The Commentariat -- December 11, 2017

Late Morning Update:

Dan Merica of CNN: "A group of women who have publicly accused ... Donald Trump of sexual harassment and assault will detail their accounts of being groped, fondled and forcibly kissed by the businessman-turned-politician at a news conference on Monday. The women, according to the group organizing the event, will call on Congress to investigate accusations of sexual misconduct against the President." ...

     ... The Washington Post is carrying the press conference on its front page @ 11 am ET.

Jeff Zeleny of CNN: "Former President Barack Obama is adding his voice to the Alabama Senate race, imploring voters to go to the polls Tuesday to reject the candidacy of Roy Moore as part of an aggressive effort by Democrats to try and counter ... Donald Trump's full-throated endorsement of the controversial Republican candidate. 'This one's serious,' Obama says in the call. 'You can't sit it out.' Two Democratic officials familiar with the Alabama race tell CNN that Obama recorded the phone message in recent days, at the very time Trump stepped up his own involvement in the campaign with a recorded message. Obama does not mention Moore by name. 'Doug Jones is a fighter for equality, for progress,' Obama says. 'Doug will be our champion for justice.....'" ...

... Eliana Jackson & Alex Isenstadt of Politico write on how Trump & the RNC came to publicly support Roy Moore. One tidbit: the two guys who talked Ronna Romney McDaniel into backing Moore: John Kelly & Bill Stepien. Stepien is such a jackass Chris Christie fired him; (oh, & he had an affair with Bridget Anne Kelly, the woman convicted in the Bridgegate scandal). Kelly, as we found in his refusal to acknowledge or apologize for his untrue attacks on Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.), is a horrible human being.

William Rashbaum, et al., of the New York Times: "An explosion Monday morning caused the authorities to evacuate one of the busiest transit hubs in New York City.... The Police Department said in a tweet that it was responding to reports of an explosion of unknown origin at 42nd Street and 8th Avenue, where two subway stations, Times Square and Port Authority, are connected by a tunnel. The Port Authority bus station was also evacuated.... One person was in custody, the Police Department said. A senior city official ... said that the suspect had been wearing an explosive device strapped to his person and that the police had stripped him naked to remove it. The suspect was alone and the device was reported to have gone off prematurely in the passageway between the two subway stations. The explosion was recorded on surveillance video.... The man who was in custody was in serious condition at Bellevue Hospital." This is a developing story. The WashPo had a very preliminary story up a few hours ago, with no details. ...

... Tom Winter, et al., of NBC News: "The suspect in a terror-related attack in New York City has been identified as Akayed Ullah, a 27-year-old Bangladeshi immigrant who lives in Brooklyn."

Jill Disis of CNN: "Celebrity chef Mario Batali is stepping away from his restaurant business and ABC television show amid allegations of sexual misconduct. Batali said in a statement to CNNMoney that he is 'deeply sorry' for any pain or humiliation he has caused."

*****

NEW. Eighteen Days in Winter. Carole Lee & Julia Ainsley of NBC News: "Special counsel Robert Mueller is trying to piece together what happened inside the White House over a critical 18-day period that began when senior officials were told that National Security Adviser Michael Flynn was susceptible to blackmail by Russia, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. The questions about what happened between Jan. 26 and Flynn's firing on Feb. 13 appear to relate to possible obstruction of justice by ... Donald Trump, say two people familiar with Mueller's investigation into Russia's election meddling and potential collusion with the Trump campaign." ...

... Rebecca Savransky of the Hill: "Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said Sunday the evidence of coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia is 'pretty damning.' 'The Russians offered help. The campaign accepted help. The Russians gave help. And the president made full use of that help,' Schiff said during an interview on CNN's 'State of the Union.' 'And that's pretty damning, whether it is proof beyond a reasonable doubt of conspiracy or not,' he continued. Schiff, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, which is conducting a probe into possible Russian election hacking, said people need to look at the 'pattern of chronology.'" ...

There are powerful forces in Washington trying to sabotage our movement. These are bad people, these are very, very bad and evil people.... But you know what, we're stopping them. You're seeing that right now. -- Donald Trump, at a rally for Roy Moore, Friday ...

... E.J. Dionne: "Our democratic republic is in far more danger than it was even a few weeks ago. Until this point, there was an underlying faith in much of the political world that if Robert S. Mueller III's investigation of Russian collusion in the election turned up unmistakably damning material about Donald Trump, Republicans in Congress would feel obligated by their commitment to the country's well-being to accept Mueller's findings and challenge the president.... But we learned last week that Republicans are deepening their complicity in derailing Mueller's investigation and burying the facts. The more Mueller imperils Trump, the more McCarthyite the GOP becomes. The apotheosis of Republican congressional collusion with Trump's efforts to hang on at all costs came at a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee." ...

... OR, There's This. Daniel Politi of Slate: "The winners of the Nobel Peace Prize warned that a nuclear war that could devastate the planet was closer to being a reality than most realized. Beatrice Fihn, who is the executive director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), accepted the award in the group's name and warned that the total destruction of humanity could be one 'impulsive tantrum away.' Speaking at the awards ceremony in Oslo, Fihn left little doubt about who she was referring to when she noted that 'a moment of panic or carelessness, a misconstrued comment or bruised ego could easily lead us unavoidably to the destruction of entire cities.' That is why, Fihn noted, the only way to assure that it won't happen is to get rid of nuclear weapons entirely."

