The Commentariat -- November 25, 2017

Afternoon Update:

Renae Merle of the Washington Post: "The White House appeared headed to a showdown Monday on who will be the next leader of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a dispute that is likely to land in court.... On Saturday, senior administration officials said the White House's position was supported by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel. The office is preparing to publish a written opinion supporting the appointment soon, but has already confirmed verbally and through email that it complies with the law, the officials said.... But the OLC letter is not likely to end the tug-of-war over the leadership of [the] agency.... Democrats and consumer advocates say [Mick] Mulvaney's appointment is illegal and are calling on the Trump administration to allow English to serve until a permanent replacement is confirmed by the Senate."

*****

Turkey to Turkey -- Trump Gives Surprise Gift to Erdogan. Carol Morello & Erin Cunningham of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration is preparing to stop supplying weapons to ethnic Kurdish fighters in Syria, the White House acknowledged Friday, a move reflecting renewed focus on furthering a political settlement to the civil war there and countering Iranian influence now that the Islamic State caliphate is largely vanquished. Word of the policy change long sought by neighboring Turkey came Friday, not from Washington but from Ankara. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters at a news conference that President Trump had pledged to stop arming the fighters, known as the YPG, during a phone call between Trump and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.... Initially, the administration's national security team appeared surprised by the Turks' announcement and uncertain what to say about it. The State Department referred questions to the White House, and hours passed with no confirmation from the National Security Council. In late afternoon, the White House confirmed the weapons cutoff would happen, though it provided no details on timing." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: And what did Trump get out of this Thanksgiving Turkey? Now that's something Trump really does not want anyone to know, but you can bet "U.S. interests" don't figure in. Under normal circumstances, the NSC & State Department would not be "surprised" by a major shift in U.S. Middle East policy.

Time Magazine called to say that I was PROBABLY going to be named 'Man (Person) of the Year,' like last year, but I would have to agree to an interview and a major photo shoot. I said probably is no good and took a pass. Thanks anyway! -- Donald Trump, Friday afternoon tweet

The President is incorrect about how we choose Person of the Year. TIME does not comment on our choice until publication, which is December 6. -- Time, less than 3 hours later, tweet

My Time cover is just as real as the one Trump had on display for years in several of his golf resorts. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

Ryan Koronoski of ThinkProgress: "On Friday morning, following a terrifying attack at a mosque in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula that left an estimated 235 people dead..., Donald Trump reacted to the news by condemning the attackers and 'terrorism' in general on Twitter.... It was a straightforward response with no obvious policy under- or overreactions. However, about four hours later -- after golfing at his resort in Florida with Tiger Woods -- Trump returned to form.... 'Will be calling the President of Egypt in a short while to discuss the tragic terrorist attack, with so much loss of life,' he wrote. 'We have to get TOUGHER AND SMARTER than ever before, and we will. Need the WALL, need the BAN! God bless the people of Egypt.'... Experts say that implementing the so-called 'Muslim ban' is exactly what ISIS wants -- a recruitment tool and a reason to argue for the escalation of hostilities before their target audiences."

Victoria Guida of Politico: "Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray on Friday appointed the agency's chief of staff, Leandra English, as the CFPB's deputy director, establishing her as his successor when he steps down at the end of the day. The move appears designed to thwart any move by ... Donald Trump to name another temporary official to head the controversial agency. Trump has been reported to be considering White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney for the role.... The 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, which created the CFPB, explicitly says the consumer bureau's deputy director shall "serve as acting Director in the absence or unavailability of the Director." ...

     ... Update. Gillian White of the Atlantic: "... after the Georgetown law professor Adam Levitin pointed out that the version of Dodd-Frank passed by the House had explicitly applied the Vacancies Act to the CFPB, and that the conference committee had stripped out that language, many legal scholars told The Intercept's David Dayen that they believed that control of the agency would pass to the deputy director.... By formally naming a deputy director on Friday, [Richard Cordray] strengthened the CFPB's hand in any ensuing legal battle for control of the agency. The Trump administration must now decide whether to simply allow [Leandra] English to become acting director, running the agency while it attempts to get a new nominee for director confirmed by the Senate, or whether it wishes to name its own acting director, a move that offer immediate control but would almost certainly wind up being challenged in court." ...

... ** UPDATE. Tara Bernard of the New York Times: "President Trump on Friday named his budget director as the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, moving to take control of the agency hours after its departing leader had taken steps to install his own choice for acting chief. By the end of the night, an agency born of the financial meltdown -- and one Republicans have tried to kill from the start -- had dueling directors, and there was little sense of who actually would be in charge Monday morning. The bureaucratic standoff began Friday afternoon when Richard Cordray, the Obama-appointed leader of the bureau, abruptly announced he would leave the job at the close of business, a week earlier than anticipated. He followed up with a letter naming his chief of staff, Leandra English, as the agency's deputy director.... Under the law, he said, that appointment would make the new deputy director the agency's acting director. The move was seen as an effort to delay Mr. Trump from appointing his own director, whose confirmation could take months. The White House retaliated, saying that the budget director, Mick Mulvaney, who once characterized the consumer protection bureau as a 'sad, sick joke,' would be running the agency. He would also keep his current job as head of the Office of Management and Budget.... And what happens next is not entirely clear."

A Fine-Tuned Machine. Michelle Kosinski of CNN: "Days ahead of what should be a major moment for Ivanka Trump on the world stage, CNN has learned Secretary of State Rex Tillerson isn't sending a high-level delegation [to India] to support her [at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit] amid reports of tensions between Tillerson and the White House.... 'They (Tillerson and his staff) won't send someone senior because they don't want to bolster Ivanka. It's now another rift between the White House and State at a time when Rex Tillerson doesn't need any more problems with the President,' [a senior State Department] official [said].... 'Rex doesn't like the fact that he's supposed to be our nation's top diplomat, and Jared and now Ivanka have stepped all over Rex Tillerson for a long time," [a source closed to the White house ...] said.... The State Department puts on the large yearly event, which Secretary of State John Kerry and even President Obama attended multiple times." ...

