The Commentariat -- December 19, 2018
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Binyamin Appelbaum of the New York Times: "The Federal Reserve announced a widely expected quarter-point increase in its benchmark interest rate on Wednesday, and signaled that it plans to continue raising rates next year. The Fed emphasized the strength of economic growth in a statement released after a two-day meeting of its policymaking committee. It said firms keep adding jobs and consumers keep spending money. The statement made no mention of recent turbulence in financial markets."
Mitch and Donnie Blink. Burgess Everett, et al., of Politico: "Mitch McConnell moved to bail out Congress and ... Donald Trump from an intractable shutdown impasse, preparing on Wednesday to fund the government into early February and avoid a funding lapse right before the holidays. The Senate majority leader will introduce a bill that funds the government through Feb. 8 after a longer-term offer was rejected by congressional Democrats on Tuesday amid a continuing battle between Trump and congressional Democrats over his border wall. With Trump softening his demands for $5 billion for the wall in the waning days of the GOP Congress, McConnell is working to avoid a political blunder four days before Christmas. It has been a week of about-faces for the White House that have induced whiplash on Capitol Hill. Though Trump declared he would be 'proud' to shut down the government if he doesn't get the wall funding he is demanding, it now appears he is willing to sign a short-term funding measure."
Chris Sommerfeldt & Theresa Braine of the New York Daily News: "President Trump signed a "bulls[hi]t" letter of intent to build a Trump Tower in Moscow during the 2016 campaign, Rudy Giuliani conceded Tuesday -- just two days after the former New York mayor claimed the missive had not been signed. Giuliani refused to acknowledge he told CNN's Dana Bash on camera Sunday that Trump didn't put his John Hancock on the Oct. 28, 2015 letter. 'I don't think I said nobody signed it,' Giuliani told the Daily News, even though he literally told Bash 'no one signed' the letter. In a stunning contradiction, Giuliani told The News that 'of course' Trump signed it. 'How could you send it but nobody signed it?' he said.... Giuliani claimed the letter was 'bulls[hi]t' because it didn't go anywhere. 'That was the end of it,' Giuliani said. 'It means nothing but an expression of interest that means very little unless it goes to a contract and it never did.'"
Samatha Vinograd, a member of President Obama's National Security Council, writes an op-ed in Politico Magazine about the extent of Michael Flynn's criminality. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: What caught my attention in Vinograd's essay was this: "National security advisers are supposed to have one customer: the president of the United States. It's disturbing that President Trump doesn't seem bothered that his top aide on foreign policy was serving other [foreign] clients." Actually, I find it quite likely that Flynn -- at least in regard to Russia -- was serving one customer: Donald Trump. Flynn may have lied about & and omitted disclosing his relationship with Turkey to cover his own ass, but his lies to the FBI about his contacts with Russia were surely on orders from Trump. One day Bob Mueller will let us know.
Tangled Web, Ctd. Carrie Levine of the Center for Public Integrity: "An aide to National Security Adviser John Bolton sought to schedule a meeting for him with a Ukrainian billionaire Victor Pinchuk during Bolton's official trip to Ukraine last August, according to new disclosure filings.... The August meeting ultimately did not take place, and it's unclear why Bolton's aide sought it. But Bolton and Pinchuk have financial ties dating to before Bolton joined the Trump administration: Pinchuk's foundation had paid Bolton a combined $115,000 for his participation in two panel discussions -- one during September 2017 and the other in February 2018, according to Bolton's federal personal financial disclosure.... A steel magnate, Pinchuk has also drawn notice in the U.S. for his relationship with Trump. The New York Times reported in April that the ... Special Counsel's Office ... was investigating a $150,000 donation Pinchuk made in September 2015 to Trump's foundation. Early in his presidential campaign, Trump deemed Pinchuk a 'very, very special man, a special entrepreneur.' The payment was in exchange for a 20-minute appearance Trump made via video to a conference in Kiev, according to the Times, which reported scrutiny of the payment was part of a broader examination of foreign money flowing to Trump and his associates."
There's a New Day Dawning, but It Will Be a Nightmare for Trump. Rachel Bade & John Bresnahan of Politico: "Incoming House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings on Wednesday sent more than 50 letters to multiple agencies and departments as well as the Trump Organization and Trump's personal attorneys requesting documents on a series of scandals that have plagued the White House. The Maryland Democrat is asking for more information on the administration's handling of hurricanes Irma and Maria, Trump's controversial family separation policy at the border, the White House decision to revoke the security clearances of high ranking former officials who became Trump critics, and more. While the documents are not subpoenas, Cummings' letters lay the groundwork for a much more aggressive oversight of the executive branch in the next two years."