The Pollution Presidency. Eric Lipton & Danielle Ivory of the New York Times: "An analysis of [EPA] enforcement data by The New York Times shows that the [Trump-Pruitt] administration has adopted a more lenient approach than the previous two administrations -- Democratic and Republican -- toward polluters.... The Times built a database of civil cases filed at the E.P.A. during the Trump, Obama and Bush administrations. During the first nine months under Mr. Pruitt's leadership, the E.P.A. started about 1,900 cases, about one-third fewer than the number under President Barack Obama's first E.P.A. director and about one-quarter fewer than under President George W. Bush's over the same time period. In addition, the agency sought civil penalties of about $50.4 million from polluters for cases initiated under Mr. Trump. Adjusted for inflation, that is about 39 percent of what the Obama administration sought and about 70 percent of what the Bush administration sought over the same time period." ...

... Chas Danner of New York: "Since Donald Trump became president, the Environmental Protection Agency has been doing a lot less to target polluters than the previous two administrations, according to a new analysis of EPA enforcement data and confidential internal documents by the New York Times... [Scott] Pruitt says he is no ally to polluters and that they will not be allowed to run amok as the Trump administration rolls back regulations across the government. The data in the Times analysis seems to indicate otherwise." --safari: More bald-faced lies from Trump's henchmen. Par for the course.

Nick Turse of The Intercept: "What did officials at U.S. Africa Command know about the fate of Sgt. La David Johnson, and when did they know it?... Despite an enormous amount of attention on the killings ... the Pentagon has refused to officially say what happened to Johnson.... Reporting by The Intercept reveals, however, that the day after Johnson was separated from his Special Forces Unit, officials at the headquarters of Africa Command apparently said he was alive.... The U.S. military's statements about the attack have changed over time, and even the nature of the mission remains unclear." --safari

#YouTooDonald. Michael Shear & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "Nikki R. Haley, the American ambassador to the United Nations, said on Sunday that women who have accused President Trump of sexual misconduct 'should be heard,' a surprising break from the administration's longstanding assertion that the allegations are false and that voters rightly dismissed them when they elected Mr. Trump.... Her remarks are the latest indication that the president's behavior toward women -- more than a dozen have accused him of unwanted touching, forcible kissing or groping -- may not escape renewed scrutiny at a time when an array of powerful men have had their careers derailed because of their improper treatment of women, some of which took place decades ago." ...

... "Merry Christmas, Everybody." David of Crooks & Liars: "One of the Trump administration's top diplomats, U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, wished CNN host Jake Tapper a 'Merry Christmas' on Sunday -- even though he is Jewish. ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: This is the biggest downside to saying "Merry Christmas" to people you don't know or don't know well. It forces you to make snap decisions about a stranger's faith, & that thought process itself discriminatory. Like Haley, I've never given an iota of thought to Tapper's religious heritage, & why should we? In the context in which we "know" him, he's a secular figure. Since most working people get a day off on Christmas or thereabouts, "Happy Holidays," or other generic greetings & well-wishes are appropriate in most cases. Very often, "Merry Christmas" is not. If I know someone is a practicing Christian, I do say, "Merry Christmas" or something like it. But not to anyone else.

... Amy Sorkin of the New Yorker: Last week, during a White House briefing, a reporter asked Sarah Sanders, 'Does Donald Trump ... agree with Roy Moore that Muslims should not be allowed to serve in Congress?' 'I haven't asked him about a past statement from Roy Moore,' Sanders said. Her answer just about summarizes the nihilism of Trump's Washington, where, when questioned whether the President would ban a religious group from Capitol Hill, his spokeswoman won't say for sure without checking.... Each day dawns with a possibility that Trump will disgrace the Presidency more than he already has, whether he is insulting Native Americans or mangling relationships with our most trusted allies.... [But Trump has acted with his party's cooperation.] If the [Republican] Party is willing to give its money and its credibility to protect a candidate accused of molesting teen-agers, what might it talk itself into doing to protect the President?" ...

... ** Charles Blow: "If Alabama voters on Tuesday elect Roy Moore to the Senate, the Donald Trump-diseased party once known as the Republicans may as well call themselves Roypublicans.... Trump was the gateway to the Roypublicans.... Republicans have surrendered the moral high ground they thought they held, and have dived face-first into the sewer. The Trump agenda is the Republican agenda: hostility to women and minorities, white supremacy and white nationalism, xenophobia, protectionist trade policies, tax policies that punish the poor and working class and people living in blue states. Trump is a white man on a white stallion fighting to preserve white culture and white power. People who support this point of view and cheer the Trump charade forgave his failings because they believed so deeply in his mission." ...

... Senate Race

** Andrew Kaczynski of CNN: "Alabama Republican Senate nominee Roy Moore appeared on a conspiracy-driven radio show twice in 2011, where he told the hosts in an interview that getting rid of constitutional amendments after the Tenth Amendment would 'eliminate many problems' in the way the US government is structured." At the prodding of the host, Moore criticized the 14th Amendment, which addresses the rights of citizens, including due process & equal protection. "The danger in the 14th Amendment, which was to restrict, it has been a restriction on the states using the first Ten Amendments by and through the 14th Amendment. To restrict the states from doing something that the federal government was restricted from doing and allowing the federal government to do something which the first Ten Amendments prevented them from doing," he said. Read on....

...David Ferguson of RawStory: "In a 2011 radio interview, ousted Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore revealed that he fervently wants to move the U.S. back to the 40s -- the 1840s.... There are 27 Amendments to the Constitution, the last of which passed in 1992. Among the Amendments Moore would happily do away with are the 13th and 14th Amendments, which abolished slavery and established equal representation. The 19th Amendment gave U.S. women the right to vote." --safari...

... Cameron Joseph of TPM: "A national Democratic group is putting out a 'predator alert' on Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore to try and convince Republican women to vote against the accused child molester on Tuesday. American Bridge is launching a last-minute digital ad that begins with the sound of an emergency alert -- and only gets darker from there." --safari...

