The Commentariat -- Nov. 26, 2018
Late Morning Update:
International Diplomacy, Trump-Style. Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Monday demanded that Mexico deport the caravans of asylum-seeking migrants pressing up against the U.S. border 'anyway you want,' threatening to close off the U.S. border 'permanently if need be.' 'Mexico should move the flag waving Migrants, many of whom are stone cold criminals, back to their countries. Do it by plane, do it by bus, do it anyway you want, but they are NOT coming into the U.S.A.,' Trump tweeted, offering no evidence to support his claim that the migrants are criminals." Mrs. McC: But offering evidence that he doesn't know that "anyway" in this construction is two words: "any" and "way."
Frances Robles of the New York Times: "FEMA is spending more than $1 billion on emergency repairs to homes in Puerto Rico damaged by Hurricane Maria, but much of it is going to contractors charging steep markups and overhead.... Homeowners, who were approved for up to $20,000 each in aid, in nearly every case received less than half of what they were approved for, while layers of contractors and middlemen took the rest, a review of hundreds of invoices and contracts associated with the program shows.... Records show a large gap between the amounts FEMA contractors hired by the Department of Housing were paid and the actual cost of the work that was ultimately performed."
State TV edition of "Annals of Journalism", Ctd. --s
... Mrs. McCrabbie: The video is informative AND hilarious. Trump-Hannity 2020!
*****
Josh Dawsey & Damian Paletta of the Washington Post: "President Trump is demanding top advisers craft a plan to reduce the country's ballooning budget deficits, but the president has flummoxed his own aides by repeatedly seeking new spending while ruling out measures needed to address the country's unbalanced budget. Trump's deficit-reduction directive came last month, after the White House reported a large increase in the deficit for the previous 12 months. The announcement unnerved Republicans and investors, helping fuel a big sell-off in the stock market. Two days after the deficit report, Trump floated a surprise demand to his Cabinet secretaries, asking them to identify steep cuts in their agencies.... When former National Economic Council director Gary Cohn's staffers prepared a presentation for Trump about deficits, Cohn told them no. It wouldn't be necessary, he said, because the president did not care about deficits, according to current and former officials. Trump also repeatedly told Cohn to print more money, according to three White House officials familiar with his comments.... Trump often uses 'debt' -- the total amount the government owes -- to refer to the deficit, the annual gap between what the government takes in and what it spends. Trump also is often not versed in the particulars of the federal budget." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: "Print more money" of course causes immediate & devastating inflation. Notice this is the same President* who suggested in a tweet this weekend (story linked below) that the Fed is causing inflation. I can just hear Steve Mnuchin trying to explain to Trump how federal income & spending work -- kinda like the way I explained to my then-five-year-old (or younger) how a checkbook works. Major difference: my little child understood the explanation. BTW, if you feel like shaking your head & muttering "What an idiot!" this is your opportunity. My favorite part: Trump guesses how much the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is paid. The exchange could help explain why Trump is no longer so enamored of "his generals."
"How About That Oil?" Jonathan Swan & Alayna Treene of Axios: "President Trump twice raised to the Iraqi prime minister the idea of repaying America for its wars with Iraqi oil, a highly controversial ask that runs afoul of international norms and logic, according to sources with direct knowledge. Trump appears to have finally given up on this idea.... Trump's desire to raid Iraq's oil is illegal and unworkable. But it reveals a great deal about his approach to the Middle East. Trump remains hellbent on extracting payments from Middle Eastern countries, in the form of natural resources, for the trillions of dollars America has spent since the early 2000s." ...
... MEANWHILE. Juan Cole: "India's imports of petroleum from Iran in October doubled in value terms to $1.42 billion in October, year over year.... Even in volume terms, imports are up 38%. These statistics raise the question of whether Trump's attempt to squeeze Iran is failing.... Iran's economic relationship with Europe became warmer in 2018, growing by 7.5%.... [S]ince the US has not in fact managed to take most Iranian oil off the market, the Saudi tactic of producing extra has just caused the price to collapse, and boy are the Saudis angry.... So the squeeze play against Iran is failing right at the beginning. In part this failure is owing to the inability of the US to bully India, China and some other countries into cutting off Iran.... Saudi over-production hurts Saudi Arabia as much as it hurts Iran[.]" --s (Also linked yesterday.)
Roey Hadar of ABC News: "Alan Dershowitz, a frequent defender of ... Donald Trump, said special counsel Robert Mueller's report will be 'devastating' for the president.... 'When I say devastating, I mean it's going to paint a picture that's going to be politically very devastating. I still don't think it's going to make a criminal case,' Dershowitz said." (Also linked yesterday.)
