The Commentariat -- November 11, 2019
Afternoon Update:
Stefan Becket of CBS News: "Democrats in the House released a transcript of testimony by Laura Cooper, a top Pentagon official who appeared behind closed doors before the impeachment committees on October 23. Cooper is deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia whose responsibilities include overseeing U.S. military assistance to Ukraine." A pdf of the transcript of her testimony, via the House, is here. Mrs. McC: I'll get more on her testimony when reporting becomes available.
Trump Is Very Confused, Thinks He Was POTUS* in 1989. Washington Post live updates @4:15 pm ET Monday: “Trump sent a tweet Monday afternoon appearing to lament signing the Whistleblower Protection Act. But Trump actually did not sign the law, which was passed by Congress in 1989. 'To think I signed the Whistleblower Protection Act!' Trump tweeted. He was responding to a message sent by the White House Twitter account listing ways that Trump has been 'looking out for our veterans.' But the White House’s tweet had listed a separate measure, VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act, which Trump did sign into law in 2017.”
Michael Gold of the New York Times: President Trump returned to his hometown on Monday to kick off the 100th annual New York City Veterans Day Parade, his second visit to the city since he announced he was making Florida his primary home. In an 18-minute speech, Mr. Trump expressed his gratitude to American veterans, but also used his remarks to pay tribute to the city, where he remains deeply unpopular.... Even before the president arrived, protesters had gathered along the streets, a number of them from an anti-Trump group, Rise and Resist. They carried signs calling for Mr. Trump’s impeachment and repeatedly shouted, 'Shame!' In the windows of a nearby glass tower overlooking the dais where Mr. Trump spoke, large signs placed in the windows spelled out the word 'impeach.' A few floors higher, letters spelling 'convict' were placed in another set of windows. Some of his supporters gathered nearby, many of them wearing hats bearing Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign slogan, 'Make America Great Again.' But raucous boos and chants jeering Mr. Trump could also be heard throughout the president’s remarks. A chorus of people shouted 'lock him up!' and 'traitor' and blew whistles as he spoke, causing some veterans to complain that the din was drowning out the president’s speech.”
Impeachment: A Sideshow. Peter Baker of the New York Times: "A long-simmering feud within the White House broke into the open on Monday as a lawyer for John R. Bolton, President Trump’s former national security adviser, filed a motion trying to keep Mick Mulvaney, the president’s acting chief of staff, from joining a lawsuit over impeachment testimony. Mr. Bolton’s lawyer argued in court papers that Mr. Mulvaney should not be allowed to jump into the existing lawsuit as a plaintiff because his interests are significantly different. But the legal schism underscored a broader rift between Mr. Mulvaney, who facilitated Mr. Trump’s effort to pressure Ukraine for damaging information about Democrats, and Mr. Bolton, who tried to resist it. The lawsuit, filed by Charles M. Kupperman, a former deputy national security adviser and longtime associate of Mr. Bolton’s, asked a court to decide whether Mr. Kupperman should obey the president’s dictate or a House subpoena. While not technically a party to the lawsuit, Mr. Bolton, who left his post in September after clashing with Mr. Trump, is represented by the same lawyer, Charles J. Cooper, and is taking the same position as Mr. Kupperman in waiting for the court to decide whether he should testify or not." Politico's story is here.
Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "A Trump-appointed federal judge decided Monday that ... Donald Trump can't sue New York state officials in a Washington, DC, court at this time to stop the release of his tax returns to Congress. The case is one of many where the President or his administration have asked federal judges to intervene before House Democrats obtain Trump's financial records. Effectively, the ruling is a loss for Trump but a less significant one then the blows other courts have dealt him in cases involving Democrats' pursuits of his financial records. Courts have sided with the House multiple times in cases where its committees have subpoenaed Trump's financial records. Trump is still appealing those rulings, keeping the House subpoenas on hold."
