The Ledes

Tuesday, October 1, 2024

Washington Post: “ John Amos, a running back turned actor who appeared in scores of TV shows — including groundbreaking 1970s programs such as the sitcom 'Good Times' and the epic miniseries 'Roots' — and risked his career to protest demeaning portrayals of Black characters, died Aug. 21 in Los Angeles. He was 84.” Amos's New York Times obituary is here.

New York Times: “Pete Rose, one of baseball’s greatest players and most confounding characters, who earned glory as the game’s hit king and shame as a gambler and dissembler, died on Monday. He was 83.”

The Ledes

Monday, September 30, 2024

New York Times: “Kris Kristofferson, the singer and songwriter whose literary yet plain-spoken compositions infused country music with rarely heard candor and depth, and who later had a successful second career in movies, died at his home on Maui, Hawaii, on Saturday. He was 88.”

~~~ The New York Times highlights “twelve essential Kristofferson songs.”

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Public Service Announcement

Washington Post: "Americans can again order free rapid coronavirus tests by mail, the Biden administration announced Thursday. People can request four free at-home tests per household through covidtests.gov. They will begin shipping Monday. The move comes ahead of an expected winter wave of coronavirus cases. The September revival of the free testing program is in line with the Biden administration’s strategy to respond to the coronavirus as part of a broader public health campaign to protect Americans from respiratory viruses, including influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), that surge every fall and winter. But free tests were not mailed during the summer wave, which wastewater surveillance data shows is now receding."

Washington Post: “Comedy news outlet the Onion — reinvigorated by new ownership over this year — is bringing back its once-popular video parodies of cable news. But this time, there’s someone with real news anchor experience in the chair. When the first episodes appear online Monday, former WAMU and MSNBC host Joshua Johnson will be the face of the resurrected 'Onion News Network.' Playing an ONN anchor character named Dwight Richmond, Johnson says he’s bringing a real anchor’s sense of clarity — and self-importance — to the job. 'If ONN is anything, it’s a news organization that is so unaware of its own ridiculousness that it has the confidence of a serial killer,' says Johnson, 44.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'll be darned if I can figured out how to watch ONN. If anybody knows, do tell. Thanks.

Washington Post: “First came the surprising discovery that Earth’s atmosphere is leaking. But for roughly 60 years, the reason remained a mystery. Since the late 1960s, satellites over the poles detected an extremely fast flow of particles escaping into space — at speeds of 20 kilometers per second. Scientists suspected that gravity and the magnetic field alone could not fully explain the stream. There had to be another source creating this leaky faucet. It turns out the mysterious force is a previously undiscovered global electric field, a recent study found. The field is only about the strength of a watch battery — but it’s enough to thrust lighter ions from our atmosphere into space. It’s also generated unlike other electric fields on Earth. This newly discovered aspect of our planet provides clues about the evolution of our atmosphere, perhaps explaining why Earth is habitable. The electric field is 'an agent of chaos,' said Glyn Collinson, a NASA rocket scientist and lead author of the study. 'It undoes gravity.... Without it, Earth would be very different.'”

The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

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Publisher & Editor: Marie Burns


Tuesday
Aug282018

The Commentariat -- August 29, 2018

Late Morning Update:

Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Senate Republicans say they would like Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) to appoint a successor to the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) who, unlike McCain, would support GOP legislation to repeal ObamaCare. Republican lawmakers say they won't have time to hold another vote to repeal the law in 2018 but vow to try again next year if they manage to keep their Senate and House majorities." Mrs. McC: If Democrats have any sense (and a few do), they'll campaign on this. See Akhilleus's commentary on this below.

Trump took a lot of executive time this morning. Besides the early morning tweets about China's hacking Hillary Clinton's e-mail server (WashPo story linked below), there was this stuff in Wednesday's Twitterstorm:

Michael Schmidt, et al., of the New York Times: "The White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, will be leaving the administration this fall, President Trump tweeted Wednesday morning, leaving the president's side just as the sprawling investigation into Russian election interference could come to a conclusion. In addition to stripping the White House of another top official, Mr. McGahn's departure may fuel concerns about how the president has interacted with witnesses and potential witnesses in the Russia inquiry. Mr. McGahn is a key witness to whether the president tried to obstruct the investigation. The departure of the top lawyer in the White House has been rumored for months. In his tweet, Mr. Trump said that Mr. McGahn would leave after the Senate votes on the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to fill the vacant seat on the Supreme Court later this fall." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I wonder if McGahn had to check his Twitter feed to find out he'd been canned. ...

     ... Update: Sure 'nuf. McGahn found out the same way & at the same time all Trump's Twitterbirds found out. Mrs. McC: Melanie had better keep an eye on her husband's Twitter account. I wouldn't put it past Trump to announce his divorce on Twitter, without mentioning it to Melanie beforehand.

... Jonathan Swan & Mike Allen of Axios: "This potentially puts a successor in charge of fielding a blizzard of requests or subpoenas for documents and testimony if Democrats win control of the House in the midterms. And if the White House winds up fighting special counsel Robert Mueller, an epic constitutional fight could lie ahead. We're told that Trump has not formalized a successor. But McGahn has told a confidant he would like his successor to be Emmet Flood, a Clinton administration alumnus who joined the White House in May to deal with the Russia probe. Flood also served for two years during George W. Bush's second term as his top lawyer handling congressional investigators."

Stephanie Murray of Politico: "Florida does not need a 'failed socialist mayor' as its next governor..., Donald Trump wrote online Wednesday, slamming the surprise winner of the state's Democratic primary. Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum secured an upset victory in the swing state primary on Tuesday and will face off against GOP Rep. Ron DeSantis, who was endorsed by Trump, in November. Gillum, a Bernie Sanders-backed progressive, supports sanctuary cities, 'Medicare-for-all' and raising the minimum wage.... In an appearance Wednesday on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe,' the Tallahassee mayor said he was able to win over voters by talking about issues like health care and employment, rather than bashing Trump."

Stephanie Murray: "... Donald Trump took aim Wednesday at CNN over information it reported last month that relied on anonymous sources, slamming all outlets that rely on such sources.... Trump made specific reference to a CNN story published last month with the headline 'Cohen claims Trump knew in advance of 2016 Trump Tower meeting.'... That report attributed its information to unnamed 'sources with knowledge.' Lanny Davis, an attorney for [Michael] Cohen..., has since told BuzzFeed that he was a source for the CNN article and has told The Washington Post that he is no longer sure about assertions he made to CNN and other outlets. 'The fact is that many anonymous sources don't even exist. They are fiction made up by the Fake News reporters,' the president wrote on Twitter. 'Look at the lie that Fake CNN is now in. They got caught red handed! Enemy of the People!' 'When you see 'anonymous source,' stop reading the story, it is fiction!' he added in a second post." ...

     ... Mrs. McC: Uh, I'm pretty sure Lanny Davis does "exist." For so many reasons, I hope Mueller's team produces strong evidence Trump knew about the Junior-Russia meeting before it took place. ...

Politico: "... Donald Trump on Wednesday launched another pointed attack against Bruce Ohr, the Justice Department official who has drawn intense scrutiny from Capitol Hill Republicans, asking on Twitter 'how the hell' he still has a job at the DOJ.... The message came one day after Ohr appeared behind closed doors with congressional investigators, who grilled him about the timing of his contacts with Fusion GPS, the firm that worked with former British spy Christopher Steele to create and distribute a salacious dossier about Trump's relationship with Russia." Related stories & video below.

Apropos of a comment Akhilleus made today, Irin Carmon of New York runs down the code words, phrases & Supreme Court opinions Brett Kavanaugh will likely invoke in his confirmation hearings to pretend he would not strike down Roe v. Wade.

Madeleine Aggeler of New York: "Earlier this month, Rachel Hundley, a 35-year-old woman who serves on city council in Sonoma, California, and is currently running for reelection, received an anonymous email calling for her to drop out of the race. The sender called her 'immoral and unethical,' and included a link to a now-defunct website called 'Rachel Hundley Exposed,' which featured pictures culled from Hundley's social-media profiles of her at Burning Man in her bra and underwear.... Hundley chose to respond publicly, posting a four-and-a-half minute YouTube video in which she says she will not be 'slut-shamed' into quitting."

*****

Primary Election Results:

Florida. The New York Times is updating results here. Polls closed in most of Florida at 7 pm ET, & results are coming in. Rep. Ron DeSantis, Trump's guy, has been projected to win the Republican nomination for governor. Wowza! On the Democratic side, Andrew Gillum, the Mayor of Tallahassee, & Rep. Gwen Graham are running neck-and-neck; Gillum just passed Graham for the first time tonight (@ 8:45 pm ET Tuesday). He's far more liberal than Graham, who was favored to win. At 9 pm ET, Gillum is about 2 points ahead. 9:15 pm ET: The AP has predicted Andrew Gillum will win the Democratic primary for goveror. Gov. Rick Scott (R) will challenge incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson (D).

Patricia Mazzei & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Florida Democrats nominated Andrew Gillum, the Tallahassee mayor, and Republicans tapped Representative Ron DeSantis for governor Tuesday, setting the stage for a hard-fought general election in the country's largest swing state between one of President Trump's most unabashed allies and an outspoken progressive who would be Florida's first black governor. Mr. Gillum's defeat of former congresswoman Gwen Graham, the front-runner, marked one of the most significant upsets of the primary season and was a major victory for the liberal wing of the Democratic Party." ...

... Steve Bousquet of the Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau: "Despite being vastly outspent by his rivals, the charismatic and unabashedly liberal [Andrew] Gillum built a devoted following of progressives, many of them young and African-American, with his campaign message of social justice and lifting up poor people and appealing to Florida's growing diversity. His victory gives Florida voters a striking contrast in both style and substance with his Republican opponent, U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, who has the enthusiastic support of ... Donald J. Trump. Gillum languished in the polls for most of the campaign but gained momentum in the final two weeks in a 'Bring it Home' tour across the state. He was helped by a show of support from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, one of several national celebrities who endorsed him, along with actress Jane Fonda, TV producer Norman Lear and former NBA star Grant Hill."

... Patricia Mazzei: "On Tuesday, Mr. Gillum, 39, became the first black nominee for Florida governor, achieving a stunning and improbable come-from-behind win over four wealthy Democratic challengers whose personal fortunes proved no match for Mr. Gillum's compelling life story and progressive message. Some Democrats worry Mr. Gillum heads into the general election untested. He polled so low for so long in the lead-up to the primary that none of his rivals seriously attacked him, despite apparent vulnerabilities."

Alex Daugherty of the Miami Herald: "Donna Shalala fended off a well-funded challenge from her left to emerge victorious in the Democratic primary for retiring Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen's seat, setting the stage for a Democrat to represent Little Havana in Washington. The 77-year-old Shalala bested state Rep. David Richardson, her closest competition for the Democratic nomination, who argued that Shalala wasn't liberal enough for a Democratic electorate angry with Donald Trump's presidency. Shalala's long career included stints as the president of the University of Miami and the Secretary of Health and Human Services under President Bill Clinton in the 1990s."

Arizona. The New York Times has primary results here. Kyrsten Sinema easily won the Democratic nomination for Senate. NBC News has predicted Martha McSally won the Republican Senate primary over two nuttier candidates, Kelli Ward & Joe Arpaio. ...

