The Commentariat -- November 6, 2016
Afternoon Update:
** Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "The F.B.I. informed Congress on Sunday that it has not changed its conclusions about Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server as secretary of state, removing a dark cloud that has been hanging over her campaign two days before Election Day. James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director, said in a letter to members of Congress that 'based on our review, we have not changed our conclusions that we expressed in July with respect to Secretary Clinton.'.... In the immediate term, the letter removes a cloud that has hung over the Clinton campaign since Mr. Comey announced his agents were reviewing new emails that might be related to an investigation into Mrs. Clinton that ended in July. But Mr. Comey's move is sure to raise new questions from Democrats. Most important: Why did Mr. Comey raise the specter of wrongdoing before agents had even read the emails, especially since it took only days to determine they were not significant?" -- CW ...
... Tom Hamburger & Rosalind Heldermann of the Washington Post: "Comey wrote that investigators had worked 'around the clock' to review all the emails found on a device used by former congressman Anthony Weiner that had been sent to or from Clinton and that 'we have not changed our conclusions expressed in July.'... The three-paragraph letter was sent to the chairman of the Homeland Security, Judiciary, Appropriations and Oversight and Government Reform and was copied to the ranking members of those committees. Comey said the FBI had performed an 'extraordinary amount of high quality work' to conduct the review." -- CW ...
... CW: Meanwhile, as Comey forced his staff to do an "extraordinary amount of high quality work," millions of Americans were voting their choice for president & on down the ballot under the mistaken impression that the Democratic nominee for president was sexting Anthony Weiner. But no harm done, Jim! ...
... AND Patrick obtained exclusive video of Jim Comey's presser announcing the FBI's decision:
... I'll link to a copy of the transcript as soon as one becomes available.
Ed Pilkington of the Guardian: "Joe Arpaio, the controversial sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, who has been charged with criminal contempt in a racial discrimination case, is preparing to deploy his deputies at polling stations on election day in a move that voting rights activists warn amounts to intimidation..., given the sheriff's track record of ethnic profiling, harassment and organized raids directed against undocumented Hispanic people. Arpaio is locked in a tense re-election fight on 8 November, as a growing number of Latino citizens and allied progressives seek to oust him as sheriff after 23 years in the post." -- CW
New York Times reporters are updating campaign events today. -- CW
Sarah Wheaton of Politico: "President Barack Obama wanted to personally set the record straight on Sunday after Donald Trump falsely accused the president of yelling at a protester days earlier. 'The point is, he thought it was OK to just lie,' Obama said at a campaign rally for Hillary Clinton in Kissimmee, Florida. 'Wasn't even trying to be sneaky about it. That says something about how unacceptable behavior has become normal.' Obama recalled his event two days earlier in North Carolina, when he urged a crowd to go easy on a protester, apparently an elderly veteran, saying the man had earned their respect and had a right to free speech. Later that night, however, Trump told his own crowd that Obama 'spent so much time screaming at a protester.' Media organizations quickly called Trump out for, as one CNN headline put it, the 'wild misrepresentation,' and PolitiFact gave Trump a 'pants on fire.' But Obama clearly wanted to set the record straight himself, saying Trump 'just made it up.'" -- CW ...
Now, if somebody can't handle a Twitter account, they can't handle the nuclear codes. -- President Obama, at a campaign rally in Kissimmee, Fla., Sunday ...
...The Narcissist in November. Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "Aboard his gold-plated jumbo jet..., [Donald Trump] does not like to ... be alone..., insisting that aides stay up and keep talking to him. He prefers the soothing, whispery voice of his son-in-law. He requires constant assurance that his candidacy is on track.... In the final days of the presidential campaign, Mr. Trump's candidacy is a jarring split screen: the choreographed show of calm and confidence orchestrated by his staff, and the neediness and vulnerability of a once-boastful candidate now uncertain of victory.... Aides to Mr. Trump have finally wrested away the Twitter account that he used to ... savage his rivals. But offline, Mr. Trump still privately muses about all of the ways he will punish his enemies after Election Day, including a threat to fund a 'super PAC' with vengeance as its core mission.... Mr. Trump's campaign is no longer making headlines with embarrassing staff shake-ups. But that has left him with a band of squabbling and unfireable advisers, with confusing roles and an inability to sign off on basic tasks. A plan to encourage early voting in Florida went unapproved for weeks. The result is chaotic." -- CW ...