Note to Trump: This Is What "Acting Presidential" Really Looks Like. Quint Forgey of Politico: “Mayor Pete Buttigieg ... on Monday hailed Barack Obama’s legacy after a journalist acknowledged misquoting the Democratic White House contender as making a statement critical of the former president’s time in office. Evan Halper of the Los Angeles Times tweeted Monday morning that a line in his Sunday story on Buttigieg’s campaign, in which the candidate referred to the “failures of the Obama era,” was erroneously reported. 'That’s an inaccurate quote — the result of transcribing a noisy recording at a loud rally. His exact words were “failures of the old normal,’” Halper wrote. '...This one really hurts because it went viral,' he continued, going on to post Buttigieg’s full remarks, corrected. Buttigieg replied to Halper’s messages less than an hour later, tweeting that he appreciated 'this reporter’s swift and honest correction of a misquote on my views of” the Obama presidency.' 'From health care to DADT repeal to the rescue of the auto industry, my appreciation of the great leadership of Barack Obama comes from a very personal place,' he wrote.”
Jonathan Chait: “Yesterday, Representative Mac Thornberry appeared on ABC’s This Week to elucidate the Republican case against impeaching President Trump. To say that his appearance did not go well would understate the case considerably.... He treats the phone call as if it’s the entirety of the case. But then, rather than insist the phone call was 'perfect,' he concedes it was kinda bad. At that point, though, Thornberry pivots to pointing out that the call is no different than things Trump 'says in public all the time.' That’s true! Trump does solicit foreign countries to investigate his rivals in public all the time. He’s even declared that he has an 'absolute right' to do the very thing he’s being accused of. Of course he pressured Ukraine to smear his opponents.... You can't impeach Trump for a crime he does 'all the time.'” Mrs. McC: A fun read, which would be way funnier if it were only half a dozen yokels spouting these lines of "reasoning." Instead, it's almost every elected Republican, & those hoping to get elected to something.
Brianne Gorod & Elizabeth Wydra of the Constitutional Accouantability Center, in the New Republic, write up articles of impeachment.
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Divider-in-Chief to Ruin National Day of Remembrance. Clyde Hughes of UPI: "... Donald Trump will lay a wreath and speak at the start of the Veterans Day Parade in New York City Monday, becoming the first U.S. president to do so."
Stupidest Senator Proves Case for Impeachment. Again. Allan Smith of NBC News: "Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., said Sunday that 'most' of ... Donald Trump's advisers were trying to figure out 'some way' to get him to release a hold on roughly $400 million in Ukrainian military aid, an effort at the center of Democrats' impeachment inquiry. 'I understand that most of President Trump's advisers wanted the military aid released,' Johnson, who had personally pushed Trump to release the aid, told CNN's 'State of the Union.' 'And they were trying to figure out some way, shape or form to convince President Trump to approve that release. It's certainly what I was trying to do in my phone call to him on Aug. 31....'... Johnson said ... he remains 'sympathetic to President Trump's legitimate concerns about corruption.' As CNN's Jake Tapper noted, the only instances of 'corruption' that Trump brought up in his July 25 phone call with ... Zelesnkiy ... were involving the debunked conspiracy and the business dealings of former Vice President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden, who sat on the board of a Ukrainian gas company that was under investigation. Tapper pointed to testimony from Trump administration officials who said 'corruption' was code for those two things." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Trump's defenders are now trying to pretend that it was not Trump who held up Ukraine military aid. Mulvaney or somebody else is the perp. Republicans have repeatedly pointed out that most witnesses have offered no first-hand testimony that fingers Trump as the person who called for the hold (although Sondland did when he changed his testimony). Johnson just blew that fake cover story. Early last month, Johnson "told the Wall Street Journal that Gordon Sondland ... told him the Ukraine aid, which is part of the country’s defenses against Russia, was being linked to Trump’s desire to have Zelenskiy’s team investigate the 2016 U.S. elections."