Alex Isenstadt & Gabriel Debenedetti of Politico: "In the last weekend of Alabama's wild special Senate election, Doug Jones barnstormed the state with A-list Democrats in a bid to turn out black voters he desperately needs to win in the deep-red state. Republican Roy Moore disappeared." It appears he went to Philadelphia to watch the Army-Navy football game, but his campaign would not say.

Rosalind Helderman & Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "Sen. Richard C. Shelby, who serves as Alabama's senior senator, said repeatedly Sunday that the state's fellow Republicans can 'do better' than Roy Moore.... Shelby has previously said he was not supporting Moore, but his words on CNN's 'State of the Union' on Sunday offered a fresh denunciation of his party's nominee.... 'I didn't vote for Roy Moore,' Shelby said. 'I wouldn't vote for Roy Moore. I think the Republican Party can do better.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Sorry, Donald. Looks as if the WashPo refused to take your advice to fire Dave Weigel.

Charles Bethea of the New Yorker interviews Doug Jones -- you know, the guy running for the vacated Alabama Senate seat who is actually qualified for the job.

** Dominic Rushe of the Guardian: "Is Donald Trump about to turn America into Kansas? It's a question some worried people who live in the state are asking as the Republican party pushes through the biggest tax overhaul in a generation -- an overhaul that, they claim, bears an uncanny resemblance to a tax plan that left their midwestern home in disarray.... The plan would provide a 'shot of adrenaline' to the Kansas economy, [Governor Sam] Brownback claimed. Instead, the state's revenues collapsed. Rich people who had been paying high taxes became 'pass-through entities'. The state's coffers emptied and the promised economic miracle failed to materialize." --safari ...

... Dominic Rushe (May 15): "The plan's similarity to the one that has left Kansas in crisis is 'unbelievable', according to Duane Goossen, the former Kansas secretary of administration.... Campaigning for re-election in 2014, Brownback pledged his tax plans would add 100,000 new jobs over four years. By March this year, the state had added just 12,400 private-sector jobs.... The prop of the Brownback plan, as with Trump's, was a huge cut to taxes paid by limited liability companies (LLCs) -- and so-called 'pass-through' businesses -- which meant independent business owners would pay no state tax on the bulk, if not all, of their income.... At the time, Kansas had about 190,000 LLCs. Now it has about 300,000, but so far they have not spurred a new hiring drive in the state." --safari...

... Oliver Gilman in Mother Jones: "For tribal people in northern Alaska, a Republican tax overhaul that was hastily cobbled together in congressional backrooms 3,000 miles away has raised fears that their entire way of life could be erased from this frigid corner of the US. The Senate's tax bill may land a decisive blow in a 30-year environmental battle over the Arctic national wildlife refuge, a vast untrammeled area hailed as America's Serengeti by conservationists, by finally prising open the wilderness to oil and gas drilling. The region's Gwich' in people fret that their primary food source, caribou, may be lost, and with it the future of the tribe itself." --safari: More reason for bigoted assholes to pass the plan. ...

... Killing Them Softly with Their Tax Bill. Heather Long of the Washington Post: "The House tax bill would eliminate the [medical] deduction, while the Senate bill would keep it (and even make it a bit more generous). It's a key difference that must be reconciled before the final legislation goes to President Trump.... In 2015, 8.8 million Americans used the deduction. Over half were older than 65, according to AARP.... Trump promised that the middle class would be better off under his plan, but scrapping this deduction hits some in that group. Nearly 70 percent of the people claiming the deduction made $75,000 or less, according to AARP. 'This isn't a high-income deduction,' says Cristina Martin Firvida, director of financial security and consumer affairs at AARP...."

Josh Marshall of TPM: "Sen. Lindsey Graham has oscillated between being a fierce Trump critic to being increasingly supportive of the President. But he now seems to have moved firmly into the Trump loyalist camp.... [Graham] is asking for a Special Counsel to reinvestigate Clinton's private server, the Uranium One story, which is completely ludicrous, and anti-GOP bias at the FBI, which is not only factually nonsensical but seems intended to lay the groundwork for ideological purges of the primary national law enforcement agency which already has a very Republican-leaning political culture.... Why he would now swing so hard and so totally in a Trumpite direction is, frankly, not clear to me. He's up for reelection again in 2020, which is a ways off.... There's some story here." --safari

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Judd Legum of ThinkProgress: "Lindsey Vonn, the most successful American ski racer in history, suffered a back injury while competing at the World Cup in Switzerland, threatening her participation in the Olympic games next year. Fox News could barely contain its glee. In an article posted without a byline, the network quickly connected Vonn's injury to her criticism of President Trump days earlier. The clear implication is that, as a result of her comments, Vonn deserved to get hurt.... Vonn commented that when she participates in the Olympics, she views it as representing the United States, not the president. She offered mild criticism of Trump without mentioning him by name." --safari

Way Beyond the Beltway

Ta Ta, London; Bienvenue à Paris? David Segal of the New York Times: "France has long been known for its open hostility to corporations and its suspicion of personal wealth. Taxes were high, regulations were baffling.... Now, the country is in the midst of a sweeping attempt at national rebranding. Labor laws are being changed to make hiring and firing easier. New legislation has slashed a 'wealth tax' that was said to drive millionaires out of the country. Courts with English-speaking judges are in the works, and a new international school is under construction to cater to the children of foreign executives.... Paris is vying against Dublin, Frankfurt and Luxembourg.... What is prized most in boardrooms is an array of business-friendly laws, regulations and culture -- the sort of warm welcome that Paris once defiantly refused to offer.... And since [Emmanuel Macron's] election, the government has started a highly aggressive campaign to poach jobs from London."

