The Commentariat -- January 14, 2018

The Comments section of Reality Chex still is not working. It just sends your comments into the ether. I discovered a semi-solution that contributor MAG tested, and it works. Like MAG, you too can become a Reality Chex member! If you've commented here before & want to submit a comment before the Comments submissions function gets fixed -- e-mail me at constantweader@gmail.com. Send me a login ID & password (I think they have to be at least 6 characters long), & I'll tell you how you can exercise the (I hope temporary) exclusive privilege of being a Reality Chex member. If you choose to do so, PLEASE don't give me a log-in or password you currently use anywhere else. I don't want to be the No. 1 suspect when some crook uses your Macy's card. When you're logged in, your comments should take -- at least for now. (But of course save them somewhere in case it doesn't work, as you always should before they appear.)

If you'd rather just e-mail your comments to me, that's okay, too. The downside is that I will be IDed as the writer (tho of course I'll credit you). BTW, two contributors who already have log-ins also can comment while they're logged in. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie ...

     ... UPDATE: The Bad News: The host won't be able to fix this right away. The Good News: It's a system-wide problem, so they're likely working on it.

*****

Adam Nagouney, et al., of the New York Times: "An early-morning emergency alert mistakenly warning of an incoming ballistic missile attack was dispatched to cellphones across Hawaii on Saturday, setting off widespread panic in a state that was already on edge because of escalating tensions between the United States and North Korea. The alert, sent by the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, was revoked nearly 40 minutes after it was issued, prompting confusion over why it was released -- and why it took so long to rescind. State officials and residents of a normally tranquil part of the Pacific, as well as tourists swept up in the panic, immediately expressed outrage. 'The public must have confidence in our emergency alert system,' the governor, David Y. Ige, said." An earlier version of this story was linked yesterday. ...

... Mrs. McC BTW: At least six hours after the false alarm, not a word from Trump. He has been golfing in Florida. He did take time out to tweet this, tho: "So much Fake News is being reported. They don't even try to get it right, or correct it when they are wrong. They promote the Fake Book of a mentally deranged author, who knowingly writes false information. The Mainstream Media is crazed that WE won the election!" Thanks, Donald, for reassuring the nation about the Hawaii media scare. ...

... New York Times Editors: "The authorities quickly announced that the alert was a mistake. But it made tangible the growing fears that after decades of leaders tryin to more safely control the world's nuclear arsenals, President Trump has increased the possibility of those weapons being used. At a time when many are questioning whether Mr. Trump ought to be allowed anywhere near the nuclear 'button,' he is moving ahead with plans to develop new nuclear weapons and expanding the circumstances in which they'd be used. Such actions break with years of American nuclear policy. They also make it harder to persuade other nations to curb their nuclear ambitions or forgo them entirely." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: If we had a responsible Congress, the scare in Hawaii would shake members into action working to reduce the dangers Trump presents. Instead quite a number of Republicans are knocking themselves out to exacerbate those dangers.

Mrs. McCrabbie: This might be all the news you need to know this week:

John Bowden of the Hill: "President Trump is responding to the widespread condemnation of his remarks about immigrants from 'shithole countries' with a two-word tweet: 'America First!' Trump offered the tweet at 8:14 a.m. with little other comment. And while the tweet didn't cite the criticism of his reported comments at a meeting with lawmakers in the White House, it was hard to see the words as anything but a response to that controversy." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Vivian Yee of the New York Times: "Mr. Trump's remarks [about 'shithole countries'] were 'sadly reminiscent of the language used by nativists and racists in the early 20th century against Eastern and Southern Europeans and Asians,' said Mae Ngai, an immigration historian at Columbia University. 'Obviously he likes Norwegians because they are white,' she added. 'But he knows nothing about Norway, a country with single-payer universal health care and free college education. Why would anyone want to leave Norway for the U.S.?... [In 1924,] Congress passed an immigration overhaul that set strict quotas designed to encourage immigrants from Western Europe, block all but a few from Southern and Eastern Europe and bar altogether those from Asia. Overall immigration levels were slashed. The racial theories at play in the legislation, wrote the immigration historian Roger Daniels, would later become the first draft of 'the official ideology of Nazi Germany.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: There is a short, direct line from the proto-Nazi 1924 act to Donald Trump's "shithole" remark. In 1927, police detained Donald's father Fred for refusing to leave a Klan parade in Queens, according to Philip Bump of the Washington Post. Mike Pearl of Vice found evidence that Fred was wearing a KKK outfit when arrested. The sentiments of the father are visited on the son. However, the 1927 incident is one part of the Trump family legacy that Donald denies: "He was never there! It never happened. Never took place," Donald Trump said of his father's detention. Bump links Donald's fake pretense that he had no idea who David Duke was to Fred's racism. (Both linked reports are good reads.) ...

... Josh Marshall: "Trumpism is ethnic-nationalism, rightist ethnic nationalism, specifically white ethnic nationalism.... The heart of Trumpism has always been fueled by panic over the decline of white privilege and a rapidly changing demography in which whites are no longer the overwhelming majority of Americans and in a few decades likely won't be a majority at all.... Trump administration policy means to and is in the process of, implementing the 'shithole' mindset which is to say get rid of as many 'outsiders' as we can and keep new ones from coming in." --safari ...

... Jacqueline Thomsen of The Hill: "The word 'shithole' was projected onto President Trump's D.C. hotel Saturday. Video shows the word, along with the 'poop' emoji, being projected onto the property. 'Pay Trump bribes here' 'emoluments welcome,' and 'we are all responsible to stand up and end white supremacy' were also projected onto the building." --safari ...

... German Lopez of Vox: "President Donald Trump reportedly couldn't avoid stereotyping black people during a meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus. He had asked members of the Congressional Black Caucus in a March meeting, Vivian Salama reported for NBC News on Friday, if they personally knew Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, who is black. He was surprised when none of the attendees did, two meeting attendees told Salama.... In the same meeting, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus told Trump that welfare cuts would hurt her constituents, 'not all of whom are black.' Trump then reportedly responded, 'Really? Then what are they?'...The NBC News report comes a day after reports of Trump's racist remarks about Haiti and African countries.... And this is only some of the news from the past few days." --safari ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: This is similar to Trump's press conference where he asked reporter April Ryan to arrange a meeting for him with members of the Congressional Black Caucus. He assumes there's a clique of powerful Washington black people who hang out & do black stuff together. He also assumes that black people would be glad to handle menial tasks for him (for free!), so getting a White House reporter to do his secretary's secretary's secretary (paid) work seems reasonable.

... Robert Mackey of The Intercept: "After bizarrely offering his 'congratulations' to the late Martin Luther King Jr. at the White House on Friday, President Donald Trump was asked for the first time by reporters to explain why he referred to Haiti and some African nations as 'shithole countries,'...[ April] Ryan then cut to the point, asking Trump the question that should be repeated every day from now until the end of his term: 'Mr. President, are you a racist?'... as reporters in the Netherlands demonstrated this week [linked below], asking politicians who make offensive statements to account for their remarks can be a public service, by at least attaching some sort of social embarrassment to making such comments." --safari

Trump Silenced Another Porn Star. Marlow Stern & Aurora Snow of the Daily Beast: "The Daily Beast was informed late Friday that porn star Jessica Drake is not allowed to discuss ... Donald J. Trump on account of a non-disclosure agreement she signed barring her from any such talk. NDAs are often deployed as part of settlements to silence accusers. 'Jessica's NDA blankets any and every mention of Trump, so she's legally unable to comment,' her publicist informed The Daily Beast. 'Jessica signed a non-disclosure agreement after her allegations of misconduct, and she can't do as much as peep his name publicly.'... n late October 2016, Drake became the 14th woman to accuse then-candidate Trump of sexual misconduct. At a public press conference, Drake, flanked by her attorney Gloria Allred, claimed that after she met Trump in July 2006 at Nevada's American Century Celebrity Golf Championship..., he made a pass at her. Trump's wife, Melania, had recently given birth to their son Barron at the time." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Maybe you were doubting the "unverified" "golden rain" memo in Christopher Steele's dossier. Maybe you find it pretty plausible now.

Michael Savage & Toby Helm of the Guardian: "Donald Trump's deteriorating relationship with Britain is likely to kill off any lingering cabinet hopes of a swift post-Brexit trade deal with the United States, a former British ambassador to Washington has warned. Sir Nigel Sheinwald said that a series of controversial interventions by the US president in British issues meant that the remote prospect of a quick transatlantic deal, heralded by pro-Brexit cabinet members, should now be 'put out of our minds' for good. His intervention comes as a new poll highlights the British public's opposition to Trump in the wake of his decision to cancel a trip to the UK, with fewer than a fifth of voters (18%) believing he is a friend of Britain." --safari

Jacqueline Thomsen of The Hill: "President Donald Trump retweeted a far-right figure& on Saturday night. Trump retweeted Jack Posobiec, who is well-known for promoting debunked 'alt-right' conspiracy theories. 'Dick Durbin called Trump racist for wanting to end chain migration. Here's a video of Dick Durbin calling for an end to chain migration,' the tweet read. The brief clip is a cut from a 30-minute September 14, 2010 Senate floor speech by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) arguing in favor of approving the Dream Act, not calling for an end to chain migration." --safari

Robert Litt, in Lawfare, explains how ignorant & irresponsible it was of Donald Trump to accuse an FBI agent of treason. (If you're unsure of what constitutes "treason," Litt gives an excellent -- and fairly short -- explanation.

