The Commentariat -- April 11, 2019
Late Morning Update:
Eileen Sullivan & Richard Pérez-Peña of the New York Times: "The United States has charged WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange of conspiring to hack a computer as part of the 2010 release of reams of secret American documents, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday, putting him just one flight away from being in American custody after years of seclusion in the Ecuadorean embassy in London. The single charge, conspiracy to commit computer intrusion, was filed a year earlier, in March 2018, and stems from what prosecutors said was his agreement to break a password to a classified United States government computer. It carries a penalty of up to five years in prison and is significant in that it is not an espionage charge, a detail that will come as a relief to press freedom advocates. The United States government had considered until at least last year charging him with an espionage-related offense.... The conspiracy charge against Mr. Assange unsealed Thursday is not related to the special counsel's investigation into Russia's election influence.... He was detained partly in connection with an American extradition warrant after he was evicted by the Ecuadoreans.... Mr. Assange will have the right to contest the United States extradition request in British courts." This is an update to a Guardian story linked below. ...
... Ronn Blitzer of Law & Crime: "While the public was already aware of Assange's role in publishing military documents leaked by Chelsea Manning, the indictment includes some revelations regarding Assange's own alleged criminal activity. Here are the major points. 1. Assange allegedly helped Manning hack government computers.... 2. Assange's help was meant to hide Manning's role in leaks.... 3. Manning thought she was done leaking, but Assange encouraged her to do more.... 4. The indictment appears to solve the free speech problem."
Brian Melley of the AP: "Attorney Michael Avenatti has been charged in a 36-count federal indictment alleging he stole millions of dollars from clients, did not pay his taxes, committed bank fraud and lied in bankruptcy proceedings. Avenatti, 48, was indicted late Wednesday by a Southern California grand jury on a raft of additional charges following his arrest last month in New York on two related counts and for allegedly trying to shake down Nike for up to $25 million. The attorney best known for representing porn actress Stormy Daniels in lawsuits against ... Donald Trump said Thursday on Twitter that he will plead not guilty to the California charges." Mrs. McC: Other than that, Avenatti would have made a great president!
You paid your taxes & Jeff Bezos, the richest man in the world, didn't (actually he probably paid personal taxes, but Amazon paid zip): ...
... Thanks, Trump! Kathryn Kranhold of the Center for Public Integrity in an NBC News post: "At least 60 companies reported that their 2018 federal tax rates amounted to effectively zero, or even less than zero, on income earned on U.S. operations, according to an analysis released today by the Washington, D.C.-based think tank, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The number is more than twice as many as ITEP found roughly, per year, on average in an earlier, multi-year analysis before the new tax law went into effect. Among them are household names like ... Amazon.com Inc. and ... Netflix Inc., in addition to ... Chevron Corp..., Eli Lilly and Co., and ... Deere & Co. The identified companies were 'able to zero out their federal income taxes on $79 billion in U.S. pretax income,' according to the ITEP report, which was released today. 'Instead of paying $16.4 billion in taxes, as the new 21 percent corporate tax rate requires, these companies enjoyed a net corporate tax rebate of $4.3 billion, blowing a $20.7 billion hole in the federal budget last year." ...
... Benjy Sarlin of NBC News: "Companies with profits over $100 million would face new corporate taxes under a proposal released Thursday by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. The 2020 presidential hopeful said her 'real corporate profits tax' is aimed at companies that report large annual gains but pay little in taxes thanks to a variety of tax credits and deductions that are available to lower their overall bill."
Trump Tweets Lou Dobbs' Fantasy Poll. Adam Raymond of New York: "President Trump's approval rating is 43 percent according to a new poll from Georgetown. His disapproval is 52 percent and his unfavorable rating is 55 percent. On Wednesday's episode of Lou Dobbs Tonight, the Fox Business host and Trump favorite got those numbers wrong [and emphasized Trump's "soaring" approval rating]. And on Thursday morning, Trump tweeted" out the fake graphic, which claimed Trump's actual unfavorable rating of 55 percent was his favorable rating. Fox Business later issued an on-air correction; Trump did not delete his tweet.
Caroline Kelly of CNN: "Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said Wednesday it was 'both stunning and scary' that Attorney General William Barr would tell lawmakers that Donald Trump's 2016 campaign was spied on.... 'I was amazed at that and rather disappointed that the attorney general would say such a thing. The term 'spying' has all kinds of negative connotations and I have to believe he chose that term deliberately.'"
