The Commentariat -- February 8, 2019
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
SDNY Is on the Case. Christian Berthelsen & Jennifer Jacobs of Bloomberg News: "Federal prosecutors are reviewing the National Enquirer's handling of its story about Jeff Bezos's extramarital affair to determine if the company violated an earlier cooperation deal with prosecutors, according to two people familiar with the matter. Prosecutors in the Manhattan U.S. attorney's office have been provided with information about key exchanges of concern to Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com Inc. In a jaw-dropping public blog post Thursday night, Bezos published letters from lawyers representing National Enquirer's publisher, American Media Inc., who demanded he drop a private investigation into the media company, or else it would publish more embarrassing photographs about the wealthy businessman.... The authorities are now reviewing the matter for potential criminal activity. If they find any, they must also weigh whether the conduct breached AMI's previous deal to assist prosecutors. AMI agreed not to commit crimes as part of that deal to avoid prosecution over hush-money payments to women who claimed relationships with ... Donald Trump."
... How Reassuring. Brian Stelter of CNN: "American Media [-- publisher of the National Enquirer --] said in a statement on Friday morning that the company 'believes fervently that it acted lawfully in the reporting of the story of Mr. Bezos.... Nonetheless, in light of the nature of the allegations published by Mr. Bezos, the Board has convened and determined that it should promptly and thoroughly investigate the claims. Upon completion of that investigation, the Board will take whatever appropriate action is necessary."
Today on C-SPAN. CNN: "Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker will testify before the House Judiciary Committee Friday, Chairman Jerry Nadler said Thursday night, following a tumultuous couple of days where Whitaker threatened to not show up while Democrats prepared to subpoena his appearance." The hearing is scheduled to begin at 9:30 am ET. A bit more on Whitaker's threat not to show linked below. Mrs. McC: At 9:35 am ET, CNN is carrying the hearing live. ...
... New York Times reporters are liveblogging/reporting on the hearing. Mrs. McC: Most hilariously stupid & probably unique-in-history moment: "When [Jerry] Nadler [-- the committee chairman, who, um, is conducting the hearing --] asked Mr. Whitaker if he had ever been asked to approve any request for action to be taken by Mr. Mueller, Mr. Whitaker replied: 'Mr. Chairman, I see that your five minutes is up.' The room then broke into laughter as Mr. Nadler looked up in apparent disbelief, then grinned himself and noted that he did not enforce the five-minute rule during Mr. Whitaker's opening statement, then asked him to 'answer the question, please.'" Emphasis added.
*****
Today's Bible Lesson for Donald
With the Judgment You Pronounce You Will Be Judged, Sayeth the Lord. When I say something that you might think is a gaffe, it's on purpose; it's not a gaffe. When Biden says something dumb, it's because he's dumb. -- Donald Trump, to reporters, Tuesday
And the Lord Heard Donald Judge Joseph, and Donald Made a Dumb Gaffe. Since the founding of our nation, many of our greatest strides, from gaining our independence to abolition of civil rights, to extending the vote for women, have been led by people of faith and started in prayer. -- Donald Trump, at the National Prayer Breakfast, Thursday (thanks to forrest m. for the link)
This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd.
John Wagner of the Washington Post: "President Trump took fresh aim Thursday at House Democrats, claiming they were going 'nuts' with unprecedented investigations into his administration and businesses. In morning tweets ahead of a scheduled appearance at a national prayer breakfast, Trump singled out House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.), who announced Wednesday that his panel will scrutinize 'credible reports of money laundering and financial compromise' involving Trump's businesses as part of a fresh investigation into Trump's alleged ties with Russia. 'So now Congressman Adam B. Schiff announces, after having found zero Russian Collusion, that he is going to be looking at every aspect of my life, both financial and personal, even though there is no reason to be doing so,' Trump said on Twitter. 'Never happened before! Unlimited Presidential Harassment.'... 'The Dems and their committees are going "nuts,"' Trump wrote. 'The Republicans never did this to President Obama, there would be no time left to run government.' Without elaboration, Trump also said that congressional Democrats were 'stealing people' who work at the White House to help with the investigations." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Trump: "The Republicans never did this to President Obama." Mrs. McCrabbie: Operation Fast & Furious! Solyndra! IRS! Benghaaaazi! ...