Lev Sings! ... Uh, Maybe Off-key. Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: “Not long before the Ukrainian president was inaugurated in May, [Lev Parnas,] an associate of Rudolph W. Giuliani’s, journeyed to Kiev to deliver a warning to the country’s new leadership, a lawyer for the associate said.... Parnas told a representative of the incoming government that it had to announce an investigation into Mr. Trump’s political rival, Joseph R. Biden Jr., and his son, or else Vice President Mike Pence would not attend the swearing-in of the new president, and the United States would freeze aid, the lawyer said. The claim by Mr. Parnas, who is preparing to share his account with impeachment investigators, challenges the narrative of events from Mr. Trump and Ukrainian officials that is at the core of the congressional inquiry. It also directly links Mr. Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, to threats of repercussions made to the Ukrainians, something he has strenuously denied. But Mr. Parnas’s account, while potentially significant, is being contradicted on several fronts.... Mr. Parnas stands alone in saying the intention [of the meeting] was to present an ultimatum to the Ukrainian leadership. Another participant in the meeting, Mr. Parnas’s business partner, Igor Fruman, said Mr. Parnas’s claim was false; the men never raised the issues of aid or the vice president’s attendance at the inauguration, lawyers for Mr. Fruman said. Mr. Giuliani ... [said,] 'Categorically, I did not tell him to say that,' Mr. Giuliani said.” ~~~
~~~ Update: The Raw Story has a summary of the NYT report.
Tom Hamburger, et al., of the Washington Post: “Former national security adviser John Bolton’s advisers and allies were taken aback to learn late Friday that [White House chief-of-staff Mick] Mulvaney had gone to court seeking to join a separation-of-powers lawsuit filed against Trump and the House leadership, according to people familiar with their views.... The suit was filed by Bolton’s former deputy, Charles Kupperman, who is asking a federal judge to determine whether a congressional subpoena takes precedence over a White House order not to comply with the inquiry. Bolton is willing to testify if the judge rules in favor of the House, The Washingon Post previously reported. People close to Bolton and Kupperman said the two were flabbergasted by Mulvaney’s surprise request to join the lawsuit because they and others on the national security team considered Mulvaney a critical player in the effort to get the Ukrainian government to pursue investigations into Trump’s political opponents. Bolton views Mulvaney as a key participant in the pressure campaign, a situation that the then-national security adviser referred to derisively as 'a drug deal,' according to congressional testimony by his aides. The two men were barely on speaking terms when Bolton left his post in September, according to White House officials.”
You're Fired! Vindman to Be "Streamlined" Off the NSC. It's Obama's Fault. Cristina Cabrera of TPM: “On Sunday, National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien said Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who gave a bombshell testimony in the House impeachment investigation last month on ... Donald Trump’s Ukraine scheme, will be removed from his post at the White House National Security Council. 'Lieutenant Colonel Vindman, who has testified under oath, is serving on the National Security Council currently,' CBS News’s 'Face the Nation' host Margaret Brennan said during her interview with O’Brien. 'Will he continue to work for you despite testifying against the President?' 'Well look, one of the things that I’ve talked about is that we’re streamlining the National Security Council,' O’Brien replied. 'It got bloated to like 236 people up from 100 in the Bush administration under President Obama.' The national security adviser said Vindman, who currently serves as the council’s Director for European Affairs, will be removed as a part of the White House’s 'streamlining' efforts.” More on O'Brien's “Face the Nation” interview linked below. ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I wonder if this is the first Col. Vindman has heard he was being "streamlined" out.
Zachary Basu of Axios: "Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, told CBS' Margaret Brennan on Sunday that the impeachment inquiry has uncovered evidence of an 'extortion scheme ... using taxpayer dollars to ask a foreign government to investigate the president's opponent' ... involving President Trump withholding military aid to Ukraine to pressure its government to investigate his political opponents.... Democrats believe they already have enough evidence to impeach Trump and sent the case to the Senate for a trial, even without hearing from the White House witnesses who have refused to cooperate with the inquiry."
