whether Russia was to blame.... When asked directly whom he believes, Mr. Trump changed the subject to misconduct by Democrats during the campaign." ...

... Matthew Nussbaum of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Monday publicly sided with Russian President Vladimir Putin over his own intelligence agencies, refusing to condemn the Kremlin for interference in the 2016 election and saying that 'I don't see any reason' to believe that Russia was behind the hacking of Democratic computer servers. Trump's remarkable statement, during a joint news conference in Helsinki, Finland, after holding a two-hour one-on-one meeting with Putin, came after special counsel Robert Mueller indicted 12 Russians on Friday over allegations of involvement in the state-ordered election-interference operation. Trump repeatedly attacked the FBI, praised Putin as a 'good competitor,' refused to say Russia was accountable for any aspects of fraying U.S.-Russia relations, and attacked Mueller's inquiry as 'a disaster for our country.'... Throughout the 45-minute news conference, Trump made his admiration of Putin clear.... The news conference left observers gobsmacked, as Trump ... refused to say a single negative word about Russia and used the international stage to praise the country's strongman leader and attack American institutions." ...

Donald Trump's press conference performance in Helsinki rises to & exceeds the threshold of 'high crimes & misdemeanors.' It was nothing short of treasonous. Not only were Trump's comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin. Republican Patriots: Where are you??? -- Former CIA Director John Brennan, in a tweet ...

Exactly what I was thinking. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

... Philip Rucker, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump cast doubt on the conclusion of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, saying after his summit here Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin that the autocrat gave him a 'very powerful' denial. After Putin said his government played no role in trying to sabotage the U.S. election, Trump offered no pushback and went on to condemn the Justice Department's investigation of Russian interference.... Trump also insisted that 'there was no collusion' between his campaign and Moscow.... Putin later confirmed that he did want Trump to win in 2016, 'because he talked about normalizing relations' between Russia and the United States. Yet he did not answer directly when pressed on whether the Russian government had compromising information on Trump or his family members, dismissing it by saying that 'it's hard to imagine greater nonsense.'" ...

... Jonathan Allen of NBC News: "At a news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin on foreign soil..., Donald Trump attacked fellow Americans -- Democrats, special counsel Robert Mueller and members of the news media -- for damaging U.S.-Russia relations by pursuing questions about Moscow's efforts to help him win the presidency in 2016.... The sustained bashing of American institutions and individuals was extraordinary for a U.S. president in any setting, much less here in the shadow of Moscow.... Asked about the indictment of Russian government hackers, Trump also advanced several conspiracy theories related to the election including asking about the 33,000 Hillary Clinton emails he has long claimed are missing -- the very emails he publicly asked Russia to hack before what Mueller says was an 'after hours' Russian attack on accounts connected to Clinton's personal office. He threw in references to the whereabouts of a computer server at the Democratic National Committee and the activities of a former House Democratic staffer who some conspiracy theorists have alleged penetrated lawmakers' computers." ...

     ... Ben Mathis-Lilly of Slate publishes the transcript of Trump's "astounding word salad of debunked conspiracy theories that concluded with an assertion that Putin's denial of responsibility for the attack was 'extremely strong and convincing.'" Also, Mathis-Lilly's explanation of Putin's "offer" to "help" the Mueller investigation is helpful (and wouldn't it have been great if Trump had understood it as well as Mathis-Lilly does?). ...

... Eric Levitz of New York: "Donald Trump ... endorsed a bizarre proposal from Putin, in which Special Counsel Robert Mueller would work with Russian officials to investigate cybercrimes against American political organizations.... Russian law enforcement would agree to interrogate the 12 Russians that Mueller had indicted -- and allow members of his team to observe those interrogations -- in exchange for the United States agreeing to interrogate American intelligence officials whom the Kremlin has accused of committing crimes against Russia (with Russian law enforcement in the room).... Throughout his remarks Monday, Trump declined to criticize Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, or ostensible new habit of launching botched assassination attempts with Soviet-era nerve agents on the streets of the United Kingdom, or anything else, at all." ...

... Jim Fallows of the Atlantic: "There are exactly two possible explanations for the shameful performance the world witnessed on Monday, from a serving American president. Either Donald Trump is flat-out an agent of Russian interests -- witting, unwitting, from fear of blackmail, in hope of future deals, out of manly respect for Vladimir Putin, out of gratitude for Russia's help during the election, out of pathetic inability to see beyond his 306 electoral votes -- whatever.... Or he is so profoundly ignorant, insecure, and narcissistic not to realize that, at every step, he was advancing the line that Putin hoped he would advance, and the line that the American intelligence, defense, and law-enforcement agencies most dreaded.... Trump's answers were indistinguishable from Putin's.... With every hour that elapses after this shocking performance in Helsinki, without Republicans doing anything, the more deeply stained they will be by this dark moment in American leadership." ...

