The Commentariat -- October 2, 2017
Afternoon Update:
Cristiano Lima of Politico: "White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Monday said now was not the time for a debate on gun control, but rather that today was 'a day of reflection, a day of mourning' for the victims in Sunday's deadly Las Vegas shooting." Mrs. McC: Somehow, there's never a good time, is there, Sarah? ...
... Cristiano Lima: "Democratic lawmakers called for swift congressional action in response to the Las Vegas shooting that left at least 58 dead -- the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history — with Sen. Chris Murphy saying it is 'time for Congress to get off its ass and do something' on gun control. Murphy, who led a filibuster on the Senate floor last June in protest of legislative inaction following the Pulse club shooting, called it 'cruelly hollow' for politicians to not back up their words of sympathy with a governmental response." ...
... William Wan, et al., of the Washington Post: "Before he opened fire late Sunday -- killing at least 50 people at a country music festival on the Las Vegas Strip -- the gunman Stephen Paddock lived a quiet life for years in a small town outside Las Vegas. A retired man, Paddock, 64, would disappear for days at a time, frequenting casinos as a professional gambler with his longtime girlfriend, neighbors said. Relatives also said Paddock had been quietly living out his retirement years, visiting Las Vegas to gamble and take in concerts." ...
... Odd. Ed Kilgore: "After expressing shock that his brother, 'just a guy' who liked to go to Vegas and gamble and see some shows and 'eat burritos,' had gone on a murder spree from the window of his room at Mandalay Bay hotel, Eric Paddock disclosed something else about Stephen Paddock's background. '...their father was Patrick Benjamin Paddock, a bank robber who he says was on FBI Most Wanted list.' citing Peter Alexander.].... There was indeed in the late 1960s and early 1970s a bank robber, an escaped federal prisoner, and eventually a fugitive by that name (and others) who made the Most Wanted list. The FBI poster ([pictured in the story]) from 1969 notes that Paddock the Elder had been 'diagnosed as psychopathic, has carried firearms in commission of bank robberies' and 'reportedly has suicidal tendencies and should be considered armed and very dangerous.'... Paddock apparently stayed on the lam until 1978, when he was 'captured in 1978 in Oregon where he was running a bingo parlor.'" Mrs. McC: Several news outlets have confirmed the report. ...
... Callum Borchers of the Washington Post: Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Wayne Allyn Root "could not wait to weigh in on Sunday's mass shooting in Las Vegas. On Twitter, he jumped to the conclusion that the shooter must be Muslim, before police had identified him.... Several hours later, police identified the gunman as a Nevada man named Stephen Paddock, who Las Vegas police described as a white man. Root, however, was not ready rule out a connection to Islamic terrorism. In fact, he argued that 'liberals' are the ones rushing to judgment by assuming the shooter is not a Muslim.... Root is not alone in spreading the idea that Islamist terrorism was behind the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history on Sunday -- despite the absence of evidence."
Jonathan Chait: "Republicans Angry at Economists for Finding Their Tax Cuts Go to the Rich. Friday, the Tax Policy Center published an analysis of the Republican tax-cut plan, finding that nearly 80 percent of its benefits would accrue to the highest-earning one percent of the public. Asked about these findings, White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney called the center the 'National Tax Center,' erroneously charged that a former economic adviser to Joe Biden works there, and used this imagined fact to discredit its calculations[.]... The [Wall Street] Journal dismisses the Tax Policy Center's findings as 'propaganda,' arguing that the Republican plan is not completely finished."
Raphael Minder of the New York Times: "A day after a referendum on independence for Catalonia that was marred by clashes between supporters and police officers, the Spanish region's leaders were meeting on Monday to determine how to convert the vote into a state free from the rest of the country. Carles Puigdemont, the Catalan leader, said late Sunday that Catalans had won the right to have their own state and that he would soon present the result of the referendum to the regional Parliament to make it binding."
