The Commentariat -- December 8, 2017

The Madness of King Donald, Ctd.

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "The Trump White House is apparently where self-awareness goes to die.... The White House says that merely raising questions about Trump's health isn't okay even though Trump's campaign offered specific diagnoses and insinuations about similar episodes for Clinton.... 'I know that there were a lot of questions on [Trump's slurred speech],' [Sarah Sanders said], 'frankly, ridiculous questions.'... White House reporters have been asking for months about when Trump might get a physical, and they haven't gotten answers. Thankfully, Sanders disclosed Thursday that Trump will have a full physical early next year and that the results will be made public. So if reporters got nothing else from asking about the slurring, at least they got an answer to that question." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I'll believe the public will see the full results of Trump's check-up when I see it. JFK, remember, did his best to keep secret the serious illnesses with which he struggled. (Here's an article on John Kennedy's health troubles, written by presidential historian Robert Dallek & published in the Atlantic in 2002.) ...

... Joe Scarborough in a Washington Post op-ed: "Donald Trump spent much of 2016 questioning his opponent's stamina to be president of the United States. But it is now Trump's own fitness that is being scrutinized by friends and foes alike. After Trump spent recent weeks creating a level of chaos unseen around the White House since Richard Nixon's resignation in 1974, Capitol Hill politicians and media outlets are quietly questioning whether Trump is fit for the highest office in the land. That the commander in chief slurred his way through the end of a speech on Jerusalem Wednesday was just the latest in a string of unsettling incidents. Many who move through his orbit believe Trump is not well. That is a verdict that was reached long ago by many of the president’s own staff. More than a few politicians and reporters across Washington have shared similar fears." ...

... Joe Concha of the Hill: "Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) former presidential campaign manager, Steve Schmidt, said early Thursday that President Trump was 'clearly slurring his words' during an announcement that the U.S. will recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, adding that 'the impairment is chilling.' 'I don't know the cause of it, but when you combine it with [Sen.] Bob Corker's critique that the president of the United States is unstable, that he's dangerous, when you look at the private comments that are made by members of Congress around his stability, you look at his actions in recent weeks,' said Schmidt.... 'Morning Joe' co-host Joe Scarborough has questioned Trump's mental fitness on several occasions in the past, with the former GOP congressman most recently stating on Nov. 30 that 'people close to him during the campaign' told him 'he had early stages of dementia.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Marc Fisher of the Washington Post: "The president is coming to America's poorest, blackest state to open a civil rights museum on Saturday, and people in the neighborhoods surrounding that gleaming tribute to the past would rather have Donald Trump visit their present.... 'What do you have to lose?' Trump asked [during the campaign], making a quixotic and ultimately failed bid for black votes to a nearly all-white crowd. 'We're losing a lot,' [Pete] McElroy[, who has a small business in the Jackson, Mississippi, neighborhood,] said here this week. 'Losing Obamacare. Where are people going to go? Losing money. He's making the rich richer and the poor poorer. Mostly, we're losing respect. No way you can evade that. The way he speaks, the racists feel like they can say anything they want to us.'... On Thursday, Rep. John Lewis, the Georgia Democrat who is one of the last surviving leaders of the civil rights movement, canceled his commitment to give the keynote address at the opening. Lewis, who had refused to attend Trump's inauguration because he considered him an illegitimate president, joined with Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) in announcing that they will not attend because Trump is coming."

Tom McCarthy of the Guardian: "... outdoor retailer Patagonia ... filed a complaint on Wednesday accusing Donald Trump of exceeding the powers of his office earlier this week when he ordered that Bears Ears national monument be reduced in size by 85%. The president framed the action as a correction of earlier federal overreach. Barack Obama established the monument at 1.3m acres one year ago, in a move Republicans in Utah's legislature compared at the time to 'the unilateral tyranny exercised by the King of England against the American colonies two and a half centuries ago'. But Patagonia's lawsuit asserts that Trump is the one playing king, by enacting the largest removal of protection from federal lands in history. The complaint, which was joined by a coalition of conservation groups, was filed in parallel with a separate lawsuit joined by five Native American tribes who say the president's move endangers sacred sites.... The government has 60 days to respond to Patagonia's complaint."

Manu Raju & Jeremy Herb of CNN: "Candidate Donald Trump, his son Donald Trump Jr. and others in the Trump Organization received an email in September 2016 offering a decryption key and website address for hacked WikiLeaks documents, according to an email provided to congressional investigators. The September 4 email was sent during the final stretch of the 2016 presidential race -- two months after the hacked emails of the Democratic National Committee were made public and one month before WikiLeaks began leaking the contents of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta's hacked emails. The email came less than three weeks before WikiLeaks itself messaged Trump Jr. and began an exchange of direct messages on Twitter. Trump Jr. told investigators he had no recollection of the September email." ...