Kevin Drum: "In his recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, President Trump said 'I probably have a very good relationship with Kim Jong Un of North Korea.' It was certainly a peculiar thing to say. Today, instead of explaining it, the ever shameless Sarah Huckabee Sanders simply insisted [in a tweet embedding a picture of a denial by somebody] that the Journal was lying.... Unsurprisingly, it turns out it's Sanders who is lying." Drum embeds a WSJ audio of Trump saying exactly what the WSJ reported. "Any normal White House would have simply explained that Trump misspoke slightly and meant to say 'I'd.' Case closed. But this White House is the first in history to routinely deny the documentary evidence of audio and video.... It helps them keep up their faux war with the media, and I guess that's all that matters."

Matt Stevens of the New York Times: "The federal government said on Saturday that it would resume accepting renewal requests for a program that shields from deportation young immigrants who were brought illegally to the United States as children. In a statement, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services said that 'until further notice,' the Obama-era program, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, known as DACA, 'will be operated on the terms in place before it was rescinded' in September, when President Trump moved to end it. The decision came after a federal judge in California issued a nationwide injunction on Tuesday ordering the Trump administration to resume the DACA program.... But officials also said they were not accepting requests from individuals who have never been granted deferred action under DACA.... On Sunday morning, Mr. Trump blamed Democrats for preventing progress on a legislative deal that would permanently legalize the young immigrants and give them an eventual path to citizenship...."

Luke Barnes of ThinkProgress: "The newly-appointed U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands, Pete Hoekstra, has finally admitted that he was wrong to say that there were 'no-go' zones in the country where Muslim youths were burning politicians and cars.... When interviewed last month at the U.S. Capitol by the Dutch news program Nieuwsuur, Hoekstra completely denied making the remarks, calling it 'fake news' -- despite his entire speech being captured on video.... On Friday, however, Hoekstra finally admitted defeat, telling the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf that he had made the remarks, that he was 'shocked' by them and that they were factually incorrect." --safari: If only MSM could be so brave.

The Best People, Ctd. Robert O'Harrow of the Washington Post: Twenty-four-year-old Trump appointee Taylor Weyeneth is deputy chief of staff "at the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the White House office responsible for coordinating the federal government's multibillion dollar anti-drug initiatives...." Since there is no chief of staff, Weyeneth has assumed many of the chief of staff's duties. "Weyeneth's only professional experience after college and before becoming an appointee was working on Trump's presidential campaign.... Current and former ONDCP officials who have served under Democratic and Republican presidents said in interviews that the turmoil, including the elevation of Weyeneth, hinders efforts to rally the government at a time when the nation is going through the worst opioid crisis in its history." Weyeneth has lied on his résumés, thrice claiming an MA from Fordham, although he has not completed his degree requirements. On the résumés, he also claimed various hours of volunteer work at a monastery that cannot confirm his work there. "When he was in high school, Weyeneth was 'Director of Production' for Nature's Chemistry, a family firm in Skaneateles, N.Y., that specialized in processing chia seeds and other health products. [While Weyeneth] held that job,] the firm was secretly processing illegal steroids from China as part of a conspiracy..., federal court records show. Weyeneth's stepfather, Matthew Greacen, pleaded guilty to a felony conspiracy charge last year.... Weyeneth was not charged." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: So the kid who is unofficially running the administration's anti-drug campaign has no professional experience except in high school he was really close to an illegal drug-manufacturing operation. He claims he knows nothing about the steroid stuff even though he was directing the production. Oh, and this from O'Harrow's report: "In October, Trump's nominee to lead the office, Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pa.), withdrew from consideration after a joint investigation by The Post and 60 Minutes found he had sponsored legislation favoring opioid makers and curbing the ability of the Drug Enforcement Administration to investigate abuses." The only attention Trump is giving to illegal drug containment is to reducing competition from south of the border (see "beautiful wall" & "they bring drugs.") And you thought Trump didn't have a strategy.

** Jamie Doward of the Guardian: "The introduction of medical marijuana laws has led to a sharp reduction in violent crime in US states that border Mexico, according to new research. According to the study ... when a state on the Mexican border legalised medical use of the drug, violent crime fell by 13% on average. Most of the marijuana consumed in the US originates in Mexico, where seven major cartels control the illicit drug trade.... The authors claim their study provides new insights into methods to reduce violent crime related to drug trafficking. But its publication comes as the US attorney general, Jeff Sessions, is rescinding the Obama-era policy that ushered in the medical marijuana laws." --safari

David Rogers of Politico: "For the first time in their lives, millions of middle-class donors will be effectively shut out from claiming any charitable deduction under the GOP's new tax law. At the same time, the wealthy will get a still larger share of the tax benefit, even when sacrificing a smaller share of their income. Indeed, the few concessions by tax writers to promote charitable giving are aimed at the very high end of the income scale. The end result is a law that does more to promote gifts to pay for a grandchild's private schooling than it does to encourage the same grandparents to go outside their family and give to the local Boys & Girls Club."

"Capitalism is Awesome", Ctd. David Dayen of The Intercept: "The insurance firm Aflac has exploited workers, manipulated its accounting, and deceived shareholders and customers, according to nine former employees. This article is based on interviews with multiple current and former employees, as well as three previously unreported lawsuits. The allegations contained in the lawsuits involve nearly every aspect of Aflac's business and have already led to a series of investigations by state and federal regulators." --safari

Neo-Nazi Trolls. Ben Collins of The Daily Beast: "In the week before Martin Luther King Jr. Day, MartinLutherKing.org, a website run by the Neo-Nazi website Stormfront that calls King a 'sexual deviant' with an 'uncontrollable lust and propensity for violence,' was a top result for searches of 'Martin Luther King' on Google. The site's placement on the first page of results for King's name forces results with truthful content or historical documents off the first page in favor of racist propaganda." --safari ...

     ... safari: The other day I tried to find a clip on Youtube of Jim Acosta on CNN calling out Trump as a racist. The first few pages were all Confederate propaganda praising their Dear Leader or talking shit on Mr. Acosta. The Right's war on information has gamed all the search engines with their disinformation. Putin would be proud.

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: According to President Obama in his interview with David Letterman, it's even worse than that. Google knows what sites you call up, so & when you search for a particular political topic, its algorithm chooses the "news" you are likely to prefer. So if a confederate & I Google "Trump tax reform analysis," the top results a conservative will get might be the idiot Gateway Pundit, while I might get Paul Krugman. Obama suggests that one of the reasons the country is becoming increasingly partisan is this kind of search engine filtering. ...

... Julia Manchester of the Hill has more on President Obama's remarks re: partisan news media. ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: Watched David Letterman's interview of President Obama. If you have access to Netflix, and unless you don't especially like Obama, you'll be doing yourself a favor to watch it. Nobody is perfect, but the U.S. has not had a better president in my lifetime (which is long!) than Obama. Obvious why Trumpelthinskin hates him. Trump is suffering from acute Obama Derangement Syndrome; Trump is tied in knots of jealousy. Obama is everything, everything Trump is not. That interview is one more jarring reminder of how far down we have come.

A few Sunday Laughs. --safari

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd.

Senate Race

Sorry, But This Is Stupid. Justin Jouvenal & Jenna Portnoy of the Washington Post: "Chelsea E. Manning, the transgender former Army private who was convicted of passing sensitive government documents to WikiLeaks, is seeking to run for the U.S. Senate in Maryland, according to federal election filings. Manning would be challenging Democrat Benjamin L. Cardin, who is in his second term in the Senate and is up for reelection in November. Cardin is Maryland's senior senator and is considered an overwhelming favorite to win a third term." Mrs. McC: I suppose you could argue that Manning has plenty of government experience.

Beyond the Beltway

Expensive Poor-shaming for Fun. Judd Legum of ThinkProgress: "In 2015, West Virginia passed legislation requiring some applicants for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) to submit to drug testing. The state estimated that over the first year, the program would identify 390 people as drug users at a cost of $50,000. The program has now been in place for three months and just four people, less than one-half of a percent of all applicants, tested positive. In the general population, the rate of drug use is 9.4%.... West Virginia's experience mirrors those of other states who have implemented similar programs." --safari

News Lede

Washington Post: "Unforgiving cold has punished the eastern third of the United States for the past 10 days. But the most severe winter weather yet will assault the area late this week. First, a monster storm will hammer coastal locations from Georgia to Maine with ice and snow. By Thursday, the exploding storm will, in many ways, resemble a winter hurricane, battering easternmost New England with potentially damaging winds in addition to blinding snow."

The Commentariat -- January 13, 2018

Afternoon Update:

Johanna Barr of the New York Times: "The authorities confirmed on Saturday that there was no ballistic missile headed toward Hawaii minutes after an emergency alert was sent to cellphones there urging people to seek immediate shelter, leading to chaos and confusion. 'BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII,' the alert said. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.' A corrected alert was sent out 38 minutes later. 'There is no missile threat or danger to the State of Hawaii,' it read. 'Repeat. False Alarm. The episode came at a time of heightened tensions with North Korea, which has said that it has successfully tested ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States.'" ...

