The Commentariat -- February 28, 2018
Late Morning Update:
Cristiano Lima of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Wednesday slammed Attorney General Jeff Sessions' decision to have the Justice Department inspector general investigate claims of wrongdoing by FBI agents in obtaining a FISA warrant of a former Trump campaign official, calling the move 'disgraceful!' 'Why is A.G. Jeff Sessions asking the Inspector General to investigate potentially massive FISA abuse. Will take forever, has no prosecutorial power and already late with reports on Comey etc,' the president tweeted. 'Isn't the I.G. an Obama guy? Why not use Justice Department lawyers? DISGRACEFUL!'" Mrs. McC: Anyway, this is high comedy. JeffBo bent over backwards to accommodate Trump's ridiculous demand to investigate something that doesn't need investigating, & now Trump is ragging him for it because JeffBo didn't appoint Jeanine Pirro or Sean Hannity to run the investigation. ...
... Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "The tweet was the latest example of Mr. Trump publicly scolding Mr. Sessions and wading into Justice Department investigations. Though previous presidents have allowed law enforcement a large degree of independence to keep from influencing their inquiries, Mr. Trump has consistently called for investigations into his political rivals. Republicans have accused Justice Department and F.B.I. officials of abusing their powers by surveilling a former Trump campaign aide, Carter Page.... Mr. Sessions said on Tuesday that he referred those concerns to the department's inspector general, who is charged with investigating possible agency abuses. But he stopped short of announcing that a fresh inquiry had begun."
Louis Nelson of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Tuesday celebrated a 'big legal win' delivered by a federal judge against whom he once leveled racial criticism. Earlier Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel rejected lawsuits brought by environmentalists and the state of California related to the Trump administration's efforts to construct a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. 'Big legal win today. U.S. judge sided with the Trump Administration and rejected the attempt to stop the government from building a great Border Wall on the Southern Border. Now this important project can go forward!' the president wrote online. Trump made no mention in his Tuesday tweet of his previous feud with Curiel, which dates back to the summer of 2016, when the then-GOP candidate characterized the federal judge as a 'Mexican' whose heritage meant he could not capably oversee a lawsuit against Trump, even though Curiel was born in Indiana." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: So Judge Curiel has gone from being a "Mexican judge" to a "U.S. judge" because he ruled in favor of Trump. That's how it works for all of us: we're not "Americans" unless we are pleasing to Donald Trump. I'm sure Judge Curiel is not celebrating Trump's belated recognition of his U.S. citizenship. He knows he'll go back to being a "Mexican judge" if he rules against the Trump administration in the future.
Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A judge in Washington on Wednesday set a Sept. 17 trial date for former Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort on charges from special counsel Robert Mueller, including money laundering and failing to register as a foreign agent. The decision from U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson would put Manafort on trial at the height of the midterm campaign season, a potentially unwelcome distraction for Republicans as they try to maintain majorities in Congress." Mrs. McC: Let's have wall-to-wall coverage, at least of the prosecutor's case."
Rebecca Savransky of the Hill: "New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) is inviting Delta Airlines to relocate its headquarters to New York. '[Delta], if Georgia politicians disagree with your stand against gun violence, we invite you to move your headquarters to New York,' Cuomo tweeted on Tuesday.... Cuomo is not the only Democrat to make an offer to Delta amid the backlash. Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) on Tuesday invited Delta to relocate its headquarters to Ohio." Mrs. McC BTW: I'm sure Delta is aware that taxes are a lot higher in New York State than in Georgia, with or without Georgia's previously-planned tax break. Of course, NYS could always make Delta a sweetheart deal.
*****
Eliana Johnson & Andrew Restuccia of Politico: White House "... Jared Kushner has had his security clearance downgraded -- a move that will prevent him from viewing many of the sensitive documents to which he once had unfettered access. Kushner is not alone. All White House aides working on the highest-level interim clearances -- at the Top Secret/SCI-level -- were informed in a memo sent Friday that their clearances would be downgraded to the Secret level, according to three people with knowledge of the situation." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Katie Rogers & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "Mr. Kushner has had his top-secret clearance reduced to secret and his portfolio, specifically in regard to foreign affairs, is expected to be reduced, the people said." ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: MSNBC security analyist Jeremy Bash said "secret" is the same clearance level the White House kitchen staff has. I want to see Jared in a hairnet. ...
