;)
The Commentariat -- January 2, 2019
Afternoon Update:
How Stupid Does Trump Think We Are? Damian Paletta & Erica Werner of the Washington Post: "President Trump made two false claims about his demands for a new border wall just hours before he is set to meet with congressional leaders Wednesday.... In a Twitter post Wednesday morning, Trump wrote that Mexico would be paying for the wall along the U.S. border under the parameters of a trade deal he has tentatively inked with Mexico and Canada. This is not true. That deal has not been approved by Congress, which means the parameters of the pact are not in effect. And even if the trade agreement is approved, it would not in any way create a stream of money designated for the construction of a border wall. The second false point in Trump's Twitter post Wednesday is his statement that 'much of the Wall has already been fully renovated or built.' This is also not true. The U.S.-Mexico border is roughly 2,000 miles long. Trump's demand for $5.6 billion to build new sections of wall would finance 200 miles of wall, and less than 100 miles has already been constructed or renovated, according to Department of Homeland Security Officials." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Here's the funny part. "... the White House said the meeting was supposed to serve as a way for Democrats to learn more about the situation on the U.S.-Mexico border." Evidently, Trump thinks he going to mansplain the Great Wall of Trump to Chuck & Nancy by telling them he's asking them for a down payment on said Great Wall because Mexico is really paying for it & it's almost all built anyway. It is curious that Trump thinks these Washington veterans just fell off a turnip truck. Then again, what do I know? I don't have my face on the cover a book somebody else wrote titled The Art of the Deal.
I will provide lockstep support for Donald Trump's agenda, regulatory appointments, and oppose all oversight because this might undermine #1 and #2, but I will occasionally Express Concern About Tone. -- Scott Lemieux, in LG&M, translation of Mitt Romney's op-ed, linked below ...
... Eli Okun of Politico: "... Donald Trump responded to a harsh op-ed from Sen.-elect Mitt Romney Wednesday morning, admonishing him to 'Be a TEAM player & WIN!' 'Here we go with Mitt Romney, but so fast! Question will be, is he a Flake? I hope not,' Trump tweeted. 'Would much prefer that Mitt focus on Border Security and so many other things where he can be helpful. I won big, and he didn't. He should be happy for all Republicans.'" ...
... Trumpery Is Thicker than Blood. Emily Stewart of Vox: Mitt's niece Ronna Romney McDaniel, who is the chair of the Republican National Committee, sided with the boss: In a tweet she wrote, "POTUS is attacked and obstructed by the MSM media and Democrats 24/7. For an incoming Republican freshman senator to attack @realdonaldtrump as their first act feeds into what the Democrats and media want and is disappointing and unproductive." Stewart notes, McDaniel "stopped using her full name publicly after Trump reportedly joked about the matter with her.... In June 2018, McDaniel tweeted that anyone who does not embrace Trump's 'agenda of making America great again will be making a mistake.'" ...
If you want to know which way the wind blows, it doesn't hurt to look at the weather vane. -- Robert Farley, in LG&M ...
... Jack Crosbie of Splinter: "You can see by the headline [on Romney's op-ed], which is way too long, that this is going to be a lecture from America's stern conservative dad on how President Trump is bad and uncouth. Romney prefers the gentler Republican cruelty of past decades -- you know, the kind that doesn't endorse statements like 'grab them by the pussy' but still tries to erode women's rights and expand the gap between rich and poor at every possible opportunity." ...
Romney thing is just this: he's ostentatiously shorting Trump, ie, betting he is impeached/convicted or forced to resign. And reminding party he would do all the usual stuff the donors and activists want without the drama. And figuring that’s how he wins nomination in '20. -- Richard Yeselson, in a tweet, via Martin Longman, linked below ...
