The Commentariat -- January 28, 2019

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Devan Cole & Kevin Bohn of CNN: "... Donald Trump's second State of the Union address will not take place on Tuesday, an aide to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told CNN.... Trump's director of strategic communications Mercedes Schlapp said Monday that the White House has been in discussions with Pelosi's office about rescheduling the address and that 'we should have a response soon.'" Mrs. McC: She should wait, IMO, till after the government is funded. ...

     ... Update. Mrs. McCrabbie: Surprisingly, Speaker Pelosi did not take my advice: ...

     ... Michael Collins of USA Today: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has invited ... Donald Trump to deliver the State of the Union address at the Capitol on Feb. 5." Mrs. McC: This is a mistake. Trump will deliver the same bound-and-gagged-women pile of horrorscapes he & Stephen Miller dreamed up for the original speech. I will not be listening.

Mujib Mashal of the New York Times: "American and Taliban officials have agreed in principle to the framework of a deal in which the insurgents would guarantee to prevent Afghan territory from being used by terrorists, and that could lead to a full pullout of American troops in return for larger concessions from the Taliban, the chief United States negotiator said Monday. The American envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad, said those concessions must include the Taliban's agreeing to a cease-fire and to talk directly with the Afghan government, issues that the insurgents have doggedly opposed in the past. 'We have a draft of the framework that has to be fleshed out before it becomes an agreement,' Mr. Khalilzad said in an interview with The New York Times in Kabul.... After nine years of halting efforts to reach a peace deal with the Taliban, the draft framework, though preliminary, is the biggest tangible step toward ending a two-decade war...."

Thanks, Trump! Caitlin Emma & Jennifer Scholtes of Politico: "The five-week partial government shutdown cost the U.S. economy about $3 billion in forgone economic activity that won't be recovered, the Congressional Budget Office said in a new report Monday. Because the IRS was among the agencies unfunded during the shutdown, it had to slow down some compliance work. For that reason, CBO estimates tax revenue will be about $2 billion lower in fiscal 2019 and that 'much of the lost revenue ... will not be recouped.'... These CBO estimates did not include indirect effects. As the shutdown dragged on ... the 'risks to the economy were becoming increasingly significant,' including the blow to businesses that could not get federal permits, government-backed loans or grants, the budget scorekeeper said."

Mark Hand of ThinkProgress: "The Trump administration is reviewing steps it could take to prevent state officials from using their authority under the Clean Water Act to deny permits to developers of natural gas pipelines and other energy infrastructure. The administration is reportedly considering issuing an executive order that would limit the ability of states to block natural gas pipelines and other energy projects. But legal experts countered that Trump would not be able to amend the Clean Water Act simply through the issuance of an executive order." --s

"Fuck you, Betsy." Benjamin Wermund of Politico: "Education Secretary Betsy DeVos' proposal to change rules for how schools handle sexual assault allegations has turned the federal site for collecting public comments into a cauldron of anger and obscenity. DeVos, one of ... Donald Trump's few remaining original cabinet secretaries, has not become embroiled in any administration scandals during her two years running the Education Department, but she remains enemy No. 1 for many teachers and activists. The comments reflect not only the divisiveness and emotion surrounding assault investigations but how anything DeVos touches can spark hostility.... As of Friday, there were nearly 72,000 comments on the Education Department's proposed rule. The proposal is controversial, viewed by critics as DeVos doing Trump's bidding to protect sexual harassers, pointing to such accusations against th president. The comments are peppered with references to Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, whose nomination was nearly tanked by sexual assault allegations."

Presidential Race 2020. Edward-Isaac Dovere, now of the Atlantic: Howard "Schultz, the former Starbucks CEO, says in a 60 Minutes interview ... that he is thinking very seriously about a presidential run -- but he stops short of a full announcement. He makes clear, however, that if he moves forward, he will do so as an independent. Already top Democratic operatives working for presidential candidates and beyond say they're worried that the only thing he'll accomplish is making sure Donald Trump gets reelected. It's more than just sniping at a prospective opponent; word that he might invest in an independent run has many of them clearly worried about how he'd split votes in a general election." ...

... Trump Has Figured Out Schultz Is His Best Hope. Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump on Monday taunted Howard Schultz, who is considering a 2020 presidential bid, tweeting that the former Starbucks CEO 'doesn't have the "guts" to run.' 'Watched him on @60Minutes last night and I agree with him that he is not the "smartest person,'" Trump tweeted. 'Besides, America already has that! I only hope that Starbucks is still paying me their rent in Trump Tower!'" ...

... Jonathan Chait: Howard "Schultz appears to be one of those rich people who has confused his success in one field with a general expertise in every other field that interests him. His apparently sincere belief that he can be elected president is the product of a sincere civic-minded commitment to the public good and an almost comic failure to grasp how he might accomplish this.... Schultz believes that the large cohort of Americans who identify as 'independents' indicates a market for a centrist candidate positioned between the two parties.... That is not factual." Mrs. McC: Schultz is like Trump, but less malevolent & more naive.

Caleb Howe of Mediaite: "On Meet the Press, venerable news anchor Tom Brokaw ... argued 'the Hispanics' should 'work harder' at assimilation." Mrs. McC: Yeah, they should get them some MAGA hats & listen to more country & western music. Also, less béisbol, more football, & I don't mean soccer. ...

... Brokaw Apologizes for Being Parochial Old White Guy. Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: "NBC News veteran Tom Brokaw apologized Sunday evening for comments he made earlier in the day on 'Meet the Press' calling for Hispanics in the U.S. to 'work harder at assimilation.' The comments ... sparked a quick backlash both on social media and on set from PBS "NewsHour" White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor, who also appeared on the same 'Meet the Press' panel. 'I am sorry, truly sorry, my comments were offensive to many. The great enduring American tradition of diversity is to be celebrated and cherished,' he wrote on Twitter, part of a flurry of posts backtracking on his earlier remarks.... 'I would just say that we also need to adjust what we think of as America. You're talking about assimilation. I grew up in Miami, where people speak Spanish, but their kids speak English,' [Alcindor] ... told Brokaw. 'And the idea that we think Americans can only speak English, as if Spanish and other languages wasn't always part of America, is, in some ways, troubling.'"

North Carolina. Ian Millhiser of ThinkProgress: "For the last several election cycles, North Carolina has not held democratic elections for its state legislature ... thanks to an aggressive gerrymander that all-but-ensures Republican control in North Carolina. Yet two recent developments -- one of them very recent -- make it exceedingly likely that North Carolina will have free and fair elections in 2020. The first is a lawsuit, Common Cause v. Lewis.... That suit asks the state courts to declare that partisan gerrymandering violates the state constitution, and to 'establish new state House and state Senate districting plans' for 2020. The second development is North Carolina Chief Justice Mark Martin's announcement on Friday that he plans to leave his court in order to become dean of Regent University Law School.... Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper will appoint a replacement for Martin who will serve until the next election. That means that the state Supreme Court, which is already heavily Democratic, is about to have a 6-1 Democratic majority. The state's gerrymandered maps are, to say the least, unlikely to survive contact with such a court.... 2020 is a Census year, whoever prevails in that year's state legislative races will get to draw the maps for the next ten years." --s

Baby Steps. Bethan McKernan of the Guardian: "Authorities in the United Arab Emirates have been ridiculed after it emerged that all of the winners of an initiative designed to foster gender equality in the workplace were men.... A United Nations Development Programme study from 2018 found that the UAE was the Gulf country that ranked highest for gender equality and had made significant progress in bringing women into the workforce. The report found that by 2015, 135,000 Emirati women participated in the labour market, compared with just 1,000 in 1975, and 43% of women now hold bachelor's degrees, compared with 23% of men." --s

*****

The Trump Shutdown, Ctd., Month Two

Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "The toll exacted on government operations and federal employees by the record 35-day stalemate -- not to mention the political costs to those in the White House and on Capitol Hill -- was so punishing that it is giving momentum to a longstanding call to prohibit the government disruptions that have become a regular facet of Washington hardball.... Members of both parties said it was past time to enact legislation that would essentially mean the government would remain open at existing spending levels when an impasse such as the fight over the border wall was reached, rather than shuttering parts or all of the government." Both Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) & Mark Warner (D-Va.) have introduced legislation that would prevent shutdowns. House "Speaker Nancy Pelosi also welcomed the idea on Friday, saying in a meeting with news columnists that she wanted to explore the possibility of legislation that would serve as a shutdown prevention act." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Weak Prez* Still Issuing Threats. The Week: "In an interview Sunday, President Trump told The Wall Street Journal he does not think lawmakers will be able to come up with a deal to fund a border wall, and another shutdown is 'certainly an option.' A committee of seven senators and 10 House members are trying to reach an agreement on border security, and when asked if he believes they'll be able to come up with a deal before the next government-funding lapse in mid-February, Trump responded, 'I personally think it's less than 50-50, but you have a lot of very good people on that board.' He added that he doubts he would sign any bill that does not give him at least $5.7 billion for the border wall he's long promised, and he suggested he will use emergency powers if necessary to get a barrier up." The firewalled WSJ story is here. ...

... Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "President Trump will secure the U.S. border with Mexico 'with or without Congress,' acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said Sunday, as negotiations over Trump's long-sought border wall begin anew. In an interview on 'Fox News Sunday,' Mulvaney declined to say whether Trump would accept less than the $5.7 billion in funding he has demanded for the wall. But he maintained that Trump is ready to use emergency powers to secure the border if Democrats continue to balk at his demands." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Jonathan Swan of Axios writes yet another autopsy report on the Cave on Wall On Friday morning, "Trump saw a Republican Senate poised to abandon him. Better to cave on his own terms, and in his own words, than watch both parties hang him out to dry. 'I can tell you exactly what happened,' one Republican senator texted me [at the time]. 'The mood at Senate Republican lunch on Thursday resembled what the mood must've been on the Union lines at 4 pm at First Bull Run. I'm amazed only six [Republicans] voted for Schumer's bill. The message from that lunch by VP, Shahira [Knight] and Mitch [McConnell] to POTUS was, it's over. They'll be 70 votes within 48 hours.' White House officials told me they knew their momentum was fading."

