The Commentariat -- January 10, 2018
We're So Surprised. Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "President Trump called the United States courts system 'broken and unfair' on Wednesday, the morning after a federal judge's ruling that ordered the administration to restart a program that shields young, undocumented immigrants from deportation.... 'It just shows everyone how broken and unfair our Court System is when the opposing side in a case (such as DACA) always runs to the 9th Circuit and almost always wins before being reversed by higher courts.'... 'We find this decision to be outrageous, especially in light of the president's successful bipartisan meeting with House and Senate members at the White House on the same day,' Sarah Huckabee Sanders ... said in a statement released Wednesday morning.... Mr. Trump has previously criticized the courts system after judges have halted or held up his policy initiatives." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: You have to wonder how stupid Mrs. Huckleberry is. According to her, a judge writes a decision that estops a Trump order until lawsuits are adjudicated. But on the day the judge releases his decision, Trump holds a made-for-teevee meeting (in which, BTW, there is no agreement) on the very same topic. Ergo, the judge's decision is "outrageous." ...
... Derek Hawkins of the Washington Post: Once again a federal judge uses Trump's own Twitter feed against him: "'Does anybody really want to throw out good, educated and accomplished young people who have jobs, some serving in the military? Really!' the president wrote in a Sept. 14 tweet. Another read: 'Congress now has 6 months to legalize DACA (something the Obama Administration was unable to do). If they can't, I will revisit this issue!'... 'We seem to be in the unusual position wherein the ultimate authority over the agency, the Chief Executive, publicly favors the very program the agency has ended,' the judge wrote. 'For the reasons DACA was instituted and for the reasons tweeted by President Trump, this order finds that the public interest will be served by DACA's continuation.'"
Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "President Trump labeled Sen. Dianne Feinstein as 'Sneaky' in a Twitter attack Wednesday morning and urged Republicans to 'take control' of the sprawling investigation into his administration and campaign and potential collusion with Russia.... It was unclear what Trump meant by saying that Republicans should take control. He has raged about the various congressional investigations into his administration, which are led by Republicans.... Minutes after he slammed Feinstein on Twitter on Wednesday, Trump turned to the Russia investigation, which he called the 'single greatest Witch Hunt in American history,' added that 'Russia & the world is laughing at the stupidity they are witnessing.'" Also, too -- after being questioned about it -- the White House added back in the part of the transcript of yesterday's DACA meeting which they had "accidentally" omitted from the official transcript-- the "clean bill" part. ...
... Update: Oh, that "accidental" scrub? Katy Tur just said on the teevee that hardline anti-immigrant Stephen Miller was reportedly the accidental scrubber. Mrs. McC: Just erase it, Stephen, & it didn't happen.
Be Still My Heart. Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Representative Darrell Issa, whose hard-edge partisan attacks on President Barack Obama began softening as his district trended toward the Democrats, said on Wednesday that he would not seek re-election -- the latest and one of the most prominent Republican retirements in the face of a potential Democratic wave."
*****
NEW. David Sirota of International Business Times: "The Trump administration has waived part of the punishment for five megabanks whose affiliates were convicted and fined for manipulating global interest rates. One of the Trump administration waivers was granted to Deutsche Bank -- which is owed at least $130 million by ... Donald Trump and his business empire, and has also been fined for its role in a Russian money laundering scheme. The waivers were issued in a little-noticed announcement published in the Federal Register during the Christmas holiday week. They come less than two years after then-candidate Trump promised 'I'm not going to let Wall Street get away with murder.'... In late 2016, the Obama administration extended temporary one-year waivers to five banks -- Citigroup, JPMorgan, Barclays, UBS and Deutsche Bank. Late last month, the Trump administration issued new, longer waivers for those same banks, granting Citigroup, JPMorgan, and Barclays five-year exemptions. UBS and Deutsche Bank received three-year exemptions.... Sources have told the Financial Times the total amount of money Trump owes Deutsche is likely around $300 million.... The New York Times reported federal prosecutors had subpoenaed Deutsche Bank records related to ... [Jared] Kushner and his vast business holdings."
The Apprentice, White House Spin-off:
Julie Davis of the New York Times: "President Trump on Tuesday appeared to endorse a sweeping immigration deal that would eventually grant millions of undocumented immigrants a pathway to citizenship, saying he would be willing to 'take the heat' politically for an approach that many of his hard-line supporters have long viewed as unacceptable. The president made the remarks during an extended meeting with congressional Republicans and Democrats.... Mr. Trump has said such a deal must be accompanied by new money for a border wall and measures to limit immigrants from bringing family members into the country in the future, conditions he repeated during the meeting on Tuesday.... The White House meeting was extraordinary, an extended negotiating session that was televised by the news channels.... Laying out conditions that many Democrats view as nonstarters, Mr. Trump said the legislation must fortify the nation's borders; end 'chain migration,' a term used by immigration critics to refer to immigrants' ability to bring members of their extended family to the United States after gaining their own legal status; and cancel the diversity visa lottery program." ...
