Monday
Sep022019
The Commentariat -- September 3, 2019
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Paul Krugman: "A few days ago The Times reported on widespread abuse of a provision in the 2017 Trump tax cut that was supposed to help struggling urban workers.... In reality the tax break has been used to support high-end hotels and apartment buildings, warehouses that employ hardly any people and so on. And it has made a handful of wealthy, well-connected investors — including the family of Jared Kushner ... — even wealthier.... it should be seen ... as a symptom of the Republican Party’s unwillingness to perform the basic functions of government.... Republicans are no longer willing to spend public money in the public interest.... [The multitrillion-dollar tax bill was] ram[med] ... through Congress without a single hearing.... The bill was drafted by lobbyists on behalf of their clients.... The point, again, is that you shouldn’t think of the opportunity-zone fiasco as an isolated mistake. Things like this are inevitable when one of our two major political parties has basically turned its back on the very idea of productive public spending."
Kyle Cheney & Sarah Ferris of Politico: "House Democrats return to Capitol Hill next week with an impeachment mess on their hands and just weeks to make a choice that could define the rest of Donald Trump's presidency. Lawmakers faced frequently contentious town halls during their six-week August recess as activists pressured Democratic holdouts to support impeachment proceedings. A steady trickle of new endorsements for action followed, and a majority of the House’s 235 Democrats now backs an impeachment inquiry. Senior Democrats, however, are sending mixed messages on the prospect of trying to oust Trump."
Rafi Schwartz of Splinter: "It’s been a busy long weekend for Donald Trump-owned properties. While the president hit the links and tweeted away the weekend at his Virginia golf resort, Vice President Mike Pence flew halfway around the world and stayed at Trump’s Doonbeg estate on the West coast of Ireland — despite it being some three hours away from his scheduled meetings in Dublin with Irish Prime Minister [Leo] Varadkar.... Presidential property grift aside, Pence’s Ireland visit also marked a bizarre opportunity for the Veep’s team to emphatically defend their boss in the face of his long, well-documented history of homophobia — a fact Pence spokesman Judd Deere insisted couldn’t possibly be true because he met with the Irish prime minister, who happens to be gay[:] 'For all of you who still think our @VP is anti-gay, I point you to his and the @SecondLady’s schedule tomorrow where they will join Taoiseach @LeoVaradkar and his partner Dr. Matthew Barrett for lunch in Ireland.'"
On the day we read that Friends of Trump are amassing a war chest to smear reporters, there's this from Bloomberg Law: “A recently appointed Trump Labor Department official with a history of advancing controversial conservative and faith-based causes in court has resigned after revelations that he wrote a 2016 Facebook post suggesting the Jewish-controlled media 'protects their own.' Four hours after Bloomberg Law requested comment from the White House and DOL about Leif Olson’s social media post, the department said he has resigned, without elaboration.” Olson's Facebook posts "referenc[ed] two anti-Semitic tropes: that Jews control the media and that they look out for members of their own faith."
** David Karpf has a very good essay in Esquire responding to Bedbug Stephens, famed New York Times columnist.
Patrick, in today's comments, linked to this video, which still gives me chills:
The next video that came up on You Tube was this. Oh, we were so much younger then, and Pete Seeger wasn't dead:
~~~~~~~~~~
How Donnie Spent the Last Days of His Summer Vacation. Katie Rogers of the New York Times: “Over the long weekend, President Trump monitored Hurricane Dorian from a golf cart at his club in Virginia, calling for regular updates from an aide trailing him around the course. By 8 p.m. Monday, as Dorian churned toward Florida and Mr. Trump’s boarded-up Mar-a-Lago resort, the president had golfed twice and since Saturday morning pelted the American public with 122 tweets. As he has done during other hurricanes, Mr. Trump awaited landfall by assuming the role of meteorologist in chief, adding weatherman-style updates to a usual weekend routine of attacking his enemies, retweeting bits of praise and critiquing the performance of his cable news allies.... Mr. Trump’s commentary on the hurricane was not wholly accurate. The National Weather Service quickly walked back one of his assertions: 'We repeat, no impacts from Hurricane Dorian will be felt across Alabama,' officials said on Twitter. Always eager to have the last word, Mr. Trump on Monday attacked an ABC reporter who said the president had wrongly inserted Alabama in the list of states.” ...
... Reed Richardson of Mediaite: “... Donald Trump lashed out at ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl for fact-checking his inaccurate assertion during a FEMA briefing that Alabama could be impacted by Hurricane Dorian: 'Such a phony hurricane report by lightweight reporter @JonKarl.' Trump was complaining about Karl’s Monday evening report on ABC World News Tonight, which noted that the National Weather Service issued a correction on Sunday after the president made his false claim.... Nevertheless, Trump insisted on Twitter that his claim was true, and he likewise claimed that Karl 'didn’t play my whole sentence or statement. Bad people!'” ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: It is awfully Louis XIV to force a factotum to follow dutifully behind while he idled away his time playing sport.
... Colby Hall of Mediaite: “... Donald Trump spent Labor Day morning by sending out a series of tweets attacking what he calls the Fake News media. While Category 5 Hurricane Dorian slowly makes its way to the South Atlantic coast of the United States, dangerously threatening coastal areas from Florida, north to the Carolinas..., he first attacked a report published Sunday night by The Washington Post [also linked below], that claimed Trump aides privately, and anonymously, admit that it was a' lost summer' for the White House as President Trump got lost in a sea of controversial distractions.... He then appeared to go after the entire institution of the free press..., taking a page from former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin in calling out the 'LameStream Media' who he sees as having gone 'totally Crazy!'” (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Well, that's SOP, but how did Trump celebrate great American workers on Labor Day? ...