... Alex Shephard of the New Republic: "The implication in [Trump's] narrative, of course, is that the Mueller probe is a national security threat, in that it imperils relations between the two countries and, in doing so, risks war. The reality, of course, is quite different. But Trump graciously refused to let reality into the press conference and instead gleefully embraced Putin's version of events, which just happened to, with a couple of minor exceptions, line up with his own.... This summit ... will undoubtedly make U.S. allies, particularly in Europe, even more distrustful of Trump than they already were. But it's obvious that Trump handed Putin a public relations victory, four days after the special counsel's office conclusively proved Russian meddling in the 2016 election." ...

... Isaac Chotiner of Slate: "Trump made clear on Monday that his brutishness is a choice. Trump spent the past week explicitly exhibiting his dislike of NATO, the European Union, Angela Merkel, and Theresa May (the gender of the these last two probably not being a coincidence). After the Department of Justice indicted 12 Russians for their meddling in the 2016 election on Friday, Trump has been tweeting constantly about the 'witch hunt' and Barack Obama -- all the while praising the Russian president.... In ... place [of Trump's angry nationalism] are warm words about friendship and togetherness.... Trump has always been someone whose behavior and bearing were as disturbing as his policies, whose affect was as frightening as his words. Monday was no exception." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Now I'm wondering why Trump didn't push Queen Elizabeth down the steps instead of just refusing to help her. Maybe it's because he admires her. Like Trump's favorite dictators, Elizabeth has accumulated her substantial wealth by waving daintily with one hand while picking the pockets of her helpless "subjects" with the other. ...

Joshua Yaffa of the New Yorker: "That an American President would side with a Russian one over his own intelligence community is shocking -- but, with Trump, not surprising. Putin must be flying back to Moscow content, not because he did anything so skillful or brilliant in Helsinki but because he was simply smart enough to sit back and pocket one good hand after another. 'Yes, I did,' Putin said, when asked if he wanted Trump to win. Smart bet." ...

... Michelle Martin of Reuters: "Germany's foreign minister [Heiko Maas] said on Monday Europe could not rely on Donald Trump and needed to close ranks after the U.S. president called the European Union a 'foe' with regard to trade. ...

... David Morgan of CBS News: "On 'CBS This Morning' Monday, Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group and a CBS News senior global affairs contributor, said that backstage at the NATO meeting there were elements that were even more eyebrow-raising than reports have suggested. 'One is that emergency session where they asked the Georgian and Ukrainian presidents to leave in the middle of their presentation. Apparently Trump said, 'OK, we're done with you now,'" Bremmer said. 'Trump was very frustrated; he wasn't getting commitments from other leaders to spend more.... Trump turns around to the Turkish president, Recep Erdogan, and says, "Except for Erdogan over here. He does things the right way," and then actually fist-bumps the Turkish president.' It was a startling gesture of support for the increasingly authoritarian Turkish leader, who recently won another term and is widely expected to continue consolidating his power.... While Mr. Trump has been lambasting U.S. allies, he has also been praising Russian President Putin, congratulating him for hosting the World Cup tournament."

This Is a Surprise. Margaret McGill of Politico: "FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced Monday he has 'serious concerns' about Sinclair Broadcast Group's acquisition of Tribune Media, saying he would send the transaction through a lengthy administrative process often viewed as a deal-killer. As originally proposed in May 2017, the $3.9 billion deal would see conservative-leaning Sinclair, already the largest U.S. TV station owner, gobble up 42 Tribune stations in key markets like New York and Chicago, adding to its existing footprint of more than 170 stations and giving the company access to nearly three-quarters of U.S. households."

Laurie Goodstein & Sharon Otterman of the New York Times: Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the archbishop of Washington, was "one of the most recognized American cardinals on the global stage, a Washington power broker who participated in funeral masses for political luminaries like Edward M. Kennedy, the longtime Massachusetts senator, and Beau Biden, the son of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. Suddenly, last month, Cardinal McCarrick was removed from ministry, after the Archdiocese of New York deemed credible an accusation that he had molested a 16-year-old altar boy nearly 50 years ago.... But ... some church officials knew for decades that the cardinal had been accused of sexually harassing and inappropriately touching adults, according to interviews and documents obtained by The New York Times."