... Tal Kopan of CNN: "... Donald Trump appeared to contradict himself multiple times in a meeting on immigration with a bipartisan group of lawmakers Tuesday -- a reflection of growing frustration from Capitol Hill about the lack of direction from the White House on the issue. The President at times suggested he would be looking to sign everything from a stand-alone fix for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program -- set to expire in March -- to comprehensive immigration reform, often appearing to being guided by lawmakers in the room to modify his positions." ...
... Idiot/Moron in Charge. Jonathan Chait: "In the hope of proving he is not the semiliterate ignoramus numerous media have depicted him to be, Donald Trump held a televised meeting with members of Congress to discuss immigration. It was, the White House told a friendly reporter [David Martosko of the Daily Mail], the president's very own idea.... During the meeting, Trump put on full display his lack of interest in, or understanding of, public policy. The meeting centered on Trump's signature policy issue, immigration, which his staff no doubt considered safe.... The meeting instead confirmed the very idea Trump had set out to refute. Michael Wolff had reported that Mitch McConnell said of the president, 'He'll sign anything we put in front of him.'... 'When this group comes back with an agreement ... I'm signing it,' [Trump] promises. 'I will be signing it.'... Trump may occasionally appear to be trans-ideological, but in fact he is sub-ideological.... This pattern has happened on immigration, health care, the Paris climate agreement -- any time he listens to liberals pitching a bipartisan deal, it sounds good to him. The problem is that he quickly returns back to orthodox conservatism as soon as he is ensconced with his right-wing advisers. You can't 'pivot' if you don't understand that you changed your stance in the first place." ...
... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "'What about a clean DACA bill now, with a commitment that we go into a comprehensive immigration reform procedure?' asked Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). Trump responded: 'Yeah, I would like to do that....' The problem? Trump didn't know what 'clean DACA bill' meant. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) quickly interjected and made clear that Trump believes a 'clean' bill would include border security. Except that's not at all what a clean bill is; that's a compromise bill. A clean bill, by definition, only has one component to it.... If anything, the whole mess showed pretty vividly just how utterly disengaged Trump is in the finer details of policy discussions.... Trump almost continually moves the goal posts on what he wants, shifts the terms of the debate, and misstates what's actually contained in the legislation that is before Congress. The Washington Post's Josh Dawsey said it well: 'Just because he says it or agrees to t doesn't mean he will say something totally different later or keep the agreement. Just remember that.'... Trump has repeatedly assured us that he knows this stuff better than almost anyone and that he's the world's preeminent negotiator. What we saw Tuesday was neither of those things." ...
... So This Is Soooooo Trumpian. Ashley Parker & Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "When the White House released its official transcript Tuesday afternoon, the president's line -- 'Yeah, I would like to do it' -- was missing. A White House official said that any omission from the transcript was unintentional and that the context of the conversation was clear." Mrs. McC: That's right. When Trump says something stupid, the White House thinks nobody will know if they just hit delete. They're like toddlers who think if they cover their eyes, no one can see them. The whole report is worth reading because it gives a good picture of what it's like to "negotiate" with an ignorant boob with a CYA obsession: "... he ... muddled through the policy by seeming to endorse divergent positions, including simply protecting the dreamers or a plan contingent upon funding for his long-promised wall at the nation's southern border." Emphasis added. ...
... Steve M.: "Please, please, stop waiting for the moderate Trump to emerge. It can't happen as long as his mind is full of Fox talking points and he's ceding all policy to knee-jerk conservatives."
... Maria Sacchetti of the Washington Post: "A federal judge in California issued a nationwide preliminary injunction Tuesday blocking the Trump administration's decision to phase out a program that shields young undocumented immigrants from deportation. The injunction by U.S. District Judge William Alsup says those protections must remain in place for nearly 690,000 immigrants already in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program while a legal challenge to ending the Obama-era program proceeds. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the decision to terminate the program on Sept. 5 and said no renewal applications would be accepted after Oct. 5. Under the administration's plan, permits that expired starting March 5 could not be renewed. But Alsup ruled that while the lawsuit is pending, anyone who had DACA status when the program was rescinded Sept. 5 can renew it, officials said." Alsup is a Clinton appointee. ...
... The New York Times story, by Michael Shear, is here.
Maggie Haberman & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Trump is expected to attend the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, in the coming weeks, an administration official said on Tuesday.... Presidents have rarely attended the forum in Davos, in part out of a concern that it would send the wrong message to be rubbing shoulders with some of the world's richest individuals.... The event in Switzerland is a global symbol of everything that Mr. Trump's former chief strategist, Stephen K. Bannon, railed against during the presidential campaign and the first seven months in the administration.... His team decided not to send a representative to the 2017 gathering.... Mr. Trump's appearance at the forum is certain to highlight the clash between his America First agenda and the more globalist approach of some of America's closest allies around the world." ... AND speaking of Sloppy Steve ...
