The Commentariat -- Sept. 7, 2016
Afternoonish Update:
Carrie Dann of NBC News: "Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will face questions on military issues, national security and veterans affairs at NBC News' Commander-in-Chief Forum Wednesday, hosted by the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America." CW: The so-called forum, in which the candidates will answer questions separately (Clinton first), begins at 8 pm ET tonight.
International Man of Misery. Joshua Partlow & Gabriela Martinez of the Washington Post: "Mexico's finance minister, who helped arrange U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump's visit to Mexico, has resigned, further roiling a political crisis that has been swirling here in Trump's wake. In formally announcing the resignation Wednesday, President Enrique Peña Nieto offered no explanation for the departure of Luis Videgaray, one of his closest aides.... But it came a week after Trump appeared with Peña Nieto in a meeting that was widely viewed across Mexico as an embarrassment for the country's leader. Videgaray had served as a behind-the-scenes liaison to the Trump campaign and advocated for the visit over the opposition of other ministers. The departure of one of his closest allies showed the huge political cost the Trump visit has exacted for Peña Nieto.... The Trump meeting has now dropped him to the lowest point of his presidency, with a new movement even calling for his resignation." -- CW
Julie Zauzmer of the Washington Post reports that President Obama has selected a Muslim judge as a nominee for the federal bench, a first. "President Obama nominated a Washington lawyer Tuesday to a prestigious federal judgeship, making Abid Riaz Qureshi the first Muslim American tapped for the federal judiciary, according to advocacy organizations. Qureshi has defended the civil rights of Muslim clients in cases against the New York City subway system and the Transportation Security Administration. The White House announced Tuesday that Obama had chosen Qureshi, a partner at the District law firm Latham & Watkins LLP, to fill a spot on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia." ...
... Akhilleus: "Defended the civil rights of Muslims"?? You mean Muslims have rights? Get ready for an epidemic of Excorcist-like head spinning by the wingnuts. By the way, that US District is the same one from which the president chose Merrick Garland if that's any indication of the likely success, or not, of this nomination. I'm guessing just the word "Muslim" is enough for a blanket "NO" from Confederates.
Bundy Trial Begins. Maxine Bearstein of Oregon Live: Ammon Bundy wants to show up in court dressed like Hopalong Cassidy. "Before prospective jurors file into Courtroom 9A in the federal courthouse in downtown Portland Wednesday morning, the judge is expected to rule on whether the defendants in the Oregon standoff case who are in custody can wear neckties, belts and boots at trial as requested. Ammon Bundy's lawyer J. Morgan Philpot argued that his client is innocent until proven guilty, and should be allowed to wear the civilian clothes that he chooses. ..."
... Akhilleus: A suit and dress shirt is Bundy's definition of looking like a "disheveled slacker". He wants to look like a real rootin' tootin' cowboy, just like in the movies. Gotta love those wingers. Only the important stuff. His reason? He IS a real cowboy. Also, something, something, something, Bible. Yee-haw, y'all.
Igor Bobic of the Huffington Post: Dummkopf Drumpf Exposes His Own IRS Audit Lie. "... Donald Trump on Tuesday offered Hillary Clinton a deal. If the Democratic nominee somehow recovered and publicly released the 33,000 deleted emails she sent while serving as secretary of state, the real estate businessman would release his tax returns 'immediately.' ... Pressed ... about releasing his tax returns despite them being under audit, Trump attempted to turn the tables on Clinton ― and ended up unwittingly admitting there was nothing prohibiting him from doing so. 'When is she going to release her emails? She probably knows how to find it,' he said. 'Let her release her emails and I will release my tax returns immediately.'" ,,,
... Akhilleus: Stupid AND transparent are not the best qualities in combination. Of course tomorrow, Trumpado will dismiss this as "sarcasm".
*****
Esther Yu Hsi Lee of Think Progress: "During his visit to Laos on Tuesday, President Barack Obama promised to spend $90 million over the next three years to clear millions of unexploded bombs left behind during the Vietnam War, citing a 'moral obligation' to help Laos recover.... Laos became the most heavily bombed country in the world after it was carpet bombed between 1964 and 1973 when the United States funded The Secret War, a CIA-led war that rained down two million tons of bombs on Laos to cut off critical North Vietnamese supply routes.... Unexploded bombs have led to the deaths or maimings of more than 20,000 people since the war ended." --safari ...
... Mark Landler of the New York Times: "President Obama has grown accustomed to having his foreign travels overshadowed by terrorist attacks or police shootings. This might be the first time one of his trips has been marred by bad manners.... The trip has in fact yielded progress on several fronts, most notably climate change. But the miscues illustrate how poor planning, or even plain bad luck, can undermine a president's performance abroad. Worse, the dispute with [Philippines President Rodrigo] Duterte carries genuine risks for the United States, given the sensitive role of the Philippines as an American treaty ally that is engaged in an increasingly dangerous standoff with Beijing over maritime claims in the South China Sea." -- CW ...
