;)
The Commentariat -- December 10, 2018
Afternoon Update:
Rosalind Helderman & Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "Maria Butina, a Russian gun rights activist, is poised to plead guilty in a case involving accusations that she was working as an agent for the Kremlin in the United States, according to a new court filing. Attorneys for Butina and federal prosecutors jointly requested in court documents Monday that U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan set a time for Butina to withdraw her previous plea of not guilty. They said they could be available for her to enter her plea as early as Tuesday. 'The parties have resolved this matter,' Butina's lawyers and D.C.-based prosecutors wrote in their joint filing."
Marshall Cohen of CNN: "At least 16 associates of Donald Trump had contacts with Russians during the 2016 campaign or transition, according to public statements, court filings, CNN reporting, and reporting from other news outlets."
"Whatever." Matt Yglesias of Vox: "No person's entire career can be summed up in a single quote. But ousted White House Chief of Staff John Kelly's defense to the charge that the Trump administration's child separation policy at the border was cruel deserves to be etched into his tombstone. 'The children,' he said, 'will be taken care of -- put into foster care or whatever.' That is roughly the degree of thoughtfulness and consideration that was put into the policy. And it properly reflects Kelly's true legacy as chief of staff.... The emphasis on times when Kelly could rein in Trump ignores the extent to which the two men were genuinely like-minded, and the many crucial moments where Kelly exacerbated Trump's worst instincts."
Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to review lower court decisions that blocked efforts in two states to cut off public funding for Planned Parenthood, refusing for now to get involved in state battles over abortion rights. The cases did not touch on abortion itself, but three justices who said the court should have accepted the cases said that was the reason the court declined to get involved. 'What explains the court's refusal to do its job here? I suspect it has something to do with the fact that some respondents in these cases are named "Planned Parenthood,"' Justice Clarence Thomas wrote.... Thomas was joined in his opinion by fellow conservative justices Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Neil M. Gorsuch.... The court's action showed a split among the panel's conservatives, and might indicate a reluctance by the majority to take on controversial cases at a time when the Supreme Court is in the political spotlight.... It takes four justices to accept a case...."
Stephen Castle & Richard Pérez-Peña of the New York Times: "Facing the prospect of a humiliating defeat, Prime Minister Theresa May said on Monday that she would seek to postpone a parliamentary vote on her proposal for Britain's departure from the European Union, throwing the process into disarray and highlighting her tenuous hold on power. Parliament had been scheduled to vote on Tuesday on the agreement that Mrs. May reached with the bloc for Britain's withdrawal, or Brexit -- a critical moment in her political career and in the battle over an issue that has gripped British politics for nearly three years. But weeks of bitter criticism and days of parliamentary debate had left no doubt that the plan would be soundly rejected by lawmakers, due in large part to objections over plans for dealing with the Irish border that pro-Brexit lawmakers say could potentially leave the United Kingdom tied to some of the bloc's rules indefinitely."
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This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd.
"No Smocking Gun." Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Monday sought to downplay the felony his former personal attorney Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to this month, arguing that Cohen's hush money payments on behalf of Trump were a 'simple private transaction' rather than a breach of campaign finance law. Apparently citing a Fox News segment, Trump insisted on Twitter that there is 'smocking (sic) gun' pointing to coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia that emerged from the closed door congressional testimony of former FBI Director James Comey last week.... 'There was NO COLLUSION,' Trump wrote on Monday. 'So now the Dems go to a simple private transaction, wrongly call it a campaign contribution, which it was not (but even if it was, it is only a CIVIL CASE, like Obama's - but it was done correctly by a lawyer and there would not even be a fine.).'" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: A smocking gun is the perfect holiday gift for the home-crafter. A multi-purpose tool, it makes light work of smocking baby's Christmas dress & glue-gunning baubles to your festive wreaths. When President* Trump gave his wife Melanie a smocking gun, she went stark-staring-crazy gluing like millions of red berries to a bunch of trees she found out in the hall. Wait till you see Uday & Qusay in the smocked Russian bear dancer outfits Melanie whipped up for them. The smocking gun is available at WalMart, Michael's & the Home Shopping Network. (Not suitable for children under six or Uday and Qusay.) Oh, P.S., the rest of Trump's TwitterTale above is crap. ...
