The Commentariat -- June 7, 2019
Afternoon Update:
Erin Banco & Asawin Suebsaeng of the Daily Beast: "Top congressional Democrats are actively discussing opening a probe into Rudy Giuliani for his overseas political and consulting work, including a recent attempt to uncover dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden, a source with direct knowledge tells The Daily Beast. The contours of a potential probe are still under consideration. But it would likely look at whether Giuliani's relationships with foreign politicos interfered or intersected with American foreign-policy efforts." Upon hearing the news, Rudy said a lot of stuff -- trashing the Constitution, Joe McCarthy, blah-blah.
BBC: "Theresa May has officially stepped down as the leader of the Conservative Party, but will remain as prime minister until her successor is chosen. She has handed in her private resignation letter to the backbench 1922 Committee, two weeks after announcing her intention to leave. Eleven Conservative MPs are vying to replace her as party leader and, ultimately, prime minister. The winner of the contest is expected to be announced in the week of 22 July."
Brad Lendon, et al., of CNN: "The United States and Russian navies are at odds over an apparent near collision in the Pacific Friday with each side blaming the other. The US and Russian warships came somewhere between 50 feet and 165 feet of each other, according to the two opposing reports, with both sides alleging their ships were forced to perform emergency maneuvers to avoid a collision, which can be seen in video and a picture of the event obtained by CNN."
Aaron Rupar of Vox: "Fox News host Sean Hannity, who has done more than anybody (except perhaps Donald Trump himself) to push the narrative that Hillary Clinton should be locked up, now thinks such calls are something that only happens in 'banana republics' -- at least when they're directed toward Trump." Rupar goes into detail about Hannity's amazing double standard.
~~~~~~~~~~
"American Carnage," Redux
The Last Hurrah of an Idiot Abroad. Mark Landler & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Seventy-five years after the D-Day invasion, [President* Trump], who has called into question America's allies around the world -- including those whom Americans fought alongside in Normandy -- pledged fidelity to friendships 'forged in the heat of battle, tested in the trials of war, and proven in the blessings of peace.' It was Mr. Trump's only reference to the importance of the Atlantic alliance, in a speech that dwelled on the service of D-Day's American veterans.... In its graphic depiction of the horror on the beaches, Mr. Trump's speech evoked the ominous tone of his Inaugural Address. And when he declared, 'Today, America is stronger than ever before,' it was the kind of dependable applause line that could have been taken from one of his rallies.... There was a lingering incongruity to Mr. Trump's words: a president who has denigrated the European Union and accused NATO of exploiting American taxpayers was extolling an allied military campaign that was perhaps the greatest demonstration of America's commitment to a free and peaceful Europe. It fell to President Emmanuel Macron of France to defend the postwar international order. Speaking before Mr. Trump, he offered thanks to the United States for its wartime sacrifice and conferred the French Legion of Honor on several veterans. Then he paid tribute to the institutions the United States helped create." ...
... Heather Hurlburt of New York: "Trump, his falsehoods, and his transactional, zero-sum view of the U.S.-European relationship are now fully normalized. He has found a crop of partners in right-wing European parties; and he has understood very keenly that Europe's centrist leaders are too beleaguered themselves to lead a stand against him. Perhaps the saddest realization of the D-Day commemoration is that its sacrifices and heroism are no longer enough of an anchor The great-grandchildren of GIs and Resistance fighters and Nazis will have to find new inspiration and build new touchstones -- and a mere distaste for Donald Trump is far, far too weak a reed."
What's Wrong with This Picture? ...
... Dylan Stableford of Yahoo! News: "Just before his speech honoring military veterans at a ceremony commemorating the 75th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, France, President Trump gave an interview marked by insults directed toward the speaker of the House and former special counsel Robert Mueller. Speaking to Fox News' Laura Ingraham, Trump called the former special counsel a 'fool' and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a 'disaster.' 'Let me tell you, he made such a fool out of himself,' Trump said of Mueller, speaking at a cemetery where more than 9,300 American soldiers who died in World War II are buried. Mueller is a decorated Marine veteran of the Vietnam War, in which President Trump did not serve, and which he described in an interview on British television as a 'terrible war' and 'very far away.'... 'Nancy Pelosi, I call her "Nervous Nancy," Nancy Pelosi doesn't talk about it,' the president said. 'Nancy Pelosi is a disaster, OK? She's a disaster. And let her do what she wants. You know what? I think they're in big trouble.' Pelosi, who was also in Normandy for the D-Day commemoration, declined to respond. 'I don't talk about the president while I'm out of the country,' she told CNN's Jim Acosta." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: In the video that accompanies the Yahoo! News story, Trump says, "He [Mueller] made such a fool out of himself because what people don't report is the letter he had to do to straighten out his testimony because his testimony was wrong." What testimony? Trump seems to have made up testimony that never happened. (Why is it that "people don't report" that?) It's well-known that Mueller has resisted testifying. I couldn't figure out what "letter" Trump was talking about, but Jordan Fabian of the Hill took a stab at & guessed, "The president was referring to a joint statement later issued by the Justice Department and the special counsel';s office saying that Mueller's account did not conflict with Attorney General William Barr's previous comments, in which Barr said the decision not to charge Trump with obstruction did not hinge solely on the DOJ policy." But good idea to use the graves of dead American soldiers as a backdrop for an attack on a wounded war veteran. ...