... Steve M.: "Romney is sticking to a position so indefensible that even most mainstream media pundits have abandoned it: that Trump's presidency isn't a crisis and that it's still possible for him to be a good president and a decent person, at which point Romney will readily embrace him.... But if Romney thinks this puts him in a good position for 2020 in the event of Trump doesn't run again, I think he's mistaken.... GOP voters will never abandon Trump no matter what he does, which means that only a Republican perceived as pro-Trump ... will be able to take the nomination if Trump falls. No one will beat Trump in the 2020 primaries if he runs -- certainly not Romney. And no one who seemed in any way aligned with the evil Democrats and Deep Staters who brought about Trump's downfall will stand a chance if Trump is gone. Romney may be acting in a calculated way, but if so, he's calculating wrong." ...
... Martin Longman in the Washington Monthly: "... while it is only implied [in Romney's op-ed], the verdict is clear. If we must start by repairing our highest office because the person presently serving in that position is a no-character lying racist and sexist who is destructive to our democratic institutions, then the highest priority must be the removal of Trump from office.... Before Donald Trump came along, Mitt Romney held the land-speed record for mendacity in American politics. In 2012, our own Steve Benen tallied 917 falsehoods from Romney, which was a lowball and partial estimate of the actual number.... Romney is replacing Orrin Hatch in the Senate, and we last saw Sen. Hatch trading away his posterity for a Medal of Freedom. At least Romney isn't saying that Trump is a great president or that he doesn't care if he committed a few felonies during the campaign.... The unmistakable message is that Romney has no interest in carrying water for Trump and he'll vote to remove him from office with enthusiasm. In fact, he's basically committed to that now because the last thing Romney needs is for Trump to get reelected so he can exact revenge on him a second time. However cynically you look at this, it's not what Orrin Hatch would have done."
Eli Okun: "Incoming House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler blasted the Trump administration Wednesday for the recent deaths of two migrant children in government custody, placing the blame squarely on the White House and its policies.... The zero-tolerance policies [are] ... 'a deliberate creation of the Trump administration, which is trying to make things as miserable as possible. And if kids die, they're apparently willing to have that.'"
*****
An Uplifting Annual Message from the President* of the United States:
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE, INCLUDING THE HATERS AND THE FAKE NEWS MEDIA! 2019 WILL BE A FANTASTIC YEAR FOR THOSE NOT SUFFERING FROM TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME. JUST CALM DOWN AND ENJOY THE RIDE, GREAT THINGS ARE HAPPENING FOR OUR COUNTRY!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 1, 2019
... Home Alone. Anne Gearan & Erica Werner of the Washington Post: "President Trump invited congressional leaders to the White House for a briefing on border security, the first face-to-face session involving Republicans and Democrats as the partial government shutdown entered its second week. The briefing will occur one day before Democrats take control of the House.... Trump also used Twitter on the first day of 2019 to insult a retired U.S. commander in Afghanistan, sing the praises of an ultranationalist former aide and tell America to chill and 'ENJOY THE RIDE.'... Trump ... bash[ed] retired Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal over remarks McChrystal made Sunday, calling the president untruthful and immoral. 'General' McChrystal got fired like a dog by Obama. Last assignment a total bust. Known for big, dumb mouth. Hillary lover!' Trump opined.... The president's very first words of the new year were an endorsement of a pro-Trump book by former White House aide Sebastian Gorka.... 'One thing has now been proven. The Democrats do not care about Open Borders and all of the crime and drugs that Open Borders bring!' Trump tweeted Tuesday morning.... Trump also tweeted congratulations to newly inaugurated Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro...." More on Bolsonaro linked below.
Daniel Politi of Slate has the latest on the shutdown standoff. In a couple of tweets yesterday & the day before, Trump all but said he would not sign the Democrats' planned bill that would fund all of the government except the wall (and thus end the shutdown). Congress is already in agreement on spending levels in that bill. They also would put forward a second, contentious bill that addressed border security. "For now, GOP lawmakers appear happy to follow Trump's lead on this and have said they won't approve anything that doesn't have the president's approval."
