The Commentariat -- November 30, 2017
Late Morning Update:
Seung Min Kim of Politico: "Sen. John McCain said he will back the GOP tax overhaul, providing a major lift to the bill's prospects." Mrs. McC: The Senate bill will pass. I don't see any three GOP senators ready to stop it. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Assuming that the House & Senate can reconcile their competing bills, the only upside I see for Medlar & me is that our taxes actually will go down because in the recession/depression that is likely to follow in a few years, all of our investments will tank & the only income we'll have to report is the reduced Social Security pension the GOP allow us. Also, too, I hear pet feed producers are now making cat food that is safe for humans to eat.
Peter Baker & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The White House has developed a plan to force out Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, whose relationship with President Trump has been strained, and replace him with Mike Pompeo, the C.I.A. director, perhaps within the next several weeks, senior administration officials said on Thursday. Mr. Pompeo would be replaced at the C.I.A. by Senator Tom Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas who has been a key ally of the president on national security matters, according to the White House plan. Mr. Cotton has signaled that he would accept the job if offered, said the officials, who insisted on anonymity to discuss sensitive deliberations before decisions are announced. It was not immediately clear whether Mr. Trump has given final approval to the plan...."
Mike Allen, official Washington gossip: "White House officials expect Trump to be even more outrageous and cocksure in coming months.... Officials tell us Trump seems more self-assured, more prone to confidently indulging wild conspiracies and fantasies, more quick-triggered to fight than he was during the Wild West of the first 100 days in office.... We just witnessed the most unthinkable 96 hours of Trump's reign: He called for a probe of the chairman of NBC News, a boycott of CNN, global skepticism of CNN International, and a public contest to crown the king of Fake News. He told friends that the 'Access Hollywood' tape may have been doctored, and that former President Obama may have been born abroad. He re-tweeted conspiracy theorists. He unapologetically circulated videos aimed at demeaning an entire religion, Islam. He sent his press secretary out to argue it doesn't matter if the tapes are fake, because the threat is real.... Elected Republicans, at least in public, seem fine with it all. They chuckle and say it's simply Trump being Trump. White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and his staff seem fine with, or at least resigned to, this reality. No one who matters is doing anything but egging him on." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: The world will go out with a bang, not a whimper.
Greg Sargent on Trump's huge betrayal of the white middle class he courted by making as his central argument his promise to end the cabal of wealthy elites to rig the tax system in their favor. "Now Trump and the politicians, working together, are set to pass a tax plan that will lavish enormous benefits on people like Trump -- and in key ways further rigs the system on their behalf."
Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) announced Thursday that he won't run for reelection in 2018, following a string of stories about him sending lewd texts and nude photos and videos to women. Barton, the ninth most-senior member of the House, told the Dallas Morning news in an interview, 'There are enough people who lost faith in me that it's time to step aside.' Local GOP leaders had begun calling for Barton to step down in recent days."
Louis Nelson of Politico: "An Army veteran has accused Sen. Al Franken of groping her breast during a 2003 USO tour in Kuwait, the fifth woman to come forward with accusations against the Minnesota Democrat in the last two weeks. Former military policewoman Stephanie Kemplin told CNN Franken put his hand on her breast during a photo opportunity, keeping it there for five to 10 seconds, which she said was long enough that he should have noticed if it was a mistake."
