The Commentariat -- March 10, 2019
Afternoon Update:
Damian Paletta & Erica Werner of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Monday will request at least another $8.6 billion in funding to build more sections of a wall along the Mexico border, setting up a fresh battle with Congress less than one month after Trump declared a national emergency. In Trump’s annual budget request to Congress, he will request $5 billion in funding for the Department of Homeland Security to continue building sections of a wall along the Mexico border, three people briefed on the request said. He will request another $3.6 billion for the Defense Department's military construction budget to erect more sections of a wall." ...
... Not Gonna Happen. Brett Samuels of the Hill: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) indicated on Sunday that President Trump's reported plan to ask for $8.6 billion in the fiscal 2020 budget to fund a wall along the southern border was a non-starter. 'President Trump hurt millions of Americans and caused widespread chaos when he recklessly shut down the government to try to get his expensive and ineffective wall, which he promised would be paid for by Mexico,' the Democratic leaders said in a statement. 'Congress refused to fund his wall and he was forced to admit defeat and reopen the government. The same thing will repeat itself if he tries this again,' they added."
About That Other Trump Tower Meeting. Zachary Basu of Axios: "House Intelligence chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said on NBC's Meet the Press Sunday that Erik Prince was lying when he claimed last week that he testified about a 2016 meeting he had with foreign nationals at Trump Tower.... Robert Mueller, who Schiff said is now in possession of all witness transcripts, has charged a number of Trump associates with lying to investigators. Notably, Donald Trump Jr. also neglected to tell the committee about the second Trump Tower meeting during his testimony."
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Joel Achenbach of the Washington Post: "People are advised to avoid scheduling anything important for 2:30 a.m. Sunday, since, by law, such a moment does not exist. But the law may change. The national policy of switching from standard time to daylight saving time and back again is under legislative challenge from coast to coast. Multiple initiatives in Congress and in statehouses would terminate our current system of time toggling -- a system that started a century ago and has been controversial ever since. It's not really daylight saving time that's drawing fire: It's standard time. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Wednesday reintroduced a bill to make daylight saving time a year-round reality across the country, with no more biannual time changes." Read on. Every once in awhile Marco is right about something.
The Trump Scandals, Ctd.
Adam Gopnik of the New Yorker on the arguments for and against impeaching Trump. ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: For everyone worrying that Democrats are "overreaching" by conducting oversight on Trump's potentially-impeachable offenses, let me remind you that the "Watergate hearings" -- held over the summer of 1973 -- were not impeachment hearings; they were Senate oversight, or fact-finding hearings. Although the House did some "pre-hearing" prep, the House Judiciary Committee didn't begin impeachment hearings till after the Saturday Night Massacre in October 1973. Hauling Erik Prince & Donnie Junior in for questioning is not the equivalent of an impeachment hearing, no matter how much weeping & wailing Republicans do about it.
GOP Senators & Former Senators on Why the President Should Be Impeached
The subject matter is not what is significant here; it's lying under oath and obstructing justice. -- Mitch McConnell
You don't even have to be convicted of a crime to lose your job in this constitutional republic ... Impeachment is not about punishment. Impeachment is about cleansing the office. Impeachment is about restoring honor and integrity to the office. -- Lindsey Graham
We are miraculously transformed from politicians to people who leave their Republican and Democrat labels at the door.... We're there to seek the truth and to find out whether the president is guilty or not guilty, and no stone should be left unturned to make that determination. -- Chuck Grassley
He lied to protect himself from being prosecuted for a crime. I could think of no other lie that is a more egregious lie.... I fear that if this country is confronted with a serious crisis over the next two years, that his ability to marshal the American public behind what he tells them is the truth would be diminished. -- Rick Santorum
It is crucial to our system of justice that we demand the truth. I fear that an acquittal of this President will weaken the legal system by providing an option for those who consider being less than truthful in court. -- Jeff Sessions
Oh, did I forget to mention they were talking about Bill Clinton? -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie
** Presidential* Profiteering. CREW: "During President Trump's second year in office, CREW recorded more than 900 interactions between the government, those trying to influence it, and the Trump Organization, each resulting in a conflict of interest for President Trump. Those instances bring the total number of known conflicts of interest involving the Trump Organization to more than 1,400, two years into the Trump administration.... President Trump has tried to use the presidency to enrich himself by promoting his businesses as extensions of his administration. That includes conducting government business at them, praising them in his official capacity, and even going so far as to offer exclusive perks to members of his clubs including access to government leaders, influence on government business, and in some cases, appointments to government positions. Perhaps most concerning, President Trump's political allies have embraced the arrangement by making their own visits to his properties and showering them with political cash. In other cases, officials' visits to his properties have led to Trump profiting at taxpayer expense, as state and federal funds are paid to Trump businesses to cover various aspects of his visits or the visits of state and federal officials to his properties." ...