David Sanger of the New York Times: "Nearly two years into his presidency and more than six months after his historic summit meeting with Kim Jong-un of North Korea, President Trump finds himself essentially back where he was at the beginning in achieving the ambitious goal of getting Mr. Kim to relinquish his nuclear arsenal. That was the essential message of Mr. Kim's annual New Year's televised speech, where he reiterated that international sanctions must be lifted before North Korea will give up a single weapon, dismantle a single missile site or stop producing nuclear material. The list of recent North Korean demands was a clear indicator of how the summit meeting in Singapore last June altered the optics of the relationship more than the reality." ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: No, no, no. This has to be fake news. First of all, Trump & Kim "fell in love." (Oct. 2018) Sanger must have misinterpreted a lovers' spat or something. Second of all, "A group of 18 House Republicans has formally nominated President Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize .... for his efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula and end the 68-year-old war between North and South Korea." (May 2018)
Josh Israel of ThinkProgress: "There has been an exodus of generals from the Trump administration.... Now, the man who once surrounded himself with generals faces the second half of his term as persona non grata with the people he once found the most impressive." --s
Thomas Heath of the Washington Post: "The Defense Department's top spokeswoman, who had been under investigation since May over whether she mistreated employees, abruptly resigned Monday night within hours of the departure of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. Dana W. White said on Twitter: 'I appreciate the opportunity afforded to me by this administration to serve alongside Secretary Mattis, our service members and all the civilians who support them. It has been my honor and privilege. Stay safe and God bless.'... Charles E. Summers, Jr., replaced White, becoming 'acting' assistant to the defense secretary, according to the Pentagon. Patrick Shanahan, a former Boeing executive and the No. 2 man at the Pentagon, became acting secretary Monday night, replacing Mattis who resigned after disagreements with President Trump.... At least two complaints were filed against White. The probe focused in part on how staff members carried out personal tasks for her, such as retrieving her dry cleaning, getting her lunch and driving her to work during a snowstorm. At least five staff members had been abruptly transferred or removed from their jobs since White, a Trump Administration political appointee, took over in April 2017."
AP: "U.S. authorities fired tear gas into Mexico during the first hours of the new year to repel about 150 migrants who tried to breach the border fence in Tijuana. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement later Tuesday that the gas was used to target rock throwers apart from the migrants who were trying to cross. 'No agents witnessed any of the migrants at the fence line, including children, experiencing effects of the chemical agents, which were targeted at the rock throwers further away,' the statement said. An Associated Press photographer saw at least three volleys of gas launched onto the Mexican side of the border near Tijuana's beach that affected the migrants, including women and children, as well as journalists. The AP saw rocks thrown only after U.S. agents fired the tear gas. The agency said agents saw 'toddler sized children' being passed over concertina wire with difficulty. It said its agents could not assist the children because of the rocks being thrown. Agents responded with smoke, pepper spray and tear gas, it said. The AP journalist also saw plastic pellets fired by U.S. agents. The agency said 25 migrants were detained while others crawled back into Mexico through a hole under the fence. Customs and Border Protection said that under its use of force policy the incident would be reviewed by its Office of Professional Responsibility."
Franco Ordoñez of McClatchy DC: "The Trump administration is expected to take steps to block a historic agreement that would allow Cuban baseball players from joining Major League Baseball in the United States without having to defect, according to an official familiar with the discussions. The administration wants to reverse an Obama-era ruling that says the Cuban government doesn't run the island's professional baseball league. Such a position gave MLB space to negotiate and reach the deal with Cuban baseball and circumvent the U.S. embargo against Cuba. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida ... vowed to fight the deal.... MLB officials said they had been in regular contact with the Trump administration during the months of negotiations, including in the last several days with top officials at the White House and State Department who were supportive of the arrangement." --s
Mitt Romney in a Washington Post op-ed: "The departures of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly, the appointment of senior persons of lesser experience, the abandonment of allies who fight beside us, and the president's thoughtless claim that America has long been a 'sucker' in world affairs all defined his presidency down.... On balance, his conduct over the past two years, particularly his actions this month, is evidence that the president has not risen to the mantle of the office.... With the nation so divided, resentful and angry, presidential leadership in qualities of character is indispensable. And it is in this province where the incumbent's shortfall has been most glaring." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: In case you were thinking, "What a shame Mitt didn't become president," he also writes this: "It is not that all of the president's policies have been misguided. He was right to align U.S. corporate taxes with those of global competitors, to strip out excessive regulations, to crack down on China's unfair trade practices, to reform criminal justice and to appoint conservative judges. These are policies mainstream Republicans have promoted for years." Republicans stick with Trump because they like all of his policies, especially the ones that really suck. Trump is just like them, except way less slick. ...
