Wednesday
Jun272018
The Commentariat -- June 28, 2018
Afternoon Update:
Kevin Rector of the Baltimore Sun: "A shooting has occurred at the Capital Gazette in Anne Arundel County, a paper that is owned by The Baltimore Sun.... Anne Arundel County Police confirmed there was an 'active shooter' at 888 Bestgate Road, where the newspaper's offices are located. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives confirmed it was responding to a 'shooting incident' at the Capital Gazette. Lt. Ryan Frashure, Anne Arundel County police spokesman, said he could not confirm if there were any fatalities, only that there were several injuries. He said that once the building is secured he would release information about the suspect and the injuries." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: According to a banner on the WashPo's main page, Gov. Hogan has said several were killed & several injuried. Remarkably, I just heard a Maryland EMS manager, speaking on MSNBC, cite Trump's attacks on the press as "not helpful"; i.e., a contributing factor in this kind of violence.
Devlin Barrett, et al., of the Washington Post: "Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein squared off Thursday with Republican lawmakers who accused him of misconduct and stonewalling -- claims he angrily denied -- in an ongoing feud over the FBI's investigations into Hillary Clinton and President Trump. The tense exchanges at a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee were interrupted by a House vote on a resolution meant to publicly rebuke Rosenstein over what lawmakers characterize as his failure to turn over investigative documents related to both cases. The measure, which passed 226 to 183, calls on the Justice Department to 'comply with requests including subpoenas' by July 6. Thursday's hearing featuring Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher A. Wray was billed as an examination of an inspector general's report that found serious failings in how federal law enforcement handled a high-profile investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. But it mostly centered on Rosenstein -- and Republican accusations that he has withheld key details about the politically sensitive investigations." ...
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Lloyd Grove of the Daily Beast: "'Kind of pisses me off that @ nytimes is still asking Who Is Ocasio-Cortez? when it should have covered her campaign,' Jill Abramson erupted on Twitter on Wednesday morning -- a biting reference to the newspaper's original headline concerning the 28-year-old socialist's shocking Democratic primary upset, a landslide actually, over incumbent Joe Crowley in New York's 14th Congressional District. Indeed, a quick review of the Times' coverage of the primary race turned up mention of and quotes from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in two news stories prior to Election Night, and a few name-checks in editorials -- one of which, published in the June 20 print edition, noted that she's 'a challenger [Crowley] is heavily favored to beat. Missing her rise [is] akin to not seeing Trump's win coming in 2016,' Abramson added in her tweet -- an even more biting reference to the Times' self-acknowledged failings in the paper's reporting of the presidential campaign. In response to Abramson's critique -- which she elaborated in several emailed comments shared with the Times -- Times spokeswoman Eileen Murphy told The Daily Beast: '... we just disagree with Jill.' A few hours after Abramson's tweet, the headline phrase that pissed her off, 'Who is Alexandria Ocasia-Cortez?' was changed online to 'Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: A 28-Year-Old Democratic Giant Slayer.'"
Gardiner Harris of the New York Times: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo promised on Wednesday to impose additional sanctions on Venezuela, predicted that the United States would again fund schools for Palestinian refugees in Jordan and said that President Trump viewed Russia's return to the Group of 7 as inevitable. Mr. Pompeo's remarks came during a hearing in the Senate that was intended to discuss his department's budget. But there was little said about the Trump administration's plans to slash the State Department's funding, and Mr. Pompeo did not try to defend proposals to cut spending on such things as the battle against H.I.V. and AIDS in Africa."
Matthew Mosk & John Santucci of ABC News: "Several billionaires with deep ties to Russia attended exclusive, invitation-only receptions during Donald Trump's inauguration festivities, guest lists obtained by ABC News show. These powerful businessmen, who amassed their fortunes following the collapse of the Soviet Union -- including one who has since been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department -- were ushered into events typically reserved for top donors and close political allies and were given unprecedented access to Trump's inner circle. Their presence has attracted the interest of federal investigators probing Russian efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election, three sources with knowledge of the matter said. Matthew Olsen, a former senior national security official who now serves as an ABC News consultant, said their presence at inaugural events is 'very concerning.'"
Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "A former aide to Roger J. Stone Jr., the longtime Trump adviser and self-described 'dirty trickster,' was subpoenaed to appear before the grand jury hearing evidence in the Russia investigation and to hand over documents, and his lawyer said he planned to move on Thursday to quash it in court. The aide, Andrew Miller, has not been mentioned before publicly in the investigation by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III. Mr. Miller, a registered Libertarian, worked briefly for Mr. Stone around the Republican convention in 2016, helping to arrange media interviews and conducting other tasks, according to a person close to Mr. Stone." Miller's lawyer plans to argue that Mueller's appointment is unconstitutional. Mrs. McC: Because that's what these nuts do. But don't worry; pretty soon the Supremes will be green-lighting the nuts' arguments.
Lachlan Markay & Asawin Suebsaeng of the Daily Beast: "Though [Scott] Pruitt demands loyalty among those in his inner circle, he has not reciprocated it to his aides, even as they face a legal and public-relations backlash stemming from his conduct at the agency.Sources say he's actively undermined the reputations of former and current staffers, with campaigns that former senior EPA officials have described as 'ratfucking.'... Knowledgeable sources also told The Daily Beast that Pruitt instructed staff to pitch 'oppo hits' to media outlets on ... officials who departed on bad terms or were sidelined.... Pruitt's vindictiveness doesn't put him out of place within the administration. In many respects, it reflects some of the trademark impulses of his boss, Donald J. Trump." The reporters cite some tacky examples of Pruitt's ratfucking projects.