... Presidential* Access for Sale. David Corn, et al., of Mother Jones: "The latest Trump political donor to draw controversy is Li Yang, a 45-year-old Florida entrepreneur from China who founded a chain of spas and massage parlors that included the one where New England Patriots owner Bob Kraft was recently busted for soliciting prostitution. She made the news this week when the Miami Herald reported that last month she had attended a Super Bowl viewing party at Donald Trump's West Palm Beach golf club and had snapped a selfie with the president during the event. Though Yang no longer owns the spa Kraft allegedly visited, the newspaper noted that other massage parlors her family runs have 'gained a reputation for offering sexual services.'... Beyond this sordid tale, there is another angle to the strange story of Yang: She runs an investment business that has offered to sell Chinese clients access to Trump and his family. And a website for the business -- which includes numerous photos of Yang and her purported clients hobnobbing at Mar-a-Lago ... suggests she had some success in doing so."
That Time Judge Ellis Sentenced a Black Woman (Way Last Year.) Adam Rawnsley of the Daily Beast: Paul "Manafort, a wealthy Republican political operative, and [Tessicar] Jumpp, a slight Jamaican woman born into poverty, couldn't be more different in their backgrounds, but in court they were just two thieves and liars in the dock. Mail fraud. Wire fraud. Tax fraud. Bank fraud. They violated different statues but committed the same offense: They stole through deceit. Jumpp cruelly conned victims out of $385,000 through a fake lottery scam.... Manafort's victims -- at least in this case -- were more abstract. But the scale of his financial misdeeds was much, much bigger. He hid $55 million dollars of income in offshore accounts, skipped out on $6 million in taxes, and conned three banks out of $25 million in loans on false premises, according to prosecutors.... [Federal Judge T.S.] Ellis sentenced Jumpp to six years. On Thursday, he gave Manafort fewer than four." Mrs. McC: Yes, but maybe Jumpp hasn't led "an otherwise blameless life." ...
... Renato Mariotti, in a Politico Magazine opinion piece: Judge T.S. Ellis's "flawed decision is a consequence of the vast discretion given to federal judges to issue sentences without real fear of being overturned.... Federal law permitted Judge Ellis to give Manafort a sentence of anywhere between 0 to 80 years in prison. And as long as Ellis did not go above the 24.5-year maximum called for by the sentencing guidelines an appellate court would almost certainly not reverse his sentence, given the very deferential standard of review.... As the federal sentencing commission recently found, 'the length of a defendant's sentence increasingly depends on which judge in the courthouse is assigned to his or her case.'... Ellis made a number of statements about Manafort that cannot be defended, such as his false claim that Manafort led an 'otherwise blameless life.'... Even more concerning are statements Ellis made that caused many to question whether he exhibited partisan political bias, or a particular bias against special counsel Robert Mueller and his team."
Fleecing Our Friends. John Hudson, et al., of the Washington Post: "In private discussions with his aides, President Trump has devised an eye-popping formula to address one of his long-standing complaints: that allies hosting U.S. forces don't pay Washington enough money. Under the formula, countries would pay the full cost of stationing American troops on their territory, plus 50 percent more, said U.S. and foreign officials familiar with the idea, which could have allies contributing five times what they provide. Trump calls the formula 'cost plus 50,' and it has struck fear in the hearts of U.S. allies who view it as extortionate. Rumors that the formula could become a global standard have especially rattled Germany, Japan and South Korea, which host thousands of forces, and U.S. officials have mentioned the demand to at least one country in a formal negotiation setting, said people familiar with the matter."
Clark Pettig of American Oversight: "American Oversight has uncovered the signed directive from former Attorney General Jeff Sessions instructing a federal prosecutor to carry out President Trump's authoritarian demand to investigate Hillary Clinton. The document, obtained through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation by American Oversight, is a formal, November 2017 letter from Sessions to U.S. Attorney for Utah John Huber.... In a sworn declaration filed in November 2018 in response to American Oversight's lawsuit, the Justice Department had insisted that no written directive existed and that all guidance to Huber had been delivered verbally. Trump has repeatedly tweeted demands for DOJ to investigate Clinton.” Read on. Among those who knew about the letter were Sessions & Huber (of course), as well as Assistant AG Stephen Boyd, & Matt Whitaker. You might conclude the DOJ was run by professional liars.