*****
Let This Sink in. Eileen Sullivan & Dan Bilefsky of the New York Times: "President Trump shared videos supposedly portraying Muslims committing acts of violence on Twitter early Wednesday morning, images that are likely to fuel anti-Islam sentiments popular among the president's political base in the United States.... Mr. Trump retweeted the video posts from an ultranationalist British party leader, Jayda Fransen, who has previously been charged in the United Kingdom with 'religious aggravated harassment,' according to news reports.... British politicians were quick to condemn Mr. Trump's tacit endorsement of the videos. The office of Theresa May, the British prime minister, said, 'It is wrong for the president to have done this.'... David Lammy, a member of Parliament for the Labour Party, echoed that statement on Twitter. 'Trump sharing Britain First. Let that sink in. The President of the United States is promoting a fascist, racist, extremist hate group whose leaders have been arrested and convicted. He is no ally or friend of ours.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Nico Hines of the Daily Beast: "Donald Trump retweeted an apparent snuff video to his 40 million followers Wednesday morning, with footage depicting what looked like a brutal murder carried out by an Islamist mob that had been posted by a far-right British political activist.... Two of [Jayda] Fransen's other videos -- which were also retweeted by the president -- were apparently aimed at inciting religious hatred. One was titled 'Muslim Destroys a Statue of Virgin Mary!' and the other was 'Muslim migrant beats up Dutch boy on crutches!' According to Dutch media, the teen seen bullying the kid on crutches turned out not to be a Muslim or an immigrant." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
The world needs to start calling out this president for what he truly is, and making it clear that he and his country cannot be respected while this radicalisation continues.... The world must not remain silent while the US president promotes extreme right wing politics in other countries. -- Gloria, in yesterday's Comments
... Fake Is Good, After All. AND Mrs. Huckleberry tells reporters it doesn't matter whether or not the videos are real. "The threat is real," she said. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Update. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "The White House that complains almost daily about 'fake news' doesn't care if these videos are fake news as long they serve real purposes. Sanders just tacitly endorsed the concept of propaganda, and she said it out loud.... The White House just publicly sanctioned the use of false information to further its political goals.... That's a hell of an standard operating procedure. It's even more remarkable that it was acknowledged publicly." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Maxwell Tani of Business Insider: "... Donald Trump on Wednesday called for the Morning Joe' host Joe Scarborough -- as well as MSNBC's president, Phil Griffin -- to be fired, citing an unfounded conspiracy theory about the 2001 death of an intern in Scarborough's congressional office. Trump's tweet mentioned NBC's firing on Wednesday of the longtime 'Today' show host Matt Lauer after receiving a complaint that Lauer had engaged in 'inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace.' 'So now that Matt Lauer is gone when will the Fake News practitioners at NBC be terminating the contract of Phil Griffin? And will they terminate low ratings Joe Scarborough based on the 'unsolved mystery' that took place in Florida years ago? Investigate!' Trump wrote. Trump was referring to a longtime obsession of online conspiracy theorists: the death in 2001 of an aide to Scarborough, a Republican congressman from Florida at the time, named Lori Klausutis. Authorities said they found no evidence of foul play -- a medical examiner said that because of a heart problem, Klausutis lost consciousness and collapsed in Scarborough's district office, hitting her head."
Greg Sargent: Trump "is trying to render reality irrelevant.... He's asserting a species of power -- the power to evade constraints normally imposed by empirically verifiable facts, by expectations of consistency, and even by what reasoned inquiry deems merely credible. The more brazen or shameless, the more potent is the assertion of power. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: This technique works on Trump's bozo base; they are either too dumb to discern fact from fiction, or they don't care as long as Trump keeps promising to give them some bit of whatever it is they want. But it should be clear by now that it does not work on those whom he attacks with his brazen lies. ...
... Lachlan Markay, et al. of The Daily Beast: "On Wednesday morning, the president of the United States was condemned by 10 Downing Street and praised by David Duke. Those responses -- inconceivable for any other White House occupant prior -- came after a series of angry tweets and retweets, in which President Donald J. Trump promoted explicit anti-Muslim propaganda, floated a conspiracy theory about MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, called for the sacking of his enemies at NBC, and potentially undermined his own 'travel ban' case to the delight of plaintiffs currently suing the administration.... All this happened before 10:30 a.m. ET.... What set Wednesday's digital outbursts apart is that they had the potential to spark far more serious international and diplomatic disputes.... [F]ew people inside the White House seemed to express much concern over the president's tweets on Wednesday" --safari ...
... New York Daily News Editors: "After his latest spasm of deranged tweets, only those completely under his spell can deny what growing numbers of Americans have long suspected: The President of the United States is profoundly unstable. He is mad. He is, by any honest layman's definition, mentally unwell and viciously lashing out.... Occam's razor, and the sheer strangeness of Trump's behavior, leads us to conclude that we are witnessing signs of mania." The editors go on to discuss some of Trump's other cruel & dishonest tweets -- like his attack on Joe Scarborough. ...