Feds Interrupt Whistleblower Interview. CBS News: "In his first television interview, former Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokesperson James Schwab has opened up about why he abruptly resigned in March. But his interview with CBS News' Jamie Yuccas on Wednesday was unexpectedly interrupted by agents identifying themselves as agents from the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General's Office. 'They just said that they wanted to talk to me about the leak with the Oakland mayor,' Schwab said of his conversation with the agents.... He said he felt compelled to resign after the current administration told him to lie about an incident that pitted the government against Oakland's mayor." He said that after Jeff Sessions "told a flat-out lie" about the incident, officials wanted Schwab to back up Sessions' lie to the public.
Congressional Races
Jonathan Martin & Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "The stunning defeat on Tuesday of Representative Joseph Crowley, the fourth-ranking House Democrat and a potential future speaker, threw the future of the septuagenarian-led caucus into chaos, opening the door to a new generation of leadership and a push leftward. As shock in the capital over Mr. Crowley's New York primary loss to a 28-year-old first-time candidate, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, gave way to calculation, House Democrats began floating challengers to Representative Nancy Pelosi, their leader. The current leadership slate reacted defensively to the threat of a purge, while a handful of other lawmakers braced for their own primary challenges from the left.... Rank-and-file House Democrats made clear in dozens of interviews that whether the party takes back the majority or not in November, there would be a push to depose Ms. Pelosi, the 78-year-old former speaker." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: As some wag pointed out a while back, the combined ages of Pelosi (78), Hoyer (79) & Clyburn (77) (= 234 )-- the top three House Democrats -- are older than the U.S. Constitution (229).
Mrs. McCrabbie: I don't know if Democrat M.J. Hegar will win, but it is stories like hers that make the political careers like those of her opponent look as craven & meaningless as they are. Thanks to PD Pepe for the link:
Abbie Bennett of the Raleigh News & Observer: "A website tied to a candidate for the North Carolina General Assembly says God is a racist white supremacist and that Jews are descended from Satan. Russell Walker is a Republican candidate running for state House District 48 which includes Scotland and Hoke counties. On Tuesday, the North Carolina Republican Party withdrew its support for Walker."
*****
Jonathan Chait runs down how the U.S. has come to be ruled by a minority, a/k/a Republicans: "The central drama of the Trump era is a struggle to defend American democracy against an authoritarian leader. The Republican Party's comfort with the crude authoritarianism of its president, though, did not spring out of nowhere. It is the culmination of a party increasingly comfortable with, and reliant on, countermajoritarian power."
** Michael Shear of the Washington Post: "Justice Anthony M. Kennedy announced on Wednesday that he will retire this summer, setting in motion a furious fight over the future of the Supreme Court and giving President Trump the chance to cement a conservative judicial philosophy on the American legal system for generations. A critical swing vote on the sharply polarized court for nearly three decades, Justice Kennedy, 81, embraced liberal views of gay rights, abortion and the death penalty even as he helped conservatives trim voting rights, block gun control measures and unleash campaign spending by corporations. His replacement by a conservative justice -- something Mr. Trump has vowed to insist upon -- is certain to reshape the country's legal landscape and could imperil a variety of landmark Supreme Court precedents on social issues, like abortion, where Justice Kennedy frequently sided with his liberal colleagues." (Also sort of linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Kennedy's impending retirement explains why Roberts punted on a number of cases that came up before the Court this year. ...
... ** E.J. Dionne: "...the Republican Five on the nation's highest court have operated as agents of their party's interests. And now things stand to get even worse because of Justice Anthony M. Kennedy's retirement. He was, at least on some occasions, a moderating force. His replacement by another conservative hard-liner in the mold of Justice Neil M. Gorsuch would give right-wing interpretations of the law free rein.... All the recent talk about civility should not stop opponents of a right-wing court from doing everything in their power to keep the judiciary from being packed with ideologues who behave as partisans. There is nothing civil about rushing a nominee to replace Kennedy before the midterm elections. And no rule of civility demands the confirmation of justices who would leave an abusive president unchecked and use raw judicial power to roll back a century's worth of social progress." Read on. ...
... Cristian Farias of New York: Anthony Kennedy's "tacit surrender to Trump and all he represents -- and his willingness to allow his name and legacy to be brandished in the coming battle over his replacement -- says more about the senior justice than anyone else. He may be the Supreme Court's enduring center of gravity. But in the term that just wrapped up today, he was, more than anything, dead weight.... He was just there, offering a few platitudes about respect for gays and lesbians in Masterpiece Cakeshop, but nonetheless willing to side with a Christian baker who, in his view, had been the target of Evangelical hostility. That he was unwilling to raise his voice with equal force for Muslims here or abroad in Trump v. Hawaii -- or for voting rights, labor unions, or even against the surveillance state in the digital age, all cases where he voted squarely with conservatives during the last term -- betrayed a certain tiredness and lack of enthusiasm for the very principles of equality and liberty that for 30 years we believed he held dear." ...