... ** Kushner Is Definitely a Security Risk. Shane Harris, et al., of the Washington Post: "Officials in at least four countries have privately discussed ways they can manipulate Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and senior adviser, by taking advantage of his complex business arrangements, financial difficulties and lack of foreign policy experience, according to current and former U.S. officials.... Among those nations discussing ways to influence Kushner to their advantage were the United Arab Emirates, China, Israel and Mexico, the current and former officials said.... Kushner's contacts with certain foreign government officials have raised concerns inside the White House and are a reason he has been unable to obtain a permanent security clearance, the officials said.... H.R. McMaster, President Trump's national security adviser, learned that Kushner had contacts with foreign officials that he did not coordinate through the National Security Council or officially report.... Within the White House, Kushner's lack of government experience and his business debt were seen from the beginning of his tenure as potential points of leverage that foreign governments could use to influence him, the current and former officials said. Officials in the White House were concerned that Kushner was 'naive and being tricked' in conversations with foreign officials, some of whom said they wanted to deal only with Kushner directly and not more experienced personnel...." ...
... ** Conservative Rick Wilson in the Daily Beast: "The stench of [Jared Kushner's] venality and desperation hangs around him like stripper perfume, cloying and obvious. Jared all but hiked up his sassy pink petticoats while whistling, 'Hey, sailor!' to the Chinese, Israeli, Arab, and Russian investors he begged to invest in his failing 666 5th Avenue white elephant.... [H]e lied and omitted information [on his clearance forms] in a way that was painfully obvious to the FBI and government officials examining his qualifications for the most elevated intelligence clearances. Then, the whispers in foreign capitals started; Kushner ... is for sale. American intelligence was listening." --safari ... Mrs. McC: A delightful read. Wilson tears Kushner, et al., into teensy shreds.
... Carol Leonnig, et al., of the Washington Post: "Four Commerce Department political appointees working on interim security clearances lost their jobs Tuesday because of problems in their background checks, the latest fallout from the intensifying public scrutiny on administration officials working without permanent clearances. The department determined that the four appointees -- including one who worked for the agency for nearly a year and served for several months as a senior adviser to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross -- should not be given access to classified information, according to multiple officials who requested anonymity to discuss personnel matters." ...
... Jeremy Diamond of CNN: "A top White House communications aide who has worked most closely with Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump is leaving the White House in the coming months. Josh Raffel, who was recruited to the White House by Kushner, has primarily served as a spokesman for Ivanka Trump and Kushner's White House initiatives, including the Office of American Innovation and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.... [An] official said he is returning to work in the private sector in New York, where he has 'family obligations.'" Mrs. McC: No word as to the real reason.
"WITCH HUNT!" ...
** Trump Welcomes Russian Hackers. Zachary Cohen of CNN: "US Cyber Command chief Adm. Mike Rogers told lawmakers on Tuesday that he has not been granted the authority by ... Donald Trump to disrupt Russian election hacking operations where they originate. Asked by Democratic Sen. Jack Reed if he has been directed by the President, through the defense secretary, to confront Russian cyber operators, Rogers said 'no I have not' but noted that he has tried to work within the authority he maintains as a commander.... "They [the Russians] have not paid a price that is sufficient to change their behavior,' [Rogers] added." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Cynthia McFadden, et al., of NBC News: "The U.S. intelligence community developed substantial evidence that state websites or voter registration systems in seven states were compromised by Russian-backed covert operatives prior to the 2016 election -- but never told the states involved, according to multiple U.S. officials. Top-secret intelligence requested by President Barack Obama in his last weeks in office identified seven states where analysts -- synthesizing months of work -- had reason to believe Russian operatives had compromised state websites or databases. Three senior intelligence officials told NBC News that the intelligence community believed the states as of January 2017 were Alaska, Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Texas and Wisconsin.... Denis McDonough, who was Obama's last chief of staff..., argu[ed] the [Obama] administration acted to thwart the Russians before and after the election. Obama administration spokespeople also say they transmitted sensitive intelligence regarding state compromises to congressional leaders. 'The administration took a series of steps to push back against the Russians to include far-ranging sanctions, diplomatic steps to push people associated with the Russian effort out of this country and also warning our friends and allies,' [McDonough] said." ...