... BTW, Stableford's report is a good example of the kind of journalism I complained about yesterday. Instead of pointing out that Trump made a statement at odds with the facts, Stableford writes, "The president took issue with Mueller's public statement on his investigation into Russian election interference." But Trump "took issue with" "testimony" Mueller never gave, not with a public statement. That is, Stableford radically "corrected" Trump's nonsensical remarks without indicating he had done so. ...
... ** Update. Fox "News" has released an expanded version of Laura Ingraham's interview of Donald Trump. Clearly Trump, his communications staff, Ingraham & Fox "News" all thought it entirely appropriate to have a POTUS* lambaste American leaders while sitting in France in front of a sea of graves of American soldiers. This says a lot more about their regard for men who fought & died for American values than does a speech someone else wrote & Trump deigned to deliver. ...
... Jessica Campisi of the Hill: "President Trump tore into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) during a Thursday night interview on Fox News, calling her a 'nasty, vindictive, horrible person' after she said Thursday that she wanted to see him 'in prison' instead of getting impeached." Mrs. McC: Too bad he forgot to knock John McCain & Dwight Eisenhower; maybe that's in an upcoming clip.
Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "... Donald Trump's adult sons enjoyed an Irish pub the night before marking the 75th anniversary of D-Day at a ceremony in Normandy. Eric and Donald Trump Jr. poured pints of Guinness -- with a higher head-to-ale ratio than is commonly accepted -- and posed for selfies with cheering crowds at pubs in Doonberg, where their father owns a golf course, reported the Daily Mail. The pair visited five pubs in an hour.... A BBC reporter managed to get in a question to Eric Trump outside one pub, asking if his trip was a good use of taxpayer money. 'We're just trying to have a good time,' Eric Trump said...."
Asawin Suebsaeng & Erin Banco of the Daily Beast: "After facing a torrent of pushback and harsh criticism from military veterans, Donald Trump has backed off plans to potentially pardon convicted and alleged U.S. war criminals -- at least for now. The president was personally taken aback by the nearly across-the-board resistance to his administration's consideration of pardons for several U.S. servicemen accused of grisly crimes in war zones, two people familiar with the situation told The Daily Beast.... The decision marks another instance of President Trump reconsidering his plans to dive head-first into a divisive debate at the egging of his media boosters." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Who can be surprised Trump was surprised that veterans weren't gleeful about his pardoning war criminals? As he demonstrated in his interview using an American military cemetery as a prop, Trump has no understanding whatsoever of American values.
The Trump Scandals, Ctd.
Manu Raju & Jeremy Herb of CNN: "At a frank meeting this week, House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler again lobbied to win Speaker Nancy Pelosi's support for an impeachment inquiry into ... Donald Trump.Nadler, who appealed to the speaker that the House's court cases against the Trump administration would be bolstered by launching an impeachment inquiry, also offered two new arguments in the hopes of convincing Pelosi from moving off her steadfast opposition, according to a source with knowledge of the meeting. First, Nadler argued opening an impeachment probe would centralize the House' sprawling investigations now spread across various panels into just one.... Secondly, Nadler made a technical argument that it would be easier for lawmakers to discuss the President's alleged offenses on the House floor and in committees during a formal impeachment inquiry because House rules forbid members from disparaging individuals." Both Pelosi & Rep. Adam Schiff resisted Nadler's arguments. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: As I suggested some time back, this is a turf war, and Pelosi is managing the factions. Nadler would have a better chance of winning his argument if he magnanimously suggested he would farm out parts of the inquiry to appropriate committees. Sharing the hoohah also could yield more evidence.
Kyle Cheney & Andrew Desiderio of Politico: "House Democratic leaders are preparing to grant sweeping authority to committee chairs to sue the Trump administration over its refusal to comply with congressional demands for information -- from ... Donald Trump's tax returns to ... Robert Mueller's underlying files. The draft resolution, which the House will consider on Tuesday, formally holds Attorney General William Barr and former White House counsel Don McGahn in contempt of Congress for defying House Judiciary Committee subpoenas seeking Mueller's unredacted report, its underlying evidence, and additional witness testimony. But the most dramatic proposal will empower the chairs of all House committees to initiate legal action each time a witness or administration official defies a committee subpoena, a move to streamline and speed up the House's ability to respond to a mounting list of confrontations with the White House." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
Democrats' constant fiddling and fist shaking is making me sick. They have the brightest brains & specialists rooting for them and offering advice, and are getting rolled by a group of smash & grab day traders. -- safari, in today's Comments thread
I think safari wrote this even before Nicholas Fandos of the NYT reported on House Democrats' latest retreat. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie ...
... Update. Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "After weeks of pledging to hold Attorney General William P. Barr and the former White House counsel Donald F. McGahn II in contempt for defying subpoenas, House Democrats appear poised to pursue an alternative path to try to force them into sharing information. A resolution that the House Rules Committee unveiled on Thursday would authorize the House to petition a federal court to enforce its requests for information and testimony related to the report of the special counsel..., but without mentioning contempt. The committee is expected to consider the proposal on Monday, followed by a full House vote on Tuesday. The resolution appears to be something of a tactical reversal by Democrats...." ...