... Dahlia Lithwick of Slate: "Maybe it's a fitting end to his career to say that the man who wanted everyone to speak to one another civilly and respectfully did what everyone else has done this year and threw in the towel.... Democrats should rightly be terrified that Kennedy's legacy around gay rights, reproductive rights, affirmative action, some kinds of racial justice, and student prayer are in immediate peril. And Democrats can now be fully assured that the Supreme Court will not step in to stop Donald Trump's excesses. And to be sure, the reason the court will not stand up to future acts of Trumpism is that Kennedy, who tried to be the bridge at the court for so many decades, gave up and joined Team Trump.... There is no longer a center, or even a center built of make-believe." ...
... Matt Ford of the New Republic: "By stepping down from the court, Kennedy leaves behind a complex record on the court -- one that largely maintained a tenuous balance of power between America's increasingly polarized political factions. That balance now appears to be in jeopardy: upsetting it could be Anthony Kennedy's most lasting legacy." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Unless Kennedy is seriously ill, there is no excuse for his choosing to retire while Donald Trump is president*. It's an act of sabotage. It's not for nothing that David Souter waited to retire until Dubya was term-limited out of office. Souter is or was a Republican, but he was also aware of the effects Dubya's other appointees were having on American jurisprudence. ...
... Ian Millhiser of ThinkProgress: "Anthony Kennedy was a horrible justice, and his last decision was his worst.... He was in over his head at the Supreme Court. And, for that reason, his most celebrated opinions will be very easy to dismantle.... His writing ranged from needlessly flowery to completely incoherent.... Nevertheless, for all of Kennedy's shortcomings -- his naive view of money in politics and his disregard for voting rights, his crusade against the Affordable Care Act, his expansive conservatism and his miserly liberalism -- America will be much, much worse off with Kennedy off the Court. The future now belongs to men such as Neil Gorsuch. It belongs to men eager to inject even more money into American politics. It belongs to men who will tear down reproductive freedom, give the Christian right broad immunity from the law, protect voter suppression, and even allow judges to sell themselves to campaign donors. Kennedy made many bad decisions on the Supreme Court, but his single worst decision was to give his seat up to Donald Trump." ...
... Surprise, Surprise. Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "Senator Mitch McConnell wasted no time on Wednesday and promised a Senate vote on a new Supreme Court nominee by the fall -- and Democrats will have little power to prevent confirmation of President Trump's choice on their own.... The decision to move swiftly shows that Mr. McConnell and his fellow Senate Republicans do not intend to give Democrats and their allies an extended opportunity to build opposition to a nominee -- or to retake the Senate and blockade confirmation as Republicans did with President Barack Obama's nominee in 2016. The confirmation process will throw a volatile new issue into the already charged midterm campaign season, providing fresh challenges for both Republican and Democratic candidates." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: As the Oracle Akhilleus wrote in yesterday's Comments thread, before McConnell's announcement, "Also, look for the little dictator to announce his latest future Nuremberg Trials defendant in days, and for traitor Mitch McConnell to race the nomination through in record time. No waiting for the November elections which might boot his fat turtle ass out of the leadership position and put a responsible person in his oily stead." ...
I fully expect the president’s nominee to receive the same consideration that Merrick Garland received. -- Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) ...
... Matt Shuham of TPM lists Democratic senators' responses to consideration of a Trump nominee to the Supreme Court.
... "Mitch McConnell's Politics of Shamelessness Have Won." Matt Yglesias of Vox: "When Justice Antonin Scalia died unexpectedly, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pulled a new rule of American politics out of thin air and said there could be no vote on a replacement during a hotly contested election year. When Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement Wednesday afternoon, McConnell pulled a distinction out of thin air and said that the autumn of a midterm election was a perfect time to confirm a new Supreme Court justice. It is, yes, hypocritical.... There's a perfect alignment between the reputation he wants, the reputation he has, and the reputation he deserves in a way that's unequalled among American politicians and that allows him to conduct himself with an even greater degree of shamelessness than Donald Trump himself since unlike the all-id Trump, McConnell isn't out of control he's just willing to be utterly ruthless in pursuit of his political objectives." ...
... Richard Hasen: "The only political hope here is for massive street protests, like we saw with the initial Trump travel ban to try to convince senators like Susan Collins of Maine or Lisa Murkowski of Alaska to vote no. It's a long shot because we've seen these senators fold time and again. But it is worth trying.... Democrats may have to turn to more radical measures — like adding more justices to the court, something some have already proposed -- when they come back into power in order to make up for the Merrick Garland nomination that was blockaded by McConnell in 2016.... I expect a Trump Bump in the midterms when evangelicals come out to vote excited about the next Scalia that Trump and McConnell have delivered to them." ...
... Steve M. "But we know what's going to happen if liberal interest groups take to the streets. A norm-shattering act of blatant hypocrisy that might hand decades-long control of the Supreme Court to a president who lost the popular vote and who's under investigation for colluding in election-rigging by an enemy country ... well, I'm sure [Chuck] Todd and others like him will think that's bad, but liberal demonstrators will be rude, and that's much, much worse.... Yet it's all we've got. So let's get to it."
