The Commentariat -- February 19, 2019
Afternoon Update:
Trump Tried to Obstruct SDNY Investigation. Mark Mazzetti, et al., of the New York Times: "An examination by The New York Times reveals the extent of a ... sustained..., secretive assault by Mr. Trump on the machinery of federal law enforcement.... The story of Mr. Trump's attempts to defang the investigations has been voluminously covered in the news media, to such a degree that many Americans have lost track of how unusual his behavior is. But fusing the strands reveals an extraordinary story of a president who has attacked the law enforcement apparatus of his own government like no other president in history, and who has turned the effort into an obsession. Mr. Trump has done it with the same tactics he once used in his business empire: demanding fierce loyalty from employees, applying pressure tactics to keep people in line, and protecting the brand -- himself -- at all costs." Trump called Matt Whitaker to ask him if he could put Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York and a Trump ally, in charge of the SDNY investigation. "... Berman had already recused himself from the investigation," so Whitaker couldn't do so.P.S. Looks as if Matt Whitaker might have a little perjury problem.
** When the Kleptocracy Goes Nuclear. Tom Hamburger & Steven Mufson of the Washington Post: "Several current and former Trump administration appointees promoted sales of nuclear power plants to Saudi Arabia despite repeated objections from members of the National Security Council and other senior White House officials, according to a new report from congressional Democrats. The officials who objected included White House lawyers and H.R. McMaster, then the chief of the National Security Council. They called for a halt in the nuclear sales discussions in 2017, citing potential conflicts of interest, national security risks and legal hurdles. Yet the effort to promote nuclear sales persisted, led by retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who served briefly as President Trump's national security adviser, and more recently by Energy Secretary Rick Perry. The possible nuclear power sale was discussed in the Oval Office as recently as last week. Details about these internal White House battles are contained in a 24-page report released Tuesday morning by Rep.Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee.... The Cummings report notes that one of the power plant manufacturers that could benefit from a nuclear deal, Westinghouse Electric, is a subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management, the company that provided financial relief to the family of Jared Kushner.... Brookfield Asset Management took a 99-year lease on the family's deeply indebted New York City property at 666 Fifth Avenue." ...
... Ken Dilanian of NBC News: "Whistleblowers from within ... Donald Trump's National Security Council have told a congressional committee that efforts by former national security adviser Michael Flynn to transfer sensitive nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia may have violated the law, and investigators fear Trump is still considering it, according to a new report obtained by NBC News. The House Oversight Committee has formally opened an investigation into the matter, releasing an interim staff report that adds new details to previous public accounts of how Flynn sought to push through the nuclear proposal on behalf of a group he had once advised. Tom Barrack, a prominent Trump backer with business ties to the Middle East, also became involved in the project, the report says.... In mid-March 2017, deputy national security adviser K.T. McFarland reportedly stated during a meeting that Trump told Barrack that he could lead the implementation of the plan, the report says."
** Declan Walsh of the New York Times: "Egyptian officials detained a New York Times correspondent after he arrived in Cairo on Monday, holding him incommunicado for hours before forcing him onto a flight back to London without explanation. The move against the correspondent, David D. Kirkpatrick, is an escalation of a severe crackdown against the news media under Egypt's strongman leader, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Egyptian journalists have borne the brunt of Mr. el-Sisi's repression, with dozens imprisoned or forced into exile. But of late, a lack of pushback from the United States has emboldened Egypt's security forces to take stronger action against representatives of Western news outlets, including expulsion.... After being officially denied entry to the country, Mr. Kirkpatrick's phone was confiscated and he was held without food or water for seven hours.... Defenders of press freedom worry that President Trump's outbursts -- such as a Twitter post last weekend that read 'THE RIGGED AND CORRUPT MEDIA IS THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!' -- embolden autocrats around the globe to take aggressive action against the news media. Despite growing human rights abuses in Egypt, Mr. Trump counts Mr. el-Sisi among his closest allies in the Middle East and has described him as a 'great guy.' During a speech in Cairo in January, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo offered further praise for Mr. el-Sisi."
What About This, Lindsey? Allan Smith of NBC News: "Former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe told NBC's 'Today' show on Tuesday that he briefed congressional leaders about the counterintelligence investigation he had opened into ... Donald Trump and that 'no one objected.' 'That's the important part here,' McCabe told Savannah Guthrie, who had asked if he had informed the 'Gang of Eight' bipartisan group of leaders on the Hill. 'No one objected. Not on legal grounds, not on constitutional grounds and not based on the facts.' The purpose of the briefing in 2017 was to let the congressional leadership, including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, then-House Speaker Paul Ryan and their Democratic counterparts, know what the FBI was doing in the probe into Russian election interference and possible collusion by the Trump campaign, McCabe said." ...
... Natasha Bertrand of the Atlantic interviews Andrew McCabe. Very interesting.
Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "A post on Roger Stone's Instagram account featuring a picture of the judge overseeing his case with crosshairs in the background could jeopardize the lenient gag order he received from her last Friday, as well as his bail. Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered Stone to come to court on Thursday for a hearing to address the situation. She also raised the question that his social media posting could jeopardize his bail, which allows him to travel with some restrictions." ...
Never gratuitously annoy the person who is deciding how long you'll spend in federal prison. -- Ken White, in the Atlantic ...