... Rebecca Klar of the Hill: "President Trump on Monday lashed out at American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) President Richard Trumka a day after the labor union leader criticized Trump's trade deal in a Fox News interview. Trump, in a Labor Day morning tweet, claimed that Trumka doesn't share the same critique of Trump's trade deal when 'he is with me at the White House.... Just watched AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on @FoxNews and thought to myself how different he is on TV than he is when he is with me at the White House. Likes what we are doing until the cameras go on,' Trump tweeted. The president targeted the AFL-CIO head after Trumka said that unions were not ready to back the president's 'unenforceable' replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Kim Not Just a Kid Who Likes Watching Missile Launches. David Sanger & William Broad of the New York Times: “As North Korea fired off a series of missiles in recent months — at least 18 since May — President Trump has repeatedly dismissed their importance as short-range and 'very standard' tests. And although he has conceded 'there may be a United Nations violation,' the president says any concerns are overblown. Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s leader, Mr. Trump explained recently, just 'likes testing missiles.' Now, American intelligence officials and outside experts have come to a far different conclusion: that the launchings downplayed by Mr. Trump, including two late last month, have allowed Mr. Kim to test missiles with greater range and maneuverability that could overwhelm American defenses in the region. Japan’s defense minister, Takeshi Iwaya, told reporters in Tokyo last week that the irregular trajectories of the most recent tests were more evidence of a program designed to defeat the defenses Japan has deployed, with American technology, at sea and on shore.”
Trump's Casual Photo "Declassification" Reveals Work of Highly-Classified U.S. Satellite. Geoff Brumfiel of NPR: "Amateur satellite trackers say they believe an image tweeted by President Trump on Friday came from one of America's most advanced spy satellites. The image almost certainly came from a satellite known as USA 224, according to Marco Langbroek, a satellite-tracker based in the Netherlands. The satellite was launched by the National Reconnaissance Office in 2011. Almost everything about it remains highly classified, but Langbroek says that based on its size and orbit, most observers believe USA 224 is one of America's multibillion-dollar KH-11 reconnaissance satellites. 'It's basically a very large telescope, not unlike the Hubble Space Telescope,' Langbroek says. 'But instead of looking up to the stars, it looks down to the earth's surface and makes very detailed images.'... Prior to the analysis, some experts suspected the image in Trump's tweet might have come from a drone or a spy plane.... Melissa Hanham, a satellite imagery expert and deputy director of the Open Nuclear Network in Vienna, Austria..., questions whether Trump's tweet zinging the Iranians was worth the information this image provides to other nations...." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: The most incompetent president* in recent U.S. history once again proves he's a national security risk (twice again, if you consider his dismissal of Kim's affinity for watching missiles take off).
Luke Barnes of ThinkProgress [Aug. 29th]: "Donald Trump promoted a new video Wednesday that featured some of his favorite hits.... But toward the end of the video, the video uses a symbol of a lion’s head, which, as writer Dustin Giebel and former Snopes managing editor Brooke Binkowski first noted on Twitter, was also used by the far-right publication VDARE.... VDARE ... was founded by white nationalist Peter Brimelow and has regularly published the work of prominent far-right extremists.... As Mediaite noted, the lion logo has been used by other far-right groups[.]" --s
C-SPAN's Fall Line-up: Playboy Model! Porn Star! Rachel Bade & Tom Hamburger of the Washington Post: "House Democrats plan to make President Trump’s alleged involvement in a 2016 scheme to silence two women who claimed they had affairs with him a major investigative focus this fall, picking up where federal prosecutors left off in a case legal experts say could have led to additional indictments. The House Judiciary Committee is preparing to hold hearings and call witnesses involved in hush-money payments to ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal and adult-film star Stormy Daniels as soon as October, according to people familiar with the plans who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions. Democrats say they believe there is already enough evidence to name Trump as a co-conspirator in the episode that resulted in his former attorney, Michael Cohen, pleading guilty to two campaign finance charges.... The new congressional inquiry will reopen questions about the extent of Trump’s involvement in the episode — and whether he would have been charged if not for Justice Department opinions that a sitting president cannot be indicted." The Raw Story has a summary of the WashPo article here.
Mike Allen of Axios: "President Trump's political allies are trying to raise at least $2 million to investigate reporters and editors of The New York Times, The Washington Post and other outlets, according to a three-page fundraising pitch reviewed by Axios.... Trump’s war on the media is expanding. This group will target reporters and editors, while other GOP 2020 entities go after the social media platforms, alleging bias, officials tell us.... The group claims it will slip damaging information about reporters and editors to "friendly media outlets," such as Breitbart, and traditional media, if possible."
Robert Costa of the Washington Post: “Vice President Pence spoke out against Russia on Monday during his European trip, criticizing President Vladimir Putin’s government for election interference and pledging support for Poland as it seeks to bolster its military amid Russian aggression in the region. 'With its efforts to meddle in elections across Europe and around the world, now is the time for us to remain vigilant about the intentions and actions being taken by Russia,' Pence said during a news conference in Warsaw with Polish President Andrzej Duda. Pence added that 'Russian forces still illegally occupy large parts of Georgia and Ukraine' and chastised Moscow for seeking to divide the U.S. alliance with Poland. Pence made his critical remarks just days after President Trump said it is 'certainly possible' he will invite Putin to the Group of Seven summit in 2020, an event Trump will host in an election year.... The vice president’s latest hard line on Russia echoes previous comments by Pence that have rebuked Putin. But the timing this week was particularly notable....” The Huffington Post story is here. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Apparently, it is necessary to put 4,000+ miles between Trump & pence for pence to contradict the Dear Leader. The Huff Post story strongly suggests Duda demanded pence to make the reassuring remarks. Maybe Duda's demands will give pence an out for his heretical remarks.
... BBC News: "Mike Pence said the United States supports a Brexit plan that 'keeps the strong foundation forged by the Good Friday Agreement' as he arrived in Ireland on Monday.... The US vice president is making a two-day visit to the Republic of Ireland.... Speaking to reporters at Shannon Airport, Mr Pence said: 'We will continue to work closely with our partners in Ireland and the United Kingdom to support a Brexit plan that encourages stability and also one that keeps the strong foundation forged by the Good Friday Agreement.'" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: pence's visit to Ireland will put more money in Donald Trump's coffers. Per the BBC, "Mr and Mrs Pence, will stay in Doonbeg, County Clare, where ... Donald Trump owns a luxury golf resort." As the Irish Times noted last week in a story about pence's stay at the Trump resort, "The Trump administration has been criticised at home in the US for the use of properties owned by the Trump family for official US government business. Bear in mind that this is not just a middle-aged couple spending the night in an expense Trump hotel; pence of course is bringing along an entourage, including Secret Service, etc. I suppose reporters will have to stay at pubs. ...