... Philip Bump of the Washington Post has more: "Trump, like many other fervent conservative media consumers, would have liked to have seen a bunch of random personal investigations of things such as Obama's birthplace or his college records, ideas that grew like bacteria in the swamps of the far-right during Obama's time in office.... Trump tweeted about Solyndra no fewer than 15 times, including once saying that the 'government loan and subsequent bankruptcy prove that @BarackObama is both corrupt and inept' -- an ironic position for Trump to take, given his history with failed businesses." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
About Schiff's Having Found "Zero Russian Collusion." John Aravosis of AmericaBlog interviewed Adam Schiff. Here's an excerpt of Schiff's remarks: "There is ample evidence on the issue of collusion. The question of whether it rises to the level of proof beyond a reasonable doubt as to a criminal conspiracy is a different question, and one that ultimately Bob Mueller will have to answer. And that even may not be answered completely if the Justice Department takes the position, which I think is flawed, that you can't indict a sitting President.... But these secret discussions to make money from Russia during the campaign, that the president and his organization were having, that Paul Manafort was having with his Russian contacts, at the same time the Russians clearly wanted something from Donald Trump and his campaign in the form of sanctions release, all goes to the issue of collusion, all goes to the issue of conspiracy, and you really have to be willfully blind not to see just how alarming this is."
So now we know what Trump meant by his curious claim that congressional Democrats were "stealing people" who worked at the White House. ...
... Kaitlan Collins, et al., of CNN: "House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff has hired officials with experience at the National Security Council to help with his panel's oversight of ... Donald Trump's administration, according to a committee aide. The aide declined to say how recently the newly hired officials worked at the council, whether they served under Trump or to identify the individuals. But the move appears to have enraged the President and some members of his senior staff, who view the move as an intrusion.... An administration official told reporters to 'ask Adam Schiff what that means' when asked about the President's claim Democrats are 'stealing people who work at White House.'... Trump and his loyalists have long been skeptical of career officials inside the government, some of whom they claim are out to stymie his agenda." ...
... Martin Longman in the Washington Monthly: "I'm not surprised that House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff of California is hiring former members of the National Security Council to be on his investigatory staff. After all, his predecessor Devin Nunes did the same thing last September when he scooped up Derek Harvey after his dismissal by then-National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster. For the record, Chairman Schiff denies that he's hired anyone who is currently working inside the administration, although he does not deny that some of his hires may have worked with them at some point. What actually does surprise me, however, is that the president is so exercised about Schiff's hiring practices that he felt compelled to tweet about them.... If I had to guess, he thinks it feeds the narrative that the Deep State is out to get him. In reality, it actually just makes him look guilty and scared."
** "No Thank You, Mr. Pecker." Eugene Kim of CNBC: "Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos claims a lawyer for the National Enquirer emailed his counsel with a threat to post sexual pictures he had sent via text to his girlfriend, Lauren Sanchez, including a so called 'dick pic.' In a blog post published Thursday [in Medium], Bezos accused AMI, the publisher of the National Enquirer, of blackmail and extortion, claiming that AMI has asked Bezos to publicly deny any political motivation in the publisher's coverage of his divorce. The request is likely in response to comments made by Gavin de Becker, Bezos's security boss, who previously told the Daily Beast that 'strong leads point to political motives' in AMI's coverage. 'In the AMI letters I'm making public, you will see the precise details of their extortionate proposal: They will publish the personal photos unless Gavin de Becker and I make the specific false public statement to the press that we "have no knowledge or basis for suggesting that AMI's coverage was politically motivated or influenced by political forces,'" Bezos wrote in the post. Bezos and his wife, MacKenzie, announced their divorce last month. On the same day of the announcement, the National Enquirer broke news about Bezos' affair with Sanchez, with private photos of the two dating. Bezos never publicly addressed the National Enquirer's story until Thursday. In the blog post, Bezos also accused AMI of 'weaponizing journalistic privileges.'" At 7:30 pm ET Thursday, the Medium page had crashed. ...