... Amy, Whatcha Wanta Do? Tom Winter & Adiel Kaplan of NBC News: "A judge may send Roger Stone to jail after Stone posted a photo of the judge on Instagram Monday afternoon with crosshairs in the background next to her head. Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who is presiding over Stone's prosecution in D.C. federal court, scheduled a new hearing Thursday to discuss 'why the media contact order entered in this case and/or his conditions of release should not be modified or revoked in light of the posts on his Instagram account.'"
"Imagine your grandfather wander out into to trees to yell about Mexicans":
*****
... Daniel Slotnik of the New York Times: "George Mendonsa, who made the most credible claim to being the sailor shown kissing a woman in Times Square after the end of World War II in a photograph that became a national emblem of elation, died on Sunday at a nursing home in Middletown, R.I. He was 95.... The illustrious Life magazine photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt took the photograph on Aug. 14, 1945, moments after word reached th public that the Japanese had surrendered. Times Square was thronged with people celebrating the end of the war, and Eisenstaedt's series of four photos showed a uniformed sailor grabbing a woman in a nurse's outfit, bending her back and kissing her deeply. The two anonymous people appeared to embody the exuberance of the moment, and the photograph appeared on a full page in Life. Eisenstaedt did not record the names of the impromptu kissers; their identities have been debated for decades." ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: We used to know -- or at least we thought we knew -- what this sailor & this nurse fought for in World War II. Today we have a President* who challenges that democratic, humanitarian ideal. ...
... Yoni Appelbaum of the Atlantic: Donald Trump "has mounted a concerted challenge to the separation of powers, to the rule of law, and to the civil liberties enshrined in our founding documents. He has purposefully inflamed America's divisions. He has set himself against the American idea, the principle that all of us -- of every race, gender, and creed -- are created equal.... With a newly seated Democratic majority, the House of Representatives can no longer dodge its constitutional duty. It must immediately open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Trump, and bring the debate out of the court of public opinion and into Congress, where it belongs." Thanks to NJC for the link.
Tim Elfrink of the Washington Post: Sitting "behind President Trump at his televised speech in Miami on Monday ... [was] Enrique Tarrio..., the chairman of the Proud Boys, a far-right, self-described "western chauvinist' organization known for violently clashing with antifascists and for its alleged links to white nationalists.... He wore dark sunglasses, a black baseball cap and a black T-shirt with a message of support for Trump's longtime adviser now facing federal charges: 'Roger Stone Did Nothing Wrong!'... Neither Trump nor the White House knew he was in attendance, Tarrio told The Washington Post.... Tarrio refutes the Southern Poverty Law Center's claim that his organization is a hate group...." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Typically, a politician's handlers decide who sits within camera shot. These are not "random fans." Even if the White House & the Trump campaign had no idea who Tarrio was (and I wouldn't take his word for it), they sure as hell knew he was carrying an incendiary sign which he would flash for the cameras.
Washington Post: "A coalition of 16 states went to federal court on Monday, seeking a preliminary injunction to thwart President Trump's attempt to circumvent Congress and shuffle federal money to pay for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, a court that has ruled against other Trump policies in the past. This is a developing story. It will be updated." ...
... Camilo Montoya-Galvez of CBS News: "Texas Rep. Will Hurd, the sole Republican representing a congressional district along the southern border, said more than 1,000 farmers in his state are at risk of having their land seized by the federal government to facilitate the construction of President Trump's long-promised wall.... 'What we're doing with eminent domain is, in many cases, we'll make a deal up front. We've already done that. The secretary has done a lot of that,' the president told reporters in January, offering no specifics to support the claim. 'And if we can't make a deal, we take the land and we pay them through a court process. Which goes actually fairly quickly. And we're generous. But we take the land. Otherwise you could never build anything....' But Hurd said the strategy will surely be resisted by some landowners and force the government into a prolonged legal battle."
... our President is simply too unstable to carry out the duties of the highest executive office -- which include the specific duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed -- in a competent and professional manner. He is simply in the wrong place. -- William Weld, former Massachusetts governor (R) & presidential candidate ...
>... Charles Pierce suggests a headline more suited than the three major papers posted to reports on Trump's Friday "national emergency" presser: "The President* is A Delusional Maniac With Sawdust Pouring Out Of Both Ears.... The man is not all there. Everybody knows it. If your uncle behaved like the president* behaved on Friday, you'd hide his car-keys, lock up the booze, and drive him to the neurologist." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Trump's Moral Value System. Dahlia Lithwick of Slate: "At some point, it becomes embarrassing to continue to pretend that the leader of the free world exulting in the prospect of executing drug dealers, and asserting that he has secret stats from which he is forming border policy, is making any sense.... I have tried to dissect the text of Trump's remarks Friday into something resembling a moral world order. Here's my best shot. Clearly at the top of that pyramid of priorities lies 'me' and 'mine' and 'I.'... The next stage of his hierarchy of values is the people who like him.... The third level of the Trump ego-food pyramid features people who don't necessarily love Donald Trump, but they do, largely thanks to the toughness and excellence of Donald Trump, respect Donald Trump.... The fourth level is the Real Country. These are people who Trump does not know personally ... but who either love Donald Trump (category one) or love the people who love Donald Trump (category two).... The fifth level of the hierarchy consists of people who probably love Donald Trump but just haven't shown it yet. That would be the U.S. Supreme Court. The next level is people who have disappointed the president.... At bottom, at level seven, are the people who do not like Donald Trump or respect Donald Trump or even love the people who love the people who like Donald Trump. But it's OK though, because there are very few of them and all of them are liars and con artists." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Pretty funny. And you thought Trump was indecipherable. It turns out if you work really, really hard at parsing, you can work out a sickening worldview.