... BUT. Update Update. Jacqueline Thomsen of the Hill: "House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) on Friday indicated that he would formally move forward with contempt votes for Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, after they missed a Thursday deadline to hand over documents related to his committee's investigation on the census citizenship question. 'We gave Attorney General Barr and Secretary Ross every opportunity to produce the documents the Committee needs for our investigation, but rather than cooperate, they have decided that they would rather be held in contempt of Congress,' Cummings said in a statement." Mrs. McC: Thomsen is still reporting that the House also will vote to hold Barr in contempt for failing to turn over to them an unredacted Mueller report. Reporters could be forgiven for obsolete reporting inasmuch as House Democrats can't seem to make up their minds from moment to moment.
I don't want to see him [Trump] impeached. I want to see him in prison. -- Nancy Pelosi, in a closed-door meeting with House Democratic leaders, Tuesday ...
... Jonathan Chait: "The idea that Trump might face criminal charges has felt impossible since Robert Mueller declined to bring additional charges in his final report. But Trump faces several other investigations for crimes that are easier to prove than criminal conspiracy with Russia.... Should he lose reelection, Trump is facing at least five reasonably serious criminal cases: 1. Obstruction of justice.... 2. Campaign finance violations.... 3. Inauguration overcharges.... 4. New York tax fraud.... 5. Trump Foundation fraud." ...
... The Twilight Zone. Justin Baragona of The Daily Beast: "Reacting to reports that ... Nancy Pelosi said she doesn't want to see President Trump impeached because she would rather 'see him in prison,' Fox News host Sean Hannity lashed out at the Democratic leader Thursday night.... 'Speaker Nancy Pelosi telling senior Democrats she would like to see Trump behind bars,' Hannity exclaimed. 'Based on no actual crimes, she wants a political opponent locked up in prison. Umm, that happens in banana republics. Beyond despicable behavior.' Pelosi's statement, he said, was proof Democrats want to turn the United States into a country that we 'no longer recognize.'" --s ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Absolutely jaw-dropping. Pelosi made the remark in private, among colleagues. Trump screamed "Lock her up!" in public and made many unfounded public accusations of criminal wrongdoing (including death-penalty offenses) against people from Barack Obama to various FBI officials. One would not be surprised to learn that Hannity himself has made similar baseless claims. ...
... Renato Mariotti in Politico Magazine: "There is ... an overwhelming case that the president engaged in obstruction of justice -- his effort to stop the special counsel's office from probing his campaign's ties to Russia.... It's already possible to project some paths a likely prosecution would take.... The strongest count would be his attempt to fire Mueller, the man appointed to investigate the Russian government's interference in the 2016 election and the possibility that the Trump campaign conspired with it.... At least two others would almost certainly also be charged[: one in which Trump dictated a message for Corey Lewandowski to deliver to Jeff Sessions, telling Sessions to order Mueller to limit his investigation to "future election meddling"; the other is Trump's telling Don McGahn to create a false record claiming Trump had never ordered him to fire Mueller].... For Trump, much more is riding on the next election than remaining in office. The five-year federal statute of limitations applies to obstruction of justice, and obstructing a federal investigation is not a state crime, which means that a reelected President Trump could not be prosecuted for his obstruction in 2017 until he left office in January 2025, which is over two years after the statute of limitations would run."
David Enrich of the New York Times: "A group of Democratic senators wants top officials at the Federal Reserve to examine whether Deutsche Bank complied with anti-money-laundering and other laws after bank employees flagged transactions tied to President Trump as potentially suspicious. The request, in a letter sent Thursday, was in response to a New York Times report that specialists at Deutsche Bank recommend that transactions by legal entities controlled by Mr. Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, be reported to a federal financial-crime regulator. Managers at the bank rejected their employees' advice and did not alert the government." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Darren Samuelsohn & Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn has fired his legal team as he awaits sentencing for lying to the FBI about his conversations with a top Russian official, according to a new filing Thursday from his long-time attorneys. The lawyers, Robert Kelner and Stephen Anthony, offered no explanation for their abrupt dismissal in a two-page motion delivered to the federal judge who will mete out Flynn's punishment stemming from his 2017 guilty plea to Robert Mueller's prosecutors.... Flynn's decision to change attorneys at this late stage is unusual and has triggered speculation in legal and political circles he's considering backing out of his plea deal with the government in a play for a presidential pardon.... But the move also comes amid a yawning disconnect between the approach adopted by the well-respected legal team Flynn has used since the start of the Russia probe and the combative rhetoric from many of his friends and family members...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Ron Brownstein of the Atlantic: "Democrats debating whether to impeach Donald Trump may be misreading the evidence from the last time the House tried to remove a president.... While Republicans did lose House seats in both 1998 and 2000, Democrats did not gain enough to capture control of the chamber either time. And in 2000, lingering unease about [President Bill] Clinton's behavior provided a crucial backdrop for George W. Bush's winning presidential campaign -- particularly his defining promise 'to restore honor and dignity' to the Oval Office.... Even if the Senate doesn't convict Trump..., impeachment in the House could offer Democrats a similar chance to highlight the aspects of Trump's volatile behavior that most alienate swing voters." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Michael Shear & Azam Ahmed of the New York Times: "Mexico and the United States have made significant progress in discussions that could forestall President Trump from following through on his threat of imposing tariffs on all Mexican imports, senior officials from both countries said Thursday. Mr. Trump, who has repeatedly demanded that Mexico end all illegal immigration into the United States, has not yet given his approval of the direction of the talks and no deal has been reached, the officials said. But they said Mexico and Guatemala have agreed to consider significant changes in asylum laws across the region that would allow the United States to reject requests for protection from many people fleeing persecution. The arrangement being discussed would require migrants to seek asylum in the first safe country they enter. It would mean that people from Guatemala who want refuge in the United States could be quickly sent to Mexico instead, while those fleeing El Salvador and Honduras who try to enter the United States could be turned away and sent instead to Guatemala." ...