... Kara Scannell, et al., of CNN: "Investigators for special counsel Robert Mueller have recently been asking witnesses about Donald Trump's business activities in Russia prior to the 2016 presidential campaign as he considered a run for president, according to three people familiar with the matter. Questions to some witnesses during wide-ranging interviews included the timing of Trump's decision to seek the presidency, potentially compromising information the Russians may have had about him, and why efforts to brand a Trump Tower in Moscow fell through, two sources said. The lines of inquiry indicate Mueller's team is reaching beyond the campaign to explore how the Russians might have sought to influence Trump at a time when he was discussing deals in Moscow and contemplating a presidential run."
Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "White House communications director Hope Hicks refused to answer questions about the Trump administration that House investigators posed Tuesday as part of their probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 election. But under pressure from lawmakers, she began to offer some details about the transition period Tuesday afternoon, according to House Intelligence Committee members Thomas J. Rooney (R-Fla.) and Peter T. King (R-N.Y.), who said Hicks and her attorneys agreed to address topics already broached with the Senate Intelligence Committee in an earlier private interview. Democrats and Republicans emerging from the House Intelligence Committee's ongoing interview with Hicks on Tuesday noted that, at first, she categorically resisted answering any questions about events and conversations that occurred since Trump won the election, [even] though Trump has not formally invoked executive privilege with the panel.... Hicks, who has already spoken with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's team as part of its probe, has emerged as a central figure in an ongoing dispute between lawmakers and the White House about when and where witnesses can legitimately resist answering questions in a congressional probe." ...
... Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Hope Hicks ... told House investigators on Tuesday that her work for President Trump, who has a reputation for exaggerations and outright falsehoods, had occasionally required her to tell white lies. But after extended consultation with her lawyers, she insisted that she had not lied about matters material to the investigations into Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible links to Trump associates, according to three people familiar with her testimony. The exchange came during more than eight hours of private testimony before the House Intelligence Committee. Ms. Hicks declined to answer similar questions about other figures from the Trump campaign or the White House." ...
... Alas, Roger Stone Is Full of Shit. Natahsa Bertrand of The Atlantic: "On March 17, 2017, WikiLeaks tweeted that it had never communicated with Roger Stone, a longtime confidante and informal adviser to President Donald Trump. In his interview with the House Intelligence Committee last September, Stone, who testified under oath, told lawmakers that he had communicated with WikiLeaks via an 'intermediary.' ... Private Twitter messages obtained by The Atlantic show that Stone and WikiLeaks ... communicated directly on October 13, 2016 -- and that WikiLeaks sought to keep its channel to Stone open after Trump won the election. The existence of the secret correspondence marks yet another strange twist in the White House's rapidly swelling Russia scandal." --safari ...
... The Department of "Justice", Ctd. Noor Al-Sibai of RawStory: "Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday announced that the Justice Department's inspector general will investigate the circumstances that led to a former Trump campaign aide's surveillance. The Wall Street Journal reported that Sessions made the remarks about the investigation at a press conference when answering a question about a GOP memo that alleged abuses in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court warrants obtained to surveil one-time Trump adviser Carter Page." --safari ...
... ** Jason Sattler of USA Today: "There are two options: Donald Trump's campaign and Russia worked together to help elect our current president of the United States, or we are witnessing the greatest coincidence since the Big Bang.... Call it a 'conspiracy against the United States' -- since that's probably what the indictments will keep calling it.... Trump has long benefited from the willingness of his opponents, his creditors and the media to underestimate his guile and ruthlessness. Apparently, that's a mistake Russia didn't make." Mrs. McC: Sattler lists a damning number of "coincidences," including one or two I did know or forgot.