Benjamin Wittes of Lawfare: "Attorney General Bill Barr's statements [Wednesday] on supposed 'spying' by the FBI on the Trump campaign before the Senate Appropriations Committee were indefensible. They were at once indecipherable and contentless, on the one hand, and incendiary, on the other hand. I am not one of the many people looking to think ill of Barr. Indeed, I have taken a lot of heat recently for being willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on the specific issue of his production of a redacted version of the Mueller report. That said, his comments today were reckless. They will play into gross conspiracy theories. They are also unfair to the individuals whom Barr suggested had engaged in some sort of unspecified wrongdoing.... Asked if he had any evidence of improper collection, he responded, 'I have no specific evidence that I would cite right now.' But, he said, 'I do have questions about it.' When the attorney general 'has questions' about the conduct of his department, the proper thing to do is not to dangle those question in a congressional hearing in a fashion bound to stir up conspiracy theories." ...
... Justin Baragona of the Daily Beast: "Reacting to Attorney General William Barr's shocking claim that he believes 'spying did occur' on the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential election, CNN chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said Wednesday night that this was further proof the Republican Party establishment was beholden to Fox News and its top star.... 'This is a classic demonstration of the Fox News-ification of the Republican Party,' Toobin exclaimed. 'That even an establishment figure like Bill Barr, someone who comes out of the George Herbert Walker Bush administration, talks like Sean Hannity.... There's already been an inspector general's investigation, so I don't know what he's going to investigate, but you know, his use of this term shows how much the paranoid lunacy of the right wing is now moved right in to the Department of Justice.'... This claim that the Obama administration used the FBI and intelligence agencies to spy on the Trump campaign has been pushed by President Trump and his allies for over two years now, starting with Trump's infamous tweet -- and unfounded claim -- that he 'found out that Obama had my "wires tapped" in Trump Tower just before the victory." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: And, please, let's not give Barr the benefit of the doubt & buy his claim -- which he made under oath yesterday -- that he had no idea "spying" was a loaded term.
AND Herman Cain, who if nominated for a Fed position would first be vetted by the Senate Banking Committee, called members of that committee "a bunch of yahoos." Pretty good PR move. He also "compared the right to health care to the right to own a Cadillac, and said God would decide when it was time to stop using fossil fuels."
~~~~~~~~~~
The Usual Trump Scandals, Ctd.
** Jeff Stein & Damian Paletta of the Washington Post: "Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said his department would not meet the Wednesday deadline set by congressional Democrats to turn over copies of President Trump's tax returns, escalating a clash between the White House and Congress. Mnuchin said he was consulting with the Justice Department as to the constitutional questions raised by the Democrats' request and appeared deeply skeptical of the lawmakers' intentions. He did not flatly reject the notion that he might ultimately comply, but his letter to the House Ways and Means Committee suggested that Mnuchin would not hold himself to any timeline.... Mnuchin's letter appeared to closely track the legal issues raised by Trump's lawyers last week in a letter in response to the request made by Ways and Means Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.). Even though Neal addressed his letter to Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Charles Rettig, Mnuchin said he would personally oversee the review."
Lisa Mascaro of the AP: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday questioned Attorney General William Barr's independence from ... Donald Trump, arguing Barr's pursuit of Trump's claims about 'spying' during the 2016 campaign undermines his position as the nation's top law enforcement officer. In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press, the California Democrat said she was 'very concerned' about Barr's handling of special counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian meddling in the campaign and accused Barr of doing Trump's political bidding in his testimony at a Senate hearing. 'He is not the attorney general of Donald Trump. He is the attorney general of the United States,' Pelosi told AP. 'I don't trust Barr, I trust Mueller.'" ...
On [Trump's] first [choice for attorney general], the president was very clear: He's not protecting me from the investigation, so he's fired, day after the election. Second guy was hired for the same purpose, but was very temporary and was clearly unqualified. The third guy was hired for the same purpose: Protect the president from the investigation, and he's done his job. -- Jerry Nadler, to Andy Kroll of Rolling Stone ...