... Libby Nelson of Vox: "What [the NYT report] truly demonstrates is just how much effort it takes to get Trump to act anything like a normal presidential candidate, and how damaging he's likely to be when he's no longer under those restraints." -- CW
George Packer of the New Yorker has a long read on how the Democratic Party has lost the white working-class voters, and if/how Hillary Clinton can win them back. --safari
Chas Danner of New York: "Following the news that one Bernie-Sanders-supporting electoral college voter in Washington State was vowing he would not cast his vote for Hillary Clinton if and when she wins the state's popular vote, another electoral college voter in the state has told the Seattle Times that he isn't sure he'll support her either.... Clinton is widely expected to win Washington State on Election Day and thus be pledged its 12 electoral votes toward the 270 she needs to defeat Donald Trump and win the presidency. There is no constitutional requirement for Electoral College voters to support the winner of the popular vote in their state, but some states penalize such 'faithless electors.'...." --safari
Joe Romm of ThinkProgress: "In the last week, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has repeatedly vowed to zero out all federal spending on clean energy research and development. And the plan he released would also zero out all other spending on anything to do with climate change, including the government's entire climate science effort. You may have missed this bombshell because team Trump did not spell out these cuts overtly. In a campaign where the media has 'utterly failed to convey the policy stakes in the election,' as Vox's Matt Yglesias explained recently, it appears only Bloomberg BNA bothered to follow up with the campaign to get at the truth of Trump's radical proposal." Upon further questioning, the Trump campaign is just making shit up. Surprise! --safari
Robert Mackey of The Intercept: "Introducing Donald Trump at a rally in Reno on Saturday, the chairman of the Nevada Republican party complained to a largely white crowd that voters in another part of the state, with a large Latino population, were allowed to vote late the night before.... What [Michael] McDonald [the GOP chairman] failed to explain is that some polling places were open later than 7 p.m., and polls routinely stay open late to allow anyone waiting in line when they close to cast their ballots. Despite these facts, and the chilling sound of a politician casting doubt on the rights of members of an ethnic minority to exercise their right to vote, Trump then claimed that the votes cast in a Clark County polling place in a Mexican supermarket -- most likely against him -- were evidence of fraud. 'It's being reported that certain key Democratic polling locations in Clark County were kept open for hours and hours beyond closing time to bus and bring Democratic voters in,' Trump said. 'Folks, it's a rigged system.'" --safari ...
... Jeremy Diamond of CNN: "The chairman of the Nevada Republican Party argued Saturday during a rally [in Reno] for Donald Trump that polling locations stayed open late to accommodate long lines of voters 'so a certain group could vote.'... The chairman, Michael McDonald, was referring to a polling location in Clark County, which is 30% Hispanic and the county in which Las Vegas is located. The polling location stayed open to allow voters who were already in line -- many of whom waited more than two hours, according to local reports -- to cast their ballots." CW: Yeah, Mike, we like to call that "certain group," "registered voters," and we're wondering why the county hasn't provided enough polling places so they could do so timely. ...
......Steven Shepard of Politico: "Early-vote statistics from battleground states with large Hispanic populations show record turnout among a bloc that has voted at a lower rate than whites or blacks in past elections...In Florida, which tracks turnout by race and ethnicity, Hispanics have so far cast about 14 percent of the 5.7 million early and absentee ballots cast.... That follows Florida Democratic strategist Steve Schale's analysis, which notes that, through Wednesday alone, Hispanic turnout in 2016 had already exceeded -- by 170,000 ballots -- Hispanic early voting in the entire 2012 cycle.... Similar signs suggest Democrats are seeing robust Hispanic turnout in Arizona as well. And even Texas, considered out of reach for Democrats, is seeing asurge across the state's most populous counties." --safari...
... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "Within minutes [of a scuffle at Trump's Reno rally]..., Donald Trump Jr., and top social media aide Dan Scavino -- passed along later-disproven claims that the GOP nominee had just survived an 'assassination attempt.' And on stage at Trump's next rally in Denver, Father Andre Mahanna said Trump had survived 'an attempt of murder.' Even as late as Sunday morning, Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway was playing up the idea that this was a "Democratic plant" trying to disrupt Trump's rally.... Trump Jr. also passed along a claim that the person who caused the disturbance had a gun.... And he retweeted a suggestion, shortly after the incident, that Democrats were to blame for violence at Trump rallies.... None of these things appear to be true, based upon the evidence at hand." More on this ridiculous story below. The only person who was under threat was the protester, a Republican. -- CW
Robert Mackey: "Donald Trump's advertising campaign is ending as it started, with footage of migrants in Europe, lifted from the internet and passed off as video of immigrants streaming across the border from Mexico into the United States. Near the start of the new ad, as the candidate complains of 'massive illegal immigration,' thousands of people are shown walking along a highway...That video, however, was not shot along the southern border of the U.S. -- where Trump has promised to build a great wall -- but in Hungary, at the height of the migrant crisis last year.... If the footage was used in error, it would be an odd slip, since the Trump campaign was ridiculed for doing the exact same thing in their first ad, at the start of the year...It seems possible, however, that the ad is intentionally misleading, and hopes to conflate the situation in the U.S. with the huge number of migrants seeking refuge in Europe from wars in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan." --safari
Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: Which party will control the Senate is anybody's guess. -- CW
Presidential Race
Nate Silver: "It's time for 10 questions about where where the race stands.... Hillary Clinton is ahead in most national polls.... The map is much broader than it was in 2012. Clinton's 'firewall' has crumbled to some extent with the tighter polls in New Hampshire, although Nevada -- where early-voting data portends a much more favorable outcome for Clinton than polls do -- could potentially replace it." Trump is doing better in the Electoral College vote than in the national polls. -- CW ...
... Ryan Grim of the Huffington Post explains why he thinks Silver's "unskewing" of presidential polling data -- or as Grim calls it, "monkeying around with the numbers" -- misrepresents Trump's strength. Clinton has a considerably higher chance of winning the election than Silver's model projects, Grim writes. ...
... Karen Tumulty & Dan Balz of the Washington Post: "... the wildest U.S. presidential race in memory has grown more competitive in most of the battleground states, although Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton continues to hold a broader path to victory than Republican Donald Trump. The political map suggests that Clinton can lose several key states long assumed to be in her column and still reach the 270 electoral votes she needs to win. Trump, meanwhile, has a new reason for optimism, as a growing number of states appear potentially within his grasp. But to win, he would have to take nearly all of them." -- CW ...
... Nate Cohn of the New York Times: "Hillary Clinton has a consistent and clear advantage in states worth at least 270 electoral votes, even if the race has undoubtedly tightened over the last few weeks. But even that understates the challenge facing Mr. Trump's campaign: It's not at all obvious where he has his best chance of breaking through, making it harder for him to concentrate his efforts over the last days of the campaign. This is not to say that Mr. Trump can't win. The polls could be off across the board. But even if he wins Arizona, Iowa, Ohio, Utah, North Carolina, Florida and New Hampshire, he's still short of a victory." -- CW ...
... Eric Levitz of New York: "The biggest news in the presidential race Saturday morning comes out of Nevada, where a Friday night spike in Latino early voting appears to have given the Democrats a bigger pre-Election Day advantage than they enjoyed there in 2012 -- when Barack Obama won the state by nearly seven points. Thus, barring an unprecedented (though, possible) spike in rural white turnout on Election Day, Hillary Clinton will take Nevada. And if she does, Trump's path to the presidency narrows to tightrope...." -- CW ...
... Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Hispanic voters in key states surged to cast their ballots in the final days of early voting this weekend, a demonstration of political power that lifted Hillary Clinton's presidential hopes and threatened to block off Donald J. Trump's path to the White House. In Florida, energized by the groundswell of Latino support and hoping to drive even more voters to the polls, Mrs. Clinton visited a handful of immigrant communities on Saturday and rallied Democrats in a town filled with Hispanic and Caribbean migrants." -- CW: All I can say is, "Muchas gracias a mis amigos."
Singing in the Rain:
Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post seems shocked & amazed that Tim Kaine would state the obvious: "some officials at the FBI are 'actively working' to support ... Donald Trump." Maybe Ed hasn't been reading the same newspapers I have -- like the WashPo. Anyway, good interview:
Nolan McCaskill of Politico: "Donald Trump was rushed off stage by Secret Service agents after a disturbance in the crowd at a Reno, Nevada rally Saturday. Amid scenes of chaos near the front of the stage, a man was escorted out of the crowd by agents. Two Nevada Republican sources who spoke with multiple attendees who witnessed the incident said a scuffle broke out when a man appeared to raise a sign in protest of Trump. Amid the jockeying, someone yelled 'gun,' setting off a panic just before Secret Service reacted and ushered Trump off stage. The Republican nominee appeared unharmed back on stage several minutes later, finishing his speech.... The Trump campaign's social director Jack Posobiec tweeted, 'Hillary ran away from rain today. Trump is back on stage minutes after assassination attempt.'" CW: An assassination attempt? Really? I'm guessing the only part of that statement that's correct is "ass." ...
... Update. Candace Smith & John Santucci of ABC News: "Sources within the Trump campaign told ABC News that the commotion started when someone in the rally yelled 'Gun!' but said that no gun was found. When contacted by ABC News, Reno Police Department said that they had little detail, only that they had initially been informed that there was a 'medical incident' that precipitated the commotion." -- CW ...
... CW: So no gun, but medical emergency. What was the plan: assassination by projectile vomit? (Yeah, you're right; I don't know enough about what happened to make light of the incident. But I just can't get over the level of hyperbole that comes out of those Trumpsters.) ...
... Update 2: Ashley Parker & Michael Barbaro of the New York Times: "A man thought to have the gun was apprehended, but no weapon was found, the Secret Service said, and the man was released. Reporters from The Guardian and KRNV, a Reno television station, who interviewed the man reported on Twitter that he had been holding a 'Republicans Against Trump' sign." CW: Okay then, assassination by insult. But Trump is really, really brave! And take a look at the video above. Doesn't Clinton look, like, totally petrified by a little downpour? ...
