The Commentariat -- February 8, 2018
Afternoon Update:
Axios: "The Dow Jones Industrial Average is trading 609 points lower (as of 12:53 p.m.) as investor fears about inflation and higher interest rates continue to hammer the stock market. The big slide continues a string of volatile days for the Dow, which saw its largest daily point drop ever earlier this week."
Today in Paul Ryan Flim-Flam. Alayna Treene of Axios: "House Speaker Paul Ryan zeroed in on his commitment to solve the Dreamers problem and find a DACA fix Thursday, but said he only wants to bring a bill that the president supports to the floor: 'To anyone who doubts my intention to solve this problem and bring up a DACA and immigration reform bill, do not,' said Ryan. 'I want to make sure it gets done right the first time. I don't want to risk a veto.'" ...
... Mrs. McC: Why, that's right odd, because he didn't feel a bit constrained by the presidunce*'s wishlist when it came to the budget bill, & Trump jumped right on that bandwagon. ...
... Melanie Zanona of the Hill: "Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said on Thursday that he believes he has the votes needed to pass a massive budget deal and avoid a government shutdown, despite pushback from both the left and right over the bipartisan deal."
Sarah Bailey of the Washington Post: "President Trump delivered a God-and-country-infused speech Thursday at the National Prayer Breakfast, appealing to Americans who believe in Christian nationalism --; the belief that God has a uniquely Christian purpose for the United States."
Finally, a Wall! Olivia Gazis of CBS News: "In a sign of increasing partisan hostilities, Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee plan to construct a wall -- a physical partition -- separating Republican and Democratic staff members in the committee's secure spaces, according to multiple committee sources. It's expected to happen this spring. For now, some Republican committee members deny knowing anything about it, while strongly suggesting the division is the brainchild of the committee's chairman, Devin Nunes...."
Judd Legum of ThinkProgress argues that John Kelly's coverup of Rob Porter's (alleged) physical abuse of his ex-wives & a girlfriend -- and the resulting inability to obtain a security clear for Porter, who handled top-secret documents every day -- is a firing offense. Mrs. McC: The White House is apparently claiming Trump had no idea of the allegations against Porter till yesterday. If that's true (and I doubt it), that should be added to the list of "Reasons to Fire John Kelly."
Rachel Bade & John Bresnahan of Politico: "The criminal investigation into Rep. Duncan Hunter is intensifying as a grand jury in San Diego questions multiple former aides about whether the California Republican improperly diverted political funds for personal use. Federal prosecutors have subpoenaed Hunter's parents, as well as a female lobbyist with whom many people close to the congressman believe he had a romantic relationship, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the investigation. The Justice Department is trying to determine whether hundreds of thousands of dollars from Hunter's campaign account were spent improperly on his family and friends. Hunter already sold his home to pay back what even he now acknowledges were improper charges, moving his wife and kids in with his parents while he mostly lives in his Capitol Hill office."
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. David Uberti of Splinter: Fox "News" barely covered the Rob Porter fiasco yesterday. "The millions of people who watch these shows might come away from them not even knowing that Porter exists, let alone that White House officials may have been aware of his alleged abuse for months."
*****
Thomas Kaplan of the New York Times: "Senate leaders struck a far-reaching bipartisan agreement on Wednesday that would add hundreds of billions of dollars to military and domestic programs over the next two years while raising the federal debt limit, moving to end the cycle of fiscal showdowns that have roiled the Capitol." (An earlier version of this story was linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mike DeBonis & Erica Werner of the Washington Post: "The Republican-led Congress is set to vote Thursday on a two-year budget deal that would include massive increases in military and domestic spending programs, reflecting an ideological shift for a party whose leaders long preached fiscal conservatism but have now embraced big spending.... The accord would deliver the defense funding boost wanted by President Trump and Republican lawmakers alongside an increase in domestic programs sought by Democrats, as well as tens of billions of dollars for disaster victims.... The Senate is expected to vote first on the plan, clearing it Thursday afternoon or evening -- giving the House just hours to act before a midnight deadline for a government shutdown.... But it appeared unlikely the bill would be able to pass the House solely with Republican votes.... House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Wednesday that she and 'a large number' of fellow Democrats would oppose the deal unless she is guaranteed a vote on immigration legislation. She delivered the ultimatum at the top of an eight-hour stretch of remarks that broke a modern record for the longest House floor speech." Yes, but Trumpy likes it. ...
