The Commentariat -- April 2, 2018

Afternoon Update:

Red State Revolt. Dana Goldstein of the New York Times: "Thousands of teachers in Oklahoma and Kentucky walked off the job Monday morning, shutting down school districts as they protested cuts in pay, benefits and school funding in a movement that has grown in force since igniting in West Virginia earlier this year. The wave of strikes in red states, mainly organized by ordinary teachers on Facebook, has caught lawmakers and sometimes the teachers' own labor unions flat-footed. The protesters say they are fed up with years of education funding cuts and stagnant pay in Republican-dominated states. In Oklahoma City, where protesting teachers were gathering at the Capitol on Monday morning, Katrina Ruff, a local teacher, carried a sign that read, 'Thanks to West Virginia.'"

President* Bizarro. Trump Can't Even Do an Easter Egg Roll. Brad Reed of the Raw Story: "... Donald Trump on Monday welcomed children to the White House for the annual Easter Egg Roll with a bizarre rant about the strength of the American military. In his address to the children at the event, Trump began by referring to the White House as 'this house or building or whatever you want to call it because there is no name for it, it is special.' Trump then said that he and his staff keep the White House 'in tip-top shape, we call it sometimes tippy-top shape, and it's a great, great place.' He then pivoted to talking about the military, which he said would soon be 'at a level it's never been before' and 'you see what's happening with funding' and 'just think of $700 billion, because that's what's going into our military this year.'" Mind you, he's addressing kindergarteners.

Thomas Heath of the Washington Post: "Stocks dropped Monday as technology companies came under fire and fears grew about a trade war with China. The Dow Jones industrial average plunged down more than 580 points, or 2.4 percent, by midday. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index was down 2.6 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was down 2.9 percent as volatility continues to rock markets."

Christian Berthelsen of Bloomberg: "A former employee of ... Donald Trump's 2016 campaign team sued the organization to nullify a non-disclosure agreement she signed, saying it muzzled her from airing discrimination claims. Jessica Denson, a Los Angeles-based journalist and actress who oversaw phone banks and Hispanic outreach for the campaign, claims she was harassed by a superior. She had earlier filed a discrimination case against Donald Trump for President Inc. in New York state court, but the campaign sought to enforce the confidentiality deal, filing an arbitration claim asserting $1.5 million in damages. Denson is the third woman who has sought to void a secrecy agreement involving Trump...."

Judd Legum of ThinkProgress: "On Thursday at a Chicago nightclub, [George] Papadopoulos had some drinks and, in a conversation with a new acquaintance, allegedly made new and explosive claims about Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Papadopoulos, according to this new acquaintance, said that Sessions was well aware of the contact between Papadopoulos and Joseph Mifsud, an academic from Malta with high-level connections in Russia. Papadopoulos' indictment revealed that Mifsud had told Papadopoulos that the Russians had '"dirt" on then-candidate Hillary Clinton in the form of "thousands of emails."' Jason Wilson, a computer engineer who lives in Chicago, told ThinkProgress that Papadopoulos said during their conversation that 'Sessions encouraged me' to find out anything he could about the hacked Hillary Clinton emails that Mifsud had mentioned." Papadopoulos's wife, Simona Mangiante, later tried to downplay her husband's revelations. ...

     ... Mrs McCrabbie Note to Journalists: This is, of course, a one-source story. Next time you interview Papadopoulos, bring vodka.

** Supremes to Cops: Shoot First, Think Later. David Savage of the Los Angeles Times: "The Supreme Court on Monday shielded a police officer from being sued for shooting an Arizona woman in her front yard, once again making it harder to bring legal action against officers who use excessive force, eve against an innocent person. By a 7-2 vote, the court tossed out a lawsuit by a Tucson woman who was shot four times in her front yard because she was seen carrying a large knife. In dissent, Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the victim did not threaten the police or a friend who was standing nearby. This 'decision is not just wrong on the law; it also sends an alarming signal to law enforcement officers and the public. It tells officers that they can shoot first and think later.'"

*****

Come on By, Vlad. Washington Post: "President Trump told Russian President Vladimir Putin that the two leaders could meet in the White House, a Kremlin aide told Russian media Monday, Russian news agencies said.... This is a developing story. It will be updated." ...

     ... Update. Anton Troianovski of the Washington Post: "President Trump proposed meeting Vladimir Putin at the White House in a March phone call, the Kremlin said Monday, a fresh revelation about a conversation that stirred controversy for Trump's friendly tone toward the Russian leader amid mounting tensions with the West."

Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "President Trump declared on Monday that a plan to protect young immigrants from deportation is 'dead' and repeated his calls for Mexico to enforce border security laws and prevent immigrants from coming to the United States illegally. In a series of tweets Monday morning, Mr. Trump again referred to 'large "Caravans" of people' headed toward the United States. The 'caravans,' a popular topic on Fox News, are a group of hundreds of Central Americans who have been traveling through Mexico with the goal of crossing into the United States to seek asylum, or sneak across the border. A BuzzFeed reporter has been traveling with the group and chronicling the experience.... The president on Monday blamed Democrats for weak immigration policy and called on Congress to act, tweeting that 'our country is being stolen.' The House and Senate -- both controlled by Republicans -- are in recess and return next week.... Less than two weeks ago, Mr. Trump tweeted, 'remember DACA, the Democrats abandoned you (but we will not)!'" ...

... Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "President Trump, blaming Democrats and the Mexican government for an increasingly 'dangerous' flow of illegal immigrants, unleashed a series of fiery tweets on Sunday in which he vowed 'NO MORE DACA DEAL' and threatened to walk away from the North American Free Trade Agreement. Minutes after wishing the nation a happy Easter Sunday, Mr. Trump denounced 'liberal' laws that he said were preventing Border Patrol agents from doing their jobs. He said that Republicans should use the 'nuclear option' to sidestep Democratic opposition in the Senate and enact 'tough laws NOW.' It was unclear whether the president's tweets represented any change in his immigration policy, or were just the sort of venting he is known to do after reading a newspaper article or seeing a television program. The president, who spent much of his holiday weekend golfing with supporters and watching television, was apparently reacting to a 'Fox and Friends' segment on immigration that had aired minutes before." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: What is clear is that the Paper of Record has been reduced to writing front-page stories in which its reporters must speculate whether the President* was being one kind of asshole or another kind of asshole. ...

... Philip Rucker & Dave Weigel of the Washington Post, also writing a straight-news story on Trump's Easter tweets, cannot mask their disgust: "President Trump spent his Easter morning ... on an anti-immigrant tirade.... Trump thrust the future of millions of undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children into peril by promising 'NO MORE DACA DEAL,' and he directed congressional Republicans to pass tough anti-immigration legislation.... Senior policy adviser Stephen Miller, a proponent of hard-line immigration policies, has been with Trump [during the weekend]. Trump was back on the same theme Monday. In a series of tweets, Trump said Mexico must exert 'absolute power' to block migrants from entering Mexico possibly en route to the U.S. border, declared DACA 'dead,' and again called on U.S. lawmakers to streamline voting rules to pass tougher border measures.... In Florida, the president also has been spotted spending time -- both over dinner Friday at Mar-a-Lago and on Saturday at the nearby Trump International Golf Club -- with Fox host Sean Hannity." ...

Border Patrol Agents are not allowed to properly do their job at the Border because of ridiculous liberal (Democrat) laws like Catch & Release. Getting more dangerous. 'Caravans' coming. Republicans must go to Nuclear Option to pass tough laws NOW. NO MORE DACA DEAL! -- And Easter Morning Message from Our Lord Donald

Yeah, Trump really tweeted that at 9:56 am ET, just as some of you were entering church on Christianity's highest holy day. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

... The White Man's Burden. Mrs. McCrabbie: Rucker & Weigel cite an "inspirational" "Fox & Friends" tweet, which reads in part, "... We can have compassion for these people but it doesn't mean the laws don't matter - Americans come first...." Uh, the immigrants Trump hates -- i.e., "these people" -- did come first; they are descended from who were in the Americas for thousands of years before the white man cometh. Real real Americans don't look like Donald Trump, who has no American heritage earlier than the late 1800s. His mother immigrated even later. Trump, like the European villains before him, hates the peoples white men have subjugated. It's a pathology. ...