*****

The New York Times is liveblogging the TrumPutin meeting. Here's a good start: "Mr. Trump began the day of the meeting by blaming the United States for its poor relationship with Russia, casting aspersions on the federal investigation into Moscow's cyberattack on the 2016 presidential election, even as he said he felt 'just fine' about meeting with Mr. Putin. In a pair of tweets sent on Monday..., Mr. Trump twice branded the special counsel investigation into Russia's election interference the 'Rigged Witch Hunt.' That investigation, and 'many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity,' he wrote, are why the United States' relationship with Russia 'has NEVER been worse.' He did not mention factors that are usually cited in the West as causes for friction with Moscow: Russia's annexation of Crimea, its support for rebels in Ukraine and for the Assad regime in Syria, its meddling in the elections of the United States and in those of other countries, and the nerve agent poisonings in England that the British government has said the Kremlin was behind. The president's tweet drew a 'like' from the Russian Foreign Minister.... Mr. Trump also lashed out at former President Barack Obama for the second day in a row, tweeting that his predecessor had failed to intervene to stop Russia's hacking because he 'thought that Crooked Hillary was going to win the election.' The messages suggested that Mr. Trump ... has not changed his stance in the wake of the indictment last week of 12 Russian agents in the attack." Read on. There are more entries. ...

     ... Update: "Speaking briefly with reporters before the two men went behind closed doors, Mr. Trump said 'we will have discussions on everything from trade to military to nuclear,' as well as relations with China, but he did not mention Russia's interference in the 2016 election that brought Mr. Trump to power."

... Philip Rucker, et al., of the Washington Post: "Hours before meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin one on one for a high-stakes summit here Monday, President Trump echoed Moscow's view by saying the United States -- not Russia -- was to blame for hostilities between their countries.... 'Our relationship with Russia has NEVER been worse thanks to many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity and now, the Rigged Witch Hunt!' Trump tweeted Monday morning...." ...

... David Ignatius of the Washington Post points to something Trump could give Putin today: U.S. intelligence on Russian spy operations. "Friday's indictment is a legal document. But it's also a shot across the Kremlin's bow. The message is: If you don't stop cyber-operations against the United States, we have the detailed information to identify and disrupt your intelligence services, officers, sources and methods.... How much has the intelligence community told Trump about its operations against Russia? If you were one of the American intelligence officers who helped gather the information that's included in Friday's indictment, what would you think about the fact that Trump has asked for a private meeting first with Putin?" ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: We already know Trump gave up Israeli intelligence to top Russian officials in a private meeting. So it's not nuts to think he will turn over U.S. intelligence, too. (Perhaps he already has in the one-on-one supposedly-impromptu meeting he had with Putin at a G-20 meeting in July 2017.) The private meeting Trump insisted upon is a strong suggestion that Trump is serving as a Russian agent. And he is not doing so unwittingly. ...

     ... Josh Marshall: "Lots of people can speculate like this and spin out interesting hypotheticals (I very much include myself here). But there are few people who I think have real insight into US intelligence and high level statecraft and have a sense of what kind of things are realistic and which are not. Ignatius is one of those. I think we're moving into a dangerous and critical period." ...

... Charles Blow: "Trump is right now, before our eyes and those of the world, committing an unbelievable and unforgivable crime against this country. It is his failure to defend.... Trump should be directing all resources at his disposal to punish Russia for the attacks and prevent future ones. But he is not. America's commander wants to be chummy with the enemy who committed the crime.... Trump is a traitor and may well be treasonous." ...

... Kate Brannen & Spencer Ackerman of the Daily Beast: "Shortly before Donald Trump detonated a NATO summit, shanked the beleaguered British prime minister and prepped for a face-to-face love session with Vladimir Putin, his White House quietly divested itself of a senior official hawkish on Russia and bullish on the transatlantic military alliance. [Army Colonel Richard] Hooker is the latest NSC staffer to leave as Bolton reconfigures the influential policymaking body in his image.... Hooker ... is a strong advocate of a U.S. military presence in Europe and the NATO alliance, and skeptical of Russian intentions on the continent." It's not clear why Hooker left the White House. ...

... ** David Herszenhorn of Politico: "The fanciest footwork in Moscow on Sunday was not on the World Cup pitch at Luzhniki Stadium but at the Kremlin -- where Russian President Vladimir Putin made his play for rewriting relations with the EU. On the same day that ... Donald Trump declared that 'the European Union is a foe,' Putin used the occasion of the football championship to welcome three European leaders to Moscow, and to push his longstanding view that Russia -- not the U.S. -- is the more natural ally for Europe.... In each of his three bilateral meetings at the Kremlin -- with French President Emmanuel Macron, Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović and Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán -- Putin hailed positive trade relations, including increased turnover and other commercial ties. In so doing, he drew a sharp and pointed contrast with Trump, who has set off a trade war with tariffs and complained repeatedly about how 'unfairly' the U.S. is treated by the EU." ...

... Anna Nemtsova of the Daily Beast: The Finns are not thrilled with the Helsinki meeting. "On Sunday, crowds marched against the summit. Many carried banners and placards attacking both Putin and Trump.... 'Vladimir Putin has been coming to Finland both on private and official visits, feeling himself at home here for many years; but in fact, none of us like Putin or his policy,' Paavo Arhinmaki, a member of the Finnish parliament, told The Daily Beast. 'The majority of our country's population do not approve of Donald Trump's policies, either....'"