GOP Prepares Looney-Tunes Trump Defense. Michael Shear & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "House Republicans on Saturday offered the latest glimpse of their strategy to fight against impeachment by demanding testimony from figures at the center of President Trump’s favorite unsubstantiated theories: the son of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., a researcher loosely connected to an anti-Trump dossier, a Democratic official and a board member of a Ukrainian energy company. Rather than shy away from conspiracies that Mr. Trump’s own government has repeatedly disavowed or played down, the Republicans’ requests suggest their willingness to conduct a scorched-earth strategy as they respond to nearly a month of blockbuster revelations about pressure campaigns involving military aid, diplomatic shakedowns and rogue actions by the president’s personal lawyer.... At the same time, the party is preparing to vigorously contest the Democratic case for impeachment on its own terms, people familiar with the plans said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I don't get it. Why aren't they subpoenaing Hillary? Clearly, she's the mastermind behind the Ukraine server scandal. And Obama? He tapped Trump's wires, for Pete's sake. ~~~
~~~ Asha Rangappa in a Washington Post op-ed: “Just under the deadline, Republicans turned in on Saturday the list of witnesses they’d like to have testify at impeachment hearings beginning this week. Among them is Hunter Biden..., who Trump wanted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate as a condition of getting U.S. military aid. In listing Biden as a witness, the GOP may hope to build a defense that shifts the focus to alleged wrongdoing by the former vice president rather than by Trump. But what Trump alleges against [Joe] Biden is exactly what he is being accused of himself — which makes any defense of his actions focused on the Bidens internally inconsistent, and ultimately just helps make the case for impeachment.... The idea there would be that as long as Trump was acting even in part in the public interest (that is, 'fighting corruption'), then any personal benefit that he might receive as a result — say, in the form of election assistance because of a public smear on his potential opponent — is ancillary and irrelevant. The problem is that ... the 'good faith' standard Trump hopes to argue would apply equally to Joe Biden.” Mrs. McC: As if taking a position that is "internally inconsistent" ever bothered a Republican. ~~~
~~~ Your Guide to GOP Anti-Impeachment Arguments. New York Times Editors: “... instead of considering the testimony, many Republicans have chosen reflexively to defend Mr. Trump — not an easy task in the face of such strong evidence of inexcusable behavior. Here’s a field guide to some of the lines of attack that Republicans have used so far: There was no quid pro quo.... How could it have been a quid pro quo if the Ukrainians didn’t know about it?... It’s all just hearsay. And the whistle-blower is a partisan Democrat.... It was a quid pro quo. But so what? This happens all the time.... It was a quid pro quo, but President Trump was only interested in rooting out corruption in Ukraine.... It was a quid pro quo, but Mr. Trump had nothing to do with it.... Fine. It was a quid pro quo. Trump ordered it. He did so for his own political benefit. The Ukrainians knew about it. That’s bad, but it’s not an impeachable offense.... It wasn’t a real quid pro quo because the Trump administration is too disorganized to pull off such a scheme....'I hardly know the gentleman.'... This is a coup by the Deep State! A decorated American soldier is a Ukrainian agent! The witnesses who have testified are 'Never Trumpers'!” The Editors knock down on laugh off every GOP excuse. ~~~
Via @MontyBoa99~~~ The Fair & Impartial Juror. Rebecca Klar of the Hill: "Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) doubled down on his defense of President Trump amid the ongoing impeachment inquiry.... 'You make your mind up about the phone call. I made my mind up. There's nothing there,' Graham said in an interview Saturday with KCCI, a Des Moines CBS affiliate.... He told CBS News last week he won't read the transcripts released of witness depositions. 'I've written the whole process off,' he said." ~~~
~~~ David of Crooks & Liars: "Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) argued that he will consider any impeachment 'invalid' unless it exposes the identity of the whistleblower who outed Donald Trump's extortion of Ukraine. While speaking to Fox News host Maria Bartiromo, Graham suggested that the Senate does not have to fulfill its constitutional obligations to try the Donald Trump if the House impeachment is deemed 'invalid.' Graham praised Republicans in the House who have called on both the whistleblower and Hunter Biden ... to testify. 'I consider any impeachment in the House that doesn't allow us to know who the whistleblower is to be invalid,' the South Carolina senator declared. 'Because without the whistleblower complaint, we wouldn't be talking about any of this.'" Mrs. McC: Well then, Democrats should definitely out the whistleblower, because then Lindsey will be fair & impartial. ~~~
"First, Kill All the Lawyers." -- Jesus Dick the Butcher. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Ignorant) confuses Jesus with Will Shakespeare, completely misunderstands context of citation, thus unwittingly (and we do mean unwittingly) condemning the current Man Who Would Be King. Mary Papenfuss of the Huffington Post reports; Twitter retorts. Thanks to P.D. Pepe for the link. Mrs. McC: I was wondering if Blackburn, like nearly half the members of Congress, was a lawyer herself. Nope, but "She is a former beauty-pageant winner." Wouldn't you know it, Blackburn's first claim to fame was becoming the Oil Festival Queen in Laurel, Mississippi, maybe in 1969.