... James Hohmann of the Washington Post: "With a trio of temperamental tweets on Easter Sunday and three follow-ups this morning, Trump announced there will be no deal to save the 700,000 'dreamers.'... He also called on Republicans to change the rules of the Senate to pass anti-immigration legislation with a simple majority and threatened to kill the North American Free Trade Agreement if Mexico does not step up border security. The president then falsely claimed that there are 'big flows of people' who are sneaking into the United States 'because they want to take advantage of DACA.' In truth, to be eligible for the program created by Barack Obama, immigrants must have lived in the United States since 2007, have arrived in the country before they turned 16 and have been younger than 31 on June 15, 2012. Anyone who came after does not qualify. Trump's erroneous musings capture in miniature six features of his presidency: 1) This is the improvisational presidency.... 2) Trump does not understand how Congress works.... 3) The president does not think through the second- and third-order consequences of his decisions.... 4) Proximity is power in Trump's White House.... 5) He's heavily influenced by cable news punditry.... 6) Trump is not a reliable negotiating partner because he moves the goal posts." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Hohmann does quite a good job of generalizing Trump's behavior as evidenced by this set of tweets. He might have added "evil ignoramus" and "racist," but that "wouldn't be prudent," as a former occupant of the White House might say. ...

... Anyway, this scientific development is pertinent:

... Neopalpa donaldtrumpi Named for President SmallBalls. Narjas Zatat of Indy 100 News: "Evolutionary biologist Vazrick Nazari has identified a new centimetre-wide moth.... It has a silky head of bright yellow scales, which the moth develops in adulthood, and its head has been described as orange-yellow in colouration, the body is white and the wings are brown or greyish. Alsoan important detail - its genitalia is 'comparatively smaller' than that of the Neopalpa neonata, its close relative. Nazari has therefore named it thusly: Neopalpa donaldtrumpi.... Oh yes, yes he did: the evolutionary biologist named the moth with the white-blonde tresses and small genitalia, after Donald Trump.... And where can you find this new species? Mexico. Donaldtrumpi has been found in Southern California and all the way along the coast to Baja California, in Mexico." Thanks to MAG for the link.

Calling All Cranks. Maxwell Tani & Asawin Suebsaeng of The Daily Beast: "It is difficult to fully understand the Trump presidency without first understandingLou Dobbs, the Fox Business powerhouse host and one of the main precursors to Trumpism.... What sets Dobbs apart is the degree to which the president views him as a political and populism godfather, the #MAGA Socrates to Trump's Plato.... During the first year of the Trump era, the president has patched Dobbs in via speakerphone to multiple meetings in the Oval Office so that he could offer his two cents ... to senior-level meetings on issues such as trade and tax policy." --safari

Kathryn Watson of CBS News: "President Trump has blasted Amazon the last few days, alleging the e-commerce giant is taking advantage of the U.S. Postal Service and failing to pay enough in state and local taxes. Mr. Trump claims his criticisms of Amazon long predate his election. But Mr. Trump's presidential campaign relied on Amazon for office supplies regularly spending $158,498.41 in 379 transactions labeled as office supply purchases in 2015 and 2016, according to Federal Election Commission records reviewed by CBS News.... The White House has insisted Mr. Trump's criticisms of Amazon are strictly policy-related. But Mr. Trump expanded that attack on Saturday morning, claiming, without any evidence, that Amazon is using the Washington Post as a 'lobbyist.'... The president's decision to bring the 'fake' Washington Post into the conversation makes it more difficult for the White House to argue that Mr. Trump's concerns are strictly related to policy and to Amazon specifically. Both Amazon and the Washington Post are owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos."

** Jonathan Chait, in a New York cover piece, argues that "corruption, not Russia, is Trump's greatest political liability.... Trump's core proposition to the public was a business deal: If he became president, he would work to make them rich. Of course, the fact that Trump was able to reduce the presidency to such a crass exchange, forsaking such niceties as simple decency and respect for the rule of law, exposed terrifying weaknesses in the fabric of American democracy.... Trump's behavior runs directly contrary to his most important promises.... It is hardly a coincidence that so many greedy people have filled the administration's ranks. Trump's ostentatious crudeness and misogyny are a kind of human-resources strategy.... He had spent much of his life buying off politicians and exploiting the system, so he knew how the system worked and could exploit that knowledge on behalf of the people. In fact, his experiences with bribery opened his eyes to what further extortion might be possible. Trump was never looking to blow up the system. He was simply casing the joint." Chait sees "this Russia thing" in context: it's but one star of many in Trump's corruption constellation. ...

... ** David Cay Johnston, in an introduction to a longer New York piece by Joy Crane & Nick Tabor: "More than at any time in history, the president of the United States is actively using the power and prestige of his office to line his own pockets: landing loans for his businesses, steering wealthy buyers to his condos, securing cheap foreign labor for his resorts, preserving federal subsidies for his housing projects, easing regulations on his golf courses, licensing his name to overseas projects, even peddling coffee mugs and shot glasses bearing the presidential seal." Crane & Tabor have compiled a very long list of the known instances in which Trump & his entourage have monetized the executive branch. As Johnston notes, "Given how little Trump has disclosed about his finances, this timeline of self-dealing is undoubtedly only a fraction of the corruption that will eventually come to light." ...

... Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post suggests that the courts may get Trump before Congressional Democrats do. She cites the decision of a federal judge to greenlight "a lawsuit ... claiming he unconstitutionally received foreign emoluments."

Sharon LaFraniere & Katie Benner of the New York Times: "It was sweet redemption for Charles Kushner last year when his son Jared was named senior White House adviser. A dozen years earlier, a sordid scandal stemming partly from a family falling-out had reduced the senior Mr. Kushner from real estate baron to felon making wallets at a prison camp in Alabama.... However..., for the patriarch and his family, the pinnacle of American political power has turned out to be a wellspring of trouble. Jared Kushner is embroiled in the special counsel inquiry, including questions about whether he discussed the family's business with foreign officials -- a suggestion he has denied. His younger brother, Josh, has opposed the Trump presidency, driving a wedge between the men in a family that prizes close ties. The elder Mr. Kushner, his company and his family are assailed by criminal and regulatory inquiries largely rooted in their newfound access to presidential power. The family's East Coast-based real estate empire is under a fiscal and ethical cloud, shunned by some investors who fear being dragged into the spotlight trained on the Kushner nexus with President Trump. Two major Manhattan properties are on creditors' watch lists...."

Devan Cole of CNN: "The author of a new book on the current state of affairs in the White House claims that Kellyanne Conway is the 'number one leaker' in ... Donald Trump's White House. In a Sunday interview with CNN's Jake Tapper on 'State of the Union,' Ronald Kessler, the author of 'The Trump White House: Changing the Rules of the Game,' [Mrs. McC: & a total Trumpbot,] claimed that the President's counselor and former campaign manager leaks more information to the press than any other individual working in the White House. Kessler told Tapper that in at least one interview with Conway, she forgot that they were on-the-record as she ripped into her fellow colleagues. According to Kessler, Conway said some of the most 'mean, cutting and honestly untrue' things about former chief of staff Reince Priebus, and also 'dissed' Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, the President's senior advisor and son-in-law." Mrs. McC: Hey, somebody had to take over for Steve Bannon. I would caution that major media stories almost always cite more than one source, so Conway is hardly the lone blabbermouth.