... Mrs. McC BTW: Many hours after the false alarm, not a word from Trump. He has been golfing in Florida. ...

... New York Times Editors: "The authorities quickly announced that the alert was a mistake. But it made tangible the growing fears that after decades of leaders trying to more safely control the world's nuclear arsenals, President Trump has increased the possibility of those weapons being used. At a time when many are questioning whether Mr. Trump ought to be allowed anywhere near the nuclear 'button,' he is moving ahead with plans to develop new nuclear weapons and expanding the circumstances in which they'd be used. Such actions break with years of American nuclear policy. They also make it harder to persuade other nations to curb their nuclear ambitions or forgo them entirely." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: If we had a responsible Congress, the scare in Hawaii would shake every member into working to reduce the dangers Trump presents. Instead quite a number of Republicans are knocking themselves out to exacerbate those dangers.

John Bowden of the Hill: "President Trump is responding to the widespread condemnation of his remarks about immigrants from shithole countries' with a two-word tweet: 'America First!' Trump offered the tweet at 8:14 a.m. with little other comment. And while the tweet didn't cite the criticism of his reported comments at a meeting with lawmakers in the White House, it was hard to see the words as anything but a response to that controversy."

Mrs. McCrabbie: Just watched David Letterman's interview of President Obama. If you have access to Netflix, and unless you don't especially like Obama, you'll be doing yourself a favor to watch it. Nobody is perfect, but the U.S. has not had a better president in my lifetime. I see why Trumpelthinskin hates Obama. Trump is suffering from acute Obama Derangement Syndrome; Trump is tied in knots of jealousy. Obama is everything, everything Trump is not. That interview is one more jarring reminder of how far down we have come.

*****

The Comments section of Reality Chex is not working. It just sends your comments into the ether. My host Squarespace is nowhere near solving the problem. I did discover a semi-solution that contributor MAG tested, and it works. Like MAG, you too can become a Reality Chex member! Yeah, yeah, I know you wouldn't become a member of any club that would have you. If you've commented here before & want to submit a comment before the Comments submissions function gets fixed -- e-mail me at constantweader@gmail.com. Send me a login ID & password (I think they have to be at least 6 characters long), & I'll tell you how you can exercise the (I hope quite temporary) exclusive privilege of being a Reality Chex member. PLEASE don't give me a log-in or password you currently use anywhere else. I don't want to be the No. 1 suspect when some crook uses your Macy's card. When you're logged in, your comments should take -- at least for now. (But of course save them somewhere in case it doesn't work, as you always should before they appear.)

If you'd rather just e-mail your comments to me, that's okay, too. The downside is that I will be IDed as the writer (tho of course I'll credit you). BTW, two contributors who already have log-ins also can comment while they're logged in. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie ...

     ... UPDATE: The Bad News: The host won't be able to fix this right away. The Good News: It's a system-wide problem, so they'll likely get right on it.

*****

Donald & the Porn Star. Christopher Mele of the New York Times: "A former star of pornographic movies received a $130,000 payment a month before the 2016 election that was part of an agreement to keep her from publicly discussing a sexual encounter she claimed to have had with onald J. Trump, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday afternoon. The Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that Michael D. Cohen, who was a top lawyer at the Trump Organization, arranged the payment to the woman, Stephanie Clifford, after her lawyer negotiated a nondisclosure agreement. Ms. Clifford, who was billed as Stormy Daniels in her videos, said the encounter with Mr. Trump took place in July 2006 after a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, The Journal reported. Mr. Trump married Melania Trump in 2005. In a statement to The Journal, Mr. Cohen said of the alleged sexual encounter that 'President Trump once again vehemently denies any such occurrence as has Ms. Daniels.'... The payment appears to have been made in the final stretch of the campaign, around the same time that a recording of Mr. Trump making vulgar comments about women while filming a segment for 'Access Hollywood' surfaced...." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Just not your usual Friday afternoon news dump....

... Anthony Cormier of BuzzFeed: "In statements to BuzzFeed News, the lawyer, Michael Cohen, and [Stephanie] Clifford denied Trump and Clifford had a sexual encounter. The alleged encounter after the golf event was publicly discussed by adult film star Jessica Drake in October 2016, when she accused the president of kissing her without her consent. Drake said Trump also repeatedly propositioned her, offering $10,000 and the use of his private jet for her to come to his suite." ...

... Marlow Stern & Aurora Snow of the Daily Beast: "According to fellow porn star Alana Evans -- who was not only [Stormy] Daniels' neighbor and close friend at the time, but also happened to be staying in the area -- Daniels confided in her that she and Trump were more than just friends.... 'Stormy said she met Donald Trump and then tells me about the golf tournament and how she's supposed to hang out with him later that night, and she invited me. Stormy said Donald knew exactly who she was and wanted to meet her.' Later that evening..., Evans said Daniels kept calling, asking her to come join the party. But Evans wasn't interested and made up reasons not to go. 'Stormy calls me four or five times, by the last two phone calls she's with Donald [Trump] and I can hear him, and he's talking through the phone to me saying, "Oh come on Alana, let's have some fun! Let's have some fun! Come to the party, we're waiting for you....' I bailed on them and turned my phone off.'"

...safari: Awaiting Melania's vehement denunciation of "fake news" against her faithful pig in 3, 2, 1...

Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "President Trump on Friday offered a vague denial about the language he chose to use about immigrants during a private meeting with lawmakers at the White House on Thursday, when he reportedly referred to African nations as 'shithole countries.' But Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, said on Friday that the president did use the term 'shithole' during the course of the meeting on immigration -- which Mr. Durbin attended. The senator described Mr. Trump as saying 'things which were hate-filled, vile and racist.' In a Twitter post on Friday, just hours before the president signed a proclamation to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which is Monday, Mr. Trump appeared to parse the language he used when he spoke about immigrants from different regions of the world.... 'It's not true,' Mr. Durbin said of Mr. Trump's denial. 'He said these hate-filled things and he said them repeatedly.'... After Mr. Trump signed the proclamation for Martin Luther King Jr. Day later on Friday morning, the president ignored a question from a reporter about whether he is a racist." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Who ya gonna believe? Dick Durbin or this crackpot? ...

... Glenn Kessler & Meg Kelly of the Washington Post: "President Trump has broken 2,000. With just 10 days before he finishes his first year as president, Trump has made 2,001 false or misleading claims in 355 days, according to our database that analyzes, categorizes and tracks every suspect statement uttered by the president. That's an average of more than 5.6 claims a day." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... ** "The 'Shithole Countries' -- and the Rest of the World -- Respond to President Trump." Robin Wright of the New Yorker: "President Trump's credibility as a world leader has been, to borrow his vulgarity, shot to shit. With one word -- just the latest in a string of slurs about other nations and peoples -- he has demolished his ability to be taken seriously on the global stage. 'There is no other word one can use but "racist,&"' the U.N. High Commissioner on Human Rights, Rupert Colville, said at a briefing in Geneva. 'You cannot dismiss entire countries and continents as 'shitholes,' whose entire populations, who are not white, are therefore not welcome.'... Trump's world view is tragic for so many reasons. First, he's just wrong on the basics.... Trump's bigoted world view also ignores history.... Having strong alliances with African nations is also crucial to Trump's national-security challenges.... Perhaps the ultimate irony is that Trump's own ancestors came from Africa, as did all mankind." Thanks to David R. for the link. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

Patrick Wintour et al., of the Guardian: "Donald Trump has been branded a shocking and shameful racist.... US diplomats around the world were summoned for formal reproach, amid global shock that such crude remarks could ever be made in a semi-public meeting by the president of America." --safari...

... Jina Moore & Catherine Porter of the New York Times: "Governments and citizens across the world recoiled on Friday with disgust, outrage and sadness at reports that President Trump had described Haiti and unspecified African nations as 'shithole countries' during a meeting with members of Congress on Thursday about immigration, asking why the American government would want to admit their citizens as immigrants. The Haitian government called the remarks racist. The president of Senegal tweeted that he was shocked. South Africa's governing party said the comments were 'extremely offensive.' The African Union said it was 'frankly alarmed.' In Haiti, particularly, the words were greeted with pain, as the country marked the eighth anniversary of the deadly 2010 earthquake -- known as the worst natural disaster of modern history, killing between 230,000 and 316,000 people and leaving 1.5 million homeless.... El Salvador's government sent a formal letter of protest. Earlier in the week, the United States announced it was rescinding Temporary Protected Status for about 200,000 Salvadorans living in the United States.... Vicente Fox, a former president of Mexico who has frequently clashed with Mr. Trump..., suggested that Mr. Trump's vulgar word was better used to describe his own mouth." ...

... ** Josh Lederman & Jonathan Lemire of the AP: "American diplomats scrambled Friday to salvage their nation's bonds with Africa, Haiti and even the celebrated 'special relationship' with Britain after President Donald Trump, in the span of a few hours, deeply offended much of the world with the most undiplomatic of remarks.... In Washington and far-flung foreign capitals, U.S. officials launched into urgent cleanup mode.... The long-term damage to America's global relationships was difficult to predict. But foreign policy experts agreed it could only further alienate the United States at a time when many nations already see the U.S. as a less reliable partner than in the past." --safari: Giant "win" for Putin and China here...