Pete Williams of NBC News: "The U.S. Supreme Court dealt a crippling blow Wednesday to unions representing millions of the nation's public employees. The justices said in a 5-4 opinion that state government workers who choose not to join a union cannot be compelled to pay a share of union dues for covering the cost of negotiating contracts. Unions had said such an outcome would cut off a source of income and diminish their political clout in the 23 states where they bargain for both members and non-members alike. A recent non-partisan study predicted that a Supreme Court defeat would eventually cause public employee unions to lose 726,000 members, a significant blow in one of organized labor's remaining strongholds. Nearly half of all union members in the U.S. are government employees.... Donald Trump tweeted shortly after the ruling that it was a 'Big loss of the coffers of the Democrats!'" (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Eric Levitz of New York: "In hindsight, it's hard to argue that Democrats did everything in their power to [put a liberal on the Supreme Court to replace Antonin Scalia.] For example, imagine if Barack Obama had nominated the first African-American woman to the Supreme Court -- one who was young, and unabashedly progressive in her jurisprudence. When McConnell subsequently vetoed her appointment -- and thereby nullified Obama's attempt to give a modicum of representation in the halls of high power to the Democratic Party's most loyal constituency -- wouldn't it have been easier to mobilize the Democratic base in outrage, than it was to rally them behind Merrick Garland?" (Also linked yesterday.)
"Trump Takes over America." Mike Allen of Axios: "President Trump, with his refusal to take advice or yield to experts, is the West Wing. Republicans who control both halves of Congress won't lift a finger against him and fully support his every move.... With his chance to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy, Trump may have fewer checks on his power than any president in his lifetime.... His one big legislative accomplishment -- a huge tax cut -- will silence business critics as long as he's around.... The 2018 elections matter exponentially more today than they did 24 hours ago."
Mark Landler & Andrew Kramer of the New York Times: "President Trump plans to meet President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia next month in a one-on-one summit meeting, a politically sensitive encounter that could exacerbate strains with NATO allies even if it eases tensions between the United States and Russia." Mrs. McC: Will the Artful Dealer turn over the keys to the White House in exchange for Trump Tower Kremlin? Inquiring minds want to know. ...
... Update. Louis Nelson of Politico: "... Donald Trump will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin next month in Finland, the White House announced Thursday, setting up a historic summit between two presidents who have often spoken warmly of one another even as their nations have become increasingly at odds. 'President Donald J. Trump and President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation will meet on July 16, 2018, in Helsinki, Finland,' White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement Thursday morning." ...
... Steven Erlanger of the New York Times: "NATO members say they fear that all the preparation and the desire to show solidarity in the face of a new Russian threat will be overshadowed, if not undone, by a divisive encounter followed by Mr. Trump's prospective summit meeting with the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin.The European allies are deeply worried that they will confront the Trump who was on display at the meeting in June in Canada of the seven major economies, known as the Group of 7, or G-7. Those in the room described him as angry, mocking, wandering and rude, especially to the host, Canada's prime minister, Justin Trudeau, and to Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany.... European and some American officials say they dread the same pattern -- a noisy, divisive NATO summit, damaging deterrence, followed by a chummy meeting with a dictator, in this case Mr. Putin, whose long-term goals are to destabilize the European Union, undermine NATO and restore Russian influence over Eastern Europe, the Baltic States and the Balkans."
Zeeshan Aleem of Vox: "After weeks of anticipation, President Donald Trump has decided to back down from a hard-hitting policy that would sharply restrict Chinese investment in the US -- opting to work with Congress on a more modest measure instead. Trump's decision should at least temporarily defuse tensions between the US and China, who are on the brink of an all-out trade war over China's trade policies. Earlier this week reports indicated that Trump was on the verge of using emergency presidential powers to issue an order to dramatically restrict Chinese investment in US businesses." --safari ...
... Self-enrichment > U.S. security. Jessica Kwong of Newsweek: "First daughter Ivanka Trump's company received approval from China to register three trademarks on the same day her father ... agreed to lift sanctions against a Chinese telecommunications company, according to a government watchdog group. China granted registration approval for the three Ivanka Trump Marks LLC trademarks on June 7.... President Trump saved the Chinese telecommunications company ZTE from financial collapse the same day by lifting tough American sanctions, despite opposition from some of his advisers and Republicans." --safari: Any photos of giant bags of money changing hands? No. Welp, no corruption here
Trump's Lies Are Getting Weirder.
The head of U.S. Steel called me the other day, and he said, 'We're opening up six major facilities and expanding facilities that have never been expanded.' They haven't been opened in many, many years.-- President Trump, roundtable with American workers, Duluth, Minn., June 20
U.S. Steel just announced they're expanding or building six new facilities. -- President Trump, remarks at the White House, June 26
Why is the president of the United States announcing the opening of new factories that a major U.S. company has not announced?... [U.S. Steel refused to confirm that its CEO had spoken with Trump re: any expansions.] Either the president of U.S. Steel tipped market-moving information to the president of the United States, or he did not. Interestingly, the securities markets have not reacted at all to the president's disclosure; U.S. Steel's stock fell the day after Trump made his comments about six new facilities, and it has continued to decline. -- Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post
Spencer Ackerman of The Daily Beast: "'Several hundred' undocumented parents appear to have been deported without their children in April 2018 alone, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) sponsored by Syracuse University. Breaking down newly acquired Border Patrol data, TRAC found that only 851 children out of 5,144 arrested in April have been deported, contrasting with 1,060 deportations of the 4,537 undocumented adults arrested that month." --safari...