Peter Beaumont & Patrick Wintour of the Guardian: "Emmanuel Macron, the French president, has warned US recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital was a 'threat to peace' as he hosted the country;s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on his first foreign trip since Donald Trump provoked widespread condemnation with the decision. The joint appearance by the two men, following talks in Paris, came after tear gas was used to disperse protesters outside the US embassy in Beirut and a Palestinian man stabbed an Israeli security guard at Jerusalem's central bus station in the first attack in the city since Trump's announcement.... In uncompromising remarks unlikely to calm the ongoing crisis, Netanyahu replied by saying that the sooner Palestinians recognised the reality that Jerusalem was Israel's capital, the sooner there would be peace." --safari

News Lede

Washington Post: Simeon "Booker, the Washington bureau chief of Jet and Ebony magazines for five decades, died Dec. 10 at an assisted-living community in Solomons, Md. He was 99 and had recently been hospitalized for pneumonia, said his wife, Carol Booker. Few reporters risked more to chronicle the civil rights movement than Mr. Booker. He was the first full-time black reporter for The Washington Post, serving on the newspaper's staff for two years before joining Johnson Publishing Co. to write for Jet, a weekly, and Ebony, a monthly modeled on Life magazine, in 1954."

The Commentariat -- December 10, 2017

** John Hudson of BuzzFeed: "The Trump administration has rejected a sweeping Russian proposal seeking a mutual ban on foreign political interference, three senior US administration officials tell BuzzFeed News. Russia first broached the subject in July, when one of Vladimir Putin's top diplomats arrived in Washington with a sheet of proposals aimed at addressing a top concern of the US government: A resurgence of Russian meddling in the 2018 elections.... Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov ... [proposed] a sweeping noninterference agreement between Moscow and Washington that would prohibit both governments from meddling in the other's domestic politics. After examining the proposal, which has not previously been reported, US officials told Moscow there would be no deal.... When asked if the president weighed in on the proposal, a spokesman for the National Security Council said only that the White House and State Department 'coordinated closely on the United States' response.'" ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: While it's reasonable to be skeptical that Russia would honor an agreement, I'd guess is the real motivation for rejecting an accord is that Trump. et al., of miscreants welcome Russian interference, just as they did in 2016.

Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "Despite all his bluster, [Donald Trump] views himself less as a titan dominating the world stage than a maligned outsider engaged in a struggle to be taken seriously, according to interviews with 60 advisers, associates, friends and members of Congress.... For Mr. Trump, every day is an hour-by-hour battle for self-preservation.... Before taking office, Mr. Trump told top aides to think of each presidential day as an episode in a television show in which he vanquishes rivals. People close to him estimate that Mr. Trump spends at least four hours a day, and sometimes as much as twice that, in front of a television, sometimes with the volume muted, marinating in the no-holds-barred wars of cable news and eager to fire back.... To an extent that would stun outsiders, Mr. Trump, the most talked-about human on the planet, is still delighted when he sees his name in the headlines.... [An advisor said] Mr. Trump expected being president would be ... ruling by fiat, exacting tribute and cutting back room deals.... Advisers said they saw a novice who was gradually learning that the presidency does not work that way." ...

... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Even if Trump were a more normal human being, he wouldn't have time to be president. When he isn't watching the teevee eight hours a day or playing golf nearly every weekend, he's tuned in to Twitter. ...

... Emily Yahr of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Saturday evening issued a call for a reporter with The Washington Post to be fired because of a quickly deleted tweet that presented a misleading impression of Trump's rally crowd in Florida. The Post reporter, David Weigel, had earlier tweeted a photo of the crowd gathered at Pensacola Bay Center for Trump's speech there Friday evening, showing numerous empty seats. He removed the tweet after being told by others that the photo was taken before the venue filled up and apologized in a later Twitter exchange with the president. Trump's public response: '.@daveweigel of the Washington Post just admitted that his picture was a FAKE (fraud?) showing an almost empty arena last night for my speech in Pensacola when, in fact, he knew the arena was packed (as shown also on T.V.). FAKE NEWS, he should be fired.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Lets' bear in mind this is the same Donald Trump who tweets out somewhere around a lie a day and never apologizes. Reporters, like all of us, especially in the Twitter era, are going to make mistakes. Since Trump constantly denigrates President Obama & regularly compares himself favorably to Obama, we probably should ask ourselves in many situations, What Would Obama Do? WWOD? It's pretty damned clear that Obama would not make any public response to an inaccurate tweet, tho since this tweet came from a WashPo reporter, he might reasonably ask an aide to privately correct Weigel. I don't think even Nixon was as petty, cruel & vindictive as the Sick Joke who lives in the White House now.

Josh Dawsey & Ashley Cusick of the Washington Post: "President Trump spent about 30 minutes inside Mississippi's glimmering civil rights museum Saturday, strolling through exhibits honoring jailed and assassinated leaders before delivering a brief speech at a private ceremony. The president's visit to commemorate the opening -- the capstone of Mississippi's bicentennial celebration -- brought protests and boycotts, and evoked raw emotions in the center of the Deep South, the core of the generations-long civil rights movement. Trump delivered his speech to a largely white audience, and his motorcade left before the main opening ceremony -- for which hordes of people had gathered in freezing temperatures and a rare snowfall. Tickets had been sold out for months."

AP: "Former President Barack Obama says Americans must be vigilant in their defense of democracy or risk following the path of Nazi Germany in the 1930s.... During [a] speech Tuesday, Obama pointed to Hitler's rise to power in Germany as he implored the audience to 'pay attention ... and vote.' Obama also defended the media. He said the press 'often drove me nuts' but that he understood that a free press was vital to democracy."

Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "A uranium company launched a concerted lobbying campaign to scale back Bears Ears National Monument, saying such action would give it easier access to the area's uranium deposits and help it operate a nearby processing mill, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and top Utah Republicans have said repeatedly that questions of mining or drilling played no role in President Trump's announcement Monday that he was cutting the site by more than 1.1 million acres, or 85 percent. Trump also signed a proclamation nearly halving the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, which is also in southern Utah and has significant coal deposits.... More than 500 uranium mines have been left near or on [Navajo Nation] lands, and most of these designated Superfund sites have not been cleaned up. Contamination still affects drinking-water wells, springs and storage tanks." ...

... Julia Manchester of the Hill: "California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) says President Trump's stance on climate change demonstrates that he does not appear to fear the 'wrath of God' or have any regard for the 'existential consequences' of his environmental policies. 'I don't think President Trump has a fear of the Lord, the fear of the wrath of God, which leads one to more humility ... this is such a reckless disregard for the truth and for the existential consequences that can be unleashed,' Brown said in an interview on CBS's '60 Minutes,' which is set to air on Sunday. Brown, who studied to become a Jesuit priest prior to entering politics, has been a vocal critic of the Trump administration."

Sarah Jones of the New Republic: "... the Donald Trump era has been clarifying in so many respects, not least in showing that the Republican Party, in league with the upper classes, is engaged in an all-out class war against the working and middle classes. In every area of policy -- tax, environment, health, energy, even the management of the nation's national parks -- we have seen a sustained disdain for common people and an allegiance to the rich. It is class war, and they're winning.... There will be other bills, other policies; there will be more deaths, just to satisfy the wealthy. All wars have body counts, and class war is the same." Mrs. McC: This is a longish piece & well-worth reading as a reminder of the scope of the GOP's sustained, multi-pronged attack on ordinary Americans. ...

... Damian Paletta of the Washington Post: "The GOP tax plan on the cusp of becoming law diverges wildly from the promises President Trump and top advisers said they would deliver for the middle class -- an evolution that shows how traditional Republican orthodoxy swamped Trump's distinctive brand of economic populism as it moved through Washington. The bill was supposed to deliver benefits predominantly to average working families, not corporations, with a 35 percent tax cut Trump proposed on the campaign trail as part of the 'Middle Class Tax Relief and Simplification Act.' 'The largest tax reductions are for the middle class, who have been forgotten,' Trump said in Gettysburg, Pa., on Oct. 22, 2016... [But] Trump and his top advisers have continuously prioritized corporate cuts -- even though they have promised that middle-class cuts would be their focus.... The final product is ... the result of a partisan policymaking process that largely took place behind closed doors, faced intense pressure from corporate lobbyists and ultimately fell in line with GOP wish lists.... The tax plan ... amounts to a massive corporate tax cut, with uneven -- and temporary -- benefits for the middle class that could end up increasing taxes for many working families in future years."

** The Enemy Within. Dana Milbank: "This year some of us marked Pearl Harbor Day by attacking America from within. For five hours on Thursday, President Trump's partisans delivered a reckless and sustained attack on the FBI and the special counsel. They amplified Trump's claim that the FBI's 'reputation is in Tatters -- worst in History' and that Robert S. Mueller III's Russia probe, which has already secured guilty pleas from two Trump campaign officials and the indictments of two more, is part of a system that is 'rigged,' 'phony,' 'dishonest' and using a 'double standard.'... Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee launched an all-out assault on the special counsel and the FBI -- choosing to protect Trump at the cost of Americans' faith in the justice system and the rule of law." See also Jonathan Chait's commentary, linked yesterday.

Senate Race

A digital billboard on the side of a truck, across the street from Trump's rally tonight in Pensacola, FL pic.twitter.com/6BaDOAf90o

---Henry J. Gomez (@HenryJGomez) December 8, 2017

... Kristine Phillips of the Washington Post: "A digital billboard was roaming around Pensacola, Fla., as President Trump held a rally there and urged residents in nearby Alabama to vote for embattled Republican candidate Roy Moore in the Senate race. The billboard, displayed on the side of a moving truck Friday, reminded people of what Ivanka Trump ... had previously said about Moore amid accusations of sexual misconduct involving teenage girls.... The billboard appears to be the work of the liberal group American Bridge.... The group seemed to double down on the trolling by blasting the comments over a loud speaker outside the rally." ...

... Brian Lyman of the Montgomery (Alabama) Advertiser: "In the last few days before the Dec. 12 election for Alabama's junior U.S. Senate seat, the Republican candidate [Roy Moore] has all but vanished from the public, continuing a pattern of absence that took hold after allegations of abuse, assault, harassment and misconduct with nine women surfaced against Moore in early November.... Although Friday's winter weather scrambled both campaigns' plans, Moore's absence from the trail is a notable contrast to Democratic nominee Doug Jones, whose campaign said Saturday he had done 217 public events over two months, and who has done almost daily appearances in the campaign's last weeks." ...

... Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "Donald Trump has agreed to record a robocall for Alabama Republican Roy Moore ahead of next week's special election, the president's most direct involvement in Alabama on behalf of the embattled candidate to date.... Trump's involvement in the race has infuriated senior Republicans, many of whom have withdrawn their support for Moore in light of the accusations against him." ...

... Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Caroline Orr of Shareblue: "Fox News host and Trump cheerleader Laura Ingraham is concerned about the growing number of women who are coming forward to report incidents of sexual assault and harassment.... She's worried that they might ruin office Christmas parties this year. 'Is the #MeToo movement becoming a spoiler for this season's Christmas parties?' Ingraham asked Friday evening during a segment on Fox News' The Ingraham Angle. Speaking with comedian Jimmy Failla, Ingraham said she was worried that women who feel empowered to report sexual misconduct might ruin the holiday season by making office Christmas parties less festive. 'I can see this year it might be -- a little less festive, let's say that. No alcohol and no fun and no lampshades and, I don't know, maybe that's better,' she said. 'Is this just killing all the fun of Christmas?' she wondered absurdly." ...