... Paul Krugman: "The 2017 tax cut has received pretty bad press, and rightly so. Its proponents made big promises about soaring investment and wages, and also assured everyone that it would pay for itself; none of that has happened. Yet coverage actually hasn't been negative enough.... At least 90 percent of Americans will end up poorer thanks to that cut.... Since the tax cut isn't paying for itself, it will eventually have to be paid for some other way -- either by raising other taxes, or by cutting spending on programs people value. The cost of these hikes or cuts will be much less concentrated on the top 10 percent than the benefit of the original tax cut."
Rebecca Burns & David Dayen of The Intercept: "The stock market has experienced its worst performance in December since the early 1930s ... in part thanks to a grinch named Steve Mnuchin. The treasury secretary's inexplicable maneuver on Christmas Eve eve ... sent markets into a volatile tailspin.... This was an unforced error that temporarily snagged the 10 percent of America that own 84 percent of all stocks. But Mnuchin's boneheaded actions reflected his dominant characteristics. He is a sycophant willing to debase himself, no matter how strongly, at the altar of Donald Trump.... But the sycophancy in this case mashed up with Mnuchin's other main trait: He's a rather dim gentleman.... A request for comment from the Treasury Department on whether or not Steve Mnuchin is a dunce was not returned." --s
Presidential Election 2020. Edward-Isaac Dovere, now of the Atlantic: Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) will run for president with "a single-minded focus: pulling the country back from the climate-change brink."
Richard Pérez-Peña of the New York Times: "The American man who was arrested last week in Russia on a spying charge is a Marine Corps veteran who was in Moscow to attend a wedding, his family said on Tuesday. Russia's Federal Security Service, known as the F.S.B., said on Monday that the American, Paul N. Whelan, had been detained on Friday 'during an act of espionage,' and that a criminal case had been opened against him. Conviction on a spying charge in Russia carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Sam Fulwood III of ThinkProgress: "Citing low pay, widespread disrespect and potential opportunities in other fields, frustrated public-school teachers walked away from their classrooms in record numbers during 2018, according to a recent Wall Street Journal report based on U.S. Department of Labor figures.... Public education employees, including person in jobs as varied as community-college faculty, school psychologists and janitors, quit their jobs at the fastest rate since such figures were first compiled in 2001." --s
Sean Ingle of the Guardian: "The World Anti-Doping Agency has been accused of being 'played by the Russians' and a 'total joke' after it confirmed it had not retrieved or received crucial doping data from the Moscow laboratory by its 31 December deadline. The Wada president, Sir Craig Reedie, who had been 'confident' the data would be collected a few weeks ago, admitted he was 'bitterly disappointed' at the news that one of Wada's strict conditions, set when it controversially lifted the three-year suspension on the Russian Anti-Doping Agency in September despite enormous anger from anti-doping groups and athletes, had not been met.... Wada's independent Compliance Review Committee will consider its options when it meets on 14 January. However the prospect of Russia being banned from the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo seems slim.... Many athletes, however, remain angry that Wada and the IOC has not been tougher on Russia given the country has never formally admitted to a sophisticated state-sponsored doping programme involving more than 1,000 athletes and 30 sports." --s
Beyond the Beltway
Connor Sheets of AL.com: "Towering high above the streets of Gadsden, [Alabama,] the Etowah County Detention Center is an outsized presence in the small northeast Alabama town.... Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin runs that jail. And he makes a lot of money doing it. Earlier this year, he acknowledged that he keeps money budgeted for jail food that goes unspent, saying in a press conference that he kept more than $750,000 between January 2015 and December 2017. But records show he had already pocketed more than twice that amount.... Entrekin is not alone in keeping leftover funds intended to feed inmates. He and other Alabama sheriffs have argued that a Depression-era state law allows them to keep state jail food funds. But Entrekin - who lost his bid for re-election earlier this year and will step down as sheriff next month - is the only Alabama sheriff whose jail houses hundreds of immigration detainees for the federal government. Lawyers and other experts say that he may have run afoul of a number of federal laws by receiving the immigration money." --s