... Sam Biddle of The Intercept: "The reporters at Reuters have been providing crucial, unfliching coverage of the cruel treatment of would-be immigrants under policies pushed by President Donald Trump. Meanwhile, the news agency's parent company, Thomson Reuters, has been supplying U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement with data from its vast stores as part of federal contracts worth close to $30 million.... Last week, advocacy and watchdog group Privacy International wrote to Thomson Reuters CEO James Smith to 'express concern' over contracts between ICE and two of the company's subsidiaries." --safari
Rachel Bade of Politico: House Republicans' so-called "'compromise' [--no Dems allowed-- immigration] bill died Wednesday afternoon, 121 to 301 -- the latest in a string of high-profile failures to overhaul the nation's immigration system and an embarrassment to House GOP leaders and ... Donald Trump. While several top conservatives had been in the room helping write the bill, every single one of them voted against it." AND they were all mad at each other. Mrs. McC: Boo-fucking-hoo.
This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd.
Adam Davidson of the New Yorker: "Barring an unexpected change, the Donald J. Trump Foundation will be defending itself in a New York courtroom shortly before this fall's midterm elections. The proceedings seem unlikely to go well for the institution and its leadership; President Trump and his elder children, Ivanka, Donald, Jr., and Eric, are being sued by New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood for using the charity to enrich and benefit the Trump family. On Tuesday, the judge in the case, Saliann Scarpulla, made a series of comments and rulings from the bench that hinted -- well, all but screamed -- that she believes the Trump family has done some very bad things.... During Tuesday's hearing, the Trump Foundation's lawyer, Alan Futerfas, asked that the trial not commence in October, because it was so close to the midterms. Judge Scarpulla laughed in response, did not change the trial date, and hinted that she is likely to require the President to testify.... The case against the Trumps appears damning."
Reuters: "A search warrant application unsealed on Wednesday revealed closer links than previously known between ... Donald Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort and a Russian oligarch with close ties to the Kremlin. In an affidavit attached to the July 2017 application, an FBI agent said he had reviewed tax returns for a company controlled by Manafort and his wife that showed a $10 million loan from a Russian lender identified as Oleg Deripaska."
All the Best People, Ctd. Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "Bill Shine, a former Fox News executive who was close to Roger E. Ailes, the network's ousted chairman, is expected to be offered the job of White House communications director, according to four people familiar with the decision. Mr. Shine, who was forced out as co-president at Fox News last May for his handling of sexual harassment scandals at the network, has met with President Trump in recent weeks about taking the West Wing communications job, which has been vacant since Hope Hicks left the job in March. Four people familiar with the decision said it was likely to be announced and that the president had offered him the job. But the move has not been finalized, in part because of the president's mercurial decision-making process and also because of Mr. Shine's reluctance to walk into a chaotic West Wing. As recently as a month ago, Mr. Shine didn't want the job, according to a person familiar with his thinking. The former television executive was reluctant to deal with all the scrutiny, part of which could focus on his own connection to the sexual harassment scandal at Fox News, the person said."...
... Aaron Lorenzo of Politico: "President Donald Trump's pick to run the IRS, tax lawyer Chuck Rettig, owns properties at the Trump International Hotel Waikiki and Tower. He'd previously disclosed his 50 percent stake in a pair of Honolulu rental units, but not their specific location. That detail was discussed later, at a June 21 meeting with congressional staff, according to a memo obtained by Politico.... It also indicated Rettig failed to report interest income or interest expenses related to a personal loan he made to an unnamed family member." --safari...
... Shambolic Corporate Shill Award. David Dayen ;of The Intercept: "Andrew Smith, the newly installed head of the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the Federal Trade Commission represented an astonishing array of [54] miscreant companies ... during his four-year tenure at the corporate law firm Covington & Burling, according to a financial disclosure form released Wednesday.... Under conflict-of-interest standards, Smith would likely have to recuse himself from investigations of all of those companies, including several already under investigation by the FTC..., But [it] doesn't stop there..., Smith ... received compensation for legal services from practically all of the nation's large financial firms.... Financial companies linked to Smith have paid tens of billions of dollars in fines for securities and consumer protection violations.... It gets worse...." --safari ...
... Recruiting the Swamp. Zahra Hirji of BuzzFeed (June 25th): "A month after starting as chief of the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt made a recruiting 'plea' to top executives at the American Petroleum Institute, a major oil and gas trade group, according to internal emails obtained by BuzzFeed News.... [T]he emails give yet another example of the Trump administration offering jobs to industry officials and lobbyists. For example, J. Steven Hart, the energy lobbyist linked to Pruitt's former apartment deal in Capitol Hill, provided the agency with recommendations for staff and science advisers last year, the New York Times reported. In another case, Trump donor Doug Deason submitted a list of names to be EPA science advisers, according to Politico." --safari
Toby Eckert of Politico: "Public support for the recent tax overhaul plunged in the past two months ... according to a new Politico/Morning Consult poll. Just 37 percent of registered voters said they supported the tax-cut laden law, down from 44 percent in an April poll. The number of voters who were undecided or offered no opinion leapt to 24 percent from 17 percent.... Even among Republicans, support for the law dropped to 70 percent, from 80 percent in April. The number who moved into the undecided column jumped to 19 percent from 10 percent.... Only 25 percent of voters said they had noticed an increase in their paychecks as a result of the law, while 52 percent said they hadn't." --safari...
