Thursday
May092019
The Commentariat -- May 10, 2019
The Trump Scandals, Ctd.
Katelyn Polantz & Kate Sullivan of CNN: "Judge Amit Mehta plans next week to weigh the major legal issues raised in ... Donald Trump's challenge of a congressional subpoena for his accounting firm's records, according to an order issued Thursday -- putting the case on an even faster track than it previously looked to be. Congress has subpoenaed Trump and his business' accounting records from the firm Mazars USA, and Trump's personal legal team sued to stop the records from being turned over. A hearing is now scheduled for May 14."
Sheryl Stolberg & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that the United States was in a 'constitutional crisis' and warned that House Democrats might move to hold more Trump administration officials in contempt of Congress if they continued their refusals to comply with committee subpoenas.... Ms. Pelosi said Democrats would bring the contempt citation [against AG William Barr] to the floor for a vote of the full House 'when we are ready.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Katherine Tully-McManus of Roll Call goes in search of the Capitol jail: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi resurfaced one of the Capitol’s most enduring mysteries when answering a question about whether Democrats might imprison Trump administration officials who defy Congress: the House jail.... 'We do have a little jail down in the basement of the Capitol, but if we were arresting all of the people in the administration, we would have an overcrowded jail situation. And I'm not for that,' Pelosi said Wednesday at a Washington Post live event.... Capitol Police officers from multiple divisions told CQ Roll Call that no House jail exists, though Capitol Police headquarters on D Street Northeast does have a holding facility.... There once was a cell in the Capitol basement to hold those in contempt, but it is long gone.... A senior House Democratic aide told CQ Roll Call that the sergeant-at-arms could use existing spaces in the Capitol to hold someone, as has been done in the past." Mrs. McC: More like a "gaol," then. (Also linked yesterday.)
Annie Karni of the New York Times: "resident Trump said on Thursday that he would leave it up to Attorney General William P. Barr to decide whether Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, may testify before Congress on the Russia investigation. His comments were a seeming reversal, since Mr. Trump wrote over the weekend on Twitter that Mr. Mueller should not be allowed to appear before Congress. Mr. Barr has told lawmakers that he has no objection to letting Mr. Mueller talk to them. In a surprise, 45-minute news conference in the Roosevelt Room, his first since the release of the special counsel's report, Mr. Trump also said he was' pretty surprised' that his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., was subpoenaed to testify in front of the Senate about his contacts with Russians during the 2016 campaign.... 'My son is a good person,' Mr. Trump said. 'My son testified for hours and hours. My son was totally exonerated by Mueller.'... Mr. Trump, who for months has been advised not to personally attack Mr. Mueller, described him on Thursday as 'somebody that is in love with James Comey.'... He also appeared to hedge on claiming that the Mueller report cleared him of obstruction of justice, telling reporters that the findings showed that there was 'no collusion and, essentially, no obstruction.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Caitlin MacNeal of TPM: "The President ... went off on several tangents related to Trump Jr.'s involvement in the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Kremlin-linked lawyer. Trump worked in references to a favorite Republican target -- the dossier compiled by a former British intelligence officer -- as well as phone calls Don Jr. made to an unknown number while planning the infamous meeting." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: It depends upon what the definition of "a good person" is, I guess. But Mueller definitely did not "totally exonerate" Junior. ...
... Burgess Everett & Marianne Levine of Politico: Sen. "Richard Burr [R-NC] faces intense pressure from Republicans to drop his subpoena of ... Donald Trump's eldest son and quickly wrap up the Senate Intelligence Committee's Russia probe. But despite a day facing attacks from the highest rungs of party leadership, Burr is unmoved, according to colleagues in both parties.... To many Republicans, the news of Trump Jr.'s subpoena presented a painful dilemma: Stand with a respected GOP chairman who has held together his committee for years during a contentious probe, or with a president who takes vengeance on fellow Republicans who cross him and his family."
Trump's 2020 Campaign Already Attempting to Conspire with a Foreign Power. Ken Vogel of the New York Times: "Rudolph W. Giuliani, President Trump's personal lawyer, is encouraging Ukraine to wade further into sensitive political issues in the United States, seeking to push the incoming government in Kiev to press ahead with investigations that he hopes will benefit Mr. Trump. One is the origin of the special counsel's investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election. The other is the involvement of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., son in a gas company owned by a Ukrainian oligarch. Mr. Giuliani's plans create the remarkable scene of a lawyer for the president of the United States pressing a foreign government to pursue investigations that Mr. Trump's allies hope could help him in his re-election campaign. And it comes after Mr. Trump spent more than half of his term facing questions about whether his 2016 campaign conspired with a foreign power."