...Reuters: "U.S. Ambassador to Panama John Feeley, a career diplomat and former Marine Corps helicopter pilot, has resigned, saying he no longer felt able to serve President Donald Trump.... Feeley, one of the department's Latin America specialists and among its senior most officers, made clear that he had come to a place where he no longer felt able to serve under Trump." --safari: Feeley had resigned BEFORE the whole 'shithole' debacle. ...

... Avery Anapol of The Hill: "President Trump reportedly defended his 'shithole countries' remark in private.... Citing a person who spoke with the president, the AP reported [linked above] that Trump doubled down on his reported comments from this week, defending the remark as not racist but a 'straightforward assessment' of the living conditions in the countries discussed. The person who spoke to Trump told the AP that the president was not apologetic, but blamed the media for distorting his meaning. Trump also reportedly believes that he was saying what many people think." --safari: So he defends the remark he didn't say ... Trumpian logic. ...

... New York Times Editors: "The president of the United States is a racist.... The current turmoil over immigration conflates several separate issues. One is DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which has provided temporary work permits and reprieves from deportation for undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children. Another issue is the Temporary Protected Status program under which undocumented foreigners who were in the United States when disaster or conflict struck their homeland are allowed to remain in the United States. In November, the Trump administration ended the protection for about 60,000 Haitians, and on Monday the administration lifted it for almost 200,000 Salvadorans, most of whom have been in the United States for two decades. A third issue is the future of the roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants who have come to the United States over decades and have effectively integrated into American life. The Trump administration has ordered a broad immigration crackdown against them. And finally there's President Trump's imagined wall. What is concerning is not the wall, or the word 'shithole' or the vacillation on the Dreamers or the Salvadorans. It's what ties all of these things together: the bigoted worldview of the man behind them." ...

... ** Eric Levitz: "At the heart of Trumpian nativism is the conviction that the West's great prosperity reflects the virtues of its people; the poverty of the nonwhite world reflects the moral vices of its people; and, thus, the former owes no debts to the latter. Allowing the residents of nations whose wealth our elites expropriated through imperial conquest -- and/or predatory economic policies -- is an act of selfless generosity, not of modest recompense. The broader conservative movement uses analogous fictions to rationalize inequalities within America's borders.... Acknowledging the actual foundations of our world's racial, national, and socioeconomic hierarchies would threaten the feelings of those who sit atop them.... Racism is, at bottom, right-wing political correctness run amok." Mrs. McC: Read Jonathan Katz's tweets, which Levitz embeds. I must admit I didn't know 95 percent of the brief history of Haiti conveyed in those tweets. Shame on me. "Western exceptionalism" & "American exceptionalism" are Calvinistic crocks spread to try to justify abominable acts of exploitation. ...

...Ben Zimmer of The Atlantic on the history of the word 'shithole': "More important than the word itself, of course, is the hateful sentiment behind it". --safari

The GOP: A Bankrupt Party of Moral Cowards

... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "It has been nearly 24 hours since The Washington Post first reported that President Trump had referred to 'shithole countries' during a meeting with lawmakers. There were at least six Republicans in that meeting. Precisely zero of them have directly confirmed or denied the comment." Mrs. McC: Read on for an immersion course in speaking Weasel. Unfortunately, no matter how fluent these clunkweasels are in their native tongue, they don't manage to hide the truth of Durbin's statements. ...

...The Incredible Shrinking Paul Ryan. Dylan Matthews of Vox: "On June 2, 2016, Donald Trump, then the presumptive Republican nominee for president, told the Wall Street Journal that he didn't think Judge Gonzalo Curiel could oversee two lawsuits targeting Trump University.... House Speaker Paul Ryan was outraged...[After the 'shithole' comment,] Paul Ryan ... declared that saying black and brown people come from 'shitholes' is 'very unfortunate, unhelpful.' Today, apparently, textbook racist remarks are merely inconvenient, counterproductive.... It's not an original observation to note that Paul Ryan has degraded himself in service of Donald Trump. Even then he was very clearly willing to tolerate a presidential nominee who he knew was a racist, who he said publicly was a racist, in order to enable the enactment of his preferred economic policies. But Ryan's response to the 'shithole' remarks is as clear a sign as any that the terms of his deal with Trump have changed." --safari: A new Twitter hashtag is trending @ShitholeSpeakerRyan...

...Andrew Prokop of Vox: " Two [shithole] Republican senators who attended yesterday's meeting in which President Trump reportedly disparaged immigrants from 'shithole countries' seem to have come down with a case of amnesia. In a joint statement this afternoon, Sens. Tom Cotton (R-AR) and David Perdue (R-GA) wrote that they 'do not recall the President saying those comments specifically' -- but conspicuously didn't outright deny that he said them." Emphasis added --safari ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Who knew amnesia was contagious? Somebody alert the CDC. ...

... Profiles in "Courage". Caitlin MacNeal of TPM: "Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), one of the lawmakers in attendance at the Thursday meeting during which President Donald Trump referred to African countries as 'shithole countries,' said Friday afternoon that he said his 'piece' to the President.... Graham's statement did not confirm that Trump used the phrase 'shithole countries,' but it did not deny that either, and Sen.Tim Scott (R-SC) already said that Graham confirmed the comments to him privately." --safari

... Matthew Nussbaum of Politico: "Vice President Mike Pence has nothing to say. Pence's office has ignored repeated requests for comment in the wake of President Donald Trump's explosive comments on Thursday.... Instead, on Friday afternoon, Pence was tweeting pictures of himself and Trump with Martin Luther King Jr.'s nephew at a White House ceremony and hailing King's 'efforts to peacefully advocate for justice & equality for African-Americans.'... Certain other staunch Trump defenders shared Pence's reticence on Friday. Reached by phone, former House Speaker and close Trump ally Newt Gingrich said, 'I have nothing to say.' But other Republicans have not shared Pence's silence.... Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) called them 'abhorrent and repulsive,' and Rep. Mia Love (R-Utah), whose family immigrated to the U.S from Haiti, called on Trump to apologize." --safari ...

... Julia Manchester of The Hill: "Sen. Chuck Grassley (R) repeatedly dodged questions from his constituents on President Trump's behavior at a town hall in his home state of Iowa on Friday following reports that Trump referred to Haiti and other African nations as 'shithole countries.'" --safari...

... Dems to the Rescue. The Daily Beast: "Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Cedric Richmond (D-LA) and House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) announced on Friday afternoon they will introduce a resolution to censure President Trump over his reported comments about immigrants coming from 'shithole' countries.... They plan to introduce the resolution after the Martin Luther King Day holiday." --safari

Related. Josh Gerstein of Politico: "The federal judge who earlier this week ordered the reversal of ... Donald Trump's decision to end the program protecting so-called Dreamers said in a new ruling Friday that it is 'plausible' that Trump shut down the program for racial reasons. 'These allegations raise a plausible inference that racial animus towards Mexicans and Latinos was a motivating factor in the decision to end DACA,' U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup wrote.

Mark Landler of the New York Times: "President Trump again stopped short of reimposing punitive sanctions on Iran that could break up its nuclear deal with world powers, the White House said on Friday. But Mr. Trump gave European allies only 120 days to agree to an overhaul of the deal or administration officials said he would pull the United States out of it. He also approved sanctions against the head of Iran's judiciary, Sadeq Larijani, a powerful figure whom the administration holds culpable for the violent crackdown on recent antigovernment protests. Mr. Trump's action, which was widely expected, is the third time he has given a reprieve to the agreement brokered by President Barack Obama, despite having labeled it 'the worst deal ever' and threatening repeatedly to rip it up." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

** Adam Mount of The Atlantic: "As Americans question whether President Donald Trump has the judgment necessary to command the most capable nuclear arsenal on earth, the Pentagon is moving to order new, more usable nuclear options. Trump's Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), a Pentagon document that sets the nation's nuclear policy, demonstrates an aggressive shift that will add to the spiraling cost of the nuclear arsenal, raise the risk of a nuclear exchange, and plunge the country into a new arms race.... Trump's NPR marks an abrupt shift from the last eight years, when the nation's nuclear-weapons policy enjoyed a surprising bipartisan consensus.... The compromise reflected principles of responsible nuclear policy in place since the late Cold War. According to these principles, national security is better served by maintaining a rough balance of forces between the United States and Russia.... The Trump administration is preparing to shatter this consensus. The leaked draft moves to expand U.S. reliance on nuclear weapons, develop new nuclear capabilities, and embrace competition in strategic weapons." --safari

Adam Taylor of the Washington Post: "In a tweet sent late Thursday evening, President Trump said he had canceled his trip to Britain next month because he was unhappy with the new U.S. Embassy in London -- and accused the Obama administration of making a 'bad deal' for an 'off location.' Many Britons disagreed, suggesting instead the president was simply worried his arrival in London would be greeted by mass protests. Those involved in the relocation of the U.S. Embassy in London also say Trump, a former real estate mogul in New York City, has a bad understanding of the deal. 'As usual, he's dead wrong,' said former ambassador Louis Susman, who served under the Obama administration between 2009 and 2013. 'He's 100 percent wrong.'" Taylor goes on to relay the explanations -- from people involved in the move, some from the Bush II administration -- of how Trump is wrong in every particular." Mrs. McC: I don't think Trump would tell the truth about the time of day. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

YOU: What time is it, Mr. President?