Hey, look, I'm president. I don't care. I don't care anymore. -- Donald Trump, at a speech yesterday in Missouri
... Philip Rucker & Ashley Parker of the Washington Post: "Trump has internalized the belief that he can largely operate with impunity, people close to him said. His political base cheers him on. Fellow Republican leaders largely stand by him. His staff scrambles to explain away his misbehavior -- or even to laugh it off. And the White House disciplinarian, chief of staff John F. Kelly, has said it is not his job to control the president. For years, Trump has fired off incendiary tweets and created self-sabotaging controversies. The pattern captures the musings of a man who traffics in conspiracy theories and alternate realities and who can't resist inserting himself into any story line at any moment." ...
... AND, according to Rucker & Parker, two of Trump's harshest GOP Congressional critics -- Sens. Lindsay Graham & Jeff Flake -- called Trump's retweeting the anti-Muslim videos "not helpful." Not helpful? Playing golf is not helpful. Promoting incendiary fascist, nationalistic, racist content for the purpose of inciting hatred & turmoil is intolerable & INSANE.
Matt Apuzzo of the New York Times: "... Jared Kushner met this month with investigators working for Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, and answered questions about a meeting with a Russian ambassador during the presidential transition, according to a person briefed on the investigation. The questions focused on a meeting in December between Mr. Kushner, the ambassador and Michael T. Flynn, who at the time was the president's incoming national security adviser, the person said on Wednesday. Prosecutors also asked Mr. Kushner about other interactions between Mr. Flynn and the Russian government, the person briefed on the investigation said."
Kara Scannell, et al., of CNN: "Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team has postponed an anticipated grand jury testimony linked to his investigation into Michael Flynn amid growing indications of possible plea deal discussions."
Manu Raju of CNN: "Donald Trump Jr. has agreed to meet with the House Intelligence Committee as soon as next week, giving lawmakers their first opportunity to question President Donald Trump's eldest son over his contacts with Russians during the campaign season, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the matter.... Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr of North Carolina told CNN Wednesday that his panel planned to interview Trump Jr. in December." The House testimony, or chat or whatever, "is expected to occur behind closed doors." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Manu Raju & Jeremy Herb of CNN: "President Trump's longtime associate Roger Stone was in contact with a New York radio personality who had conversations with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange during the 2016 campaign season, according to sources familiar with the situation.The radio host, Randy Credico, is the individual Stone referred to as an intermediary between him and Assange.... On his radio show, Credico has had both Assange and Stone appear as guests, and he met with Assange in person earlier this year.... Credico received a subpoena this week to appear Dec. 15 before the House Intelligence Committee, something Credico's attorney Martin Stolar says he 'certainly' plans to comply with.... Credico, who says he backed Green Party candidate Jill Stein in the election and supports liberal causes like legalizing marijuana, wouldn't say whether he would answer the committee's questions, citing First Amendment protections as a journalist."
Dan Vergano of BuzzFeed: "Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Wednesday announced that pollster Kellyanne Conway, 50, counselor to ... Donald Trump, would oversee White House efforts to combat the opioid overdose epidemic.... But ... the administration still hasn't named someone to head its Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), or released a strategy to combat the crisis (one is promised in February), or requested any money from Congress to fill the depleted national public health emergency fund -- now down to $66,000 -- to pay for its health emergency declaration." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: This is kinda perfect inasmuch as Conway always acts as if she's popping something. ...
... Eric Levitz: "Conway is a career pollster and pundit, best known for managing Donald Trump's presidential campaign and telling brazen lies on cable news. She has no experience in public health. And it is not immediately clear whether she will be abandoning her surrogate duties to devote herself to her new assignment."
John Wagner of the Washington Post: In St. Charles, Missouri, "... President Trump on Wednesday pitched the Republican tax plan as a boon to his working-class supporters, even as independent analyses have indicated that the wealthy and corporations would be the biggest beneficiaries. 'Our focus is on helping the folks who work in the mail rooms and the machine shops of America, the plumbers, the carpenters, the cops, the teachers, the truck drivers ... the people that like me best,' Trump said in remarks to an enthusiastic, invitation-only crowd of about 1,000 at a convention center in a state that he carried comfortably in last year's election.... During his remarks..., Trump suggested that the GOP efforts were widely popular. 'We have tremendous support for this plan, tremendous,' he said.... Several recent polls show that more Americans oppose than support the Trump and GOP tax plans.... Trump also said that he would not fare well under the plan -- a contention that independent analyses have disputed...." ...