Your Questions Are "Inappropriate." Margaret Sullivan of the Washington Post: "In Donald Trump's world, there are Ivanka Trump and John F. Kelly -- they who must not be questioned. 'I think it's a pretty inappropriate question to ask a daughter if she believes the accusers of her father when he's affirmatively stated that there's no truth to it,' Ivanka Trump said, scolding the NBC News correspondent Peter Alexander in an interview on 'Today.'... 'If you want to go after General Kelly, that's up to you, but I think that -- if you want to get into a debate with a four-star Marine general, I think that that's something highly inappropriate,' [Sarah] Sanders said [last October when Kelly lied about Rep. Frederica Wilson].... Far from backing off, journalists should hone their questioning skills and find new ways to pin down this particularly slippery administration.... Journalists need to do a better job of [questioning Trump officials]."
Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "Department of Housing and Urban Development officials spent $31,000 on a new dining room set for Secretary Ben Carson's office in late 2017 -- just as the White House circulated its plans to slash HUD's programs for the homeless, elderly and poor.... The purchase of the custom hardwood table, chairs and hutch came a month after a top agency staff member filed a whistle-blower complaint charging Mr. Carson's wife, Candy Carson, with pressuring department officials to find money for the expensive redecoration of his offices, even if it meant circumventing the law.... Mr. Carson 'didn't know the table had been purchased,' but does not believe the cost was too steep and does not intend to return it, said Raffi Williams, a HUD spokesman. Department officials did not request approval from the House or Senate Appropriations Committees for the expenditure of $31,561, even though federal law requires congressional approval 'to furnish or redecorate the office of a department head' if the cost exceeds $5,000. Mr. Williams said department officials did not request congressional approval because the dining set served a 'building-wide need.' The table is inside the secretary's 10th-floor office suite." ...
... It Gets Worse. Jon Swaine of the Guardian: "The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (Hud) has agreed to spend $165,000 on 'lounge furniture' for its Washington headquarters, in addition to a $31,000 dining set purchased for housing secretary Ben Carson's office. The revelations on Tuesday of Carson's expensive decor spending come as Donald Trump's administration has proposed a cut of $6.8bn to Hud's annual budget, or roughly 14% of its total spending.... Department officials signed a contract last September with an Indiana-based seller for the furniture." --safari
Mark Hand of ThinkProgress: "The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans to eliminate its National Center for Environmental Research (NCER), a department that funds research into environmental impacts on communities. The center, tasked with distributing 'grants to test the effects of chemical exposure on adults and children,' will be shuttered amid a reorganization at the agency as part of EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's goal of creating more efficiency at the agency." --safari...
...Mark Hand: "[A]t the CPAC annual convention in National Harbor, Maryland ... Pruitt cited President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement as the proudest moment in his first year as EPA administrator." --safari
Anna Fifield of the Washington Post: "The State Department's point man on North Korea, Joseph Yun, will leave his post on Friday, amid glimmers of hope that Pyongyang might finally be willing to sit down for talks with Washington. Yun, 63, is retiring as special representative for North Korea policy and deputy assistant secretary for Korea and Japan after more than three decades of service. His departure reflects widespread frustration within the State Department at diplomats' relative lack of power in the Trump administration, according to someone familiar with Yun's thinking." Mrs McC: Probably thinks he knows more about North Korea than Ivanka Trump. Also probably has top-secret clearance. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
** The Executioner. Jonathan Swan of Axios: "According to five sources who've spoken with Trump about [drug enforcement], he often leaps into a passionate speech about how drug dealers are as bad as serial killers and should all get the death penalty....Trump has said he would love to have a law to execute all drug dealers here in America, though he's privately admitted it would probably be impossible to get a law this harsh passed under the American system." --safari ...