... Yvonne Sanchez of the Arizona Republic: "U.S. Rep. Martha McSally, a two-term congresswoman from Tucson, defeated her Republican rivals, former state Sen. Kelli Ward of Lake Havasu City and former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Fountain Hills, according to unofficial results from the Secretary of State. Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, who has served three terms and is from Phoenix, also defeated her rival, Deedra Abboud, a progressive activist and attorney from Scottsdale. The Associated Press called the races for McSally and Sinema.... Donald Trump ... congratulated McSally in a late-night tweet while bashing U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Arizona, who announced his retirement last fall. 'Martha McSally, running in the Arizona Primary for U.S. Senate, was endorsed by rejected Senator Jeff Flake....and turned it down -- a first! Now Martha, a great U.S. Military fighter jet pilot and highly respected member of Congress,WINS BIG. Congratulations, and on to November!'" ...

... Michelle Cottle of the New York Times: "Well, at least Sheriff Joe isn't going to Congress.... His 24-year reign of terror [as sheriff of Maricopa County] was medieval in its brutality. In addition to conducting racial profiling on a mass scale and terrorizing immigrant neighborhoods with gratuitous raids and traffic stops and detentions, he oversaw a jail where mistreatment of inmates was the stuff of legend. Abuses ranged from the humiliating to the lethal. He brought back chain gangs. He forced prisoners to wear pink underwear. He set up an outdoor 'tent city,' which he once referred to as a 'concentration camp,' to hold the overflow of prisoners. Inmates were beaten, fed rancid food, denied medical care (this included pregnant women) and, in at least one case, left battered on the floor to die. Indeed, many prisoners died in Mr. Arpaio's jail -- at an alarming clip. The number of inmates who hanged themselves in his facilities was far higher than in jails elsewhere in the country.... Nearly half of all inmate deaths on his watch were never explained." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Still, Arpaio got almost 89,000 votes, & counting. That means Arizona is the home of nearly 90,000 proud sadists.

Oklahoma. The NYT results are posted here. The big race is a runoff for the Republican nomination for governor. "There will be primary runoff elections in four of Oklahoma's five congressional districts.... There will also be a runoff in the Republican primary for lieutenant governor and attorney general." Kevin Stitt has won the GOP nomination for governor. ...<

... Tulsa World: "Jenks businessman Kevin Stitt raced away from former Oklahoma City mayor Mick Cornett on Tuesday to take the Republican nomination for governor. Stitt was ahead by about 10 percentage points in early, incomplete results in the primary runoff race where he had spent $6.5 million on his campaign through Aug. 13. Stitt will face Democrat Drew Edmondson on the Nov. 6 general election ballot for governor."

*****

John Wagner of the Washington Post: "President Trump asserted early Wednesday, without citing evidence, that Hillary Clinton's emails were hacked by China, and he said the Justice Department and FBI risked losing their credibility if they did not look into the matter. Writing on Twitter, Trump alleged that much of the former secretary of state's email that was hacked contained classified information.... 'Hillary Clinton's Emails, many of which are Classified Information, got hacked by China. Next move better be by the FBI & DOJ or, after all of their other missteps ... their credibility will be forever gone!' Trump wrote in a tweet posted shortly after midnight. Trump provided no details about the alleged hacking, but his tweets came shortly after the online publication of a story by the Daily Caller asserting that a Chinese-owned company operating in the Washington area hacked Clinton's private server while she was secretary of state and obtained nearly all her emails.... In an earlier tweet Tuesday night, Trump wrote: 'Report just out: "China hacked Hillary Clinton's private Email Server." Are they sure it wasn't Russia (just kidding!)? What are the odds that the FBI and DOJ are right on top of this? Actually, a very big story. Much classified information!'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Ironically (or by design???) Russians actually hacked my computer when I first tried to link this story. The hack, which came from a site with an "ru" extension, shut down my browser & demanded I call a particular phone number if I wanted to get it going again. The audio message claimed my computer was full of "pornographic material." I had to shut down manually & restart. You might want to think twice about opening the link to Wagner's story. Just saying.

Carol Leonnig, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump, who levied extraordinary public attacks on Attorney General Jeff Sessions in recent weeks, has privately revived the idea of firing him in conversations with his aides and personal lawyers this month, according to three people familiar with the discussions. His attorneys concluded that they have persuaded him -- for now -- not to make such a move while the special-counsel investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign is ongoing, the people said. But there is growing evidence that Senate Republicans, who have long cautioned Trump against firing Sessions, are now resigned to the prospect that he may do so after the November midterm elections &-- a sign that one of the last remaining walls of opposition to such a move is crumbling." ...

... Kyle Cheney & Rachel Bade of Politico: "When ... Donald Trump attacked Attorney General Jeff Sessions last year, Alabama Republicans jumped to his defense, beating back the presidential incursion and sending Trump a clear signal: back off our guy. Now, as Trump reprises his public assault on the man he blames for his mounting legal woes, Sessions is getting the silent treatment from his hometown allies.... As Trump escalated his attacks on Sessions in recent days -- and signaled his desire for a new attorney general -- Alabama's leading Republican lawmakers have gone dark." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Lorraine Woellert of Politico: "Jerry Falwell Jr., a top conservative religious leader, said Monday he urged ... Donald Trump to fire Jeff Sessions over his handling of investigations into Russian election meddling, saying the attorney general has lost evangelicals' support. 'He really is not on the president's team, never was,' Falwell, the president of Liberty University, said of Sessions. 'He's wanted to be attorney general for many, many years. I have a feeling he took a gamble and supported the president because he knew he would reward loyalty.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Rudy Admits to Using Cheap Trick. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "In a new profile, the New York Times gets at a question we've all been asking for months: What on earth is Rudy Giuliani doing?... Here's the most telling part of the profile...: 'Mr. Giuliani ... quickly noted with evident satisfaction that '[Robert] Mueller is now slightly more distrusted than trusted, and Trump is a little ahead of the game. So I think we've done really well,' said the president's lawyer. 'And my client's happy.'... He's admitting that job No. 1 is to undermine the man in charge of [the investigation]. It's the end that justifies all the unholy means. It's the thing that makes him a good lawyer for his client." The New York Times story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A federal judge on Tuesday delayed openings in Paul Manafort's trial in the District on charges of conspiracy and money laundering by a week, to Sept. 24, after his lawyers said they need more time to prepare after just finishing Manafort's trial in Virginia. Attorneys for President Trump's former campaign chairman also said that they will ask Wednesday to move the trial to an as-yet-unnamed venue because of pretrial publicity. (This is an update of a story linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Josh Gerstein of Politico: "The judge overseeing former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort's upcoming trial plans to exclude the press and public from jury selection. At a hearing Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson said she plans to conduct individual questioning of potential jurors in the jury room with lawyers from special counsel Robert Mueller's office, the defense team and the defendant present." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Weird News: "Jonathan Dienst of NBC New York City: "Paul Manafort's one-time banker had his Manhattan penthouse burglarized overnight, a mysterious break-in that saw a briefcase, iPad and sneakers stolen from the residence, law enforcement sources familiar with the case tell News 4. David Fallarino, dubbed Manafort's 'front office banker' at Citizens Bank by the Huffington Post, told authorities he left the terrace door of his West 58th Street home open before he went to sleep Monday, the sources say. The building is nine floors, city records show.... Fallarino was one of three so-called key figures not called by Robert Mueller's office to testify at trial of the ex-Trump campaign chief...." ...

... ** Casey Michel of ThinkProgress: "Last week, the Russian media outlet Project revealed [in a contested report*] that former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, now a convicted felon, had attempted to kick the American military out of the U.S.'s final Central Asian military base, located in Kyrgyzstan.... [T]he report offers a chance to re-examine a mystery that has long clouded U.S. relations with Kyrgyzstan -- specifically, ties between former American officials and the most notoriously crooked bank in Central Asia, AsiaUniversalBank (AUB).... The key to overcoming allegations of financial impropriety? Installing former American officials -- specifically onetime GOP presidential candidate Bob Dole, as well as former senator J. Bennett Johnston -- on its board.... For years, it's been a mystery how and why Dole ended up joining AUB's board. Not anymore." Read on. --*safari: I read any Russian media with giant heaps of salt, but the report linked above claims to be the first to report on Manafort working for pro-Kremlin interests in Kyrgyzstan. The details are scant.

Brian Schwartz of CNBC: "Special counsel Robert Mueller's team continued to ask witnesses questions about Michael Cohen's involvement in the Trump campaign weeks after federal investigators raided the office and hotel room of ... Donald Trump's former personal lawyer, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. The special counsel's investigators also asked these witnesses about whether Cohen conducted personal business while working as an employee of the Trump Organization and for insight on why he didn't get a job in the Trump White House.... Legal experts say Mueller's continued interest in Cohen suggests that he could still be a pivotal source of information for the larger probe into whether Russian operatives colluded with Trump campaign officials to interfere in the 2016 presidential election." ...

... Jim Sciutto & Carl Bernstein of CNN: "In recent days [Lanny Davis], one of Michael Cohen's lawyers has repeatedly changed his account of what Cohen knew about ... Donald Trump's involvement in a controversial meeting during the 2016 campaign.... On July 26, citing sources with knowledge, CNN was first to report that Cohen ... claimed he was willing to tell special counsel Robert Mueller that then-candidate Trump knew in advance about the June 2016 meeting in Trump Tower.... For more than three weeks, Davis did not raise any issues to CNN about its reporting.... When CNN's Wolf Blitzer asked Davis on August 22 whether Cohen had evidence that Trump knew about the meeting beforehand, Davis said: 'At this juncture I can only say that he was present during a discussion with Junior and dad, and beyond that, his testimony to the Senate Intelligence and House Intelligence committees was accurate.'Several hours after that, Davis changed his account, this time focusing on Cohen's testimony before Congress last year.... When pressed by [CNN's Anderson] Cooper on whether Cohen had information on Trump having knowledge about the meeting ahead of time, Davis replied: 'No, there's not.'" ...

Seth Hettena in Rolling Stone: "For the past four years, [Lanny] Davis ... has served as a registered foreign agent for Dmitry Firtash, who has been fighting to avoid extradition to Chicago, where he faces charges of international racketeering and money laundering. In registering with the Justice Department as Firtash's foreign agent, Davis said his firm was being paid ... about a million dollars a year -- by a man described by prosecutors as an 'upper-echelon' associate of Russian organized crime.... Davis' client roster puts him in the same league as Paul Manafort..., who also made a living representing dictators and Ukrainian oligarchs. Perhaps it's not a surprise that Manafort ... also did business with Firtash."

Inspector Devin is on the case! I wonder if he brought his Super Detective Kit With Trench Coat and Magnifying Glass. -- Paul Waldman ...

... Natasha Bertrand of the Atlantic: "Earlier this month..., [Devin Nunes,] the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee was in London, seeking out new information about the former British intelligence officer and Trump-Russia dossier author Christopher Steele.... Nunes ... was investigating, among other things, Steele's own service record and whether British authorities had known about his repeated contact with a U.S. Justice Department official named Bruce Ohr.... The people familiar with his trip told me that officials at MI6, MI5, and GCHQ were wary of entertaining Nunes out of fear that he was 'trying to stir up a controversy.'... Ohr ... has known Steele since 2007, when Steele was still in MI6, according to The New York Times. With the FBI's knowledge and approval, Ohr met with Steele repeatedly from late 2016 to early 2017 to debrief him on any new intelligence he may have obtained about the Trump campaign's ties to Russia." ...