Labor Secretary Favors Business over Labor. Rebecca Rainey of Politico: "A Politico analysis of ... documents [obtained under FOIA requests] shows that Republicans and business representatives occupied most of [Labor Secretary Alexander] Acosta's schedule during his first eight months as labor secretary. Between May and December 2017, Acosta was scheduled to meet or talk 146 times with Republican politicians or with representatives of trade associations and businesses. Among the corporate chairmen whose input Acosta received were Steve Easterbrook of McDonald's and Jim McNerney of Boeing. By comparison, Acosta was scheduled to meet or talk only 43 times with representatives of labor unions, including AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and SEIU President Mary Kay Henry. Acosta met with Democratic politicians or left-leaning interest groups only ten times during the same time period. '"This is exactly what we saw in Scott Pruitt's calendar,' said Austin Evers, executive director of American Oversight, in a written statement. 'Trump cabinet officials putting the industries they regulate ahead of the people they're supposed to be protecting.'"
U.S. Troops Not as Backward & Bigoted as POTUS*. Dave Philipps of the New York Times: "This has been an uneasy time for transgender troops in the United States military, caught between a commander in chief who wants them out and court injunctions that, at least temporarily, said they could stay. (The last of the injunctions was lifted on Thursday.) But dozens of transgender troops ... said in interviews that they felt supported in the service. Their comrades and commanders have welcomed them, they said, and the military has often been more accepting than the homes and neighborhoods they left to enlist."
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Matt Wilstein of the Daily Beast: "During a Q&A with Vanity Fair media reporter Joe Pompeo at the South by Southwest festival on Saturday, [CNN President Jeff] Zucker said it's not like networks have a 'right' to host [presidential] debates. 'I think the consternation about this is a little misplaced,' he said. ... Calling Fox a 'propaganda' outlet, Zucker said, 'I think the question should be, is Fox state-run TV or is the White House state-run government by Fox TV?' As for Fox News' response singling out its more legitimate news anchors, Zucker said, 'They chose to work at Fox and they don't get to hide behind the fact that they're excellent journalists or anchors. The fact is they work at a place that has done tremendous damage to this country.' Earlier in the talk, Zucker also said he has no doubt that the Trump administration interfered in the Justice Department's actions over the merger between AT&T and Time Warner&-CNN's parent company -- though said it's now a 'moot point' because the merger went through.... Of course..., CNN received its fair share of criticism and even blame for supposedly helping boost Trump." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Zucker actually made Trump famous twice: first, when he headed NBC Entertainment & aired "The Apprentice," & second when he headed CNN Entertainment & carried most of most of Trump's airhead campaign rallies. President* Trump is a Jeff Zucker Production. Zucker betrayed the nation for the ratings.
Tariro Mzezewa & Milan Schreuer of the New York Times: "United States citizens wishing to visit or travel to the majority of the European Union nations after January 2021 will have to register online and pay a small fee as part of a new security system intended to screen visa-free travelers." Mrs. McC: If he's not in jail or house detention then, how about a "cost +50" for our former President*? Or better yet, just put him on he Trump Travel Ban & don't allow any plane that's carrying him to land.
Beyond the Beltway
Georgia. Bob Moser in the New Republic: "After Brian Kemp suppressed enough votes and stirred up enough bigotries to get himself elected governor of Georgia last November, you might have expected him to hit the ground running with some extra-crazy, super-Trumpy initiatives.... The governor's most consequential move thus far has been to urge the state to buy super-pricey new electronic voting machines to replace its 27,000 ancient, notoriously hackable models that Kemp insisted on using last time for his own election. But lest you think Kemp is motivated by a desire for freer and fairer elections, there is, in fact, a Trumpian catch: The likely recipient of Georgia's largesse will be a company that one of Kemp's closest aides used to lobby for, while another served on its board of advisers. So far, Kemp's administration has apparently been fueled by good old-fashioned crony corruption.... The justification for the big-spending election bill -- which zipped through the state House and now awaits approval in the Republican-dominated Senate -- is that the machines will ward off cybersecurity threats while making elections more efficient than the messy old paper balloting. Inconveniently for the GOP, neither is true."
News Lede
New York Times: "An Ethiopian Airlines flight carrying 149 passengers and eight crew members crashed early Sunday shortly after departing from the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, en route to Nairobi, Kenya, the airline said. A spokesman for the airline told state television that there were no survivors."
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Reader Comments (5)
You give Marco Rubio too much credit.
Drastically expanded daylight savings time was tried during the energy crisis in the seventies. It was ultimately rejected because in certain Midwest locations, it resulted in children waiting for their school buses in the dark.
As Santayana said “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
@wto406: Oh, I do remember the past. In the 1970s, I lived in Southern California, which isn't that all far south, and I liked "permanent" DST. I wasn't happy when Congress ended it.