The people who attacked me -- I'm not blaming them. I'm blaming Donald Trump's hate rhetoric.... The fact that I got beat up today, that's just showing what he's doing to his crowds. -- Austyn Crites, after a Trump crowd beat him up during a rally
... Trump's America. Paul Lewis & Tom Silverstone of the Guardian: "The man whose protest saw Donald Trump rushed off the stage by Secret Service agents has said the Republican nominee's supporters turned on him when he held up a sign reading: 'Republicans against Trump'. The man, who identified himself as Austyn Crites from Reno, told the Guardian he was holding the sign at a rally when Trump supporters wrestled him to the ground. The 33-year-old -- who says he has been a registered Republican for about six years -- said he was kicked, punched and choked, and feared for his life when the crowd turned on him at the gathering in Reno, Nevada.... The crowd piled on him, he said, kicking, punching, holding him on the ground and grabbing his testicles. He said he ... turn[ed] his head to the side to maintain an airway open as he was being choked by one man...." -- CW
Nolan McCaskill: "Donald Trump on Saturday complimented a state official who called Hillary Clinton a 'c[unt]' and cited him as evidence that he's winning Texas." -- CW
Josh Marshall: Trump's closing ad is a two-minute anti-Semitic dog whistle. "I'm not even sure whether it makes sense to call them dog whistles. The four readily identifiable American bad guys in the ad are Hillary Clinton, George Soros (Jewish financier), Janet Yellen (Jewish Fed Chair) and Lloyd Blankfein (Jewish Goldman Sachs CEO).... [Trump's narration is a string of] standard anti-Semitic themes and storylines, using established anti-Semitic vocabulary lined up with high profile Jews as the only Americans other than Clinton who are apparently relevant to the story.... This is an ad intended to appeal to anti-Semites and spread anti-Semitic ideas.... This is intentional and by design. It is no accident." Included ad. -- CW
The Mogul as President. David Barstow of the New York Times: "Regardless of how carefully the Trumps [say they will] police potential conflicts of interest, critics have been quick to note that Mr. Trump’s tax proposals alone would clearly benefit his business empire, not to mention the estate his children could expect to inherit on his death. Less clear is how Mr. Trump's oversight of the Internal Revenue Service might impact an agency that has had Mr. Trump or his partnerships under nearly constant audit for more than two decades. Then there are all the times Mr. Trump has used his business empire as a backdrop during his campaign -- at times combining campaign statements with naked promotions for his properties...." -- CW
The Biggest Liar. Daniel Dale & Tanya Talaga of the Toronto Star: "The Star's Daniel Dale has been fact checking Trump's public statements on the U.S. election campaign trail since September 15. Below, find the complete list of the false statements Dale has found. After that (very long) list, Tanya Talaga examines the errors, exaggerations and lies for patterns." -- CW ...
... Daniel Politi of Slate: "The 494 falsehoods are sorted into 20 categories and analyzed. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the category that has the most falsehoods is 'Clinton's policies,' followed by 'Clinton' corruption,' and then polls. But in a close fourth place is a 'WTF' category, illustrating how some of the lies that Trump tells on the trail 'remain hard to explain.'" -- CW ...
... Politico Magazine lists "the 155 craziest things Trump said this election." -- CW ...
... In case you're wondering what Trump has said (lied) about the Abedin e-mails that are the subject of Jim Comey's Congressional Republican Appeasement Letter, Sean Lavery has a nice rundown in the New Yorker. If Abedin took Clinton's dog to the vet for a booster shot, Trump would cite it as proof Clinton had tried to poison the pup. (Also too, the FBI's New York office would leak news of an impending Clinton indictment, and Congress would demand a special prosecutor & appropriate $25MM for a thorough investigation of DoggyGate.) -- CW
Trumpsky Dachas, Fla., U.S.A. Tom Hamburger, et al., of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump's positive statements about Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Russia-aligned policy positions have prompted critics to question the extent of the Republican presidential nominee's financial connection to that country. While he has denied having investments in Russia, the experience in Sunny Isles[, Fla.,] and other Trump-branded communities shows how Russians have invested in him. In addition to the towers of 'Little Moscow,' Russian investors have been a valuable source of capital for Trump buildings in nearby Hollywood, Fla., and in a large complex in Panama City, Panama. Trump does not own these buildings, but, like many Trump projects around the world, he licensed the use of his name and took a percentage of the profits from the initial sales of units. Real estate agents say there have been fewer Russian investors in Florida condos since U.S.-imposed sanctions on Russia took effect in 2014. They predict that the market will improve if Trump wins and reconsiders the sanctions." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Paul Campos on the news that the paper of record, the National Enquirer, paid $150K to spike a story about an affair Donald Trump (allegedly) had while his wife Melania was pregnant (story linked yesterday): "Of course the real scandal here is that the Enquirer did this after running, at the most crucial juncture of the GOP primaries, an unsubstantiated story about Ted Cruz having an affair, and a completely hallucinogenic story about Cruz's father taking part in the murder of JFK. That Trump is a completely amoral pig who is more than willing to have sex with other women while his wife is otherwise occupied in a maternity ward is not exactly breaking news, although maybe it should give pause to his biggest evangelical boosters. (Who am I kidding?)." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
CNN "correspondent" Corey Lewandowski, center, "posing with current Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway and campaign spokesperson Hope Hicks, in New Hampshire at a Trump rally [Friday] ... with the hashtag #Teamwork." -- Mediaite... Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Margaret Sullivan of the Washington Post: "The Enquirer, which Trump has repeatedly said deserves to win a Pulitzer Prize for its revealing of former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards's 'love child,' also published an evidence-free story on Saturday that Hillary Clinton is addicted to narcotics. Combine this with the debunked reporting by Fox News of a likely Clinton indictment after the election, and then add in the much-tweeted photo of CNN's paid pundit Corey Lewandowski shoulder-to-shoulder with Trump's campaign brass, labeled 'teamwork,' and the conclusion is obvious: We're ending this campaign deep in the journalistic gutter.... Lewandowski's hiring at CNN after leaving the Trump campaign is one of the worst embarrassments in a campaign season in which the competition for such a dubious prize is fierce indeed.... Meanwhile, fake news is everywhere. The Drudge Report, in one of the most bizarre examples, has been promoting [an absurdly false] story about Clinton campaign adviser John Podesta drinking bodily fluids at a secret Satanist dinner." -- CW
Rosalind Helderman & Mary Jordan of the Washington Post: "Melania Trump ..., an immigrant from Slovenia, was paid for 10 modeling jobs in 1996 before she received legal authorization to work in the United States, the Associated Press reported Friday night.... [Story linked yesterday.] The finding contradicts repeated statements from both Melania and Donald Trump, who have insisted that she scrupulously followed U.S. immigration law when she came to the United States.... [Donald Trump] has based much of his campaign on a vow to crack down on illegal immigration -- including deporting people who have violated the terms of their immigration status.... In a speech [Melania Trump] delivered Thursday in a Philadelphia suburb, she again highlighted her legal immigration status.... Trump has promised to deport people who have violated the terms of their visas.... Immigration experts say questions remain about how Melania was able to obtain her green card in 2001.... She has said she was granted the permit because of 'extraordinary ability,' but experts say that visa category is generally reserved for people whose accomplishment is at the level of a Nobel Prize winner. It would be unusual, they say, for a model with no college degree to qualify." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Christie Confined to New Jersey -- Complains Ankle Bracelet Is Too Tight. Jen Kirby of New York: "New Jersey governor Chris Christie is reportedly no longer taking a weekend trip to New Hampshire to campaign for ... Donald Trump. The cancellations in the battleground state come less than a day after two of his former allies were convicted in the Bridgegate scandal. Christie ... once again, denied involvement in the political scheme after the verdict came down Friday -- though revelations from the trial indicate otherwise. Either way, it's not the best look for a surrogate of a candidate whose top campaign theme revolves around locking up his political rival." -- CW
Wherein Wolf Blitzer, of all people, catches America's Mayor in a series of lies. Who knew Rudy could tap-dance? Maybe it's the bowtie. -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... What's Rudy Getting for His Trumpiness? Why, Cash, of Course. Wayne Barrett in the Daily Beast: "Make America Number 1, the pro-Trump super-PAC controlled by hedge-fund billionaire Robert Mercer and his daughter Rebekah, has paid law firms associated with Rudy Giuliani $563,003 in 2015 and 2016.... On its website, the group described itself as 'supporting conservative principles, upholding the rule of law, and opposing ethically challenged candidates.... It's (sic) first special project entitled, 'Defeat Crooked Hillary', will shed light on what the Clinton's (sic) want to keep in the dark.'" -- CW ...
... CW BTW: If you're thinking Gov. Bridgegate might be out of the running for most lawless attorney general since John Mitchell (sorry, Ed Meese; nice try though), quit smiling. On paper, Rudy is just as qualified as Gov. Chrisco to fill the AG slot, and he is certainly Drumpf's type of "lawman."