Max Boot of the Washington Post: "Trump supporters have been worshiping the god that failed.... His inability to bend the government to his will, even after two years in office, is a sign that (a) the rule of law still prevails and (b) he does not know what he is doing.... The Trump mystique has been based on fear and faith -- fear of immigrant hordes swarming the borders and faith that Trump 'alone can fix it.' The failure of his shutdown dealt another mighty blow to both illusions.... When Republicans were in control of both chambers, he could plausibly threaten lawmakers because of his cultlike hold on 80-plus percent of Republican voters. But his base is only 35 percent or so of the entire electorate, and Democrats are not intimidated by him. His aura of invincibility has been cracked -- and, with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III scheduled to report, the worst is yet to come. Two painful, punishing years loom."

Border Patrol Asked to Find Evidence for Trump's Oft-Repeated Horror Story. Dara Lind of Vox: "It's become a staple of ... Donald Trump's riffs on the horrors of the US-Mexico border...: Human traffickers gag women with tape so they can't even breathe before packing them into vans and driving them across the border illegally. But two weeks after Trump had started talking about tape-gagged women -- when a January 17 Washington Post article had questioned the claim -- a top Border Patrol official had to email agents to ask if they had 'any information' that the claim was actually true. The email ... was sent as a 'request for information' by an assistant Border Patrol chief, apparently on behalf of the office of Customs and Border Protection commissioner Kevin McAleenan.... It asked agents to reply within less than two hours with 'any information (in any format) regarding claims of tape-gagged women -- and even linked to the Post article 'for further info.' Vox's source indicated that they and others in their sector hadn't heard anything that would back up Trump's claims, but wasn't sure if agents in other sectors had provided information. However, no one from the Trump administration has come forward to offer evidence for the claim, either before or after the internal Border Patrol email was sent.... It's extremely hard to prove that such things have never happened -- especially because the president has access to classified information that experts speaking to journalists do not." (Also linked yesterday.)

This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd.

Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: It occurs to me that a major reason Trump & his allies engaged Russian hackers & WikiLeaks is that fake billionaire Trump is so damned cheap. While Hillary Clinton was paying Fusion GPS & others to collect dirt/oppo research on Trump, Trump was openly asking the Russians to hack her server to find out what she really thought of Andrew Weiner & what medications she might be taking (i.e., her personal emails). Why? Because it cost him nothing personally & the payback would be lifting sanctions & creating "good will" with the guy who had veto power over the Trump Phallic Tower Moscow.

This Russia thing is all over now, because I fired Flynn. -- Donald Trump, to Chris & Mary Pat Christie, February 14, 2017 ...

... Clueless. Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "President Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, believed that the 'Russia thing' would end ... [with] the firing of the national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn..., according to an account in a new memoir by Chris Christie. The incident recounted in Mr. Christie's book, 'Let Me Finish,' is among the anecdotes describing how the president and Mr. Kushner grappled with a campaign and a presidency that Mr. Christie says neither was prepared for.... Mr. Christie describes [Trump] as averse to interpersonal conflict with people he likes, needlessly nasty to some subordinates and prone to trusting people he should not.... Mr. Kushner, whose power has grown recently, appears as a shadow campaign manager and chief of staff in the White House, often giving his father-in-law questionable and problematic advice, according to the book...."

Donald Trump could be the first President to go to the inaugural of his successor in a limo with license plates made by his campaign manager. -- John Kerry, at the Alfalfa Club dinner Saturday

Ken Vogel of the New York Times: "The Trump administration on Sunday lifted sanctions against the business empire of Oleg V. Deripaska, one of Russia's most influential oligarchs.... The Treasury Department announced a deal last month to lift the sanctions in exchange for a restructuring that it said would reduce Mr. Deripaska's control and ownership of the companies. Yet a confidential, legally binding document detailing the agreement showed that Mr. Deripaska and his allies would retain majority ownership of EN+. Representative Lloyd Doggett, a Texas Democrat who has been among the leading critics of the deal, said that allowing it to take effect 'represents just one more step in undermining the sanctions law, which President Trump has obstructed at every opportunity, while Russian aggression remains unabated.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Paul Manafort was reportedly millions of dollars in debt to Deripaska. To pay back Deripaska, at no cost to himself, this is the deal Manafort would have arranged, if Manafort were not in jail. Hell, it's possible Manafort did structure this deal.

Barbara McQuade, in a USA Today op-ed: "The indictment of Roger Stone alleges serious crimes to obstruct Congress' investigation into Russian election interference. Beyond that, it also provides clues that more charges are likely.... Flipping Stone does not seem to be Mueller's primary goal.... Some of the language [in the indictment] indicates that Mueller continues to explore coordination between the Trump campaign, WikiLeaks and Russia to interfere with the 2016 election.... the Stone indictment ... suggests a basis for charging conspiracy to defraud the United States [as well as violations of campaign finance laws].... Third, this indictment shows how Mueller regards lies to Congress. Mueller is likely scouring the transcripts of all other Trump associates who have testified before Congress, such as Jared Kushner and Donald Trump Jr., for statements inconsistent with other evidence."

Still Whining. Brett Samuels: "President Trump late Saturday railed against the indictment of Roger Stone, insisting that he did not work with his longtime confidant 'anywhere near the Election' and complaining that the focus should instead be on obstacles his campaign faced in 2016. In a series of tweets, Trump cited allegations in Stone's indictment that data was released during the 2016 campaign to damage then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. The president suggested he was subject to similar campaigns, pointing to the so-called Steele dossier, which he dubbed a 'total phony conjob.' The dossier contained several salacious allegations, some of which were unverified, about Trump's relationship to Russia. The dossier was published by BuzzFeed in January 2017, after the election. The president also argued via Twitter he was subjected to 'one sided Fake Media coverage (collusion with Crooked H?),' and 'bias by Facebook and many others.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Lauren King & Ali Dukakis of ABC News: "Roger Stone, following a pre-dawn arrest at his home in Florida and ahead of an arraignment in Washington on Tuesday, said that he would discuss cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller, if asked.... 'Have you ever had any conversations with the president during the campaign or since the campaign about Russia or the Mueller investigation?' [George] Stephanopolous asked. 'None whatsoever,' he said. 'Categorically. ... Zero. Zero.'" Mrs. McC: Okay, case closed. Trump is off the hook. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Rosalind Helderman, et al., of the Washington Post: "In indictments and plea agreements unveiled over the last 20 months, special counsel Robert S. Mueller III has shown over and over again that some of President Trump's closest friends and advisers have lied about Russia and related issues.... The remaining question -- for both Mueller's team, as it works on a final investigative report, and for the American people -- is why.... The deception by Trump advisers that has led to guilty pleas so far does have a common throughline: Much of it centers on their interactions about Russia.... Steve Hall, who retired from the CIA in 2015 after 30 years of running and managing Russia operations, said..., 'In my view, those lies -- what was lied about and under what condition the lies were told -- contribute to a counterintelligence pattern that has begun to emerge pointing to senior members of the Trump team being involved with the Russians.'..." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I get a kick out of the way some of Trump's defenders give him the benefit of the doubt by arguing that all of Trump's associates are liars & generally untrustworthy.

Ben Zimmer in Politico Magazine on the history of the term "ratfucking." Fascinating, to a words person. Thanks to unwashed for the link. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump early Sunday pushed questionable claims about Texas officials reviewing voter rolls to warn of 'rampant' voter fraud and advocate for 'Strong voter ID.' The president alleged that 58,000 noncitizens voted in Texas, and that 95,000 noncitizens registered to vote. His tweet was apparently spurred by a 'Fox & Friends' segment on the figures at about 8 a.m.... In fact, The Texas Tribune reported that the Texas secretary of state's office announced Friday it had flagged 95,000 registered voters who it said should be reviewed to determine whether they are U.S. citizens. Of that group, 58,000 cast a ballot in at least one election from 1996 to 2018, The Texas Tribune reported. The identified individuals provided some form of documentation when obtaining an identification card that showed they were not citizens, the news outlet reported. However, it's unclear how many are still not U.S. citizens, as some may have been naturalized." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Jonathan Swan: "Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham told me that as recently as a couple of weeks ago Trump mused to him about the possibility of using military force in Venezuela, where the U.S. government is currently pushing for regime change using diplomatic and economic pressures.... Graham, recalling his conversation with Trump, said: 'He [Trump] said, "What do you think about using military force?" and I said, "Well, you need to go slow on that, that could be problematic." And he said, "Well, I'm surprised, you want to invade everybody.'" Graham laughed. 'And I said, "... I only want to use the military when our national security interests are threatened.'" 'Trump's really hawkish' on Venezuela, the hawkish Graham added in a phone interview on Sunday afternoon, adding that Trump was even more hawkish than he was on Venezuela. To be clear: There are no signs that the Trump administration is planning to invade Venezuela, and my conversations with senior administration officials signal that the coming pressures to accelerate regime change are diplomatic and economic." ...

... Brent Griffiths of Politico: "Mick Mulvaney on Sunday refused to rule out U.S. military action to address unrest in Venezuela, following a week where ... Donald Trump distanced the U.S. from the country's ruler, Nicolás Maduro, by recognizing an opposition figure as Venezuela's true leader." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Karoli Kuns of Crooks & Liars has a very Crooks-&-Liars take on that meeting Madame Justice Ginni Thomas & her loony friends had with President* Doodah: "Just last week, Virginia 'Ginni' Thomas went to the White House and paid Donald J. Trump a visit, specifically to yell at him about transgender people and also to complain that he wasn't appointing her friends fast enough. It must be nice to have the ear of a Supreme Court Justice, eh? Just last week the Supreme Court ruled that Donald Trump's transgender ban could be upheld while the case moved through the courts. I'm sure Ginni had nothing to do with that.... They prayed. A lot. Because that's what these leftover freaks from the Council for National Policy specialize in: Standing before power and claiming it in the name of Jesus. Their entire goal is to co-opt power, create a theocracy, and bow before the cult of President Jesus...." ...