Benjamin Haas of the Guardian: "North Korea has continued to upgrade its only known nuclear reactor used to fuel its weapons program, satellite imagery has shown, despite ongoing negotiations with the US and a pledge to denuclearise. Infrastructure improvements at the Yongbyon nuclear plant are 'continuing at a rapid pace', according to an analysis by monitoring group 38 North of commercial satellite images taken on 21 June." Mrs. McC: What? You mean Kim snookered the artful dealer Trump? Unpossible! (Also linked yesterday.)
Philip Gordon amp; Prem Kumar in The Atlantic: "Given the serious risks of escalating violence, the desperate humanitarian situation in Gaza, and the continued costs of the status quo, [Jared] Kushner's desire to move forward [with a peace plan] even in the face of long odds is understandable. Unfortunately, his interview also revealed that he is living in a fantasy world and preparing an approach more likely to compound the current problems than to resolve them.... Neither the Palestinian nor Israeli people, nor their leaders, are currently prepared for the compromises required for a deal, and accentuating this reality will only make things worse. In diplomacy, as in medicine, the Hippocratic Oath to 'do no harm' can be a worthy principle. Jared Kushner would do well to consider it now." --safari
Congressional, State Races
Dana Milbank: "In her shocking primary upset of Nancy Pelosi's heir apparent, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez just did Democrats a big favor. I mean no disrespect to Rep. Joseph Crowley, the New York Democrat she beat.... Now he won't be speaker. And this, in a very concrete way, clears the way for a new generation to take the reins of the opposition -- leaders who appeal to the emerging electoral majority that already dominates the party and will soon dominate the country: progressive, young, female and nonwhite. It is no accident that Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old Latina, is all four.... Until Tuesday night, the party was in the absurd position of having septuagenarians occupying all three of its top leadership positions in the House -- with a somewhat-less-old white guy, the 56-year-old Crowley, waiting patiently to succeed them.... Ocasio-Cortez saved Democrats from that and improved the odds of a younger and feistier Democratic opposition emerging." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Let us pause for a moment to thank the people of Queens & the Bronx who exercised the franchise. ...
Margaret Hartmann: "In a battle over which candidate is the most Trump-like, GOP primary voters in Staten Island went with the guy who isn't a convicted felon. Michael Grimm, who resigned from Congress in 2015 after pleading guilty to tax evasion, was hoping for a chance to reclaim his old seat on Tuesday night, but he was easily defeated by Representative Dan Donovan. With all precincts in New York's 11th Congressional District reporting, Donovan took 64 percent of the vote to Grimm's 36 percent." (Also linked yesterday.)
Teachers Rule, Even in Oklahoma. Rivka Galchen in the New Yorker: "Republican legislators who opposed the [teacher] pay raise were mostly either beaten or forced into runoffs.... Three statewide Republican incumbents, including the current lieutenant governor, were forced into a runoff or rejected.... Meanwhile, more than fifty educator candidates advanced.... All the Democratic incumbents held onto their positions.... Red states such as Oklahoma -- with its decade of dramatic cuts to public services and fanatical antagonism to taxes -- are often mentioned as leading indicators of the direction in which the whole country may be heading. This primary, which boosted teachers and rejected the current state-level Republican leadership, may be the embodiment of a turn."
Edmund Lee & Cecilia Kang of the New York Times: "The Department of Justice approved the Walt Disney Company's $71 billion bid for the entertainment assets of 21st Century Fox on Wednesday, potentially complicating Comcast's desire to make a rival offer for Rupert Murdoch's entertainment empire. The government's approval was filed in federal court on the condition that Disney, which already owns ESPN, divest all of Fox's 22 regional sports networks, which include valuable channels like the Yankees' YES network."
See the Forest for the Trees' (Stumps). Eliza Barclay of Vox: "Given forests' importance [maintaining climate stability], new data from the University of Maryland released on Global Forest Watch, a forest monitoring site, is alarming: 2017 was the second-worst year on record for tropical forest loss. Some 39 million acres of trees, an area the size of Bangladesh, were destroyed. That's about 40 football fields of trees lost every single minute... 'This is a crisis of existential proportions,' Ola Elvestuen, Norway's minister of climate and environment, said Wednesday at the Oslo Tropical Forest Forum where the data was released. 'We either deal with it or we leave future generations in ecological collapse.'" --safari
Beyond the Beltway
Justice Delayed. Cleve Wootson of the Washington Post: "In Franklin Gebhardt’s eyes, Timothy Coggins's crime was simple: Coggins was a black man who was dating a white woman. One night in the fall of 1983, Gebhardt and his brother-in-law, William Moore, lured Coggins into a car.... The pair stabbed Coggins more than 30 times, leaving a patchwork of bloody Xes on the young man's skin, prosecutors said, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Then, the two white men chained Coggins to the back of a pickup truck, took him to a desolate part of town and dragged him across the asphalt until he stopped moving." Although Gebhardt & Moore had boasted over the years that they had killed a black man, the case never moved forward, partly because the two men had friends in the police department. A break in the case "came a year ago, when authorities said they received new information, "& other witnesses came forward].... Gebhardt was convicted of committing a murder that was driven by racial hatred.... Moore is awaiting trial." The linked AJC story is compelling.
