The Commentariat -- January 1, 2019
Afternoon Update:
An Uplifting Annual Message from the President* of the United States:
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE, INCLUDING THE HATERS AND THE FAKE NEWS MEDIA! 2019 WILL BE A FANTASTIC YEAR FOR THOSE NOT SUFFERING FROM TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME. JUST CALM DOWN AND ENJOY THE RIDE, GREAT THINGS ARE HAPPENING FOR OUR COUNTRY!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 1, 2019
Richard Pérez-Peña of the New York Times: "The American man who was arrested last week in Russia on a spying charge is a Marine Corps veteran who was in Moscow to attend a wedding, his family said on Tuesday. Russia's Federal Security Service, known as the F.S.B., said on Monday that the American, Paul N. Whelan, had been detained on Friday 'during an act of espionage,' and that a criminal case had been opened against him. Conviction on a spying charge in Russia carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years."
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Matt Stieb & Britina Cheng of New York run down their version of "Trump's Worst Greatest Hits of 2018." Mrs. McC BTW: New York magazine has now gone to subscriber firewall. The won't reveal the number of free hits they allow per month, but you might consider opening linked articles in a private window. So far, this works with NY mag.
Mrs. Bea McCrabbie's New Year's Day Quiz: Which party has behaved responsibly about funding the U.S. federal government? (a) Democratic; (b) Republican; (c) Whig. Here are a couple of hints to help you answer: ...
(1) Sheryl Stolberg & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "House Democrats are putting forward a proposal to reopen the federal government by severing funding for the Department of Homeland Security and border security from other spending bills that enjoy bipartisan support -- a gambit aimed at forcing President Trump to negotiate or to shoulder the blame for a protracted shutdown. The Democrats' plan, which will come up for a vote on Thursday when they take control of the House, consists of two bills. The first includes six bipartisan spending measures that would fully fund agencies like the Interior Department and the Internal Revenue Service through the end of the fiscal year in September. The second would extend homeland security funding at current levels through Feb. 8, including $1.3 billion for fencing but no funding for Mr. Trump's border wall -- a provision that renders it dead on arrival in the Republican-controlled Senate." ...
... (2) Elham Khatami of ThinkProgress: "In a series of tweets Monday morning..., Donald Trump demanded that Democratic leaders return to Washington, D.C. to reach a border security deal, just days after GOP leadership sent Congress home without finalizing the bipartisan bill to avert a partial government shutdown of the president's own making. 'I campaigned on Border Security,' Trump tweeted, 'which you cannot have without a strong and powerful Wall ... Dems should get back here an (sic) fix now!'... Prior to the shutdown, Trump boasted that he would be 'proud to shut down the government for border security,' telling Democratic leaders, 'I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down -- I'm not going to blame you for it.'... GOP leaders in the House and Senate, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI), have been largely absent over the past week and, according to the Washington Post, Republicans haven't organized meetings to develop a strategy to defend the president.... Meanwhile, House Democrats on Monday plan to announce their plan to end the government shutdown...." ...
... Ellen Knickmeyer & Jocelyn Gecker of the AP: "Human feces, overflowing garbage, illegal off-roading and other damaging behavior in fragile areas were beginning to overwhelm some of the West's iconic national parks, as a partial government shutdown left the areas open to visitors but with little staff on duty.... The partial federal government shutdown, now into its 11th day, has forced furloughs of hundreds of thousands of federal government employees. This has left many parks without most of the rangers and others who staff campgrounds and otherwise keep parks running. Unlike shutdowns in some previous administrations, the Trump administration was leaving parks open to visitors despite the staff furloughs, said John Garder, senior budget director of the nonprofit National Parks Conservation Association.... Under the park service's shutdown plan, authorities have to close any area where garbage or other problems become threats to health and safety or to wildlife, spokesman Jeremy Barnum said in an email Monday." ...
... Caitlin Emma of Politico: "The nation's largest union representing federal employees filed a lawsuit Monday afternoon against the government, seeking damages for the roughly 400,000 federal employees forced to work without pay during the partial government shutdown. The two plaintiffs -- Justin Tarovisky and Grayson Sharp -- work for high-security prisons the Justice Department runs. The American Federation of Government Employees argues that both plaintiffs have dangerous jobs and have been forced to work overtime without pay.... J. David Cox, AFGE's national president, said forcing federal employees to work without pay 'is nothing short of inhumane.'"
You know, I never said that I'm going to rush out. -- Donald Trump, to Lindsey Graham, on his order two weeks ago for all U.S. troops to leave Syria within 30 days (according to Trump) ...