... digby: "I don't think I need to mention that the Republicans would impeach any liberal Justice whose spouse worked as a far-left activist of this type. It's simply bizarre that this is ok. It's not that a spouse doesn't have the right to have his or her own job. But this kind of political activism should be off limits. But hey --- they do what they want. Rules are for losers." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I believe that on an Oval Office sofa there is a pillow festooned with shiny gold braid & tassels & words in large block letters needlepointed into the field "RULES ARE FOR LOSERS."

Jay Bookman of The Atlanta-Journal Constitution has a brilliant Twitter thread on the Trumpification of the GOP into a cult managed by the thought police at Faux News and right wing rage radio. --s

Presidential Race 2020. Stacey Solie of the New York Times: "Senator Kamala Harris of California officially kicked off her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination on Sunday at an outdoor rally where she warned that the nation and the world were at 'an inflection point' in history and called on all Americans to 'speak truth about what's happening' in the Trump era. Before a crowd that her advisers estimated at more than 20,000 people, Ms. Harris threaded together a biography from her years in the Bay Area with her work as a prosecutor and a senator, and set those details against a broader populist vision about 'running to be president of the people, by the people and for all people.'"

I watched the Oscar nominations a few days ago. And afterwards every single actor said what a great honor it was just to be nominated. ... Trust me: It's not. -- John Kerry, Saturday ...

... Eli Watkins of CNN: "Former Defense Secretary James Mattis received a standing ovation Saturday at the annual black-tie Alfalfa Club dinner after delivering a speech in which he honored the troops and talked about the importance of the US' standing abroad, according to a source with knowledge of the event. For the third year running..., Donald Trump skipped the annual event -- but this year, so did the vice president as well as Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner.... The rest of the evening was lighter in tone, with former Secretary of State John Kerry delivering a speech replete with jokes about official Washington and himself. Kerry, the outgoing president of the club -- a mainstay of establishment Washington -- handed over his leadership role to newly minted Utah GOP Sen. Mitt Romney at the black tie event. 'This is the only speech in Washington that hasn't been canceled by Nancy Pelosi,' Kerry joked...."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Dictators' Nightmare. Simon Tisdall of the Guardian: "Protests against Omar al-Bashir, the indicted war criminal who has dominated the country for 29 years, are becoming a daily occurrence.... They want him gone.... But the causes of the unrest cannot be bludgeoned away: a struggling economy, low investment, high unemployment, corruption, bad governance and a potentially disastrous lack of opportunity for new generations of young people.... Recent weeks have seen protests in Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya and Morocco. Once again, the political temperature is rising.... Western governments, too, are repeating the mistakes made before the first Arab spring: backing dictatorships that supposedly suit their interests while ignoring bad behaviour.... This will not continue indefinitely. In Egypt, as in Sudan and elsewhere, pressure is building. A second explosion cannot be far off." --s

News Lede

New York Times: "The polar vortex is back and the forecasts are dire: A quick punch of snow, followed almost immediately by a life-threatening level of cold that a generation of Midwesterners has never experienced. Already on Monday, the misery was on full display.... In Milwaukee, St. Paul and Minneapolis, public schools called off classes. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan sent most state workers home early. By midday, more than 1,400 flights across the country had been canceled, according to FlightAware."

The Commentariat -- January 27, 2019

Afternoon Update:

Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "President Trump will secure the U.S. border with Mexico 'with or without Congress,' acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said Sunday, as negotiations over Trump's long-sought border wall begin anew. In an interview on 'Fox News Sunday,' Mulvaney declined to say whether Trump would accept less than the $5.7 billion in funding he has demanded for the wall. But he maintained that Trump is ready to use emergency powers to secure the border if Democrats continue to balk at his demands." ...

... Brent Griffiths of Politico: "Mick Mulvaney on Sunday refused to rule out U.S. military action to address unrest in Venezuela, following a week where ... Donald Trump distanced the U.S. from the country's ruler, Nicolás Maduro, by recognizing an opposition figure as Venezuela's true leader."

Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump early Sunday pushed questionable claims about Texas officials reviewing voter rolls to warn of 'rampant' voter fraud and advocate for 'Strong vote ID.' The president alleged that 58,000 noncitizens voted in Texas, and that 95,000 noncitizens registered to vote. His tweet was apparently spurred by a 'Fox & Friends' segment on the figures at about 8 a.m.... In fact, The Texas Tribune reported that the Texas secretary of state's office announced Friday it had flagged 95,000 registered voters who it said should be reviewed to determine whether they are U.S. citizens. Of that group, 58,000 cast a ballot in at least one election from 1996 to 2018, The Texas Tribune reported. The identified individuals provided some form of documentation when obtaining an identification card that showed they were not citizens, the news outlet reported. However, it's unclear how many are still not U.S. citizens, as some may have been naturalized."

Still Whining. Brett Samuels: "President Trump late Saturday railed against the indictment of Roger Stone, insisting that he did not work with his longtime confidant 'anywhere near the Election' and complaining that the focus should instead be on obstacles his campaign faced in 2016. In a series of tweets, Trump cited allegations in Stone's indictment that data was released during the 2016 campaign to damage then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. The president suggested he was subject to similar campaigns, pointing to the so-called Steele dossier, which he dubbed a 'total phony conjob.' The dossier contained several salacious allegations, some of which were unverified, about Trump's relationship to Russia. The dossier was published by BuzzFeed in January 2017, after the election. The president also argued via Twitter he was subjected to 'one sided Fake Media coverage (collusion with Crooked H?),' and 'bias by Facebook and many others.'"

Lauren King & Ali Dukakis of ABC News: "Roger Stone, following a pre-dawn arrest at his home in Florida and ahead of an arraignment in Washington on Tuesday, said that he would discuss cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller, if asked.... 'Have you ever had any conversations with the president during the campaign or since the campaign about Russia or the Mueller investigation?' [George] Stephanopolous asked. 'None whatsoever,' he said. 'Categorically. ... Zero. Zero.'" Mrs. McC: Okay, case closed. Trump is off the hook. ...

... Rosalind Helderman, et al., of the Washington Post: "In indictments and plea agreements unveiled over the last 20 months..., Robert S. Mueller III has shown over and over again that some of President Trump's closest friends and advisers have lied about Russia and related issues.... The remaining question -- for both Mueller's team, as it works on a final investigative report, and for the American people -- is why.... The deception by Trump advisers that has led to guilty pleas so far does have a common throughline: Much of it centers on their interactions about Russia.... Steve Hall, who retired from the CIA in 2015 after 30 years of running and managing Russia operations, said..., 'In my view, those lies -- what was lied about and under what condition the lies were told -- contribute to a counterintelligence pattern that has begun to emerge pointing to senior members of the Trump team being involved with the Russians.'..." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I get a kick out of the way some of Trump's defenders give him the benefit of the doubt by arguing that all of Trump's associates are all liars & generally untrustworthy.

Border Patrol Asked to Find Evidence for Trump's Oft-Repeated Horror Story. Dara Lind of Vox: "It's become a staple of ... Donald Trump's riffs on the horrors of the US-Mexico border...: Human traffickers gag women with tape so they can't even breathe before packing them into vans and driving them across the border illegally. But two weeks after Trump had started talking about tape-gagged women -- when a January 17 Washington Post article had questioned the claim — a top Border Patrol official had to email agents to ask if they had 'any information' that the claim was actually true. The email ... was sent as a 'request for information' by an assistant Border Patrol chief, apparently on behalf of the office of Customs and Border Protection commissioner Kevin McAleenan.... It asked agents to reply within less than two hours with 'any information (in any format) regarding claims of tape-gagged women -- and even linked to the Post article 'for further info.' Vox's source indicated that they and others in their sector hadn't heard anything that would back up Trump's claims, but wasn't sure if agents in other sectors had provided information. However, no one from the Trump administration has come forward to offer evidence for the claim, either before or after the internal Border Patrol email was sent.... It's extremely hard to prove that such things have never happened -- especially because the president has access to classified information that experts speaking to journalists do not."

Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "The toll exacted on government operations and federal employees by the record 35-day stalemate -- not to mention the political costs to those in the White House and on Capitol Hill -- was so punishing that it is giving momentum to a longstanding call to prohibit the government disruptions that have become a regular facet of Washington hardball.... Members of both parties said it was past time to enact legislation that would essentially mean the government would remain open at existing spending levels when an impasse such as the fight over the border wall was reached, rather than shuttering parts or all of the government." Both Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) & Mark Warner (D-Va.) have introduced legislation that would prevent shutdowns. House "Speaker Nancy Pelosi also welcomed the idea on Friday, saying in a meeting with news columnists that she wanted to explore the possibility of legislation that would serve as a shutdown prevention act."

Ben Zimmer in Politico Magazine on the history of the term "ratfucking." Fascinating, to a words person. Thanks to unwashed for the link.

If you've missed all the news since Friday, here's a fairly accurate recap:

*****

The Trump Shutdown, Ctd.

On Friday, reporters used the word 'cave' to describe Trump's actions in over a dozen headlines, so often that Merriam-Webster reports a 1500 percent increase in searches for the word -- presumably, for its function as a verb. -- Matt Stieb of New York

Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "Trump's capitulation -- agreeing to reopen the federal government after a 35-day standoff without funding for a U.S.-Mexico border wall -- generated rave reviews for [Nancy] Pelosi from fellow Democrats and grudging respect from Republicans who watched as she kept an unruly party caucus united in the face of GOP divide-and-conquer tactics. Pelosi (D-Calif.) emerges from the shutdown as a stronger leader of her party -- and more popular with the public, by early measures -- as Democrats eye aggressive efforts to counter Trump's agenda through ambitious legislation and tough oversight. That suggests the shutdown might have been a strategic misstep for Trump, in addition to a tactical error.... Trump and White House officials appeared to fundamentally misjudge Pelosi's support among Democrats and her resolve to hold firm against border wall funding.... There appears to be little appetite on Capitol Hill for a reprise of the draining shutdown. Trump's Plan B -- declaring a national emergency and tapping military construction accounts to fund the wall -- has unnerved many Republicans and spurred Democrats to prepare for litigation that might not be settled before Trump's term is up."

