The Washington Post offers tips on how to keep your EV battery running in frigid temperatures. The link at the end of this graf is supposed to be a "gift link" (from me, Marie Burns, the giftor!), meaning that non-subscribers can read the article. Hope it works: https://wapo.st/3u8Z705
Sunday
Nov192017
The Commentariat -- November 20, 2017
Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "President Trump called elephant hunting a 'horror show' Sunday and strongly suggested he will permanently block imports of elephant trophies from two African nations despite his administration's earlier approval of the practice. Following strong bipartisan criticism of the administration's decision to allow imports of trophy carcasses, a practice was halted under the Obama administration, Trump had moved Friday to put the imports on hold.... Trump wrote [on Twitter] that he would be 'very hard pressed to change my mind that this horror show in any way helps conservation of Elephants or any other animal.'" ...
... Mrs Bea McCrabbie: You can't fool me. Trump doesn't care about anything or anybody who isn't named Donald J. Trump Senior, so why he is suddenly so into saving the elephants? Because he wants to punish Junior, the Great White Hunter, for royally screwing up the Russia thing: "That's the last time you get near an elephant's ass, Kid, unless I push your head up one at the zoo."
Donald Trump Is Still a Self-Absorbed, Whiney Prick. Benjamin Hoffman of the New York Times: "A day after LaVar Ball, the outspoken father of the basketball players LiAngelo and Lonzo Ball, played down President Trump's involvement in getting LiAngelo safely out of China without any criminal charges, the president fired back on Twitter.... 'Now that the three basketball players are out of China and saved from years in jail, LaVar Ball, the father of LiAngelo, is unaccepting of what I did for his son and that shoplifting is no big deal. I should have left them in jail!'... Later in the day, Trump doubled down on his claim that LaVar Ball was ungrateful for his son's release: 'Shoplifting is a very big deal in China, as it should be (5-10 years in jail), but not to father LaVar. Should have gotten his son out during my next trip to China instead. China told them why they were released. Very ungrateful!'" ...
... AND since every day is Pick on Black People Day at the Trump House... Louis Nelson of Politico: "... Donald Trump singled out Oakland Raiders football player Marshawn Lynch Monday morning, suggesting that the running back had shown 'great disrespect' by *sitting* for the U.S. national anthem and standing for the Mexican one before his team's game on Sunday, played in Mexico City.... Lynch has not publicly explained his anthem protests, but did arrive at a road game in Denver last month wearing an 'everybody vs. Trump' t-shirt."
Donald Trump Is Still Donald Trump. Sarah Kaplan of the Washington Post: Members of the White House staff who aren't completely crazy can't figure out how to explain why Trump has mocked Al Franken for a relatively minor sexual attack but won't say anything about Roy Moore's allegedly preying on teenaged girls.
** Mike Levine of ABC News: "Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team [is] investigating whether ... Donald Trump sought to obstruct a federal inquiry into connections between his presidential campaign and Russian operatives has now directed the Justice Department to turn over a broad array of documents, ABC News has learned. In particular, Mueller's investigators are keen to obtain emails related to the firing of FBI Director James Comey and the earlier decision of Attorney General Jeff Sessions to recuse himself from the entire matter, according to a source who has not seen the specific request but was told about it. Issued within the past month, the directive marks the special counsel's first records request to the Justice Department, and it means Mueller is now demanding documents from the department overseeing his investigation.... Mueller's investigators now seek ... any [DOJ] communications with White House counterparts, the source said.... The latest move suggests the Special Counsel is still actively digging into, among other matters, whether Trump or any other administration official improperly tried to influence an ongoing investigation."
The Best People. Esme Cribb of TPM: "Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin on Sunday said he 'didn't realize' photographs of himself and his wife, actress Louise Linton, holding a sheet of the first $1 bills to bear Mnuchin's signature, would be posted online." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: The photographer works for the AP, which, you know, takes photos for, um, publication. Contrary to your belief, Mr. Secretary, press photographers do not show up to take pictures for "Steve & Louise's Excellent Family Scrapbook." The photographer, Jacquelyn Martin, was surprised by just about everything Munchkin, et ux., did. Apparently she was unaware of just how egocentric & clueless these geniuses were....
... Lois Beckett of the Guardian: "As Republicans push for legislation that would cut taxes for the rich while increasing taxes on lower-income Americans, Trump’s treasury secretary [Steve Mnuchin] said he was flattered to be compared to a James Bond villain.... 'I guess I should take that as a compliment that I look like a villain in a great, successful James Bond movie,' the treasury secretary told Fox News on Sunday." --safari
Family Values! Lachlan Markay of The Daily Beast: "[T]he first family is far from the only group of relatives staffing the Trump administration. A Daily Beast examination of public records reveals that there are at least 20 families, joined by either blood or marriage, in which multiple members hold some federal post or appointment. They include the families of some of Trump's most prominent campaign supporters and agency officials, including one cabinet officer. The posts range from senior White House staff to more ceremonial and advisory positions." --safari: If you look closely at the picture, does Eric not have a giant booger peeking out of his nose??? Poor Eric!
