The Commentariat -- January 30, 2019
Afternoon Update:
Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "President Trump on Wednesday pushed back against his intelligence chiefs' national security assessments, saying 'the Intelligence people seem to be extremely passive and naive when it comes to the dangers of Iran,' and he defended his own, more positive appraisals of threats to the United States posed by North Korea and the Islamic State. 'Perhaps Intelligence should go back to school,' Mr. Trump said.... In a series of Twitter posts the day after senior American intelligence officials briefed Congress and directly contradicted some of Mr. Trump's rosier estimations, the president reasserted his own conclusions and trumpeted his accomplishments on critical national security matters. He said the Islamic State's control in parts of Iraq and Syria 'will soon be destroyed,' and that there was a 'decent chance of Denuclearization' in North Korea." Ms. McC: Because he says so. If these people are so naive, why did Trump appoint them to positions so vital to our national security?
Erica Werner, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump warned Wednesday that lawmakers would be 'wasting their time' if they do not discuss a wall or physical barrier along the Southern border as part of a deal to stave off another government shutdown. But some Democrats said their starting point in the new negotiation is no money for physical barriers of any kind."
Hey, Wisconsin, You've Been Had. Natalie Kitroeff & Patricia Cohen of the New York Times: "Foxconn, the giant Taiwan-based company that announced plans for a $10 billion display-making factory in Wisconsin, now says it is rethinking the project's focus because of 'new realities' in the global marketplace. The project was hailed by President Trump at a groundbreaking last June as the 'eighth wonder of the world' and an example of his efforts to attract foreign investment to create manufacturing jobs.... Foxconn is a supplier to Apple and other tech giants. It was lured to Wisconsin in 2017 after former Gov. Scott Walker and state lawmakers agreed to more than $4 billion in tax credits and other inducements over a 15-year period. Those subsidies amounted to $15,000 to $19,000 per job annually, for a plant that the company said would employ as many as 13,000 workers...."
Nicole Perlroth of the New York Times: "... it wasn't until ... more than a week after [Michele] Thompson first notified Apple of [a serious security flaw on an Apple app which her son Grant discovered], that Apple raced to disable Group FaceTime and said it was working on a fix. The company reacted after a separate developer reported the FaceTime flaw and it was written about on 9to5mac.com, a news site for Apple fans, in an article that went viral. The FaceTime problem has already been branded 'FacePalm' by security researchers, who say Apple's security team should have known better.... The company has not addressed how the flaw passed through quality assurance, why it was so slow to respond to Ms. Thompson's urgent warnings, or whether it intends to reward the teenager whose mother raced to alert the company to the bug in the first place."
Trump May Have Planned a Dirty Campaign as Early as April 2016. Betsy Woodruff & Erin Banco of the Daily Beast: "Days after Donald Trump rode down an escalator at Trump Tower [in 2015] and announced he'd run for president, a little-known consulting firm with links to Israeli intelligence started gaming out how a foreign government could meddle in the U.S political process.... The firm conducted an analysis of how illicit efforts might shape American politics. Months later, the Trump campaign reviewed a pitch from a company owned by that firm's founder -- a pitch to carry out similar efforts. The founder of the firm, called Wikistrat, has been questioned by Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team as they investigate efforts b foreign governments to shape American politics during the 2016 presidential campaign.... In April 2016, senior Trump campaign official Rick Gates reviewed a pitch produced by a company called Psy Group [owned by Wikistrat's founder Joel Zamel].... After Trump became the party's official nominee, Zamel met with Donald Trump Jr. and discussed the plan, which echoed both the real election interference already underway by the Kremlin and the scenario Wikistrat gamed out the year before.... It's unclear if the Psy Group plans ever went forward."