Kevin Liptak, et al., of CNN: "As ... Donald Trump announced in the Rose Garden on Friday that his quixotic bid to secure more than $5 billion for a border wall would end with no money, he was met with applause from his Cabinet secretaries and senior aides. But the clapping belied a pervasive sense of defeat. Instead of emerging victorious, many of Trump's allies are walking away from a record-breaking government shutdown feeling outplayed, not least by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The President is now more unpopular than he was before the shutdown began, sacked with blame for the 35-day lapse in funding. Friday's announcement was an extraordinary comedown that left many in the White House and those who support Trump marveling at the futility of the preceding four weeks of brinkmanship. In the eyes of some aides and outside advisers, an entire fruitless month has passed that cannot be recouped.... 'Today is not a cave but a grave for Stephen Miller policies,' [a Trump] adviser said, acknowledging it's not clear at all that Trump is ready to make that kind of course correction."

Home Alone at the White House, Donnie Hosted Some of His Crazy Friends. Maggie Haberman & Annie Karni of the New York Times: "President Trump met last week with a delegation of hard-right activists led by Ginni Thomas, the wife of Justice Clarence Thomas, listening quietly as members of the group denounced transgender people and women serving in the military, according to three people with direct knowledge of the events. For 60 minutes Mr. Trump sat, saying little but appearing taken aback, the three people said, as the group also accused White House aides of blocking Trump supporters from getting jobs in the administration. It is unusual for the spouse of a sitting Supreme Court justice to have such a meeting with a president, and some close to Mr. Trump said it was inappropriate for Ms. Thomas to have asked to meet with the head of a different branch of government.... The meeting was arranged after months of delay, according to the three people. It came about after the Thomases had dinner with the president and the first lady, Melania Trump, the people said.... Others attending included Frank Gaffney..., who has advocated curtailing immigration and has repeatedly denounced Muslims, and Rosemary Jenks, who works for the anti-immigration group NumbersUSA...." Mrs. McC: "Taken aback"? These are your people, Von Clownschtick.

Joshua Partlow & David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: "... on Jan. 18, about a dozen employees at Trump National Golf Club in Westchester County, N.Y., were ... fired because they are undocumented immigrants, according to interviews with the workers and their attorney. The fired workers are from Latin America. The sudden firings -- which were previously unreported -- follow last year's revelations of undocumented labor at a Trump club in New Jersey, where employees were subsequently dismissed. The firings show Trump's business was relying on undocumented workers even as the president demanded a border wall to keep out such immigrants.... In Westchester County, workers were told Trump's company had just audited their immigration documents -- the same ones they had submitted years earlier -- and found them to be fake.... The firings at the New York golf club -- which workers said eliminated about half of the club's wintertime staff -- follow a story in the New York Times last year that featured an undocumented worker at another Trump club in Bedminster, N.J. After that story, Trump's company fired undocumented workers at the Bedminster club, according to former workers there.... The firings highlight a stark tension between Trump's public stance on immigration and the private conduct of Trump's business."

Annie Karni & Maggie Haberman: "Jared Kushner ... was confident in his ability as a good-faith negotiator who could find a compromise to end the government shutdown.... Buoyed by his success in helping pass a criminal justice bill, Mr. Kushner ... agreed to take the lead when the president asked him to find a way to end the monthlong stalemate. But negotiating a broad immigration deal that would satisfy a president committed to a border wall as well as Democrats who have cast it as immoral proved to be more like Mr. Kushner's elusive goal of solving Middle East peace than passing a criminal justice overhaul that already had bipartisan support. For one, Mr. Kushner inaccurately believed that moderate rank-and-file Democrats were open to a compromise and had no issue funding a wall as part of a broader deal.... And Democratic leaders like Senator Chuck Schumer, party officials said, did not believe that Mr. Kushner had the power to circumvent Stephen Miller.... Mr. Trump, White House aides said, has been frustrated at everyone around him for not delivering a deal he can accept. And he has become wary of his son-in-law's advice on this issue, the aides said."

This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd.

Karen Yourish & Larry Buchanan of the New York Times: "During the 2016 presidential campaign and transition, Donald J. Trump and at least 17 campaign officials and advisers had contacts with Russian nationals and WikiLeaks, or their intermediaries, a New York Times analysis has found. At least 10 other associates were told about interactions but did not have any themselves.... Among these contacts are more than 100 in-person meetings, phone calls, text messages, emails and private messages on Twitter. Mr. Trump and his campaign repeatedly denied having such contacts with Russians during the 2016 election.The special counsel has also investigated connections between the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks, which released thousands of Democratic emails that were hacked by Russia before the election." The story includes a handy interactive chart & related charts laying out the who when where & lies. Mrs. McC: There's NO COLLUSION! and even if there was, there's nothing wrong with it. WITCH HUNT!!!

"Nancy"'s One-Two Punch. Inae Oh of Mother Jones: "Fresh off her decisive victory over ... Donald Trump in the fight to end the longest government shutdown in US history, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi released a scathing statement on the other damning news of the day: the arrest of the president's longtime adviser Roger Stone.

The indictment of Roger Stone makes clear that there was a deliberate, coordinated attempt by top Trump campaign officials to influence the 2016 election and subvert the will of the American people. It is staggering that the President has chosen to surround himself with people who violated the integrity of our democracy and lied to the FBI and Congress about it.

In the face of 37 indictments, the President's continued actions to undermine the Special Counsel investigation raise the questions: what does Putin have on the President, politically, personally or financially? Why has the Trump Administration continued to discuss pulling the U.S. out of NATO, which would be a massive victory for Putin?

Lying to Congress and witness tampering constitute grave crimes. All who commit these illegal acts should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.; We cannot allow any effort to intimidate witnesses or prevent them from appearing before Congress.

The Special Counsel investigation is working, and the House will continue to exercise our constitutional oversight responsibility and ensure that the Special Counsel investigation can continue free from interference from the White House. -- Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House

Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel: "[I]n spite of the fact that [Roger] Stone has been rat-fucking for almost a half century, and in spite of the fact that Stone was willing to risk major prison time as part of a cover-up, Stone utterly fucked himself by keeping incriminating materials around and leaking them out via journalists. If Ronald Reagan is rolling in his grave today because the Air Traffic Controllers showed that by working collectively they could be more powerful than a President, then Richard Nixon is rolling in his grave today that a guy still branded with his face failed the cover-up so much worse than Nixon himself[.]" --s

Peter Zeidenberg in the Daily Beast: "... [Roger] Stone should begin getting his affairs in order. Barring a presidential pardon (always the wild-card possibility with a POTUS like Trump) Stone will be convicted and receive a very substantial prison sentence. This is as close to a slam-dunk case as a prosecutor will ever bring.... Do not expect to see special counsel Robert Mueller make any attempt to flip Stone and have him cooperate.... Stone is too untrustworthy for a prosecutor to ever rely upon. He has told so many documented lies, and bragged so often about his dirty tricks, that he simply has too much baggage to deal with even if here to want to cooperate -- which seems unlikely in any event.... Stone has nothing to sell that Mueller would be interested in buying." ...

... Julian Sanchez in a New York Times op-ed: "... the true target of Friday's F.B.I. actions [against Roger Stone] was not Mr. Stone himself, but his electronic devices.... Reports ... noted that federal agents were 'seen carting hard drives and other evidence from Mr. Stone;s apartment in Harlem, and his recording studio in South Florida was also raided.' The F.B.I., in other words, was executing search warrants, not just arrest warrants.... [According to the indictment,] in a text exchange between Mr. Stone and a 'supporter involved with the Trump Campaign,' Mr. Mueller pointedly quotes Mr. Stone's request to 'talk on a secure line -- got WhatsApp?'... Though it's not directly relevant to his alleged false statements, the special counsel is taking pains to establish that Mr. Stone made a habit of moving sensitive conversations to encrypted messaging platforms like WhatsApp -- meaning that, unlike ordinary emails, the messages could not be obtained directly from the service provider. The clear implication is that any truly incriminating communications would have been conducted in encrypted form -- and thus could be obtained only directly from Mr. Stone's own phones and laptops." ...

... Roger Stone, the Missing Link. James Risen of the Intercept: "Since his name first surfaced in connection with the Trump-Russia inquiry, Stone has behaved in public like a clown, reveling in his cheap celebrity while also taunting Mueller and the press.... But the indictment shows that Stone has some serious legal problems, and that his role as a possible link between the Trump circle and the cyber-assault on the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton's campaign can't be laughed off or easily dismissed.... If the indictment is borne out, Stone's actions come very close to making him the key missing link in the Trump-Russia collusion narrative.... While the charges against Stone don't deal with the underlying question of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, the Stone indictment still brings Mueller's probe closer than ever before to the heart of the matter." ...

... Adam Davidson of the New Yorker: "A frequent guest on InfoWars and other fringe conspiracy-media outlets, [Roger] Stone has presented himself as somewhat desperately trying to foster communication between Trump and [ WikiLeaks' Julian] Assange. But the e-mails in the indictment show that Stone may have played a crucial role in the election, intervening with both the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks to influence the timing of key events.... One must still allow [that Trump] was, somehow, an innocent dupe surrounded by scheming scoundrels[.]"

... Betsy Woodruff of the Daily Beast reproduces some of the e-mail exchanges between Roger Stone & Randy Credico (Person 2). Extremely scatological. "Stone and Credico's relationship ... has found its way into the investigation of the century. And it highlights one of the most amusing realities of the special counsel's into Russian meddling in the 2016 election: Mueller, a notoriously serious and straight-faced law man, has spent a huge amount of time dealing with clowns.... A few days before his indictment, he texted The Daily Beast to say he would expose monstrous misconduct by Mueller's team if indicted." ...