Trump Campaign + Foreign Power, Ctd. Jay Weaver, et al., of the Miami Herald: "The FBI has opened a public corruption investigation into Republican donor and South Florida massage-parlor entrepreneur Li 'Cindy' Yang, focusing on whether she illegally funneled money from China into the president's re-election effort or committed other potential campaign-finance violations, the Miami Herald has learned.... The investigation could raise complications for a president who, after the Mueller report was delivered to Congress last month, might have hoped to put an end to controversy over foreign influence potentially benefiting his campaign.... The reports about potential Chinese influence come as Trump is in the midst of intense trade negotiations with China over tariffs on imports."
** Lily Batchelder in a New York Times op-ed: "The latest bombshell Times story on the president's tax history confirms what we already suspected: Donald Trump is a terrible businessman.... The latest story also shows how we do a terrible job of adequately taxing the wealthy.... But perhaps most important, the story reinforces the need for a congressional investigation of the president's tax returns.... As the Times has documented, there is ample evidence that his father's estate -- of which he was the executor -- engaged in tax evasion and outright fraud, failing to pay about $500 million in estate taxes.... Other reports have documented numerous instances where Mr. Trump has taken sketchy or unlawful tax positions.... The latest revelations about the president's eye-popping tax losses provide fresh grounds for concern that he has violated tax laws.... There is ample reason to fear that conflicts of interest have infected his approach to tax policy. When campaigning, Mr. Trump promised to close tax loopholes based on his expert knowledge of them. But instead, the 2017 tax bill seemed designed to lower taxes on him and his family through special carve-outs.... Subsequent Treasury regulations have also been great news for real estate developers.... All of this raises the question of whether the president steered the 2017 tax bill and subsequent regulations in directions that personally benefited him and his family. Moreover, because Mr. Trump is the only president for at least 40 years not to liquidate his business assets or put them in a blind trust, concerns about his financial conflicts of interest are uniquely heightened." ...
... Frank Rich: "[T]his latest investigative report by the Times [about his $1 billion business losses] is anything less than conclusive and devastating in its exposure of the lies that have abetted Trump's self-portrait as a business genius. But how one wishes this and other exposés like it had appeared in 2016 or before.... The laxness of the Trump coverage [during the 2016 elections] -- not just by the Times but by most major news organizations -- helps account for the strange persistence of that mythology [of his being a bigly business genius] despite all the evidence to the contrary uncovered by the Times, the Post, and other outstanding organs of investigative journalism over the past few years." --s ...
... Charles Leerhsen, in Yahoo! News: "... from late 1988 to 1990, I was his ghostwriter, working on a book that would be called 'Surviving at the Top.'... There was a stretch of months when ... the banks seemed to accept the version of him depicted in his first book, 'The Art of the Deal,' which we now know from his previous ghostwriter, Tony Schwartz, was entirely invented.... Often they came up with things he could say yes to before he could think of them himself. As a result, a failing real estate developer who had little idea of what he was doing and less interest in doing it once he'd held the all-important press conference wound up owning three New Jersey hotel-casinos, the Plaza Hotel, the Eastern Airlines Shuttle and a 281-foot yacht.... But Trump's portfolio did not jibe with what I saw each day -- which to a surprisingly large extent was him looking at fabric swatches.... The main thing about fabric swatches was that they were within his comfort zone -- whereas, for example, the management of hotels and airlines clearly wasn't.... Trump's King Midas period ended in early 1990, when news broke about his looming bankruptcy." Thanks to Aunt Hattie for the lead.
Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "Federal prosecutors handling Roger Stone's case were ordered on Thursday to turn over to a judge any unredacted sections of special counsel Robert Mueller's report relating to the longtime GOP operative that could help prepare his defense for their upcoming trial. U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson in a one-paragraph order gave the U.S. attorneys handling the Stone case until Monday to provide her with portions of Mueller's report that deal with Stone 'and/or "the dissemination of hacked materials"' that were leaked during the 2016 presidential campaign to the detriment of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton."
"Moral Turpitude." Keith Alexander & Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "The D.C. Court of Appeals on Thursday disbarred Paul Manafort, President Trump's former campaign chairman, because Manafort has been convicted of obstruction of justice and conspiracy.... The D.C. bar's decision came after the court's disciplinary committee issued a report in March that recommended Manafort be disbarred because of crimes 'involving moral turpitude.'"
Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: "National advocacy groups on Thursday delivered to Congress multiple petitions of what they said contained 10 million signatures from people who support the impeachment of ... Donald Trump. They delivered the signatures to Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., who has introduced a bill that would direct the House Judiciary Committee to investigate whether Trump committed impeachable offenses -- an issue that has been heating up among congressional Democrats and presidential contenders. MoveOn spearheaded the effort that included groups such as Need to Impeach, CREDO and the organizers behind the annual Women's March."