Presidential Race
John Wagner & Jose DelReal of the Washington Post: "Hillary Clinton escalated her attacks on Donald Trump's character and qualifications for the presidency Tuesday, seizing on renewed scrutiny of an improper political donation that Trump made to Florida's attorney general as she accused him of concealing 'scams.'... 'The list goes on and on: the scams, the frauds, the questionable relationships, the business activities that have stiffed workers,' Clinton said.... In an interview with ABC that aired Tuesday, Trump scrutinized Clinton's appearance. 'Well, I just don't think she has a presidential look, and you need a presidential look,' he told ABC's David Muir." -- CW ...
... CW: You may want to watch Trump evade Muir's questions about what it means to "look presidential." Of course, we all know what he means: only men can be POTUS. Women should stay home and cater to their husbands' needs. This is just like his "jobs plan." What Trump will do to create more jobs is to create more jobs/Hillary Clinton doesn't look presidential because she doesn't have that presidential look. See more on the Muir interview in Dana Milbank's column, linked below. ...
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. I think the stakes are much higher in this debate and all the debates for Hillary Clinton because the expectations are higher for her because she's a seasoned politician. She's a seasoned debater. You know, yes we saw Donald Trump in the primaries debate for the first time, but he is a first-time politician. So um, for lots of reasons. Maybe it's not fair, but that's the way it is. The onus is on her. -- Dana Bash of CNN, Tuesday
Thanks, Dana, for explaining when it's fair for "journalists" to "Bash" a candidate while going easy on her opponent. If a person has never held public office, does he still have to be a good president? Or can he just fuck up the world and get a pass from CNN "journalists" because, hey, maybe he'll do better next term where he has some experience under his belt? Bash's defense of playing favorites would be more comical if it wasn't such a reprehensible example of journalistic malpractice. -- Constant Weader
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Jim Fallows updates previous comparisons on how the press report "'doubts,' 'questions,' 'clouds,' and the 'atmosphere of entitlement' that surrounded Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation, with the actual offenses, lawsuits, bankruptcies, unpaid contractors, anti-trust settlements, bogus-visa issues, and other legal problems surrounding Donald Trump and his enterprises." -- CW
John Wagner of the Washington Post: "... Hillary Clinton on Tuesday urged Donald Trump to 'come clean' about his finances and said she would continue to press the Republican to release his tax returns until Election Day, declaring that 'he clearly has something to hide.' Speaking to reporters aboard her campaign plane, Clinton said she was responding to a statement Trump made to ABC News that people aren't interested in his returns.... She ticked off a list of what she characterized as questionable aspects about Trump's finances, including the multiple times his companies have declared bankruptcy, repeated accusations of 'fraudulent behavior,' hundreds of millions of dollars in business debt and continuing controversy over Trump University. 'Clearly his tax returns tell a story that the American people deserve and need to know,' Clinton said." -- CW
Dallas Morning News Editors: "There is only one serious candidate on the presidential ballot in November. We recommend Hillary Clinton. We don't come to this decision easily. This newspaper has not recommended a Democrat for the nation's highest office since before World War II -- if you're counting, that's more than 75 years and nearly 20 elections.... Resume vs. resume, judgment vs. judgment, this election is no contest." CW: As Joe Biden would say, this is a big fucking deal.
** Danielle Allen, in a Washington Post op-ed: "The 58-page FBI memo on Hillary Clinton's email usage as secretary of state is a gripping must-read.... Clinton's mistake was, as she has said, to have decided to use a private server. There's not much duplicity, deceit or intention to evade to be found in this memo. What the document does reveal is Clinton's colossal failure to understand the monumental responsibility she took on with her choice; namely, the direct duty to archive public records.... This is what jumps out of the memo. The story of stuff that is missing, or turned in late, or not initially acknowledged to exist, or accidentally saved in inappropriate places only to be deleted later by low-level staff, appears to be mainly a tale of a bumbling group not remotely close to being equipped to handle, at a public-records standard, the material for which they were responsible. My favorite example is the laptop that either went missing in the U.S. mail or got lost in an office move." -- CW ...
... The FBI memo is here (pdf). ...
... Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), Chair of the House Committee on Harassing Democrats, has announced plans to harass Hillary Clinton as long as he lives and breathes. (CW paraphrase) "On Tuesday, Mr. Chaffetz asked the Justice Department for the second time in two months to investigate Mrs. Clinton. Citing newly released F.B.I. documents, he requested the department look into whether emails had been illegally deleted from her email server. Mr. Chaffetz has scheduled two hearings for the next week related to Mrs. Clinton, and he said in an interview on Tuesday that his inquiries may extend past November.... 'I would be derelict in my duties to drop it now or after the election and let it go," he said. Hillary Clinton took Chaffetz's fake investigation in stride: 'I believe I have created so many jobs in the sort of conspiracy theory machine factory because honestly, they never quit. They keep coming back, and here's another one." -- CW ...
... ** Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Digby in Salon: "The fact that [Hillary Clinton has] been dogged by political enemies and investigated by special prosecutors, the media and Congress with unlimited budgets and every possible means of getting to the truth and has been exonerated doesn't seem to register [with people]. Indeed, the fact-checkers all find her to be more honest than virtually anyone in politics while Donald Trump, by contrast, lies more than he tells the truth. To understand how this came to be, go back to a column from 1996 in The New York Times by vicious right-wing columnist William Safire who first dubbed her a 'congenital liar.'... For many reasons, not the least of which was simple sexism, it was set in stone that this feminist, lawyer first lady was devious, calculating and power mad -- Madame Defarge and Evita rolled into one.... The political press has filtered its coverage of her through that lens ever since." -- CW ...
... Glenn Greenwald: "But this emerging narrative that Clinton should not only enjoy the support of a virtually united elite class but also a scrutiny-free march into the White House is itself quite dangerous. Clinton partisans in the media -- including those who regard themselves as journalists -- will continue to reflexively attack all reporting that reflects negatively on her, but that reporting should nonetheless continue with unrestrained aggression." -- CW
Harper Neidig of the Hill: "Donald Trump blasted Hillary Clinton on Tuesday night over recently released FBI documents from an investigation into the former secretary of State's private email server.... 'The new revelations about Hillary Clinton from the just-released FBI documents make more clear than ever that she fails to meet the minimum standard for running for public office,' Trump said during a speech in Greenville, N.C. 'If she applied for a low-level job at the State Department today ... she couldn't even get a security clearance based on what she's done. ... People who have nothing to hide don't smash phones with hammers,' Trump said. 'People who have nothing to hide don't bleach their emails, or destroy evidence to keep it from being publicly archived as required under federal law.'" ...
By Driftglass.... CW: Up till there, Trump was on mostly solid ground, though, as usual, hyperbolic. But still he couldn't stop: "'No one takes all the risks Hillary Clinton took unless they are trying to cover up massive crimes,' he added."
Man with No Plan. Ben Schreckinger of Politico: "On his first day in office, Donald Trump would order the military to formulate a plan within one month for defeating ISIL, he said on Tuesday. Previously, Trump has maintained he has a plan to defeat ISIL (also referred to as ISIS) that he did not want to discuss to avoid tipping his hand to America's enemies.... In June, Trump rebuffed Fox News host Greta Van Susteren's attempts to extract the details of his 'foolproof' plan, explaining, 'If I run, and If I win, I don't want the enemy to know what I;m doing. Unfortunately, I'll probably have to tell at some point, but there is a method of defeating them quickly and effectively and having total victory.'" -- CW
I contribute to everybody. I've given to Democrats. I've given to Hillary.... I've got to give to them. because when I want something I get it. When I call, they kiss my ass. It's true. They kiss my ass. It's true. -- Donald Trump, in Iowa, January 2016 ...
... Steve Eder & Meghan Twohey of the Washington Post: "Donald "Trump's history of political giving stretches back decades -- and has repeatedly drawn regulatory scrutiny [CW: and findings against Trump].... In the 1980s, Mr. Trump was compelled to testify under oath before New York State officials after he directed tens of thousands of dollars to the president of the New York City Council through myriad subsidiary companies to evade contribution limits. In the 1990s, the Federal Election Commission fined Mr. Trump for exceeding the annual limit on campaign contributions by $47,050, the largest violation in a single year. And in 2000, the New York State lobbying commission imposed a $250,000 fine for Mr. Trump's failing to disclose the full extent of his lobbying of state legislators.... In recent years, Mr. Trump has made tens of thousands of dollars in contributions to at least four state attorneys general -- [Pam] Bondi of Florida and Greg Abbott of Texas, both Republicans, and the Democrats Eric Schneiderman of New York and Kamala Harris of California -- whose offices have looked into complaints about Trump University." ...
... CW: This is currently (5 am ET) the top story on the Times' online main page. Looks as if some editor has reacted to recent commentary on the media's failure to vet Trump's actual misdeeds while going full-tilt on Clinton's "shadows" and "clouds." ...
... Jeff Horwitz, et al., of the AP add details that finger both Trump & Bondi as liars and opportunists. ...
... A Favor among Friends. Arturo Garcia of RawStory: "Donald Trump hosted a fundraiser for Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi's (R) re-election campaign less than a year after she decided not to investigate Trump University, the Huffington Post reported. The March 2014 event at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach cost the state Republican Party $4,855.65 -- a far cry from the $140,000 Trump later charged his own presidential campaign for use of the facility. Tickets to the event cost $3,000 per person." --safari ...