The Trump Scandals, Ctd.
Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein plans to leave the Justice Department in mid-March, an official familiar with the matter said Monday night, and an announcement on his successor is expected imminently.... People familiar with the matter said the administration also has decided to nominate Jeffrey A. Rosen, the deputy secretary of transportation, to take over the job. He will need to be confirmed by the Senate, which probably would occur after Rosenstein leaves.... The news of Rosenstein's expected departure date comes as the deputy attorney general is again facing allegations from former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe that he talked about taking steps against Trump after the president fired James B. Comey as FBI director in May 2017.... The ['60 Minutes'] interview [of McCabe] sparked an angry reaction from Trump, who said on Twitter it appeared Rosenstein and McCabe were 'planning a very illegal act.' The official, though, said that Rosenstein's departure was expected and that the timeline was not affected by McCabe's recent comments." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I won't be surprised if Trump fires Rosenstein before he can quit, just as he "fired" Jim Mattis after Mattis submitted his letter of resignation.
....(The Witch Hunt) in time likely will become recognized as the greatest scandal in American political history, marking the first occasion in which the U.S. government bureaucrats sought to overturn an election (presidential)!' Victor Davis Hanson And got caught! @FoxNews -- Donald Trump, in a tweet this morning
Victor Hanson is a Hoover Institution "historian." He should familiarize himself with the U.S. Constitution. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie
Remember this, Andrew McCabe didn't go to the bathroom without the approval of Leakin' James Comey! -- Donald Trump, last night, in another presidential tweet
Philip Bump of the Washington Post explains to dummies, including Donald Trump, why Andrew McCabe's assertions about high-level DOJ officials considering an invocation of the Twenty-fifth Amendment is not an attempted "coup," as Trump & his surrogates have described what happened in May 2017. "... removing a president from office using systems included in the Constitution is, by definition, not a coup. Removing Trump from office by following the guidelines of the 25th Amendment would no more be a coup than removing him from office through impeachment or, really, than voting for another candidate in 2020. It's part of the system.... If [DAG Rod] Rosenstein asked half the Cabinet and Pence to oust Trump and they agreed, it's hard to see how the culpable party was Rosenstein. These are people chosen by Trump! His removal would be on their hands. But what's more, Trump would have a mechanism to respond. He could simply send a letter to Congress saying that he is fit for office, and he is then reinstated.... If, however, Pence and the Cabinet members still think Trump is unfit, the question would go to Congress, where two-thirds majorities in each chamber would have to agree. So that's half the Cabinet, the vice president and scores of lawmakers who would ultimately need to declare that Trump should be removed from office before it could happen." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Isabel Dobrin of Politico: "Trump tweeted Monday morning, 'Wow, so many lies by now disgraced acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe. He was fired for lying, and now his story gets even more deranged. He and Rod Rosenstein, who was hired by Jeff Sessions (another beauty), look like they were planning a very illegal act, and got caught.....'... In a follow-up tweet Monday, Trump said, '....There is a lot of explaining to do to the millions of people who had just elected a president who they really like and who has done a great job for them with the Military, Vets, Economy and so much more. This was the illegal and treasonous "insurance policy" in full action!'" ...
... Jacob Solis of the Nevada Independent: "Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said Sunday in Las Vegas that Trump administration officials have an obligation to invoke the 25th Amendment if they believe the president cannot fulfill his duties. The comment came in response to former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe telling CBSs '60 Minutes' that then-acting Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had considered the idea out of concern for Trump's 'capacity and about his intent at that point in time,' referring to the days after Trump fired James B. Comey as FBI director. '... if they believe that Donald Trump cannot fulfill the obligations of his office, then they have a constitutional responsibility to invoke the 25th amendment,' Warren, a Democratic presidential candidate, said after a rally in Las Vegas. 'Their loyalty under law is not to him personally. It is to the Constitution of the United States and to the people of United States.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Bob Mueller has a task: It's Russian interference and potential collision in the 2016 election. Southern District of New York is whatever the heck you want. -- Chris Christie, earlier this month ...
... Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "Even as speculation mounts that special counsel Robert Mueller might be winding down his investigation, a parallel threat to ... Donald Trump only seems to be growing within his own Justice Department: the Southern District of New York. Manhattan-based federal prosecutors can challenge Trump in ways Mueller can't. They have jurisdiction over the president's political operation and businesses -- subjects that aren't protected by executive privilege, a tool Trump is considering invoking to block portions of Mueller's report. From a PR perspective, Trump has been unable to run the same playbook on SDNY that he's used to erode conservatives' faith in Mueller, the former George W. Bush-appointed FBI director. Legal circles are also buzzing over whether SDNY might buck DOJ guidance and seek to indict a sitting president." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
How Not to Respond to a Gag Order. Ryan Mac & Zoe Tillman of BuzzFeed News: "Roger Stone ... posted a photo Monday on Instagram of a judge presiding over his case in which she appears to be next to a crosshairs symbol. The post comes days after the judge, US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, rejected Stone's effort to get his case reassigned to a new judge. Jackson also previously ruled that Stone couldn't talk to news outlets in front of her courthouse.... The photograph -- a version of which appeared earlier on a site pushing false conspiracy theories -- featured a target symbol near the judge's head. The symbol is also associated with the Zodiac killer.... Instagram's terms of service states that the service will 'content that contains credible threats or hate speech' and that 'serious threats of harm to public and personal safety aren't allowed.' An Instagram representative said the post was a violation of the social network's rules. Within 30 minutes of BuzzFeed News first inquiring about Stone's post, it was gone from the photo-sharing site. A representative for Instagram said that the company did not remove the image, suggesting that Stone did so himself. Stone later shared a statement -- which he reiterated when reached by BuzzFeed News -- saying it was a 'random photo taken from the internet .Any [sic] inference that this was meant to somehow threaten the Judge or disrespect court is categorically false.'" ...