... Rafael Bernal & Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "President Trump is planning to declare a new national emergency in order to implement sweeping tariffs on Mexico over the flow of Central American migrants to the U.S., according to a draft document of the declaration reviewed by The Hill. According to the document, the new emergency is necessary due to 'the failure of the Government of Mexico to take effective action to reduce the mass migration of aliens illegally crossing into the United States through Mexico.'" ...
... Dara Lind of Vox: "President Trump's constant temper tantrums about the US-Mexico border have become the background noise of his administration.... But as Trump has raged, something genuinely unprecedented has started happening at the border The past several months have seen a huge spike in unauthorized migration, especially of families, into the US.... What's happening at the border is the result of a regional crisis in which -- if current rates continue -- close to 1 percent of the entire population of Guatemala and Honduras will attempt to immigrate to the US this year." --safari: A very informative article on the immigration issue. ...
... Garance Burke of the AP: "The federal government is opening a new mass facility to hold migrant children in Texas and considering detaining hundreds more youths on three military bases around the country, adding up to 3,000 new beds to the already overtaxed system. The new emergency facility in Carrizo Springs, Texas, will hold as many as 1,600 teens in a complex that once housed oil field workers on government-leased land near the border, said Mark Weber, a spokesman for Office of Refugee Resettlement. The agency is also weighing using Army and Air Force bases in Georgia, Montana and Oklahoma to house an additional 1,400 kids in the coming weeks, amid the influx of children traveling to the U.S. alone. Most of the children crossed the border without their parents, escaping violence and corruption in Central America, and are held in government custody while authorities determine if they can be released to relatives or family friends." ...
... BBC: "US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) says the 'dramatic rise' in migrants from African countries arriving [at the Texas-Mexico border] is a 'humanitarian crisis'. More than 500 African migrants have arrived at Del Rio border patrol sector in the past week, since 30 May. Most of these people are families that have travelled from Angola, Cameroon and the Republic of Congo, CBP said.... Local news reporter Jaleesa Irizarry also tweeted that the city was 'in desperate need for French-speaking volunteers', and that local centres expected up to 300 more migrants to arrive in the next few days." --s
Caitlin Emma of Politico: "... Donald Trump Thursday signed a package that would deliver $19.1 billion in disaster relief to communities across the country that are still recovering from a spate of catastrophic hurricanes, wildfires and flooding. The House passed the bill on Monday after Republicans successfully thwarted three attempts to fast-track the package. The Senate passed the bill before the Memorial Day recess, removing Trump's request for billions in emergency border aid in a last-minute scramble because it was holding up the deal. The legislation was delayed for months prior to that amid partisan infighting."
Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "The world's largest automakers warned President Trump on Thursday that one of his most sweeping deregulatory efforts -- his plan to weaken tailpipe pollution standards -- threatens to cut their profits and produce 'untenable' instability in a crucial manufacturing sector. In a letter signed by 17 companies including Ford, General Motors, Toyota and Volvo, the automakers asked Mr. Trump to go back to the negotiating table on the planned rollback. It represents the most forceful statement to date by the auto industry against Mr. Trump's effort to weaken the pollution rules, which were one of President Barack Obama's signature policies to fight climate change. The carmakers are addressing a crisis that is partly of their own making. They had sought some changes to the pollution standards early in the Trump presidency, but have since grown alarmed at the expanding scope of the administration's plan."
** Laura Davison of Bloomberg News: "... Donald Trump's trade wars have already wiped out all but $100 of the average American household's windfall from Trump's 2017 tax law. And that's just the beginning. That last $100 in tax-cut gains could soon completely disappear -- and then some -- because of additional tariffs Trump has announced. If the president makes good on his threats to impose levies on virtually all imports from China and Mexico, those middle-earning households could pay nearly $4,000 more. Subtract the tax cut, and the average household will effectively be paying about $3,000 more in taxes through additional levies on the products they consume." Thanks to PD Pepe for the link. Mrs. McC: As numerous observers (including some Republicans in Congress) have pointed out, Trump's tariffs amount to a tax on American consumers. If you don't need to buy anything that has at least a part manufactured abroad or anything from U.S. manufacturers whose competitors are foreign or use some foreign parts, then you've got no problem. Trump's trade wars are the ingredients in a recipe for a recession.