... "A Disaster Waiting to Happen." Gardiner Harris of the New York Times: "By last spring..., the guarded optimism that greeted [Rex Tillerson's] arrival [at the State Department] had given way to concern among diplomats about his aloofness and lack of communication. By the summer, the secretary's focus on efficiency and reorganization over policy provoked off-the-record anger. Now the estrangement is in the open, as diplomats going out the door make their feelings known and members of Congress raise questions about the impact of their leaving.... Mr. Tillerson has frozen most hiring and recently offered a $25,000 buyout in hopes of pushing nearly 2,000 career diplomats and civil servants to leave by October 2018. His small cadre of aides have fired some diplomats and gotten others to resign by refusing them the assignments they wanted or taking away their duties altogether. Among those fired or sidelined were most of the top African-American and Latino diplomats...."

Matt Zapotosky & Sari Horwitz of the Washington Post: "From his crackdown on illegal immigration to his reversal of Obama administration policies on criminal justice and policing, [AG Jeff] Sessions is methodically reshaping the Justice Department to reflect his nationalist ideology and hard-line views -- moves drawing comparatively less public scrutiny than the ongoing investigations into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with the Kremlin. Sessions has implemented a new charging and sentencing policy that calls for prosecutors to pursue the most serious charges possible, even if that might mean minority defendants face stiff, mandatory minimum penalties. He has defended the president's travel ban and tried to strip funding from cities with policies he considers too friendly toward undocumented immigrants. Sessions has even adjusted the department's legal stances in cases involving voting rights and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues in a way that advocates warn might disenfranchise poor minorities and give certain religious people a license to discriminate."

Conway & Trump Greenlight Sex Abusers. Dana Milbank: "Washington could do something to give ... low-skill, low-wage women more power and workplace protections [from sexual harassers]. Instead, the White House, and in particular presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway, are sending the opposite message about women and those who prey on them.... President Trump excuses his support for the accused child molester by saying [Roy] Moore 'totally denies it,' a standard under which the late Charles Manson was also innocent. This is not a he-said/she-said case. It's a he-said/she-said-she-said-she-said-she-said-she-said-she-said-she-said-and-others-corroboratecase. As a practical matter, there's little doubt Moore sexually exploited girls, yet the message from the White House is that such a man belongs in high office. That's a green light to millions of men who harass and abuse women -- and a caution to millions of women that they shouldn't complain about it."

Barbara McQuade in the Daily Beast: "If, in fact, [Michael] Flynn is cooperating with the special counsel], this development could be very significant for [Robert] Mueller's investigation. As a member of the foreign policy team on Trump's presidential campaign, he likely has information about any contacts with the Russian government by members of the campaign. Flynn may be able to provide the crucial links between all of the disparate pieces of evidence that have come to light to date -- the June 2016 meeting with Russians to obtain disparaging information about Hillary Clinton, the overtures for meetings with George Papadopoulos, the travels of Carter Page." ...

... Martin Longman in the Washington Monthly: "Michael Flynn has so much criminal exposure it's almost ridiculous, including things as potentially serious as conspiracy to kidnap, perjury, and obstruction of justice. He has to worry about those charges, plus a long list of problems with disclosure forms involving his lobbying work, background checks, and compliance with military rules and regulations. And he's reportedly worried that his son will wind up with a lengthy jail term, as well. To significantly reduce all that exposure, he's going to have to tell a pretty compelling story to Robert Mueller's prosecutors. It's true that plea negotiations could still break down, but they've almost certainly begun. The chances are now very high that Flynn will be testifying against the president of the United States and that his testimony will be the basis for a criminal referral of some sort to Congress from the office of the special counsel. This also has to be of concern to Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, because they're missing the chance to be the first cooperating witnesses, and are therefore losing the opportunity to reduce the amount of time they'll be spending in prison." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Paul Waldman: "... if Flynn is cooperating, it can only be because he has information to offer Mueller on someone more important than himself.... And who is more important than Flynn?... Among those implicated in this whole affair, that group may consist of Jared Kushner and Trump, and that's about it. Which means we may be getting closer to answering a question I've been asking for a long time: Why was President Trump so intensely focused on protecting Michael Flynn?... Flynn was supposedly fired because he lied to Vice President Pence about his contacts with Russian officials during the campaign and the transition.... This was always an odd explanation for the firing. Even more odd was the fact that immediately, President Trump began telling anyone who would listen what a great guy Michael Flynn is and how unfair the whole mess was to him." Emphasis added. ...

... digby: "I will speculate wildly here that I would be wondering if Trump didn't approve that 15 million dollar kidnapping plot.... This plot would easily be one that Trump and his crazy pal Flynn would think was very, very clever. Flynn had a vendetta against the Intelligence Community and Trump is a fucking moron. That's exactly the kind of thing they'd believe was a very excellent way to conduct foreign policy." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I thought the same thing when I read that Trump was calling Erdogan yesterday to "fix the mess in the Middle East" left to him by his predecessors. What he more likely was interested in fixing was the Turkish kidnapping caper, which would have been initiated by some of Erdogan's henchmen. ...

     ... AND since we're speculating, I'll speculate that the entire Trump presidency is an elaborate Putin plot. That is, Putin might have backed Trump from the git-go, even to the point of -- perhaps indirectly -- getting him to run in the first place. For one thing, I'll speculate that the Kremlin really does have the goods on Trump in some form or other; & for a second, Russia could scarcely find anyone who met the Constitutional requirements for U.S. president & who would more destabilize the country.

Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. If you missed the Vox video on Sean Hannity, which safari posted yesterday, go back & take a look at it. It's both funny & appalling or, you know ... Sad!

Adam Gabbatt of the Guardian: "Activists will launch a last-ditch effort to prevent Donald Trump's tax bill from passing in the Senate on Monday, with scores of groups planning to lay siege to politicians' offices. Indivisible, the progressive group that aims to use Tea Party tactics to thwart the Republicans, has called for a day of action to stop the tax legislation, which the Senate is expected to vote on in the week after Thanksgiving. According to some estimates, the GOP bill would actually raise taxes on middle-class workers over the next decade, and leave 13 million more people without insurance. A different tax bill passed the House on 16 November.... Indivisible, which is made up of more than 6,000 groups nationwide, has called for people to target seven senators in particular who it believes could vote against the bill: John McCain, Jeff Flake, Lisa Murkowsi, Susan Collins, Rob Portman, Shelley Moore Capito and Bob Corker." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: You can check this Indivisible page to see where some of the sponsored protests are. There's more info here. ...