... Karen Weise of the New York Times: "Jeff Bezos, Amazon's chief executive, accused the owner of The National Enquirer on Thursday of trying 'extortion and blackmail' to stop his investigation into how his private text messages and photos with his mistress were leaked to the tabloid. In an extraordinarily personal online post, Mr. Bezos said intermediaries of David J. Pecker, the chairman of American Media Inc., the owner of The Enquirer, had approached him to stop his investigation. Mr. Bezos said he had been told that if he refused, the publisher would make risqué and intimate photos of him and his mistress, Lauren Sanchez, public." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: We cannot forget that the sleazy Enquirer's publisher David Pecker is a long-time friend of our sleazy President*, & assisted said sleazy President* in covering up his sleazy extramarital liaisons for the purpose of influencing the presidential election. In addition, the sleazy President* used his office to attempt to hurt Bezos' business; he called the Postmaster General into the Oval & urged her to double postal rates for Amazon. He even gloated over the breakup of Bezos' marriage, a breakup reportedly precipitated by the Enquirer's earlier "reporting" on Bezos' affair with Sanchez: "So sorry to hear the news about Jeff Bozo being taken down by a competitor whose reporting, I understand, is far more accurate than the reporting in his lobbyist newspaper, the Amazon Washington Post. Hopefully the paper will soon be placed in better & more responsible hands!" Trump wrote in a tweet January 13 ...
After Mr. Trump became president, he rewarded Mr. Pecker's loyalty with a White House dinner to which the media executive brought a guest with important ties to the royals in Saudi Arabia. At the time, Mr. Pecker was pursuing business there while also hunting for financing for acquisitions.... -- Jeff Bezos, in his post ...
... Juan Cole: "Bezos also hints that Pecker was upset about the Washington Post's quest to get to the bottom of the Saudi government's murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.... Bezos alleges that the investigation of the Saudi connection most alarmed Mr. Pecker, and precipitated the attempt to blackmail the Amazon CEO into falling silent and backing off, with the threat of releasing further compromising photographs and text messages of a private nature." ...
... Paul Farhi, et al., of the Washington Post: Bezos "wrote that it's 'unavoidable that certain powerful people who experience Washington Post news coverage will wrongly conclude I am their enemy. President Trump is one of those people, obvious by his many tweets. Also, The Post's essential and unrelenting coverage of the murder of its columnist Jamal Khashoggi is undoubtedly unpopular in certain circles.' Despite mounting evidence, Trump has disputed that Khashoggi was killed on the orders of Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman. The Saudi crown prince was the subject of a flattering glossy magazine produced by AMI in 2016, at a time when the Saudi regime was attempting to portray Mohammed as a reformer in Middle Eastern politics."
Xeni Jardin of Boing Boing: "On MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell show [Thursday] night, [Manuel] Roig Franzia of the Washington Post said the security and legal team representing Jeff Bezos believes it's possible the leaks of the Amazon CEO's texts, with accompanying intimate photos, were politically motivated -- and that a 'government entity' accessed the material." ...
As @RoigFranzia carefully notes in his interview, Bezos team suspects a 'government entity' might have gotten the texts. Not necessarily US government. -- Greg Miller of the Washington Post, in a tweet
I and at least one other prominent journalist involved in breaking stories about the National Enquirer's arrangement with Trump fielded similar 'stop digging or we'll ruin you' blackmail efforts from AMI. (I did not engage as I don't cut deals with subjects of ongoing reporting.) -- Ronan Farrow, in a tweet
... Paul Farhi, et al., of the Washington Post (linked above): "Bezos's public letter seems to suggest that federal agents should investigate whether AMI may have violated the terms of its non-prosecution agreement with prosecutors in Manhattan over its role in the 2016 hush money payments. 'Rather than capitulate to extortion and blackmail, I've decided to publish exactly what they sent me, despite the personal cost and embarrassment they threaten,' Bezos wrote. In the next sentence, Bezos describes the non-prosecution agreement struck in September between AMI and the Justice Department." ...
... Mr. Pecker Pickled ... Himself. Edvard Pettersson of Bloomberg News: "Jeff Bezos's allegations that he was blackmailed by American Media Inc. could upend the non-prosecution agreement the publisher of the National Enquirer struck last year with federal prosecutors in New York over its illegal aid to the Trump campaign. Under the Sept. 20 agreement, the tabloid publisher was supposed to refrain from all illegal activity for a three-year period. The agreement says that if New York-based AMI commits any crime, it can be prosecuted for the ones it was granted immunity against, including perjury and obstruction of justice. The disclosure Thursday by Amazon.com Inc.'s chief executive officer that AMI threatened to publish revealing photos of him unless he halted an investigation into whether an earlier expose of his relationship with former TV anchor Lauren Sanchez was politically motivated is 'textbook extortion' and could lead to criminal prosecution, according to some legal experts." ...