TRUMP: 3:30.

PENCE: Uh, begging your pardon, your royal highness; it's 4:30, not 3:30. Maybe your watch is set to Daylight Savings Time.

TRUMP: I never said it was 3:30.

Danielle Douglas-Gabriel of the Washington Post: "A company that once had financial ties to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was one of two firms selected Thursday by the Education Department to help the agency collect overdue student loans. The deal could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The decision to award contracts to Windham Professionals and Performant Financial Corp. -- a company DeVos invested in before becoming secretary -- arrives a month after a federal judge ordered the department to complete its selection of a loan collector to put an end to a messy court battle. Windham and Performant beat out nearly 40 other bidders for contracts valued at up to $400 million, but their win may be short-lived if the losing companies fight the decision.... Historically, the department has used as many as 17 companies to recoup past-due student loans. Earlier attempts to whittle down the number of firms have been met with resistance."

Tierney Sneed of TPM: "Comments by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, which may have been an attempt to save face as his voter fraud commission was dissolved, have created a number of headaches for the Justice Department attorneys defending the defunct commission in the various lawsuits against it. 'The investigations will continue now, but they won't be able to stall it through litigation,' Kobach told Breitbart News after the commission was dissolved.... Kobach's claims -- as well as similar claims made by White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and by President Trump himself -- about the next steps for the commission's so-called investigation ... have given those who were suing the commission ammo to continue their litigation." --safari

Adam Beam of the AP: "Kentucky has become the first state to require many of its Medicaid recipients to work to receive coverage, part of an unprecedented change to the nation's largest health insurance program under the Trump administration. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced the approval on Friday. The change will require adults between the ages of 19 and 64 to complete 80 hours per month of 'community engagement' to keep their coverage. That includes getting a job, going to school, taking a job training course or community service. It's a big change for Kentucky, a state that just four years ago embraced former President Barack Obama's health care law under a previous Democratic governor who won praise for posting some of the largest insurance coverage gains in the country.... The changes also require people to pay up to $15 a month for their insurance. Basic dental and vision coverage is eliminated, but people can earn those benefits back through a rewards program."

Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "Though pretending to examine a crime against America, [Republicans in Congress] are instead working to cover one up.... Because Republicans don't have to prove their alternative theory, you rarely see it fully elaborated. But it goes something like this: Hillary Clinton's campaign hired Fusion GPS to gather anti-Trump misinformation from Russia. Fusion GPS, working with the retired British spy Christopher Steele, then delivered the Russian smears to the F.B.I., which was determined to thwart Trump. So if anyone was guilty of collusion with Russia in the 2016 election, it was Clinton and her allies.... This tapestry of disinformation is the background to one of Trump's tweets on Thursday morning, which said in part, 'Disproven and paid for by Democrats "Dossier used to spy on Trump Campaign. Did FBI use Intel tool to influence the Election?" @foxandfriends Did Dems or Clinton also pay Russians?'... [Sen. Sheldon] Whitehouse [D-R.I.] told me Thursday, '...You can't solve a crime when you're more interested in protecting the suspects.'"

** Raphael Satter of the AP: "The same Russian government-aligned hackers who penetrated the Democratic Party have spent the past few months laying the groundwork for an espionage campaign against the U.S. Senate, a cybersecurity firm said Friday....' They're still very active -- in making preparations at least -- to influence public opinion again,' said Feike Hacquebord, a security researcher at Trend Micro Inc., which published the report.... Hacquebord said he based his report on the discovery of a clutch of suspicious-looking websites dressed up to look like the U.S. Senate's internal email system.... Attribution is extremely tricky in the world of cybersecurity, where hackers routinely use misdirection and red herrings to fool their adversaries. But Tend Micro, which has followed Fancy Bear for years, said there could be no doubt.... Fancy Bear's interests aren't limited to U.S. politics...." --safari (Also linked yesterday.)

The Zombie Senate Race. Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "Alabama GOP Sen. Richard Shelby is confronting a fierce backlash from conservatives over his refusal to support Roy Moore in last month's special election -- with Moore backers pushing a censure resolution and robocall campaign targeting the powerful lawmaker. Moore's supporters are furious with Shelby over his remark days before the Dec. 12 election that he 'couldn't vote for Roy Moore,' a controversial former state judge who was facing allegations of child molestation. Instead, Shelby said he would write-in the name of another unnamed Republican.... This week, three Moore supporters submitted a resolution to the Alabama Republican Party executive committee calling for Shelby to be censured."

Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. Hayley Peterson of Business Insider on WalMart's closing 63 Sam's Clubs yesterday: "In some cases, employees were not told their store had closed before showing up to work on Thursday. Those employees learned their store would be closing when they found the store's doors locked and a notice announcing the closing, Sam's Club workers told Business Insider. At some stores, employees were turned away by police officers." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: How nice that a multi-trillion-dollar company (I guess) decided to screw these hourly-wage employees one last time. Obviously, there are expense of both time & $$ to get from home to work & back. Many of these workers had to take public transportation, for instance. And some probably had incurred extra expenses like daycare for children or disabled dependents. But WalMart doesn't care.

... Ian Crouch of the New Yorker reviews the interview. Thanks to David R. for the link.

News Ledes

ESPN: "Keith Jackson, who was widely regarded as the voice of college football by several generations, died late Friday night, his family said. He was 89. Jackson, who retired in 2006, spent some 50 years calling the action in a folksy, down-to-earth manner that made him one of the most popular play-by-play personalities in the business."

Los Angeles Times: "Former U.S. Sen. John V. Tunney, who as a young lawyer and rising California political star toppled an entrenched Republican incumbent before facing his own defeat just six years later, has died. He was 83."

The Commentariat -- January 12, 2018

It appears my host Squarespace is nowhere near solving the Comments problem. I did discover a semi-solution that MAG tested, and it worked. Like MAG, you too can become a Reality Chex member! Yeah, yeah, I know you wouldn't become a member of any club that would have you. If you've commented here before & have a burning desire to speak your mind before the Comments submissions function gets fixed -- e-mail me at constantweader@gmail.com . Send a login ID & password (they have to be at least 6 characters long), & I'll tell you how you can exercise the (I hope quite temporary) exclusive privilege of being a Reality Chex member. PLEASE don't give me a log-in or password you currently use anyplace else. I don't want to be the No. 1 suspect when some crook uses your Macy's card. When you're logged in, your comments should take -- at least for now.

If you'd rather just e-mail your comments to me, that's okay, too. The downside is that I will be IDed as the writer (tho of course I'll credit you). BTW, two contributors who already have log-ins also can comment while they're logged in. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie ...

... UPDATE: The Bad News: The host won't be able to fix this right away. The Good News: It's a system-wide problem, so they'll likely get right on it.

(Not much of an) Afternoon Update:

Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "President Trump on Friday offered a vague denial about the language he chose to use about immigrants during a private meeting with lawmakers at the White House on Thursday, when he reportedly referred to African nations as 'shithole countries.' But Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, said on Friday that the president did use the term 'shithole' during the course of the meeting on immigration -- which Mr. Durbin attended. The senator described Mr. Trump as saying 'things which were hate-filled, vile and racist.' In a Twitter post on Friday, just hours before the president signed a proclamation to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which is Monday, Mr. Trump appeared to parse the language he used when he spoke about immigrants from different regions of the world.... 'It's not true,' Mr. Durbin said of Mr. Trump's denial. 'He said these hate-filled things and he said them repeatedly.'... After Mr. Trump signed the proclamation for Martin Luther King Jr. Day later on Friday morning, the president ignored a question from a reporter about whether he is a racist."...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Who ya gonna believe? Dick Durbin or this crackpot. ...

... Glenn Kessler & Meg Kelly of the Washington Post: "President Trump has broken 2,000. With just 10 days before he finishes his first year as president, Trump has made 2,001 false or misleading claims in 355 days, according to our database that analyzes, categorizes and tracks every suspect statement uttered by the president. That's an average of more than 5.6 claims a day." ...

... ** "The 'Shithole Countries -- and the Rest of the World -- Respond to President Trump." Robin Wright of the New Yorker: "President Trump's credibility as a world leader has been, to borrow his vulgarity, shot to shit. With one word -- just the latest in a string of slurs about other nations and peoples -- he has demolished his ability to be taken seriously on the global stage. 'There is no other word one can use but "racist,"' the U.N. High Commissioner on Human Rights, Rupert Colville, said at a briefing in Geneva. 'You cannot dismiss entire countries and continents as 'shitholes,' whose entire populations, who are not white, are therefore not welcome.'... Trump's world view is tragic for so many reasons. First, he's just wrong on the basics.... Trump's bigoted world view also ignores history.... Having strong alliances with African nations is also crucial to Trump's national-security challenges.... Perhaps the ultimate irony is that Trump's own ancestors came from Africa, as did all mankind." Thanks to David R. for the link.