There's Always More to the Story. Caroline Orr of Shareblue: "Former Oklahoma Republican state Sen. Ralph Shortey, who also served as the Trump's campaign chair in the state, agreed this week to plead guilty to child sex trafficking charges after getting caught earlier this year offering to pay a teenage boy for sex. According to The Oklahoman, Shortey was found in a hotel room with a teenage boy on March 9. A subsequent investigation by local and federal officials revealed a series of text messages in which Shortey offered to pay the teen in exchange for 'sexual stuff.'" In February, Shortey introduced a bill in the state legislature to punish "sanctuary cities," partly because he was concerned about immigrants who engaged in sex trafficking. "There's a trail of death from Honduras to the United States of America, and the families are giving their children and others over to coyotes and to human traffickers," Shortey argued. ...
... Mrs. McC: What with his being an admitted sex offender, it could be that Shortey isn't getting one of those jobs Trump has been handing out to "all the best people" -- who worked on his campaign. Well, at least till Shortey gets out on parole.
Ellie Smith of ABC News: "'I want to see changes in that [Senate tax] bill, and I think there will be changes,' Sen. Susan Collins of Maine told ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos on 'This Week' Sunday. She said one problem with the bill is the inclusion of a provision that would repeal the Affordable Care Act's mandate that most people must have health insurance or face a penalty." ...
... Mulvaney Claims He Will Oblige the Lady of Maine. Nolan McCaskill of Politico: "White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said Sunday that the administration wants to repeal part of Obamacare in Congress' tax bill but is 'OK with taking it out' if 'it becomes an impediment.... Donald Trump has called for Congress to include a repeal of the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate in its tax bill. The Congressional Budget Office has projected that doing so would save the government $338 billion over a decade but result in 13 million more Americans being uninsured by 2027." ...
... Kate Zernike & Abby Goodnough of the New York Times: People who receive subsidies to help cover the cost of health insurance "complicate the argument of Senate Republicans who are counting on repeal of the so-called individual mandate to free up hundreds of billions of dollars to pay for an array of tax cuts to corporations and individuals. They are assuming that without a mandate, many people would no longer buy insurance, so the government would spend billions of dollars less on the subsidies the health law provides to help those under a certain income level pay their premiums. But polling data, analysis from a private forecasting agency and interviews with people who buy coverage through the Affordable Care Act marketplaces suggest the savings could be far less, largely because many people who qualify for the subsidies will still want to take advantage of them.... Nearly 60 percent of people who buy their own insurance receive subsidies...." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: In other words, Trump & Senate Republicans have dreamed up a lose-lose-lose situation. The cost of insurance will skyrocket as healthier people, who don't think they need insurance, will drop it, leaving the pool of insureds sicker. But the federal cost of paying out the subsidies also will skyrocket, because the higher costs of insurance will make more people eligible for the subsidies. In addition, people who suddenly get sick people will have to wait to sign up for insurance, so they'll be sicker by the time they get to the doctor. And let's not forget that the more unhealthy Americans are, the worse-off the economy. People who have jobs can't get to work regularly, so productivity will drop, lowering profits. Many businesses will have to shell out sick pay for non-working employees. People who don't get sick pay won't be able to buy as much stuff. That is, we'll have lower demand, so, necessarily, less supply. And GDP goes south. Idiots!
... Eric Levitz of New York: "The Trump tax cuts are zipping through Congress at the legislative version of light speed.... Tax policy is about a lot more than generating revenue. Every tax code rewards certain kinds of economic activity and disincentives others. In the United States, we are especially reliant on tax incentives for shaping our industrial policy and providing social welfare. The tax bills sprinting through the House and Senate would restructure these incentives, in ways that the public scarcely appreciates, and that even experts need more time to fully understand.... Here's a rundown of ten consequences those cuts could have for our economy" --safari ...
... Jonathan Chait of New York: "In such a compressed period of time, they couldn't avoid opening up enormous opportunities for gaming and arbitrage even if they wanted to. And there's little reason to believe they want to, with their plan essentially having been created by and for the business lobby. The tax code is imperfect now. Once the Republicans get through with it, it will be in desperate need of reform." --safari ...
... Rebekah Entralago of ThinkProgress: "... Mick Mulvaney told CNN's Jake Tapper Sunday that the president 'is not going to sign a bill that raises taxes on the middle class, period.' Unfortunately for Mulvaney, both the House and Senate tax bills would do just that, but he's now trying to spin millions of people losing their health insurance as them getting a tax break." --safari ...
... AND Ivanka Trump Is Not an Economist
We spend less than any country in the developed world on children between the ages of zero and 5. It's just a fact, we don't invest enough resources. -- Ivanka Trump, remarks during an interview with Tucker Carlson, November 6
Trump uses the factoid to advocate for the GOP tax plan, which she says would help middle-income families pay the high cost of child care.... Trump pulled her talking point from an Obama-era CEA white paper advocating for expanding pre-kindergarten programs. And even though the white paper found that the United States spends less than almost every OECD country on early-childhood education, the proposed tax cuts wouldn't boost the United States' rank. And more important, the tax cuts Trump cites could increase taxes on 40 percent of families with children.... The missing context helps to explain why she stumbled through the talking point in her interview. -- Nicole Lewis of the Washington Post
Esme Cribb: "Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) has no plans to resign after a radio host accused him of forcibly kissing and groping her years ago, according to a spokesperson. 'No,' a spokesperson for Franken told the Star Tribune on Saturday. 'He is spending time with his family in Washington, D.C., and will be through the Thanksgiving holiday.'"