... Cristiano Lima of Politico: "... Donald Trump praised the budget deal reached by lawmakers to lift caps on defense and domestic spending on Wednesday, casting it as critical to supporting the troops." ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: This is exactly the same deal that Trump said Tuesday would cause him to shut down the government (which he would "love"!) since it doesn't "straighten out our border." (Story by Mark Landler linked below.) What a great negotiator! ...
... Ed O'Keefe, et al., of the Washington Post: "House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi took the rare step Wednesday of giving a marathon speech supporting Democrats' attempts to legalize the status of young immigrant 'dreamers,' in a bid to pressure Republicans to act. Her more than eight-hour speech ranked as the longest given by a member of the House of Representatives in at least a century, possibly ever, focusing on an issue that has dominated the Democratic agenda in recent months." ...
... The Whacko in the White House, Ctd. Mark Landler of the New York Times: "A week ago, President Trump stood before Congress as an improbable unifier. 'Tonight,' he declared, 'I call upon all of us to set aside our differences, to seek out common ground and to summon the unity we need to deliver for the people.' This week, Mr. Trump is back to being a disrupter. After accusing Democrats of being un-American and even treasonous for refusing to applaud during his State of the Union speech, he said on Tuesday that he would welcome a government shutdown if he cannot reach a spending deal with Congress that tightens immigration laws. A week ago, Mr. Trump called for a grand compromise with Democrats on the legal status of the undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers -- a deal, he said, 'where nobody gets everything they want, but where our country gets the critical reforms it needs.'... On Tuesday, his chief of staff, John F. Kelly, said that many Dreamers failed to register for protected status with the government because they were 'were too afraid to sign up' or were 'too lazy to get off their asses.' He said he doubted Mr. Trump would extend the March 5 deadline that shields them from deportation." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Hey, Mr. President: Instead of copying France's military parade, why not copy France's health care system? Health care for all, low-cost prescription drugs, much less expensive. https://t.co/zIrLjozEOI -- Bernie Sanders, in a tweet yesterday ...
... Ishaan Tharoor of the Washington Post: "In the same week we heard the president call his political opponents 'treasonous' for not clapping at the State of the Union address, we now contemplate his excitement for the sort of martial display these days more associated with single-party states and irredentist autocrats. Trump, who fondly refers to 'my generals' and espouses a decidedly militarist agenda, now thinks it's his turn." Tharoor provides a brief history of military parades. ...
... Ave Trvmpvs! Dana Milbank: "The obvious purpose of the parade is not to celebrate the troops, as the White House professes, but to celebrate Trump. Hence, his wish to have the parade before the November election (and the military's wish to have it after). Given the real goal, the model that would best suit Trump has much older roots than a May Day or even a Bastille Day parade. What Trump needs is a Roman triumph." ...
... Alas, as Tharoor points out, Trump might not get his parade. Turns out there is a reason more compelling than the high cost of bringing in tanks to tear up Pennsylvania Avenue. ...
... Andy Borowitz: "The Pentagon has turned down Donald J. Trump's request for a grand military parade in Washington, D.C., citing a sudden outbreak of bone spurs that would prevent men and women in uniform from participating." Thanks to MAG for the link. Also too, what if the parade were to be held on a windy day??? ...
... The Emperor Has No Hair. Jonathan Chait: "... it may seem cheap and low to mock Trump's absurd efforts to conceal his hair loss. But Trump is a man obsessed with image in ways that go beyond the normal human concern with looking presentable. Image is Trump's moral code. He dismisses his political rivals for being short. He sees his succession of wives as visual testament to his own status He selects his Cabinet on the basis of their looking the part. He conscripts the military as a prop to bathe himself in an aura of presidential grandeur." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Unlike Vladimir Putin, our president* is not immortal. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
(... Christina Zhao of Newsweek: "Japanese scientists may have discovered a cure for baldness -- and it lies within a chemical used to make McDonald's fries. A stem cell research team from Yokohama National University used a 'simple' method to regrow hair on mice by using dimethylpolysiloxane, the silicone added to McDonald's fries to stop cooking oil from frothing. Preliminary tests indicated that the groundbreaking method was likely to be just as successful when transferred to human skin cells." --safari: Trump's been eating their fries his whole life. ...)