Jacob Knutson of Axios: "President Trump tweeted or retweeted 82 times on Saturday while flying to and from a collegiate football game in Alabama.... Many of the president's tweets were fighting back against the House's impeachment inquiry into allegations that he withheld congressionally approved military aid to pressure Ukraine to investigate his political opponents. The House will hold its first public impeachment hearings this week."
Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Doesn't Fox "News" Have a Seven-second Delay? Justin Baragona of the Daily Beast: "Fox News contributor Mollie Hemingway caused a scene on Sunday morning when she purposely named the alleged whistleblower at the center of the impeachment inquiry against President Trump, seemingly breaking the network’s policy of identifying the person. Amid a concerted effort by Trump’s allies to publicly out the whistleblower who filed the complaint about Trump’s infamous July 25 call with the Ukrainian president, right-wing media outlets have touted an online report purportedly sharing the identity of the person. Mainstream media outlets and social media platforms, meanwhile, have refrained from spreading the person’s name.... Hemingway — who is also the senior editor of right-wing website The Federalist — took part in a panel discussion on whether or not the press should reveal the alleged whistleblower’s name and identity.... Host Howard Kurtz, clearly startled, immediately shot back that he didn't know if that person was actually the whistleblower."
Trump Lit Corner, Ctd.
Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: “Two of President Trump’s senior advisers undermined and ignored him in what they claimed was an effort to 'save the country,' former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley claims in a new memoir. Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and former White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly sought to recruit her to work around and subvert Trump, but she refused, Haley writes in a new book, “With All Due Respect.'... 'Kelly and Tillerson confided in me that when they resisted the president, they weren’t being insubordinate, they were trying to save the country,' Haley wrote. 'It was their decisions, not the president’s, that were in the best interests of America, they said. The president didn’t know what he was doing,' Haley wrote of the views the two men held.... In the book, which was obtained by The Washington Post ahead of its release Tuesday, Haley offers only glancing critiques of her former boss, saying she and others who worked for Trump had an obligation to carry out his wishes since he was the one elected by voters.” (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Update: Here's a related story by CBS News. The part about Tillerson & Kelly is pretty far down the page. ~~~
~~~ Matt Stieb of New York: "The self-serving genre of Trump administration officials writing books or dancing with stars in order to reframe their time in the White House will gain its most self-serving entry to date on Tuesday with the publication of former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley’s With All Due Respect. In a copy of the book obtained by the Washington Post, Haley creates a convenient distance from the president on some of his worst impulses, while staying in his corner on matters that remain popular among the GOP base. Establishing herself as a hero of the cantankerous administration, Haley has found her villains in former Chief of Staff John Kelly and former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: The thing is, Republicans consider self-service to be a virtue. Public service, not so much. Nikki Haley is as canny at self-service as they come. Because she's attractive and smart AND as ruthless as the very unattractive Mitch McConnell, she would be a dangerous president indeed. Stieb sees Haley as a 2024 contender, but if by chance Trump should be involuntarily retired before November 2020, Haley has put herself in position to step into the void. (This would require her to dig her stilettos into the prone corpus of mike pence, and she'll do so with a winsome smile.)