New York Times Editors: EPA Administrator Scott "Pruitt has been averse to science and fact from Day 1.... As Gina McCarthy, a former E.P.A. administrator, and her deputy for air quality, Janet McCabe, said in a recent Times Op-Ed: 'Mr. Pruitt's goal is simple: No studies, no data, no rules.'... Though the E.P.A. is the epicenter of denial, avoiding inconvenient truths is common practice elsewhere in the administration.... Even the official vocabulary of global warming has changed, as if problems can be made to evaporate simply by describing them in more benign terms.... Mr. Trump's economic advisers have reinforced this bias. His latest budget called for big funding cuts and in some cases elimination of programs aimed at protecting human health and building resilience against the effects of climate change...."

... And the Horse You Rode in on, Trumpinocchio. Dave Weigel: "Former veterans affairs secretary David Shulkin said Sunday that he did not voluntarily leave his office, clashing with the White House's description of his exit and adding to questions about who will run the department until a new secretary is confirmed. 'I would not resign, because I'm committed to making sure this job was seen through to the very end,' Shulkin said in an interview on CNN's 'State of the Union' with Jake Tapper. 'I did not resign.' Shulkin made similar comments on NBC's 'Meet the Press,' saying that he did not submit aletter of resignation, and was not asked to. Whether Shulkin resigned or was fired would have bearing on who leads the Department of Veterans Affairs until the president's nominee, Navy Rear Adm. Ronny L. Jackson, is confirmed by the Senate. According to federal statutes, the departure of a Senate-confirmed secretary elevates the department's deputy secretary to that position until a permanent replacement arrives."

Shrivel and Die Please. Amanda Michelle Gomez of ThinkProgress: "The Department of Health and Human Service's (HHS) Office on Women's Health removed a webpage dedicated to breast cancer and other helpful reproductive health information, including important insurance information for low-income people, according to a new report.... The information removed is especially helpful to low-income individuals and people of color, such as important insurance information. The Affordable Care Act requires coverage of no-cost breast cancer screenings for certain individuals, but the website no longer makes mention of this.... The main breast cancer webpage also linked to a Spanish version. All of this information has been removed and is not found elsewhere on the OWH website, according to the Sunlight Foundation report. There is still a page dedicated to mammograms, but a significant amount of content has been removed." --safari

Esther Yu Hsi Lee of ThinkProgress: "The U.S. government will allow a veteran who was deported to Mexico to come back into the county [sic] and become a citizen.... Hector Barajas, a former Army paratrooper who honorably served between 1995 and 2001, crossed the southern border as a seven-year-old.... Barajas thanked his supporters, including California Gov. Jerry Brown (D), whose pardon of his criminal offense cited his work in Mexico with other deported veterans.... Barajas is the second deported veteran who will be allowed back into the United States thanks to a pardon from Brown, according to the ACLU. The other is Marine veteran Marco Chavez.... Though Barajas and Chavez received good news about their deportation cases, there are likely thousands of other U.S. military veterans who have been deported to other countries." --safari

CBS News: "China says it's rolling out new tariffs on U.S. meat, fruit and other products as retaliation against taxes approved by President Trump on imported steel and aluminum. The Chinese finance ministry says in a statement that the new tariffs begin Monday."

"World's Greatest Deliberative Body" Has Quit Deliberating. Burgess Everett of Politico: "When Mitch McConnell took over as majority leader in 2015 after years in the minority, he vowed to make good on a central campaign pledge of returning to a more 'free-wheeling' Senate. And in the early days of his tenure, he did: McConnell presided over open, raucous floor debate on the Keystone XL Pipeline, winning praise even from some Democrats. But the Senate has reverted to form. The body has taken just 25 roll call votes on so-called binding amendments so far during this two-year Congress, a sharp decrease from the 154 amendments voted on by this point during the 114th Congress under Barack Obama. Each year since McConnell took over, the Senate has voted on fewer nonbudget amendments: 140 in 2015, 57 in 2016, 19 in 2017 and six so far this year. 'There's a lot of weeks I'm not sure why I show up,' said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.).... 'I think it sucks,' [said John Kennedy (R-La.)]." Mrs. McC: Sounds like Mitch's version of "Shut up and dribble."

Priorities. Emily Hazzard of ThinkProgress: "Teachers across Oklahoma plan a massive walkout Monday to demand better pay and school funding. Those on strike plan to gather at the Capitol to protest. Currently, Oklahoma falls at the very bottom of the list of states ranked by teacher pay. Teacher salaries haven't changed in 10 years and lawmakers have slashed the education budget by almost a third over the past decade.... Many teachers rely on food banks, and some told CNN they work multiple jobs ... to make ends meet. Meanwhile, millions of dollars in state tax cuts have primarily benefited the oil and gas industries." --safari...

... ** Mike Elk of the Guardian: "The [Oklahoma] strike comes at a turning point for teachers across America's heartland. On Friday, teachers in Kentucky went out on illegal wildcat strikes in more than 25 counties against the wishes of union leaders to protest against draconian changes to the state's pensions plan.... The strikers have been buoyed by a successful strike by their peers in West Virginia, their first statewide work stoppage since 1990, which ended with them winning a 5% pay rise and other concessions.... The [Kentucky] teachers are planning to go out on strike despite the state legislature passing a raise equal to an average $6,000 ... which teachers called inadequate [also calling for education funding].... It's a feeling shared by teachers in places like Arizona, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and other states, who are all also considering action. The strikes are unique in that they are not being called for by the leadership of the unions, but often through direct appeals of rank-and-file members using social media and their own personal networks." --safari

Brian Stelter of CNN: "Sinclair Broadcast Group's corporate mandates are exacerbating tensions between the company's local stations and its management. Journalists in local US markets are chafing at the company's requirements, including a new promotional campaign that echoes ... Donald Trump's anti-media rhetoric. The promos, first reported by CNNMoney last month, went viral over the weekend after Deadspin edited dozens of them together to show how anchors across the country were told to read the same script." ...

... Joe & Mika Are on the Case. Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "MSNBC's Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski were disgusted by the pro-Trump propaganda that Sinclair Broadcast Group forced its anchors to read on the air. Scarborough and Brzezinski agreed this was indeed 'extremely dangerous to our democracy,' and bashed the right-wing broadcast company for 'shoving propaganda down local anchor's throats.'"

Jelani Cobb of the New Yorker on honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. 50 years after his assassination. A moving essay. ...

... "The Drum Major Instinct." Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Final Sermon. Dagmawi Woubshet in the Atlantic: "King preached on the virtues of service and the false ideals of greatness, adapting his sermon from a 1949 homily, 'Drum Major Instincts,' by James Wallace Hamilton, a prominent white liberal Methodist minister.... While the central idea is borrowed, King's sermon is ultimately his own. 'The Drum Major Instinct' is a work that must be heard, and not simply read.... Today, King's sermon is a pitch-perfect counterpoint to the ugly cacophony of the present political culture." ...

Vindu Goel & Rachel Abrams of the New York Times: "Saks has been hacked -- adding to the already formidable challenges faced by the luxury retailer. A well-known ring of cybercriminals has obtained more than five million credit and debit card numbers from customers of Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord & Taylor, according to a cybersecurity research firm that specializes in tracking stolen financial data. The data, the firm said, appears to have been stolen using software that was implanted into the cash register systems at the stores and that siphoned card numbers until last month. The Hudson's Bay Company, the Canadian corporation that owns both retail chains, confirmed on Sunday that a breach had occurred."

Beyond the Beltway

Alex Horton, et al., of the Washington Post: "A 61-year-old woman was struck by a police vehicle as it peeled away from protesters demonstrating against the police killing of Stephon Clark in what was described by the victim and protesters as a hit-and-run. Wanda Cleveland, a local activist, was hit in her right leg and taken to a hospital, where she was treated for injuries to her arm and back of the head and released.... In a video recorded by public defender and legal observer Guy Danilowitz, the woman's white sign is lit up by the headlights before impact."