Kate Riga of TPM: "When the Kansas state government reconvenes in January, three of its formerly Republican members will report as freshly minted Democrats. The two state senators and one state representative, all women, cited varying sources of their discontent within the GOP. State Sen. Barbara Bollier started the trend last week, as first reported by the Kansas City Star.... Her fellow state Sen. Dinah Sykes followed her lead Wednesday, also citing complaints with being a moderate trying to operate in an increasingly partisan Republican party.... State Rep. Stephanie Clayton jumped on the bandwagon too, citing a specific issue: education."
Helene Cooper, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump is considering pulling 2,000 United States ground troops out of Syria in a move that would seek to describe the four-year American-led war against the Islamic State as largely won, officials said Wednesday. 'We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency,' the president said in a Twitter post on Wednesday morning. He offered no details on his plans for the military mission in Syria.... A formal withdrawal announcement could come as early as Wednesday, administration officials said. But Pentagon officials were still trying to talk the president out of it, arguing that such a move would betray Kurdish allies who have fought alongside American troops in Syria and who could find themselves under attack in a military offensive now threatened by Turkey." ...
... Update. New Lede: "President Trump has ordered a rapid withdrawal of all 2,000 United States ground troops from Syria within 30 days, declaring the four-year American-led war against the Islamic State as largely won, officials said Wednesday."
*****
Trumpty-Dumpty Blinks, Likely to Fall off Wall. Erica Werner of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Tuesday retreated from his demand that Congress give him $5 billion to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, backing down amid acrimonious GOP infighting that left him with few options four days ahead of a partial government shutdown. The news, delivered by White House press secretary Sarah Sanders in an interview on Fox News, represented a major shift from Trump's declaration last week that he would be 'proud' to shut down the government to get the money he wanted for his border wall. Democrats, who will reclaim the majority in the House just weeks from now, have consistently refused to give Trump anywhere near the $5 billion he wants." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... The story has been updated with new developments: "But Democrats immediately rejected Republicans' follow-up offer.... The new border funding offer from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) calls on Congress to pass a $1.6 billion homeland security spending bill that was crafted earlier this year in a bipartisan Senate compromise.... Congress would also reprogram $1 billion in unspent funds that Trump could use on his immigration policies. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), who oversees the panel in charge of homeland security funding, said the reprogrammed money would not be able to be used for a physical wall but could be spent on other border security measures. Sen. Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) told McConnell Tuesday that Democrats would not accept the deal, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) criticized the plan to reprogram the funds. 'Leader Schumer and I have said that we cannot support the offer they made of a billion-dollar slush fund for the president to implement his very wrong immigration policies,' Pelosi said. 'So that won't happen.'"
This Russia Thing, Etc. Ctd.
Axios: "During ... Michael Flynn's sentencing hearing in D.C. on Tuesday, Judge Emmet Sullivan blasted Flynn from the bench after he confirmed his guilty plea to lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. before Trump's inauguration, telling him, 'Arguably, this undermines everything this flag over here stands for. Arguably, you sold your country out.'" ...
... Update. Spencer Hsu, et al., of the Washington Post: "A federal judge on Tuesday postponed the sentencing for Michael Flynn after he lambasted President Trump's former national security adviser for trying to undermine his own country and said he could not guarantee he would spare Flynn from prison. The stunning development means that Flynn will have to be sentenced at a later date, when he can possibly convince a judge more thoroughly of how his cooperation has benefited law enforcement. Flynn's attorneys asked for the delay after U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan accused Flynn of acting as 'an unregistered agent of a foreign country, while serving as the national security adviser to the president of the United States' -- an allegation he later walked back. Sullivan granted the request and asked for a status report in 90 days, though he said he was 'not making any promises' that he would view the matter differently in three months." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Ryan Reilly of the Huffington Post: "'I'm not hiding my disgust, my disdain for this criminal offense,' U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan in Washington told [Michael] Flynn.... Sullivan had Flynn admit, once again, that he had lied to the FBI and was pleading guilty because he was guilty. He gave Flynn ample opportunity to back out of his guilty plea, discussed with the prosecution the variety of other crimes Flynn could have faced, and said Flynn's criminal exposure would have been 'significant' had be been charged with the other offenses.... He then asked the government whether undermining U.S. sanctions against Russia for their interference in the 2016 election could be considered treason, a suggestion the government didn't want to weigh in on. (Soon after, the judge said he did not mean to suggest Flynn committed treason.) ...
... Jonathan Chait: "Donald Trump and his allies have spent two years spinning elaborate conspiracy theories about an alleged deep state conspiracy to frame the president and his campaign for imagined crimes revolving around cooperation with Russia. The most recent iteration of these theories have centered around Michael Flynn..., who has already pleaded guilty to federal charges. Flynn, Trump's supporters claim, had done nothing wrong and was trapped into telling an inconsequential lie to FBI agents desperate to use him against Trump. Flynn's sentencing hearing today showed that this theory, like every previous exculpatory theory devised on Trump's behalf, is an absurd fantasy.... What makes [Judge Emmet Sullivan's tongue-lashing] so devastating is that conservatives have held out Sullivan as the judicial hero who would vindicate their theories.... Flynn was not set up. He was charged for committing serious crimes. And he is probably going to escape prison because the crimes committed by the people he worked with and for are even more serious." ...