New York Times: "The New York Times is inviting readers to take advantage of its reporting, analysis and commentary from the lead-up through the aftermath of the 2016 election. Readers will have unlimited access to NYTimes.com for 72 hours from 12:01 a.m. ET on Monday, November 7 until 11:59 p.m. ET on Wednesday, November 9."
Election News
Chris Geidner of BuzzFeed: "The Supreme Court on Saturday morning indicated that it doesn't want lower courts messing with election laws before Tuesday's election. Attempting to slow an ever-expanding map of pre-election litigation, the justices sent a message to lower courts that the time had passed for rulings that would change the way election laws are implemented for the upcoming election. In a brief, unsigned order on Saturday morning, the Supreme Court effectively reversed a Friday decision of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals -- putting a ruling from the appeals court on hold for now that had stopped enforcement of an Arizona law that made third-party collection of early voting ballots a felony. That complicated procedural, legal mess can be simplified to one short sentence: The Supreme Court said that the law in place when voting began in Arizona will remain in effect in Arizona through the election." -- CW
Tierney Sneed of TPM: "The federal judge overseeing a legal case involving a decades-old consent decree limiting the Republican National Committee's involvement in so-called 'ballot security' initiatives sided with the RNC Saturday. U.S. District Judge John Michael Vazquez denied the Democratic National Committee's requests to hold the Republican in contempt of court for allegedly violating the decree. He also denied the DNC's request to place an injunction on the RNC's alleged ballot security activities. Finally, he denied for now its request to extend by eight years the length of consent decree, which otherwise expires December 2017. The DNC had brought the legal action last month, with accusations that the RNC was assisting the Donald Trump campaign's poll watcher efforts. The judge said that the Democrats did not provide enough evidence to prove that Trump was acting as an 'agent' of the RNC, as the decree spells out that it applies only to the RNC and its agents." CW: Vazquez is an Obama appointee.
Way Beyond the Beltway
Alison Smale & Jack Ewing of the New York Times: "Volkswagen has been struggling for a year to repair the damage caused by a scandal over its cover-up of diesel emissions, promising honesty and transparency. Now historians are accusing the company of reverting to secretive ways on a different subject: the Nazi past of German automakers. Over the past 18 years, Volkswagen became something of a pioneer in revealing the company's employment of thousands of forced laborers during World War II. But it has abruptly parted ways with the company historian who helped make that possible." -- CW
Reader Comments (8)
This election has "exposed the capacity of a nation defined by its democratic ideals to fall victim to the same antidemocratic forces that have stymied third world countries."
Our heads are not held as high, our food for thought better be a wallop of humble pie, because our reputation has taken a nose dive and it's crash and burn time.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/06/us/politics/world-reaction-campaign.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0
I appreciate Ryan Grim's optimism (linked above) but I'm still worried about how all of the voter suppression tactics are going to play out on Tuesday. No letting up until Wednesday. And on Wednesday, the offense has to engage full tilt.
@NiskyGuy. Exactly. In addition, let's get a cracker jack smarty pants at the DCC who can immediately swing into action with a tight, comprehensive plan to get control of the House in 2018 and to ensure a Senate majority. Holder is working on a Democratic redistricting plan and Obama will join him. I hope they will engage in challenging voter suppression in all its forms.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/10/obamas-post-presidency-plan-take-on-gop-at-state-level.html
I think whatever happens on Tuesday the DNC needs to begin an immediate and thorough revamping. We need quality candidates and enough money and street smarts to get them elected. Blue dogs need to be viewed as DINOs. And this has to happen at the state and local levels as well. It took the Confederates years to gerrymander, rig, and steal their way into power. A Trump victory would be catastrophic but we will need to use his many horrible traits against him and the vile, craven mountebanks and cowards who countenanced and abetted his rise. And that plan should go forward full steam ahead no matter the outcome. Those who stood up for fascism need to pay.