... Old white guys from Queens have always shared the same ideas about gun control:
Captain of your new school safety patrol.An Unregulated Militia. Eric Levitz of New York: "The GOP's plan A was to sit tight until the dead of Parkland got buried by the ever-turning news cycle. But the theater kids of Marjory Stoneman Douglas refused to take thoughts and prayers for an answer. And so, Republicans moved on to plan B: Find a way to 'do something' on gun violence that didn't just leave AR-15 manufacturers and far-right firearms enthusiasts unscathed, but that actually benefited those constituencies. To that end, President Trump called last week for arming America's teachers.... Alas, liberals, teachers -- and every American who can distinguish between reality and Clint Eastwood films -- deemed this proposal insane.... Fortunately, House conservatives took these critiques to heart. And on Monday night, Freedom Caucus chair Mark Meadows floated a compromise ... 'tax credits for volunteers -- like retired law enforcement -- who want to offer security for schools,' [tweeted Tara Golshan]. This proposal ... leaves teachers unarmed, just as liberals requested, while also giving a targeted tax cut to any patriotic American with a gun, too much free time, and a longing to legally pump bullets into another human being -- or, in conservative parlance, to 'a well-regulated militia.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Don't worry, Meadows' bill will never pass. And neither will any gun-control law. ...
... ** Allegra Kirkland of TPM: "The Oath Keepers militia group on Monday issued an official 'call to action' asking their members to serve as voluntary armed guards at U.S. schools.... But ... [d]uring a meandering Monday night webinar held by the far-right, anti-government group, the gun writer David Codrea referred to Emma González and David Hogg, survivors of the Valentine's Day school shooting in Parkland, Florida as 'the enemy.'... Codrea, a writer for the Oath Keepers and War on Guns blogs, also said that Gonzalez's father is a 'refugee from Castro's Cuba,' and lamented that the National Rifle's Association 595,000 Twitter followers paled in comparison to the one million that follow 'this young Communist girl.' Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who hosted the webinar, suggested that law enforcement may have deliberately ... allow[ed] a massacre that could pave the way for gun control." --safari...
... Rachel Bade of Politico: "House GOP leaders downplayed the need for Congress to pass expansive new gun control measures on Tuesday, instead turning their ire on the FBI and local law enforcement for failing to prevent the Parkland, Fla. school shooting. Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters at a press conference that 'we shouldn't be banning guns for law-abiding citizens' but 'focusing on making sure that citizens who shouldn't get guns in the first place, don't get those guns.' Ryan -- who said arming teachers was a 'good idea' but a local issue that Congress should not infringe upon -- touted a House-passed bill to reinforce background checks under current law. But that bill also loosens gun laws by allowing gun owners with concealed-carry weapons permits in their state to take their firearm into other states -- an idea going nowhere in the Senate. Ryan wouldn't say whether he would allow the House to decouple so-called Fix NICS language from the more controversial concealed-carry reciprocity provisions." ...
... MEANWHILE, in Florida. Patricia Mazzei of the New York Times: "Gun control legislation is moving at an unusually fast pace in the Florida Capitol following a deadly high school shooting, which has pushed state lawmakers and the governor to act after years of loosening restrictions on firearms. Powerful budget committees in the State House and Senate signed off on a package of bills on Tuesday that would raise the minimum age to purchase a firearm to 21 from 18, mandate a three-day waiting period for most gun purchases, and increase funding for school safety measures and access to mental health care. The bills must still be approved by the full House and Senate, and approved by Gov. Rick Scott. Included in the proposals is a contentious, $67 million voluntary program to arm school staff, including teachers, trained by law enforcement to carry concealed weapons on campus. Lawmakers gave preliminary approval to what has become known as the 'marshal program' in spite of impassioned pleas by many parents of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students in Parkland, who said educators should not have to take on the role of the police." ...
... Julie Creswell of the New York Times: "One of the nation's largest sports retailers, Dick’s Sporting Goods, said Wednesday morning it was immediately ending sales of all assault-style rifles in its stores. The retailer also said that it would no longer sell high-capacity magazines and that it would not sell any gun to anyone under 21 years of age, regardless of local laws. The announcement, made two weeks after the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., that killed 17 students and staff members, is one of the strongest stances taken by corporate America in the national gun debate. It also carries symbolic weight, coming from a prominent national gunseller." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Medlar & I stopped shopping at Dick's after the company reneged on its ban of Duck Dynasty products several years ago. Now we'll have to rethink that. (Oh, for Pete's sake. Even L.L. Bean sells Duck Dynasty stuff.)