... Ken White in the Atlantic: "Flynn and his lawyers faced the same problem that has bedeviled Trump and Michael Cohen and Michael Avenatti and Paul Manafort and several other figures in this circus we call life after 2016: a muscular public relations strategy is often a terrible litigation strategy. Time and again, these players have heard their public statements quoted back at them in court to undermine their legal positions. But Flynn's error was even more grievous -- he incorporated media spin into a sentencing brief.... The Flynn-as-Deep-State-victim narrative was pleasing to Trump partisans and Mueller foes, but suicidally provocative to a federal judge at sentencing.... Flynn's sentencing arguments effectively told Sullivan that Flynn saw himself as a victim, rather than a contrite wrongdoer."
John Wagner & Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "President Trump lashed out Tuesday morning at threats from many directions, taking aim at the special counsel's Russia inquiry, the Federal Reserve, social media companies and undocumented immigrants in tweets that spanned more than two hours. Trump's Twitter tirade -- which included some false and questionable claims -- comes as he faces increasing peril from the investigation of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and remains in a standoff with Democrats in Congress over funding for his long-promised southern border wall that could prompt a partial government shutdown at midnight Friday. Trump touched on both battles in his tweets -- writing at one point that 'the whole Russian Witch Hunt is a Fraud and a Hoax which should be ended immediately' -- as well as several other events from recent days. He also took a shot at 'Crooked Hillary,' a reference to Hillary Clinton...."
Another Giuliani "Misstatement." Kate Sullivan of CNN: "A newly obtained document shows ... Donald Trump signed a letter of intent to move forward with negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Russia, despite his attorney Rudy Giuliani claiming on Sunday the document was never signed.... The letter is dated October 28, 2015, and bears the President's signature.... '... There was a letter of intent to go forward, but no one signed it,' Giuliani told [CNN's Dana] Bash. The non-binding document is also signed by Andrey Rozov, owner of I.C. Expert Investment Co., the Russian firm that would have been responsible for developing the property.... The project, which was ultimately scrapped, would've given Trump's company a $4 million upfront fee, no upfront costs, a percentage of the sales and control over marketing and design. The deal also included an opportunity to name the hotel spa after Trump's daughter Ivanka.... While the potential Trump Tower Moscow deal was on the table, then-candidate Trump was speaking positively about working with Russian President Vladimir Putin and minimizing Russia's aggressive military moves around the world.... In 2017, [Michael] Cohen told congressional committees ... that Trump had signed the letter. Donald Trump Jr. also testified to Congress that his father signed the letter of intent."
Darren Samuelsohn & Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A federal appeals court on Tuesday ordered a mystery corporation owned by a foreign country to comply with a subpoena that appears to be from special counsel Robert Mueller. The three-page opinion released by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is the latest twist in an opaque dispute that Politico and other media outlets have tied to Mueller's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The ruling offers the intriguing detail that the entity fighting the Mueller subpoena is a foreign government-owned company, not a specific individual, as many experts had speculated."
The von Trump Family Grifters, Ctd.
Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: "The Donald J. Trump Foundation will close and give away all its remaining funds amid a lawsuit accusing the charity and the Trump family of using it illegally for self-dealing and political gain, the New York attorney general's office announced Tuesday. The attorney general, Barbara Underwood, accused the foundation of 'a shocking pattern of illegality' that was 'willful and repeated' and included unlawfully coordinating with Mr. Trump's 2016 presidential campaign." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: "The shuttering comes after The Washington Post documented apparent lapses at the foundation. Trump used the charity's money to pay legal settlements for his private business, to purchase art for one of his clubs and to make a prohibited political donation.... In a court filing in New York, [New York AG Barbara] Underwood said that the foundation's remaining $1.75 million will be distributed to other charities approved by her office and a state judge.... The attorney general's investigation turned up evidence that Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump -- all listed as officers of the charity -- had never held a board meeting.... Trump gave away oversize checks from the foundation at campaign events in the key early-voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire, pausing his campaign rallies to donate to local veterans' groups. Federal law prohibits charities from participating in political campaigns. As president, Trump has called repeatedly for that law to be repealed. Underwood has asked the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Election Commission to investigate whether the Trump charity broke tax laws." ...
... Tim O'Brien of Bloomberg adds more examples of Trump's egregious misuse of funds that were supposed to be donated to worthy causes.
... Matt Ford of the New Republic: Underwood's "office is still pursuing more than $2 million in restitution from Trump and restrictions on his family's involvement in non-profit organizations in the state.... You'd be hard-pressed to find an aspect of the president's life that isn't marked by grifting.... Ironically, some of these schemes likely would have gone unnoticed if Trump had never run for president." ...
