The Commentariat -- December 23, 2019

Late Morning Update:

Zeke Miller of the AP: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday that he was not ruling out calling witnesses in ... Donald Trump's impeachment trial -- but indicated he was in no hurry to seek new testimony either -- as lawmakers remain at an impasse over the form of the trial by the GOP-controlled Senate.... 'We haven't ruled out witnesses,' McConnell said Monday in an interview with 'Fox and Friends.' 'We've said let's handle this case just like we did with President Clinton. Fair is fair.' That trial featured a 100-0 vote on arrangements that established two weeks of presentations and argument before a partisan tally in which then-minority Republicans called a limited number of witnesses. But Democrats now would need Republican votes to secure witness testimony -- and Republicans believe they have the votes to eventually block those requests."

Desmond Butler & Michael Biesecker of the AP: "In a back corner of the swank H Bar in Houston..., [Lev & Igor,] two Russian-speaking men offered a Ukrainian gas executive what seemed like an outrageous business proposal. Andrew Favorov, the No. 2 at Ukraine's state-run gas company Naftogaz, says he sat on a red leather bench seat and listened wide-eyed as the men boasted of their connections to ... Donald Trump and proposed a deal to sell large quantities of liquefied natural gas from Texas to Ukraine. But first, Favorov says, they told him they would have to remove ... Favorov's boss and the U.S. ambassador in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital. Favorov says he hardly took the proposal at the early March meeting seriously.... What he didn't know ... was that high-ranking officials in the Ukrainian government were already taking steps to topple his boss, Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolyev. And two months later, Trump recalled U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch.... The gas deal sought by Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman never came to pass. But their efforts to profit from contacts with GOP luminaries are now part of a broad federal criminal investigation into the two men and their close associate, Rudy Giuliani, Trump's personal attorney.... [Lev & Igor's] campaign culminated in May, at a meeting at the Trump International Hotel in Washington that included a lobbyist with deep ties to U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry and a Republican fundraiser from Texas close to Donald Trump Jr." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: We have to assume two things here: (1) Congressional Republicans know at least the broad outlines of these nefarious deals, and (2) they're okay with these methods of doing business and most probably are not above making similar deals themselves.

Betsy Swan of the Daily Beast: "In a detailed memo to senators, the Trump administration is fighting a bill that would punish Turkey for buying Russian missiles, arguing it would drive the countries closer together. Of note, Team Trump opposes a provision in the bill that would help Syrian Kurdish refugees immigrate to the United States. The case is laid out in a seven-page document obtained by The Daily Beast. The memo was sent by the State Department to Capitol Hill ahead of the Senate mark-up of a bill co-sponsored by Sens. Jim Risch (R-ID) and Bob Menendez (D-NJ)...."

Passing Wind. John Bowden of the Hill: "President Trump lashed out again at wind farms on Saturday, claiming that the production of wind turbines causes a large carbon footprint. During a speech to the conservative student group Turning Point USA, Trump told attendees that he 'never understood' the allure of wind power plants, according to a report from Mediaite. 'I never understood wind,' Trump said, according to Mediaite. 'I know windmills very much, I have studied it better than anybody. I know it is very expensive. They are made in China and Germany mostly, very few made here, almost none, but they are manufactured, tremendous -- if you are into this -- tremendous fumes and gases are spewing into the atmosphere. You know we have a world, right?'" Mrs. McC: As you may have noticed, Trump simultaneously "lashed out again" against the English language, presuming the speech was intended to be delivered in English. ~~~