... Avery Anapol of the Hill: "Former CIA Director John Brennan blasted President Trump after he downplayed allegations of campaign finance violations by calling them a 'private transaction.' 'Whenever you send out such inane tweets, I take great solace in knowing that you realize how much trouble you are in & how impossible it will be for you to escape American justice,' Brennan tweeted. 'Mostly, I am relieved that you will never have the opportunity to run for public office again.'" Mrs. McC: Huh. Obviously Brennan thinks Trump will not be in a position to run for re-election. Even if Trump did revoke Brennan's security clearance, Brennan well may know something we don't know.
Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: "After [Michael] Cohen pleaded guilty in August to breaking campaign finance laws and other crimes ... the federal prosecutors in Manhattan shifted their attention to what role, if any, Trump Organization executives played in the campaign finance violations, according to people briefed on the matter.... In addition to implicating Mr. Trump in the payments to the two women, Mr. Cohen has told prosecutors that the company's chief financial officer was involved in discussions about them, a claim that is now a focus of the inquiry.... In recent weeks, the prosecutors contacted the company to renew a request they had made earlier this year for documents and other materials...." ...
... Benjamin Weiser of the New York Times: "Michael D. Cohen ... always had a high self-regard for his ability to talk -- or bully -- his way out of challenging situations, whether acting on his own or on behalf of Mr. Trump. So when federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York began investigating Mr. Cohen, he seemed to undertake a brazen and risky legal strategy: offer enough information that it might prompt prosecutors to ask a judge for leniency for him -- but nothing more about his or others' activities. On Friday, the prosecutors made clear that Mr. Cohen was less useful to their investigation because he would not fully cooperate, therefore he would not reap benefits, such as a government letter on his behalf. They said Mr. Cohen had refused to sign a full cooperation agreement, the sort most people in the Southern District sign when agreeing to testify against their partners in crime. Under that sort of deal, witnesses must admit to every crime they have committed and offer any details concerning crimes by others, even ones the government did not know about."
Michael Burke of the Hill: "Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) on Sunday said that President Trump might 'face the real prospect of jail time' after prosecutors indicated last week that he directed illegal payments during his 2016 presidential campaign." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Martin Matishak of Politico: "Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) on Sunday said that if accusations that ... Donald Trump directed illegal payments during his campaign are true that it would 'certainly' be an impeachable offense, but stopped short of saying such action would be taken. 'They would be impeachable offenses. Whether they're important enough to justify an impeachment is a different question,' Nadler, the incoming chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said on CNN's 'State of the Union.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Quinn Scanlan of ABC News: "Republican Sen. Marco Rubio said repeatedly that ... Donald Trump pardoning former campaign chairman Paul Manafort would be a 'terrible mistake,' and that doing so could possibly 'trigger a debate about whether the pardon powers should be amended.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Erin Durkin of the Guardian has a more extensive report on remarks made by Schiff, Nadler & Rubio. ...
... Megan Keller of the Hill: "Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) said Sunday that the language federal prosecutors are using to refer to President Trump in an indictment against Michael Cohen makes it sound as if they might have corroborating evidence that the president violated campaign finance law." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Stephanie Baker, et al. of Bloomberg: "Not long after Michael Cohen stopped pursuing a Trump-branded property project in Moscow, another Russian connection to the future U.S. president's entourage started to form. Like the real estate plan, it didn't end well -- particularly for Russian tycoon Viktor Vekselberg. His effort to engage in statecraft at the highest level unraveled spectacularly, costing him billions, cleaving his family and severing the extensive ties to the U.S. elite that turned him into what one Moscow newspaper called the 'most American' of Vladimir Putin's plutocrats.... Instead, he became the richest victim of the most dangerous standoff between the U.S. and Russia since the Cold War." --s (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
James Risen of The Intercept: "The significance of Mueller's new filing about [Paul] Manafort is that it raises new questions about connections between Trump's campaign manager and a figure with ties to Russian intelligence. Many of the details are frustratingly redacted in the Mueller filing, but it suggests that [Konstantin] Kilimnik plays a more important role in Mueller's investigation than previously believed. What is obvious is that, despite Trump's denials, he and his campaign were involved in repeated, serious efforts to develop deep connections to Vladimir Putin's regime from the very beginning of Trump's run for the presidency." --s ...