(If there were a "real Jesus," he would have looked kinda like this. White? Well, darkish white.)     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: What's the fun of finally being able to say "Merry Christmas" again if the boss is afraid to boff the help in the broom closet? "Joy to the world, the Lord has come" -- Ruined! I miss the good old days when Megyn Kelly was a Fox "News" "reporting" that Jesus & Santa Claus were definitely white guys.

Beyond the Beltway

Wesley Lowery of the Washington Post: "After the officer involved was acquitted of second-degree murder charges, officials in Arizona publicly released graphic video showing Daniel Shaver crawling on his hands and knees and begging for his life in the moments before he was shot and killed by police in January 2016. Shaver died in one of at least 963 fatal police shootings in 2016, according to a Washington Post database. And his death was one of an increasing number of such shootings to prompt criminal charges in the years since the 2014 protests in Ferguson, Mo. following the death of Michael Brown. Yet charges remain rare, and convictions even more so. The shooting, by Philip 'Mitch' Brailsford, then an officer with the Mesa Police Department, occurred after officers responded to a call about a man allegedly pointing a rifle out of a fifth-floor window at a La Quinta Inn. Inside the room, Shaver, 26, had been doing rum shots with a woman he had met earlier that day and showing off a pellet gun he used in his job in pest control." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Commentariat -- December 9, 2017

Afternoon Update:

Wesley Lowery of the Washington Post: "After the officer involved was acquitted of second-degree murder charges, officials in Arizona publicly released graphic video showing Daniel Shaver crawling on his hands and knees and begging for his life in the moments before he was shot and killed by police in January 2016. Shaver died in one of at least 963 fatal police shootings in 2016, according to a Washington Post database. And his death was one of an increasing number of such shootings to prompt criminal charges in the years since the 2014 protests in Ferguson, Mo. following the death of Michael Brown. Yet charges remain rare, and convictions even more so. The shooting, by Philip 'Mitch' Brailsford, then an officer with the Mesa Police Department, occurred after officers responded to a call about a man allegedly pointing a rifle out of a fifth-floor window at a La Quinta Inn. Inside the room, Shaver, 26, had been doing rum shots with a woman he had met earlier that day and showing off a pellet gun he used in his job in pest control." ...

     ... See related story under Beyond the Beltway.

*****

Adam Goldman & Matt Apuzzo of the New York Times: "F.B.I. officials warned one of President Trump's top advisers, Hope Hicks, earlier this year about repeated attempts by Russian operatives to make contact with her during the presidential transition, according to people familiar with the events. The Russian outreach efforts show that, even after American intelligence agencies publicly accused Moscow of trying to influence the outcome of last year's presidential election, Russian operatives were undaunted in their efforts to establish contacts with Mr. Trump's advisers. There is no evidence that Ms. Hicks did anything improper.... After he took office, senior F.B.I. counterintelligence agents met with Ms. Hicks in the White House Situation Room at least twice, gave her the names of the Russians who had contacted her, and said that they were not who they claimed to be.... Ms. Hicks informed Donald F. McGahn II, the White House counsel, about the meetings.... On Thursday and Friday, investigators working for Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, interviewed Ms. Hicks as part of his investigation into Russia's efforts to influence the 2016 election and whether any of Mr. Trump's advisers assisted the Russian campaign." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: So Russian spies are trying to infiltrate the White House via a top presidential aide, the White House counsel knows about it, but Trump believes Putin??? ...

... Unreliable Sources. Joe Concha of the Hill: "CNN has issued a correction to a Friday morning exclusive about documents that Donald Trump Jr. received from WikiLeaks.... The new reports said Trump Jr. and other campaign officials had received an email pointing them to the WikiLeaks documents on the afternoon of Sept. 14 -- after they had already been made public. The original CNN report said Trump Jr. had received the email on Sept. 4, before WikiLeaks had made the documents public.... CNN said its original story had been based on two sources who had seen the email." The original CNN story was linked here yesterday...

... Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Federal prosecutors' investigation into Paul Manafort's financial dealings was enormous in scope, with FBI agents executing at least 15 search warrants and assembling a trove of hundreds of thousands of records related to the case, according to details in a new court filing. Lawyers from special counsel Robert Mueller's office publicly outlined the scale of the probe on Friday as they informed a federal judge about efforts to turn over evidence to Manafort ... and his business partner, Rick Gates, who were both indicted in October on charges that included money laundering and failing to register as foreign lobbyists for Ukraine." ...

...Jonathan Chait of New York: "It is almost a maxim of the Trump era that the bounds of the unthinkable continuously shrink." Republicans have been able to rationalize Donald Trump's "Access Hollywood" tape, Roy Moore's extreme views & alleged sexual assault on underaged girls, & now "the next step in the sequence is almost insultingly obvious. Trump is preparing to shut down Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian intervention in the 2016 election..." --safari...

... ** Contempt of Congress. The Most Arrogant Little Prince Evah. Charles Pierce reads the transcript of Erik Prince's Congressional testimony. You will want to read his takeaways.