*****
Gerry Mullany & Russell Goldman of the New York Times: "A gunman firing from a Las Vegas hotel rained a rapid-fire barrage on a huge outdoor concert festival on Sunday night, sending thousands of people fleeing until SWAT units found and killed him. More than 50 victims died, and at least 200 others were wounded, officials said, making it one of the deadliest mass shootings in United States history. Online video of the attack outside the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino showed the country singer Jason Aldean performing outside at the Route 91 Harvest Festival, a three-day country music event, interrupted by the sound of automatic gunfire. The music stopped, and concertgoers ducked for cover.... Several SWAT teams were sent to the hotel immediately after the first reports of the shooting at 10:08 p.m., and officers overheard on police radio reported being pinned down by gunfire. Shortly before midnight the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department reported that 'one suspect is down,' and soon thereafter the police said they did not believe there were any more active gunmen.... Sheriff Joseph Lombardo of Clark County told reporters early Monday morning that more than 50 people were killed and more than 200 injured. He identified the gunman as Stephen Paddock, 64. He said the police were seeking 'a companion' named Marilou Danley...." ...
... New Lede: "A gunman on a high floor of a Las Vegas hotel rained a rapid-fire barrage on an outdoor concert festival on Sunday night, killing at least 58 people, wounding hundreds of others, and sending thousands of terrified survivors fleeing for cover, in one of the deadliest mass shootings in American history." Ken Belson has been added to the byline. Mrs. McC: Cable news is reporting that at least 500 were injured. ...
... Goldman (update: and Liam Stack) are live-updating here. Police "said they were 'confident' they had located a female person of interest described as [the gunman's] 'companion' and 'roommate.'" ...
... The Los Angeles Times report, by David Montero & Alene Tchekmedyian, is here.
... The Las Vegas Sun report is here. ...
... The AP has a running account of developments here. ...
... Heavy has some sketchy information about the shooter. "Sheriff Joe Lombardo, when asked by a reporter if it was an 'act of terrorism,' said 'no, not at this point. We believe it was a local individual. He resides here locally. I'm not at liberty to give you his place of residence yet, because it's an ongoing investigation, we don't know what his belief system was at this time.... Right now we believe he is the sole aggressor at this point and the scene is static.'" Mrs. McC: Not sure what Lombardo thinks an "act of terrorism" is if it's not shooting, killing & maiming hundreds of people attending a concert.
What a Real President does when a hurricane hits while he's on vacation:
Photo by Pete Souza.While on vacation on Martha's Vineyard in 2011, President Obama, with Homeland Security Advisor John Brennan and others, waits to start a conference call with mayors and governors affected by Hurricane Irene. The President cut short his vacation to monitor the situation from Washington as the Category 2 storm moved its way up the eastern seaboard. -- Pete Souza ...
... Thanks to Exalto for reminding us of Pete Souza's Instagram account. ...
... What a President* does when a hurricane hits during his $3MM weekend vacations:
Trump at Bedminster. Not Photoshopped (but, okay, shot in November 2016).Thanks to Old McDonald for reminding us what a complete dick he is. ...
On behalf of all of the people of Texas, and all of the people -- if you look today and see what is happening, how horrible it is but we have it under really great control -- Puerto Rico and the people of Florida who have really suffered over this last short period of time with the hurricanes, I want to just remember them. And we're going to dedicate this trophy to all of those people that went through so much that we love -- a part of our great state, really part of our great nation. -- Donald Trump. at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City
You don’t give a shit about Puerto Rico! -- A shout-out from a person in the crowd at the Jersey City golf club
... Daniel Politi of Slate: "After a weekend of picking Twitter fights with the mayor of Puerto Rico's capital ... from the comfort of his own golf resort in Bedmnister, N.J...., Donald Trump seemed to know exactly what those suffering from the devastation left behind by Hurricane Maria needed: the dedication of a golf trophy. Trump's offer of goodwill wasn't just for Puerto Rico though, as the commander in chief also dedicated the Presidents Cup Golf Tournament trophy to the victims of the recent hurricanes that struck Texas and Florida as well." ...