... Kyle Cheney: "Bruce Ohr, the Justice Department official whose longtime relationship with former British spy Christopher Steele has drawn intense scrutiny from Capitol Hill Republicans, is facing questions Tuesday about the timing of his contacts with Fusion GPS, the firm that worked with Steele to create and disseminate his so-called dossier about... Donald Trump's relationship with Russia. Ohr, who appeared for a closed-door interview in a Capitol office building, has become the Trump allies' latest focus in their efforts to raise questions about the investigators who ran the probe into the Trump campaign's contacts with Russia. As a senior Justice Department staffer, Ohr passed along Steele's information to the FBI, even after the bureau terminated its formal relationship with Steele over media leaks." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... ** Paul Waldman in the Washington Post: "Because Trump is petty, vindictive, obsessed with conspiracy theories and usually unable to assemble facts into a logical argument in favor of what he's doing or would like to do, those who defend him most vigorously share all those traits and weaknesses.... [Mrs. McC: I couldn't find a credible report on Tuesday's interrogation of Ohr, so Waldman's best guess will do:] I'm guessing it involved Republicans such as [Mark] Meadows and [Jim] Jordan asking some ridiculous questions positing vast conspiracies, Ohr patiently explaining why those questions were absurd, then Republicans responding by shouting the same questions much louder. Republicans have fixated on Ohr, a widely respected public servant who has spent years investigating the Russian mob, because he was a contact for former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele.... Ohr logged all his contacts with Steele. But ... Republicans have constructed an insane fantasy in which had it not been for the Steele dossier then the FBI would never have even suspected there was anything fishy going on with regard to Trump and Russia...." Read on. Waldman shows exactly the appropriate respect for Trumpy & the Littler Trumpies...

... Rachel Maddow explains how the GOP's attacks on Bruce Ohr, Peter Strozk, etc. are eliminating America's most-experienced investigators of Russian corruption, abetting the Kremlin. --safari

Betsy Woodruff of The Daily Beast: "[P]reviously unreported emails and direct messages between [the alleged Russian spy Maria] Butina and officials at the Center show her relationship with the think tank's president -- former Richard Nixon adviser Dimitri Simes -- was closer than previously understood.... According to emails and Twitter DMs reviewed by The Daily Beast, Simes looked to use his connections with Butina and her associate, Russian Central Bank official Alexandr Torshin, to advance the business interests of one of the Center's most generous donors [Maurice 'Hank' Greenberg, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the one-time CEO of insurance and financial services giant AIG].... An attorney for the donor ... said he did nothing inappropriate. Indeed, there's no evidence that Greenberg requested the outreach or was even aware of it." --safari

** The Right Wing Media Are Far More Influential than Russian Bots. Jeff Toobin of the New Yorker: "... a provocative new book by Yochai Benkler, Robert Faris, and Hal Roberts that will be published next month [has a] simple [message]. The two [ideological] sides are not, in fact, equal when it comes to evaluating 'news' stories, or even in how they view reality. Liberals want facts; conservatives want their biases reinforced. Liberals embrace journalism; conservatives believe propaganda. In the more measured but still emphatic words of the authors, 'the right-wing media ecosystem differs categorically from the rest of the media environment,' and has been much more susceptible to 'disinformation, lies and half-truths.'... [In the 2016 election,] it was the feedback loop of right-wing quasi-journalism that had the most impact -- and that hypothesis has profound implications not only for the study of the recent past but also for predictions about the not-so-distant future."


Felicia Sonmez & Damian Paletta of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Tuesday renewed his pledge to build a border wall paid for by Mexico, prompting a sharp rebuttal from the Mexican government one day after both countries announced plans for a sweeping* new trade agreement. The offhand comments by Trump were made to reporters in the Oval Office as he met with the head of international soccer's governing body, FIFA President Gianni Infantino. The remark underscored the lingering tensions between the two allies over the president's oft-touted campaign pledge. 'Yeah, the wall will be paid for very easily, by Mexico,' Trump said when asked about plans for a wall at the southern border. 'It will ultimately be paid for by Mexico.' After footage of Trump's remarks was widely broadcast on television, Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray immediately fired back, maintaining that Mexico will never agree to fund a border wall." ...

     ... * Mrs. McCrabbie: The new trade deal doesn't sound so "sweeping" to me.

Alan Rappeport & Ana Swanson of the New York Times: "Canada’s foreign minister [Chrystia Freeland] cut short a trip to Europe and rushed to Washington on Tuesday as President Trump's top trade advisers reiterated that the United States is prepared to leave Canada out of a revised North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico. Touting the agreement with Mexico as a major win, Trump administration officials attempted to ratchet up the pressure on Canada, emphasizing the need to get a deal completed by the end of the week."

Aliza Nadi and Ken Dilanian of NBC News: "In a closed-door meeting with evangelical leaders Monday night..., Donald Trump repeated his debunked claim that he had gotten 'rid of' a law forbidding churches and charitable organizations from endorsing political candidates, according to recorded excerpts reviewed by NBC News. In fact, the law remains on the books, after efforts to kill it in Congress last year failed. But Trump cited this alleged accomplishment as one in a series of gains h has made for his conservative Christian supporters, as he warned, 'You're one election away from losing everything that you've got,' and said their opponents were 'violent people' who would overturn these gains 'violently.'" ...

... Michael Shear of the New York Times: "... once reporters and television cameras were ushered out of the room, Mr. Trump turned to ... how evangelical leaders can use their pulpits to help Republicans win in the midterm elections, according to an audiotape of his remarks provided to The New York Times.... Mr. Trump spent most of his private remarks to the group bragging about having gotten 'rid of' the Johnson Amendment, a 1954 provision of tax law that threatened religious organizations, like churches, with the loss of tax-exempt status if they endorse or oppose political candidates.... Eliminating the provision in the law would require Congress to act. Instead, Mr. Trump signed an executive order in May 2017 directing the Internal Revenue Service not to aggressively pursue cases where a church endorses a candidate or makes political donations. Legal experts have said the I.R.S. has very rarely pursued such cases against churches.... Mr. Trump ignored that reality Monday night. He urged religious leaders t use what he described as their newfound freedom of speech to campaign from the pulpit on behalf of Republican candidates." ...

This Nov. 6 election is very much a referendum on not only me, it's a referendum on your religion, it's a referendum on free speech and the First Amendment. -- Donald Trump, to evangelical leaders, Monday

... Kevin Drum: "... telling his audience that the election is a referendum on 'your religion' is refreshingly honest, since everyone knows that Trump himself has no particular religious beliefs other than 'an eye for an eye -- and then some.'... If Republicans lose, Democrats are going to overturn free speech and the First Amendment and they're going to do it 'quickly and violently'? The only reason to say something like that is to prep your supporters to become violent themselves. Be ready to take to the streets if Democrats win! I guess that's what Trump is girding his loins for."

** Fred Kaplan of Slate: "Some say last week's cancellation of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's trip to Pyongyang signaled a breakdown in the U.S.–North Korean disarmament talks, but this misses three much larger points, which go way beyond Korea and speak to the failings of President Trump's foreign policy as a whole. First, the talks were never going anywhere to begin with; there is nothing to break down. Second, the Trump administration’s policy on North Korea is in complete chaos. Third, the reason it's in chaos is that Trump himself has no idea that it is in chaos, or that the talks have been moribund from their beginning, or that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is taking him for a ride and everyone knows it, except Trump." --safari

Bart Janssen of USA Today: "... Donald Trump met twice [-- on Jan. 24 & June 15, 2018,] with government officials who decided to build a new FBI headquarters across Pennsylvania Avenue from Trump International Hotel, according to a watchdog report Monday. But the General Services Administration's inspector general said officials refused to disclose what Trump said in the meetings.... GSA revised its plans Feb. 12 to recommend razing the existing building and erecting a new facility at the site. The agency's previous plan ... had been to create a new campus in the Washington suburbs.... The report said the refusal [to disclose Trump's remarks] was based on a claim of executive privilege. But Robert Borden, GSA’s chief of staff, denied any claim of executive privilege in a written reply Aug. 10. The refusal was based on instructions not to disclose information about confidential meetings between the president and his senior advisors, Borden wrote. [Mrs. McC: Uh, that is executive privilege.] Trump's business dealings have long raised concerns among government watchdogs.... Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia said he requested the inspector-general report as the top Democrat on the House Oversight ... Committee because of concerns that changing plans would cost more. The FBI projected ... that it would cost $516 million more than estimated to build on the existing site...."

Dumb & Dumber Make up Stuff about Google. Adam Satariano of the New York Times: "President Trump attacked Google on Tuesday for what he claimed was an effort to intentionally suppress conservative views supportive of his administration, an accusation that increases pressure on technology companies grappling with their increasingly central role as purveyors of information. Mr. Trump's remarks -- an about-face from last month, when he said Google was 'one of our great companies' -- come ahead of congressional hearings next week in which executives from many of the country's largest internet companies will be questioned.... 'Google search results for "Trump News" shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake New Media,' Mr. Trump said on Twitter at 5:24 a.m. 'In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD.'... Mr. Trump's criticism appeared to be inspired by a segment last night from Fox Business Network host Lou Dobbs." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Isaac Stanley-Becker, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration is 'taking a look' at whether Google and its search engine should be regulated by the government, Larry Kudlow, President Trump's economic adviser, said Tuesday outside the White House. 'We'll let you know,' Kudlow said. 'We're taking a look at it.' The announcement puts the search giant squarely in the White House's crosshairs amid wider allegations against the tech industry that it systematically discriminates against conservatives on social media and other platforms." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Greg Sargent: "Political Twitter is having fun this morning with President Trump's latest conspiracy theory: Google is rigging its results, so when you search 'Trump news,' only 'Fake' news criticism of Trump pops up, while conservative media are getting suppressed! Trump's claim is, of course, absurd: As Daniel Dale explains, this is based on a bogus right wing media claim, and all it really means is that when you google about Trump, you are likely to initially see stories from major news organizations that are legitimately reporting aggressively on Trump, rather than from conservative opinion sites& that are putting out propaganda on his behalf. But while this might seem like typical Trumpian buffoonery, at its core is some deadly serious business. These attacks on the media -- which are now spreading to extensive conspiracy-mongering about social media's role in spreading information -- form one part of an interlocking, two-piece Trumpian strategy (whether by instinct or design is unclear) that serves to underscore the urgency of this fall's elections." Read on. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: See also Jeff Toobin's post, linked above. It applies.

White House Staff Screws up Trumpy Spite Stunt. Shane Harris & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "The White House reaffirmed Tuesday that former CIA director John Brennan has been stripped of his security clearance, after Brennan said earlier he has yet to receive formal notice about the matter. Earlier this month, President Trump announced in a statement read by his press secretary that he had revoked Brennan's clearance, citing Brennan's criticism of the administration and alleging that he had abused his position. Paperwork to formally revoke the clearance has been 'delayed,' a senior White House official said, without offering any explanation."

Nicole Lafond of TPM: "While he eventually agreed to lower the White House flag in honor of Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) passing again on Monday.... President Donald Trump was resistant to the gesture because he thought McCain’s death was getting too much news coverage.... Trump thought the reporting on McCain's passing, just one day after his family announced he would stop seeking medical treatment for his brain cancer, was 'over-the-top and more befitting a president,' in WSJ's words." --safari: You see, playing president* means teevee time 24/7. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump has been attempting to manipulate the news most of his adult life. Now that he's president*, he thinks he should have the power not just to blast news media almost daily, not just to bend the Googles to favor reports opinion pieces he likes, but also to micro-edit every news outlet in the country, up to and including what they can cover & how much. Trump isn't just a whiney baby; he is actively attempting to rescind the first three guarantees of the First Amendment: freedom of religion, of speech & of the press. It's what despots do. ...