Liz Mair in The Daily Beast: "For at least two years now, Western politics has been rocked by attempt after attempt to bring down the establishment and put outsiders of diverse and frequently conflicting political philosophies in charge of government. Those movements have largely failed.... The establishment still reigns, even if the names and faces have been shuffled a bit. But it may well be wiped out thanks to sexually harassing, threatening, assaulting, and predatory behavior it has too long tolerated, and which is now being exposed, ending careers, threatening some members with potential criminal records, and more." --safari
Senate Race
Jones Stands Alone. Jess Bidgood of the New York Times: "... the Democratic candidate [for the Senate special election in Alabama, Doug] Jones, is a respected former prosecutor best known for convicting two Ku Klux Klan members for the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, who was raising the possibility of a truly competitive race even before the accusations against Mr. Moore. But opportunity has knocked on the door of a Democratic operation with the lights out. With a fairly anemic state party, there is little existing infrastructure for routine campaign activities like phone banks or canvassing drives. National Democrats, while helping to pour in money, are taking pains to keep the race at arm's length, figuring their presence could hurt rather than help Mr. Jones. There are no beloved statewide officeholders or popular party elders to rally the troops." ...
... The Editors of Al.com, which is produced by Alabama's major newspapers, endorse Democrat Doug Jones for Senate. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Brian Stelter of CNN: "The Alabama Media Group stripped the editorial across its Sunday front pages. The unusual step comes 10 days after misconduct allegations first surfaced against [Roy] Moore, the Republican nominee for the state's Senate seat. The editorial doubles as an endorsement of Moore's opponent, Democrat Doug Jones. It appears in The Birmingham News, Mobile Press-Register and The Huntsville Times and it is prominently featured on the papers' shared website AL.com." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Erik Wemple of the Washington Post: Roy "Moore's camp has twice threatened the Alabama Media Group, home to AL.com, according to a letter from a lawyer for the company. 'You have accused AL.com of making "false reports and/or careless reporting" about multiple subjects related to your clients,' reads the letter from John Thompson of Lightfoot Franklin White LLC. 'Your letter demands that AL.com retract and recant its prior stories and that it "cease and desist" from any further reporting about your clients,' reads the letter. 'AL.com hereby rejects your demand,' it continues.... The letter states, 'You have not explained how anything that AL.com has reported is untrue, inaccurate or erroneous, nor do you provide any support for your position.'... Not content to merely play defense against the threats from Moore, the AMG letter notes that litigation from the Senate candidate would 'also reveal other important information about your clients.'"
Not Good. Lois Beckett of the Guardian: "Resistance to a ban on military-style assault weapons is strongest among millennials, according to a new Quinnipiac poll released this week. It's a finding that experts said might be driven by the popularity of first-person shooter video games such as Call of Duty and the increasing prominence of military-style guns in the consumer market. A large majority of Americans say they support a ban on the sale of assault weapons." --safari ...
... John Naughton in the Guardian argues that it is the tech elites' ignorance more than their crass materialism that has led them to create such a giant mess: "Now mathematics, engineering and computer science are wonderful disciplines -- intellectually demanding and fulfilling. And they are economically vital for any advanced society. But mastering them teaches students very little about society or history -- or indeed about human nature. As a consequence, the new masters of our universe are people who are essentially only half-educated. They have had no exposure to the humanities or the social sciences, the academic disciplines that aim to provide some understanding of how society works, of history and of the roles that beliefs, philosophies, laws, norms, religion and customs play in the evolution of human culture. We are now beginning to see the consequences of the dominance of this half-educated elite." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I'll have to add that their tremendous success has made these masters of the universe remarkably arrogant. They don't think anyone whom they deem less successful can tell them anything. When President Obama (whom many people would say has been mighty successful) warned Mark Zuckerberg of the consequences of Facebook's spreading fake news, Zuckerberg blew off Obama; in fact, he told the president his warning was "crazy."
** Timothy Shenk of the New Republic: Political scientists Karen Orren & Stephen Skowronek argue that the Framers did not have in mind the kind of government that Barack Obama envisioned: one that "gets stuff done." "As Antonin Scalia observed with characteristic snark, the Constitution 'contains no whatever-it-takes-to-solve-a-national-problem power.'"