... Sophie Weiner of Splinter: "Bezos vs. AMI is one of those fights where it's hard to know who to root for. Bezos, one of the richest men on Earth, owns Amazon, a company with god-awful labor practices that's currently cannibalizing multiple American cities. On the other hand, AMI and the National Enquirer are despicable vultures who are comfortable engaging in blackmail in the name of journalism."
Mrs. McCrabbie Note to David Pecker: Could be a mistake to threaten the Richest Man in the World.
Allegra Kirkland & Josh Kovensky of TPM: "As reports proliferate about New York prosecutors' investigation into President Trump's 2017 inaugural committee, it can be difficult to tease out the standard swamp sleaze from activities that cross a line -- or possibly break the law. Former high-level inauguration staffers and ethics experts told TPM that Trump's team stretched the boundaries of acceptability, potentially opening the door to the kind of self-dealing and illegal foreign donations that prosecutors are reportedly probing.... Questions abound about how costs were allocated within the committee, and about possible self-dealing on the part of Trump's family and friends.... While the White House has stated that the subpoena 'has nothing to do with' the President, [inaugural chair Tom] Barrack himself had a different perspective in remarks to the New York Post, five days before Trump took office. 'He's into every detail of everything,' the tabloid quoted Barrack as saying. 'I beg him all the time to go back to running the free world and let me focus on setting the tables.'" --s ...
... Crime Boss. Barbara McQuade in the Daily Beast: "Referring to a cooperator as a 'rat,' President Trump sometimes sounds like a mob boss. He may ultimately be prosecuted like one, too.... According to reports, [a] subpoena [issued by a grand jury in the Southern District of New York to Trump's inaugural committee] indicates that prosecutors are investigating conspiracy against the United States, false statements, mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and violations of campaign finance and inaugural committee laws. In addition, CNN has reported that federal prosecutors in Manhattan have expressed interest in interviewing executives from the Trump Organization.... It is not a stretch to think that the prosecutors are at least considering whether they can prove the type of enterprise and pattern of predicate acts that would amount to a RICO [racketeering] charge.... Even if SDNY follows the Justice Department policy that a sitting president cannot be indicted, nothing prohibits the Trump Organization or Trump's associates from being indicted. In addition, even if a sitting president cannot be indicted, a former president can be." ...
... Elie Honig of CNN: "This week, we learned that the Southern District of New York -- my former office -- dropped an incendiary subpoena on ... Donald Trump's inaugural committee..., and has requested interviews with Trump Organization executives. This is particularly bad news for Trump because, in many respects, the SDNY poses an even more potent threat than special counsel Robert Mueller.... While Mueller is limited by his appointment to investigating coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign (and matters that 'arise directly' from such coordination), the SDNY has no substantive constraints and can go wherever the evidence leads.... The SDNY is also not subject to the special counsel regulations, which require attorney general approval for major prosecutorial decisions and through which Mueller ultimately must filter his findings. And, unlike Mueller, the SDNY cannot be fired or defunded; sure, Trump could fire the US attorney for the SDNY, but there will still be 150-plus apolitical career prosecutors ready to carry on."
Daily Beast: "Ivanka Trump insists she has 'zero concern' that anyone close to her will be implicated when Robert Mueller draws his investigation into Russian influence in the 2016 election to a close.... Ivanka also said she 'barely' knew about the potential deal for a Trump development in Moscow.... [Also,] 'We're not talking about Iran. It was Russia.'" Mrs. McC: Never mind that Ivanka, at a minimum, went to Russia to scout locations for a Trump Moscow tower, that some time in 2015, she suggested an architect to work on the Moscow tower & was otherwise working to make it happen during 2015-16. Also too, Russia is totally unlike like repressive Iran. For one thing, way fewer mosques. Sorry, dear, the ditsy-blonde defense hasn't worked since the 1950s.
Daily Beast: "Rod Rosenstein privately complained that Donald Trump commanded him to write the notorious memo backing the firing of FBI Director James Comey, according to Comey's former deputy Andrew McCabe.... McCabe says that Rosenstein was visibly upset during a private Justice Department meeting on May 12, 2017, after being ordered to write the memo. 'He said it wasn't his idea. The president had ordered him to write the memo justifying the firing,' McCabe writes [in a new book]. Rosenstein went on to say that he was having trouble sleeping and is quoted as saying: 'There's no one here that I can trust.'" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I would remind Rod there that he chose to be a Republican; that is, to throw in his lot with an untrustworthy bunch.