... Charlie Savage, et al., of the New York Times: "Attorney General William P. Barr, appearing before Congress for a second straight day on Wednesday, said the government spied on the Trump campaign and said he would look into whether any rules were violated. Mr. Barr signaled he was open sharing more information with lawmakers about the redacted Mueller report than is released to the public and that he 'hoped' to make it public 'next week.'... He said Justice Department lawyers and members of Mr. Mueller's team, who are reviewing the report for sensitive information to black out before release, would not remove information that would harm the 'reputational interests' of Mr. Trump.... Mr. Barr also said that he ... had not discussed with the White House what he was blacking out.... Mr. Barr again declined to say whether he had briefed the White House on the fuller Mueller report, even though Justice Department officials had previously said it had not been shown to the White House.... Speaking to reporters as he left the White House on Wednesday, the president slammed the investigation as an illegal 'attempted coup.'... 'I have not seen the Mueller report,' Mr. Trump told reporters. 'I have not read the Mueller report. I won. No collusion, no obstruction. I won. Everybody knows I won.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
Lindsey Graham: 'You cannot possibly be surprised that President Trump would claim exoneration without having read anything.' -- Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times, in a tweet
... Zachary Basu of Axios: Barr clarified his "spying" remarks "at the end of the hearing: 'I am not saying that improper surveillance occurred. I am saying that I am concerned about it and I'm looking into it.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: The first several minutes of this MSNBC segment are worth listening to in order to get an idea of how far out on a conspiracy limb Bill Barr is willing to shinny. During the confirmation period, news organizations repeatedly referred to Barr as an "institutional" guy. But Barr proved in the 1980s & has proved again since his recent confirmation that he is not interested in preserving the "institution" of the Justice Department, but rather in preserving the political hides of Republican officials. IOW, he's a political hack. (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "At a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday morning, Barr confirmed that he is looking into what he called 'spying' on the Trump campaign during the 2016 election.... When pressed by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) on whether he indeed viewed it as 'spying' on Trump's campaign, Barr said, 'I think spying did occur.'... That is a highly disputed term when it comes to what the FBI did relative to the Trump campaign in 2016.... The idea that [FISA-warranted surveillance] constituted 'spying on a political campaign,' as Barr put it, is highly contentious. One reason is the nefarious connotations of 'spying,' and another is the idea that it was specifically 'directed at the Trump campaign,' as Barr said, rather than at potential Russian interference in the 2016 election.... [Barr's testimony Wednesday] lends legitimacy to what, at this point, is essentially a Trump conspiracy theory." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Kyle Cheney of Politico: "James Baker, the former top lawyer of the FBI, said senior bureau officials -- including at least one deemed to be free of anti-Trump bias -- discussed the possibility in May 2017 that ... Donald Trump had fired FBI Director James Comey 'at the behest of' the Russian government. In testimony to two Republican-led committees last October, Baker described mounting concerns that crystallized in the frantic days after the FBI director's ouster, days that were punctuated by Trump's on-air declaration that he fired Comey because of the Russia probe and his chummy Oval Office meeting with senior Russian officials, at which he reportedly trashed Comey as a 'nut job.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Brad Reed of the Raw Story: "Prosecutors working for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York are investigating whether longtime Trump confidant Hope Hicks helped coordinate hush-money payments made to silence women who alleged to have affairs with ... Donald Trump. The Wall Street Journal reports that SDNY prosecutors 'asked Ms. Hicks about her contacts with [David] Pecker, the CEO of American Media, publisher of the National Enquirer' and also 'asked at least one other witness whether Ms. Hicks had coordinated with anyone at American Media concerning a Journal article on Nov. 4, 2016 -- days before the election -- that revealed American Media had paid $150,000 for the rights to former Playboy model Karen McDougal's story of an alleged affair with Mr. Trump.'... The Journal's report also reveals that SDNY 'has gathered more evidence than previously known in its criminal investigation' of the hush money payments and has also interviewed former Trump bodyguard Keith Schiller about what he knew about the payments. Additionally, the Journal reveals that prosecutors are looking at 'discrepancies' between the testimonies of [Michael] Cohen and longtime Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg, as Cohen has told prosecutors that 'Weisselberg had a deeper involvement in the hush payment to Ms. Daniels than Mr. Weisselberg had indicated.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) See more on the National Enquirer linked below.
Jesse Drucker of the New York Times: "The Trump International Hotel and Tower in Manhattan, near the southwest corner of Central Park, is a 44-story building with a mix of luxury condominiums and hotel suites that go for more than $2,500 a night. Unit 32G, a two-bedroom, 1,767-square-foot apartment with sweeping views of the park, is owned by an entity called Ecree, which bought the condo in 2014 for $7 million in cash. Documents unearthed by the nonprofit group Global Witness show that the purchase was funded by the daughter of the Republic of Congo's president, a longtime target of anti-corruption investigators. The funds for the all-cash purchase appear to have been siphoned from that country's government, according to a report by Global Witness.... Owners of units in the building -- 1 Central Park West -- pay tens of thousands of dollars a year in condo fees to Mr. Trump's company, the Trump Organization.... Mr. Trump's properties, which he and his family continue to operate, have a long history of serving as home to people with checkered pasts." (Also linked yesterday.)
British authorities have arrested Julian Assange; see Guardian story linked under Way Beyond the Beltway below.
Rosalind Helderman & Tom Hamburger of the Washington Post: "Attorneys for former White House Counsel Gregory B. Craig said Wednesday that he expects to face federal charges in the coming days in relationship to legal work he did for the Ukrainian government in 2012. The expected indictment -- which his attorneys called 'a misguided abuse of prosecutorial discretion' -- stems from work Craig did with GOP lobbyist Paul Manafort on behalf of the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice in 2012. At the time, Craig was a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, the law firm he joined after ending his tenure as White House counsel for President Barack Obama."
Adam Vary of BuzzFeed News: "... Donald Trump on Tuesday posted a video on Twitter that appeared to be part of his 2020 reelection campaign. In less than three hours, it had already amassed over 1 million views, but by late Tuesday night, the video was no longer available. BuzzFeed News has learned that Warner Bros. Pictures filed a copyright infringement complaint to have the video taken down because it uses part of the score from the studio's 2012 film The Dark Knight Rises." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: The Trump campaign has millions & millions of dollars in its kitty. It won't pay for copyrighted material?