... Nancy LeTourneau of the Washington Monthly: "While I don't usually pay a lot of attention to what Donny Deutsch has to say, he is exactly the kind of person who knows the world Trump traveled in with his business dealings. So it might be worth hearing him out on this one: 'What is going to put him in jail eventually ... destroy anything he's ever built, and his children, is a 30 year dishonest criminal enterprise. One thing will take him out of the presidency, the other will ruin him forever.... The political incentive for every U.S. Attorney in New York or Virginia to do this ... this guy showed up and tried to undo what 250 years of people have been dying for in this country -- who we are, what we stand for. So there is a moral imperative, rule of law, what our grandfathers died for -- democracy -- he single-handedly is the first guy in our lifetime to try to undo that. He's going to pay for that for the rest of his life as they pick apart his criminal enterprise. This is the very, very beginning of the story.'"
Gabriel Sherman of Vanity Fair: "Donald Trump plans to head to Mar-a-Lago for a 16-day Christmas vacation starting Friday -- and West Wing officials, remembering previous sojourns, are on edge at the prospect of the president spending two weeks unsupervised. As the Robert Mueller loop tightens around the president, his erratic behavior is causing alarm among his most senior staff. 'The staff is fed up he's acting like a nut. They can't get him to stop tweeting,' a former official said."
Damian Carrington of the Guardian: "A newly discovered blind and burrowing amphibian is to be officially named Dermophis donaldtrumpi,in recognition of the US president's climate change denial. The name was chosen by the boss of EnviroBuild, a sustainable building materials company, who paid $25,000 (£19,800) at an auction for the right. The small legless creature was found in Panama and EnviroBuild's Aidan Bell said its ability to bury its head in the ground matched Donald Trump's approach to global warming." --s
Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "The Trump administration on Tuesday issued a new rule banning bump stocks, the attachments that enable semiautomatic rifles to fire in sustained, rapid bursts and that a gunman used to massacre 58 people and wound hundreds of others at a Las Vegas concert in October 2017. The new regulation, which had been expected, would ban the sale or possession of the devices under a new interpretation of existing law. Americans who own bump stocks would have 90 days to destroy their devices or to turn them in to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The Justice Department said A.T.F. would post destruction instructions on its website." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Stuart Leavenworth & Franco Ordoñez of McClatchy DC: "... Donald Trump, who campaigned on a pledge to keep federal lands in federal hands, is now considering candidates for Interior secretary who have advocated transferring vast swaths of federal property to states, and even to private interests. These include U.S. Rep. Raul Labrador of Idaho, who met with White House officials Saturday about the job, and U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, who has left open the possibility he'd take a Cabinet position with Trump." --s
Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "Democratic lawmakers who came to the Border Patrol station [in Lordsburg, N.M.,] Tuesday vowing to investigate the death of a 7-year-old migrant girl emerged from their tour with a litany of accusations but few solutions for helping the agency manage the surge of families that has left agents overwhelmed. The congressional delegation, led by members of the House Hispanic Caucus, described a facility jam-packed with families, lacking sufficient medical care and poorly equipped to care for children. 'The only reason this facility is still open as it is now is because these cameras can't get in,' Rep. Al Green (D-Tex.) told reporters who had to wait outside the station, nearly 90 miles north of the border along Interstate 10. Green said he saw scores of children 'stacked' in holding cells and huddled in foil blankets on concrete floors, alongside toilets lacking privacy screens." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Lordsburg is a forlorn little town 135 miles from El Paso as the crow (or helicopter) flies. That's at least an hour by medevac helicopter, assuming a medevac pilot, team & bird are immediately available in Lordsburg. Housing migrants -- some of whom certainly will have severe medical problems after a long journey -- in a locale more than a 100 miles away from a general-services hospital seems downright stupid. ...
... John Stanton of BuzzFeed News: "A young girl who was in the custody of US Customs and Border Protection went into cardiac arrest in November at a hospital in El Paso where she was resuscitated, a US Customs and Border Protection official told members of Congress on Tuesday. The incident occurred in the same CBP sector where a 7-year-old Guatemalan asylum seeker, Jakelin Caal, fell ill earlier this month. Caal was airlifted to El Paso, but died in the early hours of Dec. 8.
Annie Rose Ramos & Dennis Romero of NBC: "Two teenagers who were staying at a migrant center in central Tijuana, Mexico, were killed in an attempted robbery, a law enforcement official said late Tuesday. Jorge Alberto Álvarez Mendoza, deputy attorney general in the state of Baja California, said the two boys, estimated to be ages 16 and 17, were stabbed and strangled Saturday. Their bodies were found shortly after 7 p.m., he said.... Tijuana saw a record number of homicides, 1,744, last year and was seeing a similarly bloody one this year, experts say."
Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "The Senate overwhelmingly approved on Tuesday the most substantial changes in a generation to the tough-on-crime prison and sentencing laws that ballooned the federal prison population and created a criminal justice system that many conservatives and liberals view as costly and unfair. The First Step Act would expand job training and other programming aimed at reducing recidivism rates among federal prisoners. It also expands early-release programs and modifies sentencing laws, including mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenders, to more equitably punish drug offenders. But the legislation falls short of benchmarks set by a more expansive overhaul proposed in Congress during Barack Obama's presidency and of the kinds of changes sought by some liberal and conservative activists targeting mass incarceration. House leaders have pledged to pass the measure this week, and President Trump, whose support resuscitated a yearslong overhaul effort last month, said he would sign the bill."
David Dayen of The Intercept: "[Elizabeth] Warren introduced legislation on Tuesday with Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., that would create an Office of Drug Manufacturing within the Department of Health and Human Services. That office would have the authority to manufacture generic versions of any drug for which the U.S. government has licensed a patent, whenever there is little or no competition, critical shortages, or exorbitant prices.... Last month, [Bernie] Sanders and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., released their own bill to tackle high drug prices, which would require the government to identify any excessively priced drugs (relative to an international index of list prices) and grant a license to private companies to provide competition with a generic version. The two bills from Warren and Sanders ... are actually complementary efforts.... And they reflect a broader attack on the industry from multiple angles." --s
Alex Isenstadt & James Arkin of Politico: "Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey has appointed GOP Rep. Martha McSally to the Senate seat being vacated by GOP Sen. Jon Kyl -- tapping McSally as the Republican contender in a 2020 special election that will be among the most competitive Senate races in the country that year. McSally, who lost a race for Arizona's other Senate seat to Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema in 2018, will be competing to serve out the rest of the term won by the late Sen. John McCain, who passed away earlier this year. Kyl was originally appointed to fill McCain's seat, but he will be stepping down at the end of the year to return to the private sector." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Brett Kavanaugh's Amazing Get-out-of-Jail Card. Ann Marimow & Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The judicial council reviewing dozens of claims against Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh has dismissed the complaints that coincided with his contentious nomination battle. 'The allegations contained in the complaints are serious,' said the order from a Colorado-based appeals court, but must be dropped because ethics rules for the judiciary do not extend as high as the Supreme Court. The 83 claims filed by lawyers, doctors, professors and other concerned citizens accuse Kavanaugh of making false statements during his Senate confirmation hearings, displaying a lack of judicial temperament, making inappropriate partisan statements and treating members of the Senate Judiciary Committee with disrespect, according to the 10-page order from the Judicial Council of the 10th Circuit. The judiciary has the authority to investigate and discipline federal judges, the order says, but 'the power only to resolve complaints concerning the conduct of covered judges.'" ...
... Serial Liar Gets Supreme Whitewash. Tucker Higgins of CNBC: "Federal judges reviewing complaints lodged against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh said Tuesday that the allegations against the former federal appeals court judge are 'serious' but that they must dismiss them without determining their merits because of Kavanaugh's October confirmation by the U.S. Senate.... In the order [Timothy] Tymkovich said that most of the complaints include allegations of false statements under oath during Kavanaugh's D.C. Circuit confirmation hearings in 2004 and 2006 as well as during his Supreme Court confirmation hearings earlier this year.... Tymkovich, a George W. Bush appointee, declined to recuse himself from the probe into Kavanaugh after a complaint was filed requesting that he do so. The complaint, Tymkovich said in a separate order, alleged that Kavanaugh advocated for Tymkovich's confirmation." --s ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Now we know how to avoid the consequences of our bad acts: become a Supreme Court justice. Anyhow, thanks, Susan Collins & all you immoral GOP Senators! Let's add here that the 10th Circuit ruling doesn't make a lot of sense. Kavanaugh committed these bad acts before he became a justice; that is, while he did not enjoy Supreme Immunity. Furthermore, he committed them during the course of "applying for Supreme Immunity." A South Dakota man travels to North Dakota -- where the age of consent is 18 -- & while in North Dakota commits statutory rape by having sex with a 17-year-old girl. Then the man goes home to South Dakota where the age of consent is 16. North Dakota can still find him guilty of violating its law; there's no South Dakota immunity.
Election 2020. Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "President Donald Trump is planning to roll out an unprecedented structure for his 2020 reelection, a streamlined organization that incorporates the Republican National Committee and the president's campaign into a single entity. It's a stark expression of Trump's stranglehold over the Republican Party: Traditionally, a presidential reelection committee has worked in tandem with the national party committee, not subsumed it. Under the plan ... the Trump reelection campaign and the RNC will merge their field and fundraising programs into a joint outfit dubbed Trump Victory. The two teams will also share office space rather than operate out of separate buildings, as has been custom.... RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel called it 'the biggest, most efficient and unified campaign operation in American history.'" --safari: I assume they'll all be on a strict diet of Trump steaks and Trump water in the basement of Trump tower.