All the Best People, Ctd.
Maggie Haberman & Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "Rob Porter, the White House staff secretary, said Wednesday that he would resign his position, a day after a news account that quoted his two ex-wives accusing him of physical abuse during the course of their marriages. 'These outrageous allegations are simply false,' Mr. Porter said in a statement. Mr. Porter's ex-wives, Colbie Holderness and Jennifer Willoughby, both went public in The Daily Mail with accounts of what they described as physically and emotionally abusive behavior." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
Rob Porter is a man of true integrity and honor and I can't say enough good things about him.... He is a friend, a confidant and a trusted professional. I am proud to serve alongside him. -- Chief of Staff John Kelly on Rob Porter, Tuesday
A White House official said senior officials were trying to convince Porter 'to stay and fight.' Those officials included Chief of Staff John Kelly. -- Jonathan Swan of Axios
If you're a minority, you're lazy. If you're a woman, (white) men with "true integrity & honor" can beat you black-and-blue. If you're a minority woman, it's okay to to tell disparaging lies about you, & you don't get an apology for the lie. Really, people, only white men matter. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie ...
Kelly is the same man who, during an emotional briefing in October, fumed that when he was young, 'Women were sacred and looked upon with great honor. That's obviously not the case anymore as we've seen from recent cases.' -- David Graham of the Atlantic
John Kelly thought beating up two wives was no big deal. -- Jeff Toobin, speaking on CNN Wednesday
... Gabriel Sherman of Vanity Fair: "Kelly's decision to back Porter has left many people inside the White House angry.... He was supposed to be the West Wing's resident grown-up, but staffers are increasingly questioning Kelly's judgment...." --safari: All these staffers willingly work for Pussy Grabber. Spare me your fake "outrage". ...
... CBS News: "A federal law enforcement source confirmed to CBS News' Jeff Pegues that the FBI conducted a background check on [Rob] Porter and knew of the allegations levied against him by his two-ex wives. That information was passed on to the White House. The White House staff secretary -- who has access to and reviews presidential correspondence -- never received full security clearance, and the allegations were the main reason why, two sources tell CBS News chief White House correspondent Major Garrett.... 'I don't know how you would do that job without a security clearance,' [a] former official said. 'You see every single piece of paper -- whether it's from the NSC or from specific Cabinet Secretaries. You have to have the highest clearance, across the board. You read every single thing, to make sure it's ready for the President, to make sure the necessary principles have weighed in.'" ...
... Kaitlan Collins, et al., of CNN: "Allegations of domestic abuse levied against top White House staffer Rob Porter by his ex-wives were known among senior aides to ... Donald Trump for months, even as his stock in the West Wing continued to rise, multiple sources told CNN on Wednesday.... By early fall, it was widely known among Trump's top aides -- including chief of staff John Kelly -- both that Porter was facing troubles in obtaining the clearance and that his ex-wives claimed he had abused them. No action was taken to remove him from the staff.... The appearance of a top aide accused of abusing two ex-wives led to an intensive defense campaign on Tuesday evening, when the reports first emerged in the Daily Mail.... Top officials remained staunch in their support of Porter on Wednesday. Kelly, who encouraged Porter to remain in his post despite the allegations, did not alter his effusive statement. Trump himself has 'full confidence in his abilities and his performance,' according to [Sarah] Sanders." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Kelly has known since last fall that the FBI would not give Porter security clearance because there was credible evidence he physically abused his wife. Bear in mind that this didn't keep Kelly from calling Porter "a man of true integrity and honor." Then bear in mind that the press widely-circulated a photo of Porter's ex-wife with a black eye & bruises. So now: Andrew Restuccia & Eliana Johonson of Politico: "'I was shocked by the new allegations released today against Rob Porter. There is no place for domestic violence in our society,' Kelly said in a statement issued after-hours by the White House." New allegations, my foot. The only "new allegations" are that "The second ex-wife of outgoing White House staff secretary Rob Porter says a woman reached out to her in February 2016 to say she was in an abusive relationship with Porter and wanted to know whether the ex-wife's experience had been similar." Girlfriends count but wives don't? Too late, General. Some shitstains just won't wash off. ...