Beyond the Beltway
Alexia Campbell of Vox: "The head of Puerto Rico's public utility company [Ricardo Ramos], PREPA, resigned Friday afternoon following a series of blunders in the effort to restore Puerto Rico's power grid.... As of Friday, less than half of the island had power.... The ongoing lack of power is the central factor in the $20 billion to $40 billion in economic losses the island has sustained since the storm.... Chief among PREPA's gaffes is the $300 million contract it signed with Whitefish Energy, a tiny Montana company that was hardly equipped to rebuild Puerto Rico's fragile power grid.... A House committee released the results of its investigation [of the contract] on Monday, and the conclusions were harsh. PREPA was 'inept' and 'dysfunctional.'... The Whitefish deal seriously damaged the credibility of Puerto Rico's government in the eyes of Congress and the American public." --safari
Way Beyond
Jeffrey Moyo of the New York Times: "Robert Mugabe, 93, who ruled Zimbabwe with an iron grip until the military placed him under house arrest last week, stunned the nation on Sunday night by refusing to say whether he would resign. Many political observers and fellow Zimbabweans had been expecting Mr. Mugabe to step down as president after nearly 40 years in power. But the embattled president gave a 20-minute televised speech that acknowledged problems in the nation -- and he vowed to soldier on."...
... Sly Bob. Jason Burke & Emma Graham-Harrison of the Guardian: "Zimbabwe's powerful war veterans have claimed that Robert Mugabe swapped speeches to avoid resigning during a televised address to the nation on Sunday night, as they repeated their call for him to go.... His rambling address on Sunday offered no substantial concessions to his critics, the tens of thousands who have marched calling for his resignation, or the army commanders who led the military takeover last week.... Amid the continuing confusion, CNN reported on Monday that Mugabe has agreed to stand down and has drafted a resignation letter, citing a source familiar with his negotiations with the military. Under the terms of the deal, Mugabe and his wife, Grace, would be granted full immunity, CNN said." --safari
Philip Oltermann of the Guardian: "Exploratory talks to form Germany's next coalition government collapsed shortly before midnight on Sunday when the pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP) walked out of marathon negotiations.... [T]he four parties involved missed several self-prescribed deadlines to resolve differences on migration and energy policy.... The euro slid in Asian trade overnight thanks to the uncertainty in Europe's powerhouse nation." --safari
Gated Countries. Rupert Neate of the Guardian: "Construction has begun on a $2bn (£1.5bn) scheme to reclaim land from the sea around Monaco so that more luxury apartments can be built for the thousands of extra millionaires expected to move to the principality in the next 10 years. Nearly 35 in every 100 Monaco residents are millionaires and more of the global super-rich want to join them. Around 2,700 more are expected to call Monaco home by 2026, according to research by estate agent Knight Frank, taking the total to 16,100 out of a total population of under 38,000." --safari
News Ledes
New York Times: "The Argentine Navy disclosed on Monday that the crew of a missing submarine had been ordered to return to its home port on Wednesday after reporting a battery failure. The revelation was the first official confirmation that the Navy had known since Wednesday -- when the submarine vanished -- that the vessel was contending with equipment malfunction and might have the lost the ability to propel itself.... A multinational effort is underway to try to locate the submarine and its 44-member crew, amid mystery about what happened to the vessel.... The disclosure about mechanical failure is likely to add to fears that the crew has been lost."
New York Times:"Della Reese, the husky-voiced singer and actress who spent almost a decade playing a down-to-earth heavenly messenger on the CBS series 'Touched by an Angel' and became an ordained minister in real life, died on Sunday night at her home in Encino, Calif. She was 86."
New York Times: "Charles Manson, one of the most notorious murderers of the 20th century..., died on Sunday in Kern County, Calif. He was 83 and had been behind bars for most of his life."
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Reader Comments (28)
I think we need to further heed @Marvin's medical diagnosis of the Donald. I'm starting to believe that the idea of "shame" doesn't even register in his brain circuits. He is the very definition of "shameless".
That he would enter into the conversation of Franken's alleged sexual misconduct is hardly surprising but still incredible, given all of his genital-grabbing history. He knew this would deflect the public discourse towards his own fundamental deficiencies, but he couldn't care less. He's already mentally exonerated himself, and that's that.
Then, he gets into another Twitter war with another attention-craver, who just happens to be of African descent, and claims he should've left his fellow citizens to languish in Chinese prison. Again, the whole episode is an absolute farce and completely demeaning to the office of the president*, who is now literally just a glorified position of a deranged Fox News-fueled old fart.
And all of this very legitimate criticism and incredulity of concerned citizens doesn't even register of Uncle Grump's radar, because he is completely devoid of registering shame. So he brings on critiques, demeans his office, shames the country, all (I'm convinced) to distract everyone from his mounting failures, the disastrous tax plan sham, and the deepening Russia connections.
He rather repeatedly expose his most shameful actions than own-up to his current failures. He's mentally deranged.
He's Donald Mugabe Esq. And no human attributes needed-- I am not sure if he is deranged or simply inhuman. Leaning toward alien-- that is, from another planet, safari...
On a bright sunny day can't you jest hear Gordon McCrae singing
"Oklahoma! where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain
& the wavin' wheat can sure smell sweet...."
Looks like a different song to be sung nowadays cuz Oklahoma! is going down the tubes. That amoral Mary Fallin, Governor of this failing state, has been stuck in the GOP mud for years and refuses to budge. According to this piece from New York, like Kansas and Louisiana, Oklahoma has demonstrated that the Republican Party's prescription for prosperity is a snake oil tonic with life-threatening effects. They have even had to cut public school days to four, and because they refuse to pay teachers a proper salary, teacher shortage and a lack of good teachers are the result. And this is only one example of what has happened in that state where the rich get richer.