... How Likely Are You to Get Shot Dead? John Schoen of CNBC: "... states with stricter gun regulation have fewer firearms deaths -- in some cases dramatically fewer -- than those that don't. But while the correlation is clear, there is little hard evidence of cause and effect." The story includes a scatter plot graph of every state, correlating deaths/100,000K & number of gun-control laws. Mrs. McC: Needless to say, this is kind of correlation is very rough. Number of laws doesn't necessary demonstrate effectiveness or severity of laws. But I'll tell you this: if you live in Alaska (4 gun laws), you're almost seven times more likely to be shot dead than if you live in Massachusetts (103 gun laws). Thanks to MAG for the link. ...
... Elizabeth Preza of RawStory: "Glenn Haab, the father of Colton Haab, admitted on Tuesday that he doctored emails between his son and CNN in an effort to convince people the network told the Marjory Stoneman High School junior what to say during a live town hall last week." --safari...
..."Capitalism is Awesome," Ctd. Addy Baird &Judd Legum of ThinkProgress: "FedEx has refused to cut ties with the [NRA], and a confidential company document obtained by ThinkProgress detailing the courier service's relationship with the firearms industry may explain why.... In a stark contrast with FedEx's recent attempts to distance themselves from the gun lobby, the internal company document obtained by ThinkProgress outlines in great detail precisely how FedEx has secretly agreed to bend its own rules on gun shipments for powerful forces in the gun industry, including all major gun manufacturers and the NRA itself." --safari
Eric Schmitt & Rod Norland of the New York Times: "The United States-led campaign to hunt down the last pockets of Islamic State militants in Syria has lost its most effective fighting partner -- Kurdish forces that are newly-focused on a Turkish assault -- in what American military officials fear will stall a critical phase of the offensive and leave open the door for hundreds of foreign fighters to escape. Syrian Kurds make up the backbone of a ground force of Kurdish and Arab militia that last fall routed the Islamic State from its self-proclaimed headquarters in Raqqa and chased insurgents fleeing south along the Euphrates River Valley to the Iraqi border. In recent weeks, Kurdish officials have pulled thousands of fighters and commanders from that battle and rushed them to Afrin, in Syria's northwest, where other Kurdish militia are facing sharp attacks from Turkish troops."
#MAGA. P.J. Huffstutter & Adriana Barrera of Reuters (Feb. 22): "Mexican buyers imported ten times more corn from Brazil last year amid concern that NAFTA renegotiations could disrupt their U.S. supplies, according to government data and top grains merchants.... Mexico is on track to buy more Brazilian corn in 2018, which would hurt a U.S. agricultural sector already struggling with low grains prices and the rising competitive threat from South America.... Mexican buyers imported a total of more than 583,000 metric tonnes of Brazilian corn last year -- a 970 percent jump over 2016.... Mexico has long been the top importer of U.S. corn, and is the second largest buye of U.S. soybeans, giving Mexico leverage in corn-belt states that are staunch Trump supporters but also strongly back the trade status quo." --safari
Presidential Race 2020. Dan Mangan of CNBC: "... Donald Trump on Tuesday announced the appointment of digital guru Brad Parscale to manage his bid to win re-election to the White House in 2020. Parscale was digital director of Donald Trump's successful campaign for the White House in 2016. He has been called the 'secret weapon' of that campaign." Mrs. McC: Yeah, if Parscale doesn't come under indictment for conspiring with Russia by next year. (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Sean Illing of Vox explains: Brad Parscale "is an extremely controversial choice to run the president's 2020 campaign -- particularly given that Trump's 2016 campaign is still being investigated for potential collusion with Russia. That's because Parscale is intimately tied to a company called Cambridge Analytica, a shady data analytics firm that has become a major focus of both the House Intelligence Committee's investigation into Russian meddling in the election and special counsel Robert Mueller's probe.... Part of [Russia's disinformation] operation relied on manipulating Facebook's algorithms to target specific voters. And this is precisely the sort of work that Cambridge Analytica and Brad Parscale were hired to perform for the Trump campaign.... Parscale insisted that allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia were 'a joke.' But there's a mountain of circumstantial evidence that suggests otherwise...." BTW, Michael Flynn & Jared Kushner figure in the subplot. And Flynn is talking. ...