This is going to cost me a fortune, this thing, believe me. This is not good for me.... I think my accountants are going crazy right now. -- President Trump, remarks on tax plan, St. Charles, Mo., November 29
When you add it up, Trump would have saved $42 million on his 2005 taxes under the House bill and $35.1 million under the Senate bill. A big part of the savings is from elimination of the alternative minimum tax, and of course we do not know how often he was subject to it. But the fact that the president has refused to release his tax returns should not allow him to make claims about his taxes without offering documented proof. The information we do have -- the partial 2005 return -- shows his claim of losing a fortune on the tax bill is poppycock. -- Glenn Kessler of the WashPo
... Linda Qiu of the New York Times rounds up more of the lies Trump told yesterday in Missouri: "He is wrong that 'for years, they haven't been able to get tax cuts, many, many years since Reagan.'... He falsely called the current plan the 'biggest tax cut in the history of our country, bigger than Reagan.'... He falsely suggested that the stock market was previously flat. He inaccurately suggested the plan wouldn't help the wealthy.... He exaggerated when he said a 3.3 percent growth was the 'largest increase in many years.'... -- Mrs. McCrabbie: I guess Missouri is the "tell-me state" now.
... ** Thomas Kaplan & Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "The Senate moved closer to approving a sweeping overhaul of the tax code on Wednesday, voting to begin debate on the tax bill as Republican leaders continue trying to secure the votes for final passage. The procedural vote, which passed 52 to 48 along party lines, put the Senate on track for a final vote later this week. The push by Senate Republicans to pass an ambitious tax overhaul now enters a critical and politically delicate phase. Republican leaders still lack firm commitments from enough of their members to ensure passage later in the week, and significant changes were still being discussed on Wednesday." ...
... James Hohmann of the Washington Post: "Outside groups on the right are furiously mobilizing against an agreement that Republican leaders made with Bob Corker [Tuesday] to get the tax bill through the Senate Budget Committee. The Tennessee Republican negotiated a budget deal in September that the tax cuts cannot increase the national debt by more than $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years. Now he's concerned about various gimmicks and overly rosy assumptions in the bill that would almost certainly mean the true impact on the debt is far greater than that. So the retiring senator has been pushing in recent days to include a 'trigger' that would automatically increase taxes down the road if the bill fails to generate the level of economic growth that Republicans leaders keep publicly predicting. It's not clear what exactly GOP leaders promised Corker, who declined to share specifics with reporters.... In addition to Corker, the compromise is being crafted to win over other on-the-fence Republicans like James Lankford (Okla.), Jeff Flake (Ariz.) and Jerry Moran (Kan.).... Despite the rift, the sense in the Capitol is that there is real momentum toward getting this done. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) appeared ready to fall in line after a private meeting with Trump [Tuesday]." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Andy Rosenthal of the New York Times: "Susan Collins and some other senators who had hinted they might oppose the Republican tax bill giveaway to the super rich are changing their tune. Apparently, President Trump assured them over lunch that he's going to fix the bill.... One of the few certainties in these uncertain times is that no one can rely on anything Trump says. But these senators believe him now? The only other option is that they know Trump's pledges to 'fix' the tax bill are insincere and they are conning their constituents and the rest of America." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: This is the same president* who has told at least 1,600 lies since coming into office & has proved to be willing to say anything to get his way. And, as John Wagner of the WashPo reported (linked above), he told several more whoppers about the tax plan Wednesday. Nice to know Collins & Corker are feeling so much better about screwing their constituents. They have no shame. ...
... New York Times Editors: "This is how Senate Republicans compromise these days: They could make their enormously unpopular tax bill, which lavishes benefits on corporations and wealthy families, more generous to real estate tycoons and hedge fund billionaires to win over a couple of lawmakers who say the legislation doesn't do enough for small businesses. Even by the collapsing standards of Congress this is astounding. The change demanded by the two unhappy senators -- Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Steve Daines of Montana -- would further lower the tax bills of people like President Trump who earn most of their income through limited liability companies, partnerships and other 'pass through' businesses that do not withhold taxes on the money passed along to their owners. About 70 percent of all pass-through income goes to people in the top 1 percent ... who receive any income whatsoever." ...