If Clinton wins, the same course of action will be required. At present we have some decent potential candidates in the mix but we have to be mindful of baggage. It's true Clinton has had much thrown at her that is completely fictitious but she provided plenty of ammo from the get go. I'm not suggesting anodyne, vanilla candidates. Not at all. But we've seen that Confederates can lie, cheat, steal, and lie some more with very little repercussions while Democrats who cross the street when the light is against them get pulled up before congressional committees and charged with everything up to and including treason and infanticide.
Democrats need a consistent, coordinated, kick ass approach on all fronts. We can no longer be the guys who bring a knife to a gun fight. Especially when the other side has made knives illegal.
From the Coals to Newcastle Dept.
I meant to mention this the other day but if you spent all your time condemning every outrageous and insulting slander and lie vomited out of the orange word hole you'd be lucky to find time to sleep.
Shouting and strutting before a group that included Medal of Honor winners, Trump, who cannot deliver the tiniest, most insincere compliment without he pronounces himself just as, if not more worthy than those about to get the back of his left hand, declared himself equally in need of praise. Barely able to acknowledge that those whose bravery and honor in combat brought them hard won recognition, Little Trumpy climbed aboard his red tricycle and rode around the stage ringing his own bell, declaring that he's brave too. "Financially brave", whatever in the holy hell that means.
I suppose it means using other people's money to enrich himself at their expense. But this is the same self aggrandizing asshole who has declared that he would have been a Major League Baseball superstar if he felt like it and is as good as world class golfers, also the guy who tried to minimize the terrible sacrifices made by the families of wounded and dead service members by whining that he made sacrifices too: by bilking others to become a wealthy douchebag.
So, all you armed forces heroes, step aside. Financially Brave Donald is here!
This guy makes "despicable" seem respectable.
http://www.politicususa.com/2016/11/03/donald-trump-business-record-comparable-military-service.html
Here is Comey's presser about the letter he sent to congress today, saying that FBI completed the Weiner scan:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3FnpaWQJO0
The behavior of the FBI, obviously colluding as it has with the Hillary haters in Congress with their hints, sly winks and innuendo has made it so evident that they do have a political agenda and possess no moral compass, that they (and we) should not be surprised that no matter what they "conclude," their conclusions no matter how "correct," and no matter how timed invite massive doubt from both the Right and the Left, the one for their conclusions, the other for their methods.
So, the central question: Who has been watching the watchers? Apparently no one. Reluctantly have to lay this dereliction of duty on the present President, whom for all the good he has done most of us will sorely miss.
Said to my wife the other day: The only explanation I can think of for the FBI's actions is a so-far-secret reciprocity agreement between the FBI and Russia. We're apparently accepting ex-KGB operatives into the FBI, believing that a thug is a thug, regardless of country of origin, that thuggery is good and one thug is as good as another.
Doesn't say much good for our Department of Justice or our premier crime fighting organization. A massive house cleaning is in order.
I've read the Packer article twice. I tried, but I thought it was attempting to sound profound without saying much of anything useful. Lot of stuff that is pretty obvious and very few posits of solutions beyond "wow, half the US feels some form of anxiety, based on a bunch of reasons."
Seriously, I'm also confused by the constant labeling of a group as "elite." The term and its attached confusion, isn't confined to this article. Is elite economically defined, does it indicate an anti-intelligence bias, is it race based, birthright based?? There's no similar listing of the anxieties of the "elite" as there are of the anxieties of the "working class", which Packer at least recognizes is not a complete monolith. I guess the implication is that the "elite" is a group of undesirables whose composition and motives are universally understood. The term "elite" just seems to be a convenient place to park all your various anxieties.
"....the world is inexorably becoming Thomas Friedman’s." He completely lost me there. I don't know if it was Packer's intention, but, both Clinton and Obama emerged as nuanced and engaged thinkers, who are invested in improving everyone's lives.