... The Short Shelf Life of an Overripe Bannona. Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "Stephen K. Bannon is stepping down from his post as executive chairman of Breitbart News, the company announced Tuesday. Mr. Bannon's departure, which was forced by a onetime financial patron, Rebekah Mercer, comes as Mr. Bannon remained unable to quell the furor over remarks attributed to him in a new book in which he questions President Trump's mental fitness and disparages his elder son, Donald Trump Jr."
** Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, on Tuesday unilaterally released a highly anticipated transcript of the committee's interview with one of the founders of the firm that produced a salacious and unsubstantiated dossier outlining a Russian effort to aid the Trump campaign. The interview, with Glenn R. Simpson of Fusion GPS, took place last summer and was expected to shed light on the origins of the firm's work, its concerns about the Trump campaign's activities, and what the F.B.I. may have done with the information. 'The American people deserve the opportunity to see what he said and judge for themselves,' Ms. Feinstein said. 'The innuendo and misinformation circulating about the transcript are part of a deeply troubling effort to undermine the investigation into potential collusion and obstruction of justice. The only way to set the record straight is to make the transcript public.'... Ms. Feinstein moved to do so without the committee's Republican chairman, Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, almost certainly escalating partisan tensions on the committee. Mr. Grassley last week rejected the firm's request to release the transcript...." ...
... Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post: "Sens.Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) and Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) made a fateful decision acting unilaterally with a phony 'criminal referral' of Christopher Steele. They set a new standard that anyone on the committee could act independently and without bipartisan consent of their colleagues. So Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Cal.) did them one better.... What stands out most from an initial perusal of the transcript is the professionalism and seriousness of Fusion GPS and Steele. By attempting to suppress a candid look into the dossier..., Republicans once again are caught acting like Trump henchmen...." Rubin also lists some of the revelations in Simpson's testimony. ...
... Devlin Barrett & Tom Hamburger of the Washington Post: "A spokesman for Grassley called Feinstein's move 'totally confounding' and done without consultation. 'Her action undermines the integrity of the committee's oversight work and jeopardizes its ability to secure candid voluntary testimony relating to the independent recollection of future witnesses' said the spokesman, Taylor Foy.... Glenn Simpson told congressional investigators that someone inside Trump's network had also provided the FBI with information during the 2016 campaign, according to a newly released transcript, a claim quickly disputed by people close to the investigation.... At another point in the interview, a lawyer for Fusion GPS, Joshua A. Levy, makes a jarring assertion: that the dossier's publication had led to someone's murder." ...
... Ken Dilanian & Mike Memoli of NBC News: "... two sources close to Fusion GPS told NBC News that Simpson’s testimony inaccurately conflated what he had been told, and that the human source was actually George Papadopoulos, the Trump campaign aide who has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller. By the time Steele sat down with the FBI in September, an Australian diplomat had passed to U.S. officials details of his conversation with Papadopoulos, who seemed to know that the Russians possessed hacked Democratic emails." ...
... Alan Yuhas & Julian Borger of the Guardian: "According to the transcript, Simpson told Congress that [Christopher] Steele, the former British spy, stopped sharing information with the FBI just one week before the US election because of concerns that the law enforcement agency was being 'manipulated' by Trump insiders. According to Simpson, Steele 'severed his relationship with the FBI' after the New York Times published a story in late October 2016 that said agents had not found 'any conclusive or direct link between Mr Trump and the Russian government'.... [Simpson] said that at the time Steele was hired, the alleged Trump links to the Kremlin were an open secret in Moscow." ...
... Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. How the New York Times Helped Elect Trump. Tommy Christopher of Shareblue: "The New York Times faced heavy and justified criticism for its obsessive focus on the bogus Hillary Clinton email story during the 2016 election, but it turns out the paper also had a hand in silencing information about the FBI's investigation into Trump's involvement with Russia. Shortly after then-FBI Director James Comey's unprecedented and ill-fated letter to Congress about reopening the email investigation, reporting emerged about the Trump campaign being investigated over its ties to Russia. That's when The New York Times published an article, titled 'Investigating Donald Trump, F.B.I. Sees No Clear Link to Russia,' that seemed designed to quash those reports -- and has proved to be demonstrably false. We know now that the FBI did, in fact, have information directly tying the Trump campaign to the Russians at that time, information that led them to believe that the now-infamous 'Steele dossier' was credible. And thanks to bombshell testimony released by Democrats, we now know that the author of that dossier severed ties with the FBI because that same New York Times article led him to believe that the FBI was being politically manipulated in Trump's favor." ...
... The New York Times has the transcript of the committee's interview here; Feinstein's release is here. Mrs. McC: For what it's worth, I found Feinstein's version (pdf) more easily-readable. ...