... Rosalind Helderman, et al., of the Washington Post: "Again and again and again, over the course of Donald Trump's 18-month campaign for the presidency, Russian citizens made contact with his closest family members and friends, as well as figures on the periphery of his orbit.... In all, Russians interacted with at least 14 Trump associates during the campaign and presidential transition, public records and interviews show.... The mounting number of communications that have been revealed occurred against the backdrop of 'sustained efforts by the Russian government to interfere with the U.S. presidential election,' as Mueller's prosecutors wrote in a court filing last week. The special counsel's filings have also revealed moments when Russia appeared to be taking cues from Trump."
Greg Krieg of CNN: "Former FBI Director James Comey asked American voters Sunday night to end Donald Trump's presidency with a 'landslide' victory for his opponent in 2020. 'All of us should use every breath we have to make sure the lies stop on January 20, 2021,' Comey told an audience at the 92nd Street Y on New York City's Upper East Side. He all but begged Democrats to set aside their ideological differences and nominate the person best suited to defeating Trump in an election. 'I understand the Democrats have important debates now over who their candidate should be,' Comey told MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace, 'but they have to win. They have to win.'... Hours earlier, Trump attacked Comey in a pair of testy morning tweets, claiming without evidence that the former FBI chief had lied on Friday in his testimony to the House Judiciary and Oversight committees. 'Leakin' James Comey must have set a record for who lied the most to Congress in one day. His Friday testimony was so untruthful!,' Trump wrote, adding in a second post: 'On 245 occasions, former FBI Director James Comey told House investigators he didn't know, didn't recall, or couldn't remember things when asked.'Comey laughed at the idea Trump had even looked over the actual testimony, joking to Wallace before she could read the tweets, 'He's finished reading the 253 pages?'"
Matt Shuham of TPM: "Former FBI Director James Comey testified to the House Oversight and Judiciary committees Friday that he was concerned in late 2016 'that there appeared to be in the media a number of stories that might have been based on communications reporters or nonreporters like Rudy Giuliani were having with people in the [FBI's] New York field office.'... [From the transcript:] 'In particular..., I want to say mid-October..., Mr. Giuliani was making statements that appeared to be based on his knowledge of workings inside the FBI New York.'"
Ham Sandwich Sues Prosecutor. Josh Gerstein of Politico: "An author and conspiracy theorist who says he's being threatened with indictment by special counsel Robert Mueller's team in the Trump-Russia probe filed a federal lawsuit Sunday night accusing Mueller of constitutional violations and leaking grand jury secrets.Jerome Corsi's new suit against Mueller also accuses the special prosecutor of trying to badger Corsi into giving false testimony that he served as a conduit between Wikileaks found Julian Assange and Roger Stone.... Corsi is represented in the suit by his defense attorney, David Gray of New Jersey, and longtime conservative gadfly and Judicial Watch founder, Larry Klayman."
Wesley Morgan of Politico: "... Donald Trump has told Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to submit a $750 billion budget proposal for fiscal 2020, in a reversal from his pledge to trim defense spending, two people familiar with the budget negotiations have told Politico. The $750 billion figure emerged from a meeting Tuesday at the White House among Trump, Mattis and the Republican chairmen of the House and Senate Armed Services committees, both people said.... That would ... represent a stunning about-face for a president who recently called the fiscal 2019 top line of $716 billion for defense spending 'crazy.' In October, Trump said the defense figure for 2020 would be $700 billion, a roughly 5 percent cut in line with decreases planned for other agencies."
Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Nick Ayers, President Trump's top choice to replace John F. Kelly as chief of staff, has declined to take the job, according to three people familiar with the talks. Mr. Ayers, 36, the chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, is expected to leave the administration in the coming weeks as his family returns to Georgia, according to people familiar with his plans." ...
... Such a Principled Young Man. Lachlan Markay of the Daily Beast: "... a source close to the White House told The Daily Beast, Ayers is expected to return to the pro-Trump dark money group he helped found.... Ayers' departure from government would mark a return to a private political consulting career that earned him huge paychecks between stints at GOP political outfits including the Republican National Committee and the Republican Governors Association and his work with Pence during the 2016 presidential campaign." ...
... Mehdi Hasan of the Intercept: John "Kelly was never a 'great guy'; never the 'adult in the room.' He was a bully, a bigot and a liar; as racist and reactionary as his soon-to-be former boss. He was an enabler of Trump's worst crimes and abuses -- from the 'unconstitutional' appointment of his crony Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general, to the abduction of children at the U.S.-Mexico border, to the fake furor over the migrant 'caravan.'" Hasan runs down Kelly's greatest hits.