... It's Okay Because Trump Made Him Do It. AP Update: “Vice President Mike Pence’s staff is defending his decision to stay at one of ... Donald Trump’s properties while in Ireland amid criticism by Democrats that he’s enriching Trump at taxpayers’ expense. Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, said Tuesday that the decision to stay at Trump International Golf Links in Doonbeg was made at Trump’s 'suggestion' and that Pence and his entourage won’t be staying for free.” Mrs. McC: Not "staying for free”? That's the whole point, isn't it? That pence, et al., are enriching the POTUS*. The fact that Trump "suggested" it makes it all the worse. This isn't a "defense"; it's an explanation for bad behavior. ...
... U.S. "Stands with Ukraine," BUT... Justin Sink of Bloomberg: “U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said the American people 'stand with Ukraine' but that European nations should do more to help the former Soviet republic. The U.S. has 'carried the load' on Ukraine and 'we’ve been proud to do that,' Pence told reporters Monday in Warsaw. 'But we believe it’s time for our European partners to step forward.'”
Trumpies Have New Gun Control Plan: Speedier Executions! Justin Sink & Tyler Pager of Bloomberg: “The Justice Department has drafted legislation to expedite the death penalty for those convicted of mass murder and the provision will be included in a larger White House package designed to address recent incidents of gun violence, a top aide to Vice President Mike Pence said Monday. Pence has been directly involved in conversations with Attorney General William Barr about the death penalty initiative, Marc Short, the vice president’s chief of staff, told reporters traveling with Pence between Poland and Ireland on Monday.... Former Vice President Joe Biden ... said Monday that he didn’t believe the death penalty proposal advocated by Pence would have stopped mass shooters like the one responsible for the El Paso attack. Pence’s proposal was 'what you do when you can’t get something done that’s rational -- you increase the penalty for the irrational,' Biden said during a campaign stop in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.” ...
... Matt Stieb of the New Yorker: "But irrationality is the norm in the Trump administration.... Letting the Second Amendment run rampant over all other American liberties, despite the deaths of 346 Americans in mass shootings in 2019, forms to the logic of the administration — even if it didn’t already fit with the Republican Party’s staunch order not to enact gun reform.... The reported plan to expedite the execution process for mass shooters rather than enact gun reform is made more irrational by the fact that there is no evidence that the death penalty serves as a deterrent for potential capital offenders.... Despite a brief flirtation with stricter background checks following the shooting in El Paso, President Trump said after the shooting this weekend that he doesn’t consider an expanded check process to be a viable solution to curbing gun violence — despite research that suggests such laws bring about a 40 percent decline in gun homicides and a 15 percent reduction in suicides."
Christian Farias of Politico: "[I]t turns out there’s a whole category of American law that is above ... checks and balances.... For decades, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel has flexed its interpretive power as the ultimate arbiter of what the law is for the executive branch, building a whole body of secret law that remains shielded from public view.... These decisions number in the thousands, and the few that become public see the light of day are at the discretion of the Justice Department. But the vast majority stay secret — binding executive branch officials and activities across administrations. Because almost everyone who isn’t a lawyer in the office is kept in the dark about these legal conclusions, Congress and the public can’t debate them or seek amendments in the event of abuses. Courts are of no help either." --s
Someone in the Trump Regime Still Can Be Embarrassed. Miriam Jordan of the New York Times: “The Trump administration on Monday announced that it would reconsider its decision to force immigrants facing life-threatening health crises to return to their home countries, an abrupt move last month that generated public outrage and was roundly condemned by the medical establishment. On Aug. 7, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, without public notice, eliminated a 'deferred action' program that had allowed immigrants to avoid deportation while they or their relatives were undergoing lifesaving medical treatment.... On Monday, the [Department of Human Services] said in a statement that while limiting the program was 'appropriate,' officials would 'complete the caseload that was pending on August 7.' The statement said that deportation proceedings had not been initiated against anyone who had received the letter. However, it did not say whether it would continue to grant immigrants extensions to stay in the country.... When asked for clarification, an agency official said..., 'Whether a very limited version of deferred action will continue forward at U.S.C.I.S. is still under review....'” ...
... Screwing the Cooch. digby: "USCIS is under the purview of Ken 'the cooch' Cucinelli. Somehow I doubt this was reversed upon his recommendation. Indeed, he and Stephen Miller and Trump probably felt they'd come up with an excellent 'deterrent' to people coming to the US for life-saving medical treatment. They should just die in their shithole countries, no doubt, as God intended." ...
... Shera Avi-Yonah & Delano Franklin of the Harvard Crimson: “Harvard freshman Ismail B. Ajjawi ’23, who United States border officials turned away ten days ago, arrived on campus Monday in time for the start of classes Tuesday. Ajjawi’s family issued a statement Monday through his lawyer thanking those who voiced support for him and assisted his arrival.... Shortly after [U.S. Customs officials force] Ajjawi [to return] to Lebanon, Customs and Border Protection spokesperson Michael S. McCarthy wrote in a statement that officials had 'deemed [him] inadmissible.' McCarthy did not specify the reason for the decision. Ajjawi’s immigration difficulties sparked outcry from Harvard student groups, several of which organized a petition supporting him that has garnered more than 7,000 signatures as of Monday night. Ajjawi's story has also drawn international media attention and elicited statements of support from several organizations including the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East and the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. Staff from both Harvard and AMIDEAST, a scholarship organization sponsoring Ajjawi’s education, worked with federal officials to ensure he could matriculate on time.” ...