... Abigail Tracy of Vanity Fair: "... Stone was not indicted on charges of collusion or conspiracy. Rather, as Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani noted, he was indicted for process crimes. Which invites the question: could Mueller not find an underlying crime?... Glenn Kirschner, a former federal prosecutor..., specifically highlighted text messages from [Randy] Credico -- identified as 'Person 2' in the court filing -- to Stone on or around October 1, 2016..., that stated, 'Big news Wednesday ... now pretend u don-t know me .. Hillary's campaign will die this week.' Kirschner called that clear evidence of a conspiracy. 'Really, in 15 words, we can see collusion; we can see the cover-up; we can see the conspiracy; and we can see that the whole point of this is to kill Hillary's campaign in a way that relies on stolen information to do it,' Kirschner said. '... you can prove the case with those 15 words.' 'The Stone indictment is yet another indictment of a person close to Trump working with the Kremlin,' said Neal Katyal, a top Justice official in the Obama administration. 'Either Trump was in on it, or he goes down as the most clueless boss and president in the 242-year history of the Republic.'"

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: The argument popular among -- and giving comfort to -- Trump supporters is that Mueller is mostly charging Trump factotums with "process crimes": lying to investigators, obstructing justice, etc. In my view, that's pretty cold comfort. First, there's no reason to think Mueller has packed up his indictment machine. But more important, these "process crimes" all raise the question of why. If there were no underlying crime, there would be no reason to lie or obstruct justice or commit perjury or tamper with witnesses. These "process crimes" all are pointers to underlying crimes. Mueller could not have charged these process crimes if he didn't know pretty much what his targets were trying to hide; that is, what the "big" crimes of conspiracy, election fraud, hacking, etc. ...

     ... Remarks by Adam Davidson, Neal Katyal & others suggest that if Mueller never directly fingers Trump, Trump's only viable defense will be, "I had no idea what-all was going on right under my nose." Watching the Trump Crime Family in action really is like watching an episode of "Law & Order" where prosecutor Jack McCoy is trying to reel in the big-fish mob boss when the only solid evidence he has is against wise guys like Biscuits & Books (Biscotti & Libretti).

** Spencer Ackerman of The Daily Beast: "The new leadership on the House intelligence committee is eager to revive the panel's probe into the connections between Donald Trump's camp and Russia, an urgency underscored by the latest indictment of a Trump associate accused of lying to its investigation. But three weeks into the Democratic-controlled Congress, House Republicans haven't taken a critical step necessary for the committee to begin any work at all. The House Republican leadership has yet to name the intelligence committee's Republican membership for the new Congress, with the exception of retaining Devin Nunes as ranking Republican. Without doing so, the committee is stalled -- no hearings, no internal business meetings...(This Republican intransigence was first noted by The Rachel Maddow Show.) It's not clear what the holdup is." --s

<
Rod Nordland & Mujib Mashal of the New York Times: The United States and the Taliban are closing in on a deal to end America's longest war after six days of some of the most serious Afghan peace negotiations to date wrapped up on Saturday. The talks in Doha, Qatar, lasted much longer than planned and longer than any previous attempt to end the 17-year conflict, and both sides publicly reported progress -- a rarity. The chief American negotiator, Zalmay Khalilzad, said on Twitter that the talks were 'more productive than they have been in the past' and he hoped they would resume shortly.... 'We have a number of issues left to work out. Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed, and "everything" must include an intra-Afghan dialogue and comprehensive cease-fire,' he said." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: This is the first time I can recall something like good news coming out of the Trump administration. Any other "good news" I can remember has been fake. If negotiations proceed successfully, please, Allah, don't let Trump put his thumb on them.

Marco Rubio, Venezuelan Revolutionary. Peter Baker & Edward Wong of the New York Times: "... Senator Marco Rubio ... has become a lead policy architect and de facto spokesman in a daring and risky campaign involving the United States in the unrest that is now gripping Venezuela. Through sheer force of will and a concerted effort to engage and educate President Trump, Mr. Rubio has made himself, in effect, a virtual secretary of state for Latin America, driving administration strategy and articulating it to the region from the Senate floor, as he did the other day, and every television camera he can find. Perhaps no other individual outside Venezuela has been more critical in challenging President Nicolás Maduro."

** Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Amanda Arnold of New York: "In the past three days, about 1,000 writers, editors, and other media workers lost their jobs — a number that will continue to increase over the next week. On Wednesday evening, Verizon (which owns HuffPost, Yahoo, and AOL) announced it would be laying of seven percent of its staff; not long after that, The Wall Street Journal reported that BuzzFeed would cut soon cut 15 percent of its staff. Earlier that day, Gannett Co., which owns more than 1,000 daily and weekly newspapers across the country, had cut approximately 400 jobs -- a devastating blow to small newsrooms and the local communities that depend on them.... Many are laying the blame on Facebook and Google, which monopolize digital ad growth, as well as poor decisions on the management level. 'This isn't happening because of market inefficiencies or consumer preferences or social value,' HuffPost senior reporter Zach Carter tweeted. 'It's happening because two very large companies have taken the advertising revenue that journalism outlets rely on and replaced it with nothing.'"

Public Service Announcement:

... "Ah, Ah, Ah, Ah, Stayin' Alive, Stayin' Alive." Alex Horton of the Washington Post: When Cross Scott of Arizona came across an unconscious woman, he had no training in CPR, but he did remember that episode of "The Office." While others called 911, Scott "crawled onto the woman and began compressions while singing the [Bee Gees'] song aloud, he told the [Arizona Daily] Star.... The woman ... awoke after a minute and threw up, according to the Star. She was then taken to a hospital."

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona. Yvonne Sanchez of the Arizona Republic: "Kelli Ward, the bomb-throwing conservative former state senator and loyalist to ... Donald Trump, upended the race to lead the Arizona Republican Party by beating the establishment favorite and incumbent GOP chairman, Jonathan Lines. In doing so, Republicans from across the state on Saturday chose a more right-wing vision headed into the 2020 election cycle where Arizona is poised to reach battleground status. The election [of Ward] could have far-reaching implications for how the party messages to voters and how it spends money on races."

Florida. Mark Stern of Slate: "... a Florida ethics probe into [Andrew] Gillum's [D] conduct as Tallahassee mayor has made his political future cloudier than it once appeared. On Friday, that investigation took a new, serious turn, when a state commission found probable cause that Gillum violated ethics laws by accepting gifts from lobbyists. This latest development, reported in the Tallahassee Democrat, should not be confused with the FBI probe into corruption in Tallahassee, which looks to be uninterested in Gillum. But it's still a blow to his political ambitions -- a splotch on his record that arises from alleged conduct that might be generously described as unseemly. Until now, Gillum has waved away criticisms of his behavior as a partisan smear campaign. Friday's decision undermines that defense, giving future opponents legitimate grist to attack his character.... Throughout the campaign, he insisted that he paid his share of the lavish excursions and never accepted gifts from lobbyists. That narrative is now almost impossible to believe."

Kansas. Jacey Fortin of the New York Times: "Three men who were convicted of plotting to blow up a Kansas apartment complex where Somali refugees lived have each been sentenced to at least 25 years in prison, the Justice Department said on Friday. 'The defendants in this case acted with clear premeditation in an attempt to kill innocent people on the basis of their religion and national origin,' Matthew G. Whitaker, the acting United States attorney general, said in a statement. 'That-s not just illegal -- it's morally repugnant.' During the trial last year in Wichita, Kan., prosecutors portrayed the men as aspiring domestic terrorists who were preparing to bomb the apartment complex in Garden City, Kan., which is home to a makeshift mosque and a community of Somali immigrants. The men, who called themselves 'the Crusaders,' were arrested about four weeks before Nov. 9, 2016, the date they had picked for the bombing." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Looks as if Matt Whitaker is not hoping for a new job in the Trump administration.

Pennsylvania. Jan Murphy & Charles Thompson of PennLive: State "House Republican leaders have called on state Rep. Brian Ellis to resign from office ... to take care of his family and address the sexual assault allegation that is the subject of a criminal investigation by the Dauphin County District Attorney. In their statement, House GOP leaders acknowledged a criminal investigation is taking place.... Ellis is accused of sexually assaulting a woman, who works at the state Capitol, following an encounter with her at a Harrisburg bar in October 2015.... The state's Victim Advocate Jennifer Storm, who is working with the woman, said on Friday that the woman was not voluntarily intoxicated the night of the alleged assault but rather incapacitated by a drug" --s

The Commentariat -- January 26, 2019

The Trump Shutdown, Agony of Defeat Edition.

Washington Post Editors: "President Trump's temper tantrum over Congress's refusal to fund a border wall paralyzed much of the government for five weeks, sapped the morale and wallets of hundreds of thousands of federal workers and low-wage contractors, left millions of Americans disgusted and dismayed, and diminished the United States in the eyes of the world. The impasse was proof of the president's stark incapacity for leadership, which he reconfirmed Friday by threatening to re-shutter the government in three weeks. In announcing his non-deal with Congress -- in fact, it is more cease-fire than solution -- Mr. Trump rehashed his tired and truth-free arguments, asserting against logic and evidence that building a massive new border wall, to supplement hundreds of miles of barriers already in place along high-trafficked segments of the border, would cause crime to plummet and drug trafficking to dry up." ...

... New York Times Editors: "What a debacle President rump's shutdown proved to be -- what a toddler's pageant of foot-stomping and incompetence, of vainglory and self-defeat. Mr. Trump tormented public servants and citizens and wounded the country, and, in conceding on Friday after holding the government hostage for 35 days, could claim to have achieved nothing. He succeeded only in exposing the emptiness of his bully's bravado, of his 'I alone can fix it' posturing. Once upon a time, Mr. Trump promised that Mexico would pay for a wall. He instead made all Americans pay for a partisan fantasy.... In his announcement, the president struggled to obscure his failure with yet another rambling infomercial about the glory of walls."

Donald Trump is smarting at all the reports that he "surrendered" or "blinked" or "caved" or was "defeated" or "waved the white flag" or made "a humiliation capitulation" or "got his ass kicked by a girl." (Okay, maybe nobody worded it quite like that.) Here's his Twitter response: "I wish people would read or listen to my words on the Border Wall. This was in no way a concession. It was taking care of millions of people who were getting badly hurt by the Shutdown with the understanding that in 21 days, if no deal is done, it's off to the races!"