... Sarah Kliff of Vox: "The Senate tax bill is really a health care bill with major implications for more than 100 million Americans who rely on the federal government for their health insurance. The bill reaches into every major American health care program: Medicaid, Medicare, and the Obamacare marketplaces. These are expected outcomes based on two significant policy changes in the bill. First, the bill repeals the individual mandate, a key piece of Obamacare that requires most Americans get covered. Economists expect its elimination to reduce enrollment in both the Affordable Care Act's private marketplaces and Medicaid by millions. The money saved will be pumped into tax cuts for the very wealthy. The bill also includes tax cuts so large that they would trigger across-the-board spending cuts -- including billions for Medicare. The last time Medicare was hit with cuts like this, patients lost access to critical services like chemotherapy treatment." ...
... Gary Koenig & Maxim Shvedov of the AARP: "Like the House tax bill, many taxpayers age 65+ get some tax relief under the [Senate Finance Committee] bill. But others end up paying higher income taxes than they pay today and the number doing so rises sharply over time. That impact is in addition to the potential negative effects of cuts to programs like Medicare that would result from the tax bill -- effects that the analysis does not cover." ...
... ** Peter Goodman & Patricia Cohen of the New York Times: "... as the [tax] bill has been rushed through Congress with scant debate, its far broader ramifications have come into focus, revealing a catchall legislative creation that could reshape major areas of American life, from education to health care.... Many [experts] view the legislation not as a product of genuine deliberation, but as a transfer of wealth to corporations and affluent individuals -- both generous purveyors of campaign contributions." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: In addition to all the tremendous ills Goodman & Cohen lay out, I predict the bill will worsen the "American character," if there be such a thing. Why do as President Obama suggested -- "work hard & play by the rules" to get ahead -- when the government purposely has stacked the rules against you? Zillions of Americans will become little Trumpies, McConnells & Ryans -- lying, sneaky, sanctimonious grifters who live by the GOP motto: "Do unto others before they do unto you."
E.J. Dionne: "Great nations and proud democracies fall when their systems become so corrupted that the decay is not even noticed -- or the rot is written off as a normal part of politics. President Trump has created exactly such a crisis. He has not done it alone. The corrosion of norms and values began long before he propelled the nation past the edge, and his own party is broadly complicit in enabling his attacks on truth, decency and democratic values. In fact, Republicans are taking full advantage of the bedlam Trump leaves in his wake.... They dare not take on Trump because doing so might derail the pursuit of what are now their party's only driving purposes: court packing, the care and feeding of the privileged, and the gutting of federal social services and regulation. This, too, is a form of corruption.... The longer this president is in power, the weaker our country will become."
Senate Races
Mrs. McCrabbie: Now don't tell me Republicans don't have some great Americans running for the Senate: How about a guy who just got out of the federal pen for indirectly causing the deaths of 29 employees? How about a guy who is an accused pedophile who has been removed from his state's high court twice for defying federal court rulings?
Adam Raymond of New York: "Don Blankenship, the disgraced coal baron who was released from federal prison in May, will run for the U.S. Senate in West Virginia, local news is reporting. The former CEO of Massey Energy filed Tuesday to run in the crowded Republican primary.... If people in the rest of the country know Blankenship, it's likely because of his 2015 conviction for conspiring to break mine-safety laws, leading to the 2010 disaster at the Upper Big Branch Mine. Twenty-nine men died in an explosion there, but Blankenship refused to shoulder any of the blame. While in prison, he wrote a 67-page booklet in which he claimed to be an 'American political prisoner' and arguing that the deadliest mine disaster in four decades was caused by natural factors. The federal government has disputed that claim.
Addy Baird, et al. of ThinkProgress: "Alabama Republican Senate Candidate Roy Moore co-authored a study course, published in 2011 and recently obtained by ThinkProgress, that instructs students that women should not be permitted to run for elected office. If women do run for office, the course argues, people have a moral obligation not to vote for them. The course is also critical of the women's suffrage movement, which in 1920 secured some American women the right to vote." --safari ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: This view alone -- not to mention all his other abhorrent views & his alleged behavior toward teenaged girls -- renders Moore unfit for public office. For starters, what he's suggested is blatantly unconstitutional. But never mind; Alabama voters are ready to put him in the Senate where he'll take an oath of office he has no intention to uphold. ...