Bull in a China Shop. Jackson Diehl of the Washington Post: "Mike Pompeo was supposed to rescue the State Department from its disastrous start in the Trump presidency. When he first turned up at Foggy Bottom on May 1, he promised to staff up a badly depleted bureaucracy, listen to its views and reinvigorate U.S. diplomacy after a year of dysfunction. State, he said, would get 'back our swagger.' Now, after a month that has seen the secretary offer smiles and excuses to Saudi Arabia's murderous Mohammed bin Salman, trash Congress for 'caterwauling' and inspire a rare revolt by Senate Republicans, it's time to offer a verdict: Pompeo has managed to worsen the State Department's already abysmal standing with every significant constituency. Legislators, major allies, the media, career staff, even North Korea are alienated. The only satisfied customer may be President Trump -- and even he has grounds for grievance." Read on.
Command Appearance. Simon Goodley of the Guardian: "China has summoned the US ambassador in Beijing to protest about the detention of a senior Huawei executive in Canada after US law enforcement officials issued a warrant for her arrest last week. The official Xinhua news agency said the vice-foreign minister, Le Yucheng, had 'lodged solemn representations and strong protests' with the ambassador, Terry Branstad, against the detention of Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of the Chinese technology firm."
Nic Robertson of CNN: "'I can't breathe.' These were the final words uttered by Jamal Khashoggi after he was set upon by a Saudi hit squad at the country's consulate in Istanbul, according to a source briefed on the investigation into the killing of the Washington Post columnist. The source, who has read a translated transcript of an audio recording of Khashoggi's painful last moments, said it was clear that the killing on October 2 was no botched rendition attempt, but the execution of a premeditated plan to murder the journalist.During the course of the gruesome scene, the source describes Khashoggi struggling against a group of people determined to kill him."
Sharon Lerner of The Intercept: "A new water rule that will strip federal protections from an estimated 60-90 percent of U.S. waterways will dramatically ease restrictions on how polluting industries do business.... But oil and gas transport companies may benefit most from the imminent shift. When the rule takes effect, pipeline construction projects that are currently required to undergo months, or even years, of scrutiny from water experts in order to minimize their environmental impact will be allowed to speed forward...The oil and gas industries have been pushing for years for these same changes.... The change will likely have the most dramatic effect in Alaska and the arid west, which, depending on the wording of the rule, may see up to 90 percent of its waterways lose federal protection." --s
Damian Carrington of the Guardian: "Global investors managing $32tn issued a stark warning to governments at the UN climate summit on Monday, demanding urgent cuts in carbon emissions and the phasing out of all coal burning. Without these, the world faces a financial crash several times worse than the 2008 crisis, they said. The investors include some of the world's biggest pension funds, insurers and asset managers and marks the largest such intervention to date. They say fossil fuel subsidies must end and substantial taxes on carbon be introduced." --s
I do not like the fact that Madison and Milwaukee chose Governor Evers and they're the reason that he won. -- Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin] Vos (R), expressing his opposition to one-person-one-vote for urbanites ...
... Jonathan Chait: "'Donald Trump's gold-embossed version of authoritarianism, inflected with narcissism and a Mafia ethos, is highly distinctive and, at least to some Republican elites, occasionally unsettling.... Trump's wild charges about 'rigged elections' and millions of imaginary illegal voters stand out for their blunt-force ignorance but not their basic thrust.... Trump did not invent the broader distrust of democracy infecting his party. Nor is the [anti-democratic] philosophy espoused by [Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin] Vos merely some alarming idiosyncrasy coming from one legislator in Wisconsin. In fact, paradoxically, the black-swan nature of Trump's presidency is obscuring a decades-long project that, should the grand American experiment in self-government end in ruin, could easily bear more responsibility for its death than any single president.... We now inhabit a political reality in which Republicans looking to exploit the powers of minority control have become even more brazen in their tactics."
Nervous Breakdown at the Wingnut Corral. Elham Khatami of ThinkProgress: "Conservative pastor E.W. Jackson went on a six-minute Islamophobic rant on his radio show Wednesday, telling listeners that Muslims are 'going to turn Congress into an institution of Sharia law.' Jackson was speaking specifically about Rep.-elect Ilhan Omar (D-MN), who, along with Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), are set to become the first Muslim women elected to Congress.... 'Floor of Congress is now going to look like a, it's going to look like an Islamic republic.'... Late Thursday evening, Omar clapped back, tweeting that Jackson is 'gonna have to just deal.' 'Well sir,' she said, 'the floor of Congress is going to look like America....'" --s (Also linked yesterday.)