     ~~~ Update: Philip Bump of the Washington Post translates Trump's remarks. ~~~

~~~ Matt Novak of Gizmodo: "... Donald Trump said a bunch of bizarre shit about windmills over the weekend at a conference in Florida for conservative college students, ranting about the size of the universe and saying 'I know windmills very much.'... Trump, whose brain is mostly just KFC gravy at this point, told college kids at the Turning Point USA conference that the Green New Deal was threatening the very existence of the country.... 'We're in a battle of survival of this nation,' Trump said before using a racial slur against Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren in a rambling diatribe. 'When you look at these people talk, with their Green New Deal. But I don't want to knock it now, if you don't mind,' Trump said. 'I don't want to knock it. I knocked... I knocked the hell out of Pocahontas. I got her down.'"

Spencer Kimball of CNBC: “The Christian magazine that published a blistering editorial calling for ... Donald Trump's removal from office over his 'blackened moral record' has received a boost in subscribers despite a public backlash among leading evangelicals, according to the publication's editor in chief. Mark Galli, the editor in chief of Christianity Today who authored the op-ed, acknowledged to MSNBC on Sunday that the magazine has lost subscribers, but he said there has also been an outpouring of support.' A stereotypical response is "thank you, thank you, thank you" with a string of a hundred exclamation points -- "you've said what I've been thinking but haven't been able to articulate, I'm not crazy,"' Galli said of the response from supporters. 'We have lost subscribers but we've had 3 times as many people start to subscribe.'"

Amie Parnes of the Hill: "... behind the scenes in recent months, former President Obama has gone to bat for [Sen. Elizabeth] Warren (D-Mass.) when speaking to donors reluctant to support her given her knocks on Wall Street and the wealthy. And if Warren becomes the nominee, Obama has said they must throw the entirety of their support behind her. The former president has stopped short of an endorsement of Warren in these conversations and has emphasized that he is not endorsing in the Democratic primary race. But he also has vouched for her credentials, making it clear in these private sessions that he deems her a capable candidate and potential president, sources say."

David Gelles of the New York Times: "Boeing on Monday fired its chief executive, Dennis A. Muilenburg, whose handling of the company's 737 Max crisis had angered lawmakers, airlines, regulators and victims' families. The company said Dave Calhoun, the chairman, would replace Mr. Muilenburg on Jan. 13. Until then, Boeing's chief financial officer, Greg Smith, will serve as interim chief executive, the company said. The Boeing board made the decision on a call on Sunday, after a string of disastrous announcements for the company, according to two people briefed on the matter.... Mr. Muilenburg has stepped down effective immediately.Boeing has been mired in the worst crisis in its 103-year history since the crashes of two 737 Max jets killed 346 people. The plane has been grounded since March, and Boeing has faced cascading delays as it tries to return the Max to the air." The AP story is here.

Michael Schwirtz of the New York Times: "For years, members of a secret team, Unit 29155, operated without Western security officials having any idea about their activities. But an attack on an arms dealer in Sofia helped blow their cover.... Western security and intelligence officials say the Bulgaria poisonings were a critical clue that helped expose a campaign by the Kremlin and its sprawling web of intelligence operatives to eliminate Russia's enemies abroad and destabilize the West.... Russia cannot compete economically or militarily with the United States and China, so Mr. Putin is waging an asymmetric shadow war." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: This cloak-and-dagger story provides an outline, BTW, of how the CIA & other Western intelligence agencies actually go after international malefactors. They do not ask the POTUS* to call up the new president of Ukraine & ask him to investigate a U.S. politician -- in exchange for $391MM in military aid.

Adam Nossiter of the New York Times: "Algeria's de facto ruler, Gen. Ahmed Gaïd Salah, who this year managed the ouster of one president and the ascent of another amid deep civil unrest, died on Monday, according to the state news agency and Algerian press reports. General Gaïd Salah's unexpected death at 79 -- his official age, though he was most likely older -- less than two weeks after the army's favored candidate was elected president, creates a power vacuum in the vast North African nation, a major oil and gas producer. A survivor from the generation that led Algeria to independence from France in the early 1960s, General Gaïd Salah was the man who increasingly blocked the demands of the popular protest movement that has rocked the country's politics since last February." A BBC story is here.

~~~~~~~~~~

Happily, there is no news. I guess I could post some cat videos.

S.V. Date of the Huffington Post: "... Donald Trump has pushed his taxpayer-funded golf tab past $118 million on his 26th visit to Mar-a-Lago, his for-profit resort in Palm Beach, Florida, with a Saturday visit to his course in neighboring West Palm Beach. The new total is the equivalent of 296 years of the $400,000 presidential salary that his supporters often boast that he is not taking. And of that $118.3 million, at least several million has gone into Trump's own cash registers, as Secret Service agents, White House staff and other administration officials stay and eat at his hotels and golf courses.... If Trump continues golfing at the pace he has set in his first three years, he will surpass in just one term the total number of days [President] Obama spent golfing over two full terms -- despite having repeatedly criticized Obama for playing too much golf and having promised, as a candidate, that he would be too busy to play any golf at all."