Tom Dart of the Guardian: "A protest and a community meeting are planned for Monday at the location where an unarmed black man with his trousers around his ankles was killed by a Texas police officer. Danny Ray Thomas appeared to be experiencing a mental health crisis when he was shot dead last month by a deputy with the Harris county sheriff's office who encountered the 34-year-old walking on a north Houston street." --safari

Orange County Asian-Americans Go Full Nimby. Ahn Do of the Los Angeles Times: Especially in Irvine, Assian Americans "rallied to protect their community from what they see as the ills of homeless camps, which many argued don't belong in their famously clean, safe, family-oriented planned community. Their protests helped persuade the Orange County Board of Supervisors to overturn the shelter proposal, leaving the county without a homeless plan at a time when the population is growing and officials are shutting down tent cities along the Santa Ana River.... Some accus[ed] the residents of intolerance and simply wanting to keep the homeless out of their own cities without offering an alternative solution. Orange County is now struggling to figure out what to do."

Paul Woolverton of the Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer: "The North Carolina Republican Party is attempting to link Democratic Supreme Court candidate Anita Earls to three Fayetteville-area convicted killers even though she never took part in their cases.... On March 12, state GOP Executive Director Dallas Woodhouse began tweeting pictures of ... three of Cumberland County's most-notorious convicted murderers -- and said that Earls had a hand in getting their sentences commuted from death to life in prison." Read on. She didn't. Mrs. McC: To North Carolina Republicans, merely favoring racial justice is "evidence" of coddling black murderers. Seems fair.

Way Beyond

Ellen Barry & David Sanger of the New York Times: "British officials investigating the poisoning of Sergei V. Skripal, a former Russian double agent, believe it is likely that an assassin smeared a nerve agent on the door handle at his home. This operation is seen as so risky and sensitive that it is unlikely to have been undertaken without approval from the Kremlin, according to officials who have been briefed on the early findings of the inquiry.... Because the nerve agent is so potent, the officials said, the task could have been carried out only by trained professionals familiar with chemical weapons. British and American officials are skeptical that independent actors could have carried out such a risky operation or obtained the agent without approval at the highest levels of the Russian government -- almost exactly the same phrase that American intelligence agencies used in October 2016, when they first attributed the hacking of emails from the Democratic National Committee to a team of Russian hackers."

David Alire Garcia & Enrique Andres Pretel of Reuters: "The centre-left's Carlos Alvarado Quesada has decisively defeated a conservative Protestant singer in Costa Rica's presidential runoff election by promising to allow gay marriage, protecting the country's reputation for tolerance. A former minister and fiction writer, Alvarado Quesada, 38, had 61% of the vote with results in from 95% of polling stations, a far bigger lead than predicted by opinion polls that foresaw a tight race.... The election had exposed divisions in the Central American tourist destination known for laid-back beach culture and pristine rainforests, but where some rural communities remain socially conservative." --safari

News Ledes

New York Times: Villanova bested Michigan for the men's NCAA championship. It's Villanova's second title in three years.

New York Times: "Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, whose hallowed place in the pantheon of South Africa's liberators was eroded by scandal over corruption, kidnapping, murder and the adulterous implosion of her fabled marriage to Nelson Mandela, died early Monday in Johannesburg. She was 81."

New York Times: "Steven Bochco, a celebrated television writer and producer whose sophisticated prime-time portrayals of gritty courtrooms and police station houses redefined television dramas and pushed the boundaries of onscreen vulgarity and nudity, died on Sunday in Pacific Palisades, Calif. He was 74.... Over three decades starting in the early 1980s, Mr. Bochco, whose earlier shows 'Hill Street Blues' and 'L.A. Law' upended the traditional hourlong drama, was one of Hollywood's most prolific and sought-after producers. He mixed elements of daytime soap operas -- like story lines that stretch over multiple episodes and feature a rich ensemble of characters -- with a true-to-life visual style and colorful language."

The Commentariat -- April 1, 2018

Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' -- Jesus, according to Matthew 25:34-36 (NIV)

Border Patrol Agents are not allowed to properly do their job at the Border because of ridiculous liberal (Democrat) laws like Catch & Release. Getting more dangerous. 'Caravans' coming. Republicans must go to Nuclear Option to pass tough laws NOW. NO MORE DACA DEAL! -- And Easter Morning Message from Our Lord Donald

Yeah, Trump really tweeted that at 9:56 am ET, just as some of you were entering church on Christianity's highest holy day. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

The Dunning-Kruger Effect Takes over the White House. Philip Rucker & Robert Costa of the Washington Post: "Fourteen months into the job, Trump is increasingly defiant and singularly directing his administration with the same rapid and brutal style he honed leading his real estate and branding empire. Trump is making hasty decisions that jolt markets and shock leaders and experts -- including those on his own staff. Some confidants are concerned about the situation, while others, unworried, characterize him as unleashed. The president is replacing aides who have tended toward caution and consensus with figures far more likely to encourage his rash instincts and act upon them, and he is frequently soliciting advice from loyalists outside the government. As he shakes up his administration, Trump is prioritizing personal chemistry above all else.... Trump is domineering his strategy regarding the expanding investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election, in effect acting as his own lawyer.... On policy, Trump is making sudden decisions without much staff consultation...."

Julian Borger of the Guardian: "None of Trump's serial deadlines is likely to be more consequential than the one looming on 12 May. That is the day on which he must sign a presidential waiver on sanctions on Iran, or violate a landmark multilateral agreement on the future of Iran's nuclear programme signed in 2015 with European allies, the UK, France and Germany, Russia, China and Iran itself.... Tehran, which has stuck so far to the limits on uranium enrichment and other nuclear activities ... would be faced with the dilemma of whether it is worth sticking to an agreement that is providing little or no benefit.... Trump's vocal hostility to the deal has contributed to a drying up of western capital and trading partners, which in itself represents a violation of the [deal]." --safari

A Liar & a Moron. Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "President Trump escalated his assault on Amazon.com on Saturday, accusing the online retail giant of a 'Post Office scam' and falsely stating that The Washington Post operates as a lobbyist for Amazon. In a pair of morning tweets sent during his drive from his Mar-a-Lago estate to the nearby Trump International Golf Club, the president argued that Amazon costs the U.S. Postal Service billions of dollars in potential revenue. Trump has repeatedly advanced this theory, even though officials have explained to him that Amazon's contracts with the Postal Service are profitable for the agency. The president also incorrectly conflated Amazon with The Post and made clear that his attacks on the retailer were inspired by his disdain for the newspaper's coverage. He labeled the newspaper 'the Fake Washington Post' and demanded that it register as a lobbyist for Amazon. The Post is personally owned by Jeffrey P. Bezos, the founder and chief executive of Amazon, and operates independently of Amazon.... Trump also criticized California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) for pardoning five ex-convicts facing deportation."

... Manuela Tobias of Politifact breaks down some of the lies in Trump's Amazon tweets. I love this: "Amazon paid nothing in federal taxes this year thanks to tax credits and, in large part, Trump's new tax law."

Randall Eliason in a Washington Post op-ed: "President Trump's now-former attorney John Dowd allegedly told lawyers representing Paul J. Manafort and Michael Flynn last year that the president would consider pardoning the two men if they got into legal trouble. (Dowd has denied the reports.) Much of the news coverage has focused on whether offering pardons to induce a witness not to cooperate in the special counsel's investigation could constitute obstruction of justice. But there is another potential charge that could apply more directly and that prosecutors might have reason to favor: conspiracy to commit bribery.... Thanks to the unusual circumstances in this case, bribery has a significant legal advantage over obstruction of justice.... Even scholars who think that merely granting a pardon could never amount to obstruction agree that a president who took a bribe in exchange for granting a pardon could be charged with bribery."