... Matt Yglesias of Vox: "... according to a pair of new analyses by the Penn-Wharton Budget Project..., the Senate Republicans' tax bill would increase federal debt by more than advertised, and increased debt accumulation would counteract much -- or potentially all -- of the positive growth impact of tax cuts. The result will likely be lower incomes for the bottom half of the income distribution even before considering the negative impact of inevitable spending cuts to offset the surprisingly low federal tax intake." The lead analyst is veteran Republican budget & tax analyst Ken Smetters. "... the Senate GOP leadership wrote a bill that's designed to game the system with phase-ins and phase-outs, and Penn-Wharton thinks taxpayers will respond in kind -- gaming the gamed system, reducing federal revenue, and increasing the long-term deficit."

Jacques Billeaud of the AP: "A federal lawsuit set to go to trial next month marks the latest legal action brought against former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio over allegations that he pursued a trumped-up criminal case to get publicity and embarrass ... U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake. One of Flake's sons filed a malicious-prosecution lawsuit, saying Arpaio pursued felony animal cruelty charges against him and his then-wife in a bid to do political damage to the senator and gain publicity.... The lawsuit, which is scheduled for trial on Dec. 5, alleges that Arpaio was intent on linking the Flakes to the deaths [of 21 dogs], going so far as to conduct surveillance on the senator's home.... Lawyers for [the Senator's son] Austin Flake and his then-wife have said the senator disagreed with Arpaio over immigration and was critical of the movement questioning the authenticity of then-President Barack Obama's birth certificate. In a deposition, Arpaio didn't accept responsibility for bringing the charges against the couple and was unable to cite any evidence to support the allegations. But he still expressed confidence in his investigators."

Beyond the Beltway

In the Spirit of the Season. Carol Robinson of Al.com: "Shoppers getting an early start on Black Friday deals had their Thanksgiving trek to the Riverchase Galleria [in Hoover, a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama.] cut short when fights broke out in the mall." Mrs. McC: But no reported sightings of Roy Moore cruising for teenaged girls.

Denise Hollinshed of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "The St. Louis Galleria closed for about a half hour Friday afternoon after seven people were arrested during a Black Friday protest. Among those arrested was state Rep. Bruce Franks Jr. The protesters arrived shortly after 2 p.m. at the shopping mall. They walked through chanting, 'Shut it down.' Some stores closed their doors and pulled down their security gates, in some cases trapping customers inside. A large police presence could be seen around the area. When police moved in to arrest one person, Franks questioned the officers and he was thrown to the floor and his hands tied behind back.... The protest was part of an economic boycott effort announced in early November by African-American clergy and activists over issues from police treatment of blacks to bank loan practices to infrastructure neglect in the northern part of St. Louis."

Way Beyond

Declan Walsh of the New York Times: "Islamist militants detonated explosives and sprayed gunfire at a crowded Sufi mosque near Egypt's Sinai coast on Friday, killing at least 235 people and wounding 109 more, in one of the deadliest attacks on civilians in the country's modern history." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Commentariat -- November 24, 2017

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Adam Gabbatt of the Guardian: "Activists will launch a last-ditch effort to prevent Donald Trump's tax bill from passing in the Senate on Monday, with scores of groups planning to lay siege to politicians' offices. Indivisible, the progressive group that aims to use Tea Party tactics to thwart the Republicans, has called for a day of action to stop the tax legislation, which the Senate is expected to vote on in the week after Thanksgiving. According to some estimates, the GOP bill would actually raise taxes on middle-class workers over the next decade, and leave 13 million more people without insurance. A different tax bill passed the House on 16 November.... Indivisible, which is made up of more than 6,000 groups nationwide, has called for people to target seven senators in particular who it believes could vote against the bill: John McCain, Jeff Flake, Lisa Murkowsi, Susan Collins, Rob Portman, Shelley Moore Capito and Bob Corker." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: You can check this Indivisible page to see where some of the sponsored protests are. There's more info here.

Martin Longman in the Washington Monthly: "Michael Flynn has so much criminal exposure it's almost ridiculous, including things as potentially serious as conspiracy to kidnap, perjury, and obstruction of justice. He has to worry about those charges, plus a long list of problems with disclosure forms involving his lobbying work, background checks, and compliance with military rules and regulations. And he's reportedly worried that his son will wind up with a lengthy jail term, as well. To significantly reduce all that exposure, he's going to have to tell a pretty compelling story to Robert Mueller's prosecutors. It's true that plea negotiations could still break down, but they've almost certainly begun. The chances are now very high that Flynn will be testifying against the president of the United States and that his testimony will be the basis for a criminal referral of some sort to Congress from the office of the special counsel. This also has to be of concern to Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, because they're missing the chance to be the first cooperating witnesses, and are therefore losing the opportunity to reduce the amount of time they'll be spending in prison."

Declan Walsh of the New York Times: "Islamist militants detonated explosives and sprayed gunfire at a crowded Sufi mosque near Egypt's Sinai coast on Friday, killing at least 235 people and wounding 109 more, in one of the deadliest attacks on civilians in the country's modern history."

*****

Pax Americana. Politico: "... Donald Trump tweeted that he'll be speaking with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday.... The president's tweet comes a day after Erdogan spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani at Sochi to try to find a solution to end the fighting in Syria. 'Will be speaking to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey this morning about bringing peace to the mess that I inherited in the Middle East,' Trump tweeted Friday morning. 'I will get it all done, but what a mistake, in lives and dollars (6 trillion), to be there in the first place!'" ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: So Trump is calling Erdogan to find out what-all went in on the meeting Putin shut him out of, after which the sidelined Trump is going to bring peace to the Middle East & end multi-millennia-long conflicts. Ding ding ding -- another 25th Amendment moment.

Jenna Johnson of the Washington Post: "On Thanksgiving, President Trump celebrated winning. Early in the morning, he tweeted a list of wins, including the 'highest Stock Market EVER,' a reduced unemployment rate and a new Supreme Court justice. A few hours later, he video-chatted with troops stationed around the world and told them that they are now winning because his administration is allowing them to do their jobs and win. Trump then traveled to a nearby Coast Guard mess hall to hand out sandwiches and commend the military branch for improving its brand over the past few months. Afterward, he stopped by his private golf club in West Palm Beach." Mrs. McC: Sandwiches? Were they turkey sandwiches? If you wonder why the Guard got sammiches & chips instead of the traditional Thanksgiving fare Trump had at Mar-a-Lago, it might be because, according to Johnson, Trump paid for the meal. ...