... On Another Note -- They're All Crooks. Josh Horwitz of the AP: Brad Parscale "has a close financial relationship with a penny-stock firm with a questionable history that includes longstanding ties to a convicted fraudster, according to an Associated Press investigation.... Parscale ... signed a $10 million deal in August to sell his digital marketing company to CloudCommerce Inc. As part of the deal, Parscale currently serves as a member of California-based company's management team.... In 2006, a top executive at the company, which was operating under a different name at the time, was caught in an FBI bribery sting and later pleaded guilty to securities fraud. The company said the former executive no longer has any connection to the company, but documents reviewed by the AP indicate he has remained involved in CloudCommerce's major corporate decisions in recent years.... As part of the deal with CloudCommerce, the company acquired Parscale's web development company, including roughly 60 employees, many of his past clients and a web-hosting business that services some Trump family business websites.... Parscale has hired Eric Trump's wife, Lara, a move that ... shields how much she is being paid from public disclosure because she works for a private company."
Congressional Races
To Run or Not to Run. Burgess Everett of Politico: "Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) will not run for reelection after reconsidering his decision last fall to retire, his chief of staff said Tuesday. After listening to some Tennessee Republicans and GOP senators who were privately urging him to run, the two-term senator and Foreign Relations Committee chairman decided that this will be his last year as senator, said Todd Womack, Corker's chief of staff. The move ends a period of intense speculation in Tennessee and Washington about Corker's future and avoids what could have been an ugly primary between Corker and Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn." Paul Waldman notes that Corker's retirement could be an opportunity for Democrats to pick up a Senate seat. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Ed Kilgore: "After waiting around to see if senior senator Thad Cochran might resign and open up an easier path to Washington, fiery conservative Chris McDaniel, the man who nearly ended Cochran's career in a 2014 primary, has decided to run against the junior senator from Mississippi, Roger Wicker. McDaniel's announcement is scheduled to happen [today]. So it's interesting that today, when Wicker is technically the only Republican candidate in the field for 2018, President Trump reached out to endorse him" via Twitter.
Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "Arizona Republicans picked Debbie Lesko, a former state legislator, as their nominee to replace disgraced former congressman Trent Franks Tuesday night -- after a race that was rocked by more allegations of inappropriate behavior. Lesko pushed past 11 other Republicans, including Steve Montenegro, rising conservative star who had been endorsed by Franks and some national conservative figures and then tumbled into a scandal over racy text messages sent by a staffer.... Democrats elected Hiral Tipirneni, a physician and political activist, to vie for the seat that Franks had always won easily."
Gideon Resnick of The Daily Beast: "Two Democrats won state legislative contests on Tuesday night [in New Hampshire and Connecticut], flipping the seats from Republican hands and marking the 38th and 39th legislative flips since PresidentTrump's inauguration. Democrats have now also flipped six this year alone." --safari
INS Can Habeas Your Corpus for as Long as It Wants. Domenico Montanaro & Richard Gonzales of NPR: "The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that immigrants, even those with permanent legal status and asylum seekers, do not have the right to periodic bond hearings. It's a profound loss for those immigrants appealing what are sometimes indefinite detentions by the government. Many are held for long periods of time — on average, 13 months -- after being picked up for things as minor as joyriding. Some are held even longer.... The majority opinion was penned by Justice Alito and joined by the court's conservatives. (Justice Kagan did not participate. She recused herself, stemming from work she had done as President Obama's solicitor general.) The decision reversed a Ninth Circuit ruling and the court remanded it for the Ninth to reconsider the case." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Rachel Cohen of The Intercept: "[W]hile most of the media has focused on the fact that the Janus [v. AFSCME, Council 31] case stands to decimate union coffers -- and by extension, Democratic Party coffers -- some labor activists and legal scholars have begun sounding the alarm on what they say would be the unintended consequences of the suit, effectively opening up the floodgates for countless lawsuits.... If Mark Janus doesn't have to pay his agency fees because collective bargaining is speech he disagrees with, then collective bargaining is speech. And it can't be restricted.... If the Janus plaintiffs win ... the court would actually be elevating the free speech standards of bargaining. That, in turn, could bring with it new legal protections...Nearly all states impose some form of restriction on collective bargaining, limiting who can bargain and what workers can bargain over. If the Janus plaintiffs win in court, the theory goes, then workers could start bringing First Amendment challenges to limitations on their bargaining rights" --safari