Trump Loves All Dictators Who Rig Elections. Lauren Bohn in the New Yorker: "This week, Egyptians went to the polls in a three-day Presidential election that observers described as a farce. [President Abdel Fattah El-]Sisi ran against one obscure opponent, Moussa Mostafa Moussa, who is a Sisi supporter himself. Three former high-ranking military leaders who had announced that they would challenge Sisi were arrested or forced out of the race.... Trump Administration officials, meanwhile, praised the vote. The American Embassy in Cairo tweeted, on Monday, 'as Americans we are very impressed by the enthusiasm and patriotism of Egyptian voters.'" There's more. Mrs. McC: Hope Drumpf treated Sisi to a congratulatory call.

Andrew Restuccia of Politico: "The White House is now asserting that recently departed Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin resigned. Shulkin has made it clear in his public comments that he was forced out.... In announcing the removal of Shulkin as VA secretary, Trump tapped Defense Department official Robert Wilkie as the acting leader of the department, bypassing Shulkin's deputy, who was next in line to succeed him. That decision has reignited a debate among legal experts about the president's ability to hand-pick replacements for ousted Cabinet secretaries. The debate centers on vague language in the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, which gives the president broad authority to temporarily fill a vacancy at a federal agency with an acting official if the current office holder 'dies, resigns, or is otherwise unable to perform the functions and duties of the office.' A person familiar with Shulkin's dismissal strongly disputed that Shulkin resigned, noting that he did not submit a resignation letter.... Under normal circumstances, the VA's No. 2, Deputy Secretary Thomas Bowman, would have stepped in as secretary after Shulkin departed. But Trump and many in the White House have clashed with Bowman, believing him to be opposed to efforts to move toward more privatized veterans health services."

All the Whitey-White House Interns.... Eugene Scott of the Washington Post: "The White House released a photo Friday of its spring 2018 interns -- and the Internet quickly noted a lack of people of color.... The intern photo -- and the photos of previous intern groups of the Trump White House -- provided a window into understanding why there could be such low representation of people of color at top levels of the Trump administration: Diversity has to start at the bottom."

Ryan Devereaux of The Intercept: "[Guled]Muhumed is one of 30 Somali men who say they were subjected to a horrifying week of abuse at a for-profit immigrant detention center in Texas last month. Their allegations, which included claims of physical and sexual abuse, as well racial slurs, were detailed in a chilling report published last week.... ICE has refused to confirm whether it has opened an investigation into what happened at the West Texas Detention Facility, a for-profit operation run by LaSalle Corrections.... As a high school administrator and youth counselor, Muhumed spearheaded a program in his community to turn refugee children, particularly young Somalis, away from drugs, crime, and radicalism. He has spoken out publicly against the terrorist groups that wield considerable power in Somalia [where he'll be deported]." --safari

The American Serfdom. Joel Kotkin & Wendell Cox of The Daily Beast: "The share of homeownership has dropped most rapidly among the key shapers of the American future -- millennials, immigrants, minorities. Since 2000, the home ownership among those under 45 has plunged 20 percent.... Rents are rising as well. According to Zillow, for workers between the ages of 22 and 34, rent costs claim upwards of 45 percent of income in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and Miami, compared to closer to 30 percent in Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston. The basic reality: America's new generation, particularly in some metros, increasingly seems destined to live as renters, without ever enjoying equity in property." --safari ...

... Abdallah Fayyad of The Atlantic: "Up until the civil-rights era, segregation was largely reinforced, if not promoted, by federal and local governments. In the 1930s, for example, the Federal Housing Administration incentivized developers to build suburbs for whites only, and the Public Works Administration built separate and unequal housing projects.... And like de jure segregation -- when the government legally engineered ghettos into existence -- de facto segregation continues to exacerbate wealth and racial inequality today.... The continued resistance to integration is not about residents bending to the will of a free market; it's about the preservation of white wealth, a measurable guarantee for the advancement of white Americans at the cost of everyone else." --safari

Tom Dart of the Guardian recounts the emotional agony of teaching in America's 'active shooter drills' education system. --safari

The "Free Press" in Trump's America. Brian Schatz of Mother Jones: "You might know Sinclair Broadcasting, the largest owner of local TV stations in the nation, from 2004, when it required its affiliates to air an anti-John Kerry propaganda film as a news segment and then fired one of its employees who spoke against it. Or from last year, when Last Week Tonight's John Oliver bludgeoned it in an 18-minute segment. Or from earlier this month, when CNN's Brian Stelter discovered that it would be forcing its anchors to record 'media bashing' promos that parallel ... Donald Trump's incendiary complaints about the 'fake news' media -- 'a promotional campaign,' as Stelter puts it, 'that sounds like pro-Trump propaganda.'... Sinclair Broadcasting is well on its way to reaching three-quarters of all American homes.... Now, the media-bashing promos are in, and Deadspin put together a terrifying 98-second video that shows how far Sinclair Broadcasting is willing to go to bring right-wing propaganda into your living room." Watch the video. ...

... Timothy Burke of Deadspin: "... with the help of a friendly federal government, [Sinclair] is about to swallow up another 40 television stations -- increasing its reach and its lead over competitors like Hearst and Scripps." ...

... Wikipedia has a list of Sinclair's local O&O stations. Mrs. McC: It came as a surprise to me that many of Sinclair's stations are affiliates of national news media like ABC & NBC News. In many communities, Sinclair owns more than one local broadcaster, so viewer are kinda screwed.

More in Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha. Cleve Wootson of the Washington Post: Laura Ingraham is going on a week-long "Easter vacation. The network told The Washington Post the vacation was pre-planned. But the break comes as she is facing some of the harshest criticism so far on her five-month-old Fox News show -- and a growing advertiser revolt around comments she made about David Hogg, a survivor of the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., and activist."

New York Times: "In his message on Sunday, the pope called for peace in a world marked by war and conflict. He cited a need to end the 'carnage' in 'the beloved and long-suffering land of Syria'; urged 'reconciliation' in the Middle East; and pressed for 'the fruits of dialogue' to defuse tensions on the Korean Peninsula. He also called attention to the 'hunger, endemic conflicts and terrorism' suffered by parts of Africa."

Beyond the Beltway

Alexei Koseff of the Sacramento Bee: "Amid a brewing legal battle with the Trump administration over California's liberal immigration policies, Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday granted pre-Easter pardons to five immigrants facing possible deportation. They were among 56 pardons and 14 commutations that the Democratic governor handed down ahead of the Sunday holiday. The majority were convicted of drug-related or other nonviolent crimes, according to Brown's office. Executive clemency is particularly significant for immigrants, since they can be deported for old convictions, even if they have legal resident status. By forgiving their criminal records, Brown eliminates the grounds on which they could be targeted for removal from the country." ...

... Alicia Cohn of the Hill: "President Trump on Saturday called out California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) over immigration policy, marking further escalation in the dispute between the Trump administration and the Golden State. Brown signed 'sanctuary state' legislation last October in a rebuke of Trump’s increased immigration restrictions. Trump has repeatedly blasted the state as hosting immigrants in the country illegally who commit crimes, a charge he repeated on Saturday. 'Governor Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown pardoned 5 criminal illegal aliens whose crimes include (1) Kidnapping and Robbery (2) Badly beating wife and threatening a crime with intent to terrorize (3) Dealing drugs,' he tweeted. 'Is this really what the great people of California want?'" ...

... Foxycat. Daniel Politi of Slate: "'Governor Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown pardoned 5 criminal illegal aliens whose crimes include (1) Kidnapping and Robbery (2) Badly beating wife and threatening a crime with intent to terrorize (3) Dealing drugs. Is this really what the great people of California want?' the President wrote on Twitter while tagging Fox News. The tag to Fox News is appropriate considering that the language he used in the tweet was pretty much a copy of a graphic that was broadcast on Fox & Friends."