... Elliot Hannon of Slate: "On Thursday, a so-called billionaire, who is the current president of the United States woke up in his so-called luxury resort in Mar-a-Lago and spoke to the American military servicemen and women stationed overseas to wish them a Happy Thanksgiving. Speaking via teleconference with American soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq, and elsewhere in the Middle East, President Trump haltingly delivered prepared remarks with a message: You guys are doing great, thanks to me." Hannon goes on to report some of Trump's ridiculous boasting. ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Will Trump start tweeting insults at American troops because the ingrates are not giving him sufficient thanks for so much winning? ...

... Brett Samuels of the Hill: "retired lieutenant general [Mark Hertling] said Thursday that President Trump's comments to troops deployed overseas, which included remarks about the economy and military's recent success, were 'somewhat insulting.'... 'You're talking to soldiers and military personnel around the world who have been in this fight for 17 years, and to suddenly be told they're winning now when they weren't winning before is somewhat insulting.' Hertling said troops likely don't care about the economy or stock market, but just want to be thanked for their service."

Jacqueline Thomsen of the Hill: "President Trump attacked ObamaCare on Thursday night.... 'ObamaCare premiums are going up, up, up, just as I have been predicting for two years. ObamaCare is OWNED by the Democrats, and it is a disaster,' Trump tweeted. 'But do not worry. Even though the Dems want to Obstruct, we will Repeal & Replace right after Tax Cuts!'... ObamaCare premiums have risen after Trump ended key subsidies to insurers that helped to cover costs for low-income Americans. Trump's promise to repeal ObamaCare comes as enrollment in the health-care law has unexpectedly surged since the start of the open enrollment period." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump is right about one thing: "Premiums are going up, up, up." For some reason, he doesn't mention that this is almost entirely his fault. Because Trump ended the subsidies, costs spiked for those who don't qualify for subsidies. One Reality Chex reader wrote earlier this week that his family's costs went up 43 percent over last year's insurance premiums. That's outrageous.

Flynn Flips? Michael Schmidt, et al., of the New York Times: "Lawyers for Michael T. Flynn, President Trump's former national security adviser, notified the president's legal team in recent days that they could no longer discuss the special counsel's investigation, according to four people involved in the case -- an indication that Mr. Flynn is cooperating with prosecutors or negotiating a deal. Flynn's lawyers had been sharing information with Mr. Trump's lawyers about the investigation by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III.... The notification alone does not prove that Mr. Flynn is cooperating with Mr. Mueller.... [But he probably] has, at the least, begun discussions with Mr. Mueller about cooperating."

Anita Kumar & Ben Wieder of McClatchy News: "Several of ... Donald Trump's top aides -- including former chief strategist Steve Bannon and former deputy assistant to the president Sebastian Gorka -- have failed to file legally required financial reports after they were dismissed this summer, according to the White House. Reince Priebus, the former chief of staff, filed his report this week, according to a White House official, after McClatchy requested his form multiple times and reached out to him for comment. Priebus left the administration in late July, and the filing came well beyond the 30-day deadline for filing these reports. In total, at least four senior White House staffers have not filed termination reports, which outline their financial activity while serving in the White House. They include Ezra Cohen-Watnick, who served as senior director for intelligence programs for the National Security Council for seven months, and Middle East adviser Derek Harvey, who served on the National Security Council for six months, according to the White House and the Office of Government Ethics." The report suggests Bannon could have used his White House position to profit from a contract Cambridge Analytica made to trash Qatar. ...

     ... Follow the Money. Mrs. McCrabbie: As you may recall, Rex Tillerson tried to mitigate a Middle East feud with Qatar. but the White House undid his efforts by abruptly taking sides against Qatar. From Middle East Eye: "Following [a June 2016] move by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt to boycott Qatar, which they accuse of supporting terrorism, Tillerson publicly asked the nations to ease the blockade, and put the onus on both sides to end the crisis. Less than 90 minutes later, Trump accused Qatar of being a 'high-level' sponsor of terrorism and suggested he had helped plan the Qatar action with Arab leaders." Mrs. McC: And Bannon is still at it. In a speech he delivered in October 2017, Bannon compared Qatar to North Korea -- and said Qatar was worse. Bannon claims now he has "nothing to do with" Cambridge Analytica. Right. Even if Bannon did sell his interest in CA (the McClatchy reporters can't tell since Bannon didn't file his financial disclosures), one of the major owners of CA is Robert Mercer. The Mercer family is Bannon's No. 1 backer, pouring millions into Bannon's little projects like Breitbart and the push to inflict unhinged wingers like Roy Moore on the Senate. BUT. Nothing to see here, folks.

Union Calls Trump's Bluff. Clever. Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "At the heart of the Republican tax plan hurtling through Congress is an implicit promise that cutting corporate taxes will lift the middle class through higher wages and more jobs.... Mr. Trump has put a number on it, saying a typical American would see a $4,000 raise if the corporate rate was reduced to 20 percent.... This week, the Communications Workers of America asked several companies that employ its members to promise to give workers a pay increase if the cut in the corporate tax rate goes through.... In a letter sent this week to the top executives of Verizon, AT&T and six other companies, the communications union asked them to pledge a $4,000 annual pay increase for employees for every year that the corporate rate rests at 20 percent. The union, which has called the tax measure 'an outrageous money grab.'... The request, while unlikely to be heeded, highlights a critical question over who would benefit the most from the tax bill: shareholders or workers?"

Emily Atkin of the New Republic: "The toxic chemical industry is having a really great year.... The $800 billion chemical industry is finally getting what its been attempting to buy from Republicans for decades.... On Monday, the Republican-controlled Senate released a spending bill that eliminates ... an EPA program called the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS), which assesses the health risks of thousands of chemicals across the country.... IRIS scientists' findings have huge financial implications for polluters.... Freed from the Obama administration's clampdown on safety, companies that produce essential but oftentimes toxic substances are seeing their stocks rally. Pesticides and chemicals banned for their poisonous nature are being newly reviewed; safety regulations are being relaxed; and industry representatives are being chosen for top government positions.... In Trump's federal government, industry players decide what's best for protecting human health and the environment." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I wonder why Trump didn't mention his pollution successes in his Thanksgiving day celebration of "winning."