Brief Encounter. John Bowden of the Hill: "President Trump briefly met with his attorney Rudy Giuliani on Saturday as Giuliani faces a federal investigation over possible campaign finance violations, Bloomberg News reported. The two men met Saturday night at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in West Palm Beach, Fla., where Trump spent the weekend ahead of this week's Christmas holiday. It was unclear what the two men discussed, according to Bloomberg."

Presidential Race 2020

Thomas Beaumont of the AP: "'Field of Dreams' actor Kevin Costner returned to Iowa on Sunday to go to bat for Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, pitching the small-town mayor as someone worth listening to in the crowded lineup of White House hopefuls. 'Whether your road leads you to Pete, like mine has, that's for you to judge,' Costner, a self-described independent, told more than 1,000 people in the high school gymnasium of Indianola, a town of about 16,000 people located south of Des Moines. 'When Pete speaks of unity, it's the kind of unity I've been waiting and hoping to hear about.'" Mrs. McC: Huh. I would have guessed Costner was a John Wayne sort of jerk. Turns out he's not. Good for him and my bad.

"Libel Tourism." Why POS Devin Nunes Filed Frivolous Lawsuits in Virginia. Justin Jouvenal of the Washington Post: "The suits are part of a string of splashy defamation claims by politicians and the A-list star seeking nearly $1 billion in damages in Virginia courts this year, even though many of the cases have only loose connections to the state.... Several of the defendants -- including Twitter ... -- say the filing location is aimed at exploiting the state's weak protections for defamation defendants. Some legal experts say Virginia law allows those with deep pockets to bulldoze targets with frivolous, protracted and expensive litigation they couldn't pursue in many other states. The true goals of the suits, the defendants argue, are to stifle critics, blunt aggressive journalism and settle scores. Some deride the legal maneuvers as 'libel tourism' and see a growing trend not just in Virginia but in other states that similarly lack safeguards. The suits have prompted Virginia lawmakers to look at changing the law." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: In the spirit of the season, the best thing would be to put Nunes and, say, Ken Cuccinelli or Stephen Miller in a locked room with some lethal weapons, right after telling each of them that the other made a yo-mama-type insult against the other. Let them fight it out. Gruesome & macabre? Yes. But just what the rat-bastards deserve.

Way Beyond the Beltway

Saudi "Justice." Bethan McKernan of the Guardian & Agencies: "Five men have been sentenced to death and another three face 24 years in prison for their roles in the gruesome murder of the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last year, the Saudi public prosecutor's office has said. All 11 people on trial were found guilty of the killing, which triggered the kingdom's biggest diplomatic crisis since the 9/11 attacks as world leaders and business executives sought to distance themselves from Riyadh. However, Saudi state television also reported the Saudi attorney general's investigation showed that the crown prince Mohammed bin Salman's former top adviser, Saud al-Qahtani, had no proven involvement in the killing, after being investigated and released without charge. Al-Qahtani has been sanctioned by the US for his alleged role in the operation. The court also ruled that the Saudi consul-general in Istanbul at the time, Mohammed al-Otaibi, was not guilty. He was released from prison after the verdicts were announced." Those convicted can appeal the verdicts. Update: The Washington Post story is here.

The Commentariat -- December 22, 2019

In the FBI, this is what we called "a clue." -- Asha Rangappa, former FBI special agent, in a tweet ~~~

~~~ ** Edward Wong of the New York Times: "About 90 minutes after President Trump held a controversial telephone call with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine in July, the White House budget office ordered the Pentagon to suspend all military aid that Congress had allocated to Ukraine, according to emails released by the Pentagon late Friday. A budget official, Michael Duffey, also told the Pentagon to keep quiet about the aid freeze because of the 'sensitive nature of the request,' according to a message dated July 25. An earlier email that Mr. Duffey sent to the Pentagon comptroller suggested that Mr. Trump began asking aides about $250 million in military aid set aside for Ukraine after noticing a June 19 article about it in the Washington Examiner. The emails add to public understanding of the events that prompted the Democratic-led House to call for Mr. Trump to be removed from office.... The emails were in a batch of 146 pages of documents released by the Pentagon late Friday to the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit news organization and watchdog group, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.... Senator Chuck Schumer ... has pressed for Mr. Duffey, a political appointee..., to testify in a Senate trial. On Twitter on Saturday, he pointed to the July 25 email as 'all the more reason' Mr. Duffey and others must appear." A CNN story is here. ~~~