... Here's the HuffPost story, by Christina Wilkie & others. ...
... Scott Maxwell of The Orlando Sentinel: "I understand the global interest in Trump. But when a prosecutor has been asked to investigate someone -- and instead takes $25,000 in campaign cash from him -- it's the prosecutor who most needs probing. That's why I began digging into this way back in 2013 -- long before Trump was even a candidate for the White House.... This has gone on long enough. Bondi's actions need to be probed by an independent body.... Besides, the Trump media circus will soon move on to the next outrage, gaffe or accusation du jour. Floridians, meanwhile, will still be stuck with an attorney general who thinks it's OK to take fat campaign checks from would-be subjects of her office's investigations." --safari ...
... ** Scammer-in-Chief. S.V. Date of the Huffington Post: "... Trump's campaign..., set to receive tens of millions of dollars of other people's money [beginning in May 2016], finally sent five- and six-figure checks to Trump's properties for events that had happened months earlier. In all, just shy of $1 million went out the door on May 18. More than $600,000 of that went to Trump-owned businesses, with $423,000 of it going to Mar-a-Lago alone, which hosted that March 15 party, an earlier one on March 1 and a news conference on March 11.... Paul S. Ryan from the Campaign Legal Center watchdog group ... called Trump's heavy spending on his own properties 'unprecedented' and said the timing of the payments is curious.... 'It looks like a candidate who is pocketing donors' money.'... Even as Trump has skimped on traditional expenses like campaign staff or advertising, he has spent campaign money lavishly on his own businesses." -- CW ...
... BUT He Stiffed the Kids. Kelly Weill of the Daily Beast: "The pre-teen dance troupe that briefly became a national sensation after they performed for Donald Trump are suing the self-proclaimed billionaire's presidential campaign for stiffing them.... The USA Freedom Kids said in a newly filed lawsuit the Trump campaign broke verbal agreements for performances at two events and refused to pay even a $2,500 stipend for the group's travel expenses." -- CW
** "Blind Trust." Dana Milbank: "Asked by ABC News's David Muir on Monday afternoon whether he'd be releasing his income-tax returns, as every other major-party presidential nominee has done for 40 years, Trump [said]..., 'I think people don't care.'... No? A Quinnipiac University poll two weeks ago found that 74 percent of likely voters, including 62 percent of Republicans, think Trump should release his tax returns.... Trump's excuse, that he's waiting for audits to end, has no legal justification. His own accountants have said his audits from 2002 to 2008 have been 'closed,' yet his returns from those years remain unreleased. Do the unreleased returns illustrate shady connections? The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Trump's real estate investments 'brought the GOP nominee into regular contact with people who had ties to organized crime.' Do they show (as earlier returns did) that he paid little or nothing in taxes? Do they confirm reporting by The Post's David A. Fahrenthold that Trump has been stingy with charities?"
** Washington Post Editors: "Melania Trump, like many an immigrant, may be reluctant to delve too publicly into the details of her earliest days in the United States. Yet it is [Donald] Trump's own double standards, on immigration and other issues, that invited questions -- questions he himself said publicly would be addressed. The country is still waiting." CW: Read the whole editorial; the writer succinctly lays out Trump's hypocrisy on this & other matters.
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Trump Immigration Policy = "Mass Deportation." Dara Lind of Vox: "The media really loves the idea that Donald Trump is changing his position on immigration. In particular, they really love the theory that Trump secretly has a plan to legalize unauthorized immigrants.... There's just one problem: There is no secret plan. Period. Donald Trump's immigration policy has been fairly consistent -- and much clearer than the media presumes.... More unauthorized immigrants would be deported, all unauthorized immigrants would be at risk of deportation, and it would be much harder for any immigrant -- legal or otherwise -- to enter the US. That's it. That's all." -- CW
Jamil Smith of MTV: "Speaking before the first predominantly black audience of his 15-month presidential campaign, Trump's pleasantries and platitudes were white noise -- no pun intended.... Trump's campaign ... organized the Detroit visit to give him a safe space, protecting him from any substantive interactions with the people he was supposed to be addressing.... In politics, white candidates get a lot of praise for just standing alongside a certain kind of black people -- the 'good ones.'... Seeing Trump dip his toe into black America should have inspired universal ridicule, but instead, we saw absurd narratives and headlines like 'Trump Brings Message of Unity to Black Church in Detroit.'" Via Paul Waldman. -- CW ...