... Longing for Reince. Gail Collins: "... there's a limit to how long you can live off your laurels for firing Omarosa and The Mooch. Kelly did nothing about the fact that the White House is loud and mean and generally unfathomable. Except make things even worse. This, after all, is the guy who's intervened whenever Donald Trump is in his expansive give-me-an-immigration-bill-to-sign phase, and pushed him over to Haiti-is-a-shithole territory." ...
... "What Goes Up Must Come Down." David Graham of the Atlantic: "When [John] Kelly was moved to the White House in July, at the time of the political murder-suicide of Reince Priebus and Anthony Scaramucci, he was hailed as the 'adult in the room.' With his military background and baseline competence, this was true -- but, as it turned out, this was more of a commentary on what came before. Adoring press coverage portrayed Kelly as a patriot who was taking on an impossible job with an impossible president out of love of country and out of desire to protect the nation from its own president. It quickly became clear, however..., that Kelly is a true Trumpist.... Kelly shares the same worldview as Trump. Both men have a reflexive social, rather than political, conservatism, grounded in nostalgia for a former era.... They are reflexively disdainful of immigrants and tend to pick fights with women, especially women of color. Each reveres the military (Kelly as a career veteran, and Trump despite, or perhaps because of, his draft-dodging), and each detests Congress." ...
... Jennifer Rubin: "... the FBI was informed of these allegations [against Rob Porter] while conducting a background check. As a result, Porter lacked a top security clearance. And, to top it off, Politico reports, 'a senior administration official said [John] Kelly was previously aware of the 2010 protective order, which prevented Porter from getting a full security clearance.' It is not clear whether Trump was informed. 'There are two overlapping scandals here. First, that he was allowed to stay in his job at all after two former spouses told the FBI that he abused them,' Matt Miller, a former Department of Justice spokesman, told me. 'Second, he was apparently allowed to continue in a job where you are required to constantly handle classified information despite his having been denied a full security clearance.' Miller added: 'We need to know who signed off on each, and, unless there is some explanation that has not yet been made public, those people are most likely going to need to resign as well.'" ...
... Erin Ryan of the Daily Beast: "'He denied it' is a pretty flimsy defense.... And yet, it's the first line of defense for a White House that can't seem to stop aligning itself with men credibly accused of sexual misconduct, predatory behavior, and misogynist bullying. When you're a man in Trump's orbit, a denial counts as exoneration.... If Porter were a one-off, his would be a sad footnote in a flailing administration. But the Trump political machine has been plagued with accusations of sexual misconduct, bullying, and misogyny since long before Trump was elected.... Looking at the big picture, it's hard to ignore the pattern that's emerged. [Rob] Porter, [Roy] Moore, [Steve] Bannon, [Steve] Wynn, Trump, [Corey] Lewandowski -- at every turn, the Trump campaign or White House has taken a man's denial over a woman's word, even if that woman's word is backed by reputable news reporting, video footage or contemporaneous pictures." ...
... Steve M.: "One of the organizations founded to combat sexual predation is called Time's Up -- but Republicans seem to be building a countermovement that could be called Time's Never Up. The Republican approach to these scandals is simple: Deny everything.... Many men have been forced to give up positions of power in the past few months because they've been exposed as sexual predators. This is happening because the organizations they work for feel responsive to the public. The Republican Party doesn't. It's responsive only to its base, and its base doesn't care about this. The rest of us have to hold Republicans to account, because Republican voters won't." ...
... Hope's Rotten Boyfriends. Bob Brigham of the Raw Story: "CNN crime and justice correspondent Shimon Prokupecz reported, 'White House communications director Hope Hicks, who has been in a romantic relationship with Rob Porter, was involved in crafting the response to the allegations of domestic abuse leveled against Porter on Tuesday.' This is not the first time Hicks has allegedly been put in an awkward situation over a lover. When Hicks wanted to help former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, Trump allegedly replied, 'Why? You've already done enough for him. You're the best piece of tail he'll ever have.'"