*****
Top Intelligence Officials Testify Trump Is a Liar and/or a Loon. Sort of. David Sanger & Julian Barnes of the New York Times: "A new American intelligence assessment of global threats has concluded that North Korea is 'unlikely to give up' all of its nuclear stockpiles, and that Iran is not 'currently undertaking the key nuclear weapons-development activity' needed to make a bomb, directly contradicting two top tenets of President Trump's foreign policy. Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence, also challenged Mr. Trump's insistence that the Islamic State had been defeated, a key rationale for his decision to exit from Syria. The terrorist group, the annual 'Worldwide Threat Assessment' report to Congress concluded, 'still commands thousands of fighters in Iraq and Syria,' and maintains eight branches and a dozen networks around the world.... Gina Haspel, the C.I.A. director, said the North Korean government 'is committed to developing a long-range nuclear-armed missile that would pose a direct threat to the United States.'... Perhaps the strongest rebuke of Mr. Trump's security priorities comes in what is missing from the threat assessment: any rationale for building a wall along the southwestern border.... The assessment also argues that while Russia's ability to conduct cyberespionage and influence campaigns is similar to the one it ran in the 2016 American presidential election, the bigger concern is that 'Moscow is now staging cyberattack assets to allow it to disrupt or damage U.S. civilian and military infrastructure during a crisis.' It specifically noted the Russian planting of malware in the United States electricity grid.... Taken together, the report paints a picture of threats vastly different from those asserted by Mr. Trump." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Update. Kevin Drum: "Keep in mind that the heads of the intelligence agencies are all Trump appointees. And apparently they all agree that he's an idiot." ...
... Turtle Vows to Beat Harebrain. Ted Barrett of CNN: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is pushing an amendment to a Middle East policy bill that would acknowledge 'al Qaeda, ISIS and their affiliates in Syria and Afghanistan continue to pose a serious threat to us here at home,' a move seen as a sharp rebuke to ... Donald Trump's push to withdraw US troops from Syria. 'It would recognize the dangers of a precipitous withdrawal from either conflict and highlight the need for diplomatic engagement and political solutions to the underlying conflicts in Syria and Afghanistan,' McConnell said Tuesday from the Senate floor, announcing the amendment to the bill, which is currently being debated. Exact timing for the final vote on the bill, which at this point enjoys bipartisan support, has not yet been determined. McConnell added that, 'while it is tempting to retreat to the comfort and security of our own shores, there is still a great deal of work to be done.....we're not the world's policemen, but we are the leaders of the free world.'"
John Hudson & Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: "Russian officials made a secret proposal to North Korea last fall aimed at resolving deadlocked negotiations with the Trump administration over the North's nuclear weapons program, said U.S. officials familiar with the discussions. In exchange for North Korea dismantling its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, Moscow offered the country a nuclear power plant. The Russian offer, which intelligence officials became aware of in late 2018, marked a new attempt by Moscow to intervene in the high-stakes nuclear talks as it reasserts itself in a string of geopolitical flash points from the Middle East to South Asia to Latin America.... It's unclear how President Trump will view Moscow's proposal. For months, he has embraced an unorthodox approach to the negotiations, but his aides are likely to strenuously oppose any major Russian role in a final agreement."
This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd.
Alex Ward of Vox: "If you're a US president, it's probably not a great idea to meet with a foreign leader who meddled in your country's elections without some way to record what's being discussed. But that's just what President Donald Trump apparently did -- again. According to the Financial Times, Trump spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin during last November's G20 summit in Argentina without a US official present to take notes. First lady Melania Trump was by the president's side during the chat, but no staff joined them. The White House had previously acknowledged that both leaders met for an 'informal' talk but didn't disclose that Trump had no official member of his team present. Putin did have someone, though: his translator, although it's unclear if that person wrote anything down.... Trump continually finds ways to meet with Putin privately.... The administration apparently has no notes of any of the many Trump-Putin interactions over a two-year span. And at least on one occasion in 2017, Trump told his translator after an official meeting with Putin not to share details of the meeting with staff. Trump actually seized his notes." ...