The good news is that the people have finally had enough and are voting for Democrats! We'll see how many and how soon.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/11/oklahoma-tried-the-gop-agenda-now-its-electing-democrats.html
Re: the Dufus as per comments above: When the shite hits the fan and it will, by and by, we will bid this guy goodbye with glad hearts and cornets wondering why someone so utterly unfit for the job of president could become just that. We will assess and re–assess and history will not be kind. It might just describe this period as a great volcanic eruption whose ashes spread far and wide covering up and choking our country's life-blood. Or it might just say we brought this on ourselves and list the reasons for––it will be a long list, I'm sure.
A teeny, tiny piece of good news. Four wealthy, NJ Repub. towns were won by the Dem. in the governor's race. First time in 36 years.
PD:
Thanks for the Oklahoma, or should I say, Kansas redux, report.
Can't explain the behavior of these folks. Greed, I guess, stirred into a base of ignorance. What strikes me this AM is what they are most ignorant about: any sense of that they are ineluctably wrapped in time, that there was a past that led to their today, an examination of which might contain a lesson or two, and that the future they and their children will inhabit is being determined by what they do today. It's a linkage from which there is no escape.
One line of the article particularly caught my eye. "This reliance on emergency, nonrecurring revenue sources has also ensured that the state will face a new budget crisis each and every year."
Seems an apt description of any culture that is hell-bent on deleting its resources (of any and all kinds) as rapidly as possible, thoughtlessly sucking any and all futures into the maw of the present.
The Pretender's attitude to oil, coal and other natural resources, even the limited social resources of civility and a functioning government, come to mind.
LaVar Ball is an idiot. He says stupid things all the time. Sports fans roll their eyes whenever he spouts off. His kid (the younger one who got bagged shoplifting in China--IN CHINA, fer crissakes) is an idiot too. Lonzo Ball, another son who plays for the Lakers, is not an idiot, but his dad doesn't make things easy for him by constantly shouting about how much better he is than any other player in NBA history (he isn't; by a loooooong shot).
So it's long been established that LaVar has a problem with shooting his mouth off.
Why then does the President of the United States decide it's a good idea to get into a pissing contest with this guy? Oh, wait. It's because he's the President* of the United States. And his sense of omnipotence is hurt because he didn't get a great big "Thank you, Massa Trump" from appropriately worshipful nee-groes.
My mother used to say, if you're not going to do something for the right reason, don't do it at all.
US presidents routinely try to intervene in cases of US citizens imprisoned abroad. It's part of the job. But now that I think of it, does Trump EVER do anything for the right reason? I suppose if you interpret "right reason" as anything redounding to his personal glory or pocketbook--as opposed to because it's in the interest of the country or its citizens--then everything he does is for the "right reason". He doesn't have other things to worry about (like a possible imminent indictment? Like North Korea? Like seven million more important things) than whether or not some dumbass basketball players say "Thank you, thank you, thank you"?
Whether or not these kids should have been more forthcoming with a sense of gratitude is probably a lesser concern for anyone in black communities across the country to whom Trump, as the White Supremacist's First Choice, routinely gives the back of his hand. Just move on. Let it go. Instead of taking the opportunity to be big about the whole thing, he has his usual self-righteous tantrum. He turns a chance to look like a good guy, for once, into yet another shameful exhibition in the long-running "It's All About Me" show.
A cornucopia of antic escapades and juvenile pique. What a disgrace.
safari, N. Korea just confirmed the diagnosis. Newsweek:North Korea Says 'Stupid' Trump Is 'Old Lunatic' and Won't Be 'pardoned' for His Crimes Against Regime.
PD,
Mary Fallin's failin' in Oklahoma calls up another connection to the sports world.
It's one of those odd things in sports that certain ideas catch fire and suddenly become "the thing to do". At one point in the NFL, a three man defensive line was all the rage. The problem was that only teams with just the right personnel could pull it off. Rather than use the capabilities of your current players instead of trying to institute the latest big idea, some coaches and managers seem determined to implement that big idea, no matter if it fits or not. We saw it this weekend in Buffalo. The new coach benched the quarterback who, all things being equal, has been doing relatively okay, and put in place another guy who "fits" the coach's big idea of the sort of style of football he has in mind. Never mind that the current personnel don't fit that style. End result? Buffalo got smoked 54-24.
Same thing in Right Wing World. The horrible failures of Kansas and Oklahoma should be cautionary examples of why you don't try to fit reality to some ideological fairy tale rather than basing your operating principles on a real world foundation.
But here's the difference. In the sports world, failure is often (but not often enough) met with dismissal. You get a chance to put your ideas into play. You don't succeed, after a season or two, you get canned. Losing teams don't make a ton of money. But in politics, especially with a group of protected voters (ie gerrymandered against other candidates challenging their blinkered world view) who will vote for their guys no matter how terribly they perform, the idea of meritocracy seems almost Victorian. If your guys suck, the prevailing wisdom is "they didn't do it right" or they weren't "Trumpy enough".