Eli Rosenberg of the Washington Post: At the border with Mexico at Nogales, Arizona, U.S. troops installed "row after row of razor wire ... on the [18-foot-high border] fence so that it covered nearly the entire surface in parts. Photographs show as many of six separate coils of wire -- typically made from steel and studded with hundreds of razor-like barbs -- covering portions of the fence, lending it the appearance of a war zone or a high-security prison.... The town's city council passed a resolution unanimously on Wednesday to formally condemn the wire, and demand that it be taken down over safety concerns.... The wall it adorns stretches through many residential areas in the city, as close as 10 feet in some places to people's property." With photos. Read on.
Frank Rich on the SOTU speech & KKK Northam: "... from Trump's point of view, the speech seems to have failed at every level." Rich elaborates in his usual caustic -- and entertaining -- style. "Northam is a former Republican turned Democrat. Now he is considering resurrecting himself as an Indepedent, according to the Washington Post. Regardless of party affiliation, what's beyond dispute is that he's an idiot who has yet to settle on a plausible account of why his 1984 medical school yearbook page looked like a Ku Klux Klan recruitment flyer." (Also linked yesterday.)
Olivia Beavers of the Hill: "Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker is threatening to not testify before the House Judiciary Committee on Friday after Democrats on the panel voted to authorize the use of a subpoena against him if he did not attend or refused to answer certain questions. Whitaker said in a statement Thursday that the Democratic-led panel 'has deviated from historic practice and protocol and taken the unnecessary and premature step of authorizing a subpoena to the me [sic], the acting attorney general, even though I had agreed to voluntarily appear.'" (Also linked yesterday.)
Lisa Friedman & Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "Liberal Democrats put flesh on their 'Green New Deal' slogan on Thursday with a sweeping resolution intended to redefine the national debate on climate change by calling for the United States to eliminate additional emissions of carbon by 2030. The measure, drafted by freshman Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Senator Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts, is intended to answer the demand, by the party's restive base, for a grand strategy that combats climate change, creates jobs and offers an affirmative response to the challenge to core party values posed by President Trump."
Jennifer Scholtes, et al., of Politico: "Congressional deal-makers working to stave off another government shutdown said they believe a breakthrough is in reach, following a closed-door Wednesday briefing from Border Patrol officials. Conference committee negotiators tasked with crafting a border security funding plan said the bipartisan talks took a turn for the better during the meeting. The 17 lawmakers began a substantive policy and funding debate, ticking through a three-pronged approach to boosting border security spending on detection technology, agents and barriers, according to several members who attended the briefing." (Also linked yesterday.)
Melissa Burke of the Detroit News: "Michigan Democrat John Dingell Jr., the longest-serving member of Congress in American history who helped write most of the nation's major environmental and energy laws, died Thursday, his wife said. He was 92. The Dearborn statesman was a champion of the auto industry and was credited with increasing access to health care, among other accomplishments. He died peacefully at his home in Dearborn, surrounded by his wife, U.S. Rep. Deborah Dingell, her office said in a statement."
Paul Krugman: "... Donald Trump, in his State of the Union address, briefly turned from his usual warnings about scary brown people to warnings about the threat from socialism. What do Trump's people, or conservatives in general, mean by 'socialism'? The answer is, it depends.... The trick -- and 'trick' is the right word -- involves shuttling between these utterly different meanings, and hoping that people don't notice. You say you want free college tuition? Think of all the people who died in the Ukraine famine!... What Americans who support 'socialism' actually want is what the rest of the world calls social democracy: A market economy, but with extreme hardship limited by a strong social safety net and extreme inequality limited by progressive taxation.... So scaremongering over socialism is both silly and dishonest.... On the other hand, we should never discount the power of dishonesty. Right-wing media will portray whomever the Democrats nominate for president as the second coming of Leon Trotsky, and millions of people will believe them."
** Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked a Louisiana law that its opponents say could have left the state with only one doctor in a single clinic authorized to provide abortions. The vote was 5 to 4, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. joining the court's four-member liberal wing to form a majority. That coalition underscored the pivotal position the chief justice has assumed after the departure last year of Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, who used to hold the crucial vote in many closely divided cases, including ones concerning abortion. The court's brief order gave no reasons, and its action -- a temporary stay -- did not end the case. The court is likely to hear a challenge to the law on the merits in its next term, which starts in October. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr., Neil M. Gorsuch and Brett M. Kavanaugh said they would have denied the stay. Only Justice Kavanaugh published a dissent, taking a middle position that acknowledged the key precedent and said he would have preferred more information on the precise effect of the law." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: That's right, folks. The CJ is now the "swing vote" on the Court. And there's no telling which way Roberts will swing when & if the Court hears the Louisiana case. Ian Millhiser shares my view ...
Ian Millhiser of ThinkProgress: "On Thursday, the Supreme Court stayed a lower court decision that openly defied its most recent case protecting the right to an abortion. Thursday's order was unexpected, given the ideological makeup of the Supreme Court, and it is likely to be very temporary. The decision was 5-4, with Chief Justice John Roberts crossing over to vote with the court's liberal bloc. The stay will last only until the court has an opportunity to consider a request to give the case a full hearing -- a request it will most likely grant. That means that the Supreme Court could overrule or drastically undercut the right to an abortion as soon as 2020." --s
Ian Millhiser: "The Supreme Court just handed down a brief order holding that a man named Domineque Ray must die without his spiritual adviser being made available to give him comfort. The decision was 5-4 along party lines. The case is Dunn v. Ray. Ray is a death row inmate, and there is no doubt that the state of Alabama may execute him. The only issue in this case was whether Ray, who is Muslim, may be killed with his imam at his side. Moreover, as Justice Elena Kagan notes in a dissenting opinion, 'a Christian prisoner may have a minister of his own faith accompany him into the execution chamber to say his last rites' under the prison's policy. So if Ray were a Christian, he would have his spiritual adviser present. One of the cornerstones of the Supreme Court's religion jurisprudence is that the government may not discriminate among faiths." --s ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Glory be, we're still a "Christian nation."
** Ben Foldy of Bloomberg: "Major U.S. banks shaved about $21 billion from their tax bills last year -- almost double the IRS's annual budget -- as the industry benefited more than many others from the Republican tax overhaul. By year-end, most of the nation's largest lenders met or exceeded their initial predictions for tax savings. On average, the banks saw their effective tax rates fall below 19 percent from the roughly 28 percent they paid in 2016. And while the breaks set off a gusher of payouts to shareholders, firms cut thousands of jobs and saw their lending growth slow." Thanks to PD Pepe for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)
Tiffany Tsu & Elizabeth Paton of the New York Times: "Less than a week into Black History Month, in two episodes of retail déjà vu, Adidas and Gucci have apologized and pulled products criticized as racist. The offending Gucci item was an $890 black-knit women's balaclava that could be pulled up over the lower half of the wearer's face. The sweater included bright red lips ringing an opening for the mouth, a detail widely denounced on social media as evoking blackface imagery.... In Adidas's case, the company included an almost entirely white pair of shoes in a line of clothing and sneakers inspired by the Harlem Renaissance movement and meant to commemorate Black History Month." Mrs. McC: The Gucci sweater is shocking. On the upside, Dr. Northam could buy one & save himself the pain of having to remove shoe polish from his pretty white face. (Also linked yesterday.)
Kirk Johnson of the New York Times: "Measles, declared eliminated as a major public health threat in the United States almost 20 years ago, has re-emerged this winter in the Pacific Northwest and other states where parents have relatively broad leeway over whether to vaccinate their children. Seventy-nine cases of measles have been reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since the start of this year. Fifty cases of the highly contagious disease were in Washington State. An outbreak of measles has also occurred in the Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn, where 64 confirmed cases of measles were reported, mostly late last year. That outbreak began, the C.D.C. said, when a child who had not had a measles vaccination caught the virus on a visit to Israel, where a large outbreak of the disease was occurring." (Also linked yesterday.)
The conventional rap against New York Times management is that the company fired executive editor Jill Abramson a few years back because sexism. Maybe not: ...