Way Beyond
Travis Waldron of the Huffington Post: "Brazil Is About To Show The World How A Modern Democracy Collapses. Far-right president Jair Bolsonaro is a threat to Brazilian democracy -- and a model for authoritarianism that leaders around the world will follow.... While he has pitched his surge to power as the result of a 'populist' revolt, his base of support mirrors that of ... old coup masters: wealthy financial elites, segments of the population willing to trade the rights and lives of the poor and marginalized for their own safety and economic prosperity, and traditional parties and politicians who refuse to acknowledge their own roles in creating the monster before folding themselves into his arms. Much like the military once did, Bolsonaro has threatened his leftist political opponents with violence and imprisonment. He has promised to deliver a political 'cleansing never seen before in Brazil,' and threatened media outlets that report news unfavorable to him.... This is not exclusively a Brazilian phenomenon. Countries around the world, from Hungary to Turkey to the Philippines, have turned to noisy leaders who promise instant renewals and silver-bullet solutions under the banner of a right-wing, nativist 'populism' ― the preferred term of news outlets, even though the key constituencies backing these candidates tend to comprise the nations' elite." ...
... Ernesto Londoño of the New York Times also profiles Bolsonaro and notes that Trump is a fan. "While his victory in October was decisive, Brazilians remain deeply divided about their new president, a former army captain who has hailed the country's military dictators and made numerous disparaging remarks about women and minority groups.... The Brazilian and American presidents have similar views, temperaments and styles, increasing the likelihood of closer relations between two countries that have been uneasy allies in the past."
Justin McCurry of the Guardian: "The expected arrival of large numbers of foreign, blue-collar workers in Japan over the coming five years has raised fears of a sharp rise in incidences of exploitation.... In December, the country's parliament passed legislation that will soon open the door to an estimated 345,000 thousand foreign workers, in what is being called the end of Japan's traditional opposition to large-scale immigration. The world's third-biggest economy is battling its tightest labour shortage in decades due to its low birthrate and rapidly ageing society.... A labour ministry investigation found that of the 6,000 firms that hire a total of 260,000 technical trainees, about 70% had broken labour regulations on illegal and unpaid overtime." --s
Jamie Fullerton of the Guardian: "Vietnam has introduced a new cybersecurity law, which criminalises criticising the government online and forces internet providers to give authorities' user data when requested, sparking claims of a 'totalitarian' crackdown on dissent. The law, which mirrors China's draconian internet rules, came into effect on 1 January and forces internet providers to censor content deemed 'toxic' by the ruling communist government. The Vietnam government has intensified a crackdown on criticism since 2016, jailing dozens of dissidents. Spreading information deemed to be anti-government or anti-state online is now illegal in the country[.]" --s
Way, Way Beyond
Kenneth Chang of the New York Times: "... scientists, engineers and well-wishers ... at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory celebrated the moment that NASA's New Horizons spacecraft made its closest approach to a small, icy world nicknamed Ultima Thule.... That is the latest triumph in a journey that started in 2006, first on a mission to explore Pluto. Thirteen years and more than four billion miles later, New Horizons has provided humanity's first glimpse of a distant fragment that could be unchanged from the solar system's earliest days."
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