... Spencer Ackerman of the Daily Beast: "A senior National Security Council official proposed withdrawing some U.S. military forces from Eastern Europe as an overture to Vladimir Putin during the early days of the Trump presidency, according to two former administration officials. While the proposal was ultimately not adopted, it is the first known case of senior aides to Donald Trump seeking to reposition U.S. military forces to please Putin -- something that smelled, to a colleague, like a return on Russia's election-time investment in President Trump.... The official who offered the proposal, a deputy assistant to Trump for strategic planning, mused in February 2017 about withdrawing U.S. troops close to Russian borders as part of a strategy proposal to 'refram[e] our interests within the context of a new relationship with Russia,' the former official [said], Kevin Harrington. Harrington is the NSC's senior official for strategic planning. He had neither military experience nor significant government experience before joining the White House. But he had an influential credential:... he was close to Trump patron and ally Peter Thiel.... Michael Flynn announced Harrington's arrival in early February as part of a 'talented group' ready to bring 'fresh ideas to the table.'" ...
... Pete Madden of NBC News: "Michael Cohen, Donald Trump's personal attorney and close confidant, says he filed a pair of lawsuits on Tuesday, one in federal court against the private investigative firm Fusion GPS and the other in state court against the popular website BuzzFeed [and its editor Ben Smith & others]. In both suits, Cohen claims that the infamous dossier of salacious but unconfirmed allegations of collusion between members of the Trump campaign and Russian agents compiled by Fusion GPS and later published by BuzzFeed contained 'false and defamatory' allegations that resulted in 'harm to his personal and professional reputation, current business interests, and the impairment of business opportunities.'" Mrs. McC: I guess Cohen will have to sue Dianne Feinstein, too. ...
... Ben Smith, in a New York Times op-ed, defends BuzzFeed's decision to publish the Steele dossier.
... Matt Wilstein of the Daily Beast: "... Donald Trump may not know most of the words to 'The Star-Spangled Banner.' For a man who has spent so much time demanding that players respect the national anthem by standing, he seemed to struggle when it came to mouthing along to the patriotic song. Fortunately, 'Bad Lip Reading' is here to decipher what exactly Trump was singing...[:]
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Actually, Bad Lip Reading seems to be doing some pretty accurate lip-reading.
Julian Borger: "The Trump administration plans to loosen constraints on the use of nuclear weapons and develop a new low-yield nuclear warhead for US Trident missiles, according to a former official who has seen the most recent draft of a policy review.... The new nuclear policy is significantly more hawkish that the posture adopted by the Obama administration, which sought to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in US defence. Arms control advocates have voiced alarm at the new proposal to make smaller, more 'usable' nuclear weapons, arguing it makes a nuclear war more likely, especially in view of what they see as Donald Trump's volatility and readiness to brandish the US arsenal in showdowns with the nation’s adversaries." ...
... Rebecca Savransky of the Hill: "U.S. officials have reportedly talked about the potential to conduct a targeted strike against sites in North Korea in a 'bloody nose' strategy. The Wall Street Journal reported that the strategy involves launching a targeted strike at a North Korean facility in response to a nuclear or missile test. The strike would be an effort to show North Korea the potential consequences of its actions without leading to an all-out war."...
... Uri Friedman of The Atlantic has a long read on 'The World According to H.R. McMaster:' : "A legendary tank commander during the Gulf War and one of the on-the-ground architects of U.S. counterinsurgency strategy in the second Iraq War, McMaster burnished a reputation as one of the Army's leading thinkers about the future of war.... And, to one former collaborator, something seems very off about McMaster's talk of potential war with North Korea." --safari
Lisa Foster in a Washington Post op-ed: "Jeff Sessions has endorsed an unconstitutional fine on the poor.... Across the country, millions of people -- including children -- are charged a fine as punishment for traffic, misdemeanor and felony offenses and then taxed with fees used to fund the justice system and other government services.... Since 1983, however, the Supreme Court has held that it is unconstitutional to punish a person 'solely because he lacks funds to pay a fine.'... Yet the Justice Department under Attorney General Jeff Sessions retracted two important legal guidances> last month that were intended to help courts reform abusive practices.... To rescind the guidance on fines and fees is to condone unconstitutional conduct and tell millions of Americans that the Justice Department refuses to live up to its name." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I would guess Sessions can get away with this because the DOJ is not required to provide guidance on this or any other matter. ...