... Noah Lanard of Mother Jones: "In his first six years as an immigration judge in New York and Atlanta, from 1993 to 1999, William Cassidy rejected more asylum seekers than any judge in the nation. A few years ago, Earle Wilson overtook Cassidy as the harshest asylum judge on the Atlanta court.... Now both men have been elevated to the Board of Immigration Appeals, which often has the final say over whether immigrants are deported, as part of a court-packing scheme by the Trump administration that is likely to make it even more difficult for migrants fleeing persecution to gain asylum. Between 2013 and 2018, the average immigration judge in the country approved about 45 percent of asylum claims. The six judges newly promoted to the board have all approved fewer than 20 percent. Cassidy granted 4.2 percent of asylum claims. Another appointee, Stuart Couch, approved 7.9 percent. For Wilson, the figure was just 1.9 percent." --s
Pete Norman of Bloomberg: "Fake news and social media posts are such a threat to U.S. security that the Defense Department is launching a project to repel 'llarge-scale, automated disinformation attacks,' as the top Republican in Congress [#MoscowMitch Mitch McConnell] blocks efforts to protect the integrity of elections.... If successful, the system after four years of trials may expand to detect malicious intent and prevent viral fake news from polarizing society.... U.S. officials have been working on plans to prevent outside hackers from flooding social channels with false information ahead of the 2020 election.... With a four-year project scale ... the next election will have come and gone before the system is operational." --s ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: We already knew that the DOD has been defending us against Trump. Now we learn Defense is defending us against Moscow Mitch. We have come to the point that the two most powerful men in government are putting us at risk every day. The upside to this story is that it gives us at least some hope that if & when the commander-in-chief decides to make himself president* for life, the armed forces won't cooperate.
Matthew Yglesias of Vox: "Former Defense Secretary James Mattis is back in the public eye with a book to promote.... That’s a golden opportunity to finally ask some tough questions about his prior service on the board of Theranos, a company that allegedly peddled fake blood tests and peddled connections to influential people in the national security world to get away with it for years. Theranos was one of the largest business scandals of the past decades, described by the Securities and Exchange Commission as an 'elaborate, years-long fraud'.... Mattis not only served on Theranos’s board during some of the years after he’d retired from military service, while it was perpetrating the scheme, but he earlier served as a key advocate of putting the company’s technology (technology that was, to be clear, fake) to use inside the military while he was still serving as a general.... While the Theranos scandal was on the front burner of American politics, nobody wanted to talk about Mattis’s involvement. But [now] Mattis is .. .just a guy trading on his reputation to try to sell books. And his prior use of his position to profit from a massive scheme deserves scrutiny." --s
Rebecca Leber of Mother Jones: "Just in time for the start of a new school year, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Friday finalized a new suite of changes to an Obama-era policy that targeted fraud at for-profit colleges. The new DeVos rule significantly raises the bar students have to clear in order to qualify for debt forgiveness when their schools close while they’re enrolled.... [A]s a result of the new DeVos rule, after July 2020, students filing for debt relief will have to prove their colleges intentionally deceived them, that it influenced their decision to enroll, and that it made them financially suffer. The change also sets a three-year deadline for filing a claim; the Obama rule had no deadline and automatically relieved their debts if they didn’t enroll elsewhere within three years." --s
Amir Tibon & Amos Harel of Haaretz: Israel's "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to arrange a dramatic diplomatic gesture from the Trump administration that will help him win the Israeli election on September 17. In recent weeks, there have been intensive talks between some of Netanyahu’s advisers and people close to ... Donald Trump over a potential statement by the American president, in which he could commit to protecting Israel in the future from any existential threat. In addition, Netanyahu is also trying to orchestrate some form of gesture from Russian President Vladimir Putin — either in the form of an official Putin visit to Israel or a trilateral meeting of the national security advisers of Israel, Russia and the United States."
David Sanger, et al., of the New York Times: “A senior Iranian delegation arrived in Paris on Monday to work out the details of a financial bailout package that France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, intends to use to compensate Iran for oil sales lost to American sanctions. In return for the money, Iran would agree to return to compliance with a 2015 nuclear accord. Iranian press reports and a senior American official say that the core of the package is a $15 billion letter of credit that would allow Iran to receive hard currency, at a time when most of the cash it makes from selling oil is frozen in banks around the world.... While Mr. Macron and Mr. Trump gave no hint of their differences in public comments [during the G7 meeting], administration officials say the French effort, which other European nations appear to support, is undermining the administration’s effort to exert what Mr. Trump calls 'maximum pressure' on Tehran.”
Presidential Race 2020. David Siders & Elena Schneider of Politico: "The bottom is falling out of the Democratic presidential primary. And the top-tier — no longer five candidates, but three — is becoming more insurmountable.... In recent weeks, the leading band of candidates has contracted unexpectedly early. Heading into the fall, only three contenders are polling above single digits: Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg remain at the periphery, while lower-polling candidates have largely failed to muster sustained, upward movement in fundraising or polling. According to interviews with about two dozen Democratic operatives and consultants, there is little reason to expect any of them will.
Beyond the Beltway
New Jersey. Cassidy Grom of NJ.com: “A Middlesex County man is in police custody after several pipe bomb-like devices were found near the route of a Labor Day parade that the governor was set to attend Monday. Officials detained a man on Monday morning after they found 'over half a dozen' devices on his large property near South Plainfield’s Labor Day Parade route, according to a senior law enforcement official with the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness. Gov. Phil Murphy and first lady Tammy Murphy were supposed to attend the parade, which was set to start at 10 a.m., according to spokesman Dan Bryan. The parade and other festivities were abruptly cancelled by borough officials Monday morning. No direct threat was made to the parade or the governor. The devices were found during a separate investigation, but due to how close the property was to the parade, officials cancelled the parade 'out of an abundance of caution,' according to the senior official. The official described the suspect as a 'rogue individual' in his 50s who liked explosives.” Mrs. McC: Sorta like an older Kim Jong-un, I guess.