This Russia Thing
Frank Rich: "... the immediate goal in this anti-law enforcement jihad, led by the White House and abetted by congressional stooges like Devin Nunes and Paul Ryan, is to discredit the Mueller investigation before it nails Donald Trump. But to say this cultural shift is a sudden metamorphosis for the GOP, brought on by Trump's supposed hijacking of the party, is revisionist history. Trump pushed an open door. His assault on Justice and the FBI is merely heightening and exploiting the dangerous anti-government toxins that GOP leaders humored in the Republican base well before he arrived -- much as his administration's overt white supremacism and xenophobia is the apotheosis of a racist Republican strain dating back to Barry Goldwater's opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Richard Nixon's Southern Strategy.... The GOP retreated from tacit tolerance of the crazies in their ranks only after Timothy McVeigh's bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995, leaving 168 dead. But only temporarily." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... David Corn of Mother Jones has a long read about how he became a target in the GOP's war on the FBI. --safari ...
... Hey, Let's Haul in the Chief Justice. Katie Williams of the Hill: "House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) has weighed whether it would be possible to bring Chief Justice John Roberts to 'testify' before Congress as part of his investigation into political malfeasance at the Department of Justice. In an interview with Hugh Hewitt on Wednesday, Nunes said GOP investigators had 'grappled' with how to approach the courts about their conclusion that the FBI misled a clandestine surveillance court. Roberts appoints the judges to that court. 'This is something that we have, like I said, we have thought a lot about this. And the answer is we don't know the correct way to proceed because of the separation of powers issue,' Nunes said when asked if he would welcome a committee appearance by Roberts. 'I'm not aware of any time where a judge has, for lack of a better term, testified before the Congress,' Nunes said." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Nice that Nunes has heard of separation of powers. Next time he conspires meets with Trump, Nunes should tell the President* about it. (BTW, up till a couple of years ago, one or two Supremes marched up to the Hill every year to testify before the House Appropriations Committee on the Court's annual budget.) However, Congressman Dimwit, re: your plan to maybe politely show Roberts to the hotseat, it kinda works the other way around. ...
... Benjamin Wittes of Lawfare: "You wouldn't know it from the endless public discussion of the Nunes Memo and the Democratic response to it, but the House of Representatives does not get to decide whether a FISA application is valid." Rather, it would be up to "the government" [-- the FBI, the DOJ, Nunes? --] to petition the FISA court to re-address its earlier decisions. Wittes & Susan Hennessey now have filed an amicus brief with the court asking it to publicly address whether or not it has problems with the surveillance warrants it issued on Carter Page. ...
... Preaching to the Choir. Brian Stelter of CNN: Devin "Nunes is telling people to stay tuned, promising more revelations to come -- but he's really only speaking to Trump's base. He has declined non-Fox interview requests and avoided opportunities to speak with the Capitol Hill press corps." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Jeff Asher & other former CIA analysts, in a CNN opinion piece: "Rep. Devin Nunes, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee who recused himself from the Russia investigation in April after investigators were asked to look into whether he revealed classified information -- has demonstrated over the past year he cannot be counted on to perform his critical duty within the committee. And now, by voting to release a politically motivated, recklessly drafted memo, House Republicans on the committee have demonstrated they are not reliable defenders of our nation's security.... No matter how many Republicans have denied it, including the President himself, the motivation behind the Nunes memo is clear -- it was a direct attempt to undermine the work of the FBI and, in particular, the Russia investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller." ...
... Greg Sargent: "No, Trump has not been 'contained.'... Trump's ongoing assaults on law enforcement, and his active encouraging of outside allied efforts such as the Nunes memo, are currently doing untold damage.... Republicans have either gone along with, or actively participated in, efforts by Trump and his allies to prepare a large swath of the country to dismiss the legitimacy of any outcome [of the Mueller investigation] in which serious wrongdoing is discovered and accountability is meted out in kind.... The only way to mitigate this is for Democrats to take back the House and demonstrate to the country what functional oversight, undertaken in good faith, really looks like." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
NEW FBI TEXTS ARE BOMBSHELLS! -- Donald Trump, tweet, Wednesday morning ...