... Lauren Gill of Newsweek, (Dec. 30, 2017): "As public support for the death penalty hits historic lows, Attorney General Jeff Sessions wants to increase the use of capital punishment in federal cases.... The administration is expecting to OK more death penalty cases than Barack Obama's, a senior Department of Justice official told The Wall Street Journal, adding that Sessions sees capital punishment as a 'valuable tool in the tool belt.'... There have been just three federal executions since 1963, with the last taking place in 2003." --safari
Natasha Geileng of ThinkProgress: "According to a new report ... by the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (EDGI), the first year of the Trump administration has been marked by 'substantial shifts in whether and how the topic of climate change and efforts to mitigate and adapt to its consequences are discussed across a range of federal agencies' websites.'... According to EDGI, which has tracked changes to climate and environment-related information across tens of thousands of government websites for the past year, the problem isn't so much that the Trump administration is obviously deleting or suppressing data; the main concern is that the administration has made hundreds of smaller changes, many of which might not be immediately noticeable to the average user, but which together undermine both the scientific consensus on climate change and the government's position as a trusted purveyor of information." --safari...
... Mark Hand of ThinkProgress: "... Donald Trump sent the names of several controversial candidates back to the Senate -- including one nominee a Senate Democrat described as 'overwhelmingly unfit for such a crucial position' -- as he seeks to fill high-level environmental and science positions in his administration.... Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said the Trump administration should expect a fight on [Kathleen] White's renomination [for head of the Council on Environmental Quality].... White is a senior fellow and director of the Armstrong Center for Energy and the Environment at the fossil-fuel funded Texas Public Policy Foundation and previously served as chair of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.... Trump also renominated Barry Lee Myers, the CEO of weather forecasting company AccuWeather, to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.... AccuWeather's business model is to take NOAA data and products on weather, developed with taxpayer dollars, and deliver them to the public in a proprietary form that customers want. He has been a strong advocate against NOAA having the capability to provide such products directly to the public." --safari...
Steve Bousquet of the Tampa Bay Times: "A hastily-arranged airport rendezvous Tuesday ended with an announcement from ... Donald Trump's administration that the state of Florida is 'off the table' for new offshore oil drilling, a declaration that brought both relief and protests of election-year politics. Florida Gov. Rick Scott met with U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke at the airport in Tallahassee Tuesday afternoon. Both men emerged 20 minutes later to face waiting reporters.... 'As a result of our interest in making sure that there's no drilling here, Florida will be taken off the table'" Scott said. Zinke said the decision was a culmination of multiple meetings between Scott and Trump administration officials. 'Florida is obviously unique,' Zinke said. 'For Floridians, we are not drilling off the coast of Florida, and clearly the governor has expressed that it's important.'... Scott, a Trump supporter ... is strongly considering running for the U.S. Senate this year against Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson. In a statement Tuesday, Nelson ... [said,] '"This is a political stunt orchestrated by the Trump administration to help Rick Scott, who has wanted to drill off Florida's coast his entire career.'" Thanks to Ken W. for the lead.
Ryan Reilly of the Huffington Post: "Usually, when the FBI arrests a terrorist and the Justice Department charges them, it's a big deal.... Officials will typically blast out a press release, and, if it's a big takedown, might even hold a press conference. The Justice Department didn't do any of that when federal prosecutors unsealed terrorism charges last week against Taylor Michael Wilson.... [a] 26-year-old white supremacist from St. Charles, Missouri, [who] allegedly breached a secure area of an Amtrak train on Oct. 22 while armed with a gun and plenty of backup ammunition. He set off the emergency brake, sending passengers lunging as the train cars went 'completely black.'... The lack of attention the Wilson case has received actually reflects the priorities embedded in a system built up by U.S. lawmakers and law enforcement officials over the years: a U.S. criminal code and federal law enforcement apparatus that treats domestic terrorism as a second-class threat." Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. Mrs. McC: Quite an informative read. Reilly explains the difference between the way the feds handle domestic terrorism & what they consider foreign or foreign-inspired terrorism. ...
Brian Fung of the Washington Post: "When the Federal Communications Commission voted last month to deregulate Internet providers by eliminating the agency's net neutrality rules, opponents of the decision vowed to fight in Congress and in court. Now, those who are pushing for the FCC's vote to be overturned say they've won an initial victory. Senate Democrats led by Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) have now amassed 40 co-sponsors for a congressional measure that, if successful, would invalidate the FCC's recent vote. In doing so, the lawmakers passed a critical 30-member threshold allowing them to use the Congressional Review Act to seek to overrule the FCC. Clearing that hurdle paves the way for a full vote on the Senate floor -- potentially forcing every senator to take a position on the FCC's rollback of the net neutrality rules.... But the resolution faces long odds. Even if it passes the Senate with a simple majority, it must clear the House and be signed by President Trump. Trump supported the FCC's bid to undo the net neutrality rules...."
Betsy Woodruff & Lachlan Markay of The Daily Beast: "The 2016 Republican presidential primary left scores of relationships frayed and hobbled. The most consequential — at least, from a financial perspective — is likely the breakdown between Manhattan billionaire hedge fund heiress Rebekah Mercer and the new-money self-made fracking billionaire brother duo Dan and Farris Wilks." --safari: A tale of intrigue, donation dollars, and "butthurt billionaires".