... Eric Schmitt & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "President Trump has agreed to give the military about four months to withdraw the 2,000 United States troops in Syria, administration officials said on Monday, backtracking from his abrupt order two weeks ago that the military pull out within 30 days. Mr. Trump confirmed on Twitter that troops would 'slowly' be withdrawn, but complained that he got little credit for the move after a fresh round of criticism from retired Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal and reports from the departing White House chief of staff, John F. Kelly, himself a retired Marine general, about the president's impulsive decision-making.... General [Joseph] Dunford[, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff...,] spoke to [Sen. Lindsey] Graham about the Syria troop withdrawal before the senator's meeting on Sunday with Mr. Trump. Several Pentagon officials had hoped Mr. Graham could change Mr. Trump's mind on the pullout or at least persuade him to extend the withdrawal timetable.... Military officials have declined to specify the timing of the departure..., partly because ... officials recognize that Mr. Trump could change his mind at any moment and speed up the departure." ...
... Dan Lamothe & Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "The president's latest pronouncements about Syria followed more than a week of criticism from many fronts, including quiet pressure from close ally Israel and conservative pro-Israel voters who are part of Trump's base of support. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has urged Trump to reconsider his abrupt announcement of an end to the mission, a senior Israeli official told reporters Monday. Trump agreed to a gradual withdrawal rather than a sudden one after a phone call with Netanyahu, several Israeli news outlets quoted the unidentified official as saying. Netanyahu is traveling in Brazil, where he will meet Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday when both attend the inauguration of populist President-elect Jair Bolsonaro. Netanyahu is expected to continue to press his case that the U.S. presence is a needed check on Iranian military proxies operating in Syria."
Trump Pretends He's at Work. POTUS tweeted earlier that he's in the Oval Office. Per pool, as off 11 am [Monday] there was no Marine guard outside the West Wing lobby, which there is when POTUS is in the Oval. -- Maggie Haberman, in a tweet
Because He's Trump. Wil Cruz of ABC News: "... Donald Trump defended his promise to build a solid border wall along the U.S.-Mexico early Monday, one day after outgoing chief of staff John Kelly said in an interview that erecting a concrete wall along the entire border was already off the table. The president tweeted Monday morning that the concrete wall was 'NEVER ABANDONED.' 'Some areas will be all concrete but the experts at Border Patrol prefer a Wall that is see through (thereby making it possible to see what is happening on both sides). Makes sense to me!' he tweeted.... Trump blamed the media in the tweet, even though Sunday's news cycle reported on Kelly's comments. In an interview published in the Los Angeles Times Sunday [linked here yesterday], Kelly, who will be leaving post this week, gave a wide-ranging account of the some of the president's policies, including immigration and the border wall. 'To be honest, it's not a wall,' Kelly he told the paper.... '... We left a solid concrete wall early on in the administration,' he said, 'when we asked people what they needed and where they needed it.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ...
President and Mrs. Obama built/has a ten foot Wall around their D.C. mansion/compound. I agree, totally necessary for their safety and security. The U.S. needs the same thing, slightly larger version! -- Donald Trump, in a tweet Sunday ...
... Michael Brice-Saddler of the Washington Post: "In one of his most recent arguments for a southern border wall, President Trump on Sunday falsely claimed that the Washington home of former president Barack Obama and Michelle Obama is surrounded by a 10-foot wall.... Trump's assertion came as a surprise to two of the Obamas' neighbors Monday, who told The Washington Post that there is no such wall. The 8,200-square-foot structure, despite several security features, is completely visible from the street.... As The Post's Fact Checker notes, the Obamas added security fencing to a retaining wall in front of the home (it is not a compound) for the needs of the Secret Service. A guard booth was built, and fencing was added to the back."
Happy New Year, Vlad! Hope You Liked Your Xmas Gifts! Heather Hurlburt of New York: "For the record, I still don't believe [Trump's] helter-skelter policies are being devised and run from Russia.... But the fact is, we're ending the year with an arms control treaty that Moscow disliked on its way out and thousands of American troops set to leave places Moscow didn't want them to be. Meanwhile, ever-more Russian troops are on the Ukrainian border and Moscow still holds Ukrainian sailors it snatched in the Strait of Kerch last month. Institutions that sustain U.S. values are weaker, while Putin's claim to being a regional and global decider via his undemocratic methods is stronger. We may never know the whole truth about Trump's relationship with Russia. But this all raises an interesting question: to paraphrase Ronald Reagan (who pursued nuclear disarmament even as he prosecuted the Cold War relentlessly), is Putin better off than he was two years ago?" (Also linked yesterday.)