Trump's Sister Retires to Stop Tax Fraud Inquiry. Russ Buettner & Susanne Craig of the New York Times: "President Trump's older sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, has retired as a federal appellate judge, ending an investigation into whether she violated judicial conduct rules by participating in fraudulent tax schemes with her siblings. The court inquiry stemmed from complaints filed last October, after an investigation by The New York Times found that the Trumps had engaged in dubious tax schemes during the 1990s, including instances of outright fraud, that greatly increased the inherited wealth of Mr. Trump and his siblings. Judge Barry not only benefited financially from most of those tax schemes, The Times found; she was also in a position to influence the actions taken by her family. Judge Barry, now 82, has not heard cases in more than two years but was still listed as an inactive senior judge, one step short of full retirement." Mrs. McC: What a family!
Michael Shear, et al., of the New York Times: "These days, thousands of people a day simply walk up to the border and surrender. Most of them are from Central America, seeking to escape from gang violence, sexual abuse, death threats and persistent poverty.... The very nature of immigration to America changed after 2014, when families first began showing up in large numbers. The resulting crisis has overwhelmed a system unable to detain, care for and quickly decide the fate of tens of thousands of people who claim to be fleeing for their lives. For years, both political parties have tried -- and failed -- to overhaul the nation's immigration laws, mindful that someday the government would reach a breaking point. That moment has arrived. The country is now unable to provide either the necessary humanitarian relief for desperate migrants or even basic controls on the number and nature of who is entering the United States." ...
... Dana Milbank: "President Trump is right. There's a crisis on the southern border. The existence of the crisis is as obvious as its cause: Trump. He didn't single-handedly create this mess, but he definitely made it worse. He pursued not a policy but an instinct, following emotion rather than empiricism. Now, an immigration policy of toughness and fear has backfired in tangible ways.... The underlying source of the migration -- violence in Central America -- wasn't Trump's doing. But he compounded the trouble. The bellicose talk of wall-building and a zero-tolerance crackdown gave migrants an incentive to hurry to the United States. The 2018 campaign hysteria about caravans and the country's limited ability to stop them, meant to frighten Americans, served as an advertisement for asylum for would-be migrants.... The government shutdown and unstable management (continuing this week with the purge of top officials at the Department of Homeland Security) slowed the government's response to the migration surge. The president's recent decision to end anti-violence and anti-poverty assistance to three Central American countries will worsen the root cause of migration.... By his own standard, he deserves all the blame, because he took all the credit for a decline in border crossings in 2017."
Julian Borger of the Guardian: "Under intense questioning about why the Israeli annexation of the Golan Heights was good but the Russian seizure of Crimea was bad, the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, told senators that there was an 'international law doctrine' which would be explained to them later. It turned out there was no doctrine. The state department's clarification of Pompeo's remarks contained no reference to one, and experts on international law said that none exists.... Such statements have raised fears that the Trump administration is planning to accept the end of international norms and usher in a might-makes-right contest between nation states.... In Senate hearings on Tuesday and Wednesday, Pompeo refused to say whether the US would recognise Israeli annexation of the West Bank." --s
Michael Stratford of Politico: "Education Department attorneys said last year that the agency could block states from using federal grants to buy guns for schools, even as Secretary Betsy DeVos claimed she was powerless to do so, according to an internal agency memo released by House Democrats on Wednesday. The 14-page memo was displayed during a tense back-and-forth between DeVos and a freshman lawmaker and former teacher, Rep. Jahana Hayes (D-Conn.), during an education committee hearing. It was the first time DeVos has appeared before the panel since Democrats took control of the House. DeVos announced last year that she would not stand in the way of states that wanted to use federal education grants to buy guns after Democrats implored her to prohibit such purchases. She said at the time that 'Congress did not authorize me or the Department to make those decisions.'... Donald Trump had touted the idea of training and arming teachers after 17 people were slain at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla."
If you want to know how Trumpies socialize in Washington, D.C. -- a city where they are pariahs, Ben Schreckinger & Daniel Lippman of Politico have the inside scoop on the outsiders' "exclusive" partying strategy. And, um, they wear ID pins "fashioned after the butt end of a .45 caliber bullet casing."
"Science Is 'a Democrat Thing.'" Amanda Marcotte of Salon: "Science, according to a Trump appointee at the Department of the Interior, is 'a Democrat thing.' Those words were reportedly used to justify the abrupt 2017 cancellation of a study into the health effects of mountaintop removal for coal-mining. At the time, then-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke claimed that the study was canceled after a careful review of the grant process. But during a Tuesday congressional hearing on this issue, Rep. Alan Lowenthal, D-Calif., citing the inspector general's report into the matter, said that a Trump appointee named Landon 'Tucker' Davis had offered a likelier explanation for why a study that was more than halfway done was abruptly shut down: In Davis' words, 'Science was a Democrat thing.'... [Davis] is a former coal lobbyist, as well as a former regional director for the Koch brothers-funded Americans for Prosperity." --safari: So does that make ignorance a "Republican thing"?