Jordain Carney of the Hill: "The Senate on Friday afternoon easily advanced a three-week funding bill to fully reopen the federal government hours after President Trump agreed to end the shutdown without securing money for a border wall. The funding legislation cleared the chamber by a voice vote. The House is expected to pass the funding bill later Friday and send it to Trump's desk for a signature. The Senate vote came a day after the chamber rejected two proposals that would have reopened the government. But the calculus changed on Friday as federal workers impacted by the shutdown missed their second paycheck and news of delays at major airports across the country dominated the headlines." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... New Lede: "Congress easily advanced a three-week funding bill on Friday to fully reopen the federal government hours after President Trump agreed to end the shutdown without securing money for a border wall. The funding legislation cleared the House by unanimous consent and the Senate by voice vote, marking an anticlimactic end to a shutdown that began 35 days ago. It's now headed to Trump's desk where he is expected to sign it later Friday." ...

... Sheryl Stolberg, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump agreed Friday to reopen the federal government for three weeks while negotiations proceeded over how to secure the nation's southwestern border, backing down after a monthlong standoff failed to force Democrats to give him billions of dollars for his long-promised wall. The decision paved the way for Congress to pass spending bills as soon as Friday that Mr. Trump will sign to restore normal operations at a series of federal agencies until Feb. 15 and begin paying again the 800,000 federal workers who have been furloughed or forced to work for free for 35 days. The plan includes none of the money for the wall that he had demanded and was essentially the same approach that Mr. Trump rejected at the end of December, meaning he won nothing concrete during the impasse. But if Republicans and Democrats cannot reach agreement on wall money by the February deadline, he indicated that he was ready to renew the confrontation or declare a national emergency and bypass Congress altogether.... The surprise announcement was a remarkable surrender for a president who made the wall his nonnegotiable condition for reopening the government." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Update: "The president&'s concession paved the way for the House and Senate to both pass a stopgap spending bill by voice vote. Mr. Trump was expected to sign it Friday evening to restore normal operations at a series of federal agencies until Feb. 15 and begin paying again the 800,000 federal workers who have been

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: After the initial announcement, Trump devoted most of the rest of his speech to recounting fantastical horror stories about dangerous immigrants & coyotes binding & gagging the women they were trafficking across the border. He sounded like some joker telling scary, if slightly erotic, campfire stories. ...

     ... If you look at the 2:40 pm entry of yesterday's Daily Intelligencer (sadly, I can't find any way to isolate these posts), New York writers liveblog the speech. Funny.

... Mrs. McCrabbie: Looks like all it takes is Bob Mueller to get the government up & running. According to the WSJ, Trump plans to announce this afternoon he will sign a three-week continuing resolution. I'd guess that is to distract us from today's release of the Stone indictment. The news remarks were scheduled for 1:30 pm ET, which has come & gone. ...

     ... Steve M. agrees: "... when there's really bad news for him in the Russia investigation -- arrests, indictments, law enforcement raids -- [Trump] really does seem desperate to alter the news cycle as quickly as possible. That's why I give Robert Mueller credit for the temporary reopening of the government (without a penny for the wall)[.]" ...

A lot of the conference wanted to end the shutdown by any means possible. Nothing is going to happen. This is surrender. I don't see how it becomes anything. It's just complete, total surrender. -- Republican Senator, too skeert to reveal his identity ...

... Burgess Everett & Andrew Restuccia of Politico: "... Donald Trump touted GOP unity for 33 days of a partial government shutdown. But by the 34th day, it was clearly gone -- and so was the shutdown by the end of the 35th. Senate Republicans had finally had it.... In recent days, the president has expressed frustration to allies about how the crisis was being covered on cable news, worrying that Democrats had won the upper hand, even before Friday&[s dramatic airport delays. But the erosion of Senate Republican support -- fueled by the increasingly damaged economy and worsening poll numbers -- perhaps more than anything is what pushed Trump to reverse course. On Thursday night, after the pair of failed Senate votes and a tense caucus meeting that demonstrated there could be a large GOP jailbreak if the shutdown dragged on, Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) quietly agreed that it was time to find a way out.... Trump's public battle with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also proved critical as he faced stubborn Democratic resistance no matter how he tried to split the party. Instead, he found himself on defense as Pelosi canceled his State of the Union address, infuriating the White House.... The president was particularly worried about federal law enforcement officials going without pay. Plus economists were beginning to lower their forecasts of growth because of the shutdown.... The White House also lacked a cohesive game plan and often appeared to seriously misjudge Democrats throughout the month-long stalemate." ...

... Here's the Washington Post's report on how Trump finally agreed to temporarily end the shutdown. "... when Trump stood alone in a bitter-cold White House Rose Garden on Friday afternoon to announce that the government was reopening with no money for the wall, he punctuated five weeks of miscalculation and mismanagement by him and his administration.... Trump, who fretted about the shutdown's impact on the economy and his personal popularity, cast about for blame and pointed fingers at his staff -- including Kushner -- for failing to resolve the impasse, according to aides." Mrs. McC: Because nothing is ever Trump's fault. ...

... Peter Baker of the New York Times: "For a president who believes in zero-sum politics and considers compromise a sign of weakness, it was a bruising setback, a retreat that underscored the limits of his ability to bull his way through the opposition in this new era of divided government." Baker delves into the deliberations that went on within the White House. "After watching Ms. Pelosi this week disinvite Mr. Trump from delivering the State of the Union address while the government remained closed, Mr. McConnell concluded that she would never cave and decided to come off the sidelines to try to end the standoff.... The president scheduled an announcement, and the scene in the Rose Garden was surreal. Cabinet officers and White House aides lined up and applauded when the president emerged from the Oval Office as if he were declaring victory.... And the president sounded as if he was doing just that, opening his remarks by saying that he was 'very proud to announce today that we have reached a deal to end the shutdown.' Only there was no deal, just a retreat."

AND the Winner Is.... Ezra Klein of Vox: "... in recent weeks, Speaker Pelosi proved a powerful foil to Trump, politically humiliating him in a way no other public figure has.... Pelosi held her caucus together easily and calmly, creating a united front that offered Trump few avenues of egress.... Pelosi correctly read Trump's personality and had the steel to act on that read.... Pelosi has long held that Trump is weak, easily confused, and easily baited. That informed her strategy. Along with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, she baited Trump into saying, while the cameras were rolling, 'I will shut down the government. I am proud to shut down the government. I will take the mantle.' In interviews and meetings, she tweaked the president, calling the crisis 'the Trump shutdown' to Trump's face and suggesting the billionaire thought furloughed workers 'could just ask their father for more money.' She was betting that Trump would overreact rather than turn her into the aggressor, and he did.... She has enhanced her standing in her caucus, and he has diminished his standing inside his own. You don't hear many House Democrats these days grumbling about Pelosi's leadership. But you hear plenty of Republicans lamenting Trump's." ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: And let's not forget: Pelosi didn't defeat just Trump; she forced McConnell to cave, too.

Sam Stein of The Daily Beast: "Lawmakers have made notable progress on a deal to end the federal government shutdown five weeks after it first started, several Capitol Hill sources told The Daily Beast on Friday morning.... There will be no funding included in the deal for Trump's proposed wall along the southern border. Nor will the deal include a 'down-payment' as the president requested on Thursday. In exchange for those concessions, Democrats would agree to a nominal amount of money for border security but not a wall.... One Democratic Senate aide noted that the same deal had been discussed 'weeks ago' only to be shelved when the White House said it wouldn't support it. The biggest question mark remains how the president would stomach such a deal and, as importantly, who can sell him on it." --s (Also linked yesterday.)

Ian Millhiser of ThinkProgress: "Ever since President Donald Trump shut down much of the government last month, [Speaker Nancy] Pelosi has delivered a consistent message to Trump -- 'my offer to you is this: nothing.[*]' On Friday, Trump took that offer.... Trump;s cave on Friday is absolute.... Republicans now know that they'll be the ones in the barrel if they shut down the government again. Speaker Pelosi holds all the cards in the upcoming negotiation.... Pelosi's victory over Trump highlights why Republicans spent the better part of the last two years demonizing her -- and why they and their super PACs spent lavishly on ads intended to convince members of Pelosi's caucus that she is too toxic to elect as speaker. She's good at what she does ... and she has not lost a step." --safari: *In all fairness, Nancy did actually offer the presidunce* $1. ...

... Thanks, Donald! Adam Green in a Roll Call opinion piece: "By shutting down the government, Donald Trump unintentionally gave Democrats the biggest gift possible: Unity.... As the new Democratic House began, Democrats were ripe for division. Nancy Pelosi's leadership was under siege in her own party, fracturing the Democratic Caucus. Meanwhile, there were clear divisions among incoming House freshmen.... Democrats who wanted to stab Pelosi in the back are now watching her outmaneuver Trump and get national praise for it -- creating no incentive other than to root her on.... As Donald Trump faces increased accountability and sees 2020 voters inspired by increased congressional consensus for big progressive ideas, he will have himself to thank."

Mark Berman of the Washington Post: "FBI Director Christopher A. Wray decried the government shutdown's impact on the bureau's employees in a video message released amid rising anxiety among thousands of agents and other personnel who have spent more than a month working without pay. In the unusual video message, Wray also offered a seeming apology for why the FBI's top officials were not publicly arguing for their employees, suggesting that they have not spoken out because of the repeated political criticisms of the bureau from President Trump and others in recent years. 'You know better than most that we've been thrust into the political spotlight more than we would have liked over the past few years,' Wray said in the message, which was directed to FBI staff. 'And the last thing this organization needs now is its leadership to wade into the middle of a full-on political dispute.'... 'Making some people stay home when they don't want to, and making others show up without pay, it';s mind-boggling, it's shortsighted and it's unfair,' Wray said. 'It takes a lot to get me angry, but I'm about as angry as I've been in a long, long time.'" Mrs. McC: This is pretty remarkable.