... Reis Thebault & Manuel Roig-Franzia of the Washington Post: "Days after a federal judge imposed a limited gag order on him, Roger Stone posted a photograph of that judge to his Instagram page that included her name, a close-up of her face and what appeared to be the crosshairs of a gun sight near her head. Stone ... deleted the picture soon afterward, then reposted it without the crosshairs before deleting that second post as well.... In a Monday court filing, Stone's lawyers formally apologized for the post. 'Undersigned counsel, with the attached authority of Roger J. Stone, hereby apologizes to the Court for the improper photograph and comment posted on Instragram today,' the filing reads. 'Mr. Stone recognizes the impropriety and had it removed.'"
Michael Birnbaum of the Washington Post: "European leaders expressed skepticism Monday about their willingness to cooperate with a request by President Trump to bring home citizens who went to fight with the Islamic State, underlining a security dilemma as the U.S. military prepares to pull out of Syria following the collapse of the group's self-declared caliphate. Many European nations have been content to leave citizens who may sympathize with the Islamic State in Syria.... But the Kurdish fighters who have kept many of the former caliphate residents under lock and key worry that with the U.S. pullout, they may need to shift resources elsewhere, disbanding camps and allowing the residents to disperse. Trump over the weekend threatened E.U. allies on Twitter that if they did not repatriate their citizens, the United States would simply let them go, warning that Europe could face a surge in terrorist attacks as a result."
Melanie Schmitz of ThinkProgress: "President Donald Trump bragged on Sunday morning that 'big progress' was being made with China on trade, even as U.S. farmers say they are suffering tremendously as a result of the tariffs he imposed against Beijing.... U.S. soybean sales to China have plummeted approximately 94 percent since then.... According to analysis by The Wall Street Journal this month, U.S. growers are filing for Chapter 12 bankruptcy protection 'at levels not seen for at least a decade. Delinquency rates have climbed as farmers are unable to pay off their loans due to the drop in profits.... Agricultural lenders say they too have seen a sharp rise in bankruptcies and financial troubles, as banks deny farmers the funds they need to plant spring crops amid the trade war.... The trade war has lead some farmers to even contemplate suicide, as their profits dry up and their futures remain uncertain." --s ...
... Alyza Sebenius of Bloomberg: "China largely abandoned a hacking truce negotiated by Barack Obama as President Donald Trump embarked on a trade war with Beijing last year, according to the cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike Inc. A slowdown in Chinese hacking following the cybersecurity agreement Obama's administration secured in 2015 appears to have been reversed, the firm said in a report released Tuesday that reviewed cyber activity by U.S. adversaries in 2018.... Crowdstrike said that Iran focused much of its cyber activity on Middle Eastern and North African countries while Russia engaged in intelligence collection and information operations worldwide. North Korea deployed hackers for financial gain and intelligence collection, while China targeted sectors including technology, manufacturing and hospitality," --s
Jennifer Jacobs of Bloomberg News: "... Donald Trump is considering four people to be his next UN ambassador: Goldman Sachs Group Inc. partner Dina Powell, the current ambassadors to Canada and Germany, Kelly Craft and Richard Grenell, and John James, a former Republican U.S. Senate candidate from Michigan, according to people familiar with the matter.... Top White House aides have also discussed nominating ... Ivanka Trump if no front-runner emerges."
Derek Kravitz of Mother Jones: "In his first 10 days in office, Trump signed an executive order that required all his political hires to sign a pledge ... [to] ... agree not to lobby the agencies they worked in for five years. They also can't lobby anyone in the White House or political appointees across federal agencies for the duration of the Trump administration. And they can't perform 'lobbying activities,'...Violating the pledge exposes former officials to fines and extended or even permanent bans on lobbying....At least 33 former Trump officials have found ways around the pledge.... Almost all work on issues they oversaw or helped shape when they were in government." --s
The Can't-Do President*. Paul Krugman: "Why isn't Trump building anything? Surely he's exactly the kind of politician likely to suffer from an edifice complex... During the 2016 campaign he didn't just promise a wall, he also promised a major rebuilding of America's infrastructure.... Money isn't why we aren't building infrastructure. The real obstacle is that Trump, his officials, his party or all of the above don't actually want the kind of public investment America needs. Build they won't.... What's striking about the various infrastructure 'plans' [the Trump administration has] offered -- they're more like vague sketches -- is that ... they're schemes that would purportedly use public funds as a sweetener to induce large amounts of private investment.... Modern conservatives hate the idea of any kind of new public spending, even if it would make Americans better off -- or perhaps it would be more accurate to say especially if it would make Americans better off, because a successful spending program might help legitimize a positive role for government in general. And while Trump may not fully share his party's small-government ideology, all his limited energy is going into finding ways to punish people, not help them."