Dan Friedman of Mother Jones: "On April 15, Trump called Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar, a military commander and alleged war criminal, whose Libyan National Army controls eastern Libya.... [R]eports quickly emerged that Trump -- and national security adviser John Bolton in a separate phone call with the warlord -- had encouraged Haftar's armed assault, launched a few weeks earlier, on Tripoli and militias supporting the government there.... With one phone call..., Trump undercut years of American diplomacy in Libya, leaving US policy toward the war-torn state uncertain. Now a colorful cast of lobbyists and would-be profiteers are cashing in on the confusion, as they sign up with assorted Libyan factions ... to help them influence policymakers in Washington. In short, Trump threw US policy toward Libya into chaos and created a money-making opportunity for K Street." --s
Samantha Grasso of Splinter: "Former Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke violated the Hatch Act, a federal law that prohibits federal employees from using their positions to promote partisan politics when he tweeted a photo of himself in MAGA socks last June, according to a December letter from the U.S. Office of Special Counsel which was leaked to the Washington Post and published on Thursday. The letter said that the Special Counsel, which investigates people for Hatch Act violations found that Zinke, in wearing these dumbass socks, had indeed broken the rules. Zinke, who resigned in December five days before the Special Counsel notified him of his violation, only received a warning. Specifically, he avoided punishment because he deleted the tweet and apologized." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Susan Glasser of the New Yorker: "At a time when no one is really sure anymore just what constitutes Republican ideology, you could do worse than to call it the Except-When-Trump-Does-It Party."
Igor Derysh in Salon: "Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, one of just two Republican senators who claim to be pro-choice, has voted for at least 32 of President Trump's anti-abortion judicial nominees."
Presidential Race 2020
Uh, Is This What You Mean by "Moderate," Joe? Jonathan Kozol in the Nation: Joe Biden "said nothing to disown his long history as a fierce opponent of school busing and a scathing critic of the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education. 'We've lost our bearings since the 1954 Brown v. School Board desegregation case,' Biden said in 1975, in an interview that he gave to a newspaper in Delaware that was recently unearthed by The Washington Post. 'To "desegregate" is different than to "integrate."'... 'The real problem with busing,' he said [in the 1975 interview], 'is that you take [white] people who aren't racist, people who are good citizens, who believe in equal education and opportunity, and you stunt their children's growth by busing them to an inferior [black] school.'... As The Washington Post candidly surmised, his 'decision to stand by his views on the issue illustrates what some of his supporters think would be his advantage in the 2020 field: his ability to appeal beyond his Democratic base to some white working-class voters who voted for Donald Trump in 2016.'" (Also linked yesterday.)
A Reluctant Follower, Not a Leader. Bill Barrow of the AP: "After two days of intense criticism, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden reversed course Thursday and declared that he no longer supports a long-standing congressional ban on using federal health care money to pay for abortions. 'If I believe health care is a right, as I do, I can no longer support an amendment' that makes it harder for some women to access care, Biden said at a Democratic Party fundraiser in Atlanta. The former vice president's reversal on the Hyde Amendment came after rivals and women's rights groups blasted him for affirming through campaign aides that he still supported the decades-old budget provision." Mrs. McC: Reminds me of Trump's reversing his position on criminally "punishing" women who have abortions. ...
... He Was For It Before He Was Against It Before He Was For It Before He Was Against It. Sophie Weiner of Splinter: "One day after he was torn to shreds by a righteous Elizabeth Warren, former Vice President Joe Biden decided that maybe he does support repealing the Hyde Amendment after all.... In the recent past, Biden said he still supported upholding the amendment. Last month, he briefly changed his mind, telling the ACLU that the law 'can't stay,' but his campaign later backtracked. Now, Biden has changed his mind about the long-standing law AGAIN."
Natasha Korecki & Marc Caputo of Politico: "Twenty-four hours after Joe Biden's campaign was taken to task for lifting portions of a climate change plan without citation, it's clear that the former vice president has plenty of company. A sampling of policy proposals from Biden's leading rivals suggests the lifting of direct text from academic papers, think tanks or policy institutes -- and the cribbing of facts without attribution -- is fairly widespread on 2020 campaign websites. A Politico review found previously published material on the official campaign websites of Sens. Kamala Harris and Bernie Sanders, as well as frequent use of facts and data without citation on a number of others." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: There's nothing at all wrong with politicians using other people's statistics & policy analyses. Advocates are glad to have prominent politicians back their policies. But conducting studies & developing policies is time-consuming, difficult & expensive. We wouldn't expect candidates to do this kind of detail work themselves, but they must give credit to the organizations or individuals who did the work.
Mark Stern of Slate: "The latest bombshell from the formerly secret files of the GOP's top gerrymandering guru emerged on Thursday, and it's astounding: Voting rights advocates claim to have evidence that North Carolina Republican lawmakers repeatedly lied to a federal court, and to the public, in a successful effort to delay a special election that threatened their legislative supermajority.... The newest discovery from the files pertains to Covington v. North Carolina, a challenge to Republicans' racial gerrymander of state legislative districts. In 2016, a federal district court ordered the legislature to draw new maps and hold a special election after finding the map had been illegally gerrymandered along racial lines. The Supreme Court agreed that the maps were unlawful, but sent the case back to district court to resolve how quickly Republican lawmakers could draw new maps.... GOP legislators insisted that they had not yet prepared any maps and would need ample time to do so.... According to Common Cause, these representations to the district court were a lie." ...