Alan Rappeport & Ana Swanson of the New York Times: "President Trump said on Thursday that the United States would raise tariffs on $200 billion of worth of Chinese goods on Friday morning and begin the process to tax nearly all of China's imports as he accused Beijing of trying to renegotiate' a trade deal. But Mr. Trump, who made his comments ahead of a pivotal meeting between United States and Chinese officials on Thursday afternoon, suggested an agreement could still be within reach, saying he had received a 'beautiful letter' from Chinese President Xi Jinping and would probably speak to him by phone.... Mr. Trump's toughened stance toward China has rattled American businesses.... The tariffs that would go into effect on Friday include many consumer products that Americans rely on from Beijing, like seafood, luggage and electronics. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... ** The story has been updated. New Lede: "President Trump escalated his trade war with China on Friday morning, raising tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods and taking steps to tax nearly all of China's imports as punishment for what he said was Beijing's attempt to 'renegotiate' a trade deal. Mr. Trump's decision to proceed with the tariff increase came after a pivotal round of trade talks in Washington on Thursday night failed to produce an agreement to forestall the higher levies. The White House said talks would resume again on Friday...." ...
... Matthew Phillips & Amy Tsang of the New York Times: "The resurgence of trade tensions between the United States and China, along with contradictory color commentary from President Trump, whipsawed stock markets again Thursday. The S&P 500 notched its fourth straight daily decline, though the benchmark index pared its worst losses after President Trump suggested a trade deal could still be within reach, adding that he had received a 'beautiful letter' from Chinese President Xi Jinping and may speak to Chinese leader on the phone. The comments helped the S&P 500 regain some ground, to close down 0.3 percent Thursday, after having fallen as much as 1.5 percent earlier in the day." ...
... Paul Krugman looks at the many ways Trump hurts his biggest supporters: rural Americans. His trade "policies" constitute one of them.
Eileen Sullivan & Benjamin Weisner of the New York Times: "The United States has seized a Nort Korean shipping vessel that was violating American law and international sanctions, the Justice Department announced Thursday, a move certain to escalate tensions already on the rise between the two nations because of recent North Korean weapons tests. Prosecutors said the carrier ship, the Wise Honest, was being used to export North Korean coal, a critical sector of the North's economy that the United States and the United Nations have aggressively imposed sanctions on in an effort to force Pyongyang to end its nuclear weapons program." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Tara Palmeri of ABC News: "Ahead of the second summit in Hanoi, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un requested as part of the agreement between the countries moving forward that the U.S. send 'famous basketball players' to normalize relations between the two countries, according to two U.S. officials.... The request was made in writing, officials said, as part of the cultural exchange between the two countries, and at one point the North Koreans insisted that it be included in the joint statement on denuclearization. The North Koreans also made a request for the exchange of orchestras between the two countries." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Trump Slurs Kerry with False Charges. Maegan Vazquez of CNN: "... Donald Trump on Thursday accused former Secretary of State John Kerry of violating the Logan Act by taking part in negotiations with Iran's government.... Trump alleged that Kerry 'is talking to Iran and has been. He's had many meetings and phone calls and he's telling him what to do.'... Kerry promptly denied the President's accusation.... Since the act's creation [in 1799], correspondence and interaction between Americans -- lawmakers, former lawmakers, and citizens alike -- has become increasingly common. It's also common for former secretaries of states and diplomats to stay in touch with their counterparts around the world.... Last October, Kerry told reporters that he had not met with Iranians since the US pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal in May 2018 and had seen Iran's foreign minister at a few international security meetings.... A source close to the former secretary of state said Kerry hasn't talked with Iranian officials since President Trump announced the US was pulling out of the Iran deal last year. Prior to the withdrawal, the source said Kerry did communicate with the Iranians to urge them to stay in the deal. The source also denied that Kerry ever discouraged the Iranians from talking to Trump." Vazquez goes on to demonstrate how Michael Flynn potentially did violate the act by undermining Obama administration policies, although he was not charged. ...
... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "'I'd like [Iran] to call me,' Trump said. 'You know, John F. Kerry speaks to them a lot. John F. Kerry tells them not to call. That's a violation of the Logan Act. And frankly, he should be prosecuted on that. But my people don't want to do anything that's -- only the Democrats do that kind of thing.' Trump trailed off when he started to talk about what his 'people' thought of the idea of prosecuting Kerry, making it sound as if he had broached the topic with somebody. That's important, because it suggests he may have floated the idea of prosecuting yet another of his political adversaries.... Just last week, Attorney General William P. Barr struggled with a question from Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) about whether Trump or the White House had requested any specific investigations.... [Trump's remark] 'brings the whole Michael Flynn situation rushing back -- and suggests Trump has pulled a 180 on the application and importance of the Logan Act.... At the time, Trump seemed largely unconcerned [that Flynn was negotiating with Russia during the transition. He] said: 'It certainly would have been okay with me if he did it. I would have directed him to do it if I thought he wasn't doing it.'"