~~~ Here's the Center for Public Integrity's liveblog on the docs, by Zachary Fryer-Biggs. It includes images of all of the sometimes-heavily-redacted e-mails. ~~~

~~~ Daniel Politi of Slate: "'Based on guidance I have received and in light of the Administration's plan to review assistance to Ukraine, including the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, please hold off on any additional DoD obligations of these funds, pending direction from that process,' [Michael] Duffey wrote at 11:04 a.m., [an hour-and-a-half after the Trump-Zelensky call ended]....The question, of course, becomes who exactly gave Duffey the 'guidance' that he wrote about in the email.... 'Given the sensitive nature of the request, I appreciate your keeping that information closely held to those who need to know to execute direction,' [Duffey] wrote [in the same July 25 email].... The Center for Public Integrity points out that the heavily redacted emails show many government officials were worried that the White House was 'asking the officials involved to take an action that was not merely unwise but flatly illegal.' The law in question is known as the Impoundment Control Act and 'says that once Congress appropriates funds -- like the Ukraine assistance -- and the president signs the relevant spending bill, the executive branch must spend those funds,' explains CPI. For the funds to be withheld, Congress must be informed and must approve, which obviously did not happen in this case." ~~~

~~~ Dan Friedman of Mother Jones: "The disclosure of Duff[e]y's July 25 emails, since they show he has significant information, seem to make [Mitch] McConnell's [refusal to allow Duffey to be called as a fact witness in the Senate trial] more difficult." ~~~

~~~ digby: "These documents make it even clearer that [Trump] saw Ukraine as a pawn in his and Rudy's scheme. When he saw the article about the military aid in the Examiner he realized he had more leverage than just a White House meeting and he immediately used it."

Trump Boasts of Putin Affirmation. Colby Itkowitz & Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post: "Late Friday night, minutes before deplaning in Florida for the holidays, President Trump retweeted a link to an article in which Russian President Vladimir Putin defended him against impeachment. 'A total Witch Hunt!' the president tweeted at 10:30 p.m., as he shared a 36-hour-old Associated Press tweet that read: 'BREAKING: Russian President Vladimir Putin says U.S. President Donald Trump's impeachment is far-fetched and predicts the U.S. Senate will reject it.'"

Dan Alexander of Forbes: "The Trump campaign is spending big money at the president's properties, according to a review of Federal Election Commission data. Yet the records show that Donald Trump still has not donated any of his own funds to the campaign. That means America's billionaire-in-chief has shifted $1.7 million from campaign donors into his private business." --s

Not the Onion. Bob Brigham of RawStory: "Donald Trump is considering a Florida trailer court as the location of his presidential library, according to The Palm Beach Post. 'Vanilla Ice ran it by Donald Jr.,' [James Arena, a real estate broker and resident of Briny Breezes] said.... '[Vanilla Ice] called me back and said, "Man, I think they're really into it."'... Arena suggested the president could change the town's name to 'Trump Town.'" --safari: Nothing says 'Trump brand' like a Florida trailer park community. Report here.

Dahlia Lithwick of Slate: "It seems like it was eons ago, but it was actually a fairly recent occurrence: Americans used to be obsessed with 'civility.'... It wasn't just that we all talked about civility all the time; there actually arose a massive Civility Industrial Complex ... dedicated to the restoration of 'civility' in public discourse.... Something fundamental shifted in the discussion after Donald Trump was elected in 2016.... Suddenly 'civility' ... became a defense for why Trump officials, who had crafted an entire government of cruelty, deserved polite service in restaurants nonetheless....Civility had come to mean being nice to terrible people in public because it hurts their feelings when we do not.... As Adam Serwer summarized it in this month's Atlantic: 'There are two definitions of civility. The first is not being an asshole. The second is "I can do what I want and you can shut up." The latter definition currently dominates American political discourse.'... Joe Biden caused a stir in June when he thought back fondly to a more civil era in politics.... The problem of course is that 'getting things done' by meeting unabashed racists halfway no longer feels like a win-win, so much as capitulation." --s

Stuart Thompson & Charlie Warzel of the New York Times in a long opinion piece: "Every minute of every day, everywhere on the planet, dozens of companies -- largely unregulated, little scrutinized -- are logging the movements of tens of millions of people with mobile phones and storing the information in gigantic data files.... In the cities that the data file covers, it tracks people from nearly every neighborhood and block.... If you lived in one of the cities the dataset covers and use apps that share your location -- anything from weather apps to local news apps to coupon savers -- you could be in there, too.... [The data] originated from a location data company, one of dozens quietly collecting precise movements using software slipped onto mobile phone apps.... Today, it's perfectly legal to collect and sell all this information. In the United States, as in most of the world, no federal law limits what has become a vast and lucrative trade in human tracking.... The companies that collect all this information on your movements justify their business on the basis of three claims: People consent to be tracked, the data is [are!] anonymous and the data is [are!] secure. None of those claims hold[d] up, based on the file we've obtained and our review of company practices." ~~~