... ** Russ Choma of Mother Jones: Last week brought a "bombshell revelation in the fight over a controversial question about citizenship status on the 2020 census.... Key wording in its legal rationale matches memos written by Tom Hofeller, a Republican gerrymandering expert.... Republican Party financial filings with federal regulators add a twist to this backstory: The party's main political apparatus paid Hofeller more than $2 million for his work. That suggests that Hofeller's memos weren't simply independent advocacy for a pet issue, but that he and his work were deeply embedded in the heart of the GOP's strategic operations." --s ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: That is, the Republican party has been paying serious money to curb the foundational democratic exercise of voting. ...
... Ian Millhiser of ThinkProgress: "[T]he story of this [Supreme Court] term is likely to be a story about democracy -- and the Supreme Court's role in thwarting it. The court is likely to hold that federal judges are powerless to stop partisan gerrymandering.... And it is even more likely to hold that the Trump administration may effectively& rig the Census to discourage immigrants from participating and shift power to white communities.... Below the surface, however, are two far more subtle attacks on democracy. These two cases, Kisor v. Wilkie and Gundy v. United States, are early stages of a much broader effort to transfer power from the executive branch -- whose leader is elected, at least most of the time -- to a judiciary that is unaccountable to voters and that is now controlled by the Republican Party." --s
Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. Matt Novak of Gizmodo: "Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals announced today that the company expects to pay $15.4 million in a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department after allegations that Questcor Pharmaceuticals, which Mallinckrodt acquired in 2014, had bribed doctors and their staff to prescribe an incredibly expensive drug.... Questcor raised the price of the medication by almost 100,000 percent (not a typo) from just $40 in 2000 to $38,892 today, despite the fact that Acthar has been on the market since 1952. Mallinckrodt currently rakes in about $1 billion per year from Acthar, according to CNN." --s
Beyond the Beltway
Alabama. Ivana Hrynkiw of AL.com: "Former Senate candidate Roy Moore's attorney was arrested Wednesday night for charges of driving under the influence and for possessing drugs. Trenton Roger Garmon, 39, was booked into the Etowah County Jail around 8 p.m., according to jail records. He was arrested by Gadsden police and charged with driving under the influence of controlled substances, second-degree possession of marijuana, and drug paraphernalia." This isn't Garmon's first arrest for impaired driving. It isn't clear from the story, but he may have been driving on a suspended license when stopped Wednesday. Anyhow, he's in the jailhouse now. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
News Lede
Politico: "U.S. hiring slowed in May as employers added just 75,000 jobs, a sign that businesses may have become more cautious in the face of slowing global growth and widening trade conflicts. The tepid job growth, along with the rising pressures on the economy, make it likelier that the Federal Reserve will cut rates in the coming months."
Share Article
Reader Comments (12)
I am glad you mentioned the shoddy reporting yesterday and before by the MSM—. That has driven me nuts for the entire time we have been saddled with a demented ignoramus blabbing away and making no sense. WashPo and the NYT have edited and excused and altered this gibberish since 2015, and they have had a lot of practice as they did this for George W Bush and his henchpeople in the run up to the war and during the dreadful lies during that time. The question is why would a good journalist engage in such lousy reporting? I don’t get why embroidering/editing is cricket—. Seems to me it is participating in deception and lies. I guess that is normal now.
Nancy Pelosi knows as well as anyone that Donald Trump will never see the inside of a jail cell. It's called two-tiered justice that is practiced de facto, but not de jure, in our lovely country.
She's blowing smoke up all our asses and I don't appreciate it one bit.
Democrats' constant fiddling and fist shaking is making me sick. They have the brightest brains & specialists rooting for them and offering advice, and are getting rolled by a group of smash & grab day traders.
BIDEN HIDES THE HYDE:
Why do I get the feeling that Uncle Joe is changing his stance on long held beliefs because of blowback from potential voters. It started with the Anita Hill business, then busing, climate, and now the Hyde Amendment. One could give him credit for re-thinking these past actions but he should know that when you run for the highest office in the land your life will be scrutinized like a forensic files investigation. ( although perhaps since Trump it doesn't matter any more).But this latest Hyde change is curious in the sense that his wife Jill, a doctor, wouldn't have told him from the start that women would roil over this?
I'm with safari with his frustration and anger at this "blowing smoke up our asses" playbook. But reading that our Supreme Court is perhaps no longer that supreme––has lost its luster––has lost our confidence of a regulatory body of fairness and one who holds our democracy in high esteem then I sympathize with those who are trying like hell to change the playbook. albeit with much difficulty.
In 2014 Obama lifted the U.S. embargo on Cuba. Many hailed this as positive ––but as with anything Obama did the Republicans found fault. Here is what was said at the time:
"We agree with President Obama that he is writing new chapters in American foreign policy. Unfortunately, today’s chapter, like the others before it, is one of America and the values we stand for in retreat and decline. It is about the appeasement of autocratic dictators, thugs, and adversaries, diminishing America’s influence in the world. Is it any wonder that under President Obama’s watch our enemies are emboldened and our friends demoralized?"