George Gets a Jumpsuit. Rosalind Helderman & Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "A federal judge on Sunday ruled George Papadopoulos must report to prison as scheduled on Monday, rejecting a bid from the former Trump campaign adviser to delay the start of his sentence while a constitutional challenge to the special counsel investigation into Russia's election interference remains unresolved." (Also linked yesterday.)
Joe Romm of ThinkProgress: "The 1,000-page climate report released by the White House Friday quantifies the staggering cost of President Trump's climate science denial. The congressionally-mandated National Climate Assessment (NCA) by hundreds of the country's top scientists warns that a do-nothing climate policy will end up costing Americans more than a half-trillion dollars per year in increased sickness and death, coastal property damages, loss of worker productivity, and other damages.... One final point: The report warns ominously, 'It is very likely that some physical and ecological impacts will be irreversible for thousands of years, while others will be permanent.' The choices we make today won't just determine the degree of harm we do to our children and grandchildren, but to the next 50 generations and beyond. The immorality of Trump's climate policies simply cannot be quantified." --s ...
... Rachel Gutman of The Atlantic: "Despite being released on a holiday..., the latest installment of the National Climate Assessment is, as told to my colleague Robinson Meyer, full of 'information that every human needs.'... Here are the report's three most chilling conclusions: 1. Extreme hot weather is getting more common, and cold weather more rare.... 2. Climate change has doubled the devastation from wildfires in the Southwest.... 3. Rising sea levels will necessitate mass migrations, and coastal cities aren't doing enough." --s ...
... Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "The Trump White House, which has defined itself by a willingness to dismiss scientific findings and propose its own facts, on Friday issued a scientific report that directly contradicts its own climate-change policies.... The administration is widely expected to discount or ignore the report's detailed findings of the economic strain caused by climate change, even as it continues to cut environmental regulations, while opponents use it to mount legal attacks against the very administration that issued the report.... 'This is a new frontier of disavowance of science, of disdain for facts,' said William K. Reilly, who headed the Environmental Protection Agency under the first President George Bush."
Maya Averbuch & Elisabeth Malkin of the New York Times: "A peaceful march by Central American migrants waiting at the southwestern United States border veered out of control on Sunday afternoon, as hundreds of people tried to evade a Mexican police blockade and run toward a giant border crossing that leads into San Diego. In response, the United States Customs and Border Protection agency shut down the border crossing in both directions and fired tear gas to push back migrants from the border fence. The border was reopened later Sunday evening." ...
... Emanuella Grinberg, et al., of CNN: "Tijuana police said they arrested 39 people in connection with the attempt to cross the border illegally. Those identified as trying to rush the US border illegally will be processed for deportation in their home countries, Mexico's Interior Ministry said.... Donald Trump threatened to close the border 'permanently if need be.' He also claimed many of the migrants are 'stone cold criminals, but gave zero evidence to support that claim." ...
... Mary Papenfuss of the Huffington Post: "Activists, Democratic politicians and others watching the news Sunday reacted with shock at scenes of mothers fleeing with children from tear gas fired by American officers at the Mexican border. Agents for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency fired several canisters of gas after groups of immigrants tried to squeeze through gaps or scale fences at the border crossing between Tijuana and San Diego. U.S. officials completely shut down the port of entry in both directions for several hours. Children screamed and coughed amid the gas, The Associated Press reported. The wind carried the aerosol chemicals toward people hundreds of feet away who were not attempting to enter the U.S., the wire service noted. One woman collapsed unconscious amid the chaos, and two babies sobbed with tears running down their faces from the gas, Reuters reported. A statement from the Customs and Border Patrol agency said that officers responded with tear gas as migrants threw 'projectiles,' which hit 'several agents.'"
Scott Pelley of "60 Minutes": "It's been a chaotic two years on the border as the administration imposed barriers with little consideration of their legality or consequences. The 2017 ban on travelers from Muslim countries was so abrupt it surprised the officers who had to enforce it. Before the midterm elections, President Trump ordered thousands of troops to Texas to stop what he called 'an assault' by a caravan of Central Americans. That caravan is now at the border of California. But the most tumultuous order of all, was this summer's separation of children from their parents, which Mr. Trump had to quickly withdraw. Our investigation has found that the separation of families began far earlier and detained many more children than the administration has admitted." Includes video of the "60 Minutes" segment.