Way Beyond
Trumpenfriends. Hannah Ellis-Peterson of the Guardian: "Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen has become a 'fully fledged military dictator' according to Human Rights Watch in a report released on Thursday investigating the extent of his personal control over the military and the police.... While Hun Sen while has always been notorious for his autocratic rule -- his official title is princely exalted supreme great commander of gloriously victorious troops." --safari
Kelsey Munro of the Guardian: "China's social credit system, a big-data system for monitoring and shaping business and citizens' behaviour, is reaching beyond China's borders to impact foreign companies, according to new research. The system, which has been compared to an Orwellian tool of mass surveillance, is an ambitious work in progress: a series of big data and AI-enabled processes that effectively grant subjects a social credit score based on their social, political and economic behaviour.... The Chinese government aims to have all 1.35 billion of its citizens subject to the system by 2020. But a new report by US China scholar Samantha Hoffman ... claims the system's impact ... has the 'potential to interfere directly in the sovereignty of other nations', she said." --safari
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Reader Comments (14)
Worse? Yes.
The imminent ascension of a Christianist, corporate sycophant who will help eviscerate women’s right to choose how they live their lives, the right of certain undesirables to vote, and wink at the rule of law generally as concerns the Christian Right and massive polluting and election stealing corporations should bring Confederate voters out in droves for the midterms. So yes, things could get a lot worse if the numbers of running dog boot licking lackeys are not countered by greater numbers of Democrats and so-called independent voters (those who aren’t sure that voting for someone like Trump is a bad idea).
Bigger majorities in both chambers will set us on a toboggan run to full blown fascist control. Look for Fox to start beating the drum last night. The “liberal” media, will hold off until the night before the election for, ya know, fairness and shit.
Can the Democratic Party rouse itself and get out enough votes to provide a tiny bit of balance to the coming tsunami?
I’m tempted to say I doubt it. I’m sure we’ll have the usual ten million voters who decline to exercise their franchise because “both sides” and “ they’re all the same”.
Not a good day. Anthony Kennedy has handed in his worst decision ever. And the sharks are coming fast.
What he said... This morning shill David Green accused Amy K of Minnesota of possibly "fear-mongering" and she came armed with stats to counter Mr. Mealymouth. Speaking truth is not fear-mongering and things are precarious. Kennedy could have waited and chose not to, so obviously he has no legacy to stand on, having succumbed to GorSUCK, Dolt45, Cokecan Thomas and company.
See John.
See him bare his teeth all big and bad.
See him call Russian election tampering an act of war.
See him describe trusting Russia and Putin as doomed to failure.
See John leashed and collared by a traitor.
See him meet the traitor’s election rigger (one of the many).
See him wag his little tail and roll over.
See him sing the “Volga Boatman” in four part harmony while doing the Cossack dance with a scimitar between his teeth to get a doggie treat from new buddy Vlad.
See John flip. See him flop. See him demonstrate what convictions are worth as a lap dog to the traitor.
Oops. See John pee on the carpet. Bad, John! Bad!
At a rally yesterday in North Dakota Trump told his followers (heads mostly in sand) that Justice Kennedy retired at this time because "He felt confident in me to make the right choice and carry on his great legacy...that's why he did it––Justice Kennedy is a star!"
Kennedy's legacy might be a tad better than the other four conservatives on the bench, but star power he ain't. What Trump was actually saying is that HE, himself, is the star––he, himself is the one that makes all the right choices for all the right reasons and by, gum, Kennedy recognizes that. But those, like the G7's got a belly full of who Trump really is; I found this sentence chilling:
"The European allies are deeply worried that they will confront the Trump who was on display at the meeting in June in Canada of the seven major economies, known as the Group of 7, or G-7. Those in the room described him as angry, mocking, wandering and rude, especially to the host, Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, and to Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany..."
These are the times that test men's souls someone said during other times like these and it's up for grabs on how these times will show us that our limp democracy can grow some legs that will carry us through.
Message to Akhilleus: Yesterday you wrote a lovely homage to Donald Hall. I'd like you to know that I, too, was an avid reader of his poetry as well as his prose–-"String to Short to be Saved"–-his first book about his grandparents and their home in N.H. which he ultimately took over and lived in for the rest of his life. One of the reasons I felt Donald's presence so keenly is that he grew up in Hamden, CT., the town we lived in for decades, and his poem, "The Sleeping Giant" was the exact hill our home was under–-the thigh to be exact. Donald would come to our local library on quite a few occasions and have wonderful conversations with us. After Jane died he seemed to grow old very fast–-I hardly recognized him during one of his interviews. Although he soldiered on, after he lost Jane he lost something vital in himself.
So thanks for your comments–-much appreciated.
PD,
Democrats need to grow more than legs...
They've been too focused on the presidential elections and have let the midterms slip through the cracks. GOTV operations should be at fever pitch during any national elections, especially since the Party of Traitors is known to stop at nothing to screw anything and anyone in their way.