Texas. Faith Karimi, et al., of CNN: "The 36-year-old gunman who killed seven people in a West Texas shooting rampage Saturday was already in a 'distressed mental state' when he showed up to work, and was fired just hours before the massacre began, the FBI said. The shootings 'did not happen because he was fired,' said Christopher Combs, FBI special agent in charge, at a press conference Monday. 'When he showed up to work, he was already enraged.' Seth Ator, the shooter, had applied to get a gun but failed a background check, a representative for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said at the press conference. The ATF, the FBI and the DPS are 'aggressively following up on' the source that supplied the firearm to Ator.... Both Ator and his employer, Journey Oilfield Services, called 911 right after the firing, Odessa Police Chief Michael Gerke said. 'Basically, they were complaining on each other because they had a disagreement over the firing,' Gerke said at a press conference Monday. Ator ... made 'no threats of any type of violence,' Gerke said, [of the initial call to the FBI].... During the shooting spree..., Ator called 911 twice. In those calls, he was telling the dispatcher that 'he's the guy doing it,' Combs said." ...
... Sarah Mervosh & others wrote the New York Times story: The gunman "He had been living a kind of drifter’s life in the West Texas oil fields, estranged from many relatives, grappling with the suicide of his older sister and ditching apartment life for a secluded shack-style building where he shot his firearms outside late into the night.... One friend of the family said the gunman had a long history of mental problems, trouble with the law and making racist comments."
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Hey, Trump was right. The shooter evidently did suffer from some kind of mental illness. AND, as Trump asserted, background checks did not stop him. What would have slowed him down, at least? A total ban on assault weapons.
Way Beyond
Hong Kong. Clad in gas masks along with their formal white school uniforms, tens of thousands of students in Hong Kong boycotted the first day of classes Monday as part of a citywide strike following a violent weekend of demonstrations. High school students added gas masks, goggles and hard hats to their traditional uniforms, while university pupils crowded into a square at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Workers also participated in their own rally at a public park, braving strong winds and storm clouds as a typhoon threatened." ...
... Greg Torode, et al., of Reuters: “Embattled Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said she has caused 'unforgivable havoc' by igniting the political crisis engulfing the city and would quit if she had a choice, according to an audio recording of remarks she made last week to a group of businesspeople. At the closed-door meeting, Lam told the group that she now has 'very limited' room to resolve the crisis because the unrest has become a national security and sovereignty issue for China amid rising tensions with the United States. 'If I have a choice,' she said, speaking in English, 'the first thing is to quit, having made a deep apology.' Lam’s dramatic and at times anguished remarks offer the clearest view yet into the thinking of the Chinese leadership as it navigates the unrest in Hong Kong, the biggest political crisis to grip the country since the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.” (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
U.K. Danica Kirka of the AP: “Parliament was reconvening Tuesday for a pivotal day in British politics as lawmakers challenged Prime Minister Boris Johnson's insistence that the U.K. will leave the European Union on Oct. 31 even without a deal. Amid loud cries from protesters on the streets surrounding the House of Commons, lawmakers returned from their summer recess with a key piece of legislation on their agenda that would prevent an immediate no-deal exit. If it passes this week, Johnson's Downing Street office says he'll call an early election. Johnson has tried to crack down on members of his Conservative Party who oppose his Brexit plans, warning them they would be expelled from the party if they supported the parliamentary efforts to block or delay Brexit." ...
... Danica Kirka: “British Prime Minister Boris Johnson shot down the notion that he wanted an early election to secure Brexit, insisting Monday that it wasn’t the way to get a deal done. Johnson decried parliamentary action set for Tuesday that is meant to delay Britain’s departure from the European Union, arguing that it would 'chop the legs' out of the U.K. position. He spoke moments after lawmakers posted a copy of the proposed bill on Twitter, making clear that they would press the government to seek a delay if there’s no deal.” (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
The New York Times' liveblog on Hurricane Dorian developments is here. “The Category 3 storm came to a standstill as it pummeled the Bahamas. It is expected to move 'dangerously close' to the Florida coast Tuesday night.” ...
... The front page of the Weather Channel links Dorian stories. ...
... The Miami Herald front page links to numerous hurricane-related stories. The paper is providing free, unlimited access to all of its stories as Hurricane Dorian approaches Florida. ...
... The Washington Post stories, linked on the front page, are free to non-subscribers. ...
... Guardian: "Hurricane Dorian has stalled over the Bahamas, lashing the islands with wind, rain and storm surges, and killing at least five people. Thousands of homes were inundated by floodwater as rescue operations tried to reach stranded residents, many trapped on roofs. Dorian, one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes on record, has been hovering over Grand Bahama Island for more than a day. It has weakened to a Category 3 hurricane but is still battering the Bahamas with winds of 120mph, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said in an advisory issued at 2am EST (0600 GMT)."
Guardian: "Twenty-five people have died and nine remain missing after a boat was engulfed in flames and sank off the coast of Santa Barbara and Los Angeles. The US Coast Guard said five crew members escaped from the 23-metre (75ft) commercial scuba diving boat but 33 passengers and one other crew member were missing or found dead after the fire early on Monday morning. As the recovery effort progressed, 25 bodies were found and nine people were unaccounted for, presumed dead, as of late on Monday evening. The Coast Guard official Matthew Kroll said the first bodies recovered had signs consistent with drowning. The boat was docked near Santa Cruz Island at the time of the fire." ...
... AP Update: "Flames roared through a boat of sleeping scuba divers so quickly that it appears none of the 34 people below deck could escape, authorities said Tuesday as they ended their search without finding anyone who was missing still alive from the Labor Day tragedy off the Southern California coast. It’s not known what started the fire early Monday aboard the Conception, which carried scuba diving enthusiasts on a three-day excursion. It spread rapidly and flames blocked both exits out of the lower deck, where passengers and one crew member were sleeping in tight quarters, Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said."
News Ledes
The New York Times' liveblog on Hurricane Dorian developments is here. “The Category 3 storm came to a standstill as it pummeled the Bahamas. It is expected to move 'dangerously close' to the Florida coast Tuesday night.” ...
... The front page of the Weather Channel links Dorian stories. ...
... The Miami Herald front page links to numerous hurricane-related stories. The paper is providing free, unlimited access to all of its stories as Hurricane Dorian approaches Florida. ...
... The Washington Post stories, linked on the front page, are free to non-subscribers. ...
... Guardian: "Hurricane Dorian has stalled over the Bahamas, lashing the islands with wind, rain and storm surges, and killing at least five people. Thousands of homes were inundated by floodwater as rescue operations tried to reach stranded residents, many trapped on roofs. Dorian, one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes on record, has been hovering over Grand Bahama Island for more than a day. It has weakened to a Category 3 hurricane but is still battering the Bahamas with winds of 120mph, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said in an advisory issued at 2am EST (0600 GMT)."