Connor O'Brien, et al., of Politico: "... Donald Trump plans to nominate acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan to be the Pentagon's permanent chief, the White House announced Thursday, ending months of uncertainty following the abrupt resignation of Jim Mattis. The news came two weeks after the Pentagon's inspector general cleared Shanahan of allegations that he had shown preferential treatment toward Boeing, where he was an executive until 2017. But Shanahan's nomination did not come immediately -- or easily -- even after the probe ended. In fact, Shanahan traveled to the White House twice during the past two weeks thinking the president would nominate him, only to return to the Pentagon empty-handed, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions. On one of those occasions, Trump instead reamed out Shanahan over the Pentagon's progress in building barriers on the Southern border. In the end, though, Shanahan developed a rapport with the president, who used to simply refer to him as 'the Boeing guy.'"
Lachlan Markay & Jackie Kucinich of The Daily Beast: "President Donald Trump on Wednesday weighed in [via Twitter] on an obscure piece of legislation granting rights to a Native American tribe seeking a casino in Massachusetts...while taking a jab at potential Democratic 2020 rival Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), whom he dubbed 'Pocahontas' and who has supported previous versions of the legislation.... His engagement on the casino legislation ... was a seemingly random aside.... But it may not have been random at all. At least two Trump-connected firms were hired this year to lobby on behalf of Twin River Management Group, which owns a casino in Rhode Island that would directly compete with one planned by the Mashpee Wampanoag.... One of those those firms is run by Trump adviser Matt Schlapp, who has, since January, been lobbying Congress and the White House." --s
Medlar's Sports Report. David Nakamura & Ashley Parker of the Washington Post: "It was an iconic baseball celebration: Boston Red Sox catcher Christian Vázquez leaping into the arms of pitcher Chris Sale after the final out of the World Series last fall, teammates in perfect unison. But on Thursday, the star players were far apart. Sale was at the White House, where the 2018 champions were honored by President Trump. Vázquez was home in Boston, one of at least 10 players, all Latino or African American, who elected not to attend.... What had once been feel-good ceremonies at the White House have become pitched moments of cultural reckoning. From famous sports heroes to lesser-known Olympians to the stars of the performing arts, the toxicity of the Trump era has led once apolitical entertainers to pick a side, and, in doing so, render a judgment on the president himself." ...
... Anyhow, Congrats to the Boston Red Socks, World Cup Series Champs. Andrew Joseph of USA Today: "Just hours after the official White House website listed its event between President Trump and the Boston Red Sox as the 'Red Socks,' the sports-challenged communications department made another blunder at Boston's expense. Apparently, the Red Sox had not only won the 2018 World Series but they were also the 2018 'World Cup Series Champions.' At least, that was how the official White House transcript referred to the World Series champs."
A painting of Jesus & young Dr. Carson, which Carson keeps in his home.They Really Don't Care, Do They? Ctd. Tracy Jan of the Washington Post: "The Department of Housing and Urban Development acknowledged that a Trump administration plan to purge undocumented immigrants from public housing could displace more than 55,000 children, all of whom are legal U.S. residents or citizens. The proposed rule, published Friday in the Federal Register, would tighten regulations against undocumented immigrants accessing federally subsidized housing to 'make certain our scarce public resources help those who are legally entitled to it,' HUD Secretary Ben Carson said last month. But the agency's analysis of the rule's regulatory impact concluded that half of current residents living in households potentially facing eviction and homelessness are children who are legally qualified for aid." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: If Carson would just admit he doesn't give a rat's ass about other people's children, I'd respect him more (but certainly not much) than I do when he spouts deceptive pap about "our scarce public resources" (why are they scarce, Ben?) & a Big Lie about "who are legally entitled to it." One thing Ben Carson has taught me: you don't have to be all that bright to be a world-famous brain surgeon. He's so Christian, isn't he? If that painting of Ben & Jesus is truly miraculous, it would be in the attic now, with Jesus hurling thunderbolts at a very-Dorian-Gray Carson.