... ** Update. Dana Milbank Explains All That: "First-year students of Trumpian jurisprudence are puzzled to learn that some crimes are legal and some legal acts are criminal. This confusion comes from a textual discrepancy. The U.S. Constitution, as written, has seven articles. But Trump's Constitution has 12.... Though lower courts such as the Supreme Court ruled the 'individual mandate' in Obamacare constitutional, Trump struck it down as 'so unconstitutional.' The Constitution gives Congress the power to tax, but Trump claimed he alone can cut taxes on investors. Trump, perhaps using his Article IX authority, also determined that trade deals are 'unconstitutional' if 'there's no end date' in them. The common thread to Trumpian law: Stuff he and his allies do is legal, even if previously outlawed; stuff his opponents do is illegal, even if previously kosher. For example, Trump declared in June that polls showing him doing poorly are a form of 'suppression' and 'should be illegal.'" And so forth.

Paul Krugman: "Soon after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a friend of mine -- an expert on international relations -- made a joke: 'Now that Eastern Europe is free from the alien ideology of Communism, it can return to its true historical path -- fascism.'... As of 2018 it hardly seems like a joke at all.... [In] Poland and Hungary, both still members of the European Union, in which democracy as we normally understand it is already dead. In both countries the ruling parties -- Law and Justice in Poland, Fidesz in Hungary -- have established regimes that maintain the forms of popular elections, but have destroyed the independence of the judiciary, suppressed freedom of the press, institutionalized large-scale corruption and effectively delegitimized dissent. The result seems likely to be one-party rule for the foreseeable future. And it could all too easily happen here.... The Republican Party is ready, even eager, to become an American version of Law and Justice or Fidesz, exploiting its current political power to lock in permanent rule." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)


Bernard Condon of the AP: "The Kushner family real estate company was fined $210,000 by New York City regulators on Monday following an Associated Press investigation earlier this year that showed it routinely filed false documents with the city claiming it had no rent-regulated tenants in its buildings when, in fact, it had hundreds.... The city's buildings department fined the Kushner Cos. for filing 42 false applications for construction work on more than a dozen buildings when presidential adviser Jared Kushner ran the business. The AP report showed that the false paperwork allowed the Kushners to escape extra scrutiny designed to stop landlords from using construction to make living conditions for low-paying, rent-regulated tenants unbearable and get them to leave.... Separately, a watchdog group said Monday that former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen has engaged in the same practice, perhaps in a more brazen way, by telling the city that buildings he owned were empty, though tax records showed they were filled with tenants, many rent-regulated." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I'm shocked to learn that Jared is a lying, cheating scum who purposely made life unpleasant for his low-rent tenants. I wonder where he got that idea.

All the Best People, Ctd. Rosie Gray of the Atlantic: "Recent developments have shed light on previously unknown connections between white nationalist activists and the Trump administration. Now, the Department of Homeland Security has denounced 'all forms of violent extremism' following the resignation of a policy analyst [Ian Smith] who had connections with white nationalists, according to leaked emails obtained by The Atlantic.... [Smith] was a policy analyst working on immigration. He used to work for the Immigration Reform Law Institute, an anti-immigration legal organization associated with the right-wing Federation for American Immigration Reform." ...

Lachlan Markay & Asawin Suebsaeng of The Daily Beast: "Kelly Sadler was forced out of her gig as a communications official after she infamously said that Team Trump didn't have to worry about McCain opposing Trump's CIA nominee Gina Haspel because, as she reportedly put it, 'he's dying anyway.' Since then, few former colleagues have heard from her and none seem to know what she's doing professionally.... But her disappearance has not been because she's now persona non grata in the administration. In fact, Sadler was offered help at securing another Trump administration gig after her White House departure; she just had no interest in taking it. 'They gave her that option but she told them to fuck off,' a former colleague recalled." --safari

Joshua Hoyos of ABC News: "Puerto Rico had a significant increase in deaths following Hurricane Maria in 2017, according to a new study. Researchers determined that an additional 2,975 people died from September 2017 through the end of February 2018 due to the hurricane. The independent study, from George Washington University's Milken School of Public Health, was commissioned by the Puerto Rican government.... Donald Trump visited the island in the days following the storm. 'If you look at a real catastrophe like Katrina, and you look at the tremendous hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people that died ... 16 people versus in the thousands. You can be very proud of all of your people,' he said. Hurricane Katrina claimed over 1,800 lives, according to the National Hurricane Center.... The GWU report also offered a blistering criticism of [Gov. Ricardo] Rossello and his government, saying there was 'inadequate preparedness and personnel training for crisis and emergency risk communication.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Congressional Race. Michael Tackett of the New York Times: "A former C.I.A. officer running for Congress accused a super PAC aligned with Speaker Paul D. Ryan on Tuesday of improperly obtaining her entire federal security clearance application -- a highly sensitive document containing extensive personal information -- and then using it for political purposes. Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic candidate challenging Representative Dave Brat of Virginia, sent a cease-and-desist letter to Corry Bliss, the executive director of the Congressional Leadership Fund, which has raised more than $100 million to help Republicans in the midterm elections. She demanded that the super PAC destroy all copies of the form and agree to not use the information in any fashion.... The super PAC released a statement on Tuesday strongly denying Ms. Spanberger's charge, saying that the document was obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request filed with the United States Postal Service by America Rising, a separate Republican-aligned research firm.... A lawyer for Ms. Spanberger's campaign, said that explanation, which laid the mistake on the Postal Service, did not ring true. 'In this unredacted form, this is not a document that the government can provide under the Privacy Act,' he said. Ms. Spanberger, 39, said in the letter that she had 'clear evidence' that the Congressional Leadership Fund had provided a copy of her security clearance application to 'at least one news outlet.'..."

Zaid Jilani of The Intercept: "Across the country, teachers have been getting heavily involved in Republican primaries to change the party's stance on public education from within, and their successes suggest that Republican incumbents ignore the concerns of educators at their own risk." Includes a few examples. --safari

Judicial Trolling. Ian Millhiser of ThinkProgress: "On Monday, a three-judge federal court held that North Carolina's congressional maps are an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander. Judge James Wynn's opinion for two of the three judges on this panel is a masterpiece of trolling. Wynn cites Justice Clarence Thomas' opinion in NIFLA four times. He constructs much of his opinion through citations to conservative campaign finance decisions such as Citizens United v. FEC. He even quotes two opinions by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Will Wynn's opinion survive an appeal to the Supreme Court? Not if Kavanaugh is confirmed! But Wynn appears determined to expose the Court's Republicans as a bunch of partisan hacks if they do reverse his decision." --safari

Beyond the Beltway

Darryl Fears & Lori Rozsa of the Washington Post: A "monster algal bloom span[s] the southern Gulf Coast [of Florida]. It is killing untold numbers of marine animals from Bradenton to Naples, where rotting fish still lay scattered on a beach behind Gov. Rick Scott's seaside mansion, even after a cleanup. As the outbreak nears the year mark, with no sign of easing, it's no longer a threat to just marine life. Business owners in the hardest-hit counties report they have lost nearly $90 million and have laid off about 300 workers because of the red tide and a separate freshwater algal bloom in the state's largest lake. Together, the two blooms have caused a sharp drop in tourism." Many human victims are blaming Rick Scott, who cut millions of dollars & hundreds of employees from water management districts. Scott is the GOP nominee for Sen. Bill Nelson's seat. Nelson (D) is seeking re-election.

Way Beyond

Damian Carrington of the Guardian: "Drivers in Europe have paid €150bn more on fuel than they would have if their vehicles had performed as well on-the-road as in official laboratory-based tests, according to a new report. Car companies have legally gamed official tests of fuel economy for many years.... The gap between test and actual performance has soared from 9% in 2000 to 42% today." --safari

Comments Off
Monday
Aug272018

The Commentariat -- August 28, 2018

Ella Nilsen & Dylan Scott of Vox: "Tuesday brings some of the most anticipated primary elections of 2018 when Arizona and Florida go to the polls. Voters will also finally decide who the Republican nominee for governor will be in the Oklahoma runoff."

*****

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Joshua Hoyos of ABC News: "Puerto Rico had a significant increase in deaths following Hurricane Maria in 2017, according to a new study. Researchers determined that an additional 2,975 people died from September 2017 through the end of February 2018 due to the hurricane. The independent study, from George Washington University's Milken School of Public Health, was commissioned by the Puerto Rican government.... Donald Trump visited the island in the days following the storm. 'If you look at a real catastrophe like Katrina, and you look at the tremendous hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people that died ... 16 people versus in the thousands. You can be very proud of all of your people,' he said. Hurricane Katrina claimed over 1,800 lives, according to the National Hurricane Center.... The GWU report also offered a blistering criticism of [Gov. Ricardo] Rossello and his government, saying there was 'inadequate preparedness and personnel training for crisis and emergency risk communication.'"

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "BREAKING: A federal judge in D.C. postponed Paul Manafort's trial on conspiracy and money laundering charges related to his lobbying work until Sept. 24. It had been set to begin Sept. 17." ...

... Josh Gerstein of Politico: "The judge overseeing former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort's upcoming trial plans to exclude the press and public from jury selection. At a hearing Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson said she plans to conduct individual questioning of potential jurors in the jury room with lawyers from special counsel Robert Mueller's office, the defense team and the defendant present."

Bernard Condon of the AP: "The Kushner family real estate company was fined $210,000 by New York City regulators on Monday following an Associated Press investigation earlier this year that showed it routinely filed false documents with the city claiming it had no rent-regulated tenants in its buildings when, in fact, it had hundreds.... The city's buildings department fined the Kushner Cos. for filing 42 false applications for construction work on more than a dozen buildings when ... Jared Kushner ran the business. The AP report showed that the false paperwork allowed the Kushners to escape extra scrutiny designed to stop landlords from using construction to make living conditions for low-paying, rent-regulated tenants unbearable and get them to leave.... Separately, a watchdog group said Monday that former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen has engaged in the same practice, perhaps in a more brazen way, by telling the city that buildings he owned were empty, though tax records showed they were filled with tenants, many rent-regulated." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I'm shocked to learn that Jared is a lying, cheating scum who purposely made life unpleasant for his low-rent tenants. I wonder where he got that idea.

Dumb & Dumber Make up Stuff about Google. Adam Satariano of the New York Times: "President Trump attacked Google on Tuesday for what he claimed was an effort to intentionally suppress conservative views supportive of his administration, an accusation that increases pressure on technology companies grappling with their increasingly central role as purveyors of information. Mr. Trump's remarks -- an about-face from last month, when he said Google was 'one of our great companies' -- come ahead of congressional hearings next week in which executives from many of the country's largest internet companies will be questioned.... 'Google search results for "Trump News" shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake New Media,' Mr. Trump said on Twitter at 5:24 a.m. 'In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD.'... Mr. Trump's criticism appeared to be inspired by a segment last night from Fox Business Network host Lou Dobbs." ...

... Isaac Stanley-Becker, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration is 'taking a look' at whether Google and its search engine should be regulated by the government, Larry Kudlow, President Trump's economic adviser, said Tuesday outside the White House. 'We'll let you know,' Kudlow said. 'We're taking a look at it.' The announcement puts the search giant squarely in the White House's crosshairs amid wider allegations against the tech industry that it systematically discriminates against conservatives on social media and other platforms." ...