... Rob Johnson (Stupidest Man in the Senate) Tells Another Whopper that Gets Wall-to-Wall Fox "News" Coverage. Oliver Darcy of CNN: "Members of the pro-Trump media acted like they hit the goldmine on Wednesday morning.... In the early hours of [Wednesday] morning, Fox News published an article on its website based on newly-released communications between senior FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. The text messages were released Tuesday in a report produced by the office of Republican Sen. Ron Johnson. In one September 2, 2016, text message, Page wrote that there was a meeting at the bureau setup because Obama wanted 'to know everything we are doing.' Johnson, in his report, said the text message raised questions about Obama's involvement in the FBI's investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server.... [But, in fact,] the text message ... was actually referencing Obama's desire to be kept abreast on the FBI's investigation into Russian election meddling.... Indeed, the text message was sent on September 2, 2016, months after the bureau had closed its investigation into Clinton, and before it reopened that investigation. But September 2, 2016 was just days before Obama confronted ... Vladimir Putin over Russia's meddling in the presidential election." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Needless to say, there's no chance Fox will issue even a teensy correction or an Emily Litella "Never Mind." Foxbots now know for sure, for sure, that Obummer & the FBI rigged the e-mail!!! investigation to let Crooked Hillary off the hook. ...
... ** Cynthia McFadden, et al., of NBC News: "The U.S. official in charge of protecting American elections from hacking says the Russians successfully penetrated the voter registration rolls of several U.S. states prior to the 2016 presidential election. In an exclusive interview with NBC News, Jeanette Manfra, the head of cybersecurity at the Department of Homeland Security, said she couldn't talk about classified information publicly, but in 2016, 'We saw a targeting of 21 states and an exceptionally small number of them were actually successfully penetrated.'"
Emily Atkin of the New Republic: "Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt appears willing to accept any conclusion about climate change, as long as it's not the one shared by most climate scientists around the world. He has long wrongly claimed that climate change is not a man-made problem, but on Tuesday he told a Nevada TV station that it might not be a problem at all. 'I think there's assumptions made that because the climate is warming, that that necessarily is a bad thing,' he told KSNV, a station owned by the conservative Sinclair Broadcast Group. 'Is it an existential threat, is it something that is unsustainable, or what kind of effect or harm is this going to have? We know that humans have most flourished during times of, what, warming trends?'... Pruitt's new position is also at odds with NASA, whose website cites stronger hurricanes, sea-level-rise, and increased droughts as effects of global warming. The site quotes the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which asserts, 'Taken as a whole, the range of published evidence indicates that the net damage costs of climate change are likely to be significant and to increase over time.'"
Betsy Woodruff of the Daily Beast: "Officials at Immigration and Customs Enforcement are actively exploring joining the U.S. Intelligence Community.... The effort is helmed by a small cohort of career Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials, and has been underway since the Obama administration, according to an ICE official familiar with the matter.... But civil liberties advocates and government watchdog groups -- as well as some current and former U.S. officials -- are concerned at the prospect of the nation's immigration enforcers joining the ranks of America's spies. 'The idea that ICE could potentially get access to warrantless surveillance is frankly terrifying,' Jake Laperruque, senior counsel at the Project on Government Oversight, told The Daily Beast."