Jeff Stein & Danielle Paquette of the Washington Post: "At least 14,000 unpaid workers in the Internal Revenue Service division that includes tax processing and call centers did not show up for work this week despite orders to do so, according to two House aides, posing a challenge to the Trump administration's ability to minimize the damage from the government shutdown. The Trump administration ordered more than 30,000 employees back to work unpaid to prepare for tax filing season, which is set to begin next week. But of the 26,000 workers called back to the IRS division that includes the tax processing centers and call centers, about 9,00 workers could not be reached and about 5,000 more claimed a hardship exemption, IRS officials have told members of Congress, according to aides...."

Patrick McGeehan of the New York Times: "Significant flight delays were rippling across the Northeast on Friday because of a shortage of air traffic controllers as a result of the government shutdown, according to the Federal Aviation Administration." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Lori Aratani of the Washington Post: "Federal officials temporarily restricted flights Friday into and out of New York's LaGuardia Airport, another example of the toll the partial government shutdown -- in its 35th day -- is having on the nation's airports." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Henry Grabar of Slate: "The revolt of the unpaid federal workers may have begun on Friday morning in Monroe, Louisiana, where two flights were canceled because TSA workers didn't arrive to open the checkpoint. American Airlines 3243 to Dallas-Fort Worth and Delta Airlines 3942 to Atlanta, both scheduled to depart at 6 a.m., became the first U.S. flights to be canceled during the government shutdown because of a shortage of TSA workers. Security screeners missed their second paycheck on Friday, and call-out rates have surged to between 7 and 10 percent, causing intermittent delays." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Sarah Jones of New York: "Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, told New York on Friday afternoon that she 'just finished' recording a video message to members urging them to get to the offices of their congressional representatives until the shutdown is resolved. 'We're mobilizing immediately,' Nelson said. Asked if this meant that flight attendants will not be going to work, she responded, 'Showing up to work for what? If air traffic controllers can't do their jobs, we can't do ours.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

E.A. Crunden of ThinkProgress: "The use of entrance fees to keep national parks open, along with a sudden decision to bring back department employees to work on offshore drilling and related tasks, have come under fire from House Democrats and environmental groups -- they argue Acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt and other officials may be breaking the law. And lawmakers are looking to flex their new power once the government reopens.... At the heart of complaints lobbed at several of the Interior Department&'s shutdown decisions is the Antideficiency Act, which specifies that only 'cases of emergency involving the safety of human life or the protection of property' merit the ongoing unpaid labor of federal employees in a shutdown scenario." --s (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Kyla Mandel of ThinkProgress: "The National Park Service is losing an estimated $400,000 per day in entrance fees as the partial government shutdown drags on into its 35th day, according to figures compiled by the National Parks Conservation Association. That means, so far, the Parks Service has lost an estimated $14 million in entrance fees alone." --s

Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "The wall of Donald Trump's campaign and presidency has always operated both as a discrete proposal -- an actual structure to be built under his leadership -- and as a symbol with a clear meaning. Whether praised by its supporters or condemned by its opponents, the wall is a stand-in for the larger promise of broad racial (and religious) exclusion and domination. It's no surprise, then, that some Americans use 'Build the wall' as a racist chant, much like the way they invoke the president's name. And it's also why, despite the pain and distress of the extended government shutdown, Democrats are right to resist any deal with the White House that includes funding for its construction." (Also linked yesterday.)

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: This is Bouie's "debut column" at the NYT. He is one of the best thinkers on the SOTU around, so I'm thrilled he got the Big Job.

This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd.

Daily Beast art.Mark Mazzetti, et al., of the New York Times: "The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, revealed on Friday the most direct link yet between parallel efforts by the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks to damage Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election using Democratic Party material stolen by Russians. A top Trump campaign official dispatched Roger J. Stone Jr., a longtime adviser to President Trump, to get information from WikiLeaks about the thousands of hacked Democratic emails, according to an indictment. The effort began weeks after Democratic officials publicly accused Russian intelligence operatives of the theft, which was part of Moscow's broad campaign to sabotage the 2016 presidential race.... On Friday, the day that Mr. Stone stood on the steps of a courthouse and pledged his enduring loyalty to the president, Mr. Trump bashed the investigation that had led armed federal agents to his friend's house in the morning darkness. 'Greatest Witch Hunt in the History of our Country!' he wrote on Twitter. 'NO COLLUSION!'" ...

... What About All This, Mr. Trump? New York Times Editors: "In his indictment of the Trump torpedo Roger Stone, the special counsel Robert Mueller noted that on June 14, 2016, the Democratic National Committee announced 'that it had been hacked by Russian government actors.' According to the indictment, unsealed Friday, Mr. Stone participated in and helped conceal an effort by the Trump campaign to cooperate with WikiLeaks in publicizing thousands of emails stolen from the Clinton campaign, which was done to devastating political effect.... [If Mr. Trump thought there was no relationship between Russia and WikiLeaks,] why did Mr. Trump say, five days after the first WikiLeaks release, 'Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing....' ... And if Mr. Trump's first F.B.I. intelligence briefing on Aug. 17, 2016, included a warning about Russian espionage, as NBC News reported in 2017, why didn't Mr. Trump or anyone else in the campaign tell the agents about the meeting or the suspicious release of emails?... Mr. Trump's former adviser Steve Bannon told the author Michael Wolff that he thought the Trump Tower meeting was 'treasonous.' Yet he had no problem cooperating with WikiLeaks, according to the indictment. He is apparently the 'high-ranking Trump Campaign official' who asked Mr. Stone on Oct. 4, 2016, about future WikiLeaks releases. Three days later, after the first stolen emails from Mrs. Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta, were released, one of Mr. Bannon's associates texted Mr. Stone, 'well done.'&"

In his Friday morning "NO COLLUSION" tweet, Donald Trump, suggesting some sort of dark conspiracy between Mueller & CNN, asks, "Who alerted CNN to be there?" Here's the answer. It's about journalism. ...

... Jeremy Herb of CNN: "The rare, dramatic video from CNN Friday capturing the early morning FBI raid of ... Roger Stone's Florida home was the product of good instincts, some key clues, more than a year of observing comings at the DC federal courthouse and the special counsel's office -- and a little luck on the timing. CNN producer David Shortell and photojournalist Gilbert De La Rosa were outside Stone's home Friday morning to witness the FBI approaching Stone's door to arrest him on a seven-count indictment that special counsel Robert Mueller's grand jury approved a day earlier. They were there staking out Stone because there was just enough evidence lurking in the special counsel's activity over the past week that CNN's team covering the Mueller investigation placed a bet that Stone could be arrested as early as Friday." ...

... The Daily Beast: "Special Counsel Robert Mueller told a federal judge he was concerned Roger Stone might destroy or tamper with evidence, if not flee, ahead of his arrest on Friday morning.... Federal agents also raided his apartment in New York and a recording studio in Florida, where they were reportedly seen carting away hard drives and evidence." --s

Mrs. McCrabbie: Mueller is writing these indictments like chapters in a good mystery novel. New clues keep arising & so does provocative foreshadowing. The identities of certain characters are masked. Of course, as any experienced mystery reader knows, you have to look out for red herrings, too. But I believe that in the end, we'll find out whodunit, & the who will be He Trump.

So this comes up in the Roger Stone indictment:

... On multiple occasions, including on or about December 1, 2017, STONE told Person 2 [Randy Credico] that Person 2 should do a 'Frank Pentangeli' before HPSCI [House Intelligence Committee] in order to avoid contradicting STONE's testimony. Frank Pentangeli is a character in the film The Godfather: Part II, which both STONE and Person 2 had discussed, who testifies before a congressional committee and in that testimony claims not to know critical information that he does in fact know. -- Roger Stone indictment ...

... The Mystery in the Passive Voice. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "There is no smoking gun in the indictment when it comes to the Trump campaign[s culpability, and for most of the campaign, Stone was an informal Trump adviser -- not actually serving on the campaign.... The most significant reference to members of the campaign, though, could be this: 'After the July 22, 2016 release of stolen DNC emails by Organization 1, a senior Trump Campaign official was directed to contact STONE about any additional releases and what other damaging information Organization 1 had regarding the Clinton Campaign. STONE thereafter told the Trump Campaign about potential future releases of damaging material by Organization 1.' The words 'was directed' loom large here. Who did the directing?... Though we can't say for sure, it seems entirely possible this is Trump. He ... would seem to be the person who would have the authority to direct a 'senior Trump Campaign official' -- though it's possible another senior aide could also do so.... In many ways, this feels like another 'speaking indictment.' There's a hint of something possible to come." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: As we learned from Brian Schwartz of CNBC (story linked below), the unnamed "senior campaign official" is Steve Bannon, assuming Schwartz's sources are right. And Steve Bannon reported to Trump. While it's not impossible that, say, Jared Kushner or Donnie Jr. was the person who "directed" Bannon, normally "directing" an employee is the job for the employee's boss, in this case, Donald Trump, not a more-or-less co-equal employee. As for the identity of the "director," one pundit on MSNBC noted there was a clue to be found in Mueller's naming scheme. People are named & numbered as "Individual 1" & "Person 2." And candidates are named as "Candidate 1." Obviously, had Mueller used the active voice & identified the "director" as "Candidate 1," there would be no question as to who that candidate was. The fact that the "director" doesn't get a label, therefore, suggests he is Trump. ...

     ... Matt Ford of the New Republic: "What is clear, at least from Mueller's perspective, is that the ['senior Trump Campaign] official['] didn't contact Stone of their own volition; he or she 'was directed' by someone higher in the campaign food chain to pursue it. That small turn of phrase carries serious implications for ... Donald Trump and his inner circle. It suggests that not only did Trump campaign officials try to coordinate with WikiLeaks through Stone, but that the effort came from the campaign's highest ranks."