Jamiles Lartey of the Guardian: "A[n African-American] Texas woman has been sentenced to five years in prison for attempting to vote in the 2016 presidential election when she was ineligible because she was on probation. Crystal Mason, 43, will appeal the punishment handed down this week in Fort Worth, according to her attorney. The sentence was handed down despite the fact that Mason's provisional ballot was not ultimately counted.... She testified that she did not know people convicted of felonies could not vote until they had completed their sentences.... The case is reminiscent of that of another Texas woman, Rosa Ortega, who was sentenced to eight years for illegally voting in several elections because, according to her, she believed her permanent residency card made her a US citizen. According to the Washington Post, of 38 Texas prosecutions for illegal voting between 2005 and 2017, only one resulted in a sentence of more than three years." --safari

Way Beyond

Hazen Balousha & Oliver Holmes of the Guardian: "Gaza hospitals, running low on blood and overstretched by the huge number of wounded, were reeling after one of the enclave’s bloodiest days outside of open war, in which Israeli soldiers shot 773 people with live ammunition, according to the ministry of health. Fifteen of the wounded died, said the ministry spokesperson Dr Ashraf al-Qidra. 'Most of the dead were aged between 17 and 35 years old,' he said. 'The injuries were on the upper part of the body.' He added that the remainder of the wounded, some of whom were in a critical condition, had been 'shot with live ammunition'. The violence erupted on Friday after mass demonstrations took place demanding the right of return for Palestinian refugees and their descendants to land in Israel.... More than 1,400 people were wounded, mostly by bullets but also rubber-coated rounds and tear-gas inhalation, the health ministry said.... The UN security council held emergency talks to discuss the risks of further escalation but failed to agree on a statement. The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has called for an independent and transparent investigation into the violence, according to his spokesman Farhan Haq."

News Ledes

Washington Post: "The Fighting Irish, playing in their fifth national championship game since their 2001 title, defeated the Bulldogs, 61-58. Notre Dame trailed by as many as 15 points in the first half, making its comeback the largest ever in a women's national championship game. Arike Ogunbowale hit a three-pointer with 0.1 seconds remaining to win the game."

Washington Post: "Stephen Reinhardt, a liberal-leaning judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in California, whose rulings overturned bans on same-sex marriage and physician-assisted suicide and declared prison overcrowding unconstitutional, died March 29 in Los Angeles. He was 87. He had a heart attack while visiting his dermatologist's office, 9th Circuit spokesman David Madden said. Judge Reinhardt, considered a liberal icon in legal matters, was an active member of the court, which he joined in 1980 after being nominated by President Jimmy Carter." ...

... Joanne Mariner, a former clerk to Judge Reinhardt, writes a remembrance in Slate.

The Commentariat -- March 31, 2018

Justin Fishel of ABC News: "... Donald Trump surprised even the most senior members of his Cabinet when he announced Thursday during a speech in Ohio that the U.S. military would be 'coming out of Syria, like, very soon,' according to a senior administration official and a U.S. official familiar with the matter.... Trump has discussed the idea of withdrawing the 2,000 U.S. troops with Defense Secretary James Mattis, chief of staff John Kelly and the outgoing national security adviser, Gen. H.R. McMaster, but according to these officials, the president favors a faster withdrawal than most who are advising him. 'It's not the substance [of the remark] that surprised them,' the senior administration official told ABC News. 'It's the fact that he said it.' Meanwhile, nearly every other government policy adviser who works on Syria was caught completely off guard by the substance of the president's remarks, including officials within the National Security Council, the Pentagon and the Department of State, according to multiple U.S. officials.... Not only does the president's desire for an imminent withdrawal appear to contradict the conditions-based strategy, but it also flies in the face of his repeated pledge not to forecast the movements of the U.S. military to the enemy." ...

... Matthew Lee & Josh Lederman of the AP: "... Donald Trump's unscripted remark this week about pulling out of Syria 'very soon,' while at odds with his own policy, was not a one-off: For weeks, top advisers have been fretting about an overly hasty withdrawal as the president has increasingly told them privately he wants out, U.S. officials said. Only two months ago, Trump's aides thought they'd persuaded him that the U.S. needed to keep its presence in Syria open-ended -- not only because the Islamic State group has yet to be entirely defeated, but also because the resulting power vacuum could be filled by other extremist groups or by Iran. Trump signed off on major speech in January in which Secretary of State Rex Tillerson laid out the new strategy and declared 'it is vital for the United States to remain engaged in Syria.'... Still, without a clear directive from the president, planning has not started for a withdrawal from Syria, officials said, and Trump has not advocated a specific timetable." Mrs. McC: Toward the end of the piece, the reporters sort of suggest Trump is blowing smoke, or as they put it, "overly optimistic." They do note a pull-out now would be giving Syria to Russia. ...

... Haley Britzky of Axios: "The State Department has put $200 million in recovery effort funds to Syria on hold, after the White House directed it to do so, the Wall Street Journal reports.... Per the Journal, this signals that the administration is re-evaluating U.S. presence in the region. President Trump said on Thursday said that the U.S. would be 'coming out of Syria...very soon,' and that 'other people' should take care of it. But, but, but: Trump's statement conflicted with what the Pentagon said on Thursday, and State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said she knew of no plans to leave Syria.... Two of the biggest powers with a presence in Syria are Iran and Russia, and if the U.S. exits the region it would 'raise concerns about ceding' it to those countries. Per the WSJ, the move 'would unnerve Israel and Saudi Arabia.'" ...

     ... Update: The New York Times story is here. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Sounds as if Trump did a lot more during his recent phone conversation with Putin than congratulate Putin on his fixed re-election. America's great dealmaker seems to have given Syria to Putin as a re-election prize.

Peter Baker, et al., of the New York Times: "The perils of the diplomatic breakdown [between the U.S. & Russia] came into sharper relief on Friday. Russia's ambassador in Washington lamented that no one would meet with him, and his embassy complained that Russian diplomats were being harassed by American intelligence agencies eager to recruit them. The Pentagon, for its part, said that it had no notice of a test of a new intercontinental ballistic missile conducted by Russia and announced on Friday, a lack of communication that experts worry could lead to miscalculation.... Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, whose last official day on the job is Saturday, had come to the conclusion before Mr. Trump fired him this month that a year of attempting to cooperate had not yielded much success, according to people familiar with his thinking. As a result, they said, Mr. Tillerson had begun mapping out a tougher policy toward Russia and found agreement in the White House.... His designated successor, Mike Pompeo, and the incoming national security adviser, John R. Bolton, are both considered even more hawkish on Russia."

Eric Levitz of New York: "The fundamental causes of the Trump administration's personnel woes have long been clear. Donald Trump is not an expert in business management, just a real-estate heir with a gift for media manipulation.... But on Friday, for the first time, we finally got some insight into the proximate cause of the White House's personnel woes: The office in charge of staffing the White House is, itself, run by a historically small staff composed largely of 20-somethings with no relevant experience, a fondness for chugging Smirnoff Ice and vaping tobacco during office hours -- and, in a few cases, forged résumés and criminal histories":

... Trump's PPO Is More of a Frat House. Robert O'Harrow & Shawn Boberg of the Washington Post: The Presidential Personnel Office, an "obscure White House office responsible for recruiting and vetting thousands of political appointees has suffered from inexperience and a shortage of staff, hobbling the Trump administration's efforts to place qualified people in key posts across government, documents and interviews show.... The PPO is ultimately responsible for recruiting and vetting candidates for more than 4,000 jobs, more than 1,200 requiring Senate approval.... At the same time, two office leaders have spotty records themselves: a college dropout with arrests for drunken driving and bad checks and a Marine Corps reservist with arrests for assault, disorderly conduct, fleeing an officer and underage drinking. Under President Trump, the office was launched with far fewer people than in prior administrations. It has served as a refuge for young campaign workers, a stopover for senior officials on their way to other posts and a source of jobs for friends and family, a Washington Post investigation found. One senior staffer has had four relatives receive appointments through the office." Do read on. The PPO is a complete mess, unless you're into keggers.