... CW: As Smith points out, Trump didn't offer one policy proposal aimed at helping minorities. Okay, we know almost no Republicans want to give minorities better prospects. Given that hard, cold fact, there is one Trump card Donaldo could have played that might have gained him some (albeit undeserved) creds, even though it isn't exactly substantive. Trump could have used the occasion of his visit with the "good ones" to admit that President Obama was a U.S. citizen. Alas, Trump is still a birther:
Put It in Perspective. David Corn of Mother Jones: "On Monday, [Trump] released a list of 88 former generals and admirals who back his presidential bid.... But here's the real story: Mitt Romney, during the 2012 campaign, had 500 retired generals and admirals on his side." --safari ...
... Nancy Youseff of The Daily Beast: "Trump's top brass is kind of tarnished...[M]any of the general and flag officers who announced their support for Trump on Tuesday are considered in military circles to be anything but the best and brightest. Many ... have had brushes with scandals." --safari
Only the Best People. Ben Mathis-Lilley of Slate: "Marco Gutierrez, the co-founder of a group called Latinos for Trump [who] warned ominously that there would be 'taco trucks on every corner' in the United States if Hillary Clinton wins this November...has done some weird stuff in his past. The Bay Area Mercury News notes that his real estate license has been suspended over sketchy transactions involving client funds.... Meanwhile, the conservative blog Quinton Report has found a court filing in which it's revealed thatGutierrez and his wife have filed for bankruptcy a combined 14 times." --safari
Trump Compares His Supporters to Members of ISIS. Eric Levitz of New York Mag: "Donald Trump answers questions about policy like a tenth-grade stoner amped up on Red Bull ... masking his ignorance in layers of confident blabber, before becoming too bored with his own bullshit to maintain any semblance of coherence. [This] produce[s] some of the most delightfully Dada sentences that mankind has ever heard.... Trump begins by informing us that the word cyber did not derive from the theory of cybernetics, popularized in the mid-20th century, but rather from the events of the last few years. He proceeds to conflate cybersecurity ... with combating ISIS's digital recruitment efforts. And then he posits that the terror group has more success attracting new members when they spread the perception that they are winning -- a 'psychology' that he likens to that of his own supporters, who have been energized by a recent poll that shows him leading nationally." --safari
Senate Race
Lost in Translation. Las Dos Caras de McCain. Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: Following his primary win, Sen. John McCain [R-Az.] has launched a Spanish-language Website, and it's way different from his English-language site. "The Spanish language site, for instance, lauds him as a member of the Gang of Eight that sought comprehensive immigration reform, and a supporter of a pathway to citizenship for the children of immigrants who came to the country illegally -- a group known as the 'Dreamers.' The English-language site makes no mention of either and portrays the senator as a champion of tougher border security.... McCain's English-language site highlights his stance on 'Homeland Security and Immigration Reform,' while the Spanish-language site features McCain's position on 'Inmigracion.'” -- CW
Other News & Views
Follow the Money. Richard Valmanis & Grant Smith of Reuters: "U.S. companies that have expressed the most fervent public support for President Barack Obama's environmental agenda are also funding its biggest enemies - the scores of U.S. lawmakers who are climate change skeptics and oppose regulation to combat it, according to a Reuters review of public records." With charts and stats. Via Think Progress -- safari
Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "Congressional Republicans want to censure the Obama administration for sending $400 million in 'ransom' to Iran on the same day as American prisoners were released -- an issue they bet will play big on the campaign trail two months before election day." ...
... CW: Whaddaya mean it's a "do-nothing" Congress. They're censuring President Obama. They're investigating Secretary Clinton. No wonder these anti-abortion fanatics don't have time to fund Zika-virus abatement. I'm talkin' to you, Marco Rubio. (Rubio opposes allowing Zika-infected women to have abortions; Demirjian reports that Rubio "introduced ... legislation to stop all future payments to Iran from a fund to pay judgments and settlements against the federal government until Tehran returns the 'ransom money' and instead settles claims from American victims of Iranian terrorism."
