The Commentariat -- January 2, 2018
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Post Hoc, ergo Propter Hoc. Brianna Gurciullo & Lauren Gardner of Poliitico: "... Donald Trump on Tuesday appeared to claim that his policies in his first year in the White House resulted in the commercial aviation industry posting its safest year ever in 2017 -- though the U.S. had gone years without a U.S. commercial airline fatality before he took office. 'Since taking office I have been very strict on Commercial Aviation,' Trump tweeted Tuesday morning. 'Good news - it was just reported that there were Zero deaths in 2017, the best and safest year on record!'... There has not been an accidental death on a domestic commercial airline since February 2009, when a Colgan Air flight crashed into a house near Buffalo, N.Y., killing 49 people on board and one person on the ground.... Congress hasn't directed any new aviation policy since mid-2016.... Former President Barack Obama appointee Michael Huerta has been at the helm of the FAA [-- which is responsible for air traffic safety --] since 2011." Thanks to Marvin S. for the lead. Mrs. McC: We've known for a long time that Trump is the rooster who crows at morn; it's never been so obvious that the Rooster-in-Chief thinks he causes the sun to rise.
Post Hatch, ergo Romney Hack. Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Senator Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, the longest-serving Senate Republican, announced on Tuesday he will retire at the end of the year, rebuffing the pleas of President Trump to seek an eighth term and paving the way for Mitt Romney, a critic of Mr. Trump's, to run for the seat. Mr. Hatch made his decision public on Tuesday afternoon via a video announcement.... Mr. Hatch, 83, was under heavy pressure from Mr. Trump to seek re-election and block Mr. Romney...."
David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Tuesday appeared to suggest that Huma Abedin, a former top aide to Hillary Clinton, should face jail time, days after the State Department posted emails found on her estranged husband's computer that included confidential government information. In a tweet, Trump also urged the Justice Department to act in prosecuting Abedin and former FBI director James B. Comey.... 'Crooked Hillary Clinton's top aid, Huma Abedin, has been accused of disregarding basic security protocols. She put Classified Passwords into the hands of foreign agents. Remember sailors pictures on submarine? Jail! Deep State Justice Dept must finally act? Also on Comey & others'-- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump).' The State Department, responding to a lawsuit from Judicial Watch, posted online copies of Abedin's emails from her nongovernment address that had been discovered on the laptop of her estranged husband, Anthony Weiner, during an FBI investigation.... Trump appeared to be reacting to a report in the Daily Caller that found Abedin had forwarded State Department passwords to her personal Yahoo account before Yahoo faced high-level hacks that affected all account-holders."
Glenn Kessler, et al., of the Washington Post: "With just 18 days before President Trump completes his first year as president, he is now on track to exceed 2,000 false or misleading claims, according to our database that analyzes, categorizes and tracks every suspect statement uttered by the president. As of Monday, the total stood at 1,950 claims in 347 days, or an average of 5.6 claims a day. (Our full interactive graphic can be found here.)... There are now more than 60 claims that he has repeated three or more times.... We currently have a tie for Trump's most repeated claims, both made 61 times. Both of these claims date from the start of Trump's presidency and to a large extent have faded as talking points. One of these claims was some variation of the statement that the Affordable Care Act is dying and 'essentially dead.'..." Trump also repeatedly takes credit for events or business decisions that happened before he took the oath of office -- or had even been elected."
James Hohmann of the Washington Post: "We are living through another Gilded Age, with growing inequality and a government that is once again tipping the scales in favor of the rich at the expense of the little guy. 'You all just got a lot richer,' Trump boasted to members of Mar-a-Lago on Dec. 22, according to CBS. He was talking about the tax bill that he had signed a few hours earlier, which will add more than $1 trillion to the national debt to line the pockets of the 1-percenters who can afford the $200,000 initiation fee to join Trump's club. In the week that followed, Trump kept giving his members new reasons to celebrate. While cable news fixated on how much he was golfing -- NBC reports that Monday was Trump's 91st day at a golf course as president -- his political appointees back in Washington worked overtime to deconstruct the administrative state, eviscerate several of Barack Obama's signature achievements and roll back significant environmental protections. Underscoring how politically unpopular these moves are, most were rolled out on the Fridays before Christmas and New Year's Eve to minimize media coverage and public notice." Hohmann lists ten of the administration's holiday atrocities.