~~~ Henry Ford Is Watching You. Geoffrey Fowler of the Washington Post: "Behind the wheel, it's nothing but you, the open road -- and your car quietly recording your every move. On a recent drive, a 2017 Chevrolet collected my precise location. It stored my phone's ID and the people I called. It judged my acceleration and braking style, beaming back reports to its maker General Motors over an always-on Internet connection.... The data it produces doesn't [don't!] belong to you.... There are no federal laws regulating what carmakers can collect or do with our driving data." Thanks to MAG for the link. Mrs. McC: I have a newish car. I guess this foils my Christmas-week plans for a few drive-by bank heists.

Annals of "Journalism." Ctd. Tom Boggioni of RawStory: "[T]he Poynter Institute nam[ed] NBC's Chuck Todd the 'media personality of the year' while calling his Meet the Press the 'gold standard[.]'" --s

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Congrats, Chuck. You edge out Hannity & Judge Jeanine.

Quack, Quack. Ginia Bellafante of the New York Times: "May 15, Dr.  [Keith] Ablow's license [to practice psychotherapy] was suspended in Massachusetts after an investigation determined that his continued practice was a threat to the 'health, safety and welfare' of the public. He is appealing the ruling.... [In 2009,] Roger Ailes had hired him as a regular contributor on Fox News, where he would remain until 2017, speculating about the mental states of political figures and presiding over viewer segments like 'Normal or Nuts?'... This spring..., based on ... the testimonies of [five] female patients, as well as several former employees of Dr. Ablow's, the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine ruled that Dr. Ablow practiced 'in violation of law, regulations, and/or good and accepted medical practice.' As a result of that suspension, he consented to cease practice in New York, where a renewed investigation by the conduct office is underway."

Beyond the Beltway

Iowa. Johnny Diaz of the New York Times: "An Iowa woman was charged with attempted murder after running over a 14-year-old girl because she thought the teenager was Mexican, the police said. The woman, Nicole Marie Poole Franklin, 42, of Des Moines, told the police that she intentionally struck the girl with her vehicle on Dec. 9 because she believed that she was 'a Mexican,' Chief Michael G. Venema of the Clive Police Department said in a news release Friday. 'She went on to make a number of derogatory statements about Latinos to the investigators,' Chief Venema said. The episode took place in Clive, a city of about 17,000 residents about 10 miles west of Des Moines. The authorities said the girl was walking on the sidewalk on her way to Indian Hills Junior High School when 'a vehicle left the roadway and ran the girl over,' the news release said." Mrs. McC: A photo, which I'm guessing is a mugshot, accompanies the story. Franklin is smiling. She looks sort of unremarkable, not your stereotypical image of a deranged killer. But the fact that she was making "derogatory statements about Latinos" ten days after she tried to murder a child shows that the attack wasn't some momentary flash of insanity.

Wisconsin. AP: "One of ... Donald Trump's top re-election advisers [Justin Clark] told influential Republicans in swing state Wisconsin that the party has 'traditionally' relied on voter suppression to compete in battleground states but will be able to 'start playing offense' in 2020 due to relaxed Election Day rules, according to an audio recording of a private event obtained by The Associated Press.... Asked about the remarks by AP, Clark said he was referring to false accusations that the GOP engages in voter suppression.... Clark made the comments Nov. 21 in a meeting of the Republican National Lawyers Association's Wisconsin chapter. Attendees included the state Senate's top Republican, Scott Fitzgerald, along with the executive director of the Wisconsin Republican Party.... Republican officials publicly signaled plans to step up their Election Day monitoring after a judge in 2018 lifted a consent degree in place since 1982 that barred the Republican National Committee from voter verification and other 'ballot security' efforts. Critics have argued the tactics amount to voter intimidation." --s