Amanda Gomez of ThinkProgress: "The House of Representatives on Thursday passed a bill that would block the Trump administration from granting states the leeway to skirt Obamacare rules -- a measure designed to ensure that patients with pre-existing conditions continue to receive affordable robust coverage -- in a 236 to 183 vote.... 183 Republicans voted against it -- including members [Andy Barr (KY), Ted Budd (NC), and Scott Perry(PA)] who vowed in 2018 that they would protect people with pre-existing conditions." --s
** Josh Israel of ThinkProgress: "Despite several campaign promises to change the way Congress legislates and get things done, the U.S. Senate, under the leadership of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), has not had a recorded vote on a bill in more than a month.... A ThinkProgress review of the Senate's roll call votes reveals that, since an April 1 cloture vote on an appropriations bill, the chamber has devoted virtually all of its roll call votes to confirmation of Trump appointees.... On April 2 and 3, McConnell rammed through a rule change -- ... a procedural maneuver he previously decried ... -- to reduce the time allowed for debate before confirmation votes. Since then, the body has confirmed 11 lifetime judgeships and 11 executive branch nominees.... Senate Democrats have noticed that the place McConnell once called 'the greatest deliberative body in the world' has stopped deliberating about appropriations, immigration, health care, gun violence, infrastructure, entitlements, and everything else." --s
Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd.
Crooks Like Trump. Ben Scheckinger in Politico Magazine: Last month, [John] Lambert, co-founder of Students for Trump, was arrested "on charges of wire fraud. According to the federal government, at the same time he was building a nationwide political network and serving as one of the most visible young faces of Trump's populist movement, Lambert was also posing online as a high-powered New York lawyer, eventually making off with tens of thousands of dollars in fees he stole from unwitting clients seeking legal services. Lambert's rise to prominence and recent indictment offer a cautionary tale of an ambitious young man caught up in Trump's allure -- a get-rich-quick fantasy of the American dream -- who allegedly managed to create his own reality on the internet, only to have the real world come barging in. It also shines a spotlight on the chaos and confusion of Trump's ramshackle 2016 campaign, and the cast of characters who sought fame and fortune by riding in his slipstream. Trump ran as a 'law and order' candidate. But time and again, the mogul has drawn outlaws and alleged outlaws into his fold.... Despite Lambert's personal problems, and the campaign's disavowal, the group he launched continues to enjoy the president's seal of approval."
Ben Popken of NBC News:"A co-founder of Facebook called for the government to break up the tech giant in an op-ed article Thursday in The New York Times. 'The Facebook that exists today is not the Facebook that we founded in 2004,' Chris Hughes, who started Facebook with Mark Zuckerberg in their Harvard dorm, told NBC News after the op-ed was published. 'And the one that we have today I think is far too big. It's far too powerful. And most importantly, its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, is not accountable,' Hughes said of his former business partner.... In response to the op-ed article, Nick Clegg, the company's vice president of global affairs..., [said,] 'Accountability of tech companies can only be achieved through the painstaking introduction of new rules for the internet. That is exactly what Mark Zuckerberg has called for. Indeed, he is meeting Government leaders this week to further that work.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Facebook Creates Extremist Content. Desmond Butler & Barbara Ortutay of the AP: "... a confidential whistleblower's complaint to the Securities and Exchange Commission obtained by The Associated Press alleges [that Facebook] ... is inadvertently making use of propaganda by militant groups to auto-generate videos and pages thatcould be used for networking by extremists.... The AP found that as of this month, much [supposedly] banned content ... -- an execution video, images of severed heads, propaganda honoring martyred militants — slipped through the algorithmic web and remained easy to find on Facebook.... Facebook also faces a challenge with U.S. hate groups. In March, the company announced that it was expanding its prohibited content to also include white nationalist and white separatist content -- previously it only took action with white supremacist content. It says that it has banned more than 200 white supremacist groups. But it's still easy to find symbols of supremacy and racial hatred."
TurboTax Stiffs Taxpayers It Cheated. Justin Elliott & Meg Marco of ProPublica: "The makers of TurboTax have long been luring customers into paying for a service that they promised the government they'd give away for free. Now they're lying to customers to avoid giving refunds. We've heard from 16 people who say they were denied refunds and told that the truly free version -- Free File -- is a government product that's not run by TurboTax. Ten others reported being told that ProPublica's stories were inaccurate, or that our coverage is 'fake news' or 'fictitious.' None of that is true.... Several people gave us recordings of their calls.... TurboTax's Free File product is created and run by the company. It is offered as part of a deal between the tax software industry and the government. The deal is specifically designed to keep the IRS from creating its own free online filing system." Includes audio.