Betsy Woodruff of The Daily Beast: "Senior officials at the State Department have been seriously weighing whether to push to protect Venezuelans in the U.S. from deportation, according to internal communications The Daily Beast reviewed. People from several other countries, including Somalia and Yemen, currently have the same Temporary Protected Status status, which also grants migrants short-term work permits. But extending the policy to Venezuelans would be an atypical step for the Trump administration, which has taken steps to end TPS for people from half a dozen other countries. Some Trump administration allies consider the move tantamount to granting 'amnesty' to those who have violated immigration laws." --s
Tanya Snyder of Politico: "A trove of more than 800 pages of emails sheds new light on the working relationship between Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, one of the most potent power couples in Washington -- including their dealings with McConnell supporters from their home state of Kentucky. Chao has met at least 10 times with politicians and business leaders from the state in response to requests from McConnell's office, according to documents provided to Politico by the watchdog group American Oversight. In some cases, those people later received what they were hoping for from Chao's department, including infrastructure grants, the designation of an interstate highway and assistance in getting state funds for a highway project -- although the documents don't indicate the meetings led to those outcomes.... DOT said no ... favoritism exists, and that any agency 'would be responsive to the requests of the Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate.'... Former Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta, a Democrat who served under President George W. Bush..., said a request from a member of Congress would carry additional weight, regardless of what state that member was from."
Dennis Wagner of the Arizona Republic: "For nearly two decades at the Grand Canyon, tourists, employees, and children on tours passed by three paint buckets stored in the National Park's museum collection building, unaware that they were being exposed to radiation. Although federal officials learned last year that the 5-gallon containers were brimming with uranium ore, then removed the radioactive specimens, the park's safety director alleges nothing was done to warn park workers or the public that they might have been exposed to unsafe levels of radiation. In a rogue email sent to all Park Service employees on Feb. 4, Elston 'Swede' Stephenson -- the safety, health and wellness manager -- described the alleged cover-up as 'a top management failure' and warned of possible health consequences."
Brett Hayworth of the Sioux City Journal: "In front of another friendly audience Monday, U.S. Rep. Steve King urged his supporters to pray for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to restore King's committee assignments, saying the California Republican needs to 'separate his ego from this issue and look at it objectively.' The Iowa 4th District congressman, long an opponent of illegal immigration, also offered strong backing for ... Donald Trump's declaration of a national emergency to finance a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border." Via the Hill. Mrs. McC: Apparently Steve there figures god is interested in his Congressional committee assignments. And here I thought it was the devil who was into the details.
Presidential Race 2020. Sydney Ember of the New York Times: "Senator Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent and 2016 Democratic primary runner-up whose populist policy agenda has helped push the party to the left, announced on Tuesday that he was running for president again, embarking on a bid that will test whether he can retain the anti-establishment appeal he enjoyed with many liberal voters three years ago. A self-styled democratic socialist whose calls for 'Medicare for all,' a $15 minimum wage and tuition-free public colleges have become pillars of the party's left wing, Mr. Sanders is among the best-known politicians to join an already crowded Democratic field and one of the most outspoken against President Trump, whom he has repeatedly called a 'pathological liar' and a 'racist.'"
Congressional Election 2018. Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "A North Carolina elections regulator said Monday that 'a coordinated, unlawful and substantially resourced absentee ballot scheme' potentially involving more than 1,000 absentee ballots or request forms took place last year in the state's Ninth Congressional District. The regulator, Kim Strach, the executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, gave the first account of investigators' conclusions at a hearing in Raleigh that could determine the fate of the Ninth District race after allegations of widespread fraud. The Republican nominee, Mark Harris, has a 905-vote lead over his Democratic rival, Dan McCready, but state officials last year refused to certify Mr. Harris as the winner because of concerns about 'irregularities' in absentee balloting.... The elections board is not expected to begin its deliberations until Tuesday at the earliest. A separate criminal investigation 'will continue to go on after today,' Ms. Strach said."
Jason Horowitz & Elisabetta Povoledo of the New York Times: "... the Vatican has confirmed, apparently for the first time, that its department overseeing the world's priests has general guidelines for what to do when clerics break celibacy vows and father children. 'I can confirm that these guidelines exist,' the Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti wrote in response to a query from The New York Times.... Mr. Gisotti ... said the guideline 'requests' that the father leave the priesthood to 'assume his responsibilities as a parent by devoting himself exclusively to the child.' But another Vatican official said ... that the failure to ask to be relieved of priestly obligations was reason for the church to take action: 'If you don't ask, you will be dismissed.'"
Beyond the Beltway
Alabama. Melissa Brown of the Montgomery Advertiser: "The editor of a small-town Alabama newspaper published an editorial calling for 'the Ku Klux Klan to night ride again' against 'Democrats in the Republican Party and Democrats [who] are plotting to raise taxes in Alabama.' Goodloe Sutton -- who is the publisher of the Democrat-Reporter newspaper in Linden, Alabama -- confirmed to the Montgomery Advertiser on Monday that he authored the Feb. 14 editorial calling for the return of a white supremacist hate group. 'If we could get the Klan to go up there and clean out D.C., we'd all been better off,' Sutton said." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Which is why this is so insulting ...