... Greg Sargent: "Political Twitter is having fun this morning with President Trump's latest conspiracy theory: Google is rigging its results, so when you search 'Trump news,' only 'Fake' news criticism of Trump pops up, while conservative media are getting suppressed! Trump's claim is, of course, absurd: As Daniel Dale explains, this is based on a bogus right wing media claim, and all it really means is that when you google about Trump, you are likely to initially see stories from major news organizations that are legitimately reporting aggressively on Trump, rather than from conservative opinion sites that are putting out propaganda on his behalf. But while this might seem like typical Trumpian buffoonery, at its core is some deadly serious business. These attacks on the media -- which are now spreading to extensive conspiracy-mongering about social media's role in spreading information -- form one part of an interlocking, two-piece Trumpian strategy (whether by instinct or design is unclear) that serves to underscore the urgency of this fall's elections." Read on.

Kyle Cheney: "Bruce Ohr, the Justice Department official whose longtime relationship with former British spy Christopher Steele has drawn intense scrutiny from Capitol Hill Republicans, is facing questions Tuesday about the timing of his contacts with Fusion GPS, the firm that worked with Steele to create and disseminate his so-called dossier about... Donald Trump's relationship with Russia. Ohr, who appeared for a closed-door interview in a Capitol office building, has become the Trump allies' latest focus in their efforts to raise questions about the investigators who ran the probe into the Trump campaign's contacts with Russia. As a senior Justice Department staffer, Ohr passed along Steele's information to the FBI, even after the bureau terminated its formal relationship with Steele over media leaks." ...

... Rudy Admits to Using Cheap Trick. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "In a new profile, the New York Times gets at a question we've all been asking for months: What on earth is Rudy Giuliani doing?... Here's the most telling part of the profile...: 'Mr. Giuliani ... quickly noted with evident satisfaction that '[Robert] Mueller is now slightly more distrusted than trusted, and Trump is a little ahead of the game. So I think we've done really well,' said the president's lawyer. 'And my client's happy.'... He's admitting that job No. 1 is to undermine the man in charge of [the investigation]. It's the end that justifies all the unholy means. It's the thing that makes him a good lawyer for his client." The New York Times story is here.

Paul Krugman: "Soon after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a friend of mine -- an expert on international relations -- made a joke: 'Now that Eastern Europe is free from the alien ideology of Communism, it can return to its true historical path -- fascism.'... As of 2018 it hardly seems like a joke at all.... [In] Poland and Hungary, both still members of the European Union, in which democracy as we normally understand it is already dead. In both countries the ruling parties -- Law and Justice in Poland, Fidesz in Hungary -- have established regimes that maintain the forms of popular elections, but have destroyed the independence of the judiciary, suppressed freedom of the press, institutionalized large-scale corruption and effectively delegitimized dissent. The result seems likely to be one-party rule for the foreseeable future. And it could all too easily happen here.... The Republican Party is ready, even eager, to become an American version of Law and Justice or Fidesz, exploiting its current political power to lock in permanent rule."

AND look at the Trump Effect here:

... Kyle Cheney & Rachel Bade of Politico: "When ... Donald Trump attacked Attorney General Jeff Sessions last year, Alabama Republicans jumped to his defense, beating back the presidential incursion and sending Trump a clear signal: back off our guy. Now, as Trump reprises his public assault on the man he blames for his mounting legal woes, Sessions is getting the silent treatment from his hometown allies.... As Trump escalated his attacks on Sessions in recent days -- and signaled his desire for a new attorney general -- Alabama's leading Republican lawmakers have gone dark." ...

... Lorraine Woellert of Politico: "Jerry Falwell Jr., a top conservative religious leader, said Monday he urged ... Donald Trump to fire Jeff Sessions over his handling of investigations into Russian election meddling, saying the attorney general has lost evangelicals' support. 'He really is not on the president's team, never was,' Falwell, the president of Liberty University, said of Sessions. 'He's wanted to be attorney general for many, many years. I have a feeling he took a gamble and supported the president because he knew he would reward loyalty.'"

 

*****

Ana Swanson, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump on Monday said the United States and Mexico had reached agreement to revise key portions of the North American Free Trade Agreement and would finalize it within days, suggesting he was ready to jettison Canada from the trilateral trade pact if the country did not get on board quickly. Speaking from the Oval Office on Monday, Mr. Trump touted the preliminary agreement with Mexico as a new trade pact that could replace Nafta and threatened to hit Canada with auto tariffs if it did not 'negotiate fairly.' 'They used to call it Nafta,' Mr. Trump said. 'We're going to call it the United States Mexico Trade Agreement,' adding that the term Nafta -- which he has called the 'worst' trade deal in history -- had 'a bad connotation' for the United States. Yet while Mr. Trump may want to change the name, the agreement reached with Mexico is simply a revised Nafta, with updates to provisions surrounding the digital economy, automobiles and labor unions. The core of the trade pact -- which allows American companies to operate in Mexico and Canada without tariffs -- remains intact." (This is a substantial revision of a story linked yesterday afternoon.)" ...

... Katie Rogers & Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "The president seemed so willing to deliver a policy win to the public that the television cameras went live before the telephone equipment had Enrique Peña Nieto, the Mexican president, on the line. 'Enrique?' Mr. Trump asked, growing flustered on live television as his aides tried to figure out the phone. 'Do you want to put that on this phone, please? Hello? Be helpful.'" ...

... Sometimes the Reality Show Does Not Go Well. David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "Parts of the conversation [between Trump & Peña Nieto] were so stilted that it took on the air of a hastily arranged photo op.... The awkward, real-time sequence in the Oval Office offered another example of Trump's willingness to discard protocol and conduct his presidency like a reality show playing out in real time, conscripting those around him in service of the spectacle. From hour-long Cabinet meetings broadcast live on cable television to White House events and campaign rallies in which he impulsively invites guests on stage to speak, Trump has employed his showman's mind-set to cast those around him in bit parts in a never-ending series about himself."

When is a deal not a deal? When Trump tweets this: A big deal looking good with Mexico!

When is a deal not a big deal? when Trump says this: This is one of the largest trade deals ever made. Maybe the largest trade deal ever made. -- Trump, during a phone call to President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico on Monday ...

... Linda Qiu of the New York Times: "False.... It is premature to consider the bilateral agreement a done deal. Canada, the third country that was a party to Nafta in 1993, has not yet agreed to the changes.... Congress would also need to approve the changes before the trade deal could go into effect. Even if [the deal with Mexico is approved], it would by definition be smaller than Nafta, a three-country deal.... Several other trade agreements eclipse the size of a potential bilateral deal between the United States and Mexico."


Adam Edelman of NBC News: "Sen. John McCain, who passed away Saturday from brain cancer, penned a farewell message before he died that appears to take thinly veiled shots at ... Donald Trump for fanning the flames of 'tribal rivalries' and hiding 'behind walls.' The moving message, a personal tribute to America and its people, was read to the public Monday by Rick Davis, a close friend of McCain's and the national campaign manager of the Arizona Republican's 2008 and 2000 presidential campaigns. Speaking of country's best qualities, McCain wrote that 'we weaken our greatness when we confuse our patriotism with tribal rivalries that have sown resentment and hatred and violence in all corners of the globe.'" ...

     ... The full text is here. ...

... John Wagner & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Monday ordered the American flag to be flown at half-staff this week in honor of Sen. John McCain after intense criticism of his response to the Arizona Republican's death. The announcement came after the flag atop the White House was raised to full-staff earlier in the day, less than 48 hours after McCain's family announced that the six-term senator had died Saturday.... 'Despite our differences on policy and politics, I respect Senator John McCain's service to our country and, in his honor, have signed a proclamation to fly the flag of the United States at half-staff until the day of his interment,' Trump said in a statement.... Earlier in the day, Trump ignored almost a dozen shouted questions from reporters asking for his views about McCain, who was a persistent critic of the president.... U.S. code calls for flags to be lowered in the event of the death of a member of Congress 'on the day of death and the following day.' But presidents have the power to issue proclamations extending that period, and have done so routinely." Chuck Schumer & Mitch McConnell "had asked the Department of Defense to 'provide necessary support so that U.S. flags on all government buildings remain at half mast through sunset on the day of Senator McCain's interment.'... The American Legion ... also called on Trump to treat McCain with more reverence." ...

... From the Rogers & Sullivan NYT story linked above: "Mr. Trump spent much of Monday declining several requests by journalists to comment publicly on the death Saturday of Mr. McCain after a yearlong battle with brain cancer, adding to the ire from veterans groups and critics that grew around his conspicuous silence and apparent delay in ordering the White House flag lowered to half-mast.... The president sat with his arms crossed and looked straight ahead as reporters asked him several times to expand on the single tweet he sent over the weekend offering his condolences to Mr. McCain's loved ones. During another event with President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, Mr. Trump leaned forward, hands steepled, and ignored shouted questions about Mr. McCain as the cameras rolled." ...

... As Benjamin Hart of New York pointed out, the White House's lowering the flag Monday morning also violated the U.S. flag code. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... John Cassidy of the New Yorker: "The flag represents the United States and the office of the Presidency, not Trump personally.... Whatever one thinks of McCain's political views, his record -- five and a half years in a Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camp, thirty-one years in the Senate, and two Presidential bids -- surely merited such an honor. As Mark Knoller, of CBS News, noted on Monday morning, Trump failed to order the proclamation. Evidently, there is no limit to his smallness.... Who persuaded Trump to change course? Was there a rebellion in the West Wing?... It was clear that the last thing the White House needs right now is another public-relations disaster. Although McCain's death knocked the saga of Michael Cohen's guilty plea off the front pages, at least temporarily, the past week was a disaster for the White House, and a reminder that Trump's pettiness is only exceeded by his deceitfulness." ...

... Steve M. "... I could easily see Trump telling his staff to 'raise the fucking flag' one day between now and McCain's interment, just because McCain will be receiving laudatory news coverage all week and Trump won't.... It's quite possible he'll go back on his word, because he's a sullen brat, and he doesn't like being compelled to do anything he doesn't want to do." ...

... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: So much fake news! Trump was not dishonoring McCain. Rather, he was having trouble finding the right flag: the one with the red and blue stripes. (See Sunday's post on Trump's True Colors.)

Asawin Suebsaeng of The Daily Beast: "It took two full days for President Donald Trump to issue a lukewarm statement about the death of Sen. John McCain.... The president's handling of the situation further added to Trump's lengthy track record for botched responses to solemn occasions involving recently deceased celebrities, grieving Gold Star family members, natural disaster victims, and even mass murder and traumatized communities." --safari ...

... Two Funerals & a Wedding, Etc. Ashley Parker of the Washington Post: "Shunned at two funerals and one (royal) wedding so far, President Trump may be well on his way to becoming president non grata. The latest snub comes in the form of the upcoming funeral for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), which, before his death, the late senator made clear he did not want the sitting president to attend.... Less than two years into first term, Trump has often come to occupy the role of pariah -- both unwelcome and unwilling to perform the basic rituals and ceremonies of the presidency, from public displays of mourning to cultural ceremonies. In addition to being pointedly not invited to McCain's funeral and memorial service later this week ... Trump was quietly asked to stay away from former first lady Barbara Bush's funeral earlier this year. He also opted to skip the annual Kennedy Center Honors last year amid a political backlash from some of the honorees, and has faced repeated public rebuffs from athletes invited to the White House after winning championships.... During a trip to the United Kingdom in June, his visit with Queen Elizabeth II was undermined by reports in the British press that she was the only member of the royal family willing to meet with him."