Jamiles Larty of the Guardian: "This year has been by far the worst on record for gun violence in schools, the advocacy group Sandy Hook Promise said, citing research by the US Naval Postgraduate School (NPS). The NPS Center for Homeland Defense and Security counted 94 school shooting incidents in 2018, a near 60% increase on the previous high, 59, an unwanted record set in 2006. The NPS database goes back to 1970 and documents any instance in which a gun is 'brandished, is fired, or a bullet hits school property for any reason', regardless of the number of victims or the day of the week.... In response to the NPS findings and to mark the sixth anniversary of Sandy Hook, on 14 December, Sandy Hook Promise will release a jarring public service announcement [video]." --s (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Jennifer Valentino-DeVries, et al., of the New York Times: "... as smartphones have become ubiquitous and technology more accurate, an industry of snooping on people’s daily habits has spread and grown more intrusive.... At least 75 companies receive anonymous, precise location data from apps whose users enable location services to get local news and weather or other information.... These companies sell, use or analyze the data to cater to advertisers, retail outlets and even hedge funds seeking insights into consumer behavior.... More than 1,000 popular apps contain location-sharing code from such companies, according to 2018 data from MightySignal, a mobile analysis firm. Google's Android system was found to have about 1,200 apps with such code, compared with about 200 on Apple's iOS." ...
... Valentino-DeVries & Natasha Singer show you how you can stop the snoopers from tracking you.
Presidential Race 2020. Alex Seitz-Wald of NBC News: "A little over a year from now, millions of Californians will be mailed their ballots on the same day that Iowans head to their famous first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses. They could start mailing them back before New Hampshire holds its first-in-the-nation primary in 2020. Meanwhile, Texans will likely have a chance to vote early, too -- even before Nevada and South Carolina, which typically round out the earliest portion of the primary calendar. The explosion of early voting and reshuffling of the primary calendar in 2020 could transform the Democratic presidential nominating contest, potentially diminishing the power of the traditional, tiny and homogeneous early states in favor of much larger and more diverse battlegrounds. That would be a boon to the best-known candidates with warchests sizable enough to compete in big states early. And it would empower black and Hispanic voters in large, multiracial states like California, which was a virtual afterthought at the back of the primary calendar in 2016. Criticism has mounted for years about the primacy of New Hampshire and Iowa, which are both around 90 percent white."
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd.
"A Future with Less News." David Uberti in the New Republic: "A decade of turmoil has left a weakened press vulnerable to political attacks, forced into ethical compromises, and increasingly outstripped by new forms of digital media. Deeply reported and scrupulously fact-checked stories now compete with click-bait, memes, bots, trolls, hyper-partisan writers, and fake news produced to rack up views on social platforms. Local news is vanishing as Facebook, Google, and increasingly Amazon dominate the advertising industry on which publications long relied." Uberti reprises the highlights of a book by Alan Rusbridger, former editor of the Guardian."
... Mrs. McCrabbie: As we all know, many news outlets, and almost all of the major ones, are speeding up our strict real-news diet by subscriber-firewalling their content. We've been able to get around most of those firewalls (the WSJ being a notable exception) by opening the stories in private windows, but it looks as if that work-around is ending: just this morning I tried to open an LA Times story in a private window -- and it turns out that is now verboten. Other outlets are likely to follow suit. Well, you say, profit-motivated journalism was never the best idea anyway; maybe we should try some kind of publicly-financed journalism. Um, okay ...
... NPR Abuses the Interns It Relies on to Do, Well, Everything. Paul Farhi of the Washington Post: "For decades, the public broadcaster has relied on a cadre of temporary journalists to produce its hourly newscasts and popular news programs. Without temporary workers -- who are subject to termination without cause -- NPR would probably be unable to be NPR. Temps do almost every important job in NPR's newsroom: They pitch ideas, assign stories, edit them, report and produce them. Temps not only book the guests heard in interviews, they often write the questions the hosts ask the guests. And there are a lot of them. According to union representatives,between 20 and 22 percent of NPR's 483 union-covered newsroom workforce -- or 1 in 5 people -- are temp workers. The number varies week to week as temps come and go.... Temps were often left in the dark about how long their assignments would last, how much they'd be paid, who they were reporting to, or what their title is. They also said they received little feedback from supervisors after completing an assignment, and were 'routinely' overlooked in NPR's recruiting efforts." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: So if you're wondering why NPR's segments so often suck, it might be because the producer is a 21-year-old "communications" major, the reporter is a 22-year-old Liberty U. grad, & they're both making SAG-AFTRA minimum wage in a high-COL city.