Maybe They Just Like to Chant. Andrew Gumbel of the Guardian: “Donald Trump Jr ventured on to the University of California’s overwhelmingly liberal Los Angeles campus on Sunday, hoping to prove what he had just argued in his book – that a hate-filled American left was hell-bent on silencing him and anyone else who supported the Trump presidency. But the appearance backfired when his own supporters, diehard Make America Great Again conservatives, raised their voices most loudly in protest and ended up drowning him out barely 20 minutes into an event scheduled to last two hours. The audience was angry that Trump Jr and his girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, would not take questions. The loud shouts of 'USA! USA!' that greeted Trump when he first appeared on the stage of a university lecture hall to promote his book Triggered: How The Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us quickly morphed into even louder, openly hostile chants of 'Q and A! Q and A!'”
Zack Budryk of the Hill: “National security adviser Robert O’Brien on Sunday defended the U.S. response to Turkey’s incursion into northern Syria, adding that the Trump administration is 'very upset' about Ankara's purchase of Russian missiles.... O’Brien said on CBS’s 'Face the Nation,' ... that 'there will likely be sanctions' if Turkey does not 'get rid of' the weapons.' 'There’s no place in NATO for the S-400 [missile defense system], there’s no place in NATO for significant Russian military purchases, and that’s a message that the president will deliver to [President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan] very clearly when he’s here in Washington,' O’Brien added. O’Brien similarly said the U.S. remains 'very concerned' about possible Turkish war crimes in northern Syria, insisting 'we’re not rewarding the behavior, the president put on sanctions.' Host Margaret Brennan noted, however, that the sanctions were lifted after the U.S.-brokered ceasefire between Turkey and Kurdish forces.” (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: If Trump talks turkey to Erdogan this week, it will be a first. More likely, Trump with slobber all over Erdogan, who is on Trump's top-ten list of favorite autocratic world leaders.
Rishika Dugyala of Politico: “The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff doesn’t see a clear end to the American presence in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria — nations facing down the threat of the Islamic State and other dangerous groups. Gen. Mark Milley on Sunday said the mission to ensure Afghanistan isn’t a terrorist haven is 'not yet complete.' That mission won’t be complete until the country’s government and security forces are able to sustain their own internal security, he added.... Milley said Sunday that around 500 to 600 troops remain in the area and acknowledged the possibility of an ISIS reemergence without maintaining pressure.” (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Stephanie Taylor of the Tuscaloosa News: "A Donald Trump supporter slashed the Baby Trump balloon on display at Monnish Park Saturday that protesters were using to protest the president’s visit to Tuscaloosa. Hoyt Hutchinson, 32, was charged with felony first-degree criminal mischief Saturday after Tuscaloosa Police officers witnessed him use a knife to cut an eight-foot gash in the 20-foot-high, 13-foot-wide inflatable. The Tuscaloosa County man posted a Facebook Live video, announcing his plans to damage the inflatable that depicts Trump as a crying baby wearing a diaper and holding a cellphone. He had bonded out and was watching the game by the third quarter, asking for people to contribute to one of the many GoFundMe accounts set up for anticipated legal fees." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Presidential Race 2020
Chas Danner of New York: “The only good news for potential presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg over the weekend was that a Morning Consult poll published Sunday found that he would defeat Trump by 6 points in a hypothetical general election matchup.... The bad news? If anyone out there in the electorate is clamoring for Bloomberg to enter the presidential race, they probably aren’t a Democrat. Only 4 percent of Democratic primary voters reached by Morning Consult said that the well-known billionaire would be their first choice in the contest. Even worse, 25 percent of those voters said they already held an unfavorable view of the former Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-Independent-turned-Democrat — meaning Bloomberg would start out late as the least popular candidate in the Democratic field.... Axios reported Sunday that the data-obsessed Bloomberg’s 'very extensive' internal polling 'remains far from convincing' and 'shows big, perhaps insurmountable hurdles, particularly if Joe Biden stays in [the race]' — which he obviously will.... So 'Baby Trump' may not have been the only balloon that got stabbed this weekend.” Danner also rounds up negative responses to Bloomberg's candidacy from Sanders & Warren & Klobuchar. But Jeff Bezos likes Mike! ~~~
~~~ Bloomberg's Reign of Terror. Charles Blow of the New York Times: "No black person — or Hispanic person or ally of people of color — should ever even consider voting for Michael Bloomberg in the primary. His expansion of the notoriously racist stop-and-frisk program in New York, which swept up millions of innocent New Yorkers, primarily young black and Hispanic men, is a complete and nonnegotiable deal killer. Stop-and-frisk, pushed as a way to get guns and other contraband off the streets, became nothing short of a massive, enduring, city-sanctioned system of racial terror. This system of terror exploded under Bloomberg, with his full advocacy and support."