... William Sumner of Daily Kos: "The Trump-Putin meeting came days after Trump had formally cancelled a meeting with Putin over Russia's attack on a trio of Ukrainian ships in international waters. A Russian account says that the two men spoke for about 15 minutes about topics that included the Russian attack and events in Syria. There is no U.S. account. Neither Trump nor anyone else has offered any summary of the discussion. Three weeks after the discussion, Trump unexpectedly announced that he would withdraw all U.S. forces from Syria. That decision, by which Trump abandoned U.S. allies and further upset the balance in the region, directly led to the resignation of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. On his way out the door, Mattis made it clear that Trump's actions were a threat to the security of the U.S. and the region.
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Mueller should subpoena Melanie to try to find out what-all Hubby & his Puppet Master discussed. It would be a shame, I guess, if she ended up lying to investigators & ended up in an orange jumpsuit. But I really don't care, do you? P.S. Ned Price, a former CIA intelligence office & aide to President Obama, pointed out on MSNBC that the Financial Times' source was Russian, as if Putin was "reminding" Trump that the Russians had kompromat on him & he had better follow Putin's "suggestions." Former national security advisor to President Obama Ben Rhodes made similar remarks on MSNBC.
Scott Stedman in Medium: "The developer of the proposed Trump Tower in Moscow that was negotiating with Michael Cohen and the Trump Organization appears to have an unaccounted 6 billion rubles or $90,000,000 after it received a loan from Sberbank in the weeks following the agreement with Trump.... The inconsistency between the stated amount of the loan and the actual amount of money available to IC Expert from Sberbank has not been previously reported.... Though there is no public evidence that any money flowed between any Trump associates and IC Expert, a letter from IC Expert CEO Andrey Rozov to Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen in September 2015 revealed a plan to use a company in the United States to handle any matters relating to Trump Tower Moscow.... It is unclear if such a corporation was ever incorporated in the United States." --s (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Mark Mazzetti & Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "President Trump's longtime adviser Roger J. Stone Jr. pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to felony charges in the special counsel investigation during a brief federal court appearance in which ... Mr. Stone appeared solemn and said little. During the 15-minute proceeding, a lawyer for Mr. Stone, Robert C. Buschel, entered the plea on his client's behalf to charges of obstruction, witness tampering and making false statements. After the hearing, Mr. Stone declined to comment to a throng of reporters following him through the courthouse and outside...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)...
... Mimi Rocah in the Daily Beast: "Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker ... [said] -- in a completely inappropriate public statement -- that he 'thinks' the [special counsel's] investigation is 'close to being completed.'... But there is much about this indictment and other public aspects of the Mueller probe that I do believe support the conclusion that the investigation into whether or not there was a criminal conspiracy is not yet over.... I am talking here about criminal conspiracy, such as conspiracy to violate the campaign finance laws by soliciting or accepting a donation from a foreign entity (Russia or WikiLeaks); and/or conspiracy to defraud the United States by interfering in our free and fair elections; or participation in a computer hacking scheme." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Justin Rohrlich of Quartz: "After the sanctions were officially lifted [on three companies controlled by Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, his company] En+ announced the addition of seven new directors to its board.... Three are Russian, two are British, and two are American.... [One of the Americans is] Christopher Bancroft Burnham, chairman and CEO of Cambridge Global Capital LLC.... [He] served as Under Secretary General for Management of the United Nations [where he worked alongside Trump's current national security adviser John Bolton].... [He] is a former Vice Chairman at Deutsche Bank Asset Management and co-founded and led Deutsche Bank's direct private equity group, RREEF Capital Partners.... The En+ release makes no mention of one other notable position Burnham also held: member of Donald Trump's presidential transition team." --safari: Maybe Mr. Burnhan is legit, but given the circumstances maybe they could've found one person NOT directly linked to Agent Orange? (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Ken Vogel of the New York Times: "Democrats in Congress are raising ethical concerns about connections between Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and a billionaire Republican donor who stands to benefit financially from the Trump administration's decision to lift sanctions on the Russian oligarch Oleg V. Deripaska's companies. In a letter to Mr. Mnuchin, a Democratic member of the House Intelligence Committee [Jackie Speier (Calif.)] said Mr. Mnuchin's connection to an entertainment business owned in part by the donor, Len Blavatnik, a business partner of Mr. Deripaska's, represented a potential conflict of interest.... Other Democrats are also considering taking steps to investigate Mr. Mnuchin's connections to Mr. Blavatnik, including Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... The story has been substantially updated. "'We are seeking an explanation as to how you managed your own potential conflicts of interest arising from your personal and professional relationships with major Rusal shareholder Len Blavatnik, a key beneficiary from your decision to delist Rusal,' the lawmakers, Representative Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland, the chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, and Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said in [a] letter [to Mnuchin]."