... Mrs. McCrabbie: The U.S.'s Dumbing-Down comes with a big fat "R" after its name. See also the video of the exchange between John Kerry & an MIT-"educated" GOP Congressman, embedded below.
All the Best White People, Ctd.
Betsy Woodruff of the Daily Beast: "Jeffrey Rosen..., Donald Trump's nominee to be second-in-command at the Justice Department, declined on Wednesday to tell the Senate whether he thought the Supreme Court ruled correctly in Brown v. Board of Education.... [Rosen's refusal to weigh in on the most significant anti-segregation decision in the last 75 years] puts him in the same camp as Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, who also declined to weigh in on Brown during his confirmation hearing, as The Atlantic noted. Judge Wendy Vitter, who was sworn in last year as a district judge, also refused to comment on the decision. Several other judicial nominees fielded the question in the same way, as Slate has reported."
Ted Hesson, et al., of Politico: "The White House is considering nominating the former head of an anti-immigration group to lead U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, according to a White House official and three people briefed on the deliberations, the latest development in a series of staffing shakeups that have alarmed some Republican senators. Julie Kirchner, the former executive director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which pushes for lower levels of immigration, is being considered as an option to lead the agency.... She had also been considered for the deputy director role in recent weeks. If selected and confirmed by the Senate, she would replace Francis Cissna, who is expected to be ousted by the end of this week, according to three sources familiar with the matter, as ... Donald Trump and aide Stephen Miller continue their purge of top Homeland Security officials.... One official acknowledged that Sen. Chuck Grassley's opposition to the move could complicate things, potentially causing the president to keep Cissna on the job."
Rafael Bernal of the Hill: "The acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Ron Vitiello, has resigned amid an agencywide restructuring of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Vitiello had originally been nominated to take over the post permanently, but his nomination was abruptly pulled last week by President Trump, who said he wanted to go in a 'tougher' direction. Outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen announced the news of Vitiello's departure on Wednesday, praising his 'knowledge and expertise as a seasoned law enforcement professional.' Nielsen said in a statement that Vitiello 'has left a legacy of excellence as our Department has expanded and refined our efforts to curb illegal immigration and secure our borders.' Mrs. McC: Okay, finally a dig at Trump; if Nielsen won't stand up for herself, she's standing up for her subordinates.
Betsy Woodruff of The Daily Beast: "When a Facebook official tried to help members of Congress understand the company's struggle to get the horrific New Zealand shooter video off of the social network, it didn't go over too well.... The shooter killed 50 people ... and live-streamed the massacre; the livestream stayed online for an hour, until New Zealand law enforcement asked the company to take it down.... The members of Congress ... had lots of questions for Brian Fishman, Facebook's policy director for counterterrorism. Fishman's answer, according to a committee staffer in the room: The video was not 'particularly gruesome.' A second source briefed on the meeting added that Fishman said there was 'not enough gore' in the video for the algorithm to catch it." --s ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: So, um, maybe that algorithm needs some tweaking.
Rebecca Falconer of Axios: "The Ohio College Republican Federation apologized Wednesday evening for a fundraising email calling Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D- N.Y.) a 'domestic terrorist.' Cortez said earlier she received a 'spike in death threats' almost every time Conservative groups made such 'uncalled for rhetoric.'" --s
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd.
Sarah Ellison & Marc Fisher of the Washington Post: "American Media Inc. is actively seeking to sell off the National Enquirer, according to three people familiar with the process.... The decision to sell came after the hedge fund manager whose firm controls American Media became 'disgusted' with the Enquirer's reporting tactics, according to one of these people. American Media has been under intense pressure because of the Enquirer's efforts to tilt the 2016 presidential election in favor of Donald Trump, who is a longtime friend of American Media's president and CEO, David Pecker. Pecker and his supermarket tabloid have also been embroiled in recent months in an unusually public feud with Jeff Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post.... In January, Pecker and the Enquirer devoted the cover and 12 pages of its Jan. 28 edition to an exposé of Bezos's affair with Lauren Sanchez, former host of Fox's 'So You Think You Can Dance.'... 'The Trump thing was an issue, and [(Anthony) Melchiorre (who controls the hedge fund that holds an 80 percent interest in American Media)] was really disgusted by the Bezos reporting,' the person said.... Federal prosecutors reviewed accusations made by Bezos to determine if American Media may have violated the terms of a non-prosecution agreement [made in connection with the Trump catch-and-kill scandal]...." ...