Sad. Shaun Walker of the Guardian: "The Russian president has every reason to be happy.... But a strange thing is happening, as Russia basks in the glow of a job well done: Putin's approval ratings are dropping among Russians. A recent survey by a state-funded polling agency showed that confidence in the Russian president dropped from 77% to 63% since elections in March, with the biggest reason believed to be a controversial rise in the pension age [from 55 to 63 for women and from 60 to 65 for men], which was announced on the first day of the World Cup." --safari: Maybe Oligarch Donny can lend a hand?

Party of Trump. Ryan Lizza, in Esquire, queries half-a-dozen Republicans critical of Trump, most of whom can't find a red line that Trump could cross to lose GOP support. "Leonard Lance, a congressman from New Jersey, was one Republican, albeit a moderate, who volunteered a red line: 'Personal collusion by Trump with the Russians during the campaign' But if Republicans keep the House and the Senate this fall, Trump will have a political fortress protecting him in Washington."

Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "President Trump, adding to the list of allies he has clashed with this past week, said in an interview released on Sunday that he considered the European Union a trade 'foe,' days after a contentious NATO summit meeting and on the eve of closely watched talks with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.... 'Now you wouldn't think of the European Union, but they're a foe.' Mr. Trump told CBS. 'Russia is a foe in certain respects. China is a foe economically, certainly a foe.'... Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, in a sharp riposte on Twitter, wrote: 'America and the E.U. are best friends. Whoever says we are foes is spreading fake news.'... As his NATO allies watched in Brussels, Mr. Trump declined to call Mr. Putin an enemy or a friend, but referred to him as a 'competitor.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post analyzes Trump's "extremely defensive" interview with CBS News. ...

... Amy Sorkin of the New Yorker explores the reasons for Trump's intemperate performance in Europe. She concludes, "... the truth, in the end, is Trump's real target." ...

... Ellen Barry, et al., of the New York Times: "The same Russian military intelligence service now accused of disrupting the 2016 presidential election in America may also be responsible for the nerve agent attack in Britain against a former Russian spy -- an audacious poisoning that led to a geopolitical confrontation this spring between Moscow and the West. British investigators believe the March 4 attack on the former spy, Sergei V. Skripal, and his daughter, Yulia, was most probably carried out by current or former agents of the service, known as the G.R.U., who were sent to his home in southern England, according to one British official, one American official and one former American official familiar with the inquiry, speaking on the condition of anonymity.... British officials are now closing in on identifying the individuals they believe carried out the operation, said the former American official." ...

... David Sanger, et al., of the New York Times: "The indictment [Friday of Russian cyberspies] provides never-before-seen detail of how the Russian cyberspies operated, based on intercepts that had to have come from American, British or Dutch intelligence, interviews in recent months show. All three eventually got into the Russian networks, but it was the British who had first warned the National Security Agency that they were seeing the D.N.C.'s messages running through communications lines controlled by the Russian military intelligence service, called the G.R.U." ...

... Joe Romm of ThinkProgress: "Former Fox News Channel chief political correspondent Carl Cameron has a warning for America: 'The Trump team were colluding with the Russians in 2016 -- and they are still colluding.'... Cameron not only covered the Trump campaign for Fox News, he has followed Trump and [Roger] Stone for years.... He has covered every presidential campaign for them starting in 1996.... Cameron ... told ThinkProgress that the cyberattack isn't over, warning 'the exact same type of Russian cyberattacks on the United States are ongoing.'... Indeed, McClatchy reported last month that 'a new Russian influence operation has surfaced that mirrors' the 2016 cyberattack effort to help elect Trump. Just last week, HuffingtonPost reported that 'Russian bots appear to be fueling a wave of criticism targeting Democrats' using the hashtag #WalkAway." --safari

Frank Dale of ThinkProgress: "Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) referred to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation as a 'witch hunt' on Sunday, less than 48 hours after Mueller unveiled indictments against 12 Russian intelligence officials behind a massive cyber attack to affect the outcome of the 2016 U.S. election.... The Kentucky Senator also became the latest Republican to downplay Russia's interference in the 2016 campaign, saying, 'We all do it.'" --safari

Extreme Right Cause Célèbre. Sarah Marsh of the Guardian: "Steve Bannon, the former adviser to Donald Trump, has defended the jailed far-right leader Tommy Robinson, saying... 'he's got to be released from prison'. Bannon's remarks came during an interview with LBC radio's political editor, Theo Usherwood.... Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was jailed for 13 months for contempt of court after 'breaching the peace' during a grooming trial.... The politician-turned-presenter Nigel Farage was also there during the LBC interview.... After the interview, Usherwood claimed on Twitter that Bannon said to him off-air: 'Fuck you. Don't you fucking say you're calling me out. You fucking liberal elite. Tommy Robinson is the backbone of this country.' In the same interview, Bannon told listeners they were 'going to have to fight to take your country back'." -- safari: Remember Sam Brownback, "religious ambassador", i.e. Trump, recently threatened the UK government over islamophobe Robinson's treatment.