... Edmund Lee & Alexandra Alter of the New York Times: "Jill Abramson, the former executive editor of The New York Times, responded on Thursday to accusations that her latest book, 'Merchants of Truth,' contains passages that were plagiarized or not properly attributed to the original source material. 'I was up all night going through my book because I take these claims of plagiarism so seriously,' she said in a statement issued by the book's publisher, Simon & Schuster.... She added: '... The language is too close in some cases and should have been cited as quotations in the text. This, too, will be fixed.'... On Wednesday evening, a reporter for Vice News, one of the four news organizations Ms. Abramson chronicles in her book, alerted readers to passages that appear to have been lifted from other sources, in some cases word for word. The reporter, Michael Moynihan, revealed the similarities in a series of tweets.... When galleys of the book circulated last month, many of [Vice's] staff members pointed out inaccuracies on social media. In response to those complaints, Ms. Abramson made corrections in time for the final version.... A Simon & Schuster spokesman said the company would work with Ms. Abramson to make corrections and clarify the sourcing in future print editions and in the e-book."
Beyond the Beltway
Democrats at the top are killing the Great State of Virginia. If the three failing pols were Republicans, far stronger action would be taken. Virginia will come back HOME Republican) in 2020! -- Racist, Mysogynist Liar living in White House, in a tweet today
Virginia. Katherine Hafner & Elisha Sauers of the Virginian-Pilot: "A Virginia Military Institute yearbook overseen by future state Senate Majority Leader Tommy Norment in 1968 features a host of racist photos and slurs, including blackface.... On one page of the yearbook, a student poses in blackface, surrounded by others in costumes at a party. Another page features a photo of two men in blackface holding a football. The N-word is used at least once. A student listed as being from Bangkok, Thailand, is referred to as a 'Chink' and 'Jap.' A blurb under one man's picture says: 'He was known as the 'Barracks Jew' having his fingers in the finances of the entire Corps.'... The first black students were allowed to enroll at the institute in the fall of 1968. When a reporter asked Norment to talk about the yearbook Thursday, the majority leader said, 'The only thing I'm talking about today is the budget.'... Several years ago, the school changed its process for reviewing The Bomb, [Col Stewart] MacInnis said, adding layers of review by faculty advisors and himself. But there's always tension for overseeing the student-supported publication, he added, because 'they've got their First Amendment rights.'" (Also linked yesterday.)
Way Beyond
Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times: "Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia told a top aide in a conversation in 2017 that he would use 'a bullet' on Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist killed in October<, if Mr. Khashoggi did not return to the kingdom and end his criticism of the Saudi government, according to current and former American and foreign officials with direct knowledge of intelligence reports. The conversation, intercepted by American intelligence agencies, is the most detailed evidence to date that the crown prince considered killing Mr. Khashoggi long before a team of Saudi operatives strangled him inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul and dismembered his body using a bone saw. Mr. Khashoggi's murder prompted weeks of outrage around the world and among both parties in Washington, where senior lawmakers called for an investigation into who was responsible. The Saudi government has denied that the young crown prince played any role in the killing, and President Trump has publicly shown little interest in trying to get the facts about who was responsible."
... Mrs. McCrabbie: This is yet another instance in which Trump has ignored U.S. intelligence, on which he was surely briefed. BTW, don't think the Trump's lack of interest in solving the murder of Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor, is unrelated to the Enquirer's attempt to extort Bezos.* If you've ever wondered what it would be like to live in a country in which the presidency & parts of the other two branches comprise a criminal enterprise, this is it.
... *Update. New reporting, linked above, is beginning to flesh out the Saudi connection on which I only speculated earlier. The reporting too is speculative, but I don't think it's the end of the story. One thing Trump does during his up-to-7-1/2-hour-a-day "executive time" is to make phone calls he doesn't want his aides to know about. No doubt he's aware that some of his criminal activity must remain secret. One has to hope that U.S. intelligence is as adept at listening in as Chinese & Russian hackers are. Don't be surprised if we learn some day that the FISA court has okayed warrants on the POTUS*.
News Ledes
New York Times: "Frank Robinson, the Hall of Fame outfielder who hit 586 home runs and became a racial pioneer as the first black manager in the major leagues, nearly three decades after Jackie Robinson broke modern baseball's color barrier playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers, died on Thursday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 83."
New York Times: "Albert Finney, the British stage and film actor who defined an era's rage and frustration in dramas of blue-collar realism and social revolt and who went on to find stardom in Hollywood, died on Thursday in London. He was 82."
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