... Erica Orden & Shimon Prokupecz of CNN: "Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is scheduled to meet with federal prosecutors in New York as soon as this week, according to people familiar with the matter. The meeting signals that the US attorney's office is escalating its inquiry connected to Bezos's suggestion that the kingdom of Saudi Arabia was behind a National Enquirer story that exposed his extramarital affair and his claim that the tabloid attempted to extort him. Plans for that meeting come as prosecutors in the Southern District of New York are seeking to obtain access to Bezos's electronic devices, these people said. They are attempting to examine Bezos's private investigators' allegation that the Saudis 'gained private information' from his phone, and that such information wound up in the hands of American Media Inc. tabloid the National Enquirer, which published Bezos's texts.... Bezos has suggested he became a target of the Saudis due to his ownership of The Washington Post and its coverage of the murder of its columnist Jamal Khashoggi."
Luke O'Neil of New York: "Last week, I devoted an installment of my newsletter Welcome to Hell World to a dozen stories from people who, like me, had close relationships that had been strained or ruined by family members who'd become obsessed with Fox News.... If I had to pinpoint the most common reaction to all the thousands of replies to the story, I'd say it was one of exasperation -- and desperation.... A lot of the stories echoed that turning point [was Obama's election]. There was something about Obama that seemed to make a lot of previously apolitical or moderate family members lose their minds. Gosh -- what could it have possibly been?... This may have been the hardest thing I learned from the stories I heard: Fox didn't necessarily change anyone's mind, so much as it seems to have supercharged and weaponized a politics that was otherwise easy for white Americans to overlook in their loved ones." --s
Presidential Race 2020
Roger Cohen of the New York Times: Benjamin Netanyahu's "victory contains a warning for any Democrat still imagining that the 2020 election will bring an easy victory over Donald Trump. The Netanyahu playbook will be President Trump's next year. Gather nationalist and religious voters in your camp, add in a strong economy, dose with fear, sprinkle with strongman appeal, inject a dash of racism and victory is yours -- whatever indictments are looming. It's not that this could happen. It will happen, absent some decisive factor to upend the logic of it. Netanyahu is savvier than Trump, but they share a shrewd assessment of how to control and manipulate the politics of spectacle, as well as a fierce determination to stay out of jail. They campaign ugly."
Beyond the Beltway
Louisiana. Julia Arciga, et al., of the Daily Beast: "A 21-year-old named Holden Matthews has been arrested in connection with fires that destroyed three Louisiana churches in the span of two weeks, local news outlet KATC reports.... On a Facebook page that appears to belong to Matthews, he was active in black metal and pagan pages. Although both scenes are predominately apolitical, both have large neo-Nazi fanbases. Matthews commented on two memes abou Varg Vikernes, a far-right (and self-described former neo-Nazi) metal musician who served 15 years in prison for burning churches in Norway and killing a fellow metal musician. Vikernes, a practitioner of pagan beliefs, described the arsons as having been 'revenge' for Christian actions against pagan Viking graves."
Texas. Ed Kilgore: A "Texas bill introduced by Republican State Representative Tony Tinderholt ... would make abortion a criminal act of homicide.... This bill is best understood as representing the logical end of the strong belief in Right-to-Life circles that a fetus, and even an embryo, are indistinguishable metaphysically, and should be indistinguishable legally, from adult human beings -- including very specifically the pregnant women involved. Indeed, as supporters of the bill have pointed out, it reflects the Texas GOP's party platform, notes the Dallas Morning News: '[T]he state party platform adopted last year calls on lawmakers to enact legislation 'stopping the murder of unborn children and to ignore and refuse to enforce any and all federal statutes, regulations, executive orders, and court rulings that would deprive an unborn child of the right to life."'" Women who have abortions would be subject to the death penalty.
Way Beyond
Israel. Oliver Holmes of the Guardian: "Benjamin Netanyahu is set to serve a fifth term as Israel's prime minister after his main rival conceded that he had lost the election. With 97% of votes counted, Netanyahu's Likud party and the Blue and White party, led by former army general Benny Gantz, had tied with 35 seats each in the 120-seat house, the Knesset. However, the rightwing bloc that Netanyahu is part of had 65 in total, a comfortable majority." ...
... Zack Beauchamp of Vox: "The consequences of [Netanyahu's] victory for both Israelis and Palestinians could very well be catastrophic. The past several years of Netanyahu's time in office have been characterized by drift in two illiberal, anti-democratic directions.... Israel has survived existential threats before, including two invasions that nearly wiped out the young Jewish state. Yet the threat to Israeli democracy today is not external, but rather of Israelis' own making -- a long-running illness that could soon turn acute." --s ...
... David Halbfinger of the New York Times: "Benjamin Netanyahu's apparent re-election as prime minister of Israel attests to a starkly conservative vision of the Jewish state and its people about where they are and where they are headed."