Robin Wright of the New Yorker: "Over the past year, the most striking global trend has been the entrenchment of imperious autocrats. This weekend, China announced it is abolishing term limits, enabling President Xi Jinping to stay in power indefinitely. Next month, Russia's Vladimir Putin and Egypt's Abdel Fattah El-Sisi will compete in farcical Presidential elections without meaningful opponents because they have been arrested, banished, or intimidated into silence. Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has consolidated power ... once based on consensus within the sprawling royal family. Turkey amended its constitution to create an executive Presidency with sweeping political, judicial, and military powers, diminishing its parliament. After seven years of war, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has reclaimed physical control over most of his country and reëstablished his draconian political dominance. There's a growing array of wannabes, too, from Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.... The United States shares a big chunk of the blame, according to career diplomats as well as both Republicans and Democrats who have helped craft American foreign policy for decades. 'Some of this has to do with the resurgence of old powers, but it also has to do with reckless American detachment over the past year, which has accelerated the ambitions of other leaders. When vacuums are created, they get filled,' William J. Burns, a career diplomat..., told me."
Juan Cole: "Iran's economy is seeing bright spots that the Western press rarely admits.... It is settling down now into a regular 4% a year growth or so and is trying to grow its non-oil economy.... Just for an example of the challenge the Trump administration faces in isolating Iran economically, Iranian trade with Denmark grew 11% in 2017.... France, Belgium, Italy and other European countries are setting up state-backed Euro-denominated investment and trade pipelines that avoid US currency and banks.... China, India and Turkey continue to ignore Washington's increasingly idiosyncratic jihad against Iran.... But if you tallied up wins and losses, there does not seem much question that Iran is gradually winning." --safari
Beyond the Beltway
Paul Duggan of the Washington Post: "A judge in Charlottesville ruled Tuesday that local officials must take down the black shrouds covering two Confederate monuments while a lawsuit continues over the city's plan to permanently remove the controversial statues. The towering bronze sculptures of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. 'Stonewall' Jackson, each in a public park, were draped in black by the city after an Aug. 12 rally by hundreds of white supremacists erupted in violence. The demonstration drew throngs of counterprotesters, and one of them, Heather Heyer, 32, was killed in the mayhem."
Way Beyond
Michael Schwirtz of the New York Times: "North Korea has been shipping supplies to the Syrian government that could be used in the production of chemical weapons, United Nations experts contend. The evidence of a North Korean connection comes as the United States and other countries have accused the Syrian government of using chemical weapons on civilians, including recent attacks on civilians in the Damascus suburb of eastern Ghouta using what appears to have been chlorine gas. The supplies from North Korea include acid-resistant tiles, valves and thermometers, according to a report by United Nations investigators. North Korean missile technicians have also been spotted working at known chemical weapons and missile facilities inside Syria, according to the report, which was written by a panel of experts who looked at North Korea's compliance with United Nations sanctions."
Tom Phillips of the Guardian: "[F]or the Communist party of China [the letter 'n'] is also a subversive and intolerable character that was this week banished from the internet as Chinese censors battled to silence criticism of Xi Jinping’s bid to set himself up as ruler for life. The contravening consonant was perhaps the most unusual victim of a crackdown targeting words, phrases and even solitary letters censors feared might be used to attack Beijing's controversial decision to abolish constitutional term limits for China’s president." --safari: Includes a list of banned words, like 'disagree' and 'shameless'.
AFP: "Norway plans to ban semi-automatic firearms as of 2021, a decade after rightwing extremist Anders Breivik's mass shooting that left 69 people dead, a Norwegian lawmaker said on Tuesday." --safari
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