     ... Update: Oh, he sort did when he spoke about himself at the Coast Guard facility: "We've cut back so much on regulation and all the waste and the all of the abuse." BuzzFeed has the full transcript of Trump's remarks at the picnic or whatever it was.

Chris Sommerfeldt of the New York Daily News: "Actor Billy Baldwin claims President Trump hit on his wife during a ritzy hotel party in Manhattan over two decades ago.... Baldwin fired off the accusation on Thanksgiving morning in response to a tweet from Donald Trump Jr. about the latest sexual harassment allegations against beleaguered Democratic Sen. Al Franken. 'Your Dad is a 5th degree black belt when it comes to sexual impropriety allegations,' Baldwin tweeted at Trump Jr. 'In fact ... I once had a party at the Plaza Hotel... your father showed up uninvited & hit on my wife... invited her on his helicopter to Atlantic City.' The 54-year-old Baldwin brother bluntly added, 'She showed his fat a[ss] the door.' A man who attended the party told the Daily News that Baldwin was hosting an intimate get-together in a Plaza hotel room for his soon-to-be wife Chynna Phillips' birthday when Trump suddenly knocked on the door.... The mogul ... zeroed in on Phillips and 'looked her up and down,' the witness [said]. 'He tried to coerce her into getting in his helicopter.... (Phillips) laughed uncomfortably at the prospect and said thanks but no thanks.' [according to the witness]" ...

... Brandon Conradis of the Hill: "Embattled Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), who is facing a growing number of allegations of sexual misconduct, issued a new statement on Thursday promising to regain the trust of Minnesotans and apologizing for past behavior. 'I feel terribly that I've made some women feel badly and for that I am so sorry, and I want to make sure that never happens again,' Franken said in a Thanksgiving Day statement.... Franken also suggested on Thursday that some of his conduct with women might have been misjudged. 'I'm a warm person; I hug people. I've learned from recent stories that in some of those encounters, I crossed a line for some women -- and I know that any number is too many.'" ...

... American "Justice," Ctd. David Dayen in the New Republic: "The reason adjudicating sexual misconduct claims has been left to the media and the crowd is that people have no expectation that the legal system will adjudicate those claims fairly.... [Victims] have witnessed endless instances of powerful people, mostly wealthy men, getting away with criminality and deception, in every context imaginable. When you don't have a working justice system, you get a kind of vigilantism as a result.... Brazen impunity for the powerful is a hallmark of our era. The worst financial crisis in America in nearly a century led to practically no convictions for those whose actions facilitated the meltdown. The Catholic Church shuttled around sex-abusing priests for decades with little reckoning. Cops shoot black people and go back on the job. On the opposite end of the spectrum we have a wildly punitive justice system for those unlucky enough to have no money or power. Black men are sentenced to more jail time for committing the exact same crimes as whites. Nonviolent drug offenders rot in jail. Mandatory minimum sentences and three strikes laws trap many in an unforgiving correctional system.... The best response to the #MeToo revolution is to restore the rule of law so women don't have to use a hashtag to ensure their story of assault gets heard." ...

... Annys Shin & Libby Casey of the Washington Post report an edited interview of Anita Hill & five current & former U.S. female members of Congress on Hill's testimony before Congress. If you missed this yesterday, read it today. ...

... The Great Court-Packing Plot of 2017. Linda Greenhouse: "Even though there's been nothing subtle about the current push to fill dozens of judicial vacancies kept open by the Republican-controlled Senate during the final years of the Obama administration, a document now making the rounds inside the Beltway is head-snapping. It is a proposal by a leading conservative constitutional scholar to double or even triple the number of authorized judgeships on the federal Courts of Appeals, now fixed by law at 179. Why so many, and why now? The author, Steven G. Calabresi, a law professor at Northwestern University, a founder and the current board chairman of the conservative Federalist Society, declares his goal boldly: 'undoing the judicial legacy of President Barack Obama.'" ...

     ... Here's Ian Millhiser's report (dated Nov. 17). "In a memo to Congress, the founder and board chair of America's most influential conservative legal society proposed a massive court-packing plan that would enable President Donald Trump to fill the judiciary with hundreds of new judges." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: This is so-o-o-o surprising because I remember how Chuck Grassley, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, thought the D.C. appeals court had way too many judges & accused President Obama of trying to pack the court even though Obama was merely nominating judges to fill vacated seats.

Blackish Friday. Abha Bhattarai of the Washington Post: "Shoppers, it seems, are over the frenzied, harried, wait-all-night-in-the-cold madness of Black Friday. They are increasingly shunning the shopping holiday, opting instead to spread out purchases over a course of weeks or months. For the first time, more Americans are preparing to shop online this holiday season than in department stores, according to data from the National Retail Federation.... Online spending is expected to surpass $100 billion for the first time this holiday season."

Sean Hannity's going off the rails to save the moron. --safari

Way Beyond the Beltway

Austin Ramzy of the New York Times: "The United States Navy on Friday ended its search for three sailors who have been missing since a transport plane crashed near Japan this week, the Navy's Seventh Fleet said in a statement. Eight of the 11 passengers and crew members who were aboard the C2-A Greyhound propeller cargo plane were rescued after the crash Wednesday. The Seventh Fleet said they remained in good condition." ...

... Elliot Hannon: "After a week of searching for a missing Argentine Navy submarine off the coast of the country, the families of the 44 crew members aboard have been told that their loved ones are believed to be dead. That news came Thursday after naval officials announced they had detected a sound believed to be an explosion aboard the vessel shortly after it went missing on Nov. 15^th. A spokesman described the sound as 'abnormal, singular, short, violent' and 'consistent with a non-nuclear explosion.'"

News Lede

Washington Post: "A court in South Africa on Friday more than doubled the prison sentence for Oscar Pistorius to 13 years and five months for the 2013 murder of his girlfriend, model Reeva Steenkamp. Pistorius, who gained fame as a double-amputee runner who competed in the 2012 Olympics, fatally shot Steenkamp four times through a closed bathroom door at his home in Pretoria in the early hours of Valentine's Day in 2013. Pistorius claimed he thought Steenkamp was an intruder. Under a 2015 murder conviction, Pistorius was originally sentenced to six years in prison. On Friday, South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal called that sentence ]shockingly lenient,] and more than doubled it after unanimously upholding an appeal by prosecutors, the Associated Press reported."