Illinois. Julia Arciga of the Daily Beast: "'Empire' actor Jussie Smollett reportedly staged an attack against himself in late January after a 'racist' letter sent to the TV show's studio, which contained a white powder, did not get a 'bigger reaction,' according to a local Chicago news station. A source told CBS Chicago the actor allegedly 'concocted' the 'staged' Jan. 29 attack and paid his 'acquaintances -- brothers Ola and Abel Osundairo -- over $3,000 to carry it out."
West Virginia. Charleston Gazette-Mail: "A Clay County woman who pleaded guilty Monday to defrauding the Federal Emergency Management Agency is the same woman who was fired from a county development agency in 2016 after making a racist Facebook post about then-U.S. first lady Michelle Obama. Pamela Taylor, 57, admitted she took more than $18,000 in flood relief benefits. She falsely registered for FEMA benefits after the June 2016 floods that killed more than 20 West Virginians and destroyed numerous homes along the Elk River and elsewhere. Taylor claimed that her primary residence had been damaged in the flood and that she was staying in a rental property. In fact, her primary residence was undamaged and she was still staying there, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Mike Stuart's office." Via the Raw Story.
Way Beyond
Arthur Nelson of the Guardian: "Most European companies have no target for reducing their greenhouse gas emissions even though 80% see climate change as a business risk, a survey has found. Among those that have set climate goals, only one in three stretch beyond 2025, according to the annual Carbon Disclosure Project report. Instead, corporate action has focused in the boardroom, with 47% of firms rewarding their CEOs for climate performance, and a quarter tying incentives to environmental goals." --s
D. Parvaz of ThinkProgress: "At least least 336 chemical attacks, including sarin, chlorine gas, sulfur, and mustard gas have taken place in Syria since the start of that country's civil war in 2011, according to a report released on Sunday by the Global Public Policy Institute." --s
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Reader Comments (19)
While I'm sure that Loathsome Lindsey Graham will surely make any McCabe hearing into a kangaroo court, inviting all his Freeeeeedom Caucasian Caucus members to send in their talking points to the Broken Brain Trust, aka the TrumpenParty, I sincerely hope he does organize such a hearing and it better damn well be public. That way we can hear straight from the horse's mouth about all the reasons the FBI thought Agent Orange has been a Russian turncoat ever since he fat his lard ass in the Oval Office. There will be revelations of questionable moves made by the FBI, including the one that deep-sixed Hillary's campaign at the eleventh hour (oh the irony), but any news-making event out of that hearing will be how the "apolitical" ie mostly conservative FBI brass, sitting on all the spook intel they could gather, thought removing the Dotard was the best option to keep Americans and our country safe from foreign and/or domestic sabotage.
Go ahead, Lindsey, make my day. I wouldn't be surprised at all if the hearing never happens, or goes behind closed doors with only propaganda talking points leaked out later to Faux News contesting reality. Confederates are so fucking pathetic.
@safari: I agree. Several teevee pundits have speculated that the FBI has more than the public knows on Trump's interactions with Russian officials. All McCabe & Rosenstein have to do is keep referring to "classified information that further supports our decision" to investigate Trump. Even if the hearing is held behind closed doors -- and I hope it isn't -- Democrats can leak, too. But Lindsey isn't stupid, so as you say, he probably will accidentally forget to schedule the hearing.
Forget the 25th Amendment. The time for impeachment is now https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/03/impeachment-trump/580468/
I agree with NJC. I said to my husband last night while watching the usual nightly roundup of offenses committed by this administration that I don't understand how the mainstream media outfits are STILL going out of their ways to NOT say "lies" and "liar" and "criminal" and so forth; and the much-vaunted FBI knew/knows these offenses and still, nothing is being done. Excuses abound. Caution beyond belief. The Presidunce should be in prison. Now. Along with his congressional enablers and his so-called cabinet. I don't get why the NC fraud people are not in jail, and I don't get why Harris should have a new election. The seat should go to the Democrat, now. As we all ceaselessly remark, if these people were Democrats, well...
Fatty Sez:
Andrew McCabe never went to the bathroom without permission from 'Leakin' James Comey'.
Did that make him leakin' Andrew McCabe?
That Fatty sure has a way with language.
To pick up where Jeanne left off, how many months ago do you think impeachment proceedings would have been commenced had Fatty been a Democrat?
I'm gonna say a Democrat with the exact same record of malfeasance, incompetence, ignorance, flouting of the law, arrogance, serial mendacity, self-dealing, nepotism, and likely history of collusion right up to and including treason, wouldn't have made it to the midterm elections.
Ryan and McConnell (not to mention Lindsey Graham) would have had impeachment papers filed by the end of 2017.
But since he's their guy, they're gonna hang on as long as they can to make sure a few dozen more anti-choice, pro-business, racist judges can be given lifetime appointments on the federal bench, and while they're at it, they'll be attacking any and all who dare to raise their voice against the traitor in the White House.
My, how things change....or how times change and things stay the same.
Here I am in 2019, cheering on the FBI, or that part of it that seems dedicated to keeping the country safe from its enemies, foreign and domestic, and has therefore been thrust centerstage by circumstance to play the role of national hero.
Still mostly white, square-jawed, erect, no longer in the shadows, its representatives stare as humorless and resolute as ever into the camera and confirm that what we most feared about the Pretender is true: He is undoubtedly an enemy of the nation and its people.