Guardian: "Twenty-five people have died and nine remain missing after a boat was engulfed in flames and sank off the coast of Santa Barbara and Los Angeles. The US Coast Guard said five crew members escaped from the 23-metre (75ft) commercial scuba diving boat but 33 passengers and one other crew member were missing or found dead after the fire early on Monday morning. As the recovery effort progressed, 25 bodies were found and nine people were unaccounted for, presumed dead, as of late on Monday evening. The Coast Guard official Matthew Kroll said the first bodies recovered had signs consistent with drowning. The boat was docked near Santa Cruz Island at the time of the fire." ...
... AP Update: "Flames roared through a boat of sleeping scuba divers so quickly that it appears none of the 34 people below deck could escape, authorities said Tuesday as they ended their search without finding anyone who was missing still alive from the Labor Day tragedy off the Southern California coast. It’s not known what started the fire early Monday aboard the Conception, which carried scuba diving enthusiasts on a three-day excursion. It spread rapidly and flames blocked both exits out of the lower deck, where passengers and one crew member were sleeping in tight quarters, Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said."
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Reader Comments (25)
I've often wondered why Iran gets mercilessly threatened for their shooting missiles, while Pen Pal Pol Pot-clone Kim Jong-Un gets a laugh and a shrug and a "he likes shooting missiles." Only one of these countries is feverishly building nuclear bombs.
Is it because Iran is full of scary Mooslims and Kim is just a godless psychopath?
Israel's the neighbor and the Evangelical's need to gnaw on some red meat before the coming Apocalypse?
Japan & South Korea are full of Asians & are only 3/5 human in Donald's warped mind?
Iran won't ass kiss or send love letters?
But for real, once Donald is dethroned, the North Korea issue is going to get lit. And my Eye of the Oracle is telling me that the next president is going to have to run high-stakes nuclear diplomacy with a constant static buzz of TrumpenTweets whining for self-aggrandizement and relevancy as he boasts of his world class negotiation skills that led us to the very dystopian world we're trying to avoid. He'll undermine the US and continue to vouch for Pen Pal Kim until the day he dies.
ANOTHER TRUMP TAX SCAM HAS BEEN EXPOSED:
As though we didn't think this would probably be the case?
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/yet-another-trump-tax-scam-has-been-revealed/
@safari: Thanks for the creepy prediction. I'm sure you're right. Trump has done everything he can to undermine & reverse decisions by previous real presidents, particularly Obama, and he'll do everything he can to monkey with the next president's herculean efforts to clean up the mess Trump left. He's a horror who will keep on giving, like Sarah Palin but of a much greater magnitude.
Silly syllogism time.
Mass murderers are all insane.
Mass murderers need to be executed. Quickly.
We will now be executing the insane. Quickly.
Isn’t this, like, ya know, against the law? Oops, but it’s Trumpy and Billy. Laws don’t matter to them. Never mind.
Cleaning up messes will indeed be Herculean: According to Chris Hedges it's "The Last Act of the Human Comedy." This is a good essay and one to take seriously.
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-last-act-of-the-human-comedy/
This NYTimes piece raises a good question or two, but I don’t think it gets to the heart of the matter….so I tried to set Mr. Schmitt straight.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/02/opinion/trump-corruption-drain-the-swamp.html?
"Corruption is indeed the bane of government, but the distinction Mr. Schmitt's piece makes between the pitfalls that await decent people attempting to do right in a difficult system and the outright, even arrogant corruption of our current president and his cronies doesn't quite cover the territory.
In the sense of the mutual back-scratching, the quid pro quo's that lubricate virutally all social and business commerce, corruption permeates society at large. Maybe it always has.
What has changed is that as over time as we have reduced virtually all transactions to dollar values, we have simultaneously separated all the dealings we have with one another from what we used to believe was their moral content. Questions of what we were up to was right or wrong, fair or unfair, evend nice or nasty are not just irrelevant, but frowned upon as childish or naive.
It's hard to pinpoint where we went wrong, but some of the cause must be laid at the feet of the SCOTUS. Its decisions about campaign finance, "Citizens United" most prominent among them, which wedded money to speech and the decisions that narrowed the defintion of quid pro quo corruption to the point where successful prosecution of what used to be a crime is nearly impossible.
Or maybe those decsions aren't causes so much as simple acknowlegement by Federalist Society lawyers trained in the way the American business model works that government should indeed be run like a business because.....
.....now it is."
Or another long-winded way of saying that the Pretender's ascension is not so much an aberration as the culmination of many questionable decisions the nation has made over its history.
Retrospectively considered, no surprise, but dammit, I say, not inevitable or fated. We do have choices. We just need to make better ones
PD,
The last two Democratic presidents have spent a good portion of their terms cleaning up the mess left by the previous confederate administrations. Each has gotten progressively worse. The current one is potentially catastrophic, advancing the degree of nihilism and destruction by orders of magnitude.
As Hedges points out (and probably 10 years ago, this column might have seemed a tad hysterical, but no longer), the rapidity of decline in all the major systems of a civilized nation (and world) is frightening. Trump has, with the absolutely necessary aid and assistance of an obsequious, cowardly, greedy, and ignorant political party, its voters, and its media co-conspirators, turbo charged that changes that Hedges points to as signposts of civilization's decline and eventual fall. Each day brings new horrors.
It's become impossible for me to see that grinning, scowling, fool without replacing his face with a death's head. And each day, we read anothe putrid pile of pussillanimous punditry that attempts to discuss the current baleful state of the country and the planet as if it's all business as usual. In fact, the Age of Trump is becoming increasingly eschatalogical.
And the likes of Moscow Mitch and the idiots at Fox are cheering it on.
The next Democratic president, whether that be Warren or Sanders, will be lucky to enact a single one of their plans. They will be consumed by cleaning up the enormous mess left by Fatso and his greedy band of liars and layabouts. And as Safari mentioned, unlike previous presidents, who keep their own counsel once out of office, look for Trump to continue his spreading of lies, dissension, hatred, and ignorance.