Scott Pruitt's "Lease" Keeps Looking Worse. ... Emily Atkin of the New Republic: "On Thursday, ABC News revealed that, for the first six months Pruitt was in D.C., he lived in a fancy Capitol Hill condo co-owned by the wife of top energy lobbyist J. Steven Hart. Hart is chairman of a firm that lobbies for the export of liquefied natural gas. This brought up serious ethical questions, since Pruitt is currently under investigation for using taxpayer money to travel to Morocco for the sole purpose of promoting liquefied natural gas. Critics say Pruitt had no business doing this because it was unrelated to his job of protecting public health and the environment." ...

... Brady Dennis & Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "Collectively, according to EPA officials, Pruitt paid $6,100 to stay in the condo for roughly six months. Details initially were reported by ABC News and Bloomberg.... In the Capitol Hill neighborhood where Pruitt was, the average is $142 per night [for a private room]. The former also reported that Pruitt's daughter had stayed in the condo.... Vicki Hart [part owner of the condo & wife of energy lobbyist Steven Hart, who allowed Pruitt to stay in the condo in the first place,] said in a statement Friday afternoon that she was not aware that Pruitt's daughter might have been living in one of the condo's rooms. 'The rental agreement was with Scott Pruitt. If other people were using the bedroom or the living quarters, I was never told, and I never gave him permission to do that,' she said, adding that if the ABC account is accurate, Pruitt would owe additional rent.... Pruitt initially approached ... Steven Hart about staying there during his confirmation process in 2017 and then extended the terms of the arrangement through last July." The Harts have donated to Pruitt's political campaigns when he ran for state office in Oklahoma." Pruitt is now renting much more expensive digs. ...

     ... AND There's This: "At one point during his stay, agents in Pruitt's security detail broke an exterior door at the condo after he had gone home sick and was not responding to calls, according to individuals familiar with the March 2017 incident. The EPA ultimately reimbursed the condo association $2,460 for the cost of the wood and glass door." ...

... Eric Levitz of New York: "There's nothing subtle or surreptitious about Pruitt's corruption. The fact that a climate-change denier is in charge of environmental regulation for the world's most powerful country is a scandal far more consequential than Pruitt's habit of flying first class on the taxpayer's dime, or underpaying for his D.C. digs."

Margaret Hartmann makes the case that Trump has set up Dr. Ronny Jackson to fail as head of the VA. And here's a twist: even though Jackson himself has expressed skepticism about his own ability to run, much less fix the problems of, a vast bureacracy & healthcare delivery system, he cannot refuse the nomination because he's an active-duty flag officer. "... and Politico reports that some veterans believe he's being installed as a figurehead so lower-level staffers can move toward privatization." Mrs. McC: Over to you, Mitch. In the name of privatization, are you-all gonna confirm a guy who already knows he can't do the job? Oh, yeah, privatization is the new earmarks. So I guess so.

AND You Thought a Religious Day Would Preclude a Friday Afternoon News Dump. Chris Riotta of Mediaite: "In a move that shockingly did not go over well on Twitter..., Donald Trump announced on Friday he had named April 'National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month.' The president, who has been accused of sexual assault or harassment by at least 19 women, said in a statement his administration remains 'steadfast in our efforts to stop crimes of sexual violence, provide care for victims, enforce the law, prosecute offenders, and raise awareness about the many forms of sexual assault.'" Some of the tweeted reactions are pretty good.

Ken Starr Weighs in on Stormy Daniels Allegations. Because He Would. Lydia Wheeler of the Hill: "The independent counsel who investigated Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky said this week the Department of Justice (DOJ) should weigh the credibility of Stormy Daniels' claim that she was paid to keep quiet about an alleged affair with Donald Trump ahead of the 2016 election. In 'an interview with the Yahoo News' podcast 'Skullduggery,['] Kenneth Starr said the DOJ should decide if Daniels' claims warrant an investigation by another independent counsel. 'I do think there are difficult and serious questions that have been raised by what we know or what has been reported,' said Starr said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Jonathan O'Connell & David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: "The carefully maintained secrecy around President Trump's finances is under unprecedented assault a year into his presidency, with three different legal teams with different agendas trying to pry open the Trump Organization's books. On one side is special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, who has subpoenaed Trump Organization documents as part of his wide-ranging investigation into the 2016 campaign. On another is Stormy Daniels, the adult-film actress seeking internal correspondence as part of her effort to be freed from a nondisclosure agreement centering on an alleged affair with Trump. And in the most direct assault, the District and Maryland have sued Trump, alleging that he is improperly accepting gifts, or 'emoluments,' from foreign or state governments through his businesses, including his hotels. A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the case can proceed, opening the way for the plaintiffs to seek at least a portion of Trump's tax returns, which the president has refused to release."

Frances Sellers of the Washington Post: "Gloria Allred, the prominent women's rights attorney who represented former 'Apprentice' contestant Summer Zervos in her high-profile defamation suit against President Trump, is withdrawing from the case. In a statement Friday, Zervos said it was her decision to end the legal relationship. 'I decided to part ways with Gloria Allred purely for personal reasons,' she said, 'having nothing to do with her work as my attorney.' Allred issued a statement Thursday to the Associated Press saying her withdrawal has 'nothing to do with the merits of her case against President Trump.'"

Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Ran this late yesterday morning, but can't let it go because I think the artist is so brilliant:

Thursday, Akhilleus & I entered into a fake agreement to set up a fake partnership to sell paint-by-numbers kits of Donald Trump portraits. (The fake contract is in the fake mail.) I was thinking of sending Michael Cohen down to Delaware to set up a fake LLC when we acquired a new, secret super-silent partner who nonetheless has taken a hands-on approach to the business. Pretty good, huh? ...

... Note to Akhilleus: Better double your orange paint order. I'm ordering the printed canvases. We could work out a real business plan with projections & marketing strategies & all, but that would be so un-Trumpian.

Karoun Demirjian & Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "The FBI's disciplinary office found that ousted deputy director Andrew McCabe lied to his boss, then-director James B. Comey, in October 2016 about having authorized the disclosure of sensitive information to a reporter, a Republican congressman whose office reviewed the findings alleged Friday. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said in an interview that McCabe lied to Comey when Comey asked him how sensitive information ended up in an October 2016 Wall Street Journal story detailing internal tension at the FBI and Justice Department over an investigation into matters surrounding the Clinton Foundation. Jordan's staffers, along with staffers for Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, were permitted this week to view a report on McCabe from the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility, Jordan said.... According to Jordan, the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility determined that McCabe lied to his superiors and investigators four times: to Comey in October 2016; to FBI investigators in May 2017; and to the Office of the Inspector General twice, beginning in the summer.... In a statement, McCabe's attorney said it was fully appropriate for the bureau's deputy director to authorize media interaction and asserted that Comey knew about it." ...

... Manu Raju, et al., of CNN: "The internal FBI report that served as grounds for the firing of FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe includes key testimony from his former boss that shows a discrepancy with McCabe's public statements, according to multiple sources familiar with the report. Former FBI Director James Comey told internal investigators at the Justice Department that he could not recall McCabe telling him about having authorized FBI officials to talk to a reporter about an ongoing investigation, the sources said.Comey's comments to the Justice Department's inspector general's office, which were later included as part of the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility report on McCabe that prompted his firing earlier this month, put him at odds with the statements McCabe has made about authorizing FBI officials to provide information to the Wall Street Journal in an October 2016 story about FBI and Justice Department tensions over an ongoing investigation into the Clinton Foundation. McCabe has publicly maintained that he was in a position to authorize the other FBI officials speaking with the reporter and that Comey was aware McCabe had done it." ...