... Mary Shelbourne of the Hill: "The number of Puerto Ricans without access to drinking water has risen sharply [to 55 percent], the Defense Department announced on Saturday.... The military said last week that 44 percent of the island did not have access to drinking water." ...
... Following are a few representative stories from reporters on the ground around Puerto Rico. Either these reporters are terrific fabulists or Donald Trump is a liar. ...
... ¿Dónde está FEMA? A. J. Vicens of Mother Jones: "As two Puerto Rican journalists and I walked through Ciales, a mountain town hit hard by Hurricane Maria..., at least a dozen residents approached us with the same question: Are you from FEMA? Earlier in the day..., Donald Trump had slammed San Juan Mayor Yulín Cruz on Saturday for 'such poor leadership ability,' boasting that federal efforts to assist in hurricane recovery were robust. '10,000 Federal workers now on Island doing a fantastic job,' he tweeted from his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. But according to residents, none of those 10,000 federal workers have made it to Ciales, just 45 minutes from San Juan. The storm in this town of 19,000 knocked out the power grid, destroyed entire blocks, and filled streets and homes with a pervasive chocolate-brown mud. Everyone we talked to in Ciales -- young and old, residents of public housing and private homes, and even the mayor -- complained about the local, Puerto Rican, and federal response to the disaster." ...
... Molly Hennessy-Fiske of the Los Angeles Times: "... in places like rural, southwestern Lajas..., locals said they are ... helping each other. But there is only so much they can do.... Lajas Mayor Marcos Irizarry Pagán arranged for [two families] to stay at a hotel..., because he feared they couldn't survive at the [town's] shelter. 'These are elderly people sick due to a lack of oxygen, diabetes -- it's a lot of complications and they can't resist it. We want to help them, but our hands are tied,' he said. FEMA sent its first shipment to Lajas on Friday. Police picked it up from a nearby city under guard, concerned about looting. The shipment contained 200 boxes of food and 786 24-packs of water for a town of 25,000.... The mayor was issued a satellite phone to contact FEMA in San Juan, but he said the agency never calls back. He has started using the phone to let residents call worried relatives on the U.S. mainland.... About 100 people died in the three days after the storm in the Lajas region, twice the typical rate, according to a local funeral director. Eight elderly people have died in Lajas since the storm, at least one directly related to a shortage of medical supplies." ...
... Ingrid Arnesen of the Daily Beast: "Twenty-eight U.S. Army reservists answered the call of duty ... and reported to an abandoned base on the eastern tip of the island. Then they waited for orders. And waited. It was one week before the soldiers heard from the outside world. That is how desperate, how disorganized, the situation in Puerto Rico has been. Try as he may to deflect blame for the response to Hurricane Maria..., Donald Trump is the commander-in-chief of these soldiers who were marooned while their countrymen needed all the help they could get." ...
We've spent the entire weekend, as we have last weekend, working on Puerto Rico, making sure we're out saving lives, sustaining lives. And making sure everyone in Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, is taken care of. The United States has gone through extraordinary efforts to delivery goods to the islands. -- Gary Cohn, White House economic advisor, on Fox "News" Sunday (Also linked yesterday.)
Great! Apparently composing nasty tweets running down media coverage & local Puerto Rican efforts is "work." -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie ...
... David Jackson of USA Today: "President Trump defended his administration's response to the humanitarian disaster in Puerto Rico, dismissing any critics of his relief efforts as 'fake news' and 'politically motivated ingrates.' 'We have done a great job with the almost impossible situation in Puerto Rico,' Trump said. 'Outside of the Fake News or politically motivated ingrates ... people are now starting to recognize the amazing work that has been done by FEMA and our great Military.'... In a third tweet on Sunday morning, Trump had kind words for Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello, thanking him and 'all of those who are working so closely with our First Responders. Fantastic job!'" (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: John Kelly needs to hire a cold-hearted no-texting nanny to babysit Terribly Trumpy on the weekends. ...