Sudan. Arab Spring Redux. Juan Cole: "Omar Hassan al-Bashir, b. 1944, has stepped down as president of Sudan in the wake of a military coup, according to Alarabiya (United Arab Emirates). Alarabiya also says that current and former government officials have been detained by the coup-makers.... On Thursday morning, tens of thousands of Sudanese poured into the streets of Khartoum. People were saying 'The youth are well, God willing!' and praising the country's revolutionary youth, in scenes reminiscent of 2011 in Egypt and Tunisia." --s
** U.K. Kate Lyons of the Guardian: "Julian Assange has been arrested at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where the WikiLeaks founder was granted refuge in 2012 while on bail in the UK over sexual assault allegations against him in Sweden. At the time, Assange claimed that if he was extradited to Sweden he might be arrested by the US and face charges relating to WikiLeaks's publication of hundreds of thousands of US diplomatic cables.... US authorities have never officially confirmed that they have charged Assange, but in November 2018 a mistake in a document filed in an unrelated case hinted that criminal charges might have been prepared in secret." ...
... Stephen Castle & Steven Erlanger of the New York Times: "With less than 48 hours before Britain's scheduled departure, the European Union extended the exit deadline early Thursday until the end of October, avoiding a devastating cliff-edge divorce but settling none of the issues that have plunged British politics into chaos, dysfunction and recrimination."
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Reader Comments (8)
So I think we have concluded that Mr. Barr is in the President's back pocket peeking out just enough to assuage some that, hey, he's being an A.G. for the country and not for that particular President*. And that president*–-lordy, lordy does he crow like the rooster in the barnyard–-head held high saying, "I won! everybody knows I won!" and we wonder––does he look at all this as some kind of game?
Going back to the various games he did play, some of my favorites were the various and sundry that he was trying to sell–-the steaks, the wine, the water, and the vodka (although the real estate and the fake University are high on the list). I especially liked the Vodka:
"It is the very best vodka you will ever get anywhere–-best in the world." he said to someone and that someone then asked him where it was made:
"In various parts of Europe."
Too bad this bogus answer was not followed by where exactly those various parts of Europe were located. Next time I venture forth I'm gonna seek out those various parts of Europe and do a wee bit of searching.
Oh, well, according to this president* he's the only one who knows things like "Lincoln was a Republican–-nobody knows this––" and Washington isn't remembered as well as others because he didn't put his name on Mt. Vernon. You betcha! So as you sit your ass down in WASHINGTON D. C. and occasionally run into the Washington Monument, Mr. President*, perhaps you might want to take a moment and reflect on how utterly inept and stupid you are and perhaps in that moment of clarity resign before the ax falls on thee.
Death penalty for women who have abortions? Wow! When Chris Mathews asked Trump did he think women should be punished in some way for having abortions, Trumpie said, yeah, definitely, but wasn't specific about how. Will he think Texas' solution is the right and final solution? Good grief! This is madness! Next thing you know eggs will be banned––"Do you people know you are eating a potential life?"
The episode (see above) with John Kerry during a hearing exchange is another example of sheer ignorance by another GOPee-er who pretends he is a fairly decent and intelligent member of Congress.
And meanwhile the ice caps in Antartica are melting faster than we expected~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I intend to put my oatmeal into my mouth and close it, despite its having hung open yesterday after listening to the clips of AG Bulldog Face telling Democrats that he takes seriously the far-out accusations of Faux about 'spying' on the scandal-free (haha--snort) Dumpster campaign-- haha. I look forward to reading what others have to say about this-- There is NO justice, no rescue, no return to sanity. Also no tax returns despite the law, and the Mueller report? I look forward to the analysis of that when I am drooling in the nursing home. Hello oatmeal with berries and half 'n' half...
@PD Pepe: It strikes me that Trump is so ignorant & incurious that it never occurred to him that Washington, D.C., Washington State, the Washington monument, Washington University, George Washington University, etc., etc. were named to honor the first President. Washington didn't have to act like an ass & slap his name in gold letters on his own home; others posted his name all over the country. Trump can't even keep his name on many of the buildings he once named for himself.
Putting off doing the stacked dishes this AM, so responded to Bret Stephens' Times column instead:
No class war he says, pointing his finger at Bernie Sanders' new millionaire status. Mr. Stephens is a silly man.
"Mr. Stephens, somewhere in the long list of comments that your column prompted, someone must have called your thoughts disingenuous. Someone had to because it's so obvious they are. Disingenuous at best.
No class war? Really?
Or if there is one, it's being waged by those who don't have against those who have far too much? Against that poor one percent that controls ninety percent of the wealth?
I always wonder what could be the possible explanation for a smart person's arrant ignorance? And willingness to display it.
Is it an impermeable belief system armored against fact? After all, there are none so blind.....
Or is it simple hackery?....one writes only for the money....
Any class war skeptic (tho' there should have been none remaining by the end of the Bush II years) should have had all remaining questions answered by the passage of the 2017 tax scam and immediately enlisted on the side of the class war losers, which chances are would be the side he or she is already on."