... Michael Sykes of Axios: "A GoFundMe page that launched Thursday to help cover former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe's legal fees reached $408,859 in 20 hours, according to the fund's page, quickly surpassing its $250,000 goal (which was initially set $150,000). 'The response to this effort has been remarkable and beyond our expectations,' the page says." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Russell Blair, et al., of the Hartford Courant (March 29): "Rep. Elizabeth Esty [D-Conn.] apologized Thursday and said she 'failed to protect' a former female staffer from domestic violence -- at the hand of Esty's since-fired chief of staff, who the Democrat helped get a job at Sandy Hook Promise.The three-term incumbent from Cheshire, who has publicly championed #MeToo legislation for Congress, told The Courant Thursday night that she deeply regrets her handling of misconduct by her former top adviser, Tony Baker. Esty said she should have suspended Baker immediately upon learning of the disturbing allegations against him in May 2016, including him punching the former staffer and threatening to kill her. But the congresswoman allowed him to remain in his $136,000 annual post for nearly three months while her office conducted an internal investigation and then paid Baker a $5,000 severance payment." Read on. I'd say Esty still doesn't get it & she isn't taking responsibility for her action & inaction. ...

... Hartford Courant Editors: "She should resign.... The story is deeply disturbing. The staff member, identified by The Washington Post as Anna Kain, had dated Tony Baker, Ms. Esty's chief of staff. Ms. Kain sought a protective order, claiming that Mr. Baker had threatened to kill her, punched her and harassed her in Ms. Esty's office. 'You better f-----g reply to me or I will f-----g kill you,' Tony Baker said in a recording left for Ms. Kain on May 5, 2016, according to The Post.... She told The Post that 'she was pressured by the Office of House Employment Counsel to sign' a nondisclosure agreement to get rid of Mr. Baker. In the deal, she agreed to help him get another job and pay him $5,000 severance.... 'I should have suspended him right away, but I had no experience with this, and there wasn't a process in place,' she told The Courant. Unacceptable. When one learns that a woman's life is being threatened by one of your own employees, you don't need 'a process in place.'"

Lydia Wheeler of the Hill: "A federal judge on Friday evening temporarily blocked Trump administration officials from stopping pregnant, unaccompanied immigrant teens who are or will be in federal custody from getting an abortion. Judge Tanya Chutkan on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said the Office of Refugee Resettlement is violating the teens' constitutional rights to obtain the procedure.... The administration cannot strip unaccompanied immigrant minor children 'of their right to make their own reproductive choices,' Chutkan wrote in the decision. Chutkan's preliminary injunction stops Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Eric Hargan, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Administration for Children and Families Steve Wagner, Office of Refugee Resettlement Director Scott Lloyd and their associates from interfering or obstructing access to abortion, counseling, medical appointments or other pregnancy-related care."

Marc Santora & Hana de Goeij of the New York Times: "A Russian man accused of hacking the systems of three American technology companies in 2012, possibly compromising the personal information of more than 100 million users, was extradited to the United States from the Czech Republic on Friday.The man, Yevgeniy A. Nikulin, appeared in Federal District Court in San Francisco after arriving in the city around 6 a.m.... Mr. Nikulin had been held in the Czech Republic since the authorities there arrested him in 2016. His case quickly turned into a battle between Washington and Moscow over whether he should be tried in the United States. He was arrested just two days before the Obama administration formally accused the Russian government of stealing and disclosing emails from the Democratic National Committee and other institutions and prominent individuals.... He is accused of hacking into the computer networks at LinkedIn, Dropbox and Formspring; damaging computers used by LinkedIn and Formspring employees; and using their credentials for further intrusions."

Anna Flagg of the Marshall Project: Another comprehensive study shows that "the link between immigration and crime exists in the imaginations of Americans and nowhere else.... The 10 places with the largest increases in immigrants all had lower levels of crime in 2016 than in 1980.... And yet the argument that immigrants bring crime into America has driven many of the policies enacted or proposed by the administration so far: restrictions to entry, travel and visas; heightened border enforcement; plans for a wall along the border with Mexico." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: And I'm sure if somebody tells Trump & Sessions about these studies' results, they will immediately realize they've been wrong all along.

Beyond the Beltway

Frances Robles & Jose del Real of the New York Times: "Stephon Clark, the unarmed black man who was fatally shot last week by Sacramento police officers, was struck eight times, mostly in his back, according to an independent autopsy released Friday, raising significant questions about the police account that he was a threat to officers when he was hit. The autopsy -- commissioned by the family of Mr. Clark, 22, and conducted by Dr. Bennet Omalu, a private medical examiner -- showed that he was shot three times in his lower back, twice near his right shoulder, once in his neck and once under an armpit. He was also shot in the leg. The neck wound was from the side, the doctor found, and he said that while the shot to the leg hit Mr. Clark in the front, it appeared to have been fired after he was already falling."

Richard Fausset of the New York Times: "A police officer who fatally shot a black man in Baton Rouge, La., nearly two years ago was fired on Friday, and a fellow officer involved in the episode was suspended for three days. The disciplinary actions were the first serious consequences for the officers after both state and federal officials declined to bring criminal charges against them. Blane Salamoni, the officer who was dismissed, fired six shots at the man, Alton B. Sterling, after responding to a call at a convenience store parking lot on July 5, 2016. After announcing the disciplinary actions, the department released new raw footage of Mr. Sterling's arrest and his killing moments later. Video taken from a police body camera shows Officer Salamoni repeatedly shouting profanities at Mr. Sterling; slamming him into a car; twice ordering the second officer, Howie Lake II, to use his Taser; and threatening to shoot Mr. Sterling with a gun pointed at his head."

Patricia Mazzei of the New York Times: "The acquittal by a federal jury of Noor Salman, the widow of the man who gunned down dozens of people at the Pulse nightclub two years ago, handed federal prosecutors on Friday the rarest of defeats: a loss in a terrorism case. The outcome was even more striking because the not-guilty verdict came from jurors in Orlando, Fla., where Omar Mateen's rampage left 49 people dead and 53 others injured, the worst terrorist attack on American soil since Sept. 11, 2001. Jurors unanimously rejected government charges that Ms. Salman had helped her husband plan his violent assault in the name of the Islamic State -- a narrative countered by her family's claims that she was kept in the dark about her husband's secrets and was home sleeping when the attack occurred." ...

     ... After the announcement of the verdict, the jury foreman made a written statement. He said he was speaking only for himself. Here's a portion of the statement, via the Orlando Sentinel: "A verdict of not guilty did NOT mean that we thought Noor Salman was unaware of what Omar Mateen was planning to do. On the contrary we were convinced she did know. She may not have known what day, or what location, but she knew. However, we were not tasked with deciding if she was aware of a potential attack. The charges were aiding and abetting and obstruction of justice. I felt the both the prosecution and the defense did an excellent job presenting their case. I wish that the FBI had recorded their interviews with Ms. Salman as there were several significant inconsistencies with the written summaries of her statements. The bottom line is that, based on the letter of the law, and the detailed instructions provided by the court, we were presented with no option but to return a verdict of not guilty."

A Panty-grabbing Judge on Long Island. ABC7-New York: "A Long Island judge who police say repeatedly broke into his neighbor's home to steal her underwear has confessed to snatching panties on multiple occasions, even though he has pleaded not guilty. Still, Suffolk County District Judge Robert Cicale has been removed from the bench and is facing up to 15 years in prison. Cicale was arrested on burglary charges and appeared in court Friday morning." [Mrs. McC Note: Must mean Thursday; the report is dated March 30 & I'm reading it Thursday, March 30.] He said he had "urges." Okay then.