Beyond the Beltway
North Carolina. Follow the $. E.A. Crunden of ThinkProgress: "Controversy surrounding election fraud in North Carolina's 9th district increased this weekend as questions surfaced about campaign debts owed by Mark Harris, the Republican initially declared the winner in the race. According to Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings, the Harris campaign currently owes $34,310 to a political consultant employed by the Red Dome Group. The money is owed for 'Reimbursement Payment for Bladen Absentee' and 'Reimbursement Door to Door,' seemingly to Leslie McCrae Dowless, the consultant. Dowless was named Friday as a person of interest in a probe of possible absentee voter fraud.... In another twist in the saga..., a Democrat-funded PAC may have also been involved in a separate case of illegal absentee voter practices in the same county." --s (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Virginia. Ian Millhiser of ThinkProgress: "Virginia's House of Delegates is one of the most gerrymandered bodies in the country. In 2017, Democrats won the statewide popular vote in Virginia's legislative races by over nine percentage points. Nevertheless, Republicans still held a 51-49 majority in the House of Delegates, thanks to gerrymandering. But Virginia Democrats may actually get to compete in something approximating free and fair elections next year, thanks to a pair of documents handed down by a federal court on Friday.... While it remains to be seen what the final maps will look like, the current maps are so egregiously gerrymandered than any alterations are likely to benefit the Democratic Party. And that, in turn, raises the possibility that the increasingly blue state of Virginia could become a haven for progressive ideas." --s (Also linked yesterday.)
Wisconsin. H. Claire Brown of The Intercept: "[In the GOP last minute power grab,] buried under controversial moves to curtail early voting and strip authority from Gov.-elect Tony Evers is a sweeping codification of welfare restrictions that Republicans across the country have long sought. The new legislation enshrines in state law outgoing Gov. Scott Walker's controversial policy of forcing many food stamp applicants to submit to drug testing. It also limits the incoming administration's ability to walk back the state's strict new work requirements for aid recipients. After Walker's approval, Wisconsin will be the only state that requires drug testing for non-felon food stamp applicants." --s (Also linked yesterday.)
Way Beyond
BBC: "The [House of] Commons vote on Tuesday [on Theresa May's Brexit plan] will not be delayed, the Brexit Secretary has said, amid growing calls for the PM to go back to Brussels to renegotiate. Stephen Barclay also said Theresa May could stay in post if, as expected, MPs reject her Brexit plan. The PM has warned Tory rebels it could lead to a general election, and there was a 'very real risk of no Brexit'.... The withdrawal deal negotiated between the UK and EU has been endorsed by EU leaders but must also be backed by Parliament."
Dom Phillips of the Guardian: "An epidemic of illegal artisanal mining across the Amazon rainforest has been revealed in an unprecedented new map, pinpointing 2,312 sites in 245 areas across six Amazon countries. Called garimpo in Brazil, artisanal mining for gold and other minerals in Amazon forests and rivers has been a problem for decades and is usually illegal. It is also highly polluting: clearings are cut into forests, mining ponds carved into the earth, and mercury used in extraction is dumped in rivers, poisoning fish stocks and water supplies. But its spread has never been shown before.... In 37 cases, the groups say illegal artisanal mining took place in protected indigenous reserves, 18 of which were in Brazil." --s ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I didn't know what "artisanal mining" was. "Artisanal" sounds so traditional and sweet and, you know, artsy like hand-thrown pottery, delicious bread & small-production, organic wines. So I looked it up: it's small-scale mining by independent miners, like hobbyists panning for gold. Apparently "artisanal miners" are not so into leaving their work sites as they found them.
News Ledes
New York Times: "Evelyn Berezin, a computer pioneer who emancipated many a frazzled secretary from the shackles of the typewriter nearly a half-century ago by building and marketing the first computerized word processor, died on Saturday in Manhattan. She was 93."
Weather Channel: "Wide swaths of the Carolinas, Georgia and Tennessee woke up to power outages Sunday morning as Winter Storm Diego continued to dump snow and ice across the Southeast. Later in the day, the snow started falling in parts of Virginia. One person was killed when a tree fell on a car Sunday afternoon in Matthews, North Carolina...."
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