Spencer Ackerman of The Daily Beast: "In 2009 and 2010, [President] Obama launched 186 drone strikes on Yemen, Somalia, and especially Pakistan. Donald Trump’s drone strikes during his own first two years on the three pivotal undeclared battlefields, however, eclipse Obama's -- but without a corresponding reputation for robot-delivered bloodshed, or even anyone taking much notice. In 2017 and 2018 to date, Trump has launched 238 drone strikes there, according to data provided to The Daily Beast.... Those numbers come with a slew of asterisks.... Additionally, the death toll from those strikes in shadow war zones, especially of civilians, is at best a rough estimate." --s
Nancy Cook & Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "The White House counsel's office is down to a skeletal staff, potentially leaving them unprepared to deal with a flood of subpoenas for documents and witnesses when Democrats take control of the House. The office has been without a permanent leader since ex-White House senior attorney Don McGahn left the administration in mid-October. His replacement, Pat Cipollone, is caught up in an extended background check that's prevented him from starting. And in the coming weeks, deputy counsel Annie Donaldson, who served as McGahn's most trusted aide and as the office's chief of staff, is expected to leave the administration.... Amid the leadership tumult, the counsel's office has shrunk to about 25 lawyers.... That's ... well short of the 40 people that some expect it will need to deal with a reinvigorated Democratic party eager to investigate the president's tax returns and business dealings in foreign countries, reopen probes into Russian election meddling and explore the behavior of a bevy of Cabinet officials." ...
... Maggie Haberman & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "When two Republican members of Congress began formally questioning last week Ivanka Trump's use of private email for government business, it was seen by people close to the White House as a sign of things to come for the president's family. One of the Republicans was Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which has conducted little oversight of the Trump White House until now. The other was Representative Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, who previously led a two-year investigation into events surrounding the attack on American diplomatic outposts in Benghazi, Libya, focusing relentlessly on the role of Hillary Clinton. His most prominent investigation as chairman has scrutinized alleged anti-Trump political bias within the F.B.I. during its inquiries related to the 2016 presidential campaign.... Mr. Gowdy ... is retiring from Congress in January..., and his role in endorsing the inquiry was seen as pro forma. In his place as chairman of the committee will be Representative Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland.... The Democrats are already laying out lines of inquiry that could quickly lead not just to Mr. Trump and his White House aides, but also to his immediate family. And Republicans returning to Capitol Hill next year may be forced by the changed political climate to take a harder line toward the Trump family."...
... Karma. Matt Shuham of TPM: "After Republican leadership on the House Oversight Committee spent two years blocking Democrats'subpoena requests related to the Trump administration and other matters, NBC News' Chuck Todd had what seemed like an unexpected question for incoming Democratic committee chairman Elijah Cummings (D-MD): 'Do you plan on granting your ranking member, whoever it is on the Republican side, subpoena authority?' 'Uh, no,' Cummings replied." --s ...
... Eric Levitz of New York: "[W]hile a majority of American voters ... want the new House majority to zealously investigate the president's malfeasance, some moderate Democrats aren't so sure.... But the idea that aggressive investigations of the Trump administration would be politically risky for Democrats -- as opposed to that scandal-plagued administration -- is absolutely bonkers.... There is simply no basis for thinking that Democrats will pay a political price for prioritizing investigations of Trump over helping the president score bipartisan policy victories." --s (Also linked yesterday.)
Maxwell Tani & Andrew Desiderio of The Daily Beast: "In recent months, many GOP lawmakers have repurposed their Twitter accounts into platforms for media criticism. Perhaps no one has been as dutiful about it as Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), who has dedicated a good deal of time nitpicking various aspects of media coverage in the Trump era.... Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) does, too. [Lindsey Graham too].... Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), the second-ranking Republican in the Senate, got into a Twitter spat last month with CNBC reporter John Harwood.... Republican lawmakers ... have targeted the broader 'mainstream media' more aggressively and personally, adopting Trump's framework that the press is, fundamentally, an enemy of conservatism.... Democrats, perhaps sensing that Republicans were trying to work the refs, have also veered into the media criticism act more directly as of late, often to criticize the coverage decisions made by newsrooms." --s
Election 2018. Martin Longman of the Booman Tribune: "I did not know that there was such a thing as The Office of the Commissioner of Major League Baseball PAC. It's a horrible idea. Politicizing baseball is foolish, and it's especially dumb to donate to individual candidates. It looks like some baseball lobbyists were asked/invited to attend an event for Cindy Hyde-Smith and got shaken down for the maximum allowable $5,000 contribution. They're returning the money* because Hyde-Smith has been exposed as a neo-confederate proto-fascist and that's a bad look for an organization that prides itself on integration and has retired Jackie Robinson's number '42' league wide." (Also linked yesterday.)
* Mrs. McCrabbie: Actually, the MLB is asking Hyde-Smith to return the money.
David Leonardt of the New York Times: "Big companies are much more dominant than they were even 15 years ago.... The new corporate behemoths have been very good for their executives and largest shareholders -- and bad for almost everyone else. Sooner or later, the companies tend to raise prices. They hold down wages, because where else are workers going to go? They use their resources to sway government policy. Many of our economic ills -- like income stagnation and a decline in entrepreneurship -- stem partly from corporate gigantism.... Ultimately, monopolies aren't only an economic problem. They are also a political one. 'We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few,' Louis Brandeis, the Supreme Court justice and anti-monopoly crusader, said a century ago, 'but we can't have both.'"