Patrick Boehler of the New York Times: "... at least four residents of Hong Kong ... took in [Edward] Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor, when he fled the United States in June 2013. Only now have they decided to speak about the experience, revealing a new chapter in the odyssey that riveted the world after Mr. Snowden disclosed that the N.S.A. had been monitoring the calls, emails and web activity of millions of Americans and others.... They were all clients of one of Mr. Snowden's Hong Kong lawyers, Robert Tibbo, who arranged for him to stay with them." -- CW
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. John Koblin & Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times, in a story on Gretchen Carlson's settlement with Fox, add some news: "Additionally, Fox News abruptly announced -- just minutes after 21st Century Fox confirmed the settlement with Ms. Carlson -- the departure of Greta Van Susteren. Ms. Van Susteren had been with Fox News for 14 years, and her departure was effective immediately: Brit Hume will take over her 7 p.m. time slot, beginning on Tuesday night. A financial disagreement with the network led to Ms. Van Susteren's exit, according to a person familiar with the situation. Ms. Van Susteren was only informed in writing on Tuesday of her departure ... and had expected to go on the air Tuesday night.... In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Ms. Van Susteren wrote that she decided to leave the network late last week... She said that she 'could not wait' because of a time-limited exit clause in her contract. Ms. Van Susteren's husband, John P. Coale, said in a phone interview on Tuesday..., 'There's so much chaos, it’s very hard to work there.'... He said, 'There's more than meets the eye' and that there 'might be litigation in the future' so he did not want to talk further." Also, there's this on Carlson's settlement:
The evidence that Ms. Carlson had in her sexual harassment case was damning, according to another person with knowledge of the settlement. For a year and a half, she had been recording her meetings with Mr. Ailes on her cellphone.... The vast majority of the remarks quoted directly in her lawsuit against Mr. Ailes -- including lines like: 'I think you and I should have had a sexual relationship a long time ago and then you'd be good and better and I'd be good and better' -- were taken straight from the recordings, the person said. -- CW
... Erik Wemple of the Washington Post to Van Susteren: Buh-bye, Madame Trumpista. Maybe you can get a job in the soon-TBA Trump Network or, if worse comes to worst, as Trump's press secretary. Also, too, you still own Gretchen Carlson an apology for your fact-averse support for Ailes while accusing Carlson of being nothing but an "angry ... disgruntled employee." -- CW
Beyond the Beltway
Trumpbot Update: Goes down in flames, deflects responsibility in true wingnut form. AP via TPM: "A New Jersey Republican ended his campaign for local office Tuesday following reports that he called online for the rape of a ... Daily Beast reporter.Mike Krawitz, who was running for the township council in West Deptford, sent a handwritten resignation note to the party Tuesday saying he was dropping out. On Monday, Krawitz told The Philadelphia Inquirer that his account was hacked and that he didn't make the comment on journalist Olivia Nuzzi's Facebook account." --safari
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Reader Comments (16)
Something else about that phony baloney visit by Donaldo to that black church in Detroit that practically no major outlet reported: the place was nearly empty.
http://www.politicususa.com/2016/09/03/trump-addresses-empty-church-african-american-photo-op-backfires-detroit.html
CNN's coverage made it sound as if MLK himself had come back to bestow a vision of peace and brotherhood on those poor darkies, but never forget Trump's personal connection with CNN head Jeff Zucker, whom Trump reportedly refers to as his personal booker, in recognition of all the free , largely positive press he gets from that network. Just imagine Clinton going to a big hall to make peace with the NRA and all but the first three rows were empty. The media would have a field day. But for Trump, they make him look sober and solicitous.
This comes under the heading of 'entertainment' but this is a lacerating review of a horrible terrible book that none should ever read. It is about Nora Ephron by her 'dear, dear friend, Richard Cohen. May none of you have such a friend as Richard.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/11/books/review/nora-ephron-richard-cohen-she-made-me-laugh.html?mabReward=CTM&moduleDetail=recommendations-1&action=click&contentCollection=Opinion®ion=Footer&module=WhatsNext&version=WhatsNext&contentID=WhatsNext&src=recg&pgtype=article
@Haley Simon When I lived in Washington, D.C. and worked as a therapist, I had a client who for a brief time rode to work with Richard Cohen. Of course, she had to pay for gas and half of his parking. After the first couple of weeks, she was so turned off and disgusted with this creepy whack job who called himself a journalist, that she got out of his car at a stoplight (near WaPo) and walked the rest of the way. Apparently the man is a world class misogynist. He called her later and wanted her to pay for the entire month of parking and all of the gas because she had been so "abusive" to him. Also told her he was thinking about filing a harassment suit. Yikes! Does he remind you of anybody?
Finally, Trump's bribery activity is hitting the media. So when will he be charged? And note that Trump had no problem admitting that he 'contributes to everybody'. Remember, the rules that apply to you do not apply to Trump. Soooo special.
And two more things.
Does looking like a clown qualify as 'presidential'.
And does R. Ailes own a mirror?
About that plan...
Hey kids, stop the presses, or servers, depending on where you get your news.
The Trumperor has decreed that the generals shall present him with an iron clad, air tight plan to defeat ISIS and they have 30 days from the time of the coronation to do it.
Wait. Doesn't Trumpy already HAVE a plan to defeat ISIS? Gee, maybe he forgot about that one. The plan was tremendous, amazing, fantastic: "Take back the oil. Once you go over and take back that oil, they have nothing. You bomb the hell out of them, and then you encircle it, and then you go in. And you let Mobil go in, and you let our great oil companies go in. Once you take that oil, they have nothing left."