Ken,
But some blame for the ascension of the Orange Menace whose path was cleared by confederates on the Court and in Congress must be handed out to Democrats. Since Reagan, too many Democrats have feared being labeled, well, Democrats. Certainly the labels "liberal" and "progressive" have been avoided at all costs. Instead of fighting back, too many
Democrats have tried to hide, to go along to get along, to pretend to be (or in some cases actually are) Republican-lite.This cowardice (sorry, there's no other way to put it) and lack of stomach for the good (and very hard) fight has lubricated our slide down into the Pit of Trump.
And this timidity, going on thirty years now, is partly why the likes of AOC come across to many--even some Democrats--as out of control crazy people (also "woman" helps). But they're not. They're old school Democrats. When Mike Dukakis balked at being labeled a liberal (Mike Dukakis!), I knew we were screwed.
@Ken Winkes: Yeah, you pretty much hit on the reason I didn't link Schmitt's op-ed. It's a variation of both-siderism, and -- like you -- I find the attempt to equate Trump's blatant, in-you-face corruption with the quiet, common corruption of "normal" politicians to be a sort of philosophical corruption in and of itself.
It would be easy to argue that politics -- and certainly American politics -- are inherently corrupt. There's a chicken-and-egg element, too. If Bernie Sanders takes money from unions because he supports unions, is that corruption? By Schmitt's definition, I think so. Even if we eliminated money from politics -- hahahahaha -- that sort of "corruption" would continue. Maybe the pipe-fitters' union (whatever it is) couldn't send Sanders a check, but it could endorse him or consider endorsing him, further incentivizing Sanders to support measures helpful to the pipe-fitters' union.
So would Sanders' favoring the pipe-fitters union be equivalent to Trump's inviting Putin to the G7 at the Trump Doral? Not in my mind. One is transactional politics as usual; the other is open corruption.
@Akhilleus: The trouble with your syllogism is that is relies on logic, and Trump doesn't do logic. Also, as you point out, on rule of law. And Trump certainly doesn't do rule of law.
Aren't all murderers insane? They're people who can't cope with stressful or difficult situations by normal, socially-acceptable means. That makes them nuts in my book.
It's true that in some cultures, murders under some circumstances are acceptable (say, stoning women to death for infidelity), but in modern Western society, murder always is illegal.
Marie posted this a few years ago, and Charlie Pierce put it up today for his piece about the miners sitting on the tracks. The day after Labor Day, it's worth posting here again, especially after reading the above piece about the Labor Department.
Someday we'll get back to some idea of labor fairness. If we ever really had it. In the meantime, a great rendition ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rs5_gB582IM
I also thought the Schmitt piece was an attempt to "normalize" the corruption we are seeing at a breathtaking level. To me, he was trying to make the case that this was not "normal," but he ended up posing it as a question instead of actually delivering an opinion, which was, of course, the name of his column... We ALL could see the funneling of money to Cheeto Jesus's properties from the very beginning, and we ALL could not make anyone in power do something about it. So we ALL are guilty of supporting this kind of grift? Nope, it's a question of who is empowered to call this out. I don't think I am the only one who naively expected even the hypocritical repugs to rise to the occasion and fix this blatant thievery-- I never expected them ALL to roll over and play dead. I DID, however, expect nothing more from McConnell, who owns the Senate, as he showed his colors the night Obama was inaugurated. I did expect roadblocks and paralysis, but I thought at least that robbery was universally abhored. Wrongo-- I did expect here and there the appearance of those on the right "doing the right thing," but there is no evidence that those people even know anymore what that is.
And when people like Barr are that corrupt, it leaves us helpless.
@AK: Thanks for your comments re: the Hedge's piece. Reminds me of when I lived in Hamden and was on the Democratic Town council. There was a woman that lived in our neighborhood who we called "The Town Crier" She attended every town meeting standing up at times shouting her vitriol at the Ledge. "Give me a break!" I'd say to myself and others––she was like a dark cloud always hanging over our sunny scenarios. Turns out she was right about almost everything including our Mayor's scams.
Chris Hedges from the very beginning warned us of all sorts of dire straits and after reading him I'd say––"Give me a break!" I always stuck with him, though, because he forced me to think differently and because of his book "War is the Force that Gives us Meaning" that I thought brilliant. Now, as you point out, we read him with a different mindset and realize he's been correct about almost everything.
My favorite exemplar of the "normal corruption" of the U.S. political system is George Washington Plunkitt, who seen his opportunities and took 'em. It is probably still true that if you grew up in New York, you experience government much the same as good old George W. Everybody's got an angle.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W._Plunkitt
Speaking of "normalizing" Trump, I've heard or read a number of times this week about Trump's "decision to declassify a highly-classified image of Iran's satellite launch site." Even as the reports go on to criticize Trump, framing Trump's action in this way gives Trump way too much credit where no credit is due.
Trump did not "decide to declassify" the image. He just snapped the classified picture with his little iPod (or had someone else do it), & tweeted it out. There was no "decision" process there. He's like Geraldo going on the teevee & giving away troop movements during the Iraq War (after which the military kicked Geraldo out of Iraq). Trump doesn't think through anything and "make a decision." His "decision" was, "Oh, lookie here. I'll troll Iran!" The fact that he trolled Iran with a classified satellite photo never crossed his mind. Trump did not "declassify" the photo; he tweeted, without thinking, a highly-classified image that could help our adversaries better understand the U.S.'s spy capabilities. He's an idiot, not a "decider."
Here's a little progress:
"... The world’s largest retailer says it will stop selling ammunition for handguns and short-barrel rifles — including .223 caliber and 5.56 caliber cartridges, which can be used in military-style weapons — once it sells through its current stock. ..."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/09/03/status-quo-is-unacceptable-walmart-will-stop-selling-some-ammunition-exit-handgun-market/
That ammunition is part of the problem with assault weapons. Such ammo causes much greater tissue damage than "normal" rifle loads.