Way Beyond

Australia. Josh Taylor of the Guardian: "The devastation from Australia's bushfire crisis became clearer on Sunday, as the South Australian premier said 72 homes had been destroyed and his New South Wales counterpart revealed there was 'not much left' of the town of Balmoral, south-west of Sydney. It is feared the figures for homes lost may get much worse as authorities continue to assess the damage from Saturday, and with dozens of fires still active.... The prime minister, Scott Morrison, returned to Australia from his holiday in Hawaii on Saturday night.... At a press conference on Sunday morning, Morrison apologised to people who were upset for him going on holiday during the bushfire crisis.... The prime minister acknowledging that climate change was having an impact on weather events, but indicated there would be no change to government policy[.]" --s

North Korea. Ken Dilanian of NBC News: "North Korea has expanded a factory linked to the production of long-range nuclear missiles, according to a new analysis of satellite photos provided to NBC News that bolsters a growing expectation the country soon will resume testing a capability that threatens the United States."

The Commentariat -- December 21, 2019

Erica Werner of the Washington Post: "Senior Trump administration officials in recent days threatened a presidential veto that could have led to a government shutdown if House Democrats refused to drop language requiring prompt release of future military aid for Ukraine, according to five administration and congressional officials. The language was ultimately left out of mammoth year-end spending legislation that passed the House and Senate this week ahead of a Saturday shutdown deadline. The White House said President Trump signed the $1.4 trillion package Friday night. The Ukraine provision was one of several items the White House drew a hard line on during negotiations to finalize the spending legislation, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.... It would have required the White House to swiftly release $250 million in defense money for Ukraine that was part of the spending package."

Clare Foran of CNN: "... Donald Trump has accepted the invitation from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to deliver the State of the Union address on February 4, 2020." Mrs. McC: Yesterday I wrote that a SOTU address in the midst of an impeachment trial would be unique. Wrong: Bill Clinton gave a SOTU speech during his impeachment trial, too. Clinton didn't mention impeachment; maybe we should start taking bets on how many times Trump will complain about it.

James Hohmann of the Washington Post: "Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) wants to see the documents being concealed by the White House even more than he wants to hear from the list of current and former aides who followed President Trump's order not to testify during the investigation that led to his impeachment. 'The few [text] messages we did get [from Kurt Volker & Gordon Sondland] were remarkably incriminating,' Schiff said in an interview on Thursday night. 'So you can only imagine, if this is what the small sample of documents that we have shows, just how damning many of the other documents the administration refuses to turn over may be.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

An Academic Question. Jonathan Turley, the House Republicans' impeachment witness, says, yeah, Trump is so impeached: Noah "Feldman has written in Bloomberg News that Trump is not actually impeached until the articles of impeachment are transferred to the Senate I disagree and believe that Feldman is conflating provisions concerning removal with those for impeachment. Frankly, I am mystified by the claim since I see no credible basis for maintaining this view under either the text or the history of the Constitution." ~~~

~~~ Aaron Blake of the Washington Post cites another Constitutional scholar, Marty Lederman, who explains why Trump is impeached: "... House Resolution 755 says, upon its adoption, 'That Donald John Trump, President of the United States, is impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors.' It also resolves that 'the following articles of impeachment be exhibited to the United States Senate.' The House didn't technically vote on the resolution by itself, but the rules for the impeachment as passed by the House declared that 'the adoption of the resolution [755], as amended, shall be divided between the two articles.' Thus, by approving the two articles, they effectively adopted House Resolution 755. And that resolution says that Trump 'is impeached,' not that he will be impeached after the second part of the resolution -- the transmission to the Senate -- is acted upon. Lederman also pointed out that the House's existing impeachment rules indicate such a vote is sufficient for a president to be impeached. Chapter 27, Section 8 says, 'The respondent in an impeachment proceeding is impeached by the adoption of the House of articles of impeachment.'"

White People Matter, Especially Old White Men. Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "Anyone who pays attention to politics ... knows that Donald Trump got around 63 million votes in 2016. That number has taken on a totemic significance for him and his supporters; any attempts to restrain his power are seen as a sin against the 63 million.... As I watched impeachment unfold, it seemed like ... an assertion of whom Republicans think this country belongs to.... Again and again, histrionic Republican congressmen equated hatred of the president with hatred of themselves and hatred of the sacred 63 million.... All day, Republican speeches delivered by old white men alternated with Democratic speeches from women, people of color and young people.... We face the horror of Trump because the structure of American democracy gives disproportionate power to a declining demographic group passionately convinced of its right to rule."

Elizabeth Dias & Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "... when Christianity Today called for President Trump's removal in a blistering editorial on Thursday, it met the full force and fury of the president and his most prominent allies in the Christian conservative world." Mrs. McC: In case you thought some of these so-called Christian leaders could act even the slightest bit Christ-like in the week before Christmas, you were wrong. In the Temptation story, the devil bids Jesus, "All this [-- the kingdoms of the world --] I will give you, if you will bow down and worship me." Jesus said faggedaboud it. Trump wrote Friday, "The fact is, no President has ever done what I have done for Evangelicals, or religion itself!" I'd certainly question that (see President Thomas Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptists), but there's no doubt the evangelical pastors have bowed down to the devil. ~~~