... Beth Reinhard, et al., of the Washington Post: "The failed effort by conservative activists to plant a false story about Senate candidate Roy Moore in The Washington Post was part of a months-long campaign to infiltrate The Post and other media outlets in Washington and New York, according to interviews, text messages and social media posts that have since been deleted. Starting in July, Jaime Phillips, an operative with the organization Project Veritas..., joined two dozen networking groups related to either journalism or left-leaning politics."
Brandy Zadozny of the Daily Beast: "In a previously unreported comment to the now-defunct Maximum Golf magazine, Donald Trump singled out a 'young socialite' at his club at Mar-a-Lago by telling a reporter, 'there is nothing in the world like first-rate pussy.' The remark never made its way to print, as a top editor of the magazine forbade the reporter from putting it in the publication [and changed the word 'pussy' to 'talent']. But the former journalist who wrote the article, Michael Corcoran, and another editor, both confirmed that it was said by Trump as Corcoran followed him around at his Florida golf club for a profile." Among Trump's guests that weekend in 2000 were "now-disgraced pedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein and his society gal-pal Ghislaine Maxwell -- who have since been accused by dozens of women of running what amounted to a 'sex slave' ring." ...
... Margaret Hartmann: "And Fox News’s Tucker Carlson recalled that Trump once responded to quip about his hair by saying 'But I get more pussy than you do.' Yet, the New York Times reported yesterday that when the campaign first learned of the Access Hollywood tape's existence, 'Mr. Trump said the words described by the newspaper did not sound like things he would say....' In recent days we've learned he now denies that he ever bragged that when you're famous you can 'just start kissing' beautiful women or even 'grab 'em by the pussy' -- though the comment is on tape, and he later admitted it was him and apologized."
Rod Meloni of Channel 4 Detroit: "Sources told Local 4 that [Rep. John] Conyers [D-Mich.] will not seek re-election for a new term in the wake of the [sexual harassment] scandal, which continues to grow. Two sources close to the Conyers situation told Local 4's Rod Meloni that the congressman won't resign. It's his intent to announce in January that he won't run for re-election in 2018."
Ellen Gabler, et al., of the New York Times: "On Wednesday, NBC received at least two more complaints related to [Matt] Lauer, according to a person briefed on the network's handling of the matter. One complaint came from a former employee who said Mr. Lauer had summoned her to his office in 2001 and then had sex with her. She provided her account to The New York Times...." (This is the Jim Rutenberg story, linked yesterday, & substantially updated.) ...
... Ramin Setoodeh & Elizabeth Wagmeister of Variety: "As the co-host of NBC's 'Today,' Matt Lauer once gave a colleague a sex toy as a present. It included an explicit note about how he wanted to use it on her, which left her mortified. On another day, he summoned a different female employee to his office, and then dropped his pants, showing her his penis. After the employee declined to do anything..., he reprimanded her for not engaging in a sexual act. He would sometimes quiz female producers about who they'd slept with, offering to trade names. And he loved to engage in a crass quiz game with men and women in the office: 'f[uck], marry, or kill,' in which he would identify the female co-hosts that he'd most like to sleep with. These accounts of Lauer's behavior at NBC are the result of a two-month investigation by Variety, with dozens of interviews with current and former staffers. Variety has talked to three women who identified themselves as victims of sexual harassment by Lauer, and their stories have been corroborated by friends or colleagues that they told at the time." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: So now we know why NBC fired Lauer. It was not a "pre-emptive action," as Jim Rutenberg speculated in yesterday's New York Times; rather, it was a response to the heads-up the network got from Variety's reporters. And, according to Variety, the suits have known about Lauer's behavior for a long time -- and did nothing: "Several women told Variety they complained to executives at the network about Lauer's behavior, which fell on deaf ears...." That's the way it always was; we'll see if the recent firings of celebrities & other accused sexual abusers represent a sea change or if this is a PR blip of limited duration. ...
... Update: AND Elizabeth Drew (article linked below) adds that, "An apparent instigator of the swift action against Lauer was that his employers had become aware that The New York Times and others had been circling Lauer in recent weeks, asking questions about his behavior. This suggests that some outlets have been more concerned about bad publicity -- which can lose them precious advertisers...." ...