Gabriel Dance, et al., of the New York Times: "For years, Facebook gave some of the world's largest technology companies more intrusive access to users' personal data than it has disclosed, effectively exempting those business partners from its usual privacy rules, according to internal records and interviews.... The records ... underscore how personal data has become the most prized commodity of the digital age, traded on a vast scale by some of the most powerful companies in Silicon Valley and beyond.... The documents, as well as interviews with about 50 former employees of Facebook and its corporate partners, reveal that Facebook allowed certain companies access to data despite [its claims it provided its users with privacy] protections. They also raise questions about whether Facebook ran afoul of a 2011 consent agreement with the Federal Trade Commission that barred the social network from sharing user data without explicit permission."
Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha
Adam Raymond of New York: "Fox News host Tucker Carlson has lost at least six advertisers in the five days since he disparaged immigrants by saying they're making the U.S. 'poor and dirtier,' but on Monday's show, he showed no contrition for his bigotry.... He went on to explain what he meant when he said immigrants make the U.S. 'dirtier': They litter and Carlson is, apparently, an environmentalist now.... Fox News is defending Carlson in his time of need. In statement, a spokesperson said: 'It is a shame that left-wing advocacy groups, under the guise of being supposed "media watchdogs," weaponize social media against companies in an effort to stifle free speech.'" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Perhaps we should tell Fox "News" that U.S. courts have never interpreted the First Amendment guarantee of "free speech" to mean "advertisers must pay for it." ...
... Update. Sapna Maheshwari of the New York Times: "By Tuesday, 11 companies -- including IHOP and TD Ameritrade -- said they would stop advertising on his prime-time show, 'Tucker Carlson Tonight.'"
Jason Schwartz of Politico: "One was ousted from NPR amid allegations of sexual harassment. The other left Fox News shortly after writing a column widely panned as racist and anti-gay. Now they've been recruited to help launch a digital news startup with the stated goal of restoring faith in media. Another former Fox News executive, Ken LaCorte, has enlisted former NPR news boss Michael Oreskes and former Fox News executive editor John Moody to join him in creating LaCorte News, which he said will be a truly 'fair and balanced' alternative in these polarized times." Mrs. McCrabbie: They should call the new site "RASH," for Racist, Anti-gay, Sexual Harassers.
Beyond the Beltway
Nevada. Olivia Exstrum of Mother Jones: "Nevada is officially the first state in US history with a majority-female legislature.... Only 38 percent of Nevada seats were held by women before the midterm election." --s ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: The 2008 election put women in the majority in New Hampshire's state Senate.
Ohio. Cashing a Paycheck While Black. Shannon Houser of WOIO-TV Cleveland: "A Cleveland man says he was racially profiled at a local branch [of Huntington bank] when they called the cops on him for trying to cash a [pay]check.... He was asked for two forms of ID, which both he and bank employees confirm he provided. The bank says McCowns also provided a fingerprint, per bank policy for non-Huntington customers who wish to cash checks.... Tellers told him they couldn't cash [the check].... As he was leaving the bank, employees called 911 on him. McCowns was handcuffed and put in the back of a Brooklyn Police cruiser. Minutes after being arrested, police were able to get in contact with McCowns employer who confirmed the check was real and that McCowns is an employee."
Way Beyond
David Sanger & Steven Erlanger of the New York Times: "Hackers infiltrated the European Union's diplomatic communications network for years, downloading thousands of cables that reveal concerns about an unpredictable Trump administration and struggles to deal with Russia and China and the risk that Iran would revive its nuclear program.... The techniques that the hackers deployed over a three-year period resembled those long used by an elite unit of China's People's Liberation Army. The cables were copied from the secure network and posted to an open internet site that the hackers set up in the course of their attack, according to Area 1, the firm that discovered the breach.... The cyberintruders also infiltrated the networks of the United Nations, the A.F.L.-C.I.O., and ministries of foreign affairs and finance worldwide."
Hungary. Bannon-style "Populism". Shaun Walker of the Guardian: "Hungary's beleaguered political opposition has vowed to keep up the pressure on the country's far-right prime minister, Viktor Orbán, after a week of protests in which thousands came on to the streets of Budapest.... The protests were triggered by a so-called 'slave law', passed amid chaotic scenes in the Hungarian parliament last Wednesday, which allows employers to force employees to work overtime, and lets them delay payment for up to three years. It was passed together with legislation that provides for greater government control over the court system, the latest move by Orbán's Fidesz party to capture independent state institutions." --s
Philippines. Hannah Ellis-Peterson of the Guardian: "The official death toll from Rodrigo Duterte's violent war on drugs in the Philippines has risen above 5,000 people, authorities have said.... A spokesman for the Philippine drug enforcement agency (PDEA), said that, according to official figures, between July 2016 and the end of November this year, 5,050 lives were lost, mostly at the hands of the police.... Last week, Chito Gascon, the chairman of the Philippine commission on human rights, said the toll could be as high as 27,000, though he emphasised that investigating the deaths was complex because police withheld records on anti-drug operations." --s
Syria. Reuters: "The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Wednesday that Islamic State militants had executed nearly 700 prisoners in nearly two months in eastern Syria.... The jihadists control a shrinking strip of land east of the Syria's Euphrates River around the town of Hajin, which U.S.-backed forces entered this month.... [A]t least 5,000 IS fighters remain holed up in the enclave, including many foreigners who appear ready to fight to the death." --s
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Reader Comments (17)
I'm a bit curious now how it got out in the press that Mueller was really recommending no prison time, that he wanted to be ultra lenient with Flynn.