... Chas Danner of New York: "White House budget director Mick Mulvaney joined [Trump] in the attack on Cruz on Sunday morning. 'My understanding is that as of yesterday, she had not even been to the FEMA operation center in her own city,' Mulvaney said on CNN.... Also on Sunday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on NBC's Meet the Press that Cruz's comments 'were unfair, given what the federal government has done.'... Mulvaney and Mnuchin's criticism follows a White House official's anonymous statement on Saturday suggesting that Cruz has been 'too busy doing TV' to properly gauge federal relief efforts." ...
... Mike Allen of Axios: "In contrast to dire reports from the island, White House homeland security adviser Tom Bossert sent West Wing colleagues an unusually upbeat update -- leaked to Axios -- that points to a rapid recovery no one on the ground is witnessing. Bossert, back from a trip to Puerto Rico earlier in the week, says it's 'still an urgent situation,' but that the administration has "a strong ground game in place on the island with military leadership[.]... The White House's sunny plan comes as TV reports 'increasingly echo those after Katrina a dozen years ago in sounding the alarm for a desperate population frustrated by the pace of relief efforts,' AP's David Bauder points out[.]" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
The President is personally retweeting himself about PR instead of personally overseeing PR relief. He struggles with basics of being POTUS.... Part of being President is driving federal agencies to work together and get the job done. Another part is moral leadership. - Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), in tweets (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
... Matt Yglesias of Vox: "For the first nine months of his administration, observers have had occasion to wonder ... how exactly Donald Trump would manage to handle a real crisis imposed by external events rather than his own impulsiveness. The answer is now apparent in the blackened streets of San Juan and the villages of interior Puerto Rico that more than a week after Hurricane Maria struck remain without access to food or clean water. To an extent, the United States of America held up surprisingly well from Inauguration Day until September 20th or so. The ongoing degradation of American civic institutions, at a minimum, did not have an immediate negative impact on the typical person's life. But the world is beginning to draw a straight line from the devastation in Puerto Rico straight to the White House. Trump's instinct so far is to turn the island's devastation into another front in culture war politics, a strategy that could help his own political career survive." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Charles Blow: "The subtext [of Trump's tweets disparaging Mayor Yulín Cruz of San Juan & Puerto Ricans in general] -- or perhaps the actual text -- was to blame the victim and berate them as a group: These brown people want/need help, but won't/can't help themselves because their community/culture is inferior/ineffective. It was a revolting, racialized attack, but one delivered in much the same way that his racialized attack on the N.F.L. players was delivered: by using hijacked glory. He used the nobility of veterans and active service member to shield his ignoble attack on the N.F.L. players, and he used the nobility of first responders to shield his ignoble attack on Puerto Ricans.... As Jelani Cobb brilliantly observed last week in The New Yorker, 'Ungrateful is the new uppity.'" ...
... Margaret Hartmann: "President Trump is not one to let a controversy fade away, so on Saturday he made sure to fan the embers of his standoff with the NFL.... 'Very important that NFL players STAND tomorrow, and always, for the playing of our National Anthem. Respect our Flag and our Country!' [Trump tweeted.]... However, Trump was clearly more invested in his new beef with the mayor of storm-ravaged San Juan; over the weekend, he posted more than a dozen tweets defending his administration's response to Hurricane Maria. The NFL scaled back its response as well. A few teams -- including the Baltimore Ravens, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the New Orleans Saints, and the Jacksonville Jaguars -- took a knee as a team before the anthem, then stood for the song. Jacksonville players announced before the game that they would would kneel in prayer 'for change, progress and equality for everyone who calls the United States their homes.'"