... Excuse Us While We Backpedal. Mrs. McCrabbie: According to MSNBC, Treasury had admitted that Mnuchin was once a guest on Blavatnik's yacht, not a "frequent guest" as the Cummings-Wyden letter suggested, and that Treasury changed its assertion that Mnuchin had "no business relationship" with Blavatnik to Mnuchin's having "no direct business relationship" with Blavatnik. The letters from Speier & from Cummings-Wyden are fun reading." Not sure if Treasury is still claiming the suggestions of Mnuchin's "conflict of interest or ethical problem [is] 'absurd.'"
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Sure sounds like an international gang of thieves, doesn't it?
Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "A planned Senate Judiciary Committee vote on William P. Barr's nomination to serve as attorney general has been delayed for a week, as Democrats continue to raise concerns about whether he would allow special counsel Robert S. Mueller III to finish his probe and publicize the results unimpeded. The delay, which is customary for high-profile nominations, is not expected to impede Barr's chances of being confirmed by the full Senate. But it is the latest reflection of the deep partisan tension surrounding Barr's nomination, most of which centers on Democrats' desire to protect Mueller's probe from being unduly constrained." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
The Trump Shutdown, Ctd. Month Two
The Trump administration says the federal workers who essentially forced an end to the government shutdown with a sickout will not receive back pay. https://t.co/6b7NJpK3az pic.twitter.com/QdDcNDSWwV
— Brandon Friedman (@BFriedmanDC) January 29, 2019
... Via New York mag.
Delusions of Competence. Alayna Treene & Jonathan Swan of Axios: "Jared Kushner ran a white board planning session last week at the White House with the Koch network and other people who worked with him on criminal justice reform. The purpose: to see if the administration can replicate the approach they took to pass criminal justice reform to overhaul America's immigration system.... Kushner and his team met with faith leaders, Hispanic leaders and prominent conservatives. Some have expressed skepticism that Kushner -- a New York liberal with no background in immigration policy or politics -- could succeed where so many of his predecessors have failed.... Two senior White House officials told Axios they are stunned that Kushner thinks he could be the mediator who solves one of the most intractable problems in American politics for the past 20 years: immigration reform. One senior White House official told Axios that Kushner's success in criminal justice reform has no bearing whatsoever on his ability to succeed on immigration."
The Turtle Speaks. Marianne Levine of Politico: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that he would be open to a bipartisan proposal that would put an end to government shutdowns. At a press conference Tuesday, McConnell said he hopes that shutdowns can be avoided in the future and would consider a proposal to stop them from occurring. McConnell's remarks come as several lawmakers have proposed anti-shutdown legislation in the wake of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, which ended Friday. 'I'd be open to anything that we could agree on, on a bipartisan basis, that would make them pretty hard to occur again,' McConnell said. 'There's some differences about how to craft that but I'm certainly open to it.' He added: 'I think this is an example of government dysfunction which should be embarrassing to everyone on a bipartisan basis.'" ...