... The Onion: "In a timely tribute to a woman they are calling a fearless American hero, the White House released a statement Monday recognizing and honoring the woman who called then-presidential candidate Barack Obama an Arab during a town hall event in 2008. 'It is with great reverence that we celebrate the courage, life, and work of the woman who told John McCain at a 2008 campaign rally that she couldn't trust Barack Obama because he was an Arab,' the statement read in part." (It's satire! But plausible!) ...

... Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) on the Senate floor Monday:

... Russell Berman of the Atlantic on the McCain-Trump feud that Trump started. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Franklin Foer of the Atlantic: McCain had a history of making mistakes, owning up to them & rectifying them. "One of John McCain's mistakes, which he would belatedly rectify, was a relationship with the just-convicted lobbyist Paul Manafort.... At the same time as [McCain] sincerely railed against influence-peddlers ... his inner circle contained the very forces he decried. One of these loyalists was the man who eventually managed his campaign in the 2008 presidential race, Rick Davis. For nearly a decade, Davis was the named partner in Paul Manafort's lobbying firm, Davis, Manafort.... Paul Manafort ... hoped to leverage his relationship with Rick Davis to enrich himself.... Davis Manafort's most prized client in 2006 was the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, one of the richest men in the world.... [The] story [of McCain & Deripaska] is fully told in an outstanding investigative piece, published by The Nation.... Manafort lobbied desperately to become manager of the Republican National Convention [of 2008].... But McCain didn't want any further association with Manafort, so he denied him the job.... All the evidence for rejecting Paul Manafort as a man of dubious character was amply available in 2008 -- and McCain acted upon it." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Juan Cole reminds us of "That Time the Republican Party Made McCain Black to Defeat his Presidential Bid." --safari

Chris Sosa of Alternet: "Fox News has disabled comments on YouTube videos about the death of John McCain following an outpouring of nastiness on the network's own website from its commenters." --safari ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: As ye sow, so shall ye reap. There is a curious miracle story in Matthew (8:28-34), in which Jesus drives some demons into a large herd of pigs, "and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water." It seems Fox "News" has driven the Trump demon into a whole herd of pigs. Now we need a miracle worker to drown the Trumpbot swine. ...

... Greg Jaffe & Jenna Johnson of the Washington Post: "Sen. John McCain had been dead only a few hours before hard-line critics in his own party began to pounce. Some tore apart McCai's unsuccessful first marriage and his military service, reveling in long-debunked conspiracy theories about his time as a prisoner of war. A few suggested that he should 'rot in hell.'... [Polarization] appears to account for much of the animosity toward McCain, particularly among Republicans.... [Some] McCain partisans blamed Trump, who has remade the Republican Party in his pugilistic image. Trump's overwhelming popularity among Republicans has increased the demand for party members -- even elected ones -- to fall into line.... In the final years of his life, McCain railed against this disturbing trend in American politics as forcefully as anyone. On three major occasions, two speeches delivered in the last year of his life and a statement issued posthumously Monday, McCain spoke in favor of modesty, bipartisanship and compromise." ...

... Yes, But Those Are the Saner Critics. Dana Milbank: "... according to a conspiracy theory network popular among some Trump boosters, when McCain supposedly died on Saturday, he did not succumb to cancer but took his own life to avoid being hauled off to Guantanamo Bay and put before a military tribunal for his longtime work helping Islamic State terrorists and others. (And before he died, he concealed his criminal ankle bracelet by wearing a medical boot on his leg.) Unless, of course, the suicide, like the cancer, was just a ruse. In that case, McCain will continue to work secretly for the deep state and for the Clinton Foundation.... Last Thursday..., Trump hosted Lionel Lebron, a prominent conspiracy theorist, and posed with him in the Oval Office. Lebron ... is a leading promoter of the very online network floating the notion McCain is alive or a suicide. Three days after his White House visit, Lebron tweeted an image of Trump crossing a swamp of Democrats, featuring racist images of Barack and Michelle Obama and the words 'fire at will.'... McCain answered these nuts with calm reason. In memory of him, let's continue his fight until they, and their leader in the Oval Office, return to the crevices whence they came."


Gabriel Sherman of Vanity Fair: "More than ever, Trump is acting by feeling and instinct. 'Trump is nuts,' said one former West Wing official. 'This time really feels different.' Deputy Chief of Staff Bill Shine has privately expressed concern, a source said, telling a friend that Trump's emotional state is 'very tender.' Even Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump are unsettled that Trump is so gleefully acting on his most self-destructive impulses.... Senior officials talked about inviting Rudy Giuliani and a group of Trump's New York real-estate friends including Tom Barrack, Richard LeFrak, and Howard Lorber to the White House to stage an 'intervention' last week. 'It was supposed to be a war council,' one source explained. But Trump refused to take the meeting, sources said.... 'He spent the weekend calling people and screaming,' one former White House official said." ...

     ... MEANWHILE, Sherman reports: "... Trump continues to raise the possibility of a pardon for [Paul] Manafort.... Trump has been clashing with White House counsel Don McGahn, who, sources said, is strongly against granting Manafort a pardon.... Trump has told people he's considering bringing in a new lawyer to draft a Manafort pardon, if McGahn won't do it. 'He really at this point does not care,' a former official said. 'He would rather fight the battle. He doesn't want to do anything that would cede executive authority.'" ...

... So Guess What "Brave" Paul Manafort Has Been Doing? Aruna Viswanatha of the Wall Street Journal: "Paul Manafort's defense team held talks with prosecutors to resolve a second set of charges against the former Trump campaign chairman before he was convicted last week, but they didn't reach a deal, and the two sides are now moving closer to a second trial next month, according to people familiar with the matter. The plea discussions occurred as a Virginia jury was spending four days deliberating tax and bank fraud charges against Mr. Manafort, the people said. That jury convicted him on eight counts and deadlocked on 10 others.... Prosecutors have until Wednesday to report whether they plan to retry Mr. Manafort on the deadlocked counts.... The plea talks on the second set of charges stalled over issues raised by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, one of the people said. It isn't clear what those issues were, and the proposed terms of the plea deal couldn't immediately be determined." (Open in private window.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: In an interview on MSNBC, Viswanatha said it was not clear whether or not Manafort offered to cooperate with investigators. Still, the news that Manafort's lawyers attempted to negotiate a plea deal could upset Trump & his plans to pardon Manafort.

The Stormy Glitch. Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "... in President Trump's recent scandal involving Stephanie Clifford, the pornographic film star known as Stormy Daniels, something that was never there to begin with could play an unexpected role. The missing item is the signature that Mr. Trump failed to place on Ms. Clifford's non-disclosure deal two years ago. And if her lawyer has his way, there is a chance that the inch-long blank space could force Mr. Trump to testify about what he knew of the arrangement.... Earlier this year, Ms. Clifford's lawyer, Michael Avenatti, filed a civil lawsuit against Mr. Trump and [Michael] Cohen, claiming that the non-disclosure contract was 'null and void' because Mr. Trump left empty the [signature] line.... The lawsuit was stayed this spring after federal agents raided Mr. Cohen's office and apartment, prompting him to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination to avoid having to testify in the suit.... But now that Mr. Cohen has pleaded guilty, he may no longer be able -- or choose -- to avail himself of the Fifth Amendment's safeguards." If the court lifts the stay, as Avenatti has requested, he could depose Trump & ask unanswered questions about the hush-money deal.


Addy Baird of ThinkProgress: "In a video posted to Twitter last week, President Trump referenced critics of his administration's family separation policy ... comparing the plights of those separated immigrant families with [Mollie] Tibbetts in a racist monologue.... At Tibbetts' funeral Sunday, her father, Rob Tibbetts, alluded to the president's remarks, suggesting Trump was not only wrong, but that hateful commentary was not what his daughter would've wanted.... Rob Tibbetts' comments are the latest in a line of statements from Mollie's family hitting back at the racist, anti-immigrant narrative pushed by the president and his supporters.... Another relative, Sandi Tibbetts Murphy, released a similar statement on Facebook over the weekend. Murphy said the real problem, one that may have led to Tibbetts' death, was male entitlement.... She added, 'Our national discussion needs to be about the violence committed in our society, mostly by men[...].'" --safari


Poor Melanie. Kyla Mandel of ThinkProgress: "Melania Trump on Saturday held an event to celebrate the 102nd anniversary of the National Parks Service (NPS). She thanked the service for its 'commitment to this country.'... Over the course of Trump's presidency so far, the NPS has repeatedly been in the administration's crosshairs.... The backlash was similarly swift after Melania's tweet on Saturday in praise of the NPS. Twitter was quick to point out the irony, with individuals asking whether this was the 'same Parks service that was punished for telling the truth about the inauguration crowd size?'" --safari

Tim Teeman of The Daily Beast: "It was an evening that featured a room full of LGBT prejudice and hatred, and in the photographs Ivanka Trump, alleged one-time supporter of LGBT equality, looked like she was enjoying every second. Jim Garlow, senior pastor of Skyline Wesleyan Church in San Diego, California ... whose passionate hatred of LGBT people appears as powerful as his taste for selfies, managed to get his picture taken with [nearly all the White House Trumpenfrauds], and -- most surprising of all, given that past professed support for LGBT people -- Ivanka Trump.... Perhaps she had forgotten, or simply didn't know, that Garlow has said LGBT marriage is the creation of Satan, and much more besides." --safari ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Hard to know which is worse: (1) Ivanka went knowingly to this event; or (2) The White House is so incompetent, staff didn't warn Ivanka to stay away from Garlow.

Ken Sweet of the AP: "The government's top official overseeing the $1.5 trillion student loan market resigned in protest on Monday, citing what he says is the White House's open hostility toward protecting the nation’s millions of student loan borrowers. Seth Frotman will be stepping down as student loan ombudsman at the end of the week, according to his resignation letter, which was obtained by The Associated Press. He held that position since 2016, but has been with Consumer Financial Protection Bureau since its inception in 2011. Frotman is the latest high-level departure from the CFPB since Mick Mulvaney..., Donald Trump's budget director, took over in late November. But Frotman’s departure is especially noteworthy, since his non-partisan office is one of the few parts of the U.S. government that was tasked with handling student loan issues."

Joshua Shneyer & Andrea Januta of Reuters: "The U.S. Army has drafted a plan to test for toxic lead hazards in 40,000 homes on its bases, military documents show, in a sweeping response to a Reuters report that found children at risk of lead poisoning in military housing." --safari

Congressional Race. Shameless Wretch. Josh Israel of ThinkProgress: "Over his more than 20 years in Congress, Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH) has literally taken millions of dollars from corporate political action committees. And his campaign committees have spent more than $170,000 in possibly illegal payments to his son-in-law's web design company. But in an odd twist, a new campaign ad by Chabot attacks his Democratic opponent [Aftab Pureval] for taking a much smaller sum -- $200,000 -- from 'Washington special interests.'" --safari

"Capitalism is Awesome", Extinction Ed. Emily Gerty of Mother Jones: "An analysis of [Brett] Kavanaugh's 12-year record on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit finds that he has consistently ruled against measures to protect species. In the 18 significant, species-related suits that have come before Kavanaugh, he's decided against protections in 17 — or about 95 percent of the time.... Recently-retired Justice Anthony Kennedy was a centrist whose swing vote sometimes landed environmental cases like Weyerhaeuser in favor of protection. But Kavanaugh's confirmation to the court would give it an even stronger 5-4 pro-business majority, dramatically stacking the odds against species in future decisions.... By comparison, Judge Merrick Garland, whom President Bill Clinton appointed to the same court in 1997, favored wildlife protection in about 54 percent of his species-related cases." --safari...