It seems that, as the Kansases and Oklahomas continue to get hammered 100-0 every time out, the coaches get to run the same stupid plays that have never worked. And people like Trump and Ryan point to these same astoundingly ineffective plays (supply side, trickle down) and insist that we run them on a national level.
Then again, maybe failure is the goal. In that case, they might get lifetime contracts.
Treasury Sec'y Munchkin is thrilled to be compared to a Bond villain? Has he ever seen a Bond movie? He's happy to be compared to this guy, and this guy, this guy, and even THIS guy?
Well, ummm....okay then.
The best people, cont.
I missed this story a week ago or so. Intriguing account of how US intelligence can, if allowed to, uncover a smoking gun in an investigation of Russian interference. If...allowed to.
The writer, a former member of the CIA Directorate of Operations who has also served on the National Security Council, reviews the stories of traitors Aldrich Ames and Robert Hannsen, and the efforts made to catch them. A smoking gun in the Trump/Russia collusion case can be found if one exists, but having a CIA director in Trump's pocket and a president, one possible target of the investigation, who is ready to wrap it up, makes it a lot harder.
One suggested path to the smoking gun is through the Russians themselves. Ames and Hannsen were caught in just this way. But it's doubtful that either CIA chief Mike Pompeo or any other Trumpy worker bee is interested in looking in the right places. They might find something not to their liking.
Interesting review of past investigations.
@Ak: gotta bone to pick. When you use President* in a headline, I get the use of the grammatical upper case 'pee.' But, within a sentence, I'm with Charlie Pierce: keep it lower case as below, TrumpVs est Delenda deserves no more:
"... if the relationship between Sessions and the president* is sufficiently poisoned, if only in the dark precincts of the presidential* mind, then Sessions might well wonder where his own self-interest lies—with the president who gets his mad on over the ingratitude of teenage shoplifters and their parents, or with the implacable investigator who can haul him into court every half-hour for the foreseeable future....
Something I haven't weighed in on before, the Tweeden Affair. After watching several of the YouTube videos that Bea McCrab posted yesterday...and a few others besides, was she 'violated'? The
ladyin question is merely out for her fifteen minutes of Sean Hannity fame."Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex." -- First section of the very short Equal Rights Amendment.
I used to live in Oklahoma. More or less by accident, I had friends involved in Republican politics. So one day this GOP operative came to my house to help me with some home improvement, & he showed me this survey that a Democrat had done in the district she hoped (futilely) to represent. My friend worked for the GOP incumbent in that district, and he was enraged by the Democrat's survey.
All the survey asked was "Do you agree or disagree with the statement, 'Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.'?" Overwhelmingly, even in this Republican district, the "agrees" won.
What so enraged my friend was the "deception" of the Democrat's survey. "If she had asked, 'Are you in favor of the Equal Rights Amendment?' obviously everyone would have said no.... It's a travesty! This is so unfa-a-a-ir!"
Of course I laughed out loud. But it wasn't long before I realized that my friend was just expressing the accepted GOP MO, and he couldn't see past it. The label is what matters; not the content. Republicans can demonize the ERA, but it was "unfair" to disclose its benign content. If you call it a "Patriot Missile," then it's a force for good, not a killing machine. If you call a bill for billionaires the "Cut, Cut, Cut Act," then you're going to get tax cuts & you'll live happily ever after.
The voters of Oklahoma have been buying the GOP brand, & accepting as accurate the labels they apply to GOP & Democratic policies, for decades. Voters have no earthly idea what's in the package that says "Eat me" or the package that says "Poison XXX!" And when their lot in life worsens, they have no idea that it was the brand they bought that done 'em in.
If you want to know why Oklahomans are screwed, ask Pogo.
Marie
Here is an extraordinary report from The Nation:
THE PLOT TO LOOT AMERICA'S WILDERNESS
As we have learned many of the departments that are being run by Trump's sorry picks are in chaos, but the Dept. of the Interior is running like a marathon man due to certain well oiled scallywags who have been around for years and know exactly how to work the system and ruin the land:
"In totality what they are doing to open up public lands to oil and gas development––to basically hand the keys over to the energy industry––is pretty astounding."
https://www.thenation.com/article/the-plot-to-sell-americas-wilderness/
MAG,
Point well taken. Typically, I use lower case "president" to refer generically to the office and the upper case "President" when referring to a specific holder of that office. But in this situation, I can see the argument for lowering the case. We have a low person lowering standards and lowering, in general, the respect for and integrity of the office. Getting lower by the day.
Marie,
Truth is always unfair to Confederates. Truth should be what they say it is, not what it actually is. Remember the Decider's White House staff declared that "...reality is what we say it is." No wonder they're so down on science.
Poor wingers. So put upon.
@Akhillleus: In the story you link by Joel Willett, he writes, "It appears that, absent a John Dean-like figure testifying to direct involvement in collusion, some in Congress will continue the refrain, 'There’s no smoking gun.'”
He's right about that, & I think Trump anticipated it. His MO is to hire incompetents & keep them on edge & sniping at each other. Most of those incompetents are lucky to have a job, any job, much less one in the White House. And they also share Trump's values -- that is, they don't have any, other than self-interest. On top of that, as Lachlan Markay points out in a post safari linked this morning, nepotism is part of the Trump mob's family-values package. Relatives are less likely to rat on Uncle Donnie. Trump's team has no heroes, as far as I can see. And if there are any heroes, they probably aren't privy to most of the dirty shenanigans.