Ian Kullgren of Politico: "The Trump administration, responding to a federal judge's sharp admonition, provided an updated plan Sunday about how it will verify the parentage of older children in detention. U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw scolded the Health and Human Services Department Friday, saying it was using safety concerns as 'cover' to avoid meeting his July 26 deadline to reunite with their parents all 2551 children aged 5 to 17 who were detained at the border.... 'I would like someone with decision-making authority from HHS in court Monday [morning] at 9:30,' Sabraw said."

The Longest War, Ctd. Mujib Mashal & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "The Trump administration has told its top diplomats to seek direct talks with the Taliban, a significant shift in American policy in Afghanistan, done in the hope of jump-starting negotiations to end the 17-year war.... The shift to prioritize initial American talks with the Taliban over what has proved a futile 'Afghan-led, Afghan-owned' process stems from a realization by both Afghan and American officials that President Trump's new Afghanistan strategy is not making a fundamental difference in rolling back Taliban gains."

Joby Warrick of the Washington Post: "New details from a trove of Iranian nuclear documents stolen by Israeli spies early this year show that Tehran obtained explicit weapons-design information from a foreign source and was on the cusp of mastering key bombmaking technologies when the research was ordered halted 15 years ago. Iran's ambitious, highly secretive effort to build nuclear weapons included extensive research in making uranium metal as well as advanced testing of equipment used to generate neutrons to start a nuclear chain reaction, the documents show. While Iranian officials halted much of the work in 2003, internal memos show senior scientists making extensive plans to continue several projects in secret, hidden within existing military research programs.... The stolen documents contain no revelations about recent nuclear activity and no proof that Iran has violated the 2015 nuclear accord it reached with the United States and five other global powers. U.S. officials had long known of Iran's pre-2004 nuclear weapons research, which the Obama administration cited explicitly in prodding Iran to accept the historic deal limiting it ability to make enriched uranium and placing its nuclear facilities under intensive international oversight." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... The New York Times story, by David Sanger & Ronen Bergman, is here. Its focus is on the dramatic heist during which Mossad obtained the 15-year-old Iranian documents. And this: "In late April, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the results of the heist, after giving President Trump a private briefing at the White House. He said it was another reason Mr. Trump should abandon the 2015 nuclear deal, arguing that the documents proved Iranian deception and an intent to resume bomb production. A few days later, Mr. Trump followed through on his longstanding threat to pull out of the accord -- a move that continues to strain relations between the United States and European allies." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Reuven Blau of the New York Daily News: "The real estate company formerly headed by Jared Kushner exposed children to cancer-causing substances as part of a campaign to push rent-stabilized tenants out of their apartments, said a lawsuit filed by a group of renters. Nineteen tenants of 18 Kent Ave. in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, contend that Kushner Cos. tried to convert the majority of the 338 apartments in the building from rent-stabilized units to luxury condos starting in June 2015. To do so, Kushner's firm harassed the rent-stabilized tenants with major construction all over the building, the lawsuit charges. The construction at the Austin Nichols House unleashed dangerous toxins into the air and caused a litany of issues, according to the legal filing."

** Eric Levitz of New York: "Brett Kavanaugh's jurisprudence demonstrates that he shares the 'mainstream Republican positions'.... The modern Republican Party has demonstrated a commitment to suppressing voter participation; reducing the influence of majorities over electoral outcomes; and subordinating the policy preferences of its own constituents to those of reactionary elites. It has further demonstrated a willingness to achieve the latter end by lying to its own base about its intentions for public policy; obfuscating the policy-making process to limit public awareness of the government's activities; appointing activist judges who will veto democratically enacted legislation on dubious grounds; and stoking the most incendiary cultural divisions in American life." Read on. --safari ...

... Kavanaugh -- Another Dark-Money Nominee. Washington Post Editors: "BEFORE PRESIDENT TRUMP tapped Brett M. Kavanaugh to replace Justice Anthony M. Kennedy on the Supreme Court, the dark-money spigots were already beginning to open. As politics increasingly defines judicial nominations, confirmation battles for major judgeships are looking more and more like political campaigns, with shadowy groups pouring cash into national advertising and lobbying initiatives while keeping their donors and spending decisions opaque. This deprives Americans of information about who is backing nominees to some of the most powerful seats in the land, and it increases the likelihood that judges and politicians will feel pressure to make decisions that partisan spending networks demand."