Edward-Isaac Dovere of Politico: John Dean, President Nixon's counsel, "thinks that in today’s media and political environment, Nixon might have finished his term. 'There's social media, there's the internet; the news cycles are faster. I think Watergate would have occurred at a much more accelerated speed than the 928 days it took to go from the arrest at the Watergate to the conviction of Haldeman and Ehrlichman and [John] Mitchell, et al.,' Dean said. 'There's more likelihood he might have survived if there'd been a Fox News.'... And, says the man who ...became the prosecution's star witness in the process that helped take down Richard Nixon, no one in the president's orbit should assume they're prepared for everything that cooperating witnesses George Papadopoulos and Michael Flynn might be telling Robert Mueller, as their statements have suggested -- whether it's done out of confidence from their own review or just out of public bluster.... '[Nixon, Haldeman & Ehrlichman] didn't know how much I knew. I knew much more than they thought I did,' Dean told me.... 'With Flynn and his proximity, he had even more proximity than I did.'" Mrs. McC: Thanks, Fox "News."
Michael Georgy of Reuters: "Iranian protesters attacked police stations late into the night on Monday, news agency and social media reports said, as security forces struggled to contain the boldest challenge to the clerical leadership since unrest in 2009."
*****
Steve Beynon of Politico: "... Donald Trump kicked off the New Year with tweets blasting Pakistan, Iran and former U.S. presidents...."
Paul Krugman explains why the economy is doing well despite Trump & Mnuchin: "... in normal times the president has very little influence on macroeconomic developments -- far less influence than the chair of the Federal Reserve. This only stops being true when the economy is so depressed that monetary policy loses traction, as was the case in 2009-10; at that point it mattered a lot that Obama was willing to engage in fiscal stimulus, and it also mattered a lot, unfortunately, that Republican opposition plus Obama's own caution meant that the stimulus was much smaller than it should have been. By 2016, however, the aftershocks of the financial crisis had faded away to the point that the usual rules once again applied.... Let's hope ... that by the time stuff happens, we'll actually have non-delusional people in charge."
Choe San-Hung & David Sanger of the New York Times: "Beyond a New Year's declaration by North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un, that he would move to the mass-production of nuclear weapons and intercontinental missiles in 2018 lies a canny new strategy to initiate direct talks with South Korea in the hope of driving a wedge into its seven-decade alliance with the United States. Mr. Kim, perhaps sensing the simmering tension between President Trump and President Moon Jae-in of South Korea, called for an urgent dialogue between the two Koreas before the opening of the Winter Olympics in the South next month. The strained relationship between the allies has been playing out for months, as Mr. Moon, a liberal, argued for economic and diplomatic openings with the North, even as Mr. Trump has worked hard to squeeze the North with increasingly punishing sanctions." ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Let's face it: even Li'l Kim is smarter than Trump.
We are quiet about it. We repeatedly state that Trump "harms China." We want to keep it that way. In fact, he has given China a huge gift. That is the American withdrawal from T.P.P.... As the U.S. retreats globally, China shows up. -- Maj. Gen. Jin Yinan, a strategist at China's National Defense University. Jan. 20, 2017 ...
... "Making China Great Again." Evan Osnos of the New Yorker: "For years, China's leaders predicted that a time would come -- perhaps midway through this century -- when it could project its own values abroad. In the age of 'America First,' that time has come far sooner than expected." This is a long piece.
On a slow-gnus day, why not look at the Mooch's future? Margaret Hartmann obliges with the latest scintillating gossip about the possibility of Anthony Scaramucci's returning to the White House: "... this is a White House where where unqualified relatives can serve as top advisers and former Apprentice stars can cause a scene outside the president’s private residence (allegedly). Can you really blame people for holding on to the dream of another 11 days with the Mooch in charge?"
Reversal of Fortunes. Yashar Ali of the Huffington Post: "Gretchen Carlson, who helped ignite the discussion of workplace harassment when she sued then-Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes for sexual harassment, is going to serve as chair of the Miss America Organization board of directors. This will be the first time a former Miss America has served as the leader of the nearly 100-year-old organization. (Carlson was Miss America in 1989.) In addition, former Miss Americas Laura Kaeppeler Fleiss (Miss America 2012), Heather French Henry (Miss America 2000) and Kate Shindle (Miss America 1998) are joining the board.
Robin Pogrebin of the New York Times: "After accusations of sexual harassment and physical and verbal abuse, Peter Martins, the powerful leader of New York City Ballet who shaped the company for more than three decades, has decided to retire. 'I have denied, and continue to deny, that I have engaged in any such misconduct,' Mr. Martins, 71, wrote in a letter dated on Monday informing the board of his retirement, which takes effect immediately.... Board members were told of his decision in a conference call Monday evening, when they also learned that he had been arrested on Thursday and charged with driving while intoxicated in Westchester County.... Five City Ballet dancers -- one of whom is still with the company — recently came forward in The New York Times to describe verbal and physical abuse dating as far back as 1993.... In recent interviews, 24 women and men -- all former dancers at the company or its school -- described a culture of intimidation under Mr. Martins, which they said has hurt the careers of generations of performers."