Thanksgiving Day 2017

Late Morning Update:

** A Thanksgiving Day Gift. Annys Shin & Libby Casey of the Washington Post report an edited interview of Anita Hill & five current & former U.S. female members of Congress on Hill's testimony before Congress. If you haven't time to read it today, save it for tomorrow's Thanksgiving leftovers. Also, too, check the stories marked "NEW" below, linked late this morning.

*****

Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "President Trump is at Mar-a-Lago, his resort in Palm Beach, Fla., for the Thanksgiving holiday.... 'Low-key' is ... how deputy White House press secretary Lindsay Walters described the day to the press pool Wednesday morning. Trump would make a few calls this week, she said, but otherwise not much going on. Less than10 minutes later, though, the White House asked the press pool for a correction.... "The president will NOT have a low-key day and has a full schedule of meetings and phone calls.'... About an hour after ... [the] update about how Trump wouldn't be having a 'low-key' day after all, another update from the press pool: Trump was departing Mar-a-Lago for destination unknown. Ten minutes later, the destination was revealed: The president is spending his morning at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. Clearly part of that 'full schedule' of meetings and calls."

Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "President Trump may be on vacation at his resort in Florida, but he was up early on Wednesday, railing against a college basketball player's father ... and the N.F.L. in a series of Twitter posts before 6 a.m. On the day before Thanksgiving, Mr. Trump apparently felt he was not getting enough credit for helping to free three U.C.L.A. basketball players who were detained in China after being accused of shoplifting designer sunglasses.... Mr. Trump tweeted and retweeted about a variety of topics early on Wednesday morning, but it was not until 8 a.m. that the president posted about the United States Navy aircraft that crashed outside of Okinawa, Japan...." If you'd care to know what-all Trump tweeted that was so much more important than this commander-in-chief job, Sullivan posts quite a few TrumpenTweets. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Vann Newkirk argues in the Atlantic that Trumpism is about nothing but white nationalism. "Without people of color to serve as a foil, there is no Trumpism. If not for his attacks on the Central Park Five, his birtherism, his slanders of immigrants, his 'what the hell do you have to lose' exhortations, the travel bans, and his autonomic reactions against prominent black people, it's hard to see how Trump ever could have been elected in the first place." Thanks to Akhilleus for the link.

**Howard Blum of Vanity Fair: "During a May 10 meeting in the Oval Office, the president betrayed his intelligence community by leaking the content of a classified, and highly sensitive, Israeli intelligence operation to two high-ranking Russian envoys, Sergey Kislyak and Sergey Lavrov. This is what he told them -- and the ramifications." --safari: A riveting piece of journalism, read on. ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Perhaps for Trump one of the more consequential points of Blum's report is this: "... Trump's disturbing choice to hand over highly sensitive intelligence to the Russians is now a focus of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Trump's relationship with Russia, both before and after the election." For the rest of us, and for American intelligenice agencies & our allies, is how to isolate a treacherous U.S. president. Of course the best way is to impeach & convict him. ...

... NEW. In a similarly fascinating account, Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker reports on how one former Russian journalist, Dimitri Skorobutov, describes Russian media coverage in general & their 2016 U.S. presidential election in particular: "Me and my colleagues, we were given a clear instruction: to show Donald Trump in a positive way, and his opponent, Hillary Clinton, in a negative way," he said during a speech in the Netherlands. "Skorobutov said in his speech that the pro-Trump perspective extended from Kremlin-controlled media to the Moscow élite. 'There was even a slogan among Russian political élite,' he said. '"Trump is our president."'... He flipped through his pages and pointed to the coverage guide for August 9, 2016, when Clinton stumbled while climbing some steps. The Kremlin wanted to play the story up big." ...

... NEW. Julia Ainsley of ABC News: "A former business associate of Michael Flynn has become a subject of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation for his role in the failure of Flynn's former lobbying firm to disclose its work on behalf of foreign governments, three sources familiar with the investigation told NBC News. Federal investigators are zeroing in on Bijan Kian, an Iranian-American who was a partner at the now-dissolved Flynn Intel Group, and have questioned multiple witnesses in recent weeks about his lobbying work on behalf of Turkey."

Jonathan O'Connell & David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: "President Trump's company has agreed to remove the Trump name from its hotel in Lower Manhattan and give up management of the property, the most visible sign yet of the toll his presidency has taken on his brand. The decision, announced by the company Wednesday afternoon, follows signs that business has flagged for months at Trump SoHo, beginning during his polarizing campaign last year. The hotel's sushi restaurant closed. Professional sports teams, once reliable customers, began to shun the property. The hotel struggled to attract business for its meeting rooms and banquet halls, according to reporting by radio station WNYC. Trump SoHo has emerged as one of the clearest examples of how Trump's divisive politics have redefined his luxury hotel and real estate company, which spent years courting upscale customers in liberal urban centers where he is now deeply unpopular."

Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "The Justice Department on Wednesday ordered a federal review of a database that is used to check gun buyers' backgrounds, after a man who shot and killed more than two dozen people at a Texas church this month was omitted from the system despite a criminal record. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he was asking the F.B.I. and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to conduct a comprehensive review of the database, known as the National Instant Criminal Background Check System." ...

... Here's Something Stupid that Is Not Trump's Fault. Sari Horwitz of the Washington Post: "Tens of thousands of people wanted by law enforcement officials have been removed this year from the FBI criminal background check database that prohibits fugitives from justice from buying guns. The names were taken out after the FBI in February changed its legal interpretation of 'fugitive from justice' to say it pertains only to wanted people who have crossed state lines. What that means is that those fugitives who were previously prohibited under federal law from purchasing firearms can now buy them, unless barred for other reasons. Since the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) was created in 1998, the background check system has prevented 1.5 million people from buying guns, including 180,000 denials to people who were fugitives from justice, according to government statistics.... Late last year, before President Trump took office, the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel ... said that gun purchases could be denied only to fugitives who cross state lines."

This is how it's going to work today. If you want to ask a question I think it's only fair since I've shared what I'm thankful for ... you start off with what you're thankful for. -- Sarah Sanders, at Monday's White House fake press briefing ...