We know Mueller's ship doesn't leak. I'm starting to believe that the very public "no prison time at all! narrative was an elaborate PR campaign by a Pro-Traitor club.
Either way, I can't help but see the judge's visceral repulsion at Flynn's corruption as a rebuke to Mueller's team too by recommendation no jail time to such an elaborate impostor.
@safari: Mueller filed a sentencing memorandum with the court a few weeks ago in which he wrote, “a sentence at the low end of the guideline range — including a sentence that does not impose a term of incarceration — is appropriate and warranted.”
Amidst all this news that's fit to print and is almost exhausting to digest day after day, there are some like Norman Solomon who are thinking WAY ahead: he makes a case for NOT putting Beto O'Rourke in the High Chair. He cites the negatives and claims we don't know much about O'Rourke's record. Of course Solomon veers way to the left, but still––––hard to read about my boy Beto's downsides when I'm so crazy about his upsides. But I, too, wasn't too keen for him to run at this time–-doesn't seem seasoned enough was my thinking, but oh, how I wanted that senate seat for him.
So––here's the end of Solomon's piece:
"As candidates and in office, the last two Democratic presidents have been young, dynamic, and often progressive-sounding, while largely serving in the interests of Wall Street, big banks, military contracts, and the like. Do we need to make it three in a row?"
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/democrats-deserve-better-than-beto-orourke/
On the Kavanaugh thing isn't there some legal principle about "fruit of the poisoned tree?"
Seems that our latest Injustice should have to forego all benefits that accrued to him after his lies under oath poisoned the tree he scaled to the highest court.
And another random thought:
Who knew that when the Pretender promised that "only he could fix it," that he really meant "fix?"
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It’s bad enough that the loser of the Arizona Senate race has been named to take John McCain’s seat, but I’m concerned that this action introduces an even graver injustice. Since McSally takes office on December 31, does this mean that she becomes the senior Senator of Arizona?
PD,
Solomon makes his point, and I'm all for the idea that "Democrats deserve better" and I'll be first in line to for that better (best?) candidate.
So my question for Mr. Solomon is "Who is it?"
He says people will find out that Beto is just another "flawed Democrat". Who isn't? Republicans? I'll admit that Republicans aren't really flawed. They're supposed to be terrible, horrible, awful, and just low-down no good.
He's inexperienced? More inexperienced than Trump? What about Dubya? His resume was thinner than the heel on one of Melanie's five inch spikes.
I'll all for "better" but, really, who will that be?
Whoever he has in mind (and sorry, but Bernie will not win in 2020). He'd be almost 80 at his inauguration if he did win.
And now for the broken record portion of my comment:
Democrats need to figure this out, and soon. I realize a lot of people want a true blue, hardcore progressive. I do too. But I want a candidate who can win too. O'Rourke might not be perfect. He might be "flawed", but if he can win who thinks he'll be worse than the nightmare we have now?
From the McSally resurrection and ascension into the senate to Bart O'Kavanaugh's get out of jail free card, to Michael Flynn's no jail time, we're seeing the result of a generation of scheming and planning on the part of Confederates for Ratfuck Heaven where no R ever loses, even if they do lose. They are insulated from their bad acts on every front. Even Fatty won't be properly punished. They have their own alternative media which will attack on command anyone who calls them out, they own the courts, they are buttressed with hundreds of millions in dark money, there is virtually no oversight to campaign contributions, they've locked in over 35 state legislatures through a variety of ploys, and still paint themselves as victims.
Wonder if Bart woke up this morning with a hangover and wondered if he raped anyone last night after hearing that he can get away with anything.
@William: You would think so, but no. According to the Arizona Republic, "U.S. Sen.-elect Kyrsten Sinema will be sworn in before Martha McSally, making Sinema the senior senator from Arizona, Gov. Doug Ducey said Tuesday. Ducey appointed McSally to fill a Senate vacancy and made the remark at a joint press conference with her.... 'I'm also going to respect the will of the voters. Senator-elect Sinema was elected to the office and she's going to be sworn in first,' Ducey said."