Hillary Osborne of the Guardian: "One of the biggest medical companies in the world has admitted it is having to pay out to the NHS to cover the cost of monitoring and operating on patients who were given defective hip replacements.... DePuy, owned by Johnson & Johnson, would not say how much it had handed over, but it could run into millions. It recalled a metal-on-metal hip system in 2010 after it emerged that debris from wear and tear was causing damage and resulting in a large number of surgical revisions." --s
Raphael Binder, et al., of the New York Times: "Thousands of people took to the streets of countries around the globe on Sunday, a day set aside by the United Nations to raise awareness of violence against women, to protest gender violence. It was the beginning of 16-day campaign urging individuals and organizations to fight the kind violence that will affect more than a third of women globally during their lives, according to the United Nations. Michelle Bachelet, the former president of Chile and the United Nations' high commissioner for human rights..., urged women everywhere to keep telling their stories of violence and 'to demand and accountability reparation.'" (Also linked yesterday.)
Wesley Lowery, et al., of the Washington Post: "Over the past decade, attackers motivated by right-wing political ideologies have committed dozens of shootings, bombings and other acts of violence, far more than any other category of domestic extremist, according to a Washington Post analysis of data on global terrorism. While the data show a decades-long drop-off in violence by left-wing groups, violence by white supremacists and other far-right attackers has been on the rise since Barack Obama's presidency -- and has surged since President Trump took office. This year has been especially deadly.... While Trump has blasted Democrats as 'an angry left-wing mob' and the 'party of crime,' researchers have identified just one fatal attack in 2018 that may have been motivated by left-wing ideologies.... Trump and his aides have continuously denied that he has contributed to the rise in violence. But experts say right-wing extremists perceive the president as offering them tacit support for their cause."
Michael Miller of the Washington Post: Vandals keep defacing a street free library on Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C., dedicated to Michelle Obama. Earlier this month, vandals crossed off Obama's name & replaced it with Trump's." Mrs. McC: Why would even a Trumpbot "dedicate" a library to Trump -- who is semi-illiterate? (Also linked yesterday.)
Jamie Doward of the Guardian: "The Conservative party [in the UK] is under pressure to reveal details about its relationship with the London arm of a US lobbying firm accused of smear tactics against critics of Facebook. UK Policy Group [UKPG], a consultancy with close links to the Conservative party, is part of Definers Public Affairs, the controversial firm ditched by Facebook earlier this month following a New York Times exposé that has further dented the social media network's image.... UKPG's only known client is the Conservative party, for which it reportedly provides research on its opponents.... Definers set up UKPG just as concerns about Facebook's relationship with the discredited data firm Cambridge Analytica reached fever pitch.... In the US, Definers was close to Cambridge Analytica. Its sister company, America Rising [financed in part by the billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Singer], with which it shares offices and some staff, held a joint Christmas party with the data firm in 2015." --s (Also linked yesterday.)
Way Beyond the Beltway
Alex Johnson of NBC News: "Ukraine convened an emergency meeting of what it called its war cabinet on Sunday after it accused Russia of having fired on three of its vessels in the Black Sea, injuring at least six sailors. Russia's Federal Security Service, or FSB, confirmed that it had seized what it called three Ukrainian 'warships,' saying they had trespassed into Russian territorial waters. It said that 'weapons were used to force the Ukrainian warships to stop' and that three Ukrainian service members were treated for minor injuries, TASS, the official Russian news agency, reported Sunday night.... The Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry said it had mobilized all naval personnel and had sent all of its ships to sea after what it described as two gunboats and a tugboat came under attack off the coast of Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014. Oleksii Makeiev, political director of Ukraine's Foreign Affairs Ministry, called the incident an act of 'warmongering' that 'undermines security of the whole region.'... The United Nations scheduled an emergency meeting of the Security Council for Monday morning, said Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N." ...
... Jon Henley & Matthew Bodner of the Guardian: "Russia's foreign ministry has accused Ukraine of coordinating with the US and the EU in a 'planned provocation' aimed at securing further sanctions against Moscow amid mounting tensions after a dangerous clash between the countries. As the United Nations security council prepared to meet later on Monday, Nato joined western calls for restraint after Russia fired on and seized three Ukrainian naval ships in the Kerch strait separating Crimea from the Russian mainland, wounding several seamen." --s
The Guardian: "A scientist in China claims to have created the world's first genetically edited babies, in a potentially ground-breaking and controversial medical first. If true, it would be a profound leap of science and ethics. This kind of gene editing is banned in most countries as the technology is still experimental and DNA changes can pass to future generations, potentially with unforeseen side-effects.... The researcher, He Jiankui of Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, said ... his goal was ... to try to bestow a trait that few people naturally have: an ability to resist possible future infection with HIV." --s