Dan Lamothe & Anne Gearan (linked above): "Departing Defense Secretary Jim Mattis closed out a two-year run as Pentagon chief Monday, ushering in a period of intense uncertainty for the military with President Trump set to choose new leadership and issuing murky orders for U.S. troops abroad. 'Our Department is proven to be at its best when the times are most difficult. So keep the faith in our country and hold fast, alongside our allies, aligned against our foes,' Mattis said in a farewell missive to Pentagon personnel.... [In his] short memo [Mattis] cited an 1865 message from President Abraham Lincoln to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant: 'Let nothing which is transpiring change, hinder, or delay your military movements, or plans.'"
Neil MacFarquhar of the New York Times: "A United States citizen has been detained in Moscow on espionage charges, Russia's domestic security agency announced in a brief statement on Monday. The statement said that an American identified as Paul Whelan had been taken into custody on Friday on suspicion of spying. The statement implied that he had been caught red-handed, saying that the arrest had occurred 'during an act of espionage.'... The arrest comes during an extended period of tension in relations between Moscow and Washington.... A Russian citizen, Maria Butina, 30, pleaded guilty this month in Federal District Court in Washington to a single charge of conspiring to act as a foreign agent.... The Russian government, while strenuously denying that Ms. Butina is a Russian agent, has organized a social media campaign to win her release. While there is no apparent connection between her case and Mr. Whelan's, in the past, Russian authorities have arrested foreigners with an eye toward trading prisoners with other countries." (Also linked yesterday.)
The Trumpification of Stratcom. (But Nothing to Worry about, Folks!) Matt Stevens & Thomas Gibbons-Neff of the New York Times: "The unified command responsible for the United States' nuclear strike capabilities drew attention on Monday when it tweeted a message and video that threatened the possibility of dropping a bomb. In the tweet, which was posted as Americans prepared to celebrate New Year's Eve and was deleted about three hours later, the United States Strategic Command said, '... #TimesSquare tradition rings in the #NewYear by dropping the big ball...if ever needed, we are #ready to drop something much, much bigger,' the tweet said, adding the hashtags: '#Deterrence #Assurance #CombatReadyForce #PeaceIsOurProfession.'... A video that was part of the tweet showed a B-2 stealth bomber soaring across the sky before releasing two GPS-guided bombs that exploded into a giant ball of fire after hitting the ground below. In the video, which was viewed more than 120,000 times, pulsing music beats in the background as the words 'STEALTH,' 'READY' and 'LETHAL' flash across the screen in white block letters.... Walter M. Shaub Jr., who resigned in 2017 from his position as the head of the Office of Government Ethics, tweeted a screenshot of the deleted Stratcom message, asking: 'What kind of maniacs are running this country?' Other critics called it 'a sick, bragging joke' and inappropriate and unamusing."
Katherine Stewart in a New York Times op-ed: "Today's Christian nationalists talk a good game about respecting the Constitution and America's founders, but at bottom they sound as if they prefer autocrats to democrats. In fact, what they really want is a king. 'It is God that raises up a king,' according to Paula White, a prosperity gospel preacher who has advised Mr. Trump.... The great thing about kings like Cyrus [the 6th-century BCE king of Persia who freed Jews from the Babylonian captivity], as far as today's Christian nationalists are concerned, is that they don't have to follow rules. They are the law. This makes them ideal leaders in paranoid times.... This isn't the religious right we thought we knew. The Christian nationalist movement today is authoritarian, paranoid and patriarchal at its core. They aren't fighting a culture war. They're making a direct attack on democracy itself." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Stewart notes that the OT Book of Isaiah says Cyrus was "anointed by God," & she describes a Christian right film that compares Cyrus to Trump. I would add here that "anointed by God" is another term for "messiah." So now we have Americans who believe Trump is the American messiah. I suspect that if Trump has any religious belief, this is it.
Presidential Election 2020
Astead Herndon & Alexander Burns of the New York Times: "Senator Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Democrat and a sharp critic of big banks and unregulated capitalism, entered the 2020 race for president on Monday, becoming the first major candidate in what is likely to be a long and crowded primary marked by ideological and generational divisions in a Democratic Party desperate to beat President Trump. In an 8:30 a.m. email to supporters on New Year's Eve -- 13 months before the first votes will be cast in the Iowa caucuses -- Ms. Warren said she was forming an exploratory committee, which allows her to raise money and fill key staff positions before a formal kickoff of her presidential bid." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Stable Genius Weighs in on Warren Run. Gregg Re of Fox "News": "In [a Fox 'News'] ... interview..., President Trump suggested that only U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren's 'psychiatrist' knows whether she thinks she can win the White House in 2020."