... John Kirby of CNN: "At Monday's daily press briefing, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders encouraged reporters to first state things they were thankful for before asking their questions. Most of them obliged. They shouldn't have.... It's neither the time nor the place for kibbitzing or moralizing, and it's certainly not appropriate for a press secretary to lay down special rules for who gets to ask questions or how those questions need to be prefaced or proffered.... The whole cringe-worthy exercise made me embarrassed for the reporters and angry at Sanders and this White House for their arrogance and condescension.... I believe her little stunt is just part and parcel of a longer, larger effort by this administration to undermine the credibility and stature of a free press...." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Kathleen Parker of the Washington Post: "For a press secretary to require professional journalists to essentially beg for their supper, surrendering their adversarial posture like a dog commanded to Drop The Bone, is an infantilizing tactic.... Sanders, whose persistently arched brows convey an air of constant disapproval, routinely brushes reporters' questions aside.... If Sanders isn't evading, she's scolding.... She's everything a terrible person -- or, say, an unpopular president -- could hope for in a public relations artist. She says nothing; gives away nothing; looks fierce and dutifully repeats falsehoods.... Her daily humiliation of the press, making them seem like churlish children, is a booster shot of 'fake news' animus.... To the media, she is the wall Trump promised to erect and, increasingly, it seems, we are the swamp he seeks to drain. Out with the media, out with free speech, out with facts! For these purposes, Sanders is perfectly cast." ...

... Sanders Started by Picking on a Black Person. Perfect! Masha Gessen of the New Yorker: "The President of the United States is a bully who makes a mockery of his office, democratic institutions, and the English language. So is his press secretary. On Monday, during the last briefing before the Thanksgiving holiday, Sarah Huckabee Sanders treated the White House press pool the way a sadistic teen-ager would treat a group of third graders. The journalists, for the most part, went along with it.... Her tone was menacing, the tone of a bully asking for a volunteer to be humiliated in front of the room. She called on April Ryan, of American Urban Radio Networks. Ryan was one of the few African-American reporters in the room...." (Also linked yesterday.)

Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A prominent government ethics expert has filed a complaint against ... Kellyanne Conway, alleging that she violated federal law Monday by appearing to oppose Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore's Democratic opponent [during a Fox 'News' segment]. Walter Shaub, who resigned in July as the head of the Office of Government Ethics, said on Twitter on Wednesday that he lodged a complaint claiming that ... [Conway] ran afoul of the Hatch Act when she discouraged Alabamans from voting for the Democratic nominee, Doug Jones.... Outside the White House on Tuesday as he prepared to leave for Thanksgiving weekend in Florida, Trump made similar comments to Conway's. However, the Hatch Act -- which limits political involvement by federal employees -- does not apply to elected officials such as the president or vice president.... Shaub noted that the ban on partisan political activity does cover senior administration officials when they are speaking in their official capacity or using their official titles. She was introduced on Fox as 'counselor to the president.'"

David Gelles of the New York Times has the silly idea of trying to apply logic to the Trump administration: "In a matter of hours this week, the Trump administration twice weighed in on one of the central issues shaping business and society today -- just how much market power big companies should be allowed to amass. Yet in back-to-back developments, two federal agencies arrived at starkly different conclusions, and one company, AT&T, found itself on opposite sides of the debate. On Monday, the Department of Justice sued to block AT&'T's proposed $85.4 billion takeover of Time Warner, a deal that would unite one of the country's biggest internet providers with the company that owns CNN, HBO and the Warner Bros. film studio.... Then on Tuesday morning, the Federal Communications Commission announced plans to dismantle net neutrality rules. The move would let companies charge higher fees and block access to some websites, and was effectively a green light for big internet service providers -- including AT&T -- to freely wield their influence against rivals." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Dan Diamond of Politico: "Sen. Lisa Murkowski says she supports GOP efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate, the Alaska Republican wrote in an op-ed for a local newspaper Tuesday.... Murkowski's renewed support for repealing the mandate -- after repeatedly opposing her party's Obamacare repeal bills this year -- may be a boon for Senate Republicans' tax legislation, which includes mandate repeal and is expected to be taken up on the Senate floor next week. [BUT] A spokesperson for Murkowski told Politico that the comments should not be construed as support for the tax bill, which does not yet appear to have sufficient support to pass the chamber." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Today in Sexual Harassment News:

Mrs. McCrabbie: When I heard on the teevee that there were nude photos of Rep. Joe Barton -- who is not only physically unattractive but also dumber than a rock -- were floating around the InterTubes, I thought it was going to be a fun family Thanksgiving story. But that dimwitted, weird, nasty SOB managed to turn a joke on him into intimidation & harassment of a woman to whom he'd sent "sexually explicit photos, videos & messages." The woman had a relationship with Barton, which began when she made a political comment on his Facebook page. "Over time, she said, she became aware of and corresponded with multiple other women who engaged in relationships with Barton, who represents a suburban Dallas district and is one of the most senior Republicans in the House." ...

... Mike DeBonis & Elise Viebeck of the Washington Post: "Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tex.), who apologized Wednesday for a lewd photo of him that circulated on the Internet, told a woman to whom he had sent sexually explicit photos, videos and messages that he would report her to the Capitol Police because she could expose his behavior, according to a recording reviewed by The Washington Post. [Another bit Barton thought was a good idea to share: "a 53-second cellphone video Barton recorded of himself while masturbating.] The woman spoke to The Post after the lewd photo was published Tuesday by an anonymous Twitter account.... The woman said she did not post the image herself.... She shared a secretly recorded phone conversation she had with Barton in 2015 in which he warned her against using the explicit materials 'in a way that would negatively affect my career.'... In a statement late Wednesday, Barton said a transcript of the recording provided by The Post may be 'evidence' of a 'potential crime against me.' He said that he received word Wednesday that the Capitol Police are opening an inquiry." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: The Capitol Police, we must assume, will be laughing their heads off over this one. For those of you interested in seeing the type of artwork a sitting Congressman thinks will is seductive, TMZ has the pic, which was bowdlerized by the sender. Just as a note of advice to Rep. Barton & men everywhere: to each her own, but the majority of women are not that turned on by the sight of erect penises & fat guts. You jerkoffs are showing off for yourselves or to other men, but there a high likelihood the woman you're trying to impress is thinking, "Oh, please." ...

... Katie Leslie of the Dallas Morning News: Barton's "spokeswoman told The News that he has no plans to step down.... The news comes less than three weeks after Barton, the longest-serving member of the Texas House delegation, announced that he's launching his 18th congressional campaign -- a decision now in turmoil."