... Kyla Mandel of ThinkProgress: "Ten Democratic Senators have written to Charles Grassley (R-IA), chairman of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, demanding the release of documents showing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's environmental record.... Kavanaugh is known to take a more narrow interpretation of what environmental protections the federal government can implement.... He does, however, acknowledge that climate change is happening. Two years ago he told a federal courtroom hearing that 'the earth is warming. Humans are contributing.' 'There is a moral imperative. There is a huge policy imperative,' he said at the time." --safari

** Rick Hasen: "In a case with potentially national implications both short term and long, a three judge district court in North Carolina has held that the congressional redistricting plan — put in place after North Carolina's districts last time were found to be a racial gerrymander — are an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander. The remedy is not set yet, but the court may have a remedy in place for the 2018 elections, something I find surprising. You can find the 321 pages of opinions (which consists mostly of a majority opinion by Judge Wynn) at this link. If this opinion stands (and given the current 4-4 split on the Supreme Court, any emergency action could well fail, leaving the lower court opinion in place), the court may well order new districts be drawn in time for the 2018 elections.... If the lower court orders new districts for 2018, and the Supreme Court deadlocks 4-4 on an emergency request to overturn that order, we could have new districts for 2018 only, and that could help Democrats retake control of the U.S. House." ...

... The New York Times story, by Michael Wines & Richard Fausset, is here. "The decision, which may have significant implications for control of Congress..., is likely to be appealed to the United States Supreme Court, which for the moment is evenly split on ideological lines without a ninth justice to tip the balance."

Elizabeth Dias & Laurie Goodstein of the New York Times: "In a remarkable break from the usual decorum among the bishops, American Catholic leaders are in open conflict over the explosive allegations from a former Vatican diplomat that Pope Francis knew about, and ignored, accusations of sexual abuse against a now-disgraced American cleric.... Archbishop [Carlo Maria] Viganò's extraordinary 11-page letter, filled with personal attacks, has brought simmering ideological differences among American Catholics out into the open. Divisions in the church are quickly coming to a head, with many conservatives lining up to defend Archbishop Viganò and progressives rallying around Pope Francis, wrapping ideological competition and political maneuvering into what is quickly threatening to be the church's biggest scandal in decades."

Chico Harlan, et al., of the Washington Post: "A former Vatican ambassador to the United States has alleged in an 11-page letter that Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis -- among other top Catholic Church officials -- had been aware of sexual misconduct allegations against former D.C. archbishop Cardinal Theodore McCarrick years before he resigned this summer.... Speaking to reporters on the papal plane while returning [from Ireland] to Rome, Francis declined to address the claims but said the letter 'speaks for itself.' 'I read the statement this morning and, sincerely, I must say this to you and anyone interested: Read that statement attentively and make your own judgment,' Francis told reporters, according to the Catholic News Service. Asked when he first learned of allegations about McCarrick, Francis declined to comment. 'This is a part of the statement on McCarrick. Study it, and then I'll speak,' the pope said, according to Crux, another Catholic outlet." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

** Damien Carrington & Lily Kuo of the Guardian: "Air pollution causes a 'huge' reduction in intelligence, according to new research, indicating that the damage to society of toxic air is far deeper than the well-known impacts on physical health. The research was conducted in China but is relevant across the world, with 95% of the global population breathing unsafe air. It found that high pollution levels led to significant drops in test scores in language and arithmetic, with the average impact equivalent to having lost a year of the person's education." --safari

Beyond the Beltway

Capitalism is Awesome, Ctd. Fernando Salazar of The Wichita Eagle: "The state [of Kansas] allowed hundreds of residents in two Wichita-area neighborhoods to drink contaminated water for [6] years without telling them.... In 2011, while investigating the possible expansion of a Kwik Shop, the state discovered dry cleaning chemicals had contaminated groundwater ... in Haysville.... The delays stem from a 1995 state law that places more emphasis on protecting the dry cleaning industry than protecting public health.... When consumed [the dry cleaning chemical perchloroethylene] can build up over time, potentially harming a person's nervous system, liver, kidneys and reproductive system." --safari

Way Beyond

Hannah Ellis-Peterson of the Guardian: "Myanmar's military has been accused of genocide against the Rohingya in Rakhine state in a damning UN report that alleged the army was responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity against minorities across the country.... They found that the military were 'killing indiscriminately, gang-raping women, assaulting children and burning entire villages' in Rakhine, home to the Muslim Rohingya, and in Shan and Kachin. The Tatmadaw also carried out murders, imprisonments, enforced disappearances, torture, rapes and used sexual slavery and other forms of sexual violence, persecution and enslavement -- all of which constitute crimes against humanity." --safari

Juan Cole: "Mohamed Bin Salman, the thirty-two-year-old crown prince of Saudi Arabia, is finding his wings clipped, by his father and by the heavy hand of reality, so severely that some are speculating about whether he can survive politically.... It is said that Salman is afraid his historical legacy will be tarnished by his son's rash policy moves, some of which are deeply unpopular in the Arab World." --safari

Tom Dart of the Guardian: "In the autumn and winter of 2013, the so-called 'Frack Master' [Chris Faulkner] was one of 16 witnesses who appeared before the [Welsh affairs] committee [of the British parliament], which was considering the economic and environmental impact of drilling potentially thousands of shale gas wells.... In June 2014, the MPs issued a cautiously supportive report that cited Faulkner five times.... But Faulkner was not in fact much of a 'technical animal' with a 'scientific oil background'. According to the US government, he is a fraudster who ran an investment scam worth between $60m and $80m.... In June this year, Faulkner was arrested by federal agents as he attempted to board a flight from Los Angeles to London. Charged with securities fraud, mail fraud and illegal monetary transactions, he could face decades behind bars. Deemed a flight risk, he is currently detained in a Texas prison." --safari

News Lede

New York Times: "The adoring public came from far and wide to glimpse [Aretha] Franklin, resplendent in a red gown and red pumps and with cherry red lipstick on a placid smile, lying in a gold coffin surrounded by flowers. The dress was a tribute to the Delta Sigma Theta, a sorority of African-American women of which Ms. Franklin was an honorary member. At one point in the morning, the line of visitors waiting to enter the first of two 12-hour viewing periods on Tuesday and Wednesday stretched for five blocks. Ms. Franklin was only the third person to lay [lie!!] in state at the Wright Museum, the other two being the civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks and Detroit's first African-American mayor, Coleman Young Jr...."

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Sunday
Aug262018

The Commentariat -- August 27, 2018

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Breaking News @ 4 pm ET Monday. John Wagner of the Washington Post: "After flying at half-staff for barely a day in tribute to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), U.S. flags at the White House and many other federal properties were raised Monday morning, sparking criticism that President Trump was not properly honoring the senator. He reversed that decision Monday afternoon. 'Despite our differences on policy and politics, I respect Senator John McCain's service to our country and, in his honor, have signed a proclamation to fly the flag of the United States at half-staff until the day of his interment,' Trump said in a statement. This story is developing and will be updated." ...

...As Benjamin Hart of New York pointed out, the White House's lowering the flag Monday morning also violated the U.S. flag code.

When is a deal not a deal? When Trump tweets this: A big deal looking good with Mexico!

... Ana Swanson of the New York Times: "The United States and Mexico have reached agreement to revise key portions of the 24-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement and a preliminary deal could be announced on Monday, a crucial step toward revamping a trade pact that has appeared on the brink of collapse during the past year of negotiations. Reaching an agreement on how to revise some of the most contentious portions of what President Trump has long called the worst trade pact in history would give Mr. Trump a significant win in a trade war he has started with countries around the globe.... Still, a preliminary agreement between the United States and Mexico would fall far short of actually revising Nafta. The preliminary agreement still excludes Canada, which is also a party to Nafta but has been absent from talks held in Washington in recent weeks. The agreement with Mexico centers on rules governing the automobile industry, resolving a big source of friction, but leaves aside other contentious issues that affect all three countries. The revised Nafta would also need congressional approval before it can go into effect, including votes by Republican lawmakers who have criticized some of the president's plans for remaking the deal."

Chico Harlan, et al., of the Washington Post: "A former Vatican ambassador to the United States has alleged in an 11-page letter that Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis -- among other top Catholic Church officials -- had been aware of sexual misconduct allegations against former D.C. archbishop Cardinal Theodore McCarrick years before he resigned this summer.... Speaking to reporters on the papal plane while returning [from Ireland] to Rome, Francis declined to address the claims but said the letter 'speaks for itself.' 'I read the statement this morning and, sincerely, I must say this to you and anyone interested: Read that statement attentively and make your own judgment,' Francis told reporters, according to the Catholic News Service. Asked when he first learned of allegations about McCarrick, Francis declined to comment. 'This is a part of the statement on McCarrick. Study it, and then I'll speak,' the pope said, according to Crux, another Catholic outlet."

Russell Berman of the Atlantic on the McCain-Trump feud that Trump started. ...

... Franklin Foer of the Atlantic: McCain had a history of making mistakes, owning up to them & rectifying them. "One of John McCain’s mistakes, which he would belatedly rectify, was a relationship with the just-convicted lobbyist Paul Manafort.... At the same time as [McCain] sincerely railed against influence-peddlers ... his inner circle contained the very forces he decried. One of these loyalists was the man who eventually managed his campaign in the 2008 presidential race, Rick Davis. For nearly a decade, Davis was the named partner in Paul Manafort's lobbying firm, Davis, Manafort.... Manafort ... hoped to leverage his relationship with Rick Davis to enrich himself.... Davis Manafort's most prized client in 2006 was the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, one of the richest men in the world.... [The] story [of McCain & Deripaska] is fully told in an outstanding investigative piece, published by The Nation.... Manafort lobbied desperately to become manager of the Republican National Convention [of 2008].... But McCain didn't want any further association with Manafort, so he denied him the job.... All the evidence for rejecting Paul Manafort as a man of dubious character was amply available in 2008 -- and McCain acted upon it."

*****

Donald Trump -- Even Worse than You Thought. Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "President Trump nixed issuing a statement that praised the heroism and life of Sen. John McCain, telling senior aides he preferred to issue a tweet before posting one Saturday night that did not include any kind words for the late Arizona Republican.... 'My deepest sympathies and respect go out to the family of Senator John McCain. Our hearts and prayers are with you!' Trump posted Saturday evening shortly after McCain's death was announced. Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Chief of Staff John F. Kelly and other White House aides advocated for an official statement that gave the decorated Vietnam War POW plaudits for his military and Senate service and called him a 'hero,' according to current and former White House aides, who requested anonymity.... The original statement was drafted before McCain died Saturday, and Sanders and others edited a final version this weekend that was ready for the president, the aides said. But Trump told aides he wanted to post a brief tweet instead, and the statement praising McCain's life was not released." ...

... Margaret Hartmann: "... it did not go unnoticed that the president offered no kind words about [John McCain], and memorialized him on Instagram with a photo of himself[.]... All three GOP candidates in the race to replace Arizona's other senator, Jeff Flake, have embraced Trump and distanced themselves from McCain. Representative Martha McSally, the front-runner, had avoided mentioning McCain while campaigning, but offered kind words in recent days. However, her opponent Kelli Ward ... mused in a Facebook post that his announcement about discontinuing treatment was timed to distract from the kickoff of her statewide bus tour. [More on the lovely Dr. Ward linked under Congressional Races below.] Similarly, after tweeting his well wishes to the McCains, Joe Arpaio lashed out at Cindy McCain for blocking him on Twitter.... Living presidents and first ladies usually make a show of unity when a prominent political figure dies, and McCain made it clear he wants that tradition to continue, without Trump. He asked that the two men who defeated him in his quest for the presidency -- George W. Bush and Barack Obama -- deliver eulogies." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: I believe in showing respect to the recently-deceased, even if I didn't much do so when they were alive. Their grieving families have enough to handle without having to read cheap criticism of their loved ones. If I'm still around when Trump dies, I'll make an exception for him. I hope you'll do the same. He is cruel in life, and we all should return the favor on the day he dies. ...