In response to Congressmen Lewis and Thompson skipping the civil rights museum opening in MS:We think it's unfortunate that these members of Congress wouldn't join the President in honoring the incredible sacrifice civil rights leaders made to right the injustices in our history. The President hopes others will join him in recognizing that the movement was about removing barriers and unifying Americans of all backgrounds. -- Sarah Sanders, in a statement Thursday

Sanders was upset that 'these members of Congress' weren't going to honor the 'incredible sacrifice' of 'civil rights leaders.' Does she know that one of 'these members of Congress' was one of her aforementioned 'civil rights leaders?' -- Nicole Karlis of Salon, Friday

No, Nicole, probably not. Besides being duplicitous, mendacious, petty & generally nasty, Mrs. Huckleberry is remarkably ignorant. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

Frances Robles, et al., of the New York Times: "A review by The New York Times of daily mortality data from Puerto Rico's vital statistics bureau indicates a significantly higher death toll after [Hurricane Maria] than the government there has acknowledged. The Times's analysis found that in the 42 days after Hurricane Maria made landfall on Sept. 20 as a Category 4 storm, 1,052 more people than usual died across the island. Officially, just 62 people died as a result of the storm.... On Oct. 3, nearly two weeks after the storm, Mr. Trump visited the island and praised the low official death toll. He referred to the 1,833 deaths in 2005 during Hurricane Katrina as a 'real catastrophe.' 'Sixteen people certified,' Mr. Trump said. 'Sixteen people versus in the thousands. You can be very proud of all of your people and all of our people working together.' By that visit, an additional 556 people had died in Puerto Rico compared with the same period over the two prior years."

You know, I'm automatically attracted to beautiful '' I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.... Grab 'em by the pussy. -- Donald Trump, "Access Hollywood" tape, 2005

This was locker room talk.... Nobody has more respect for women than I do. -- Donald Trump, debate, October 9, 2016 ...

... Cristiano Lima of Politico: "A former Fox News anchor said Friday that ... Donald Trump tried to kiss her after a lunch visit to Trump Tower in 2005. Juliet Huddy, a current radio host in New York City and a former news anchor on Fox News, said she rebuffed an overture from the real-estate mogul after the two met at his luxury Manhattan high-rise. The incident ... allegedly occurred near the time he married first lady Melania Trump. 'He took me for lunch at Trump Tower, just us two. He said goodbye to me in an elevator while his security guy was there, rather than kiss me on the cheek he leaned in to kiss me on the lips....'" she said.... Huddy, who settled claims of sexual harassment against former Fox News star Bill O'Reilly, said Trump later joked about an exchange when he appeared on her daytime talk show. 'I hit on her but she blew me off,' Trump reportedly said."

** "Welfare Reform." John Cassidy of the New Yorker: Paul Ryan said Wednesday "'We're going to have to get back next year at entitlement reform, which is how you tackle the debt and the deficit.'... Programs like Medicare and Medicaid 'are the big drivers of debt, so we spend more time on the health-care entitlements, because that's really where the problem lies, fiscally speaking.'... In a speech last week, the President talked about moving onto 'welfare reform' -- seemingly oblivious to the fact that Bill Clinton and a Republican Congress dismantled the primary welfare programs back in the late nineteen-nineties. About the only big federal means-tested programs left are Medicaid and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. Evidently, these will be on the Republican hit list, even though the primary populations they serve are the sick, the elderly, and children.... Ryan's remarks illustrate why he and other Republican leaders have refused to break with Trump despite his frequent outrages...." Cassidy does an excellent job of explaining the callous compact between a greedy, corrupt president & an equally greedy, corrupt Congress...

...Thanks Supremes! Andy Kroll of Mother Jones: "Very few Americans want or even understand the sweeping tax bill Republicans are right now conspiring to ram through Congress.... Yet Republican leaders in Washington show no sign of slowing down.... What explains the Republican Party's reckless rush to pass this bill? It boils down to two words: Citizens United...When I say that Citizens United explains the GOP's tax-bill frenzy, I really mean the big-money political climate that Citizens United helped create and, broadly speaking, embodies." --safari...

...Matthew Yglesias of Vox: "Richard Waters and Tom Braithwaite at the Financial Times ran the numbers yesterday and found that the Republican tax plan's largest single winner is going to be Apple, which stands to reap a windfall of about $47 billion. For a sense of scale, that would cover four years' worth of the federal tab for the Children's Health Insurance Program which provides coverage to 9 million kids but is currently on hiatus since congressional Republicans say they can't find the money." --safari

Mark Hand of ThinkProgress: "The degree to which the Trump administration has pushed to reverse regulations on the oil, gas, and coal sectors has shocked even the most optimistic in the industry, according to a new report issued by the Center for Western Priorities...Along with gutting important regulations, the Trump administration has filled key positions inside the Department of the Interior with fossil-fuel industry players.... The report, released Thursday, cites Kathleen Sgamma, president of the Western Energy Alliance, an oil and gas trade association. Sgamma remarked a few months ago: 'Not in our wildest dreams, never did we expect to get everything. We were kind of used to getting punished.'" --safari

E.A. Crunden of ThinkProgress: "The Department of Justice is moving to investigate Planned Parenthood's transfer of fetal tissue, continuing the fall-out from discredited sting videos released two years ago by an anti-abortion group. On Thursday, the Justice Department reportedly asked Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) for documents relating to a Senate committee's report on Planned Parenthood's fetal tissue practices.... The request seems set to re-open a controversy surrounding the use of fetal tissue, as well as Planned Parenthood more generally.... The decision is further proof that sting videos hold significant power and sway. While the Judiciary Committee's finding were not based on the CMP videos, their release prompted the report." --safari: Perfect timing to gin up some froth of the Evangelists for 2018. ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: While the link may be more philosophical for most confederates, there's a direct link between the DOJ's attack on Planned Parenthood & the behavior of Trent Franks. ...

... Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), facing an ethics investigation over alleged sexual harassment, announced Friday that he will resign immediately following his wife's admission to the hospital. Franks had said Thursday that he would resign at the end of January but said Friday that his wife's ailment had prompted him to change his plans and immediately step down." ...