Jenavieve Hatch & Zachary Roth of the Huffington Post: "Two more women have told HuffPost that Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) touched their butts in separate incidents. The two additional women, who said they were not familiar with each others' stories, both spoke on condition of anonymity. But their stories, which describe events during Franken's first campaign for the Senate, are remarkably similar -- and both women have been telling them privately for years.... The first woman ... said Franken groped her when they posed for a photo after a June 25, 2007, event hosted by the Minnesota Women's Political Caucus in Minneapolis.... The second woman told HuffPost that Franken cupped her butt with his hand at a 2008 Democratic fundraiser in Minneapolis, then suggested the two visit the bathroom together."

Kimberly Kindy, et al., of the Washington Post: Melanie Sloan, a "high-profile Washington lawyer specializing in congressional ethics, said Wednesday that Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) harassed and verbally abused her when she worked for him on Capitol Hill in the 1990s and that her repeated appeals for help to congressional leadership were ignored.... Sloan, the former executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), was hired by Conyers in 1995.... She held the job until 1998. During that time, Sloan said, she witnessed and experienced behavior by Conyers similar to episodes described in claims against him that on Tuesday prompted the House Ethics Committee to open an investigation.... Sloan said she did not believe she was sexually harassed by the congressman, but she said his behavior toward her was inappropriate and abusive.... Sloan said that Conyers routinely yelled at and berated her, often criticizing her appearance. On one occasion, she said, he summoned her to his Rayburn Building office, where she found him in his underwear."

Senate Race:

Marwa Eltagouri of the Washington Post: "Roy Moore's communications director John Rogers has resigned from the Alabama Senate candidate's campaign, according to the Associated Press. Campaign strategist Brett Doster told CNN that Rogers wasn't prepared to deal with the 'level of scrutiny' from the media following The Washington Post's extensive report on Nov. 9 detailing allegations that Moore pursued relationships with teenage girls.... Since the publication of The Post's report, other women have stepped forward to make similar accusations." ...

... Adam Raymond of New York: "Moore adviser Brett Doster offered some thoughts on Rogers's departure to Fox News.... 'John just did not have the experience to deal with the press the last couple of weeks, and we've had to make a change,' Doster said." ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: Oh, I don't know. I think the Moore campaign's communications efforts are exceptional. That Brett Doster guy -- who dismissed Rogers as too inexperienced -- is himself super-professional: ...

... Michael Scherer of the Washington Post: "Senate candidate Roy Moore's campaign refused Wednesday to substantiate a key claim it made as part of an effort to raise doubts about one of the Alabama candidate's accusers. The campaign has claimed to have found documents that show Leigh Corfman lived more than a mile from the intersection where she said Moore picked her up for dates in 1979, when she was 14 and he was 32.... [But] a police report about property theft published in the Gadsden Times on March 31, 1980, listed [a family address that conforms with Corfman's story]. The Post requested documentation to support [the campaign's] description of another address on Tuesday [and again on Wednesday].... Brett Doster, a strategist for the Moore campaign, sent an email to The Post. 'The Washington Post is a worthless piece of crap that has gone out of its way to railroad Roy Moore,' Doster wrote in an email he described as an 'on the record' statement. 'There is no need for anyone at the Washington Post to ever reach out to the Roy Moore campaign again because we will not respond to anyone from the Post now or in the future. Happy Thanksgiving.'" Other supposed "evidence" against Corfman which the Moore campaign cited "did not contradict what Corfman has told The Post." Emphasis added.

Cristiano Lima of Politico: "Kelley Paul called the assault on her husband Sen. Rand Paul 'a deliberate, blindside attack' on Wednesday, disputing a characterization by the alleged attacker's legal team that the altercation was 'regrettable dispute between two neighbors.' 'This was not a "scuffle," a "fight" or an "altercation," as many in the media falsely describe it. It was a deliberate, blindside attack,' Kelley Paul wrote in a an op-ed for CNN published Wednesday." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I'm tellin' ya, even tho Randy doesn't bag his leaves, we're going to find out he bagged the ex-Mrs. Boucher. And, yeah, I'm making this up, I have no reason more reliable than a hunch, & my apologies to all the victims of my random, crabby, totally unverified thoughts.

NEW. KHOU (Houston): "A woman in the Brookshire area (Houston metropolitan area) is accused of sending explosives to three government leaders in 2016. According to the six-count indictment, 46-year-old Julia Poff mailed explosives to Governor Greg Abbott, President Barack Obama and Commissioner of the Social Security Administration Carolyn Colvin on Oct. 12, 2016. Other court documents say Gov. Abbott opened the package, but it failed to explode because he didn't open it right. If opened correctly, documents say 'it could've caused severe burns and death.'... Federal investigators say they were able to connect Poff to the packages using pieces of the shipping labels, and also matched cat hair found in the box mailed to President Obama with her cat." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: The awkward construction of that last sentence made me think Poff had sent her dead cat in the package that contained the bomb mailed to President Obama, but that's not the case. Court documents included in the report indicate that forensic experts matched hairs in the box to hairs on a cat she had in her home.

Anna Fifield of the Washington Post: "Eight people have been rescued and are in 'good condition' after a U.S. Navy cargo plane carrying 11 crew members and passengers crashed into the Pacific Ocean off Japan, the U.S. Navy's 7th Fleet said Wednesday. The search for the remaining three people is continuing. It was the latest accident to befall the 7th Fleet, which is based in the Japanese port of Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, and has endured multiple collisions at sea this year, including two that involved guided-missile destroyers and left 17 sailors dead.... It crashed at 2:45 p.m. local time Wednesday, the 7th Fleet said in a statement." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Julia Wong of the Guardian: "Uber is facing government scrutiny around the world in the wake of its admission it concealed a massive data breach affecting 57 million drivers and passengers. The $68bn ride-hailing company acknowledged Tuesday that hackers had stolen the personal information in October 2016, and that Uber had paid them $100,000 to destroy the information and keep the breach quiet. The global nature of the breach exposes Uber to potential liability in numerous jurisdictions. Many countries and US states have laws requiring companies to inform individuals if their personal information has been compromised."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Marlise Simons, et al., of the New York Times: "With outbursts inside and outside the courtroom at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Gen. Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb commander, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Wednesday for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. It was the last major item of business for the tribunal in The Hague before it wound down, a full quarter-century after some of the crimes it prosecuted were committed." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)