Josh Kovensky of TPM: "... beneath the surface, [the NRA] is in turmoil. New York Attorney General Letitia James is conducting a wide-ranging investigation into alleged financial mismanagement at the NRA, while the group is embroiled in a messy lawsuit with its longtime image-maker, Ackerman McQueen ... as part of an apparent internal investigation into whether the firm has been siphoning money out of the gun lobby, allegations that Ackerman denies. Then there's Carry Guard. The program -- which offers combat training and liability insurance for shootings carried out in 'self-defense' -- was founded in 2017 to keep money flowing into the NRA's dwindling coffers after President Trump's surprise election.... Multiple states have banned the program and are investigating whether the NRA violated state law regarding the marketing and sale of insurance.... The [NRA] group adds without the [Carry Guard insurance] coverage, it would be unable 'to continue its existence as a not-for-profit organization and fulfill its advocacy objectives.'" --s
Beyond the Beltway
Alabama. Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "The Alabama Senate on Thursday postponed debate on a proposal to outlaw most abortions in the state, delaying a measure that is intended to serve as a direct challenge to the Supreme Court's holding that a woman has a constitutional right to end a pregnancy. Faced with a procedural dispute and open divisions among Republicans over how far the abortion ban should go, the Senate abruptly adjourned until Tuesday. As the chaos played out on the Senate floor, where lawmakers clashed over whether the state should allow abortions in cases of rape or incest, supporters and critics alike acknowledged that the bill, the most far-reachin effort in the nation this year to curb abortion, was still likely to become law.... On Thursday, in a maneuver that set off a chorus of shouts and screams in the Senate, some Republicans sought to abandon a provision -- backed by other Republicans -- that would have allowed exceptions to the abortion ban in cases of rape or incest.... The House has already passed the measure without those exceptions....
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Trump Ghostwriter Describes ‘King Midas Period’ Covered by The New York Times Report | The Hill
“Leehrsen also wrote that Trump spent much of his time during this period looking at fabric swatches, sometimes for hours at a time.”
That singular sentence, and the image conjured, has gifted me with desperately ached-for Schadenfreude. Thanks lots, Midas!
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/442918-trump-ghostwriter-describes-king-midas-period-covered-by-new-york
No House jail (or gaol)? No prob. Once they arrest Barr, there must be a lockable utility closet somewhere in a Capitol sub-basement in which to deposit his fat, lying ass. He can try out his courtroom chops on the mops and boxes of toilet paper while he waits. Trump can see him on visiting hours if he wants to further suborn perjury. Hey, maybe there’ll be room for Mitchy!
Aunt Hattie,
Trump poring over fabric swatches for hours? Wonder if he was picturing how he’d look in a pin stripe jump suit. “Hey, you think the other inmates would be impressed if I showed up in this glen plaid pattern?”
@Akhilleus: Yeah, I like the idea of the House's finding Mitch "contemptible" on every level & locking him in coat closet with, say, Donnie Junior. If Mitch wants to make one phone call, he could call a lawyer -- John Yoo -- who could explain that being locked in a closet with Junior is indeed torture, but it's okay if Nancy Pelosi does it.
@Aunt Hattie & @Akhilleus: I get the idea from reading Leerhsen's account that Trump never had a single original business idea, & his "deals" came about when somebody pitched a transaction to him, & he thought it would generate good "Page Six" material.
This is still evident today in his tweets & retweets, where he gets his "ideas" from Fox "News" or some conspiracy Website. As for the pitches from people who might know what they're talking about -- like State Department & intelligence agency professionals -- not so much, probably because implementing sane, well-considered policy proposals doesn't generate sensational headlines.
He's really a dumb dude. Not that picking the gaudiest gold lame' fabric isn't intellectually challenging.
SCHIFF SHIFTS ON IMPEACHMENT:
Some months ago Adam Schiff advised against getting into the impeachment tangle but now he tells us impeachment may be the only way to "get everything we need to get the counter-intelligence information."
Listening to Charles Leerhsen describe Trump's fascination with fabric swatches, and adding "I think Trump had a "Rain-man thing" going on." We have observed this same behavior with his obsession with "the wall" or "No Collusion", "immigrants" or the many other things he fixated on. I have said those were like Commander Queeg's strawberries –-take a peek here at the good Commander going bonkers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlV3oQ3pLA0
Perhaps it's only a matter of time before Trump deconstructs ––like Queeg he may just fold like a fluttering, fatuous, fat blob of jello and go gently into the night––but we know he's going to stay in the race until the very end and even then he'll make sure it's not the end.
This abortion issue is finally going to go back to the S.C. and won't it be fun to watch how that is going to turn out. A state that says it wants to not only jail women for having an abortion but in some cases put them to death is something out of "The Handmaid Tale"––surely it's fiction–-nobody would advocate that, would they? Is this some kind of joke? Added on to this would be a ban against contraceptives–-would that include for men also? So–-women would be like breed mares! Solution to this nonsense: Women rally together and ban sex with males until males come back to their senses. I mean this seriously. Whoops! forgot that there are women who cotton to this kind of thing––well let them service the men –- farm themselves out for extra grocery money. Oh, Happy Days!