So, to review, bomb them, surround them, then send in executives from Mobil Oil who will scare the hell out of those mooslim terr'ists by showing them pictures of gas stations in Cleveland. Yeah, that oughta do it.
Also, this thing about demanding a plan from "the generals" to defeat ISIS when he's already got such a good one, the best in history. Didn't he say some time back that he knows more about ISIS than these same generals? Or maybe he means different generals. The new ones.
Did I miss something?
No. It's just more proof that this idiot IS an idiot. He shoots his mouth off and has no idea what he's really saying. But plenty of media "experts" give him the benefit of the doubt and dutifully report each and every bit of blather as if it were express mailed from the Delphic Oracle.
We are a divided country.
Talking this morning, my wife and I decided we'll likely not watch tonight's MSNBC HRC-Trump Show...because we're sure it would upset us. The mere idea that Trumps exist in our nation has long bothered me, and over the years Trump's too-televised presence only confirmed and deepened the revulsion I feel for the coarse, the sleazy and the idiotic. Now this eternal election cycle and Trump's constant media presence has generated in me a genuine physical reaction. No more intellection alone here. He literally makes me angry, frightened and sick.
I'm not surprised at that reaction because over the years I have come to know a little about myself.
What bothers me is not what I feel, but what those who cheer this dangerous idiot on, who support him and his campaign and would apparently like to see him in charge of their lives--What in the world are they thinking and feeling? Whatever it is, I cannot comprehend it. It is absolutely foreign to me. To me, these are the dangerous aliens in our midst.
We are indeed a divided country.
And this morning I can't help wonder if I'm the one who doesn't belong...
The Evolution of Confederate Mendacity
How can lying evolve, you might ask. Well, it's not the lies as much as how they are transmitted and received. When you read a report that regurgitates a Trump lie without so much as an acknowledgement to the reader that Trumpado has been saying such and such which has been thoroughly debunked on numerous occasions, you'll know what I mean.
Either that or there is a context provided that softens the lie or the bad news. This morning I listened angrily to an NPR report that gave a he said, she said report on the Trump bribe to Pam Bondi. The reporter did state that Trump was forced to pay a penalty to the IRS but then went out of his way to make it sound as if the whole thing was no big deal, just a mistake by the Trump Foundation.
But then right on the heels of this report....
Emails, Emails, Emails, EMAILS! Clinton scurrying to put out all the fires!!
The truth is that Trump engaged in illegal activity as did the Republican Atty. Gen. for Florida. He was found guilty of ignoring an IRS regulation (a separate issue from the bribe). Hillary Clinton has been determined to be culpable of bad decisions but of nothing illegal. Still, the impression one comes away with is Trump's thing was just a glitch, while Clinton is still running around with her hair on fire about these emails which means something is still rotten in Denmark.
And Confederates KNOW THIS. They know that they don't have to prove anything anymore. As long as they stick to the script, they can get a substantial number of voters--and members of the media--to agree at least in principle, that there has to be some validity to what they're saying, otherwise, why are "people" still talking about it?
Thus we have the funds that actually have belonged to Iran all along described as "ransom money" forked over by a weak president who coddles terrorist states rather than the return of frozen assets as part of a much broader attempt to reduce tensions between two countries at odds for decades.
This is why a cold day is "proof" there is no global warming. Why attempts to halt the Zika virus must take a back seat to sticking it to Planned Parenthood and pregnant women. Why Benghazi is still a thing. Why the IRS attacks god fearing 'mericans but not liberal moochers. About how Obama doubled the deficit and is coming to take all the guns.
Few of these harebrained memes would have any traction if they didn't appear so regularly with barely any editorial clarification in the MSM. Trump didn't invent the "people have been saying" technique for being able to spread the most foul and baseless charges. Lazy media outlets have been doing this for years. When the WaPo or the NY Times prints a story that reports scurrilous lies that came out of Matt Drudge's asshole, those lies take on a new life and now have the power of near unassailability. As Trump campaign CEO (and WTF is a campaign CEO anyway? Is this a real thing?) Breitbart Steve has observed, once you are able to weasel your lie into the Times, you can go home and pour yourself a tall one. You've won.
This isn't a new thing, by the way. Remember Ronald Reagan blaming the economic downturn on Cadillac Queens and acid rain on trees? The lies haven't gotten much more sophisticated than that ("authentic rape"?), but the delivery mechanisms and lack of vetting and perspicacity applied by the MSM have changed dramatically.
And not for the better, neither for consumers of news nor of the nation as a whole. So why should Confederates all of a sudden start telling the truth? There is no upside for them to do so.
Hey, how 'bout instead of sending money to Laos to help remove unexploded ordinance, we send Henry Kissinger over to go village to village with a shovel to dig up all those bombs and make him wear a sandwich board that says "I Convinced Nixon to Bomb Your House"?
Sound like a plan?