Growing up in Florida, we didn't have DST at all, & I was glad for that. (Marco is too young, I think, to have enjoyed the privilege.) As a child, I thought DST was a stupid idea, and when I went to college in a northern state & first experienced it, I didn't care for the time change at all. So I've lived through two different periods in which I experienced no mandatory, twice-annual time change, and in both instances, I found it much less of a hassle than the spring-forward-fall-back thing. I recall hearing that dairy farmers hate it, because the cows don't know the difference, but the milk truck does.
In most of the country, some children go to school in the dark in December & part of January. I found that to be true even in South Florida. It's not ideal. On the shortest days of the year, millions of kids who attend school seven hours a day, which is about normal, are either going to go to school or come home in the dark. It would be better for schools to adjust their hours, according to the wishes of their communities, than to force time changes on the entire nation twice a year.
So I speak from experience, albeit anecdotal, not merely from annoyance at having to figure out how to change the time on my car clock yet again.
Have little else on my mind this morning other than to remember to set the clocks ahead (one last time), so will weigh in on the DST vs. ST thing, and wishy-washy librul that I am, after a little research and reflection have concluded: It depends.
First off, here in the Northwest, children have been waiting for school busses in the dark from time immemorial (that is my time and my memory) on Standard, i.e. Winter time, a fact dictated by both latitude and expanded school bus runs as districts consolidated.
Got me thinking though. We are a divided country and always have been. Race, religion, and yes, distance. Over the years I've thought most about the distance in miles and culture between East and West, but it occurs to me that when we attempt to apply daylight/standard time divisions to the entire land, north and south also matter. Though we don't acknowledge them as such, those time "zones" also make a perceptible difference.
Regardless of what "time" we choose to be on, there is always about a fifteen minute difference between a San Diego and Seattle sunset and sunrise. If we consider Key West the difference is greater. Then there's that great American appendage to the far north, where the sun never sets or rises (a catch exaggeration, but close enough), depending, again regardless of the time we eventually choose to paste on our clocks.
So...beyond any definitive conclusion about energy savings that would or should dictate our choice (and I've seen arguments on both sides of that), I don't think the regime we choose much matters....and fussing over such things will at least keep little Marco occupied and away from greater mischief.
DST - in 1965 a woman wrote to the editor of the Houston Post (or Chronicle, not sure) that she objected to Texas having gone that year to DST. The extra hour of sunlight was killing her grass (rim shot).
Sessions - sure he's a liar. But I read that attached materials, including Session's letter to Huber and Boyd's letter to Goodlatte. To a highly experienced Washington bureaucrat (c'est vrai, c'est moi) both are examples of appearing to do something while doing nothing at all. The only remarkable thing about those papers is that Sessions signed off on the letter to Huber (not a directive, and containing no directions other than "check the issue and use your judgment"), and I interpret that to be a signal from Boyd that Huber need not check back to cover his bets; Boyd was getting Sessions to tell Huber that they were doing the old rope-a-dope on Goodlatte.
Which may be why the letter did not get ID'd in the initial FOIA response, because it was not "a directive."
This set of correspondence has all the earmarks of regular congressional mail management by a cabinet office, not an effort to execute DiJiT's desires to prosecute HRC. That could be going on somewhere, but these papers ain't it.
I'm still somewhat obsessed with the Omar/ Israeli / affair. Have read numerous takes on this. Here in a piece by Katie Halper is something I was not aware of: Chuck Schumer's message at an AIPAC meeting:
"And if politicians and the mainstream media were sincerely concerned with bigotry, they would have condemned the theocratic, Islamophobic and Jewish chauvinist statement of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D.-NY) in his March 2017 address to AIPAC about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. “Of course, we say it is our land, the Torah says it,” he said, but Arabs and Palestinians …
… don’t believe in the Torah. So that’s the reason there is not peace…and that is why we, in America, must stand strong with Israel through thick and thin." (she has the video to back this up.)
Marie mentioned Obama's short-sightedness yesterday––if we can call it that––re: certain foreign policy decisions and I certainly agree with her assessment but I couldn't help remembering the apoplexy over–---
One: Obama wore a tan suit during a press meeting
Two: Obama's walk coming down from a plane–-not presidential (this was started by Trump who I figure would give his two nuts for the body and athletic prowess of Obama.
Three: No ketsup on Obama's hot dogs: "that is sooo unAmerican"
Silly things but oh, my, how seriously the little foxes reacted and now when they try like hell to paint bright red lipstick on their PIG, they are out for blood to denigrate, embarrass, and smear any of them sassy libruls, especially them different colored womens in the House.
S0––more decorum, ladies, tip toe lightly around certain issues so as not to offend. After all, that's how we get things done in the congress–-that's how we operate and that's why we have failed.