~~~ Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "In an unwittingly self-revealing moment, Trump responded to the magazine's indictment of his profound moral failings with an argument that is thoroughly transactional and megalomaniacal: How dare you criticize me, after all the power I've granted to your movement? You're breaking our deal, and now you're dead to me.... Trump has granted evangelicals power in exchange for their unwavering support, but the bargain now includes a requirement that they pretend Trump's wretchedly corrupt subversion of the country's interests to his own simply isn't happening, or that it's absolutely fine.Trump has granted evangelicals power in exchange for their unwavering support, but the bargain now includes a requirement that they pretend Trump's wretchedly corrupt subversion of the country's interests to his own simply isn't happening, or that it's absolutely fine."

Ashley Parker of the Washington Post: "Over the past dozen days or so, the president has spewed forth an advent calendar's worth of cruelty -- new barbs popping out almost daily..., underscoring the instinctual nastiness that is central to his brand and casting doubt on claims from his aides that Trump is merely a counterpuncher."

Annie Karni & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Mr. Trump has made a habit of injecting his own words into the comments of people he sees on television and then publishing them as direct quotes on Twitter.... In some instances, he simply omits a part of the quote he doesn't like.... Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a historian at New York University who studies authoritarianism and propaganda..., [said,] 'He's challenging them to correct him.... This is how a cult of personality works. The leader will say something that everyone knows is wrong, and no one will correct him.'... Sometimes he attributes something to a private conversation that may not have ever occurred.... The false quotes ... are particularly jarring given Mr. Trump's recent weekslong attack on Representative Adam B. Schiff ... over a statement in which he mocked Mr. Trump's July 25 conversation with [Ukraine President] Zelensky. In his remarks during a committee hearing, Mr. Schiff said he would be laying out the 'essence of what the president communicates,' and made it clear his reading was not an 'exact transcribed version of the call.' But Mr. Trump has repeatedly accused Mr. Schiff of inventing the conversation, going so far as to claim he committed 'treason' for how he presented it."

Colleen Long of the AP: "The Department of Homeland Security's internal watchdog found no wrongdoing or misconduct by immigration officials in the deaths of two migrant children last December. The Inspector General for the Department of Homeland Security released two brief statements Friday evening on the deaths of Jakelin Amei Rosmery Caal Maquin, who died Dec. 8, and Felipe Gómez Alonzo, who died Dec. 24. Their deaths ushered in a growing border crisis that caught immigration officials unprepared to manage a crush of Central American families seeking asylum in the U.S. and raised questions on medical care and treatment."

Stephen Miller Planned to Spy on Generous Immigrants. Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "The White House sought this month to embed immigration enforcement agents within the U.S. refugee agency that cares for unaccompanied migrant children, part of a long-standing effort to use information from their parents and relatives to target them for deportation, according to six current and former administration officials. Though senior officials at the Department of Health and Human Services rejected the attempt, they agreed to allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to collect fingerprints and other biometric information from adults seeking to claim migrant children at government shelters. If those adults are deemed ineligible to take custody of children, ICE could then use their information to target them for arrest and deportation.... The plan has not been announced publicly. It was developed by Stephen Miller...."