** Ed Simon of the History News Network, via RawStory: "Trumpian Christianity is but one chapter in a long lineage of hypocritical capitulation of principle to sovereigns in the name of worldly power.... But while there is a long custom of right-wing evangelicals bellyaching about their perceived oppression ... there are now no compunctions about jumping into bed with the most manifestly irreligious of presidents in modern history.... An irony since if the anti-Christ is supposed to be a manipulative, powerful, smooth-talking demagogue with the ability to sever people from their most deeply held beliefs who would be a better candidate than the seemingly indestructible Trump? Well I don't believe in a literal anti-Christ, and to accuse Trump of being one gives the president far too much credit. At his core he is simply a consummate narcissist with little intelligence and less curiosity." Read on. --safari ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Simon makes the obvious, but too seldom recognized, connection between Nazi "positive" Christianity & today's Trumpian version.
Beyond the Beltway
Jessica Mason of Slate: "Working people in New York state will ring in the new year with an important new right on the job: up to eight weeks of paid family leave (increasing to 12 weeks by 2021).... New York's program offers the most inclusive paid family leave in the country, covering not only new parents but also family caregivers and military families with needs related to active duty deployment.... New parents in New York will have equal coverage regardless of gender, including adoptive and foster parents." Mrs. McC: The insurance portion of the program is some kind of genius (because I, Mrs. Bea McCrabbie, never thought of it).
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Reader Comments (17)
Since, as Marie points out, it’s a slow news (or gnus, as the case may be) day, and there’s speculation abraod about an insignificant toad like the Mooch, I’ll toss out a concern about a slightly more significant toad. It’s 2018 and Dick Cheney is STILL alive!
Outrage ensues.
@Akhilleus: So is Henry Kissinger, speaking of "leaders" who are responsible for the combat deaths of thousands of mostly-young Americans. One difference between Cheney & Kissinger: Kissinger was not a serial draft dodger -- he served with distinction during WWII after being drafted into the U.S. Army.
What a treat to read something positive for a change. The Paid Family Leave law in New York state is wonderful news and the insurance portion of the program is indeed "some kind of genius" or put another way, some smart people put on their thinking caps and made it work.
Watched a special MSNBC on Watergate last night––-Redford and Hoffmann narrating along with Woodward and Bernstein. It has not lost its flavor after all these years––the first time in history a president has resigned. It plays out like a well wrought mystery and Deep Throat gives it just the right intrigue. Richard Nixon was caught on tape obstructing justice. Donald Trump, I hope, will be found to have done the same.
Rachel Maddow surfaced on this program as did others commenting on the proceedings. She said her mother told her that she nursed Rachel throughout the hearings (everyone was glued to their T.V. at the time) and I, too, nursed my youngest son while mesmerized by "What did the president know, and when did he know it."
DONALD TRUMP DOESN'T UNDERSTAND WHAT'S HAPPENING IN IRAN:
The president*'s tweets about the recent protests are misleading and dangerous to protesters.
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/01/donald-trump-doesnt-understand-whats-happening-in-iran/549440/
Remember Cheney has somebody else's heart; if he had his own he'd be long gone.
Marie,
Quite. Kissinger, a longtime bête noire, deserves special condemnation for his role in subverting democracy, supporting right-wing terror and murder squads, prolonging an unwinnable war costing the lives of tens of thousands, and fomenting political and social unrest and chaos around the world.
And not to be outdone, Cheney helped instigate an unnecessary war based on lies, threatened anyone who declined to go along with him, outed a CIA agent, created, along with the Decider, the conditions for the rise of ISIS, killed, wounded, uprooted, and tore apart millions of lives. For what? For power and personal glory. And yet here he is. Still snarling and lying his way through life.
How 'bout we all chip in for a vacation plane ride for Cheney and Kissinger to Costa Rica?
Years ago, SNL's original Weekend Update began a routine of announcing, after he had died, that Generalisimo Francisco Franco was still dead. In case anyone was wondering. I always thought that this idea was purloined from a bit created in the old National Lampoon which had pictures of Franco and Mamie Eisenhower as part of a contest to see who could "stay dead the longest". The problem was that neither of them were dead yet (Poor taste? Hey, when you're a junior in college, what constitutes as poor taste varies dramatically). They'd run a picture of Mamie Eisenhower waving, with a word balloon saying "I'm not dead yet!" We'll have to do something along those lines with the war criminals Cheney and Kissinger.