Mark Landler of the New York Times: "President Trump again stopped short of reimposing punitive sanctions on Iran that could break up its nuclear deal with world powers, the White House said on Friday. But Mr. Trump gave European allies only 120 days to agree to an overhaul of the deal or administration officials said he would pull the United States out of it. He also approved sanctions against the head of Iran's judiciary, Sadeq Larijani, a powerful figure whom the administration holds culpable for the violent crackdown on recent antigovernment protests. Mr. Trump's action, which was widely expected, is the third time he has given a reprieve to the agreement brokered by President Barack Obama, despite having labeled it 'the worst deal ever' and threatening repeatedly to rip it up."

Adam Taylor of the Washington Post: "In a tweet sent late Thursday evening, President Trump said he had canceled his trip to Britain next month because he was unhappy with the new U.S. Embassy in London -- and accused the Obama administration of making a 'bad deal' for an 'off location.' Many Britons disagreed, suggesting instead the president was simply worried his arrival in London would be greeted by mass protests. Those involved in the relocation of the U.S. Embassy in London also say Trump, a former real estate mogul in New York City, has a bad understanding of the deal. 'As usual, he's dead wrong,' said former ambassador Louis Susman, who served under the Obama administration between 2009 and 2013. 'He's 100 percent wrong.'" Taylor goes on to relay the explanations -- from people involved in the move, some from the Bush II administration -- of how Trump is wrong in every particular." Mrs. McC: I don't think Trump would tell the truth about the time of day.

YOU: What time is it, Mr. President?

TRUMP: 3:30.

PENCE: Uh, begging your pardon, your royal highness; it's 4:30, not 3:30. Maybe your watch is set to Daylight Savings Time.

TRUMP: I never said it was 3:30.

Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. Hayley Peterson of Business Insider on WalMart's closing 63 Sam's Clubs yesterday: "In some cases, employees were not told their store had closed before showing up to work on Thursday. Those employees learned their store would be closing when they found the store's doors locked and a notice announcing the closing, Sam's Club workers told Business Insider. At some stores, employees were turned away by police officers." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: How nice that a multi-trillion-dollar company (I guess) decided to screw these hourly-wage employees one last time. Obviously, there are expense of both time & $$ to get from home to work & back. Many of these workers had to take public transportation, for instance. And some probably had incurred extra expenses like daycare for children or disabled dependents. But WalMart doesn't care.

*****

Politico: "... Donald Trump on Friday appeared to deny that used the phrase 'shithole countries' during a meeting with bi-partisan lawmakers, tweeting that 'this was not the language used.' 'The language used by me at the DACA meeting was tough, but this was not the language used. What was really tough was the outlandish proposal made - a big setback for DACA!' the president tweeted Friday. Trump also denied he made derogatory comments about Haitians, including 'Why do we want people from Haiti here?' and saying that all Haitians have AIDS. 'Never said anything derogatory about Haitians other than Haiti is, obviously, a very poor and troubled country,' Trump tweeted. 'Never said "take them out." Made up by Dems. I have a wonderful relationship with Haitians. Probably should record future meetings -- unfortunately, no trust!'... In a series of Tweets leading up to that statement, Trump also criticized the 'so-called' bi-partisan Dreamers deal that lawmakers reached this week, calling it 'a big step backwards.'"

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: None of Trump's denials, of course, is remotely believable. ...

...safari: "Derogatory" and "outlandish" are both words with far too many syllables for Trump's stable brain. He obviously didn't write these tweets....

... Trump Has Lost It. Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "President Trump grew frustrated with lawmakers Thursday in the Oval Office when they floated restoring protections for immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and African countries as part of a bipartisan immigration deal, according to two people briefed on the meeting. 'Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?' Trump said, according to these people, referring to African countries and Haiti. He then suggested that the United States should instead bring more people from countries like Norway, whose prime minister he met Wednesday. The comments left lawmakers taken aback.... Trump had seemed amenable to a deal earlier in the day during phone calls, aides said, but shifted his position in the meeting and did not seem interested.... The meeting was impromptu and came after phone calls Thursday morning, Capitol Hill aides said." Mrs. McC: At 7 pm ET, the article has almost 5,000 comments. ...

... Our White Supremacist President, Ctd. Julie Davis & Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "President Trump on Thursday balked at an immigration deal that would include protections for people from Haiti and African countries, demanding to know at a White House meeting why he should accept immigrants from 'shithole countries' rather than people from places like Norway, according to people with direct knowledge of the conversation. Mr. Trump's remarks left members of Congress attending the meeting in the Cabinet Room alarmed and mystified. They were there discussing an emerging bipartisan deal to give legal status to immigrants illegally brought to the United States as children, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity without authorization to discuss the explosive proceedings of the private meeting. When Mr. Trump heard that Haitians were among those who would benefit, he asked if they could be left out of the plan, according to the people familiar with the conversation, asking, 'Why do we want people from Haiti here?'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Second day in a row the NYT has used the word "shit" in covering the news. The Post puts "shithole" in its headline. Now, will you Congressional clunkweasels please roll out the 25th Amendment? ...

... Judd Legum of ThinkProgress: "[T]here is one group that is embracing Trump's comments wholeheartedly: white supremacists.... Trump's comments were also popular on Stormfront, a message board for white supremacists.... White House officials told journalists that they weren't worried about Trump's comments because they would be popular with his base." --safari...

... Henrik Libell & Catherine Porter: Prominent Norwegian journalists, Haiti's ambassador to the U.S., the U.N. human rights office & many others condemned President Trump's remarks.

... James Downie of the Washington Post: "In September, ESPN anchor Jemele Hill tweeted that President Trump is a 'white supremacist.' An avalanche of criticism followed.... On Thursday, Trump proved once and for all that Hill wasn't crossing a line, but merely stating a fact: The president is, by definition a white supremacist.... It's hard to imagine how the president could have been more plainly racist [than his comments today proved]. The White House did not deny the quotes. Indeed, White House staffers told CNN they weren't worried about the comment because it would 'resonate with his base ... much like his attacks on NFL players.' Sorry, there are no prizes for guessing what NFL players and African immigrants have in common. The evidence for Trump's racism has long been overwhelming.... Admitting Trump is a white supremacist ... means reckoning with how it affects his administration's priorities." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: The White House just asserted that Trump's fans were all racists.

... Jonathan Alter in The Daily Beast: "On Dec. 28, Army Pvt. Emmanuel Mensah rushed twice into a burning building in the Bronx and rescued four people. On his third trip in, he died. Mensah was from Ghana, one of President Trump's 'shithole countries.'... [J]ust because the president can't be impeached (at least not yet), court-martialed or fired doesn't mean he can't be punished. It's time to stop wringing our hands. There are remedies that lie between removal from office and doing nothing. The best short-term remedy is censure by both Houses of Congress, a move that would begin the essential process of checking Trump. Andrew Jackson -- whose painting Steve Bannon told Trump to hang in the Oval Office -- is the only president ever censured (for not turning over certain bank documents)... Members wouldn't have to debate immigration or foreign policy or even racism, merely vote that the president's conduct was ... unbecoming. Who can argue with that?" --safari...

...**Richard Wolffe of the Guardian: "Donald Trump knows a thing or two about 'shitholes'.'... His own father was reportedly so ashamed of coming from Germany ... that he pretended for most of his life that he was Swedish. These Aryan dreams glowed all blond and bright through Trump's seminal book, The Art of the Deal, in which he claimed his father arrived as a child from Sweden like some kind of Nordic dreamer.... Far too many people are surprised by your racism, which is as ignorant as it is blatant. This is confusing because you've made no secret of your attitudes.... With a depressing frequency, you have made it clear that you are literally a neo-Nazi sympathizer. If at some stage you promote eugenics on Twitter, we will save a few letters on our character counts and simply call you a neo-Nazi.... We could spend some time celebrating the fact that there's still consensus about hating your blithering racism. But we're far better off if we understand that you aren't some alien invasion....There's a clear thread connecting your racism about immigration to historic racism in the country your family adopted as home." --safari

Cristiano Lima of Politico: "... Donald Trump said he 'probably' has 'a very good relationship' with Kim Jong Un but would not say whether he has spoken to the North Korean leader during an interview with The Wall Street Journal Thursday.... Trump's relationship with Kim in his first year has been marked by antagonistic exchanges and threats, with the U.S. president deriding the North Korean leader with the nickname 'Lil' Rocket Man.' Last week, the combative rhetoric between world leaders reached a fever pitch as the two sparred over the size of their nuclear 'buttons.' The fiery exchanges, Trump told the newspaper, were part of his approach to personal relationships with foreign officials." ...

... Matt Shuham of TPM: "... Donald Trump said Thursday that text messages critical of him shared by FBI employees amounted to treason, the Wall Street Journal reported. Journal reporters interviewed Trump for 45 minutes, the paper reported, in a conversation that touched on everything from North Korea to Steve Bannon.... Trump also told the Journal, referring to ousted FBI Director James Comey, that everybody wanted Comey fired. I should be given credit for having great insight,' he added."