And yesterday I watched the DDay ceremony in France and hung my head in shame that this country's leader has so besmirched our reputation –– watching him standing there with his tiny hand covering his tiny heart while our national anthem was playing broke my heart.
Want more good news? Bloomberg just came out with his goodie.
TRUMP'S TARIFFS HAVE ALREADY WIPED OUT TAX BILL SAVINGS FOR AVERAGE AMERICANS:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-07/trump-s-tariffs-have-wiped-out-most-families-tax-cut-gains?srnd=premium
*sigh* Broken Record Time Again...
Along with Safari and PD, and probably most everyone else out here, my sense of the appallingly dim response by Democrats to the existential disaster we now face grows by the hour, not the day.
I am beset by an overwhelming feeling of the imminent death of the republic. In fact, it may already be dead and we just don't know it. Confederates have been pretty awesome at pulling a "Weekend at Bernies" on us, dragging around the corpse of the American Experiment, moving its head and waving its hand about to "prove" that it's still alive, but in fact, they're just using it as a prop behind which to lie, cheat, and steal their way to absolute power, power to force their withered and withering ideology on the rest of us.
This morning, I heard an interview with an anti-abortion voter who defended her stance and her sense that her belief system should be the law of the land by starting off with "I am a Christian and this is what the Bible says..."
I'm sorry, lady. That might be fine for you, but the idea that the rest of us should be forced to go along with you because "that's what I believe" is not good enough. This is not supposed to happen, but it is. And the Supreme Court will let it. Sooner or later. Red states are trying to one up each other by enacting the most oppressive laws and draconian statutes to control women's lives, hoping fervently that their unconstitutional law will be the one to break the back of Roe and drag women back in time. They know why Bart O'Kavanaugh was forced onto the Supreme Court by Prez Misogyny.
Which brings me back to the Democrats.
The court is already configured perfectly to strangle the American Experiment. It has already demonstrated that it does not believe racism exists, that corporations are people, that making money for those corporations comes far before keeping people safe and healthy, and that Christianity trumps most everything.
But we also have two justices in their 80s, Breyer, and RBG. If Trump is reelected and something happens to either or both, our fate will be sealed. He has selected two justices so far; Gorsuch was bad enough (citizens are expected to die for their owners, er, bosses), but Kavanaugh? What a disaster. And if he gets a chance to ram two more onto the court, you can be sure they will be about a half step above a Josef Mengele.
Why do we not have a master plan to stave off this coming disaster? When Trump says that Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats are in trouble, it's one of the very few things he comes out with that is not a complete lie. And he's got the wingnut media giants on his side, the Supreme Court, the Senate, and thousands of extreme rightwing radio screamers ready to attack and kill any who dare to try to stop his march to authoritarianism and the smothering of democracy.
What do they not get about this? We are in a fight for our lives. We should be pulling out all the stops here to battle the forces of darkness now besetting us. Romans used to scare their kids by saying go to bed, because Hannibal ad portas! Hannibal is at the gates. Hannibal is NOT at the gates, he's in the living room watching Fox on TV and getting ready to burn the house down. And what are we doing? Asking pretty please, can we have a document or two?
This is unacceptable. Meanwhile, the people who might vote for the Democrats are being routinely booted out of the voting booths. And what do we do? "Oh, can we see your tax returns President Trump? Just a little peek?"
And "We're gonna find Barr and McGahn in contempt of congress!" Yeah? Then what? "Umm....well, we're not sure. But it'll be something, we can tell you that!"
What.The.Fuck?
Nancy Pelosi is doing some seriously good shit if she thinks Trump will ever see the inside of a jail cell. I want whatever she's been smoking. It seems to give one the sense of a beautiful world that doesn't exist in any possible universe.
At this point, Republicans can do whatever in the bloody hell they want and no one is stopping them. They do what they do and out comes the Democrats, I mean, Barney Fife. He reads them the local statutes, they give him the finger, laugh and drive off on two wheels, careening through Mayberry, knocking down citizens and tossing empties out the window as they go. Barney, eyes popping, tries to pull out his gun and shoots his foot off in the process.
As he's being wheeled into the hospital the R car spins by again with Mitch and Barr and Trump all pointing at him and laughing. They shoot another beer, stop long enough to get out and relieve themselves on the town green, then get back in and drive on the sidewalk, terrorizing Mayberry residents. Because they can. Barney swears that he'll get those guys.
Just as soon as he gets that prosthetic foot.
In this recent review, Sean Wilentz has some interesting perspectives on the history of our broken republic:
https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2019/05/09/how-our-politics-broke/
In short, it didn't happen overnight--or it's happened before.
My take this morning: My father's generation may or may not have been the greatest, but mine (those many who boomed) was the luckiest.
Time for some Tea?
Okay, okay, time to calm down a bit.
The Trumpification of everything deadens the spirit if one allows it. So what to do? Maybe a little poetry to put things aright. But what? Sexton? Christ, no. I want to survive the day, thanks. Wallace Stevens? Too much thinking involved. John Donne? See Sexton. Well, I may have found just the thing. The other day I pondered, with no small amount of hilarity, the idea of the mooching, mooing Trumpies over in England, at tea with the Queen. An image of monkeys in formal attire hopping about shattered shards of porcelain on the carpet came immediately to mind. I have always considered the exercise of tea time to be an eminently civilized idea, which makes for a serious synaptic disconnect when Trump's boorish, bumbling ass is added to the picture.