... AP: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday criticized both tactics that ... Donald Trump has threatened to wield if congressional bargainers fail to craft a border security deal he supports: triggering a fresh government shutdown or declaring a national emergency so he can divert federal funds into building his prized border wall. 'I'm for narrow or broader,' McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters when asked to describe the breadth of a bipartisan border security accord that he'd back. 'I'm for whatever works that would prevent the level of dysfunction we've seen on full display here the last month and also doesn't bring about a view on the president's part that he needs to declare a national emergency.'... Reporters had not specifically asked McConnell about a shutdown or a possible emergency declaration, and it was noteworthy that [he] ... volunteered his opinions." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Taken together, McConnell's remarks of yesterday form a surprising break with the Lord High Executive. I have no idea how long this will last (one day?), but his willingness to speak out, rather than reserve his remarks for closed-door meetings, suggests the Crafty Turtle is really, really enjoying -- and is contributing to -- Trump's weakening power. Assuming Trump doesn't lose a primary challenge in 2020, we can be sure McConnell -- who also faces a 2020 Senate run -- will return to the Trump fold.
Sarah Ferris of Politico: "House Democrats plan to put Republicans on the spot Wednesday with a vote to condemn future government shutdowns, even as the threat of another border wall showdown remains just weeks away. Democratic leaders will force a vote on a resolution that states that 'shutdowns are detrimental to the nation and should not occur,' according to a draft of the measure obtained by Politico. The symbolic vote, led by Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.), does nothing to ward off the next shutdown threat. But it will draw unwanted attention to a House GOP conference that privately loathes the prospect of another shutdown battle when existing budgets run out on Feb. 15. Republicans will have to go on record on whether to oppose another shutdown even as ... Donald Trump's close advisers continue to insist it's a possibility as a hard-line tactic to demand border money."
President* Hip O. Crite-Lyer. Jonathan O'Connell, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump's company plans to institute E-Verify, a federal program that allows employers to check whether new hires are legally eligible to work in the United States, in every one of its golf clubs, hotels and resorts, following a Washington Post report that its club in Westchester County, N.Y., employed undocumented immigrants for years.... The move is the first acknowledgment by the president's private business that it has failed to fully check the work status of all its employees, despite Trump's claims during the 2016 campaign that he used E-Verify across his properties. At the time, he called for the program to be mandatory for all employers. The decision by the Trump Organization is not likely to head off calls for an investigation by congressional Democrats, who on Tuesday began gathering signatures for a letter to FBI Director Christopher A. Wray seeking a probe into whether the president's company broke the law by hiring undocumented workers. The company's new embrace of E-Verify highlights the sharp disconnect between Trump's hard-line rhetoric on undocumented immigrants -- including his dark warnings that they threaten the country's safety and steal American jobs -- and what appears to have been a lax approach by his own business to checking the legal status of its workers."
Maya Averbuch & Kevin Sieff of the Washington Post: "The United States on Tuesday returned a Honduran asylum seeker to Mexico, marking the beginning of a sweeping new policy that forces asylum seekers to wait in Mexico as their claims are processed in American courts. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen planned to visit the San Ysidro port of entry later in the day to 'assess implementation' of the new regulation, according to a DHS statement. The policy is one of the most dramatic changes to the American asylum system in decades -- an attempt by the Trump administration to deter migration by reducing the number of migrants who live and work in the United States while awaiting their court dates. Already the plan has raised numerous human rights concerns, not to mention a flurry of logistical questions that neither the United States nor Mexico has been able to answer." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Numerous states introducing Bible Literacy classes, giving students the option of studying the Bible. Starting to make a turn back? Great! -- Donald Trump, in a tweet Monday
I was @realDonaldTrump's pastor for 5 years @MarbleChurch. I assure you, he had the 'option' to come to Bible study. He never 'opted' in. Nor did he ever actually enter the church doors. Not one time. -- David Lewicki, in a tweet yesterday