Trumpty-Dumpty Dumps on Diplomacy. Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Trump seemed to undercut his own secretary of state on Sunday as he belittled the prospect of a diplomatic resolution to the nuclear-edged crisis with North Korea even as the administration was seeking to open lines of communication. In the latest Twitter messages from his New Jersey golf club, where he was spending the weekend, Mr. Trump diminished Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson's outreach to Pyongyang and its autocratic leader, Kim Jong-un. On a visit to China, Mr. Tillerson acknowledged on Saturday that he was trying to open talks. 'I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man,' Mr. Trump wrote, using the derogatory nickname he has assigned to Mr. Kim. 'Save your energy Rex,' he added, 'we'll do what has to be done!'" Thanks to MAG for the lead. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Clio Chang of the New Republic writes "An Oral History of the Trump Administration as told through anonymous quotes from White House and Republican officials.... Over the course of a young presidency composed of nothing but disasters and scandals, a torrent of anonymous backstabbing and grumbling has found its way into the mainstream media. Taken together, these quotes show what it is like to work for a mercurial boss who is painfully unqualified to hold the office -- a mosaic that depicts the experience of living within the whirlwind.... What emerges from this anonymous stew is an ongoing record of the Republican failure to speak up in public, while the president wreaks havoc both here and abroad. It is a story about a rotting GOP, as told by the greatest cowards of the Trump era." Thanks to P. D. Pepe for the link.
Lyin' Ryan & Mendacious Mnuchin Go on Teevee to Lie about Tax "Reform." Kelsey Snell of the Washington Post: "Republican leaders on Sunday were unable to guarantee tax cuts for all middle-class workers as a part of a tax plan that GOP leaders have pledged to produce by the end of the year. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin defended the newly released GOP tax plan as a boon for the middle class amid accusations from Democrats and some outside groups that it is primarily a chance to cut taxes on corporations and the wealthy. The pair argued that such accusations are based on faulty information and lack of details. 'The entire purpose of this is to lower middle-class taxes,' Ryan said in an interview on CBS's 'Face the Nation.' 'So yes, people are going to get tax cuts. How big are those tax cuts? That depends on the individual.'"
** Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times: "Advocates for children's health started worrying months ago that congressional incompetence would jeopardize the nation's one indisputable healthcare success -- the Children's Health Insurance Program, which has reduced the uninsured rate among kids to 5% from 14% over the two decades of its existence. Their fears turned out to be true. Funding for CHIP runs out on Saturday, and no vote on reestablishing the program's $15-billion appropriation is expected for at least a week, probably longer.... The consequences will be dire in many states, which will have to curtail or even shut down their children's health programs until funding is restored. Hanging in the balance is care for 9 million children an pregnant women in low-income households. What happened? The simple answer is that congressional Republicans' last harebrained attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act got in the way." Thanks, Graham, Cassidy, et. al! Mrs. McC: Republican incompetence is often a good thing; in this case, it's life-threatening.
Peter Baker & Robert Pear of the New York Times discuss the possible Trump nominees to replace Tom Jet-Setter Price as head of Health & Human Services. Also, see commentary in yesterday's thread on making Mitt Rmoney HHS secretary. Funny -- and realistic. (Also linked yesterday.)
Zuckerberg's Yom Kippur Atonement. Kristine Phillips of the Washington Post: "On Saturday night, the end of Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year for Jewish people, Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg went on his social-media platform and apologized. 'For those I hurt this year, I ask forgiveness and I will try to be better,' he wrote in a brief post. 'For the ways my work was used to divide people rather than bring us together, I ask for forgiveness and I will work to do better.' He did not say anything specific in his most recent post, but Zuckerberg's mea culpa came in the face of mounting evidence that Russians had used the social-media platform he created more than a decade ago to spread propaganda and influence voter sentiment -- all to tip the U.S. presidential election in Donald Trump's favor."
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court, which was short-handed and slumbering for more than a year after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, is returning to the bench on Monday with a far-reaching docket that renews its central role in American life. The new term is studded with major cases likely to provoke sharp conflicts. One of them, on political gerrymandering, has the potential to reshape American politics. Another may settle the question of whether businesses can turn away patrons like gay couples in the name of religious freedom.... 'There's only one prediction that's entirely safe about the upcoming term,' Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said last month at Georgetown's law school. 'It will be momentous.'" Mrs. McC: Naturally, this sickens me, because we do have an idea how the "moment" will go.