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Monica Crowley, the Treasury Department's assistant secretary for public affairs, committed 'localized instances of plagiarism' in her 2000 Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University found in an investigation that ultimately concluded she did not commit research misconduct. As part of the university's review of Ms. Crowley's work, she was required to make extensive revisions to her dissertation, a 493-page study of how American policy toward China evolved under Presidents Harry S. Truman and Richard M. Nixon. The research misconduct investigation, which concluded this month, was started after plagiarism accusations were raised about her work in 2017 after her appointment by Donald J. Trump, then the president-elect, for a senior National Security Council job." A CNN story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: The headline on Rappeport's story is "Columbia Inquiry Found Plagiarism in Monica Crowley's Dissertation." The headline of a Breitbart story on the same subject?: "Exclusive: Monica Crowley Vindicated by Columbia University after Fake Plagiarism Accusations."

Ben Collins of NBC News: "Facebook took down more than 600 accounts tied to the pro-Trump conspiracy website The Epoch Times for using identities created by artificial intelligence to push stories about a variety of topics including impeachment and elections. The network was called 'The BL' and was run by Vietnamese users posing as Americans, using fake photos generated by algorithms to simulate real identities. The Epoch Media group, which pushes a variety of pro-Trump conspiracy theories, spent $9.5 million on ads to spread content through the now-suspended pages and groups. 'What's new here is that this is purportedly a U.S.-based media company leveraging foreign actors posing as Americans to push political content. We've seen it a lot with state actors in the past,' Facebook's head of security policy, Nathaniel Gleiche, said in an interview. The network had over 55 million followers on Facebook...."

Presidential Race 2020. Maggie Astor of the New York Times: "It was the last question of the Democratic debate on Thursday, and the candidates were thrown a curveball. They could give a 'gift' to someone else onstage. Or, in the 'spirit of the season,' they could ask for forgiveness.... The men chose to give.... The women chose to seek forgiveness: for being too forceful. Too passionate. Too much.... These responses, in the final minutes of a two-and-a-half-hour debate, threw into stark relief a dynamic that is not often so visible. Many women feel a sense of obligation, reinforced by daily double standards, to apologize for taking up space. Physical space. Political space. Rhetorical space.... Amanda Hunter ... [of] the Barbara Lee Family Foundation, which supports women in politics, said in an interview on Friday that the exchange had highlighted not only political double standards, but also the pressure that ordinary women face to avoid being perceived as angry or unlikable." The Washington Post's story, by Annie Linskey, is here.

Kate Irby of the Fresno Bee: "Sacramento-based newspaper publisher McClatchy fought a defamation lawsuit filed by California congressman Devin Nunes in a Virginia court on Friday, arguing the Republican's case does not belong in the state. 'Put simply, this case is Virginia-less,' McClatchy attorney Ted Boutrous said in court. The lawsuit is one six of that Nunes filed this year againstnews media companies, Twitter, a political research firm that worked for Hillary Clinton and Democratic activists.... Boutrous argued ... that Nunes had engaged in 'a pattern of harassing lawsuits he has brought in Virginia ... meant to chill speech about a public official.' Boutrous contended Nunes filed the McClatchy case there 'to add to the burden of defending the lawsuit.'" The judge will issue a written decision by early February.

Beyond the Beltway

Kentucky. Alfred Miller & Joe Sonka of the Louisville Courier Journal: "Former Gov. Matt Bevin on Thursday defended his controversial last-minute pardon of a man convicted of raping a 9-year-old, saying there was no physical evidence of her abuse.... Bevin also revealed publicly for the first time the victim's relationship to [her rapist] and said that the victim's sister was present during the alleged assaults. The sister has denied the assaults took place, Bevin said. 'Both their hymens were intact. This is perhaps more specific than people would want, but trust me. If you have been repeatedly sexually violated as a small child by an adult, there are going to be repercussions of that physically and medically,' Bevin said. Bevin's claim is flatly incorrect, Dr. George Nichols, who was Kentucky's chief medical examiner for 20 years..., told The Courier Journal.... 'He not only doesn't know the law, in my humble opinion, he clearly doesn't know medicine and anatomy.' Nichols added that he worked for six consecutive governors as chief medical examiner, 'and fortunately I didn't have to report to that a--hole.' According to Forensic Science International, a peer-reviewed journal, a survey of pediatric child abuse rape cases indicated that only 2.1% of subjects examined had visible lesions on the hymen." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)