Totally agree, Bea...it slays me when anyone on the squawkbox ever uses terms like "policy" or "decision" or "plan" or any other word implying the Jelly Roll ever does any of these things. He doesn't really have to, as people like Disgusting Miller are more than willing to fill the breach. He genuinely doesn't have to think about anything. Enough horrible people remain around him to send things out to the public 24/7. So all he has to do is say to whatever toadie has his or her nose up his a**, hey, I wanna go play golf-- call the helicopter. Or-- bring me a hamberder. Take my golf socks off me. More hairspray for my topknot. Call Kim and say I said hi. Turn on my Fox and Friends. Bring me my generals. Lookie at my polls. Charge my phones cuz I feel a tweet or 122 comin' on... He's just a robot, doing Putin's bidding. Would that he were disabled like the machine he is.
At least a chuckle. Guess the Wapo Copy Editor called in sick today. Spotted this line in the article about Boris Johnson's
populist playbook implodes with a delightful typo:
"...As Johnson was speaking, Conservative member of Parliament Phillip Lee dramatically crossed the isle to join the opposition, depriving Johnson of his majority."
Disassembled maybe might be a better word than disabled, which could be misunderstood...
Marie,
I’ve been thinking about your comment about all murderers being insane. I’m not entirely sure they are all insane but I am positive they are all, in one way or another, mentally disturbed.
Across a spectrum, I’m guessing the more violent ones are the furthest away from normal. I would say that you are correct that none of them are able to handle the standard sorts of things that the vast majority of us can deal with, even the most trying things in our lives, including loss of jobs, homes, loved ones, disease, accidents, broken relationships, etc.
At my worst, I’ve never thought of killing someone (maybe wishing for a trip down a long flight of bumpy stairs, but not death, and certainly not death at my hands). Again, the vast majority of us would never contemplate something that some people seem able to do pretty easily. Psychologists note that the common denominator for these people is the extreme lack of empathy.
The bar for declaring murderers not guilty by reason of insanity is pretty high. But between your average sociopath and an insane killer is a lot of room for many and varied mentally unstable individuals.
According to researchers, pretty much everyone on death row has suffered some form of physical or mental trauma, usually sexual or physical abuse at an early age (and some for many years), which places them all on the far end of the spectrum of the mentally unstable, if not legally insane.
The difference is that a successful insanity plea requires that the defendant be unaware that his or her actions were both illegal and wrong. Mentally unstable killers might be fully aware that their actions are wrong (not to mention illegal), but their mentality is such that they just don’t care. Their instability makes them unable to resist or fight off their worst instincts, feelings that an enormous percentage of the general population could never even contemplate, never mind act upon.
Now, this might, under other criteria, be considered insanity. I don’t know. But even if it doesn’t meet the legal definition of insanity, it sure as hell is something bad. And under those criteria, it seems that putting such people to death is not the best idea. But that brings us to what sort of idea it is in the first place. It’s not a deterrent. It’s purely an act of vengeance, which, according to the Bible, belongs to the Lord. But that’s another argument.
Add to this the many instances in which the wrong people are put to death, and the arguments for capital punishment look more and more questionable. But never mind all that, Trump and pence and Billy are going to speed up the execution of mentally unstable individuals. Why? The answer is even worse. It's all about making it look like they’re doing something and avoiding the only serious solution to all this mayhem: gun control.
And while we’re on the subject of empathy (or lack thereof), I want to talk about my dog. Nice segue, no? Anyway, while walking my dog the other night, I was struck by the fact that Trump doesn’t have one. First, I’m not surprised. He doesn’t give a shit about anyone or anything but himself, but isn’t that the point? In order to love a pet (or, truly, another person) one needs empathy. He could just get a dog and let some flunky walk it, but he can’t even pretend. One of the great things about having a pet is the unquestioned love and affection you get from it. They need you and you end up needing them. It’s pretty cool, really. But not for Trump. I’m sure he’d enjoy the adulation, but that sort of love is not the public kind that he most feverishly demands.
And on that note, I’m inclined to wonder if Trump himself wasn’t the victim of some form of abuse to be such an unfeeling, narcissistic asshole (narcissism being one of the most common traits of violent offenders and murderers who are not only unable to feel the pain of others, but are also completely unable to accept any responsibility for their own misdeeds, blaming all their problems on others. Sound familiar?).
So, he might want to cool it with his killing mentally disturbed people.
He’s one too.
AK: Once again: Yes, the dog: One of his wives––don't recall which one said they did have a dog but that Trump had nothing to do with it.
and the sense of empathy: I do think there is an absence of it which makes for a severe lack of feeling for our fellow human; we toss paper towels to people undergoing trauma and tell them to "have a good day."
And yes, "The difference is that a successful insanity plea requires that the defendant be unaware that his or her actions were both illegal and wrong." The gradations in disturbances read like the list of different chicken recipes. The irony here is we have one of those roosters in the oval office running the ship and he has the temerity to settle on "mental illness" as his excuse for not doing anything re: gun control.
and abuse in the family? I'd stake a lot on that.
Thanks for the music, Patrick and Bea.
Chills, yes, and a tear too when I caught the cameo of a young 44 in Woody's "This is Your Land.." performance.
Would add one more:
Ann Feeney's "We Do the Work," the title of and intro music for our community radio show, a labor of love that has provided me with a wonderful opportunity to meet fascinating people from across the country (kinda like RC has done for me as well).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsCXQETEXho
“Oh you can’t scare me I’m stickin’ to the union, til the day I die.”
One of the most dire expressions of frightening self-determination ever heard by authoritarian capitalists supported by the confederate party and a primary reason that Reagan, the Bushes, Romney, Trump, Moscow Mitch, labor haters in the confederate party, Fox, and the confederate Supremes have all banded together to crush unions. In their view, working men and women have no rights except the right to sit in a freezing truck cab and die if the bosses say so.
Trump and Billy and the Rat would all condemn Tom Joad to the block. Assholes who never worked a hard day in their lives.
I’m almost thinking that Nancy Pelosi needs to be impeached herself if she allows this treasonous criminal piece of shit to spend one more day in the White House.
Devin Nunez's cow has not seemed to make him a nicer person, but I guess pets don't make everyone better people.