While it could be that there would be some appointee (Don McGahn, who has Dean's old job??) who got a severe pang of patriotism & will decide to rat on the perps, it's unlikely, IMO. When Dean testified, it was an act of true heroism. Alexander Butterfield had not yet testified, & Dean didn't know about the tapes (which of course Nixon tried awfully hard not to turn over to the Senate committee). It was Dean's word against the POTUS's, & people were inclined to believe the guy whose name they knew. So the "smoking gun" in the Nixon story was the tapes, not Dean's testimony.
Although Trump pretended he taped his conversations with Comey, he certainly isn't taping every Jared, Hope & Stephen who walks into the Oval Office with instructions from Vlad. Trump is corrupt, & every sentient American knows it. But we are unlikely to learn the extent of the corrupt practices he has employed in the last several years.
That said, I think Mueller, even without the help of the CIA, can come up with enough stuff to indict Trump himself. Whether Mueller will pursue an indictment & whether he'll unseal it if he does, while Trump is in office, are among the unknowns.
PD:
See my fingers were again smarter than my brain. "Delete" should have been "deplete," but then again maybe not just the part but the whole resource shooting' match is the target.
MAG and Akhilleus:
I duck the whole "president" capitalization issue by using "pretender," capitalized to distinguish the person it denotes from my three-year old grandson and his comfort with make believe.
But perhaps I should reconsider that.
That last thought reminds me (but not specifically enough) of a Theodore Sturgeon short story about a young egomaniac with superpowers who ends up crushed under a young lady heel just like the bug he was.
Can't recall the title (hurried Googling didn't do the trick) but do remember the ending.
One can hope. Viva la Mueller!
Thank you for this lovely blog. I've read it daily for a couple of months now and appreciate the insightful comments enormously.
Ken wrote of natural resources and social resources such as civility and a functional government. Wasn't wearing my glasses so I read "national" instead of natural, and Wow! The concept of national resources, especially like civility and functional government, are precisely what is at stake and what we are perilously close to destroying. So much work to do just to defend, in our own voting precincts and in each others', our functional government.
Oklahoma's my home. There's a lot of bone ignorance around, but we're not hopeless. The OK Democratic Party just bounced an old white guy and elected a young woman as chairman, and elected a tremendous state senator, Allison Ickley Freeman. She and her volunteers worked really, really hard. OK's newspapers and TV really suck, especially OKC's. We try.
Happy Thanksgiving to one and all.
Just finished reading Jonathan Franzen's 1992 novel "Strong Motion" (highly recommended) and was amused to find the following on p. 361 (note to copyright police: short excerpt permitted as fair use, with attribution):
“……. thought there were people in this country who wanted nothing more than a decent job, decent housing, decent health care and first-class non-material satisfactions. Because it seemed as if people should (it.) be like this. And then in the eighties, this turns out to be as wishful as all my other thinking. The decent working people in this country turn out to have the same consumer greed as the bourgeoisie, and every single person is dreaming of having the same luxuries that Donald Trump has, and would poison the world and kill his neighbors to get them if that would help.”
P.S. BTW Where is Diane (amd Julie? and Kate/)? ( I seem to be missing some of our savvy regulars).
Haven't read the 200+ comments on this one but the contention of the piece is close enough to my own thoughts I chose to post it here before I forgot to.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/20/opinion/climate-capitalism-crisis.html?
It also has something to say about that "stupidity" thing we were addressing the other day.
Sometimes systems are much dumber than people.
Fleeting Expletive,
Thanks so much for the ground level view of some of the better news from Oklahoma. As one drills down to that level, one passes a variety of unusual and unexpected encounters with sensibilities less atrocious than can be seen from 20,000 feet, the geo-illogical history of the creation of Confederate tectonics.
From the heights we non-Sooners see black puffs from Fallin's smoke signals that white Christian wingers use to indicate that their flock did too build everything all by themselves, which, to rational people who have a basic understanding of American history, smacks of self-congratulatory solipsism and the bombast of batty claptrap.
Nice to see that not everyone is affected by the Winger Disease. But it's also painfully obvious that too many reasonable and rational candidates face a warped didactic demagoguery that makes mincemeat of factual views of the world.
Tweeden may be out for her fifteen minutes, she may be of unsavoury character, but I believe her credibility is dubious because of Stone's tweet forecasting her news, and her connection to the rancid enemies of truth in the media. We should target those reasons. If she was offended by the photo, and not in on it, and if the kiss occurred as she described, then Franken owes her the abject apology he has given, no matter what she does or has done for a living. A boxer can't be freely assaulted on the street because s/he punches people in the ring. If a transaction, be it physical, sexual, intellectual, etc is not consensual, it is a theft, an imposition or a crime of some sort. I smell rats because Roger Stone is involved. Have Stone, Tweeden and Sessions arranged a little payback for the humiliation and possible legal difficulties that Franken has caused Sessions? Is the AG of the US conspiring to discredit Democratic politicians, in order to intimidate them? These are much more fruitful lines of enquiry than focusing on Tweeden.