Gee, Ducey doesn't even seem like a Real Republican, does he?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to recall having read somewhere, lo those many years ago (2015 or thereabout) that the Trump Foundation (*snicker, snicker*) was loaded up with over $700 million smackers. It ain't the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, but it ain't chicken feed neither.
So where did all that money go? I read now that all that's left is a measly one or two million. That's a whole shitload of bribes and self-dealing on the part of the Trump Crime Family.
Boy, these people take it coming and going. They are professional pickpockets and grifters. They take the confidence game to a whole new level. It's all right out in the open. They don't try to hide anything (well, they do, but they really suck at it, so what's the diff?).
I do like the New York AG's welcome lagniappe of making sure the Trumpy spawn are barred from shoving their grasping claws into any other New York based charitable institutions. The people running those organizations would be wearing a barrel if Princess Ivanka, Uday, or Qusay weaseled their way onto their board of directors.
Poor little donnie. No getty wally-wally. Pee and poopie in diapey instead. Stamp feet. Liarbee say everyone suck. Waaaaahh....
So a few days ago it was Shut It Down! Today it's Shut It Up. Trump's mouth, that is. No guvmint shutdown because then R leaders pee and poopie in diapeys too.
But hey, look, now he sez "Dems no like concrete? OK. No concrete. We build steel slats. VERY beautiful."
So now Fatty is proposing that his wall will be very ahh-tistic, as in aesthetic. Because, as everyone knows, Fatty is an elite aesthete. I mean, have you evah seen his apaht-ment? In Trump Towah?
Oh, myyyyyyyy godddd....it's SOOooooo tasteful! All that gold and shit, and the curlicue thingies on the ceiling? My goodness!
So I imagine his wall will be equally ahh-tistic.
Plus, he sez it will be fast and cheap. Is he talking about Melanie?
Is this what he's talking about? Maybe he's gonna hire Christo and his wife Jeanne-Claude to put up the wall. Christo is the guy who used to wrap buildings, remember? He did a Running Fence installation once. Very nice. Almost....um, impenetrable. I think.
While they're at it, maybe they can wrap Fatty.
@Akhilleus: I've done some very minimal "research" on the Internets, & the largest figure I can find is $102MM -- an amount Trump claimed in 2016 to have donated to charities during the preceding five years. However, that figure was undoubtedly a multi-million-dollar lie. The Washington Post, after extensive reporting, couldn't document anything Trump himself had given to charities (Trump hadn't made a contribution to the Foundation since 2008), but even as a pass-through, reporters couldn't come anywhere close to verifying $102 in donations.
Marie,
Thanks. I don't know why I bother (or anyone else, for that matter). Anything these people say is a lie. He's just so used to it. Oh man, can't you just see him sitting across the table from Mueller's guys? Every third word would be a lie. He just can't help himself.
At last we've found something he truly is great at.
I've seen some debate on whether the Dems should go full court press on investigations into Fatty McGee, or whether they should limit their firepower and only go after a few serious targets.
My two cents: Release the fucking hounds!
There is inevitably going to be whining and wailing from the White House, McConnell and all his bag men (when don't they cry foul?) that Democrats will have to justify with an astute PR defense (a lot to ask, frankly), but this PR battle with be held while all of the Flynn, Cohen, Trump Foundation, Trump Moscow, new revelations, etc. etc. are simultaneously building into crescendo. The "Presidential harassment", "Fake News" claims will be drowned out by Real News. And most importantly, the fruits of Elijah Cummings' investigations, and more to come I hope, are going to bear fruit right around 2020, giving Dems a whole arsenal of ammo for the upcoming Battle for America's Soul.
Lock and Load.
That darn Fed. Sure, it's politicized and makes mistakes (who could forget Greenspan and the Randians?), but while its assumptions and numbers may be sometimes mistaken, it does attempt to at least shadow box with reality.
Expect a tweet-storm from the Pretender, whose interests are clearly elsewhere.
Notes from the States of Climate Change Denial
So back about a month ago we had a blast of cold air across the south. In a meeting with my Red State co-workers, a lot of fun was made of silly liberals who whine about global warming. "Where's your global warming now? Huh?" was the general thrust, with plenty of laughs.
Today, a few days before Christmas, we're experiencing temperatures more like early May.
No jokes about that in today's meeting.
It's only a matter of conversation when the weather allows them to increase the denials. Weather is not climate, of course, but if you buy the premise, you buy the joke. If you want to posit that weather IS climate, then you might expect to hear something about such balmy temperatures as the winter season sets in.
But nope. Never give an inch.
On releasing the hounds: don't count on it. As of the new congress, we will have actual professional politicians in charge of the House, and they have an interest in ensuring that the executive branch functions. If they go after every shred of potential Trumpian malfeasance, a side-effect will be that the WH will require agencies to generate roomsful of paper ( a standard foot-dragging coping tactic), which will take huge amounts of senior career peoples' time. Leaders like Pelosi and Cummings will go for the razor, not the broad-axe, and go for the jugular. I hope.