Glad you got to meet Donald Hall. A sweet man. His poems about his wife Jane's illness and passing are hard to read if you're not in the right frame of mind, but they do offer, if not solace, a general sense of humanity's difficulties. Life is hard, there's pain, but there is also love and moments of brilliance. This is a worldview we are in desperate need of these days when traitors and con artists and liars and crooks and thugs spin the wheel and rig the game in their favor.
(Always loved that idea of "string too short to be saved". It smacks of old time Yankee frugality and pragmatism. On the surface it seems practical and matter of fact, but the mere act of labeling a box "string too short to be saved" and filling it with such things underscores the pragmatism with a surprisingly powerful emotional pull. Kind of like the way you'd feel if Trump's wig ever fell off...)
BEST AD EVER:
Female power at its best: Meet M.J. Hegar, Democrat, running for Congress in Texas District 31.
https://m.dailykos.com/stories/2018/6/21/1774246/-This-political-ad-from-a-mother-in-Texas-running-for-Congress-might-be-the-best-we-ve-EVER-seen?detail=facebook
So the little dictator is getting ready for yet another "summit" with one of the worst people on the planet. He should be putting bumper stickers on his car to commemorate these ridiculous get-togethers.
"I Went to Singapore and met Kim. He liked me!"
"Vlad is my homie!"
"Erdogan: this ain't no party, this ain't no disco, this ain't no foolin' around!"
"Duterte slays 'em"
What is the purpose? He gets nothing (except some face time with one of his dictator man-crushes). The US gets nothing but we give Putin validity and stature. For nothing in return. The Great Dealmaker in action again.
Puppy dog Bolton, when asked what will come out of this "summit" thingy sez "Nothing".
Hey, great. So why do it? "Oh well, something, something, the future, etc."
Oh well, now that you explained it, it's all perfectly clear.
Fucking losers, dilettantes, and amateurs. That's what we've got.
PD,
Wow. That M.J. Hegar spot is killer. Interesting that the music bed is a wordless cover (of sorts) of the Stones' "Gimme Shelter". I guess for Hegar, Congress is just a shot away.
Go get 'im, girl.
I believe that the Democrats should push back on any nomination to SCOTUS not only until after the election but also until Bobby Threesticks releases his final report and issues criminal charges for the "witch hunt". I'm willing to wait to see how thoroughly illegitimate our president* really is (along with the congress, administration, supreme court, etc.)
And here is "Gimme Shelter"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbmS3tQJ7Os
Hegar doesn't identify why that riff is her background, but Dustoff pilots know. I wuz wun.
The Hegar video is truly awesome; I got it from Juanita Jean's blog a few days ago-- and hailed it as pretty much perfect. In this day of slapdash government and botched policies and crooked, fabricating repugnican politicians and world-class cruelty, it was so nice to see something that didn't whine or preach or lie, but inspires... Rare treat...
I agree with Josh Marshall on his TPM blog that Dems shouldn't be citing the "McConnell precedent" to stave off a SC vote until after the elections. This gives a sense of normalcy and legitimacy where none exists.
Dems can surely cite McConnell as a reason why a vote should be held off, but only because he completely ratfucked the entire process, and until it gets back to a fair track, with a nominee fully backed by Democrats, say, Garland, no nominee should hold standing. Repeat ad naseum that what he did goes against the entire history of our country, it was unpatriotic and unacceptable. Yeah sure, too little too late for that argument, but better to drill into the public discourse that McConnell is a traitor to the Democratic system set up by the Founding Fathers than legitimize him through mealy-mouthed claims of some new "precedent" that the GOP will then wield with joy whenever some new "precedent" is called for.
And beyond those extraordinary measures, the real reason no nominee should get a vote is the giant cloud of TREASON against the US hanging above the head of the Liar-in-Chief. The future Justice could have a direct consequence on whether Donald goes to jail or gets out free. No judge can be appointed by a President when his own legal future depends on his (Yeah, it'll be a white guy) decision.
Stop normalizing McConnell's ratfucking democracy, please.
Got past my morning mad period by attacking weeds for an hour or so with my favorite hoe. I've lost so much on the political front lately, it was satisfying to "win" one small battle, even if it was against a fragile, inanimate enemy that doesn't tweet.
Now back to RC and Chait's history of how we came to have the minority government we've all commented on here.
The thought Chait's summary engendered: Because our minority government depends on social conservatives for its hold on power, its position on social issues has become increasingly conservative. With a new SCOTUS appointee in the offing, there's a good chance it will soon be even more so, which would lead to future when the the hidebound policies and laws created to satisfy the present Republican base will confront a rising generation which from all the signs is far more socially liberal than the present one.
We now have Red and Blue states, with many of the Reds becoming more purple. We also have the prospect of people much younger than ourselves to whom matters of race and gender don't matter as much as they do for many of those in power today.
In short, the geographic schisms we have now will soon be only one of the political divides. Age will be another. And I'd mention there does seem to be something significant going on with the whole men and women thing too. I don't see nearly as many men as women marching and running for office.
Should be interesting. Something else I hope to live long enough to see.
Another NRA All Star! Another 2nd Amendment Warrior upholding the glory of guns and of shooting people in the head.
Donaldo and Wayne-O must be sooooo proud. Not only did their boy viciously exercise his 2nd Amendment rights (as Confederates misunderstand them) but he murdered REPORTERS!!
Donaldo's tiny pecker must be quivering.