Congressional Races 2020
Kyle Balluck of the Hill: “Longtime Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) announced Monday that he will not seek reelection next year. King said in a statement on Facebook that 'after 28 years of spending 4 days a week in Washington, D.C., it is time to end the weekly commute and be home in Seaford.'... A wave of House GOP retirements is creating headaches for party leaders and suggesting Republicans see little chance of winning back the chamber in 2020. So far, almost two dozen Republicans have announced this cycle that they are retiring from the lower chamber, resigning or running for other offices.” The New York Times story is here.
Dante Chinni of NBC News: "When Trump arrived in the White House in 2017, there were 241 Republicans ... in the House of Representatives. Today, 100 of them have gone or have announced that they are leaving. That's 41 percent of that original 241 in the 115th House. To be clear, that's not congressional seats lost; that's a measure of actual people, the personalities that once roamed the halls of Congress that aren't there anymore. They left for a range of reasons. Some left to take administration appointments, some lost, and some just walked away." Mrs. McC: And Peter King makes that 101 good-byes.
Adam Serwer of the Atlantic sees parallels between the post-U.S. Civil War period and today. It ain't pretty: "The election of Donald Trump, and the complete dominance of the Republican Party both in the federal government and in the states, may usher in a new era of Redemption, one which could see the seemingly astounding racial progress of having a black president relegated to little more than symbolism.... It seems ... likely that some day, Americans will look back at the Obama era much as historians have now come to look at Reconstruction: As a tragic moment of lost promise, a failed opportunity to build a more just and equitable society." Thanks to Anonymous for the link.
Way Beyond the Beltway
of CNN: "Bolivian President Evo Morales resigned Sunday amid growing opposition after an international audit found the results of last month's election could not be validated due to 'serious irregularities.'... Demonstrators and the Bolivian opposition had accused electoral authorities of manipulating the vote count in favor of Morales, the country's longtime socialist leader. Morales denied the allegations, but declared himself the winner. Morales was one of the longest-serving heads of state in Latin America. He had served nearly 14 years and was Bolivia's first indigenous president." The New York Times story is here.
Hong Kong. Alice Fung of the AP: “Hong Kong’s leader pledged on Monday to 'spare no effort' in bringing an end to anti-government protests that have wracked the city for more than five months, following a day of violence in which one person was shot and another set on fire. Carrie Lam’s comments are likely to fuel speculation that harsher legal and police measures may be in the works to curb the protests.... In a widely distributed video, a police officer is shown shooing away a group of protesters at an intersection Monday morning, then drawing his gun on a masked protester in a white hooded sweatshirt who approaches him. As the two struggle, another protester in black approaches, at whom the officer points his gun. He then fires at the stomach area of the second protester, who falls to the ground. The officer appeared to fire again as a third protester in black joined the tussle.... Police said that only one protester was hit and that he was undergoing surgery. The Hong Kong hospital authority said the person was initially in critical condition but was stable after surgery.” The New York Times story is here.
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