Presidential Race 2020. Ken Vogel & Rachel Shorey of the New York Times: "President Trump has raised more than $88 million for his re-election campaign over the last year and a half, giving him a dramatic head start on prospective Democratic challengers in the 2020 race.... The totals reflect a brisk and continued fund-raising effort by Mr. Trump's campaign operation that, in a departure from usual presidential practice, started even before he took office. Most new presidents shift their political operations to their national party committee until launching their re-election campaign after the first midterm election of their tenure. Mr. Trump's campaign and the two joint committees -- Trump Victory and Trump Make America Great Again -- have continued spending aggressively to cultivate donors through both online list-building targeting small donors and fund-raising events for big donors." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: The big scandal here is that any American would give a penny to Trump.

Stephanie Mencimer of Mother Jones: "[L]ast week [Trump] pardoned Oregon rancher Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son Steven, whose 2012 convictions for arson on federal land had inspired [Cliven] Bundy's son Ammon to lead the armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon in 2016.... [Dwight Hammond] said that his time in prison has convinced him that all those years of battling the feds over grazing rights and land management were misplaced. Now, the 76-year-old rancher intends to start lobbying on what he thinks is the real problem in America: the disappearance of God from the public schools." --safari

Reader Comments (28)

The following is currently on the NYT electronic front page, under the Helsinki live update header:

"Mr. Trump began the day by blaming the United States for its poor relationship with Russia."

Any moment now, we'll hear the foxy friends going apeshit about the president badmouthing the US of A. Yep, aaanny moment...

July 16, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterNiskyGuy

Remember when the entire phalanx of right wing media babies were getting the vapors and clutching their pearls about an Obama ”apology tour”?

How is blaming the US and officials sworn to protect and defend the Constitution for giving a KGB murderer who ratfucked an American presidential election (and is already hard at work interfering with the midterm elections) an unnecessary and egregious reason to be sad?

Throwing your own country and it’s democratic institutions under the bus in order to curry favor with a foreign leader intent on sowing chaos and confusion in the US, saying, effectively that “Hey Vlad, I’m soooo sorry these creeps are on your ass. Sooo sorry. But, hey, I’m your boy. You can count on me. I’m not one of them” is the sort of apology you would expect to hear from the weak sister leader of a puppet state, on his knees begging his political benefactor and patriarch for his indulgence and forgiveness.

It’s worse than traitorous and obseqious, even though it’s clearly both of those. It’s the actions of a quisling coward. Trump to a tee. Worse than any past traitors who sold secrets to the Soviets or the Chinese or even the Israelis. Worse than Aldrich Ames or Jonathan Pollard or Americans who helped the Taliban.

July 16, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

The reason Trump's treason is worse, by orders of magnitude, than those of other traitors who are now languishing in prison (as opposed to being hung, a standard punishment for traitors for many years) is that they were sneaky underlings working in intelligence agencies.

Trump is the so-called Leader of the Free World, pissing on the American flag to demonstrate to the man who put him in power that he will gladly rat out his country if only Putin will help him. It's like that scene in the Godfather when the baker comes to Don Corleone asking for vengeance against the men who raped his daughter. He is forced to bow, kiss the ring and say "Be my friend? Godfather?"

But the baker was only trading in his self-respect (and heretofore observance of American law and order) in order to gain revenge for the attack on his daughter.

Trump is trading America's standing in the world for personal advancement and a continued ability to enrich himself. He is demeaning the country he is supposed be leading in order to beg the indulgence of a foreign thug whose goal is to screw with America and the Western Democracies. And everyone knows it. It is a public act of treason so vile as to outstrip any in history. Neville Chamberlain is frequently sited as a loser and coward, especially by the right. But Chamberlain wasn't a traitor to Britain, he thought he was doing the right thing to help keep his country out of another terrible war. Hitler was bad but there was no way Chamberlain, at that time, could know exactly how bad he was.

There is no doubt about Putin's goals and capabilities. He will murder anyone standing in his way, invade foreign countries, steal whatever he can put his hands on, and illegally interfere with the internal workings of sovereign nations he considers antithetical to his aims or enemies of his state. The United States is one such nation. And now its president* is bowing before him, pleading with him to understand that he's not the one trying to impose restraints on Putin's ambitions or siding with those attempting to punish him for his past bad acts.

There has never been, to my knowledge, a similar occurrence in history, a situation in which the leader of the most powerful nation on the planet gets on his knees to the leader of a gangster kleptocracy, if only the head gangster will help keep him in power.

Worst in History. There isn't even a close second.