Senate Race
With Candidates Like These.... Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "Joe Arpaio, the longtime Phoenix-area sheriff whose headline-grabbing approach to immigration made him an ally of President Trump, will run in the 2018 Republican primary to replace Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.).... Arpaio ... said he decided to run as a 'big supporter of President Trump' who would back the president wholeheartedly. He is entering a primary against Kelli Ward, a former state senator also running as a Trump ally. His decision may create an opening for Rep. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.), a Republican with more moderate views on immigration who is contemplating a bid for the seat and is backed by party leaders in Washington.... Flake, meanwhile, suggested that Arpaio's run looks like a scam. He said he wasn't sure that the former sheriff would even stay in the race." ...
... Charles Pierce: "There goes Roy Moore. Here comes Joe Arpaio.... Now the [Arizona] Republican primary race for an extraordinarily important Senate seat comes down to conservative Martha McSally, unbelievably conservative Kelli Ward, and holy-shit-it's-Joe-Arpaio. This is what happens when crazy takes the wheel."
Jeet Heer of the New Republic on "why the Democrats won't nominate Oprah for president.... [Unlike Republicans,] the more typical Democratic message was expressed by Jonathan Bernstein on BloombergView: 'The presidency is a real job, and a damn hard one. The easily visible parts — the speeches and the interviews, even the moral leadership — are a relatively small part of the responsibilities of the office. There's simply no substitute for a good grasp of public policy and government affairs.' The problem is not only that Winfrey lacks political expertise. Like Trump, she also has a history of encouraging charlatans who traffic in quack ideas, as she has given a platform to dubious figures like Dr. Oz, a purveyor of pseudoscience, and vaccine denier Jenny McCarthy. This raises questions about her judgment and her acceptance of establishment truths. And that, ultimately, is why she shouldn't -- and won't -- be the Democratic nominee for president." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Here's the problem with Heer's analysis: "the Democrats" are ordinary voters. It's true that if all the Democratic superdelegates -- that is, the party's professional politicians -- chose another candidate, they could probably erase any lead Oprah might have in the primaries. But Democrats have had the superdelegate system in place since the 1982, & the superdelegates have, as a whole, always gone along with the popular vote in fear of engendering a revolt that would give away the election to the Republican nominee.
Alan Blunder & Michael Wines of the New York Times: "A panel of federal judges struck down North Carolina's congressional map on Tuesday, condemning it as unconstitutional because Republicans had drawn the map seeking a political advantage. The ruling was the first time that a federal court had blocked a congressional map because of a partisan gerrymander, and it instantly endangered Republican seats in the coming elections. Judge James A. Wynn Jr., in a biting 191-page opinion, said that Republicans in North Carolina's Legislature had been 'motivated by invidious partisan intent' as they carried out their obligation in 2016 to divide the state into 13 congressional districts, 10 of which are held by Republicans. The result, Judge Wynn wrote, violated the 14th Amendment's guarantee of equal protection.... The unusually blunt decision by the panel could lend momentum to two other challenges on gerrymandering that are already before the Supreme Court -- and that the North Carolina case could join if Republicans make good on their vow to appeal Tuesday's ruling." Mrs. McC: Both Clinton & Obama nominated Wynn; in 1999, the GOP-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee refused to give Wynn a hearing.
Alleen Brown of The Intercept: "The Dakota Access pipeline leaked at least five times in 2017.... The series of spills in the pipelines' first months of operation underlines a fact that regulators and industry insiders know well: Pipelines leak.... In Pennsylvania, construction of the Mariner East 2 pipeline, which is owned by Energy Transfer Partners via its subsidiary Sunoco, was shut down by regulators last Wednesday after Sunoco repeatedly drilled under waterways without permits.... Suspension of construction 'is necessary to correct the egregious and willful violations' by Sunoco, said the shutdown order issued by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection." --safari...
Beyond the Beltway
The Way We Were (and Perhaps Still Are.) Katie Zavadski of the Daily Beast: "On an afternoon in late April 1994, a young woman was raped in broad daylight in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. Two days later, the biggest columnist in New York City’s biggest newspaper called her a liar. The woman -- black, a lesbian, and an activist—became the target of a vicious smear campaign by a Daily News columnist [Mike McAlary] and sources within the NYPD, who charged that she had made up a 'hoax' to advance a political agenda.... Twenty-four years years later, her rapist was identified through DNA evidence, according to the NYPD. On Jan. 8, police told Jane Doe they had a match, with James Webb, a career criminal who'd been sentenced to prison for rape before Jane Doe's assault. He was arrested and imprisoned again in 1995, for still more sexual assaults and is presently serving 75 years to life in prison." Read on for the details.