Michael Brice-Saddler of the Washington Post: "Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie took several shots at White House senior adviser Jared Kushner in his new book 'Let Me Finish,' alleging that in an act of spite, Donald Trump's son-in-law coordinated his removal from the president's transition team shortly after the 2016 election. He claims Kushner was still 'seething' from events that took place more than a decade prior -- when Christie, as a U.S. attorney, prosecuted Kushner's father, Charles, for tax evasion, witness tampering and illegal campaign contributions, sending the elder Kushner to prison for 14 months.... While discussing the case Tuesday [Christie said]: 'Mr. Kushner pled guilty, he admitted the crimes. So what am I supposed to do as a prosecutor?' Christie asked. 'If a guy hires a prostitute to seduce his brother-in-law, and videotapes it, and then sends the videotape to his sister in an attempt to intimidate her from testifying before a grand jury, do I really need any more justification than that?' He added, 'It's one of the most loathsome, disgusting crimes that I prosecuted when I was U.S. attorney,' Christie said during a segment with PBS's 'Firing Line With Margaret Hoover. And I was a U.S. attorney in New Jersey, Margaret -- so we had some loathsome and disgusting crime going on there!'" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: You know, many children of criminals or just plain creeps rebuke the offending parent, especially when the parent has hurt family members. But apparently not Jared. Maybe it's a mob family thing.
Next Tuesday night, @realDonaldTrump will be the warm-up act for the real deal: Stacey Abrams. -- Sen. Chuck Schumer, in a tweet Thursday afternoon ...
... Felicia Sonmez & Vanessa Williams of the Washington Post: "Democrats have tapped Georgia's Stacey Abrams to deliver the response to President Trump's State of the Union address, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced Tuesday. Abrams narrowly lost the state's race for governor in November after a lengthy dispute over blocked votes. She will address the nation in a prime-time speech shortly after Trump finishes his address to a joint session of Congress next Tuesday night. 'She is just a great spokesperson. She's an incredible leader. She has led the charge for voting rights, which is at the root of just abouteverything else. ... I.m very excited that she.s agreed to be the respondent to the president,' Schumer told reporters." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Presidential Race 2020
It's AOC's Fault. Daily Beast: "Billionaire former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz says he can't run for president as a Democrat because he doesn't like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's proposal to slap a 70-percent marginal tax rate on income above $10 million. 'I respect the Democratic Party. I no longer feel affiliated because I don't know their views represent the majority of Americans. I don't think we want a 70 percent income tax in America,' he said.... '... I believe that if I ran as a Democrat, I would have to say things that I know in my heart I do not believe, and I would have to be disingenuous.'" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Gee, a billionaire who runs for president because he wants his own taxes to stay low -- historically low. What kind of billionaire would do that? Oh. ...
... Cameron Joseph of TPM: "Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) took a shot Tuesday at former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz's chances of mounting a serious presidential campaign, the latest salvo in a budding feud between the progressive senator and her potential 2020 rival. 'We have a billionaire who says he wants to jump into the race and the first issue he's raised is "no new taxes on billionaires." Let's see where that goes,' she replied derisively when TPM asked if she was worried Schultz could play a spoiler role in the 2020 presidential election."
... Buy Your Fancy Coffee Someplace Else. Josh Marshall: "If you are upset with the Koch Brothers, there's not a lot you can do unless you buy a lot of industrial oil extraction machinery (yes, I know they own some other companies.) But a whole lot of us buy coffee and we pretty much all have other options."
Benjy Sarlin of NBC News: "Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has made a splash with her plan for a 'wealth tax' on the super-rich.... While wealth taxes aren't a new invention and a handful of developed nations currently have them in place, they are on the decline: The number nations that are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development with a wealth tax dropped from 12 to four from 1990 to 2017, according to a report by the organization last year. With inequality hitting new heights, though, Democrats running for president have made finding new ways to tax the rich and distribute the benefits downward a key part of their economic message.... A wealth tax is an inefficient way to collect taxes. While the IRS can easily check the price of a publicly traded stock, it may be hard to value a privately held company or a rare art collection until it's sold, which is often a source of legal battles in calculating estate taxes. But unlike an estate, which is taxed once at death, the government would have to figure out the value every year.... The OECD's report found that countries with wealth taxes have tended to collect relatively similar amounts of revenue over time even as the overall wealth in their countries increased at much faster rates." ...