July 16, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

I expect to see the president* return from Russia with rows and
rows of those shiny, cheap medals that dictators like to pin on all
their underlings (trump). Like for cowardice, ignorance, racism
sexism, adultery, perversion, unaptness, greed, ______,_______,
______,_______,
There could be dozens more but I have to get to work.

July 16, 2018 | Unregistered Commenterforrest morris

@Akhilleus: "Worst in history." That's quite an accusation. I think you're right.

July 16, 2018 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

@AK: Bravo–-that's it in a nutshell. And the reasons for this treason is, I think, multifaceted: Reading safari's link to the Guardian's piece about Bannon and then Brownback* shows once again the influence Bannon had/has over Trump–-the deconstruction of our national operations to the point where Trump is actually acting as the enemy of the country he is deemed to lead and protect. The tower in Moscow that was Trump's dream is, perhaps, still something he longs for. Given his pugnaciousness and his deviousness he may very well be stroking the Russian bear in order to bare fruit on the Tower building–-and if that sounds too simple an explanation, remember we are talking about Trump. The other reason, is, of course, the collusion, insisting from the beginning he had nothing to do with it, but evidence mounts otherwise.

* I have always been interested in Brownback. When he was in Congress I zeroed in on his weaselness; when he became governor I wasn't a wit surprised that he failed miserably. He was always a religious advocate so he apparently is doing now what he said he was always doing––God's work.

Maybe Sam and Dwight (Hammond) could take to the roads, infiltrate all the schools, and preach the word in order to straighten up this heathen, out of control country.
Praise Jesus!

July 16, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

Some weeks ago Max Boot, the Jeane Kirkpatrick senior fellow for national security studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, wrote a piece for the Wash-Po in which he denounced his affiliation with the republican party saying that the entire republican platform can now be reduced to three words: "Whatever Trump says."

Boot goes on to say that he used to belong to a conservative party with a white-nationalist fringe; now it's a white-nationalist party with a conservative fringe. So along with many others, including Steve Schmitt (who ran McCain's campaign) who has been extremely vocal about his fury at what has happened to his party and his country, we see an exit of once staunch republicans. Boot ends his essay with this:

"Like postwar Germany and Japan, the Republican Party must first be destroyed before it can be rebuilt."

July 16, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

How much is too much? The question we (Ryan Lizza among them) have been asking for most of the last two years. So far, according to Lizza's report, and the evidence of our own eyes, we're not there yet. Not even close.

As Sanford's opponent, Arrington, said, the Republican Party is now the Pretender's Party. It's been rehearsing the role for years, trying out various versions of what it means to be a true Republican--racist, authoritarian, fiscally conservative, anti-government, anti-intellectual, fundamentalist heterosexual male-dominated Christian, gun-toting lover of individual Freedom,--and the iteration of Republican act that has now taken center stage melds all of those elements but fiscal responsibility, which since Reagan has been pure bunk anyway.

What's remains is a purified party of deplorables, who because they are deplorable will never reach the "too much" point.

That's why the telling questions are not how much is too much, but whether the truly deplorable Americans, that is, the proud Party of Trump adherents, actually outnumber the rest of us, and whether our governing institutions, rigged as they are to favor the minority party, allow the outrage of what I hope will be the not-deplorable majority to prevail in November.

The alternative--the new world order of Putin and the Pretender-- is too frightening to contemplate.

July 16, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Message to @Akhilleus: you and I have discussed Seymour Hersh on occasion so I just want to let you know that I caught a fascinating interview on Cspan's Book Review last night (Hersh has a memoir out) that you may want to catch–-if you can. Hersh is all over the place in his stories–-tangential would describe his methods–-he starts out telling you about an incident in Vietnam but segues into all sorts of side issues, always, though, coming back to his main points. It's a dizzy ride but his stories are worth it. What he says about our current "hell on earth" is "This, too, shall pass," but we'll have one hell of a time putting the pieces back together again.

July 16, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

@Ken Winkes: We're more like Russia that we realize. The House of Representatives now acts very much like Russia's Duma, each legislative body rubberstamping their president's wishes, no matter how destructive, & excusing (and making excuses for) the presidents' shortcomings. At least Putin seems to be doing a better job of advancing Russia's interests than Trump is of protecting the U.S.'s.

July 16, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterMrs. Bea McCrabbie

@ PD

There's another story in the Guardian right now about a certain Lauren Southernland, apparently a younger and just as Nazi-like Ann Coulter, this time hailing from Canada. She has also been fighting alongside Bannon (Trump) and Brownback to free the racist Tommy Robinson. And in another strange coincidence, Ms. Southernland's most vocal supporter in Australia is The Sun, another Murdoch extreme-right rag.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/commentisfree/2018/jul/16/news-corps-promotion-of-lauren-southern-is-disturbing

I think we need to come to terms with how extreme right-wing Mr. Murdoch really is, and understand how he's using his media empire to push for these xenophobic, anti-immigrations views. We have to deal with his rotten jewel Faux News in the US, but his cancer is local all across the West. As he ages, his media empire lurches farther right. He is directly responsible for much of the coarsening discourse sanding down democracies worldwide.