House Defies Fox Administration, Passes Bill. Karoun Demirjian & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "The House voted decisively Thursday to reauthorize a powerful government authority to conduct foreign surveillance on U.S. soil, overcoming opposition from privacy advocates and confusion sown by contradictory and seemingly misinformed tweets from President Trump questioning his administration's support for the program. The 256-to-164 vote sets up the legislation for consideration in the Senate, where leaders have said they think they can pass it before the program's statutory authorization expires on Jan. 19.... But the fate of the program appeared to be in jeopardy Thursday morning, after the president tweeted his doubts about it ... after seeing a segment about it on Fox News Channel. '"House votes on controversial FISA ACT today,"' Trump wrote, citing a Fox News headline. 'This is the act that may have been used, with the help of the discredited and phony Dossier, to so badly surveil and abuse the Trump Campaign by the previous administration and others?' Trump attempted to walk back the tweet about 90 minutes later, urging lawmakers to reauthorize the program. But top Democrats seized on the confusion, calling on Republican leaders to withdraw the bill from consideration 'in light of the irresponsible and inherently contradictory messages coming out of the White House today,' Rep. Adam B. Schiff (Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said on the floor." For more on Trump's big boo-boo, see Jonathan Chait's post, linked yesterday. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Susan Hennessey & Benjamin Wittes have a more serious discussion of what might be, so far, Trump's "most destructive, most irresponsible tweet.... Let's not mince words here: The lapse of Section 702 surveillance capabilities, even for a short time, would constitute a full-fledged national security emergency." Mrs. McC: If you read this story, remember who's got the big button. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Jonathan Swan of Axios: Here's Trump's second & supposed CYA tweet: "With that being said, I have personally directed the fix to the unmasking process since taking office and today's vote is about foreign surveillance of foreign bad guys on foreign land. We need it! Get smart!" BUT, "The White House put out a statement last night supporting FISA renewal and opposing an amendment by Rep. Justin Amash and others that would limit the amount of information intelligence officials are allowed to gather on Americans." Mrs. McC: That is, the House rejected what Trump says was a "fix" he "personally directed," the one he believes allowed President Obama to "tapp his wires." Moron, idiot -- take your pick. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

It's official: we're living in Idiocracy --safari

** Russ Choma of Mother Jones: "In a new letter, five top Democrats on the House financial services committee, led by ranking member Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), are demanding Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin offer up his agency's resources in tracking financial crimes to investigate possible money laundering by the Trumps Kushners.... Additionally, Waters and her fellow committee Democrats are requesting that Mnuchin, who was the Trump campaign's finance chairman, answer questions about any improper foreign influence on the campaign's finances -- and recuse himself from any law enforcement or regulatory activity involving Trump and his family." --safari

Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "President Trump said he has called off a planned ceremonial visit to Britain because he didn't want to be associated with what he called a bad real estate deal in which the U.S. Embassy is being relocated from central London to 'an off location.' In a Twitter message shortly before midnight Thursday, Trump implicitly rejected reports that the trip -- never announced but widely assumed to be in February -- was being scrapped over concerns that the U.S. leader would be met with widespread protests. 'Reason I canceled my trip to London is that I am not a big fan of the Obama Administration having sold perhaps the best located and finest embassy in London for "peanuts," only to build a new one in an off location for 1.2 billion dollars. Bad deal. Wanted me to cut ribbon-NO,' Trump wrote." ...

... Heather Stewart & David Smith of the Guardian: "Donald Trump has cancelled a visit to Britain next month to open the new US embassy in London, amid fears of mass protests. The president claimed on Twitter that the reason for calling off the trip was his displeasure at Barack Obama.... But the embassy's plan to move from Mayfair to Nine Elms in London was first reported in October 2008, when George W Bush was still president." --safari...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: How would a normal leader bow out of a foreign country visit to avoid expected protests? Cite "security concerns." It wouldn't be a lie. But no. Trump has to cover his ass with self-aggrandizing boasts: by implying he's a desirable guy ("wanted there") & President Obama doesn't measure up to Donald Trump, real estate genius. Oh, & Gearan's reports: "The George W. Bush administration had decided more than a decade ago to relocate the embassy from offices on prime land in the tony neighborhood of Mayfair in central London to a plot on the banks of the Thames in the south of the city. Security concerns drove the move, in line with a worldwide upgrade and redesign of embassy facilities to better protect them from vehicle bombs and other terrorism." This is the Cliff Clavin presidency. But worse. ...

     ... CBS News: "A short time before the president's tweet, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders had disputed a report in the British newspaper the Daily Mail that the trip had been scrapped. Sanders said, 'The invitation was made [by U.K.] and we accepted. We are still finalizing dates for the state visit.'"

U.S. Delivers Fictional Fighter Jet to Norway (or to Fictional Country Normay). Alex Horton of the Washington Post: "... alongside Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg at the White House on Wednesday..., President Trump ... [announced] that the United States had delivered F-52 fighter jets to Norway.... The 'F-52' is a fictional jet only available to fly if you're a gamer at the controls of 'Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.'" Mrs. McC: Which raises the question -- Does Trump spend some of that "executive time" playing childish military video games?

Amy Sorkin of the New Yorker: "As has become increasingly clear over the first year of Trump's Presidency, he cannot stop himself from turning almost any occasion -- almost any critical note -- into a cue for a complaint about Clinton. The Hillary test he seems to administer is simple, illogical, repetitive, and tiresome: yes, he is in the White House -- but why isn't she in prison?" Sorkin goes on to fact-check Trump's latest false claims about Clinton & her FBI interview.

Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post: "Trump ... proved [Michael] Wolff's account stunningly accurate this week. Thursday, however, was a three-alarm fire for the White House and its effort to convince the country that Trump is capable of performing his job.... In the morning he attacked reauthorization of the FISA surveillance program -- apparently based on what he heard on a 'Fox & Friends'” segment.... He then reversed himself -- or had an aide draft a tweet with a 180-degree reversal so as not to prevent reauthorization of a program he is supposed to support.... Then came his boast that he had a great relationship with North Korea's dictator, Kim Jong Un.... Next came his assertion about immigrants.... This was a two-for -- that is, a demonstration of utter ignorance and out-and-out racism. White, European country good! Black and brown countries bad!"

Frank Rich: Michael "Wolff's re-creations of scenes are no more or less plausible than [Bob] Woodward's, and Wolff should not be faulted for favoring direct editorialization over Woodward's technique of encoding his judgments in subtext. People are reading and buying Fire and Fury because the story rings true. It would also be highly entertaining, as pure and utter farce, if only the fate of America and perhaps the world were not at stake." Mrs. McC: Sorry I missed this Wednesday & thanks to MAG for the lead. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Russia Today

Max Greenwood of the Hill: "Democrats on the House Oversight Committee are calling on the panel's Republican chairman to subpoena documents from the Trump Organization. In a letter to Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) on Thursday, 17 panel Democrats called for a 'serious investigation' into whether President Trump's businesses are violating the emoluments clause of the Constitution, which bars federal officials from accepting payments or gifts from foreign governments.... he letter to Gowdy comes exactly a year after Trump held a news conference announcing that he would not liquidate his business assets or put them into a blind trust, but would instead hand day-to-day control of the Trump Organization over to his two adult sons.... The Democrats are seeking documents regarding how the Trump Organization identifies payments from foreign governments, as well as documents on whether Trump is making good on his promise to donate such payments to the U.S. Treasury." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Sloppy Steve Lawyers Up. Betsy Woodruff, et al., of the Daily Beast: "Steve Bannon is lawyering up as he gets ready to face investigators looking into the Trump-Russia nexus. The Daily Beast has learned that the former top White House strategist has retained Bill Burck, of the firm Quinn Emanuel. Two sources tell us Burck is helping Bannon prepare for an interview with the House intelligence committee, which is currently scheduled for next week." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

From Russia with Love. Denise Clifton of Mother Jones: "While the vast majority of the attacks from the 600 Twitter accounts tracked in real time by the Hamilton 68 dashboard are aimed at Democrats, the trolls also turn their sights on Republicans who sometimes stand up to Trump. Repeat targets have included Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. National security adviser H.R. McMaster has also been a target. But no Republican has faced more persistent wrath from the Russian-linked accounts than [John] McCain.... And those attacks on McCain have intensified in recent weeks. [T]he trolls tend to spread disinformation from far-right American sites rather than content from explicitly Russian ones.... In fact, the most prominent theme recently among the Russian-backed accounts is a growing campaign to discredit the Justice Department and FBI." --safari: EVERY DAY Putin's bots sow doubt into the minds of Confederates about our democratic institutions, and the Republicans in turn provide him daily cover and assistance. Treasonous bastards all the lot of 'em...