... Mrs. McC: I still think a wealth tax looks unconstitutional. If you look at the Sixteenth Amendment, you'll see why. (And no, "capitation," in this context does not mean "Off with their heads." But that's an idea.) ...
... Schultz Is So White. Timothy Burke of the Daily Beast: Howard Schultz "was loudly mocked in 2015 for launching a 'Race Together' campaign, which was done to spark conversations about racial inequality among patrons of his coffeeshop empire but which critics called tone deaf.... Schultz, in his new book, apologized for the 2015 campaign, acknowledging that it was 'patronizing.' But if more evidence is needed that race could become a complicating factor in a possible presidential run, one need look no further than the former CEO's music store. Starbucks, which sold music alongside coffee from 1994 to 2015, had, what could only be described as, a flat and white selection of tunes to offer.... There is only one disc offered in the online catalog under the 'hip-hop' label. It's an album titled 'All You Need Is Love' featuring songs from U2, The Dave Matthews Band and John Legend.... In selling music in his coffee shops, Schultz insisted that Starbucks would 'transform the retail record industry. That didn't happen.
Tim Arango of the New York Times: "Eric M. Garcetti, the two-term mayor of Los Angeles who has flirted with higher office the last two years by crisscrossing the country and raising money for the Democratic Party, said Tuesday he was not running for his party's nomination for president. Mr. Garcetti has spent the better part of two years saying he was actively considering running for president, but explained Tuesday that he wanted to continue his work in Los Angeles.... No sitting mayor has ever been elected president." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Lest you think it's silly for a relatively unknown mayor to run for president, bear in mind that it's a lot harder to run a city the size of L.A. than it is to sit atop a family business like the Trump Organization. Moreover, Los Angeles has a diverse population of about 4 million residents. That's more than the estimated populations of about half of U.S. states, most of which are far less ethnically diverse.
Trump's Tariffs Are Awesome, Ctd. Gabrielle Coppola of Bloomberg News: "Harley-Davidson Inc. barely broke even in the last quarter of a year in which the struggling American icon got caught up in ... Donald Trump's trade wars. Th motorcycle maker's shares plunged the most in a year.... Trump attacked Harley last year after it announced plans to shift some U.S. production overseas to sidestep levies imposed by the European Union.... U.S. retail sales tumbled 10 percent in the three months ended in December, the eighth consecutive quarterly drop.... Trump said in August that he'd back a boycott of the company’s bikes for moving production out of America." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Coppola appears to let Trump at least partially off the hook for Harley's problems: "But the motorcycle maker has more than tariffs and angry tweets to blame for its performance," she wrote. Really? Isn't it possible/highly likely that there is a huge correspondence between Trumpbots & potential HOGs? So when Trump knocked Harley & suggested a boycott of the company, surely some would-be buyers -- say, maybe 10 percent -- took heed, formal boycott or no.
Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "A Vatican official who handles sexual abuse cases for the Catholic Church has quit two months after being accused of sexual abuse. On Monday, Hermann Geissler resigned from his position as chief of staff in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, a body that handles discipline in sexual abuse cases within the Catholic Church, according to a statement from the Holy See's press office. Geissler maintained his innocence but said he was resigning to protect the church."