... Rachel Bade & Jake Sherman of Politico: "Arizona Rep. Trent Franks allegedly made unwanted advances toward female staffers in his office and retaliated against one who rebuffed him, according to House GOP sources with knowledge of a complaint against him. The allegations, which reached Speaker Paul Ryan and top GOP leaders in recent days, led to Franks' sudden resignation this week. Franks originally announced that he would resign on Jan. 31, 2018. But just hours after Politico inquired about the allegations, he sped up his resignation and left office Friday. The sources said Franks approached two female staffers about acting as a potential surrogate for him and his wife, who has struggled with fertility issues for years. But the aides were concerned that Franks was asking to have sexual relations with them. It was not clear to the women whether he was asking about impregnating the women through sexual intercourse or in vitro fertilization. Franks opposes abortion rights as well as procedures that discard embryos. A former staffer also alleged that Franks tried to persuade a female aide that they were in love.... One woman believed she was the subject of retribution after rebuffing Franks. While she enjoyed access to the congressman before the incident, that access was revoked afterward, she told Republican leaders." ...

     ... Juliet Linderman of the AP: "A former aide to Republican Rep. Trent Franks has told The Associated Press the congressman repeatedly pressed her to carry his child, at one point offering her $5 million to act as a surrogate mother.... The former staffer said the congressman at least four times asked if she'd be willing to act as a surrogate in exchange for money. Franks, in his statement announcing his resignation, said he and his wife, who have struggled with infertility, have twins who were carried through surrogacy.... The aide cited the surrogacy requests as 'a main reason' for leaving the office, adding that she felt retaliated against after turning down the congressman, ignored by Franks and not given many assignments." ...

... Stephanie Akin of Roll Call: "The Treasury Department paid $220,000 in a previously undisclosed agreement to settle a lawsuit alleging sexual harassment that involved Florida Democrat Alcee L. Hastings, according to documents obtained by Roll Call. Winsome Packer, a former staff member of a congressional commission that promotes international human rights, said in documents that the congressman touched her, made unwanted sexual advances, and threatened her job. At the time, Hastings was the chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, where Packer worked. Hastings has called Packer's charges 'ludicrous' and in documents said he never sexually harassed her. 'Until this evening, I had not seen the settlement agreement between the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) and Ms. Packer,' the congressman said in a statement Friday night. 'This matter was handled solely by the Senate Chief Counsel for Employment. At no time was I consulted, nor did I know until after the fact that such a settlement was made.'" ...

... Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "A former clerk for Judge Alex Kozinski said the powerful and well-known jurist, who for many years served as chief judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, called her into his office several times and pulled up pornography on his computer, asking if she thought it was photoshopped or if it aroused her sexually. Heidi Bond, who clerked for Kozinski from 2006 to 2007, said the porn was not related to any case.... Bond is one of six women -- all former clerks or more junior staffers known as externs in the 9th Circuit -- who alleged to The Washington Post in recent weeks that Kozinski, now 67 and still serving as a judge on the court, subjected them to a range of inappropriate sexual conduct or comments.... Another clerk, Emily Murphy, who worked for a different judge on the 9th Circuit and is now a law professor, described their experiences in on-the-record interviews.... Kozinski was appointed to the 9th Circuit by President Ronald Reagan in 1985."...

... Frank Rich: "The Party of Lincoln is now the Party of Predators.... It should also be noted that a tolerance for sexual predation may be well on its way to becoming a majority plank among the GOP rank and file. While a new Quinnipiac poll finds that 77 percent of Democrats believe elected officials should resign in the face of multiple sexual harassment accusations, only 51 percent of Republicans do.... [Republicans] will shed crocodile tears about the new sexual miscreant in the Senate chamber all the way to the bank." --safari

Senate Race

The NRA ❤s Pedophiles! David Corn of Mother Jones: "[T]he NRA, perhaps the biggest outside political player on the right, has quietly entered the race to help [Roy] Moore [R-Pedophile].... The NRA's website does not list the Alabama Senate race as a contest in which it is involved, but two days ago, the Center for Public Integrity reported that the NRA was spending $55,000 to send out postcards to boost Moore in the election this Tuesday." --safari: So the NRA has no morals, surprised? Even better, all NRA members are now supporting a pedophile with their hard-earned dollars.

Beyond the Beltway

Paige Blankenbuehler & Brooke Warren of Mother Jones: "The 2017 fire season was the nation's costliest, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which houses the Forest Service. That agency's annual budget is increasingly dedicated to suppressing and fighting wildland fires, as longer seasons and more destructive blazes require more resources.... Some of the West's biggest fires began in September, at a time when the fire season is typically waning." -- safari: Article contains lots of fire-related stats.

Luke Barnes of ThinkProgress: "A former Mesa, Arizona police officer who fatally shot and killed an unarmed father of two was cleared of second degree murder charges on Thursday. Philip Mitchell Brailsford, 27, was also cleared of criminal liability in the death of Daniel Shaver.... The Shaver case is another grim reminder of how common it is for police officers involved in unarmed shootings to avoid any sort of punishment for their actions. Even officer firings like Brailsford's are something of a paper tiger: an August investigation by the Washington Post found that, of the 1,881 officers fired for misconduct since 2006, more than 450 were reinstated after union appeals." --safari: The video, embedded in the article, is egregious. This is called murder.

News Lede

Los Angeles Times: "The powerful Santa Ana winds that fueled a five-day fire siege across Southern California this week began to ease Friday, but the destructive toll of the blazes continued to grow and firefighters will remain on high alert through the weekend. The fires, which stretched from Ojai to Oceanside, destroyed more than 500 structures and forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes. The smoke created air quality problems that officials said reached unprecedented levels in some areas. As hot, dry Santa Anas faded, officials warned that breezes from the ocean could pick up, changing the direction of the flames, placing fire crews at higher risk of getting caught without an escape route."