Henry James, in "Portrait of a Lady" confides that "...there are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony of afternoon tea." Amen to that, Henry. Although I didn't grow up with afternoon tea, per se, I did grow up in an Irish household and tea was a constant. It wasn't until I headed out into the world that I discovered how weird that seems to many Americans, largely addicted to coffee. On another date (not a terrible one this time) my companion stated her admiration that I had the courage to order a cup of tea at breakfast when all around the Manly Men in this particular diner were drinking coffee, black. I considered directing the waitress to forgo the cup and just pour boiling coffee straight down my throat. Instead, I ordered Earl Grey with milk, thank you.
So you can see how funny I find the idea of a bullying, blowsy bigot like Trump, dressed in his too tight monkey suit, hoisting a dainty cup of tea, little finger dangled at the proper angle, while discussing innocuous pleasantries with the queen "So, Lizzie, at your age, do you still do it? Ya know? DO IT?"
In any event, MAG's entry a few days ago of who reads what newspaper and why, encouraged the present listing of various famous Poets at Tea. It's Friday, after all, and, Jesus, what a week. (Entries have been edited down for space and time.)
The Poets at Tea - Barry Pain
I. (Macauley, who made it):
Pour, varlet, pour the water,
The water steaming hot!
A spoonful for each man of us,
Another for the pot!
...Forever let Brittania wield
The teapot of her sires!
II. (Tennyson, who took it hot):
I think that I am drawing to an end:
...O Hallelujah! ... Kindly pass the milk.
III. (Swinburne, who let it get cold):
As the sin that was sweet in the sinning
Is foul in the ending thereof,
...O hear us, our handmaid unheeding,
And take it away!
IV. (Cowper, who thoroughly enjoyed it):
The cosy fire is bright and gay,
The merry kettle boils away
...Pray, Mary, fill the teacup up,
And do not make it strong.
V. (Browning, who treated it allegorically):
Tut! Bah! We take as another case--
...Hold Bohea and sugar, Sir; if you were told
The sugar was salt, would the Bohea be Congo?
VI. (Wordsworth, who gave it away):
'Come, little cottage girl, you seem
To want my cup of tea;
And will you take a little cream?
...And she replied, 'Sir, please put in
A little drop of milk.'
VII. (Poe, who got excited over it):
Here's a mellow cup of tea--golden tea!
What a world of rapturous thought its fragrance brings to me!
...Now, now to sit, or never,
On the top of the paled-faced moon,
But he always came home to tea, tea, tea, tea, tea,
Tea to the n-th.
VIII. (Rossetti, who took six cups of it):
The lilies lie in my lady's bower,
(O weary mother, drive the cows to roost),
They faintly droop for a little hour;
My lady's head droops like a flower.
IX. (Burns, who liked it adulturated):
Weel, gin ye speir, I'm no inclined,
Whusky or tay--to state my mind
Fore ane or ither;
For, gin I tak the first, I'm fou,
And gin the next, I'm dull as you:
Mix a' thegither.
X. (Walt Whitman, who didn't stay more than a minute):
One cup for myself-hood,
Many for you. Allons, camerados, we will drink together...
Six cups for Christina Rossetti? Whoa. I guess instead of being a Pre-Raphaeliter, that would have made her a Post-up-allnighter.
Okay, tea time over. We now return you to the real world.
Nancy Pelosi is acting like a Fox News viewer, she is letting her fear drive her actions. She knows what the right thing to do is, but she is terrified and paralyzed with fear of the electorate that gave us the Orange Menace. If she was thinking rationally she would see that Trump is underwater in many key states. She would also realize that most Americans know from extensive reporting that Trump is a criminal and traitor.
The University of Alabama may want to forget Mr. Culverhouse's name, but I don't.
I never knew it until today, but I was happy to meet a man with money AND a conscience.
https://www.npr.org/2019/06/07/730671823/univ-of-alabama-rejects-21-5-million-gift-donor-urged-boycott-over-abortion-law
I also think the Dems are so obsessed with getting an unredacted Mueller report and so unconcerned with timing that they are missing the last trolley, or perhaps their trolley is leaving the tracks. Pelosi may be playing umpty-umpth dimension chess, but meanwhile we are drowning in the sea of crimes and hideousness, with full media attention to the vicious monster every time he talks or tweets. At this point, if we are not holding them accountable by courts who are willing to jump in NOW, then we are sunk. If none of the contempt charges go through now, well, what is the point? AK is right, safari too. Dems are Barney Fife or perhaps the coyote constantly being banged up by the roadrunner. I guess we deserve contempt ourselves. Everything being done to undo Obama directives is being met with silence. Everything being done to prevent Dems from governing or voting is being met with "please sir, can I have another flogging?" I think we vastly underestimated the power of trumpist teevee and it is killing us NOT softly. What kind of world will we still have in 2020? My guess is that it won't matter a fig if we don't get the senate, where good bills go to die. Ugh ugh ugh
More on anti-abortion backlash:
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/gop-donor-one-million-missouri-abortion-ban
From an unlikely? suspect.