Oh, and while we're talking about war criminals and people who are dead, or should be--I had to look this up--SNL, the week Franco finally did die, had Chevy Chase, then the Weekend Update anchor report that world leaders had responded to Franco's death. Some recalled Franco's prosecution of a civil war and his ruthless attacks on his own people, others were much kinder, notably, Richard Nixon. While Chase read Nixon's statement about what a wonderful guy Franco was and how he was such a great ally of the US and a friend who was both firm and fair, they ran this picture of Franco standing with Hitler, giving the Nazi salute. Yeah, the same salute Trump used to give at his rallies.
Republicans: wannabe authoritarian dictators at heart. At long last, one of them made it. Cheney must be so jealous.
Special Today: Wormy rice and Rotten Meat!
Good job, Donnie! A hard time on the toilet and he starts twittering at Pakistan. Funny, in'it, for an unrepentant lifetime liar like Trump to question someone else's relationship with the truth? So Pakistan calls an emergency meeting to discuss looking elsewhere for help. China, anyone? Russia?
It's like Trump is the proprietor of the US Restaurant, a well respected establishment with a great track record as a place with good food and great service. Around the corner are the Chinese and Russian restaurants. Shady places populated by suspicious looking guys. The menus change without notice and prices go up and down and you have to pay up front. Customers only go there if they feel like they can't get a fried elephant trunk burger at the US place. But now Trump stands out in front of the place waving a sign saying "Six week old unrefrigerated meat. Special today!" Let's just say the customers have been drifting around the corner and likely will continue to do so.
Posted something yesterday but it didn't make it...not sure what was going on... I wrote an email to our POS congressman, Lloyd Smucker, and congratulated him on a whole year of NOT meeting with constituents except invited businessmen. He actually used MAGA in his New Year's greeting in the local paper. I said SURE, but not until he and his ilk were gone. The damage done by this administration has boggled the minds of all thinking people, and it will be years to recover. Yes, the chief executive is brainless and crazy and crude and trashy, but he might be outshone by his "cabinet" of deplorable people devoid of community mindedness and unstinting in their enthusiasm for drowning government in a bathtub. Oh, except where it fattens their wallets. Well, it's another year. Please, Robert Mueller, live long and prosper.
On a lighter, more scientific side - do you remember Alvin (no, not the chipmunk), the deep-sea submersible from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute? Here's a visual story by Alexander Epp of Spiegel Online. The video at the end is pretty cool. Sea worms, crabs, and thermal vents!
The thing that surprised me was that they litter everytime they go down, leaving behind weights so they go up again. You'd think they'd tether them somehow for retrieval later. But, then, they'd need about 4 miles (6500 m) at full depth.
I just had a new experience. While waiting for a car fix, I was watching something called "Fox News". The news person reported something and invited two people to tell pathetic reasons why the news didn't matter. Usually when I watch news, the news person just keeps on telling more news. Probably a coincidence, but the news item was not good for Trump. I guess this redefines the word 'news'.
Trumptweet: Since taking office I have been very strict on Commercial Aviation. Good news - it was just reported that there were Zero deaths in 2017, the best and safest year on record!
Two problems. The info applies to the world, not just US.
For US, no crash since 2009.
Perfect example of NPD. No facts needed. Something good happened so it was me!
Trumpian Aesthetics
Since Trump glommed on to the term "deep state" he's been pleased to trot it out whenever events of his own doing take a turn for the worse. Approval rating continues to plummet? Must be the liberal deep state working hard against the great and glorious leader.
I've been reading Jakob Burckhardt's book on the civilization of the Italian Renaissance. Written in 1860, the book seems remarkably modern (with the exception of the occasional statement tainted by the prejudices of a century and a half ago--here's a good example: yeah, tax collectors in many provinces were despicable assholes who could get very nasty if citizens didn't cough up the dough, but with recalcitrant "Orientals", hey, what else can you do?).
One of Burckhardt's more interesting metaphorical structures is his analysis of the state as a work of art. He doesn't come right out and explain his use of this armature on which he hangs his various observations, but I'm guessing what he means is a project that exhibits both specific planning and precise execution, bearing the hallmarks of an internal consistency but able to withstand (and in some cases encourage) contrasts and collisions within the structural framework while still maintaining the overall aesthetic. Mind, he's not suggesting that a state as a "work of art" means a thing of mellifluous tones or pleasing palette choices. Despotisms can be works of art as much as the great Renaissance republics of Florence and Venice.