Conspiracy Central
You may have heard the latest "Infowars" style crackpot claim that moon landings were a hoax. You know who trumpets this bullshit?
Fox. Natch.
Of course they say, well, you can decide for yourself, but that's like saying we're not really sure whether or not chicken pox vaccines cause brain damage, but you can decide for yourself, or...Hey, there's no proof that Barack Obama was born in Kenya and was trained as a Muslim assasin by Ayatollah Khomeini, but you can decide for yourself. Or...we're not saying the world is flat, but...hey...
Seriously, who approved this story? What kind of editor thought a story on fake moon landings deserved to be highlighted on the Fox News site? But this is also the same "news" outlet that has promoted stories about Hillary Clinton having people killed and attacking Barack Obama for using Dijon mustard.
Even better, in the original article, Fox claimed, in order to help the conspiracy nuts, that the Apollo 17 mission was the first time a ship left earth's low orbit. It was, in fact, the last (the first was Apollo 8 in 1968, four years earlier). But don't let fact (holy shit! a FACT! KILL IT!) intrude on the rheumy ruminations of winger morons.
The most infuriating aspect of crap like this is that no matter how often Fox is proven not just wrong, but stupidly, outrageously, mendaciously and willfully wrong, their disciples keep coming back for more and never allow the myriad proven lies and ludricous claims and conspiracy deceptions to suggest that maybe--just maybe--they're being duped by malignant tricksters.
" Franken said. “I feel badly that Ms. Menz came away from our interaction feeling disrespected.”
Another allegation against Franken who, according to Menz, put his hand around her behind as they stood for a picture. Besides this unwanted gesture that I'm screaming about, it's also the "I feel badly" business. NO–-you feel bad! You only feel badly unless your groping hands had no feeling!
The other news of men obviously enamored of their sexual prowess includes Charlie Rose, of all people. Good heavens!!!! He has been accused by quite a few women of sexual harassment. Will this never end? Who's next? I must admit, I feel so "sadly" about all this––all these men behaving badly––maybe we can finally get the ERA passed?
@Gloria: I agree wholeheartedly with you. I was queasy about posting links to those videos because I'm very troubled by blame-the-victim excuses. A woman can have hinges on her heels for Guys A-Y, but if she says no to Guy Z & he goes ahead & has his way with her, it's rape.
On the other hand, the "atmosphere" of the tour, which was highly sexual, seemed relevant to me to help explain -- not excuse -- Franken's actions. It was clear that Tweeden played along with this -- the bump & grind, which I also viewed in a longer video, appeared to be spontaneous on her part -- she copied what some other performers were doing. That is, she didn't do it because the rub-a-butt was scripted.
I have more-or-less come to the conclusion -- based on what I know now -- that Tweeden is/was conflicted about the commercialization of her sexuality. You don't go on Howard Stern -- especially when she was invited because she was named one of the hot babes of 1998 or whenever -- thinking you're going to be chatting about international policy.
In the USO tours -- like the one where she spontaneously wrapped her leg around Robin Williams after he fondled her -- she played along. No doubt that's why she was asked back quite a few times. (I think she's done 7 or 8 tours.) On the other hand, she probably was offended by the way her fellow performers treated her. Certainly, Franken wasn't the only one to make a "joke" about her breasts. Somebody thought it would be fun to take the picture, ferinstance.
So my best guess is that the conversation she had with Franken (assuming it took place) about the kiss went a little differently from what she remembers. That is, I'm guessing that she sent him mixed signals. She well may have objected, but in a kidding or teasing way: you know, "No, ha ha ha." So when Franken says, "That's not the way I remembered it," both Franken & Tweeden may well be right. She didn't want him to give her a real kiss during the rehearsal, but he didn't know that. They were onstage for the kiss, after all; it wasn't really a threatening situation. Once the on-stage kiss was over, they were done.
I'm not blaming Tweeden, & I'm not blaming Al, at this point. They both may be right. The kiss in question may have been a misunderstanding. I think that kind of misunderstanding happens often between men & women. Women can be "politely" ambiguous in their refusals, & men often don't read refusals as refusals.
Should Franken resign from the Senate for a misunderstanding? Nope.
Update: So of course while I was writing this, PD Pepe was writing about another credible allegation against Franken. I stand corrected. At this point, it appears we're going to find out Al is a serial abuser. So long, buddy.
Akhilleus,
Maybe time for a repeat of Nicholson-Jessup's unforgettable "You can't handle the truth" scene from "A Few Good Men."
The irony of course was that no matter how convincingly he presented himself and his position (very!) it was Jessup himself who couldn't handle the truth.
Perfectly encapsulates both Faux News and its audience, I think, without Nicholson's memorable performance.
Hope they don't hire him.
I agree with your latest comment, Mrs. McC. The atmosphere of a USO tour was explicitly one of sexualised entertainment. Tweeden seemed to be enjoying it, and volunteered multiple times. Women do sometimes need to feign jollity so as to keep their jobs and further their careers, and be accepted as a good sport, but that doesn't seem to be happening here. Tweeden hasn't much credibility on any basis.