The Washington name is ubiquitous across the land and lives on in honor and continues to be held in great respect (unlike Trump's).
There are 241 towns, villages, townships, and one city named after the first president. Massachusetts alone has three: Washington, Mount Washington, and Georgetown. A Google search brings up over 70 high schools with the Washington name. Parks, lakes, roadways, and bridges, including the Washington Bridge connecting Manhattan and the Bronx are all named in his honor. There have been four naval vessels named for GW; we have five Mount Washingtons, numerous parks, including Washington Parks in Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, and a Washington Square Park in both New York City and Philadelphia. Wisconsin boasts a Washington Island.
And, of course, there are an abundance of statues and paintings, none of which was commissioned by Washington himself and/or purchased by a fake charity so he could hang it in a tacky clubhouse with his name plastered all over every available square inch. There are monuments to Washington abroad as well, in Argentina, Colombia, Hungary, France, Mexico, Peru, Thailand (!), and the UK. Think all those shithole countries he routinely disparages will be erecting statues of The Donald any time soon? Maybe as targets for the birds.
Famous and not so famous people are named after him as well, think of George Washington Carver and George Washington Adams, first born of John and Abigail Adams. The Marquis de Lafayette named his son after his former commander. Washington Irving, whose parents named him after General Washington, in honor of the announcement of the British surrender in 1783, shortly before Irving was born, actually met his namesake when he was a small boy. A wonderful little watercolor commemorates the encounter. Later in life, Irving would pen a five volume biography of the first president.
There are, as Marie points out, more than a couple of institutions of higher learning (can you imagine a facility connected with any kind of learning being named after Trump?) with the Washington name.
How, I wonder, will Trump construct the brag that he is the best loved, most famous, and greatest American president when confronted with the legion of commemorations of Washington (there are actually even more of Lincoln)? He'll have to start slapping his name on bus terminals, backwater landing strips, rundown bars, and shady roadside motels before he leaves office (in whatever form that happy event takes).
Thus, Trump's sniffing that Washington has been largely forgotten because his name isn't all over the place, is yet another indication of what a complete and utter dullard inhabits the White House. In fact, George Washington's reputation as a great man abides. He is still revered and his name will continue to grace monuments, buildings, geographical sites, and schools, even as those who live in his buildings are working to have Trump's name erased forever from sight.
Farter of our country.
There is no doubt that Barr's status as a cheap partisan hack is now etched in dried dung.
First, he would not have been brought aboard unless he guaranteed Trump he would cover for him. After Sessions, Trump wasn't taking any chances that his choice might have a momentary lapse into responsibility. Barr came with the Reagan-Bush-Pardon Seal of Approval. He had already proven his worth as a party-first hack, so there would be no confusion that his job description included anything that came before "Cover Trump's Ass". All that Constitution bullshit you can just forget. Oath of office? Pshaw.
So he gets a four hundred page report. He releases four pages of candy-ass bullshit that says Trump is Great which Trump declares completely exonerates him. Barr does not dispute this interpretation because it's exactly the message he means to send.
Then, after doing what he was brought on to do, he goes before Congress and he starts talking about "spying". Which does several things. First, it's yet another shiny object rolled before the press to distract from the fact that Trump and Barr are running another scam on the public and hiding the report. "LOOK! Over there! SPIES!"
In addition to creating a new distraction, it has the added benefit of casting blame on Democrats, specifically the Obama administration. "That horrible nee-groe SPIED on our Great Leader. A WHITE MAN! Get the rope!" And over and above that, it turns a treasonous lying, piece of shit malefactor into a victim. "Poor honest Donald, spied upon by the evil nee-groe! INVESTIGATION!"
Hacks don't come any better. Hack Hall of Fame awaits. I say he gets in on the first vote. Unanimous decision. Easily Trump's best hire. Best snake in the shithole.
I think I remember when this character was in Iowa, testing a possible run for President.
https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-avenatti-indicted-fraud-theft-charges-20190411-story.html
Kinda obvious where he got the idea.
Julian Assange may try to wrap himself in the flag of journalistic integrity, but he has about as much integrity as Trump. He worked with Russia to stick it to Hillary Clinton and conspired with Putin's agents to determine the best time to release emails he hacked from the DNC in order to shove an authoritarian liar into the White House.
Interestingly, Trump now claims that he has never heard of Wikileaks, knows nothing about it. But back when Wikileaks and Julian Assange were helping him pin Hillary Clinton to the mat (something he couldn't do on his own--he needed Assange, Fox, the Russians, and a lackadaisical mainstream press to do it), he LOVED Wikileaks. According to NPR, he made over 100 shout outs to Wikileaks in the run up to the stolen election.
Like Trump, Assange is a narcissist who sees himself and his goals as outside the rule of law. Rape charges? Pfft. Those women should be thrilled to have had the attention, even in the form of an assault, of such an important world historical figure. Could be why he felt so close to Trump.