** Jon Swaine of the Guardian: "[R]unning through Mueller's indictment of Stone and his charges against Russian hackers last July is the makings of a case that there was, in fact, coordination.... In short, Mueller said on Friday, Trump, or his most senior aides, ordered a trusted associate to bring them into the loop on the fruits of what they knew to be a Russian government hack of American victims -- and on the schedule for its publication. Trump's team could then shape their campaign tactics around this calendar. And last July, Mueller hinted at evidence of coordination in the other direction. His indictment of the Russian hackers said they attempted 'for the first time' to break into email accounts used by Clinton's personal office 'after hours' on 27 July 2016.... That day, at an event in Florida, Trump urged Russia to search for the approximately 30,000 emails[.]" --s (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: A fer-instance Swaine doesn't mention: "[Shortly after] October 4, 2016..., STONE received an email from the high-ranking Trump Campaign official [Steve Bannon] asking about the status of future releases by Organization 1." The indictment makes clear the Trump campaign was deeply & continuously seeking WikiLeaks dirt. Since there was no question at the time that the dirt (1) was illegally obtained & (2) came via Russian hacks, it is impossible to accept the lie that was "NO COLLUSION." The high-ranking campaign official" & his "director" are implicated. ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: Also too, there's the "Godfather" 1 horsehead-in-the-bed email. From the indictment: "On or about April 9, 2018, STONE wrote in an email to Person 2 [Randy Credico], 'You are a rat. A stoolie. You backstab your friends-run your mouth my lawyers are dying Rip you to shreds.' STONE also said he would 'take that dog away from you,' referring to Person 2's dog. On or about the same day, STONE wrote to Person 2, 'I am so ready. Let's get it on. Prepare to die [expletive].'" So mobby. ...

     ... Here's all you'll ever want to know about Bianca, the adorable little dog Stone threatened to kidnap or snuff. (Also linked yesterday.)

     ... Update. Jonathan Chait: "The Russia scandal has provided us with relatively few Russia cultural references, but a proliferation of mafia references. The fact that Stone expressed himself this way is not mere color, nor is organized crime even a metaphor for the mindset and Trump and his inner circle. It is actually a reasonably literal description of the Trump organization. In the fall of 2017, a source close to the administration warned, 'this investigation is a classic Gambino-style roll-up. You have to anticipate this roll-up will reach everyone in this administration.' This turned out to be one of the most prescient descriptions of what was to come.... Mueller seems to be in the process of demonstrating that Trump's organization is not like an organized crime family, it actually is one." (Also linked yesterday.)

Martin Cizmar of RawStory: "Fox News host Sean Hannity appears to have acted on directives from emails between President Donald Trump's longtime political adviser Roger Stone and an intermediary who claimed to have communicated with WikiLeaks. On Twitter, author Kurt Eichenwald points out that, among the details in the indictment of Stone, is a passage about WikiLeaks' plan to leak emails suggesting Hillary Clinton was seriously ill and Sean Hannity's focus on Clinton's health in the following days." In Eichenwald's tweets. --s ...

     ... Hahahahaha. Mrs. McCrabbie: Much as it's nice to know Roger Stone made his court appearance in shackles, I would be even more pleased to see Hannity in chains & irons. There's no indication in the indictment that is about to happen. But anything is possible!

Sarah Sanders' interview with CNN's John Berman Friday morning did not go well:

     ... Aaron Rupar of Vox has more. Sarah really is a ridiculous person. ...

... Steve M.: "... at Fox & Friends, this isn't really an indictment at all, because Stone is charged with 'process crimes,' which totally aren't crimes at all. ('Just process crimes' has been a favorite right-wing talking point for a few months now.)... Steve Doocy shrieks 'Where is the Russia collusion?'... Dan Bongino says: '... this is another process crime, where the Mueller investigation -- the result of the investigation has produced the crime. As a resul of the investigation, we have this witness -- alleged witness tampering and failure to produce documents." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Matt Naham of Law & Crime: "The latest criticism of FBI tactics made by defenders of ... Donald Trump and/or his indicted former associates is that the Friday morning break-out-the-big-guns arrest of Roger Stone was a bridge too far. Fox News personality Laura Ingraham went so far as to say that Stone was being treated like Mexican drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman Loera. The problem is, legal experts in a position to know how the FBI conducts its business say this is standard operating procedure." (Also linked yesterday.)

Roger Stone, just before he declared his innocence this afternoon, doing his best Richard Nixon imitation. (Roger must be aware that Nixon made the gesture after his resignation, at the moment he departed the White House in disgrace on August 8, 1974.)

Lucien Bruggeman & Katherine Faulders of ABC News: "Paul Manafort, the onetime campaign chairman for ... Donald Trump, made a rare court appearance in Washington, D.C., Friday morning to address allegations lodged by special counsel Robert Mueller that he lied to federal investigators.... At the hearing, defense counsel and attorneys with the special counsel's office debated the merit of Mueller's allegation that Manafort lied to investigators after striking a plea deal with prosecutors in September. The alleged lies amounted to a breach of his plea agreement, prosecutors said.... If [Judge Amy] Jackson sides with Mueller and finds Manafort in breach of his plea deal, he could face up to 80 years in prison, though legal experts say he would likely receive something closer to seven years. Manafort is scheduled for sentencing on March 5 in the Washington case." (Also linked yesterday.)

Richard Wolffe of the Guardian: "Like Trump's favorite steaks, [Roger] Stone himself is now well and truly done. He appears to have lied to Congress about those contacts with the Trump campaign. And he botched his efforts to cover up the conspiracy by apparently asking his co-conspirators to lie for him.... He threatened to hurt [Randy] Credico's pet dog and told him to 'Prepare to die [expletive].' Instead of preparing to die, Stone's former friend told him 'you've opened yourself up to perjury charges like an idiot.'... The endless irony of Donald Trump and his brazen hacks is that they are so fantastically incompetent at deceiving the world about their own deception.... Not since Russian assassins left a trail of polonium across Europe have we seen such stupendously stupid puppets of Vladimir Putin." --s

Scott Shane of the New York Times: "A group of transparency advocates on Friday posted a mammoth collection of hacked and leaked documents from inside Russia, a release widely viewed as a sort of symbolic counterstrike against Russia's dissemination of hacked emails to influence the American presidential election in 2016. Most of the material, which sheds light on Russia's war in Ukraine as well as ties between the Kremlin and the Russian Orthodox Church, the business dealings of oligarchs and much more, had been released in Russia, Ukraine and elsewhere, sometimes on obscure websites. There were no immediate reports of new bombshells from the collection. But the sheer volume of the material -- 175 gigabytes -- and the technical challenges of searching it meant that its full impact may not be felt for some time.... The core files from the new collection, called 'The Dark Side of the Kremlin,' included 'hundreds of thousands of messages and files from Russian politicians, journalists, oligarchs, religious figures, and nationalists/terrorists in Ukraine,' said the group that posted it, Distributed Denial of Secrets, or DDoSecrets."

Margaret Talev, et al. of Bloomberg: "The American base at Al-Tanf, originally established as a southern foothold against Islamic State and a training ground for Syrian rebels, has become one of the main obstacles to the president's plan to leave. Israeli and some U.S. officials argue that a continued American presence there is critical to interrupting Iran's supply lines into Lebanon, where Hezbollah -- Iran's proxy and Israel's enemy -- has been building up its arsenal.... The debate over what to do with Al-Tanf reveals U.S. goals in Syria that go beyond the official rationale of defeating Islamic State -- complicating Trump's desire to exit....[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu has repeatedly urged the U.S. to keep troops at Al-Tanf, according to several senior Israeli officials[.]" --s

Your Tax Dollars at Work. Mark Hand of ThinkProgress: "In the administration's latest effort to help the coal industry, the Department of Energy (DOE) is providing up to $38 million in funding for research into improving the performance and reliability of the nation's existing coal-fired power plants.... 'This funding is in line with the Trump administration trying to do everything it can think of to throw a bone to the coal industry,' Jeremy Richardson... [of] the Union of Concerned Scientists told ThinkProgress. 'It's sort of like, let's throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks. Fortunately, nothing has stuck yet.'... And yet, more coal plants have shut down during President Donald Trump's first two years than during Barack Obama's entire first term as president." --s

"Capitalism is Awesome", Ctd. Kevin Poulsen of The Daily Beast: "Facebook's own internal studies showed that children as young as kindergarten age were unwittingly putting hundreds or even thousands of dollars on their parents' credit cards while playing games like Social Empires, Pocket God, and Angry Birds, newly released internal documents show. But Facebook officials elected not to put speed bumps in its payment process that would reduce the unintended charges, for fear it would also cut into legitimate grown-up purchases, the documents show. At the same time, the company routinely refused refund requests from sticker-shocked parents." --s

Joel Simon of the Guardian has a long read on the "Business of Kidnapping" --s

Amanda Holpuch of the Guardian: "A prominent 'conversion therapy' advocate, David Matheson, has come out as gay after spending what he said were decades of his life entrenched in homophobia.... Matheson told the Salt Lake Tribune's podcast Mormon Land that he was exposed to homophobia as a youth in the Mormon church.... Matheson said he knew his work had helped some people, but was certain he had hurt some people too." --s

Kari Sonde of Mother Jones: "Researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine, building on prior research, determined that from 2010 to 2015, firearm injuries amounted to $911 million in inpatient hospitalizations nationwide annually and that 9.5 percent of that cost, or $86 million, was from victims needing to return to the hospital." --s (Also linked yesterday.)

Way Beyond the Beltway

Mexico. Jeff Ernst & Kirk Semple of the New York Times: "Mexico's new president has moved decisively to encourage migrants fleeing poverty and violence in Central America to stay and work in Mexico, making it easier for them to get visas and work permits and promoting investments and ambitious public works projects to create jobs. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's policies are already proving to be a magnet for migrants, who are finding it harder to enter the United States given President Trump-s antipathy toward immigration. A migrant caravan heading to Mexico from Central America -- the largest ever -- has already swollen to over 12,000 people, with many saying they intend to remain in Mexico, at least for the time being."

Jon Henley & Mark Rice-Oxley of the Guardian: "Liberal values in Europe face a challenge 'not seen since the 1930s', leading intellectuals from 21 countries have said, as the UK lurches towards Brexit and nationalists look set to make sweeping gains in EU parliamentary elections. The group of 30 writers, historians and Nobel laureates declared in a manifesto published in several newspapers, including the Guardian, that Europe as an idea was 'coming apart before our eyes'." --s (Also linked yesterday.)