And suddenly I'm grateful for these same people whose motives and behavior I have often questioned. Compounded of varying degrees of dedication to simple, airy and often suspect ideals and, no doubt, personal ambition, those motives carried the FBI through their questionable red-baiting 50's, the turmoil of the 60's and early 70's, to Comey's clownish handling of HRC's emails, and now to the present pass, when the mix of motives likely hasn't changed, but I am nonetheless suddenly rooting for the institution that I have at many times thought to be one of the villains, not one of our potential saviors.
So I surprise myself. For now, I'm a fan of the FBI.
A fair-weather fan, but a fan. I hope to remain one until the play concludes on a happy note.
It is beyond ludicrous to claim that the chairman of the pro-Trump hate group, the violent Proud Boys, was only coincidentally seated behind Mr. Nazis Are Nice People.
As Marie points out, Fatty's handlers are Johnny-on-the-Spot about his photo-ops and rallies. A few months back, a man who wasn't all obsequious smiles and rabid head nods at everything Fatty spouted at a rally in Montana, was asked to leave by a Trump worker
after he registered disbelief at one of the many lies he was hearing. He was replaced by a smiling young woman (because young women LOVE the Donald so much). But that wasn't the end of the editing. A little later one of Fatty's obergruppenführers decided that two people wearing red MAGA hats had to go too. They were replaced by two smiling young women, including one with a TRUMP 2020 shirt on. This stuff is not random.
By the same token, the "accidental" inclusion of a rifle sight on the picture of the judge overseeing his case, by Roger (the Ratfucker) Stone was nothing of the kind.
Both Stone and Trump are weasels who will try to land rabbit punches and cheap shots whenever they can. Stone is like the kid in your high school yearbook who photobombed every group picture and found a way to insert a middle finger in each shot. If he was caught, he'd just say it was an accident and cackle with his cronies afterward.
As a lifelong ratfucker, Stone understands very well the power of imagery such as a rifle sight. It's a standard right-wing thing. Sarah (Half-Term) Palin did the same thing on her website once, posting a graphic with rifle sights on the states with Democrats she was targeting for her rabble (one of whom was Gabrielle Giffords who soon after WAS shot.)
Stone knows to whom this was directed and for what purposes. His claim of ignorance later is nothing but pure cowardice, as befits a friend of Donald J. Trump.
The foregrounding of violent haters and the gradual acceptance of violent imagery and rabid incivility is a trademark of Republican politics. They have made it not just acceptable, but a requirement, to make violence or the threat of it, and operatic incivility part and parcel of their message.
AK: not sure any of this was "gradual." And it was chosen. Apparently McCabe told Savannah G that congress KNEW about the investigation all along. Miss Lindsey, Ryan, McConnell, all were told by the FBI. I am with Ken-- this is so strange to have the Fibbies on the right side in my head... Enablers/rabble all except FBI... And as the AL editor says, his KKK would clean out the non"real" Amerkins in DC-- would that include the whole crime family? Sheesh. I need to go disinfect my eyeballs after reading this morning.
I thank NJC for the Yoni Applebaum video: the Andrew Johnson impeachment is exactly the right comparison for today. Not too long ago we had the Clinton impeachment which, if we want to define a witch hunt, this was certainly one for the history books. Now that smarmy, soft spoken, self effacing ––and who wouldn't cotton to those dimples–-Ken Starr–-has written a book: "Contempt: A Memoir of the Clinton Investigation." Sean Wilentz has written a review and within he reminds us of this:
All the Clinton scandals beginning with Whitewater all originated in politics. Conservative Republicans believed that Reagan's resounding victory in 1984 had secured for the GOP a lock on the presidency and was proof of a national conservative majority.By that reckoning, despite Clinton's election by popular plurality in 1992, his presidency was illegitimate. That Clinton was a self-made white southern baby-boomer, gregarious, a canny Rhodes Scholar with center-left politics plus was married to Hillary, a feminist, made the situation all the more galling––and dangerous. Desperate times required desperate measures, lest the Democrats impose their liberal agenda on the nation–-horrors! And then, our man of the hour, who perhaps at that time was banging his current missus who wasn't then, Newt Gingrich, who captured the House majority, went to town and tried like hell to bring Clinton down. The fact that Clinton won the election in 1996 further rebuked conservative grandiosity. Wilentz cites how stringent the wealthy right-wingers tried to turn up dirt on Clinton–-and finally our star actor fell upon Monica Lewinsky–-and Kenny knew he had a winner––-something with teeth and with his protégé Brett Kavanaugh (oh, the irony!) they pounced like two cats on a ball of yarn.
"These contemporary attacks from the left, arising in the fraught political climate fostered by Trump, bespeak how sexual politics have changed since the 1990's. But they also show how confused public memory has become about the Clinton impeachment and the politics that drove it."
And these same politics explain the GOP's reluctance to do their duty; instead they cling to a deranged, morally sick president because he is of their party. They tried so hard to bring down Obama but like Clinton, he survived.
Tick-tock
P.S. The iconic picture above brings absolute joy–-and "...bending her back and kissing her deeply" gives me a thrill.
Jeanne,
I meant that the incursion of violence and the threat of violence as a regular part of Republican Party politics has been somewhat gradual, most beginning when a black man was suddenly living in "their" White House. It became routine for NRA types to show up at Obama appearances and speeches armed to the teeth. The same group would strut their guns and ammo into restaurants and in public parks where children were playing as a some kind of demented display of arrogance and to show the hated nee-groe and his ilk that something, something, something, dead hands.