I see his point. If you take the American Experiment, you can certainly see that a state built on the internal consistency of a constitution created with the flexibility to withstand contention but strong enough to guarantee, as much as possible, a steady hand throughout, can take on the aspect of a work of art. With that in mind, what to make of the Trumpian vandalism of this work? I suppose there's some consistency to Trump's spray painting over the masterpiece of an American constitutional state. But it's more like a Bizarro World work of art, a backward, ugly thing with little to hold it together besides spite, hatred, and greed. Certainly some of the despots Burckhardt reviews featured such qualities, but they also seemed to have a plan behind it all. Trump is winging it. But he's no jazzman, flying high on improvisations wrought from technical prowess and full of lively musical ideas. His plan, such as it is, is to fuck Obama and enrich himself. Everything else is just detritus.
He's certainly no Frederick II or even a Cesare Borgia. Those guys at least had some redeeming qualities even if it was an insidious genius for manipulation. Trump is a juvenile delinquent spraying naughty words on the stalls of the girls' room and hoping for a quick peek while he's there.
The pure fact of Trump is proof of the dangers of faith in the idea held for so long by political optimists that the destruction of democratic institutions by fascist, authoritarian forces could "never happen here". Of course it's not all Trump. He's just an ignorant, narcissistic opportunist sliding down the path carved out by the true deep state: Republican politicians, a Confederate media, and anti-democratic, anti-American oligarchs. If there's anything that resembles Burckhardt's despotic work of art in an Italy rife with power mad, double dealing autocrats and outrageous abuses of political power, it's that.
North Korea in the Olympics?
Sure, why not? I mean, Russia is out, so we'll need someone to check the "imperious, cheating dictator" box. Besides, just think of all the stuff the North Koreans are better at than anyone else.
How 'bout the "Going Eight Weeks Without Food" event? Or the "Blowing up Rockets on the Pad" contest. Man, they'd collect gold, silver and bronze.
Then there's the "Ridiculous Glorification of a Moronic Leader" event. Trump would be soooooo jealous of that medal. He'd demand the IOC be disbanded.
And what about the "Goosestep March Marathon". Those NK soldiers do that stuff in their sleep. An easy gold.
Can you imagine the North Korean announcers? "North Korea screwed out of the downhill gold by sleazy Americans who used hidden rockets attached to their skis! Foul!"
Fun? Like you read about.
Marvin,
The little king responsible for air safety around the world in 2017? Sure. I'll bet he was calling air traffic controllers everywhere, every day, telling them to watch their asses. Oops, look, there's a Piper Cub you almost missed.
But that's not all Trump is responsible for. There were some pretty spectacular records set in 2017, all directly related to the genius of the Glorious Leader:
The Largest Object Unboxed (a Volvo truck--don't know if Trump got in to do his "vroom, vroom" thing).
The most robots dancing simultaneously (China--but I'm sure they asked Trump's permission--Trumpy wanted the robots to do the Macarena, but they couldn't get the butts right).
Tallest Tower of Cupcakes! (South Africa--over 35 feet. It would have been taller but Trump, while supervising, ate a couple of feet worth of cupcakes. 2018, he's going for the biggest building made of Ring-Dings. He thinks big, that Donnie.)
Probably already noted and commented on somewhere, maybe here, but the WAPO piece on the holiday flood of administration actions is more proof, if any were needed, that there's not just collusion between Russia and the Pretender , but that Russian autocracy and kleptocracy is our current model for governance and, in an if this goes on motif, a glimpse of our probable future.
It was called The Enlightenment for a reason.
The alternative is darkness, and as it turns out the deep state is democracy itself.
Another year of such unchecked rapine will be hard to take.
@Marvin Schwalb: When I read your comment about airline safety, I thought you were kidding. "Nobody is that stupid," I sez to myself. Wrong & wrong.
Tomorrow's Logic Question: When Trump covers his eyes, does he think no one can see him?
Marie,
If a Fat Trump thing falls in the woods and no one is around to hear, does it make an oinking sound? Or any sound at all?
I realize that such as Einstein and Niels Bohr have worked this proposition over, but my feeling is that the idea that something that is not perceived (cf, Bishop Berkeley) does not exist means that billions of galaxies had no corporeal existence prior to the Hubble and that millions of sea creature below the pelagic zone are mere figments.,
@Bea: does a bear shit in the woods?
"Mrs. McC: We've known for a long time that Trump is the rooster who crows at morn; it's never been so obvious that the Rooster-in-Chief thinks he causes the sun to rise."
NUFF SAID~~~~~~~~~~~~and perfectly accurate.