... digby: "There was no way this deranged cretin could rise above personal feelings to lead the nation.... As McCain's friend John Weaver said, 'if we heard something today or tomorrow from Trump, we know it'd mean less than a degree from Trump University.'" ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: Even all-around jerk Dan Scavino, Trump's former golf caddy & current White House social media director, has more class than the boss. BTW, according to a commenter on Scavino's Twitter feed, the flag atop the White House is back at full mast now that Trump is back in residence. Traditionally, flags stay at half-mast until the honored person is buried. ...

     ... Update. Joseph Lyons of Bustle confirms the commenter's account: "Flags in Washington D.C. remain at half-staff in honor of the late Sen. John McCain -- or at least some of them do. In what is being seen as another potential slight to McCain, the White House flags were raised back to full-staff on Monday morning, Aug. 27. That puts the White House at odds with not only recent precedent but also the U.S. Capitol, where flags continue to fly at half-mast."

Trump Plays "Find the Collusion." So Funny. Julie Davis of the New York Times: "... Mr. Trump, a president facing the most serious of threats, has sought to minimize and trivialize what is happening in and around his White House, and in the process, to desensitize his supporters to grave charges.... It's a way of mocking what is in fact a serious allegation, of muddying the waters of what is a clear-cut question that Mr. Mueller is working to answer.... If the issues looming over his presidency are a kind of game, then perhaps voters will consider themselves nothing more than popcorn-munching spectators in a drama, rather than people deeply invested in the outcome." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Yes, if only Bill Clinton had told some dick jokes, we would not have had to go through that impeachment thing. Back in the day, it was late-night comedians who trivialized Clinton's bad behavior; today it's comedians like Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers & Trevor Noah who inform the public on what's happening & the POTUS* & his Party of Craven Opportunists who downplay it.

Trump Has a Problem Bigger than Bob Mueller. Noah Feldman of Bloomberg: "Trump is now facing a two-front war against the Justice Department. The team led by special counsel Robert Mueller is supposed to focus on Russian interference in the 2016 election. But the Southern District can investigate any aspect of Trump's behavior that took place in its jurisdiction, at any time. And unlike Mueller, who could in principle be fired, the Southern District isn't one man; it's a whole office of career lawyers. It can't be fired. Even if Robert Khuzami, the acting U.S. attorney in this case, were removed, no new U.S. attorney could realistically call off the prosecutors.... It remains to be seen how far the Southern District will go. But its opening salvo -- [Michael] Cohen's statement against the president ... made in consultation with the Southern District prosecutors ... -- already went further than any part of the Justice Department has gone since Richard Nixon's administration." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Alan Dershowitz Agrees. Feliciz Sonmez of the Washington Post: "President Trump should be more worried about federal prosecutors in New York than about the Russia probe led by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, retired Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz said Sunday. Dershowitz, an informal Trump adviser, said in an appearance on ABC News's 'This Week' that the expanding probe by prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York could spell the greatest peril for Trump because of the lack of constitutional protections for the president at that level. 'I think he has constitutional defenses to the investigation being conducted by Mueller,' Dershowitz said. 'But there are no constitutional defenses to what the Southern District is investigating. So, I think the Southern District is the greatest threat.'... 'Look, my advice to the president --; I never gave it to him privately because I'm not his lawyer, but on television -- is: Don't fire, don't pardon, don't tweet and don't testify. And if he listened to those four things, he'd be in less trouble than he is today,' Dershowitz said."

Tom Hamburger & Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "An attorney for Michael Cohen ... is backing away from confident assertions he made that Cohen has information to share with investigators that shows Trump knew in 2016 of Russian efforts to undermine Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Lanny Davis, a spokesman and attorney for Cohen, said in an interview this weekend that he is no longer certain about claims he made to reporters on background and on the record in recent weeks about what Cohen knows about Trump's awareness of the Russian efforts. Davis did not rule out that his claims were correct but expressed regret that he did not explain that he could not independently corroborate them, saying that he now believes he 'should have been more clear.'... The information in the Post story, which was attributed to one person familiar with discussions among Cohen's friends, came from Davis, who is now acknowledging his role on the record.... 'Michaels Cohen's attorney clarified the record, saying his client does not know if President Trump knew about the Trump Tower meeting (out of which came nothing!),' Trump tweeted Saturday. 'The answer is that I did NOT know about the meeting. Just another phony story by the Fake News Media!'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: No, the original stories were not "phony" & the media outlets that reported them are not "fake." If a credible source (like an attorney representing the supposed speaker) makes a statement, on or off the record, then it is responsible, not "phony" or "fake," to report that information, as long as the reporters indicate -- as they did -- that the information is a statement of fact by a source, not a statement of fact. Today's Post report demonstrates that Lanny Davis is unreliable, not that the Post (& CNN) were. I have no idea if Trump understands the difference, but you should.

Jeannie Gersen of the New Yorker: Michael Cohen's statement to the court "made clear that he engaged in this conduct in order to influence the Presidential election.... But ... Cohen's confession of a criminal motive does not necessarily establish Trump's. In fact, a lifetime habit of behaving sleazily may very well help the President.... This is presumably why Rudy Giuliani, Trump's current lawyer, has suggested, since May, that there was a 'longstanding agreement' that Cohen 'takes care of situations like this, then gets paid for them sometimes.' What would seem like a puzzling admission is likely part of a legal strategy to make the payments from 2016 seem indistinguishable from those that Trump has made for reasons other than winning an election." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Commentators seem to be forgetting this WSJ story (open in private window) of August 16, 2018: "Michael Cohen initially balked at the idea of buying the silence of a former adult-film star who says she had sex with Donald Trump, but he did an about-face after a video of Mr. Trump talking about groping women became public in October 2016. A day after the recording surfaced of outtakes of Mr. Trump speaking to a host of NBC's 'Access Hollywood,' Mr. Cohen, then Mr. Trump's senior counsel, told a representative for the performer that he was open to a deal, according to a person familiar with the conversation.... Mr. Cohen had resisted paying [Stephanie] Clifford when it was floated in September 2016, the person said. Federal prosecutors in New York view the 'Access Hollywood' tape as a trigger that spurred Mr. Cohen to bury potentially damaging information about his boss...." The conversations re: Clifford are not laid out in the criminal Information that accompanied Cohen's plea deal, but the "catch and kill" arrangement to deal with negative stories "during the course of the campaign," made in August 2015, between David Pecker & Cohen/Trump/Trump campaign is. Assuming the SDNY has some documentation to back up the assertions in the WSJ story & the Information, it's pretty clear that the payments to Clifford & Karen McDougal were related not to protecting Melanie but to protecting Donald from more public scrutiny of his extramarital relationships.

Presidents Behaving Badly -- But Not as Badly as Trump. Jill Lepore of the New Yorker: In 1974, at the request of John Dohr, the special counsel to the House Judiciary Committee, the historian C. Van Woodward & a team of historians quickly pulled together a compendium of presidential malfeasance, from the dawn of the republic to Richard Nixon. Nixon, Woodward concluded, was worse than all the rest. BUT "These days, even Nixon's underhandedness begins to look upstanding. William McFeely, now eighty-seven, and retired from the University of Georgia, covered Andrew Johnson and [Ulysses] Grant. 'I think Nixon was pretty bad, but I think that even he had a respect for the Constitution, and for a constitutional sense of the value of the Presidency,' McFeely says. 'Trump trounces on those.'... Trump has already done some of [Nixon's bad deeds] -- not secretly but publicly, gleefully, and without consequence -- and is under investigation for more."


Yvonne Sanchez of the Arizona Republic: Arizona "Gov. Doug Ducey [R] will wait to name a successor to John McCain until after the late senator has been buried at the U.S. Naval Academy Cemetery in Maryland, an aide to the governor told The Arizona Republic on Saturday.... Ducey is required by law to appoint a Republican to fill McCain's seat, and he understands it is viewed as the most consequential decision he has faced. McCain's successor would serve until the 2020 general election.... Ducey, who is seeking re-election, will be measured by the performance of the person he chooses to fill the state's Senate vacancy...." ...

... David Leonhardt of the New York Times: "Today's Republican Party is the biggest threat to the country that McCain served and loved. He offered an alternative."

Congressional Races

Jonathan Swan of Axios describes this as a "scoop": "Axios has obtained a spreadsheet that's circulated through Republican circles on and off Capitol Hill -- including at least one leadership office -- that meticulously previews the investigations Democrats will likely launch if they flip the House." Swan goes on to list "some of the probes it predicts.... Lawyers close to the White House tell me the Trump administration is nowhere near prepared for the investigatory onslaught that awaits them, and they consider it among the greatest threats to his presidency." ...

... Beware of Republicans Airing Woes. Steve M.: "... left-leaning sites are gleefully quoting ... Swan.... I'd like to savor the schadenfreude, but this isn't really a scoop, as Swan claims. He's not exposing a secret that Republicans tried to conceal. Republicans wanted him to publish this story. This is a GOP campaign ad and fund-raising pitch. It's an extension of a central Republican message for the midterms: If the Democrats take the House, impeachment is inevitable.... Even the bit about Trump being unprepared is part of the message. Trump, to the GOP faithful, is an innocent outsider, unschooled in the sinister ways of Washington. He has no idea what tortures the enemy has in store for him -- unless the voters save him."

The Nastiest Candidate Ever. Morgan Gstalter of the Hill: "Arizona GOP Senate candidate Kelli Ward suggested Saturday that the Friday statement issued by Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) family about ending medical treatment for brain cancer was intended to hurt her campaign. McCain died Saturday hours after she made the suggestion on Facebook." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... OR, as Martin Cizmar of the Raw Story put it, "Arizona GOP Senate candidate Kelli Ward accuses John McCain of dying to push -negative narrative' about her.... 'I wonder if John McCain's trying to steal attention from Ward's bus tour by announcing his life is coming to an end,' [a Ward] staffer wrote. Ward, a Trump-loving extremist who primaried McCain in 2016, had a contentious relationship with McCain, who she frequently slammed. Ward ... agreed that McCain was trying to have a 'negative' effect on her by dying. 'I think they wanted to have a particular narrative that was negative to me,' Ward wrote in response to the conspiracy theory." ...

... Yesterday, James Arkin of Politico reported that on the campaign trail, Ward kept up her criticism of McCain after the family announced he was discontinuing cancer treatment. (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... AND last summer, after McCain announced he had cancer, Ward said, "'the medical reality of [McCain's] diagnosis is grim,' and he should consider stepping down and having her take his place." Ward is in a primary race against Martha McSally -- the "establishment" candidate -- and that nice Joe Arpaio. to replace Sen. Jeff Flake (R), who is retiring. Mrs. McC: My guess is that McSally will win because Ward & Arpaio will split the white nationalist/crazy person/sadist vote. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Mrs. McCrabbie BTW: McCain's death pretty much ensures Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation to the Supreme Court, not that it wasn't already nearly a done deal. McCain was a "not-vote"; his replacement will be a "yea" vote.

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