July 16, 2018 | Unregistered Commentersafari

@safari: One Murdoch owned paper that denounced the Iraq War (and I think it was the only one of his papers) was the Post Courier of Papua New Guinea.

Lauren Southerland sounds scurrilous and scary–- not someone you'd want to have tea and long conversations with. May the "Sun" not shine on Ms Southerland way down dirty in Australia –-Murdoch's paper trail is amazingly wide spread, isn't it?

July 16, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

Marie was so discombobulated by DiJiT-Puteen's presser she forgot to correct a contributor on a key tenet of this site:

-- people get "hanged", not "hung"

Let's be careful out there. We have standards.

July 16, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterPatrick

After his treasonous performance today, Patrick, would you care if the Pretender were hanged or hung?

At that point, I wouldn't quibble. Either would satisfy.

July 16, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

I did sit through the presser, waiting around for it before taking junk to the dump. The dump trip felt good ...

One of the more interesting things I heard from Putin was his equation of George Soros' activities in european democracy-building to the kind of (scurrilous) charges against Russian state meddling in elections. I'll wait for the actual translation, but it sounded like he was saying that sovereign states (e.g. Russia) can't be held responsible for the actions of their citizens in such matters. And in that context it sounded to me as if he referred to a private company in Russia as the source of U.S. election meddling, i.e. not "the Russian State."

So this may be where the issue goes ... in Russia's spin ... any meddling was private activity, not the State. Sort of the Russian version of "Citizens United" and Club for Growth -- big money can screw with elections and whattarugonnadoeh?

George Soros ... gotta love it, he's a good excuse for RWNJs of all countries!

July 16, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterPatrick

Ken, I normally make it a personal rule not to dialogue here, but by gum as I said we have standards, and the proprieties must be observed else we degenerate into savages.

Hang him

July 16, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterPatrick

As you say, Patrick, could be a translation problem : Maybe what you heard was that all the GRU officers involved in the hacking were privates...

July 16, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Interesting point, Patrick...but hope this isn't meant to say that because Marie missed a correction she should be hung out to dry! Alas!

July 16, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterMAG

@Patrick: Actually, I don't expect very high standards in the comments. I'd rather know what people think than whether or not they can compose perfect prose on the fly. BTW, I did read the comment, I know when to use "hanged" & "hung," & I didn't notice the error on first reading. You're right of course; it is an error, but nothing compared to the errors the subject of the comment expressed today.

I'm opposed to capital punishment, so I don't want Trump to be hanged or hung, but I'd be happy to see him impeached, after which -- in my dreams -- he would flee to Russia on Putin's promise he could build Trump Moscow, only to find himself swiftly escorted from the Moscow airport to a Gulag far, far away where he would live out his days performing hard labor, & Sarah Palin could see him from her porch. Trump likes to break things; let him break rocks.

July 16, 2018 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

No matter what happens in the coming days this is a huge win for Putin. I am at a loss for words just trying to comprehend the damage done to the United States.

July 16, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterBobby Lee

This is a few months old but it seems appropriate today. What do bears screw in the woods?

July 16, 2018 | Unregistered Commenterunwashed

Patrick,

Glad to see you made an exception to your personal high standards, but if ever you were to do so, today was the day, when all standards are torn, tattered and blown' in the Pretender's wind.

And regardless of to whom you direct your comments I'm always grateful for them.

July 16, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

@unwashed

Posted the same the other day, but as it roused no comments, I thought that perhaps folks found it too offensive for RC display.

Today, any odor of offense should be overcome by the Pretender's rank stench of treachery.

July 16, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Ken, my apologies for not giving you credit for your initial post. It's hard to keep track of where I see stuff. Thanks for it having been you.

July 16, 2018 | Unregistered Commenterunwashed

@unwashed

Apology neither sought nor necessary. Just glad to see somebody liked it.

As we've said, it would be hard to argue with its relevance today, but didn't see an exception, something from tool Sebastian Gorka in "The Hill" praising the Pretender for his capitulation. Read as much of it as I could stand, enough to set me wondering: Anyone (Bea?) know who finances the rag?

Google failed me.

July 16, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Thank Finagle (or Melody) for Bea's low standards for commenters like me.

Make that "DID see an exception..."

July 16, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Here's a pretty good article from the NYT about the capitol hill newspapers, which goes into business models and who invests. The Hill credits one owner/investor who is seeking to make it a standard reference outside the Washington pros.

July 16, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterPatrick

Patrick,

Thank you for your correction. It won’t happen again.

July 16, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus
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