Listen up all you lovers of words to live by. The words declared by you know who will remain with you forever––words that you will undoubtedly be quoting until you die. Check out Fallow's Time Capsule #93 video:
GOD IS THE ULTIMATE––THERE IS NOTHING LIKE GOD
which if you think about it and think you must–- sounds very much like that sparkly little number that all those salty sailors sang in 'South Pacific"––"There is Nothing like a Dame."
And Mary Martin is washing that man right out of her hair.
@Kate: Interesting bit about your friend's experience with Roger Cohen. Love the fact she got out of the car and walked the rest of the way to her destination. Spunky gal!
Obama's trip to Laos was a long time coming. It grieves me no end to think it has taken this long to clean up the damage/carnage we left these poor people. Let's see how much media coverage we get on this.
There was some bloke on Andrea Mitchell who was saying how most foreign entities do not like Obama–-"terrible foreign policy this President has delivered." And what did Andrea do? Thank him for appearing on her bloody show. That's it!
Day by day my hair is getting thinner. By the end of this circus I shall be almost bald––just a few red hairs to remind me of what I once was.
Curiouser and curiouser...
So let me get this straight. Donaldo works up a university scam to fleece the rubes. He gets bagged. A lawsuit is filed against the Orange Headed, Small Fingered Con Man. Someone smells a rat. The rat stink extends all the way to Florida where the allegations against the OHSFCM are considered. But, whoops! Trump gives a bag of cash to the Florida AG and *Presto*. No more investigation. Then Trump holds a big swanky fundraiser for Bondi, the AG who nixed the investigation on his fraudulent university.
But because Confederates on the Supreme Court say that there is no direct request for services and a payoff discussed (as Marie pointed out yesterday), there is no case for bribery.
So a bag of money shows up four days after a plan to investigate Trump's scam is announced and suddenly that investigation is shelved. But there's no causality. It's like saying here's a cannon. There's a fuse. I light a match. I put said match to the fuse. Boom! Total coincidence that the cannon goes off, right?
Only the dim would think so, but that's what passes for thinking on today's SCOTUS.
Funnily enough, Trump says he never talked to Bondi. Bondi says she did talk to Trump. Then Trump says "We never talked about IT" which certainly seems to indicate he knew exactly what that "it" was.
In the movie "Ocean's Eleven", Elliot Gould, playing a discontented former casino owner, agrees to help the George Clooney and Brad Pitt characters with a heist they're planning. His reason? "We all go way back and I owe you from the thing with the guy in the place."
They all know the references. But according to Trump and Bondi and Confederate Supreme Court justices, there is no connection here because nothing was made explicit.
If I'm in trouble and you're in a position to help and I drop a bag of money on your doorstep, do I really need to explain, in detail, what I want?
This thing stinks to high heaven, but it's nicely offset by emails, emails, emails. In other words, those things with the guys at the place. Know what'a mean?
@Akhilleus: There were two crooked things going on in the Trump-Bondi scam. (1) Bribing Bondi to dispense with an investigation of Trump "University"; (2) using the Trump Foundation to launder $25K, pretending the bribe was a charitable donation -- and therefore a tax deduction. That is, Trump used a bribe to reduce his tax liability. The IRS, thanks to a complaint by a citizens' group, caught him on (2) & made him pay a fine; he's home-free on (1) despite his previous remarks that he makes political contributions with the expectation of getting a return on his "investments."
Marie
P.S. I hear you have a problem. I have a solution. In an unrelated matter, leave the bag o'cash in the usual place.
CW, muny iz undr flwr pt. Expct rzults. Thnks.
P.S. Jhn Rbrts, no qd pr quo hr. 'kay? Sew but out.
Yurs,
DJAYT
A note to Ken: I know that feeling of "not belonging"––as an atheist, liberal, woman, feisty woman, woman who speaks her mind, woman who asks questions, I feel your pain. I have tried like the dickens to understand those who cleve to someone like Trump––I don't mean the mouthpieces of the media, but the swath of folks you were referring to. I recall my amazement at the plethora of peoples who were whooping it up for him when he first started giving those rallies. Surely, I thought, this is for fun and games, but I gradually came to understand that yes, you are right, about the great division in this country and if this all sounds like RC redux, it is. It just helps to vent, like Ken, who, with his wife, are really and truly sick at heart. As am I and my spouse and many of you here.
And to Akhilleus: u r r shining star. kep shining.
The fact that the Trump Foundation went out of it's way to find a charity with a similar sounding name to Bondi's super pac to "give" a donation to shows that they knew what they were doing was wrong.
DOJ catches Texas violating voter suppression laws:
https://thinkprogress.org/doj-catches-texas-violating-the-court-order-against-its-voter-suppression-law-d0f750460c23#.ejj7jonpz
From Think Progress