... **Raphael Satter of the AP: "The same Russian government-aligned hackers who penetrated the Democratic Party have spent the past few months laying the groundwork for an espionage campaign against the U.S. Senate, a cybersecurity firm said Friday.... 'They're still very active -- in making preparations at least -- to influence public opinion again,' said Feike Hacquebord, a security researcher at Trend Micro Inc., which published the report.... Hacquebord said he based his report on the discovery of a clutch of suspicious-looking websites dressed up to look like the U.S. Senate's internal email system.... Tend Micro, which has followed Fancy Bear for years, said there could be no doubt ... Fancy Bear's interests aren't limited to U.S. politics; the group also appears to have the Olympics in mind.... On Wednesday, a group ... began publishing what appeared to be Olympics and doping-related emails from between September 2016 and March 2017. The contents were largely unremarkable but their publication was covered extensively by Russian state media." --safari

Keepin' It in the Family. Lachlan Markay of The Daily Beast: "Eric Trump's controversial charitable foundation paid nearly $150,000 to Trump Organization companies in 2016, as donations to the group skyrocketed amid Donald Trump's presidential campaign.... Fundraising events brought in more than $1.7 million for the foundation in 2016, the new tax filing shows. It says that it paid $1.3 million of that sum to the events' charitable beneficiaries, and spent all of the remaining income — to the dollar -- on event expenses, leaving it with exactly $0 in net income." --safari

Cheri Jacobi of USA Today: "Steve Bannon -- the loathed architect of President Trump's alt-right hate machine, Breitbart lies, racism, misogyny and Twitter thug troll factory -- is banished to political Siberia.... Bannon is a deplorable human being who has no business being in a position of power or having the ear of any lawmaker. But as deplorable as he may be, his destruction by Trump and the sycophantic army Bannon helped incubate should frighten every American.... When Bannon promoted white nationalism, misogyny, an accused child molester, severe online bullying and conspiracy theories, he was a king to the right-wing media, Trump and most of the Republicans in Congress. But when he dared to tell the truth..., Bannon was cut out like a member of Tony Soprano's 'family' who turned state's evidence."

Robert Pear of the New York Times: "The Trump administration said Thursday that it would allow states to impose work requirements in Medicaid, a major policy shift in the health program for low-income people.... Seema Verma, the administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ... said the Trump administration was responding to requests from Medicaid officials in 10 states that wanted to run demonstration projects testing requirements for work or other types of community engagement.... The proposals, she said, came from Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Utah and Wisconsin." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Khorri Atkinson of Axios: "The Environmental Protection Agency's internal inspector general said in an internal memo that he is expanding his investigation into agency head Scott Pruitt's air travel. A probe last year had found Pruitt's 'non-commercial' flights between June and August cost taxpayers more than $58,000." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Heather Caygle of Politico: "Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi complained Thursday that immigration negotiations are being led by 'five white guys' -- and was quickly rebuked by her No. 2, Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, himself one of those white guys involved in the talks. 'The five white guys I call them, you know,' Pelosi said at her weekly news conference. 'Are they going to open a hamburger stand next or what?' Pelosi said, complaining that minority members of Congress were not involved in deciding the fate of Dreamers. Pelosi's quip was a reference to the hamburger chain Five Guys and the five white men leading the immigration negotiations.... 'That comment is offensive. I am committed to ensuring DREAMers are protected and I will welcome everyone to the table who wants to get this done,' Hoyer said to Politico in a statement."

Paul Krugman: "G.O.P. opposition to programs helping the less fortunate, from food stamps to Medicaid, is usually framed in monetary terms.... But ... it's about ... cruelty. Over the past few years it has become increasingly clear that the suffering imposed by Republican opposition to safety-net programs isn't a bug, it's a feature. Inflicting pain is the point." Krugman cites Republican positions on three issues -- ObamaCare Medicaid expansion, Medicaid work requirements, & children's health insurance. "Making lower-income Americans worse off has become a goal in itself for the modern G.O.P., a goal the party is actually willing to spend money and increase deficits to achieve."

E.A. Crunden of ThinkProgress: "The Trump administration recently denied a fourth young undocumented immigrant the right to an abortion, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said on Thursday.... She has access to private funds to cover the cost of the procedure and staff at the shelter where she is living have indicated a willingness to accompany her. However, the government is refusing to allow her access to an abortion — making this case the fourth time in four months that the Trump administration has prevented an undocumented minor from obtaining the legal procedure." --safari

Michael Corkery of the New York Times: "Walmart, the nation's largest private employer, waded into the bumpy waters of partisan politics on Thursday, announcing that it will use some of its savings under the new tax bill to provide wage increases, bonuses and expanded benefits to its hourly workers. The giant retailer ... said it would raise its minimum starting wage to $11 an hour, from $9. It will also expand maternity and family leave benefits, and give bonuses of up to $1,000 to eligible employees. By tying its pay increases to the tax break it expects to receive, as other large companies have done in recent weeks, Walmart provided support for claims by the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress that the new tax law will benefit not just the wealthy but also working-class Americans.... But within hours, Walmart had undercut its triumphal message when news leaked that it was closing 63 of its Sam's Club stores. Labor groups and Senate Democrats seized on the news to question Walmart's motives and criticize the tax bill as failing to protect low-wage workers." ...

... Charles Bethea of the New Yorker: "Carrier Corporation..., owned by United Technologies Corporation -- a federal contractor whose climate, controls, and security division, of which Carrier is a part, reported three billion dollars in operating profit in 2016 -- is letting go of more than two hundred employees in its second and final wave of Indiana-based layoffs, which began last July. In total, the company will be laying off more than five hundred employees as it moves manufacturing jobs to Monterrey, Mexico. Many of those employees voted for Donald Trump, who made saving Carrier's 'big, beautiful plant' [in Indianapolis] one of his most repeated campaign promises.... Organizers with Good Jobs Nation, a Washington, D.C.-based labor-advocacy group, and a handful of local Democratic politicians and political hopefuls stood before a small crowd at Sully's [Bar & Grill, across the street from Carrier's Indianapolis plant] and denounced Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence, Indiana's former governor. Obscenities were liberally employed. The most pointed denunciation came from Chuck Jones, the former president of United Steel Workers Local 1999, in Indianapolis, who disputed Trump's initial characterization of the Carrier deal and was targeted by Trump on Twitter as a result. 'Trump is a liar and an idiot,' Jones told the crowd, adding, 'He's a con man, pure and simple, who sold us a bag of shit.'"

Issa Considers Change of Venue. Scott Wong & Katie Williams of the Hill: "GOP Rep. Darrell Issa, who said Wednesday he is not seeking reelection in California's 49th district, has been discussing with colleagues the possibility of running in a neighboring San Diego district if embattled Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) resigns, multiple sources told The Hill. Some of these discussions happened as recently as Wednesday, the day Issa announced he would not be running for reelection in his coastal Southern California district after 15 years in the House." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Beyond the Beltway

Dana Ferguson of The Argus Leader: "Sen. Neal Tapio, R-Watertown [South Dakota], watched as about 50 people representing various religions ... prayed at the Capitol rotunda Wednesday morning. The faith leaders prayed for tolerance and religious acceptance on what was the Legislature's second day in session. Members of the group invited Tapio to join them for a group photo. Tapio, looking uncomfortable, stood with them as cameras clicked and flashed. Then he ... began yelling at those around him, 'I don't like being called a racist.' [He] then launched into a speech.... He stressed the need to ban travel to the United States by Muslim individuals, particularly from Muslim-majority countries where groups have supported Sharia law." --safari

Tom Dart of the Guardian: "It would rank as one of the greatest political upsets of 2018 and a stunning rebuke to Trumpism: a gay Latina Democrat grabbing hold of the country's biggest red state. But is Texas ready for Lupe Valdez? The question was first posed in Dallas in 2004, when Valdez scored a surprise victory to become the nation's first openly gay female Hispanic sheriff on the same night that George W Bush secured a second term in the White House. She won re-election three times in Dallas county before announcing last month that she would resign to stand for Texas governor.... Texas's Hispanic population grew by over 60% from 2000 to 2015, according to the Pew Research Center, and Latino people now comprise 39% of the state's 28 million residents; 43% of Texans are white.... A Democrat has not won a statewide race in Texas since 1994." --safari

Rob Haskell in Vogue writes a long portrait of Serena Williams' life post-pregnancy, and how she almost died after giving birth. --safari

Way Beyond

William Branigin & Simeon Tegel of the Washington Post: "Ecuador has granted citizenship to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, the South American nation's foreign minister announced Thursday, in a bid to resolve an 'unsustainable' situation at its embassy in London, where Assange sought refuge more than five years ago. But a standoff with British authorities continued, as the Foreign Office rejected an Ecuadoran request that it grant diplomatic status to Assange, insisting instead that the Australian national 'leave the embassy to face justice.' Ecuador's foreign minister, Maria Fernanda Espinosa, subsequently said that Assange would not leave the embassy in the absence of security guarantees. She said in a news conference Thursday in Quito, the Ecuadoran capital, that Assange was granted citizenship on Dec. 12, after having applied for it in September.” (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Robert Tait of the Guardian: "The Czech president, Miloš Zeman, has been accused of promoting a climate of 'vulgarity, incompetence and corruption' as the Czech Republic heads into a presidential election [this Friday and Saturday] widely seen as a referendum on his controversial brand of anti-immigrant populism and the country's place in the western alliance. The scathing critique has been issued by a rival candidate, Jiří Drahoš, a former chairman of the Czech academy of sciences, who has emerged as the main challenger to Zeman in this week's poll.... Drahoš pledged to 'restore the moral authority' once associated with former Czech leaders such as the late Vaclav Havel, which he said had been squandered by Zeman’s penchant for incendiary statements and the rise of populist parties in parliament. He vowed to reverse the president's friendly approach to Russia and instead reaffirm the Czech Republic's commitment to the EU and Nato." --safari