Look what the Dutch are doing: Their businesses work to test the concept of a circular economy, (with video)
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/dutch-businesses-work-to-prove-the-concept-of-a-circular-economy
PD,
Heeeeyyyy....whatever happened to "THE WALL"? I haven't heard President Tweety scream about his wall in a while. Truly, the guy is like a little kid. Every shiny new toy that comes along, he tosses his previous favorite under the bed where mom finds it five weeks later.
His latest toys are "getting tough" with China (he so enjoys looking tough), shutting up pesky reporters (Liarbee must LOVE that one), still pretending that he is too a genius billionaire despite what his tax returns say, and one other thing...wait a minute...hold on...It's coming back to me now...
Oh yeah!
The Coverup!
I guess the Wall has gone the way of the migrant caravan invasion and healthcare and infrastructure, although he's still hot to deny healthcare to tens of millions of Americans. It'll resume it's place of honor three milliseconds after some bongo brain on Fox brings it up again.
Regarding Red Sox players who declined the invitation to visit the king, there is more going on than just these people (as players on other teams have done before the Sox) rendering a judgment on Trump (which they clearly are).
It's also true that they are responding to a judgment he has rendered on people of color, on Hispanics and African-Americans, that he is not their president, that he prefers to keep them in their place, and he has demonstrated that, in his opinion, bolstered by his actions, they don't deserve the same treatment or protection as whites (especially white supremacists).
Just days ago, he laughed when one of his minions yelled that non-whites be murdered as the solution to immigration problems (non-white immigrants only). Laughed about it. Murdering brown people. So funny. Hahahaha. No wonder these players declined. I mean, would you show up to glad hand some asshole who thinks you and your kind should be killed in cold blood if you piss him off? This guy is not just divisive, he is a pathogen, a disease attacking the body politic. He's an ignorant, racist, violence promoting figure.
And he hires ignoramuses as well. The "World Cup Series"? I guess the Sox (or is it the "Socks"?) better start including practicing corner kicks along with hitting and fielding drills. It's obvious that, like their stoopid boss, Trump's employees don't know, don't care to know, and don't have a clue how to find out if they ever wanted to know. Trump believes he knows it all and never has to look anything up and he clearly hires people just like himself. Morons, all.
@Akhilleus: In a real White House, even something as innocuous as a press release about a sports photo-op would be written weeks in advance & get vetted by several people. Maybe some last-minute change in particulars would require a change before release, but even that wouldn't be written & published by a Norwegian intern. I'm sorry, but the parts about Red Socks & the World Cup Series are not last-minute changes; they're the product of a careless, dysfunctional administration. And they're indicative of the much more serious errors made at & near the top.
Donald Trump: Indian Fighter!
You know the old joke about Irish Alzheimers? They forget everything but the grudges (family experience, to an extent, tells me this is at least partially true).
Trump is like that too. He never forgets a grudge. AND he never misses a chance to step on minorities, making up stories about them, spreading outrageously slanderous charges, and then going behind the scenes to try to manipulate public opinion against them. Of course he's still doing this, but it's been going on a long time.
It's no surprise that he's throwing his very substantial obesity behind a pal's attempt to build a casino by (again) going after Native Americans.
Back in the 90's, when Trump's casino business was already declining because of his incredibly bad management and deal-making skills (as in "non-existent"), he partially blamed Native-Americans for his own ineptness. In order to keep a tribe in New York state from opening their own casino, on their own land, he began to spread rumors that the tribe was working with the Mafia and had killers and drug dealers on their lands. He even went before congress to spin this bullshit:
"'Organised crime is rampant, is rampant — I don’t mean a little bit — is rampant on the Indian reservations,' he said. 'It will blow sky high. It will be the biggest scandal ever or one of the biggest scandals since Al Capone in terms of organised crime.'
The chairman of the congressional committee looking into this, Rep. George Miller of California, was appalled: "In my 19 years on this committee, I don’t know when I have heard more irresponsible testimony . . . You have cast upon the Indian nations of this country a blanket indictment."
Sound familiar? Trump uses this same ploy against every group he hates or feels is getting something that by rights should be his and his alone.
When the Mafia scam didn't work, Trump went directly after the tribe claiming that they were unstable murderers who would attack peaceful New Yorkers (like him) without provocation. "'Are these the new neighbours we want?' one advertisement asked. 'The St Regis Mohawk Indian record of criminal activity is well documented.'"
Of course it wasn't documented at all. But that never stops a Trump lie.
Those ads, by the way, were produced and distributed by another congenital asshole, Roger Stone. But Trump and Stone lost this one (another loser).