Reuters: "California Governor Jerry Brown will propose his final state budget on Wednesday, setting out a spending blueprint that last year topped $125 billion and marking the first time the state's coffers will be bolstered from sales taxes on marijuana.... The 2018-2019 budget will include anticipated taxes on sales of marijuana, which became legal for recreational use Jan. 1, estimated to eventually reach $1 billion. The estimated budget surplus of $7.5 billion is a far cry from the $27 billion hole that was projected as Brown took the reins for his third term in January 2011." --safari
Charles Pierce on the Bundy gang's release: "... if you're going to defy lawful authority and gather some folks to draw down on federal officials, apparently, it helps to be old and white. It also helps when the prosecution botches the rules of evidence beyond all recall.... The prosecution apparently let its loyalty to the FBI override its obligations to due process, and it got caught.... here is one king irony to this whole thing: Cliven Bundy and his family and his spavined cattle are all free now because the system he was so hell-bent on defying actually works. I think the cattle will understand this before he does." See also yesterday's Commentariat.
Way Beyond the Beltway
Haaretz & Nati Tucker: "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's son Yair Netanyahu was recorded telling the son of Israeli businessman and gas tycoon Kobi Maimon outside a strip club that the prime minister set up $20 billion for the latter's father, according to a report on Israel Television News Company Monday. 'My dad set up 20 billion dollars for your dad, and you're fighting with me about 400 shekels [about $115]?' said Yair in the 2015 recording of the conversation with his friend, upon leaving the strip club. Netanyahu later said the 400 shekels was for a prostitute. The 2015 conversation was with the son of Kobi Maimon, a real estate mogul and a shareholder in Isramco, which owns Israel's offshore Tamar gas fields. Also present was Roman Abramov, the Israeli liaison of Australian billionaire James Packer.... A state-funded security guard and driver accompanied Netanyahu and his friends from one strip club to another." ...
... The Washington Post story, by Cleve Wootson, which is more comprehensive & sensational, is here.
Thanks, Friends. Now Get Out. Paul Goldman, et al., of NBC News: "An American Quaker group that won a Nobel Peace Prize for its support of Holocaust refugees has vowed to press ahead with its work on behalf of Palestinian rights after Israel said its staff members may be denied entry to the country. The group, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), is among 20 organizations whose employees could be barred from entering Israel over their support for the Palestinian-led boycott, divestment and sanctions movement (BDS)."
News Lede
CNN: "Heavy rains unleashed destructive rivers of mud and debris in Southern California on Tuesday -- leaving at least 13 people dead, destroying homes and spurring rescues as the flooding forced heavily traveled roads to close. Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said the death toll could rise. Officials said many of the deaths are believed to be in the coastal Montecito area, where mudflows and floodwater have inundated areas downstream from where the Thomas Fire burned thousands of acres last month. At least two dozen people were unaccounted for and authorities rescued at least 50 people in the Montecito area."
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-administration-says-no-drilling-off-florida-coast/2018/01/09
By the time it all settles, guess we'll just drill, baby, drill off blue states.
If medals were given out for courage and chutzpah today Diane Feinstein would be the winner. What she did by releasing those documents took lots of gumption knowing full well that Grassley would be "confounded" which is just a nice word meaning pissed–-"how dare she?" It also exposes Grassley and the other suck-up, (cover up) Lindsey Graham, as supercilious shlemiels who seem to have some kind of agenda but I can't quite figure out what it is.
I watched the circus yesterday––the "let's get together and talk about immigration and we'll let the cameras roll in order for the public to see and hear what a great facilitator I am and above all show them how smart––probably the smartest president ever..."
What I saw was a president that has no clear idea of what was being bandied about––when he agreed with Feinstein about doing a CLEAR DACA––"That sounds good, let's do that"–-and like a whip lash Kevin McCarthy tells the president that is not what the Republicans want to do and explains to which Trump said–-"That's what Senator Feinstein meant"–––No, sir, it wasn't. What he does do is get off topic––talked a lot about earmarks–-we should bring them back because when we had them everyone was much nicer to each other. No one asked him how earmarks equals bonding but by the looks on some of the faces––especially Dick Durbin's, we sensed the "What the fuck was that all about?"
And James Wynn's strike down on N.C.'s gerrymandering is the kind of news that makes one hope not all is lost––voting wise.
Looking for a test. So Trump makes a public attempt to look like the POTUS. And days after he said that an immigration bill has to include the Trumpwall, he says in public that whatever the bill says "I'll sign it". There are probably a few people who actually believe that will happen.
@PD Pepe: Unfortunately, the North Carolina decision is almost certainly on its way to the Supremes, & if there's one Constitutional amendment Johnny & the Dwarfs (thanks, Akhilleus!) dislike the most, it's the 14th with all that "equal protection" nonsense. They definitely oppose voting rights hoo-hah, whether imposed by legislation or lower courts. I feel pretty sure all of the Republican appointees can find excuses -- I mean, considered legal reasons -- for making sure Democratic-leaning groups do not have equal access to voting. They've done so before.