Swamp. Mark Hand of ThinkProgress: "Doug Domenech, a top official at the Department of the Interior, worked as a political appointee at the agency during the George W. Bush administration when it was rife with corruption. The official is now coming under scrutiny for his own questionable actions as a Trump administration appointee.... A month after winning confirmation to serve as assistant secretary for insular affairs at the Interior Department in September 2017, Domenech purchased between $15,001 and $50,000 worth of shares in Compass Minerals, a mining company that does business with the department." --safari
Swamp. Lee Fang & Nick Serguy of The Intercept: "While waiting for a nomination to the Environmental Protection Agency, Andrew Wheeler, a coal lobbyist, cozied up with the senators who would decide upon his appointment in the most direct way possible: giving them money.... Fundraising documents obtained by The Intercept and the watchdog group Documented show that Wheeler hosted campaign fundraisers for two members of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works -- Sens. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., and Jim Inhofe, R-Okla. -- last May.... Federal Election Committee records show both senators received donations of Wheeler's law firm PAC last year. Barrasso received $2,500 and Inhofe's leadership PAC received $1,000." --safari
Swamp. Lee Fang & Spencer Woodman of The Intercept: "On June 6, 2016, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell joined his wife, Elaine Chao, now the U.S. secretary of transportation, at a ceremony on the Harvard Business School campus to dedicate a new building emblazoned with the Chao family name. Funded by a $40 million gift from the Chao family and its foundation.... But the family's generosity appears to have come at the expense of taxpayers -- the money, it turns out, would already have been in the public treasury had it not been sheltered from the government in complex offshore tax havens.... Over a period of five years, millions of dollars were quietly funneled to a Chao family foundation via two offshore firms that list a New York address but are not incorporated anywhere in the United States. Two entities with the same names, however, are incorporated in the Marshall Islands, known as one of the world's most secretive offshore havens for firms seeking to avoid taxes." --safari...
John Haltiwanger of Newsweek: "A Pentagon agency has lost track of hundreds of millions of dollars, according to an internal audit, which is a troubling sign for the military's ability to oversee its massive $700 billion budget. The audit ... discovered the Defense Logistics Agency could not account for roughly $800 million in construction projects and had no documentation to show for it.... The U.S. has the highest defense budget in the world by far. The next biggest spender, China, doesn't even come close to the U.S.'s annual budget: it spends roughly $215 billion on its military per year." --safari: Would it also be treasonous to suggest not blindly shoveling more money to the military, and instead just optimizing the $700 billion they've got now?
The Daily Beast: "The Republican National Committee said that even though Steve Wynn resigned from his hotel company on Tuesday, they will not yet give back his donations. A spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal that they will not return the funds until a Wynn Resorts board investigation finds him guilty of wrongdoing. Wynn, who was the former RNC Finance Chair, gave upwards of $350,000 to the committee late last year." --safari
Fiona Harvey of the Guardian: "Livestock raised for food in the US are dosed with five times as much antibiotic medicine as farm animals in the UK, new data has shown, raising questions about rules on meat imports under post-Brexit trade deals. The difference in rates of dosage rises to at least nine times as much in the case of cattle raised for beef, and may be as high as 16 times the rate of dosage per cow in the UK. There is currently a ban on imports of American beef throughout Europe, owing mainly to the free use of growth hormones in the US.... The contrast between rates of dosage in the US and the UK throws a new light on negotiations on Brexit, under which politicians are seeking to negotiate trade deals for the UK independently of the EU.... Nearly three quarters of the total use of antibiotics worldwide is thought to be on animals rather than humans, which raises serious questions over intensive farming and the potential effects on antibiotic resistance, which can easily be spread to people." --safari
Annals of Journalism? Adam Nagourney, et al., of the New York Times: "... Patrick Soon-Shiong, 65, a doctor who turned a cancer drug into a multibillion-dollar biotech empire, emerged on Wednesday as a major figure in Los Angeles life with his surprise $500 million purchase of The Los Angeles Times and its sister newspaper, The San Diego Union-Tribune.... He now faces the challenge of stabilizing a newspaper engulfed by turmoil and diminished in resources.... Dr. Soon-Shiong was already a major shareholder at the newspaper, joining the board of Tribune Publishing, which later became known as Tronc, in May 2016."
Beyond the Beltway
Richard Fausset of the New York Times: "... scandal has threatened to dim one of the Democratic Party’s brightest Southern stars[: Mayor Megan Barry of Nashville, Tenn]. And though many residents of Nashville, a bastion of social liberalism in a deeply conservative state, have been willing to dismiss with a kind of Gallic shrug her admission of a monthslong extramarital affair with the police officer leading her security detail, other aspects of the episode are mounting, leading some here to wonder how long she can hang on.... [Over & above trips the couple took together at taxpayer expense,] this week, The Tennessean also reported that Ms. Barry had recommended Mr. Forrest's adult daughter, Macy Amos, for an entry-level job that Ms. Amos later landed in the city law department."
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