Fred Imbert of CNBC: "Wall Street concluded a tumultuous 2018 on Monday as the major stock indexes posted their worst yearly performances since the financial crisis. After solid gains on Monday, the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 6.2 percent and 5.6 percent, respectively, for 2018. Both indexes logged in their biggest annual losses since 2008, when they plunged 38.5 percent and 33.8 percent, respectively. The Nasdaq Composite lost 3.9 percent in 2018, its worst year in a decade, when it dropped 40 percent. The S&P 500 and Dow fell for the first time in three years, while the Nasdaq snapped a six-year winning streak. 2018 was a year fraught with volatility, characterized by record highs and sharp reversals. This year also marks the first time ever the S&P 500 posts a decline after rising in the first three quarters.:
Matthew Dessem of Slate: "Comedian Louis C.K., who admitted to repeatedly exposing himself and masturbating in front of unwilling women in Nov. of 2017, said at the time he was going to 'step back and take a long time to listen.' Less than a year later, he returned to the stage at the Comedy Cellar to perform an unannounced set.... Bootleg audio from one of his shows -- it's labeled as being from Long Island comedy club Governor's on Dec. 16 -- has been uploaded to YouTube.... And what he's been up to, judging from the material, is bemoaning the money he lost, fuming over young people and political correctness, and writing some really killer jokes about the respective penis sizes of various ethnic groups. It's not just that it's not funny: it's positively sickening." (Also linked yesterday.)
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Reader Comments (7)
Wishing all a Happy New Year 2019.
So you guys and gals wouldn't have to, I stayed up all night working
on a great list of all the great accomplishments of the 2018
Republican Party. Listing only those that are good for the country
and good for our fellow human beings and wildlife. Here's the list:
End of list.
Things should be looking up come January 3rd, but who knows
what evil lurks in the hearts of (Republican) men.
@forrest morris: The Shadow knows. Or maybe that should be "Ms. Maddow know."
IT'S A NEW DAY, A NEW DAWN AND A NEW YEAR:
Good heavens, will these optimistic ball dropping lyrics never stop? But I suppose even in the dearth of despair we humans rise above the ashes and hope for the best.
Having traveled to and fro during these holidays to family gatherings our car-tunes segued from Streisand to Sondheim to Sly and the Family Stone. But after listening to the piece "Someone in a Tree" from Sondheim's "Pacific Overtures" I couldn't help thinking how it fits in a way today. The piece depicts the signing of the treaty between Commodore Perry and the Japanese in 1854 but the song adopts the viewpoint of two accidental observers: a ten year old boy in a tree who sees the proceedings but can't hear them, and a warrior secreted underneath the treaty house who hears but can't comprehend. It's a leap but the boy and the warrior are much like those in our situation here: Those that observe but can't hear and those that can but don't understand.
And today, this New Year, I wish all of you the best in your private lives while we continue with the dilemma we've been dealt. A special wish for MAG who needs the most comfort at this time. And of course a toast to our hostess with the mostest who gives us this space.
It's the fragment, not the day.
It's the pebble, not the stream.
It's the ripple, not the sea
that is happening.
Not the building, but the beam,
Not the garden but the stone,
Only cups of tea
And history
And someone in a tree.
From Pacific Overtures
Can't get this wall thing off our minds, can we? The Pretender and I certainly can't. He likes them. I keep trying to understand why.
A Mar-a-lago analogy occurs to me.
Let's say you could turn the entire country, not just Wall St., into a giant casino, and treat the national treasures, all that remains of the commons, like they were one-armed bandits, pulling the levers of government free of charge until the bounteous resources you "won" flowed effortlessly into the ample laps of you and your friends.
That would be only the first step.
Once you have the entire country revamped as a casino, advertised as a place where everyone's a winner, you build a wall around the whole thing and deny entry to anyone who can't pay tens of thousands of dollars a pop.
More money for you.
Of course, when those outside the walls learn that all that glittered on the other side was not gold, that the country you had heard was palatial, bursting with material and spiritual wealth, was in fact grimy, its roads potholed, its plumbing leaky, its bridges collapsing one by one, its promise of social mobility empty as its treasury, the price demanded may seem to high to pay and demand might fall, just as all those wall proponents have said they wish.
At that point, when the casino was obviously taking too much for some and giving too little to the many, it would have to close.
As the kids in the back seat ask, "Are we there yet?"
I don't know, but if we are near that point, we might take comfort from knowing that the country's leader has vast experience with bankrupt casinos...
....Or not.
That off my morning chest, a sincere Happy New Year to all!
Call me anal retentive, but I can't help but point out that the reference to King Cyrus in the Katherine Stewart citation is off by a few years. Cyrus was king of Persia in the 6th century BCE.
So the Pretender is telling me to "calm down?"
I'm not the one stomping around the White House, angrily shouting, swearing, and firing (off) people and tweets...
@Bobby Lee: Thanks for the correction. I knew that.