Beyond the Beltway
Illinois. "MAGA Country." TMZ: "'Empire' star Jussie Smollett was brutally attacked by 2 men who beat him up, put his head in a noose and screamed, 'This is MAGA country.' Sources directly connected to Jussie tell TMZ, the actor arrived in Chicago from New York late Monday, and at around 2 AM he was hungry and went to a Subway. We're told when shortly after he walked out on his way home, someone yelled, 'Aren't you that f***ot 'Empire' n*****?' The 2 men -- both white and wearing ski masks -- viciously attacked Jussie as he fought back, but they beat him badly and fractured a rib. They put a rope around his neck, poured bleach on him and as they left they yelled, 'This is MAGA country.' Jussie took himself to Northwestern Memorial where he was treated. He was discharged later Tuesday morning." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
New York. Michael Sisak of the AP: "Former New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman used nearly $340,000 in political campaign funds to pay the law firm that represented him during an investigation of allegations that he physically abused several women, according to campaign finance reports reviewed by The Associated Press. The practice is legal, but reform activists say Schneiderman and other politicians are exploiting lax campaign finance rules. 'By and large, if you are an elected official, you can use your campaign contributions as a Get Out of Jail Free card,' said Blair Horner, the executive director of the New York Public Interest Research Group.... Schneiderman, a Democrat and nemesis of President Donald Trump, announced his resignation hours after The New Yorker published an expose saying four women had accused him of slapping or choking them. Some said Schneiderman was a heavy drinker."
Texas. Never Mind. Alexa Ura of the Texas Tribune: "Officials in five large [Texas] counties -- Harris, Travis, Fort Bend, Collins and Williamson -- told The Texas Tribune they had received calls Tuesday from the secretary of state's office indicating that some of the voters whose citizenship status the state said counties should consider checking should not actually be on those lists. The secretary of state's office incorrectly included some voters who had submitted their voting registration applications at Texas Department of Public Safety offices, according to county officials. Now, the secretary of state is instructing counties to remove them from the list of flagged voters.... It's ... unclear how many people will be removed from the original list of approximately 95,000 individuals.... Donald Trump and [anti-immigration bigot Texas] Attorney General Ken Paxton have pointed to the numbers to raise unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud. But election officials have pointed out that it's possible that many of the individuals could have become naturalized citizens since they obtained their driver's licenses or ID cards."
Way Beyond
Back to the Drawing Board. Again. Heather Stewart & Daniel Boffey of the Guardian: British PM "Theresa May was handed a two-week deadline to resuscitate her Brexit deal last night after she caved to Tory Eurosceptics and pledged to go back to Brussels to demand changes to the Irish backstop. With just 59 days to go until exit day, MPs narrowly passed a government-backed amendment, tabled by the senior Tory Graham Brady, promising to replace the Irish backstop with unspecified 'alternative arrangements'. But within minutes of the Commons result the European council president, Donald Tusk, announced that the EU was not prepared to reopen the deal.... On a dramatic day in Westminster the House of Commons also served notice that it would not support the government if it pursued a no-deal Brexit, undermining what May regards as one of her key bargaining chips...."
News Ledes
Chicago Tribune: "A fresh blast of frigid arctic air sent temperatures plummeting overnight and produced dangerously cold conditions that prompted schools, cultural institutions and government buildings including courthouses to call off business for Wednesday. All of northeast Illinois, northwest Indiana and southern Wisconsin was under a wind chill warning starting at 6 p.m. Tuesday until noon Thursday, with a wind chill advisory in effect until the warning period begins. Wednesday was expected to see air temperatures that range from minus 15 to minus 26, according to the National Weather Service. Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued a disaster proclamation Tuesday to provide resources to officials across the state."
"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds." Mostly. WGN-TV: "The extreme cold is causing the United States Postal Service to suspend delivery Wednesday, including western Illinois. In a statement, USPS said: 'Due to projected deteriorating weather conditions related to Polar Vortex Jayden, postal delivery operations will be suspended for ... Minnesota, Western Wisconsin, Iowa, Western Illinois. Retail operations at local offices will be available, but may be limited. There will be no collection mail pick up from businesses or collection boxes. Additionally, there will be no residential or commercial package pick-up services,' the statement said. Delivery is also suspended in South Dakota, potions of Montana, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska."
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