But the rise of Trump has supercharged the violence. He himself has pointed out people at his rallies for his supporters to violently remove, shouting from the podium that he would like to "punch them in the face".
This is beyond dangerous. And the right-wing media pooh-poohs instances such as a BBC cameraman being attacked by a MAGA asshole at a Trump event. It's become the new normal on the right and considered perfectly okay for wingers to violently react to any who dare to call them out or question their Glorious Leader.
As for incivility (putting it mildly), for a president to yell at a reporter to sit down and shut up, calling them fake news and enemies of the people, is far beyond the pale. Just one more reason this jerk needs to go. I say impeachment then trials for collusion and any number of other crimes and misdemeanors committed in the name of padding the pockets and consolidating the power of Donald J. Trump.
PD,
Good point about the Clinton circus. It was all politics dressed up as a holier than thou morality play organized by one of the more debauched members of Congress, the Newt Monster and Ken Starr who would go on to oversee multiple instances of rape and sexual abuse at Baylor and do nothing about it. "Hypocrite" doesn't begin to come close to describing these big shot creeps.
Hillary wasn't wrong when she talked about a "vast right-wing conspiracy" arrayed against her and her family (don't forget how they attacked Chelsea when she was just a kid).
And now there's another vast right-wing conspiracy. A conspiracy to protect a criminal in the Oval Office, to attack any who call him on his malfeasance and collusion.
Like you, I fervently hope the hysterical Lindsey Graham gets his show trials, and I hope that even more dirty laundry is aired. He wants an investigation? Great. Let's bring it all out into the open. Their Benghazi show trials backfired on them, wasting millions of dollars to find...nothing. But this is different. This is a situation involving federal officers feeling compelled to look into the very real possibility that the president*, Graham's Glorious Leader, was working against the best interests of the United States.
I don't think there's any doubt of it. So bring it on, assholes. You bring your fantasies and we'll bring actual facts.
Talk about bringing a knife to a gunfight.
The wild card in the current Trumpian shitshow will be the Supreme Court. R's in Congress will let Fatty run hog wild, and rather than do their jobs (something they've simply decided isn't worth their time), they'll let the courts sort it all out. This does several things for them. For one, it will buy them time. For another, if Fatty's fake emergency does get shut down, it won't be by them. They can go back to the mouthbreathers and plead--well, I guess they'll have to plead impotence. Or incompetence. Or both.
But they might also have it in the back of their small minds that their pals on the SCOTUS will side with Fatty, give him his emergency and his money, and allow all of them to buy and bigot their way to what they hope will be a 2020 victory.
At this point, Americans who care about democracy and the Constitution can rely only the House of Representatives. They can't count on the courts, or the Senate, and the executive branch is so far around the bend it's coming back around to lap itself on the route to treason, insanity, and criminality.
If the Supreme wingers side with Trump, the show will be over.
And don't forget, in a few weeks, SCOTUS will hear two cases on partisan gerrymandering. They may decide that it's perfectly okay for R's to gerrymander the shit out of what's left of democracy.
It may be over already.
In a couple of months, we'll see if there's a United States left, or whether we'll go on vacation this summer and come back to West Russia.
Hey, isn't time for Rudy Giuliani to say something stupid, like "I never said there was no collusion" or "Even if he did it, it wouldn't be a crime", then try to walk it back? Maybe they've got him locked up. Who's in charge now at the Blight House? Mulvaney? Ivanka? Kushner? The sous chef? The kid who gets the coffee? Have to look into this.
In Wisconsin, it's a sin to say the name "Colin Kaepernick", who was born there, because black. Now, in Trumpida, an eleven year old is arrested for refusing to pledge allegiance. Why? Black, again.
The bigots are having a field day.
Res Ipsa Loquitur
So yesterday, I included a link in a comment about the deafening silence that met little mikey pence as he represented the Fat Orange Monster abroad. Embarrassing? Oh, yeah. He looked stunned.
But never let it be said that Fatty, Inc. will allow any disparagement of the Glorious Leader to stand. The answer? The same answer he always has.Lie.
"...[the] White House claimed that the vice president received applause after mentioning Trump. The administration published a transcript of Pence’s remarks in which it specifically wrote that the statement was followed by '(Applause).'
The White House’s transcript also differs slightly from the speech Pence gave at the conference, which was recorded by news outlets.
In the televised address, Pence told the crowd: 'I bring greetings from the 45th president of the United States of America, President Donald Trump.'
But the White House account had Pence saying: 'To them and to all of you, it’s my great honor to speak to you today, on behalf of a champion of freedom and a champion of a strong national defense, the 45th President of the United States of America, President Donald Trump. (Applause).'"
Um, that's a little more than slightly, but...
"Champion of freedom". Yeah.
@Akhilleus: Haven't seen the White House transcript of Trump's crazy speech Friday, but whaddaya bet it comes out sounding like FDR's Pearl Harbor address? --
"But always will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory. (Extended applause.)"
Are you gonna believe the White House transcript or your lying ears?
Just so y'all not worry over yellow (pun intended) journalism: Uranium ore emits primarily alpha and beta particles which cannot penetrate paint cans, and vanishingly low levels of low energy gamma, not enough to raise background. No health hazard whatsoever from casual exposure. Not recommended on food tho'.