Benghazi, Reality Edition. Charlie Savage & Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "... beginning on Monday in a federal courthouse in Washington, prosecutors will put forward an account [of the Benghazi attack on Americans in September 2012] that focuses ... squarely on the attacks themselves and a man they say bears direct responsibility: Ahmed Abu Khattala.... The trial will serve as the latest test of the civilian court system's ability to handle foreign terrorism suspects captured by Special Operations commandos under battlefield conditions, rather than subjecting them to military detention and prosecution.... Prosecutors are expected to portray Mr. Khatalla as a ringleader of a local militia of Islamic extremists who was angry about the American presence in Benghazi and played a leading role in directing the attacks."
Way Beyond the Beltway
Ralph Minter & Ellen Barry of the New York Times: "Catalonia's defiant attempt to stage an independence referendum descended into chaos on Sunday, with hundreds injured in clashes with police in one of the gravest tests of Spain's democracy since the end of the Franco dictatorship in the 1970s. National police officers in riot gear, sent by the central government in Madrid from other parts of Spain, used rubber bullets and truncheons in some places as they fanned out across Catalonia, the restive northeastern region, to shut down polling stations and seize ballot boxes.... Voting went ahead in many towns and cities, with men and women ... singing and chanting as they lined up for hours to cast ballots. Just after midnight, the Catalan government said that the referendum had been approved by 90 percent of some 2.6 million voters. Those figures could not be independently confirmed. The Spanish government declared that the referendum had been disrupted. More than 750 people were injured in the crackdown, Catalan officials said, while dozens of Spanish police officers were hurt, according to Spain's interior ministry." ...
... William Booth of the Washington Post: "Just minutes after the first boisterous voters entered the polling station at an elementary school here on Sunday, dozens of National Police officers in riot gear smashed through the front window and began searching for the ballot boxes. But the activists who organized this controversial vote on independence for the Catalan region were two steps ahead. As the police forced their way through shouting crowds into the polling station, the organizers spirited away the ballots and hid them in the classrooms amid coloring books and crayons. An hour later, after police had driven away in their big black vans, under a hail of insults, the ballot boxes reemerged and the voting recommenced. The pattern was repeated again and again across hundreds of polling stations Sunday in the Catalan region of northeast Spain, where a secessionist movement is pushing ahead with a disputed referendum on independence that the central government in Madrid, backed by the courts, has called illegitimate and illegal." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... The Guardian is running live updates. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Looks a little like a preview of U.S. election day in "urban areas" November 3, 2020.
Jonny Wakefield & Paige Parsons of the Edmonton (Alberta, Canada) Journal: "Edmonton police say a suspect accused of going on a rampage with two vehicles Saturday night has been arrested to face several charges, including terror charges, attempted murder and dangerous driving. Police chief Rod Knecht said at a Sunday afternoon news conference that the man, who came to the attention of law enforcement in 2015 for 'espousing extremist ideology' is believed to have acted alone. Sources confirmed the identity of the man as Abdulahi Hasan Sharif. RCMP K-Division[s assistant commissioner Marlin Degrand said the man is a Somali national. The public safety minister's office has said he is a refugee. Knecht said four injured pedestrians suffered injuries ranging from broken limbs to brain bleeds. Two remain in hospital, the most serious with a fractured skull...."
News Lede
Washington Post: "Three Americans -- Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael W. Young -- have won the 2017 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for their work on molecular mechanisms that control circadian systems. Hall was born in New York, Rosbash in Kansas City, and they both worked at Brandeis University. Michael Young was born in Miami and worked at Rockefeller University.... In announcing the winner in Stockholm on Monday, the prize committee said the scientists elucidated how a life-form's 'inner clock' can fluctuate to optimize our behavior and physiology. 'Their discoveries explain how plants, animals and humans adapt their biological rhythm so that it is synchronized with the Earth's revolutions.' Working with fruit flies, the scientists isolated a gene that is responsible for a protein that accumulates in the night but is degraded in the day. Misalignments in this clock may play a role in medical conditions and disorders, as well as the temporary disorientation of jet lag that travelers experience when crisscrossing time zones."
Share Article 