The Rebecca Savransky article, linked above, about a 'bloody nose' strategy to teach Kim Jong Un a "lesson" is frightening.
So, the plan is to punch him in the face to give him a bloody nose, while he is holding a nuclear grenade in his hand - with the pin removed?
Meathead: That's convoluted logic!
Archie: Yeah, and that's the kind of straight thinking that made this country great.
The best people! The best ideas!
@Marvin S. As long as Republicans control the Congress, there's a good chance Trump will keep his promise. If in 2019, Democrats, with the help of a few Republicans, are able to send him a reasonable immigration reform bill, all bets are off.
Cleanliness: next to Trumpiness?
Love the part about the Glorious Leader having no idea what "clean bill" means. He probably thinks it's a paper with no coffee stains, or, on one of his less muddled days, one with no typos. Not so much in love with the attempt to redefine "clean bill" as one with all the wingnut bells and whistles. Rat bastards. Every last of 'em. Oh, except for Trump. He's an ignorant rat bastard.
@Akhilleus: An intelligent, confident person -- when confronted with a term he didn't know & was required to address -- would ask, "What precisely do you mean by 'clean bill'?" It isn't a shame not to know. I don't think I knew, or if I just thought I did, I'd have asked Feinstein to clarify it. Besides, phrasing it the way I did doesn't necessary show you don't know; rather, it could mean you wanted to make sure the other person & you gave the term the same meaning. But instead, Mr. Blunderbuss had to bumble through & confuse everybody -- because he's neither intelligent nor confident -- both of which, ironically, he was trying to prove by running this meeting as a made-for-teevee moment.
As to what Trump probably thought a clean bill was -- assuming he gave it any thought at all, which is not a given -- that would be something that was passed by both houses, then neatly typed, folded into a beautiful binder, with a place for his signature on the bottom. So yeah, pretty close to what you wrote facetiously.
Cleanliness next to Trumpiness: funny. But just to be sure we're on the same page, so to speak, how far is Trumpiness from truthiness? Personally, I'm not sure Trump is even going for the high standards of truthiness.
Marie,
He's like a little kid who, when informed that a word means something different than what he thought it did comes out with an aggressive "Yeah. I knew that. I just wanted to see if you knew it." Then proceeds to launch into an equally unreliable lecture about this new understanding to "prove" that he knew it all along.
He's an embarrassment.
It's a ancient admonishment to students of all stripe: If you don't understand something, speak up. If you don't know, ask. The problem is, as I've found all too often, that you'll still have students who try to bluff their way through, not wanting to the one who raises her hand and says "You know what? I have no idea what that means". Those kids I loved. Okay, now we're getting somewhere. AND their bravery (or smarts, or both) allow the other students equally in the dark to learn something as well. But it's always the kids who raise their hands that I find most interesting. The kids who didn't but wanted to, I could feel for, but the ones who tried to bluster their way through and pretend they know it all, those kids I wanted to give a snap quiz at the end of class and tell them their entire grade relied on correct answers to all questions. Never did it, but it was always a nice idea.
Just imagine how Trump would do:
"Do any of America's founding documents condone treason?"
"How many amendments are there in the Bill of Rights?"
"Why does the flag have 13 stripes?"
"Which branch of government rules the others?"
"What is a clean bill?"
Okay, one is a trick question, but I bet he'd bite. Hard.
On the trick question, Trump would smile broadly & write, "Thats an easy won ..... the presidents branch."
I was a questioner in school, which is a good thing because I took a lot of classes where I was pretty much at sea. Oftentimes, my questions were pretty basic -- things a smarter person would think were obvious. I remember after one exam -- we had 6- and 12-week exams before the final -- the TA said, with a look of unbelief & surprise, "And Miss Burns got an 'A!'" I don't think he usually revealed students' grades -- maybe he thought if he said it out loud it would seem more possibly true.
Marie
If DiJiT didn't know what a clean bill is, it means he forgot, because the "cleanliness" of the last Continuing Resolution (that funds the government up to 1/19) was a big issue last fall. Everyone was surprised that DiJiT signed that Clean Bill without pushing for some winger wishlist, and it was clear when he signed it he knew clean from Christmas tree.
Also, notice that Steny Hoyer sat next to DiJiT at the great DACA come-to-Jesus, and Nancy Pelosi wasn't in the room. Maybe she just is not putting up with that bait and switch BS anymore?
"Forgot" or "didn't know," all same = ignorant.
The "Crooks and Liars" reminder of what a paragon of virtue the most corrupt political party in our history will soon (but not soon enough) be missing.
https://crooksandliars.com/karoli/martin-bashir-reminds-viewers-darrell-issas
Gerrymandering:
https://rantt.com/the-top-10-most-gerrymandered-states-in-america-bd962843ba1f
I looked for Virginia where a 17% plurality gave Democrats a dead heat but it didn't make the top ten. No wonder democracy is an endangered system in the US.