... digby reflects on Lauer's sexist handling of what was billed as a campaign forum featuring separate interviews of Hillary Clinton & Donald Trump. "Some of us watched it unfold in real time, appalled and shell-shocked. After it was over we were told that it was all her fault for being a 'terrible candidate' despite the fact that she still won the popular vote by a substantial margin even as she faced the headwinds of am unpredictable demagogic circus clown from hell who sucked up all the oxygen, an FBI director who lived in his own world, foreign hacking and other interference on Trump's behalf and a media that was led by people who commonly treat professional women like chattel and seemed determined to see her humbled come hell or high water.... After the fact the overarching narrative was that she lost because she didn't coddle insecure white men enough in her campaign. How very convenient.... I guess there's some justice that some of these men are paying a price for their more blatantly sexist behavior. But that pig is still in the oval office and ... he might just get us all killed."
Noir Guy. Jeff Baenen of the AP: "Garrison Keillor, the former host of 'A Prairie Home Companion,' said Wednesday he has been fired by Minnesota Public Radio over allegations of improper behavior. Keillor told The Associated Press of his firing in an email. In a follow-up statement, he said he was fired over 'a story that I think is more interesting and more complicated than the version MPR heard.' He didn't give details of the allegation. 'It's some sort of poetic irony to be knocked off the air by a story, having told so many of them myself, but I'm 75 and don't have any interest in arguing about this. And I cannot in conscience bring danger to a great organization I've worked hard for since 1969,' Keillor said. Minnesota Public Radio confirmed Keillor had been fired, saying it received a single allegation of 'inappropriate behavior.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Here's the statement from Minnesota Public Radio. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: If some of youse guys are genuinely shocked by all of the men accused of "inappropriate behavior," step back & think of your mothers, wives, daughter, female friends, etc. For any of us women who were not shut-ins all our lives, the only surprise is that the suits are bothering to fire their high-profile "talent." Until very recently, it was the victims who got the ax. I speak from personal experience. ...
... With Friends Like These. So last night, the Washington Post published one of Keillor's regular columns for the paper.In the column, Keillor defends Al Franken. For Franken to resign, Keillor writes, "is pure absurdity, and the atrocity it leads to is a code of public deadliness." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Elizabeth Drew in the New Republic: "Washington is the land of opportunity for sexual conquest, with members of Congress working late nights ... or traveling with aides on supposedly essential business. And, finally, it's a city stuffed with people who have power over others.... To my mind all of these complaints [against Al Franken] aren't remotely grounds for ejecting Franken from Congress.... A major factor in the issue of who should be punished is: Does or did the harasser have power over his victim(s)?... Latter-day Savanarolas pronouncing 'zero tolerance' in Washington aren't living in the real world."
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Kristine Phillips of the Washington Post: "Tony Hovater, the white nationalist and Nazi sympathizer featured in a controversial New York Times article this weekend, said he lost his job and would soon lose his home following a swift backlash over the article. Hovater, a 29-year-old Ohio resident, told The Washington Post on Wednesday that he has been fired from his job and that he and his wife, Maria, are in the process of moving out of their home in New Carlisle, Ohio, for financial and safety reasons. They could no longer afford to pay the rent, he said, and somebody had published their home address online.... Hovater said that he, his wife and his brother-in-law were fired Monday. All three worked at 571 Grill & Draft House, a small restaurant in New Carlisle[, Ohio]." The restaurant confirms the firings. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Don't worry, Tony. the presidunce* will probably appoint you-all to high-level jobs at HHS or wherever. In Trump's view, you're "very fine people." Anyhow, thanks, New York Times!
Way Beyond the Beltway
... For the most bizarre -- and macabre -- political story of the week, we go to the Hague where a televised sentencing hearing for a Croatian war criminal is going on: ...
... Mike Corder of the AP: "A convicted war criminal from Croatia swallowed what he said was poison and died Wednesday after a United Nations court in the Netherlands upheld his 20-year sentence for committing crimes against humanity during the Bosnian war of the 1990s. In a stunning end to the final case at the U.N.'s International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, former Croatian general Slobodan Praljak yelled, 'I am not a war criminal!' in a courtroom and appeared to drink from a small bottle. Medical staff at the tribunal in The Hague rushed to Praljak’s side before he was taken to a local hospital, where he died, tribunal spokesman Nenad Golcevski told reporters at the court. The courtroom where the dramatic scene unfolded was sealed off. Presiding Judge Carmel Agius said it was now a 'crime scene' and that Dutch police could investigate." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
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