"In response, New York officials alleged that Mr Trump and his associates, including conservative activist Roger Stone, had violated the state’s lobbying law. Without admitting guilt, Mr Trump, Mr Stone’s firm and the institute agreed in 2000 to pay a $250,000 civil penalty to settle the matter, including $50,000 for ads apologising to anyone deceived by the anti-Mohawk missives."
More law breaking.
His immense disrespect (probably more like out and out hatred) for Native Americans cannot be hidden. And he doesn't even bother to try. Last year, at a White House ceremony honoring Navajo Code Talkers, brave soldiers who, unlike Trump, didn't try to use spurious bone spurs to keep from serving their country, took time to throw a jab at Elizabeth Warren, calling her "Pocahontas", and yukking it up, as if the Navajo guests would think this was funny (such an asshole).
But back in the 90's, Trump finally ran his casino business into the ground even as the Mohawk's business flourished. His casino went into receivership and he lost more millions. Naturally it wasn't his fault. I'm sure, sitting in his undies, munching Doritos and screaming at the TV during Egg-Zecutive Time, it must come into his feverish lizard brain that those damn "drunken injuns" were the ones who screwed him.
So when the opportunity arises, even as president, when he should have far more important things to do to occupy his time, he makes sure he doesn't miss the chance to stick it to any and all Native Americans.
Small brain, small hands, small.... and small man.
Your president, Republicans. Good job.
When my grandson was attending Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism a few years ago, just one error on a paper automatically gave you an "F". They called it the "Medill F". This accuracy is apparently not valued in today's White House.
Marie and JoannieB,
Quite.
Over the years, whenever I've looked over resumes and cover letters, I've almost immediately tossed any that came across my desk with spelling problems and incorrect grammar. Why? Those candidates have weeks, maybe months, to get it right. If they have problems spelling, find some friend or teacher to look it over. This is their one chance to make a good impression. If they don't care to take the time to make the best of that opportunity, what will they do in that job on a regular basis? Could I hand them the responsibility of making sure the little things are done right if they couldn't handle turning in one of the most important documents in their professional life without a raft of mistakes?
I've broken that rule, but only in situations where the candidate looked, on paper, so good it would be irresponsible of me not to at least call them in for an interview. Nothing is perfectly black and white, but the little things DO matter.
And at the White House, little things should matter too. It might not be a big deal to Trump and his worker bees, but for almost every American who comes into the White House for a ceremony or a meeting, it is a very big deal indeed, and seeing your name or your occupation incorrectly referenced or spelled is, as Marie correctly points out, indicative of a much larger problem, a slipshod, half-assed, don't-give-a-shit, fly-by-night, cavalier approach that with every misspelling, dangling modifier, grammatically dysfunctional phrase, and whacko wording, says "You don't matter". This is carried on into all other phases of White House work product, from policy decisions to legislation (look at all the massive fails in that area) to its overall worldview.
They're a bunch of scraggly-ass, slothful, indifferent ignoramuses. And it shows.
They get the Medill F. And the American F too.
@Akhilleus: Thanks very much for the exposition on Donald Trump, Indian Fighter. I vaguely knew he had disparaged Amerindians in connection with his casino misfortunes, but I never knew about the fake Congressional "testimony." I wonder if he was under oath!
Junior Redux
I must admit, I was slack-jawed that Republicans in the Senate called Junior back to the box. The likely motive soon became clearer, at least in my estimation. The idea is to clear his name, but good, and to put an exclamation point to Uncle Turtle's proclamation that the case is closed.
I hate to say it (okay, I really don't hate it, but if we had two real parties, both serious and both interested in the best for this country, I would), but I am under no illusions that Senate Republicans have any but the most self-serving motives here. I have no faith in the idea that they are after the truth in any way, shape, or form. My default position has become, through hardscrabble experience over years of being blackjacked again and again, that the Republican Party is in it for themselves, for the protection of a treasonous president, for their donors, and their own political power. That.Is.It.
So if they recall Junior, it's got to be for something other than "Let's get to the bottom of things and get the truth out for the American people."
That wouldn't be the last thing they'd think of; that one isn't even on the list.
random bits from a free moment
I’m still gaffawing over those two words - fabric swatches - while also envisioning Midas’ supporters (as with their praise of supreme business acumen re: multiple bankruptcies) concluding that these engrossing textile samples actually represented pre-presidential* compassion for clothing the homeless (and there are *many* on “his” streets) here in NYC.
My mental health practitioner friends have all reported exponential up-ticks in patients - new and returning - since the bigly attended inauguration.
Accessing humor has always been a requisite life jacket while pursuing the arts. These days (months) I require potent infusions of humor - of most any kind - on a daily basis. And so appreciate the whip-smart, creative and ongoing humor posted herein. (“long-haired Himmler” happily continues to echo).
Peace.