... Rosalind Helderman, et al., of the Washington Post: "An executive at a leading Russian social media company made several overtures to Donald Trump's presidential campaign in 2016 -- including days before the November election -- urging the candidate to create a page on the website to appeal to Russian Americans and Russians. The executive at Vkontakte, or VK, Russia's equivalent to Facebook, emailed Donald Trump Jr. and social media director Dan Scavino in January and again in November of last year, offering to help promote Trump's campaign to its nearly 100 million users, according to people familiar with the messages.... While Scavino expressed interest in learning more at one point, it is unclear whether the campaign pursued the idea. An attorney for Trump Jr. said his client forwarded a pitch about the concept to Scavino early in the year and could not recall any further discussion about it.... The overture with VK was brokered by Rob Goldstone, a British music promoter who asked Trump Jr. last year to meet with a Russian lawyer who he said had compromising information about Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton." ...

... Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "Attorneys for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort acknowledged Thursday that he edited an opinion piece for a Ukraine newspaper but did not publicly address allegations by special counsel prosecutors that he drafted it with a former colleague with ties to Russian intelligence. Manafort's defense argued in a court filing to a federal judge in Washington that Manafort's work on the op-ed piece for an English-language newspaper in Kiev defending himself did not violate a court gag order because it would not likely bias potential jurors in any U.S. trial." ...

... Rhonda Schwartz & Matthew Mosk of ABC News: "The Italian fiancee of George Papadopoulos..., Simona Mangiante..., said Papadopoulos 'set up meetings with leaders all over the world' for senior campaign officials. He was 'constantly in touch with high-level officials in the campaign,' she added. That included direct communication with now-former senior Trump advisers Steve Bannon and Michael Flynn, Mangiante said, adding that she had seen correspondence supporting the assertion.... 'He never took any initiative, as far as I know, [that was] unauthorized. All the initiatives had [the] blessing of the campaign,' she said." Also, he doesn't make coffee. ...

... Well, of Course They Did. Sarah Wire of the Los Angeles Times: "The House Ethics Committee on Thursday cleared Rep. Devin Nunes of allegations that he disclosed classified information related to the House investigation of Russian meddling in last year's election. The committee said in a statement that experts it interviewed determined that the information the House Select Intelligence Committee chairman divulged was not classified. When the complaint was filed in April, the Tulare Republican said he would step away from leading the intelligence committee's Russia investigation. But Nunes did not recuse himself and many Democrats have complained he has been too involved in the investigation. In a statement thanking the committee for clearing him, Nunes did not address whether he would formally retake control of the investigation." Mrs. McC: So endeth the Tale of the Midnight Run of Devin Nunes. ...

... Rachel Maddow is dedicating her show tonight to the Steele dossier. Could be interesting. Airs at 9:00 pm ET on MSNBC.

Julian Borger of the Guardian: "North Korea is open to direct talks with the US over their nuclear standoff, according to the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, who said he passed that message to his counterpart, Rex Tillerson, when the two diplomats met in Vienna on Thursday. There was no immediate response from Tillerson but the official position of the state department is that North Korea would have to show itself to be serious about giving up its nuclear arsenal as part of a comprehensive agreement before a dialogue could begin." The linked ABC page has video.

Nolan McCaskill of Politico: "Attorney General Jeff Sessions dismissed a claim that there's widespread fear of police among poor minority communities and taunted a woman who said guns were more fatal than marijuana, calling her 'Dr. Whatever Your Name Is.' The attorney general's comments came in a 25-minute session with Justice Department interns on June 22, according to ABC News, which first reported Sessions' remarks and obtained internal DOJ video of the event through a Freedom of Information Act request.... [A UC Berkeley law student said] he 'grew up in the projects to a single mother, and the people who we are afraid of are not necessarily our neighbors but the police.' 'Well, that may be the view in Berkeley,' Sessions shot back, 'but it's not the view in most places in the country.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie Translation: "... in most places" = "where we nice white people live." I wonder if JeffBo is going along with Trump to the opening of the civil rights museum. He could get together some of his friends like Steve Scalise & they could do a Klan tableau.

Shane Goldmacher, et al., of the New York Times: Some of Trump's richy-rich New York friends are complaining to him about repeal the local-tax deduction in the Tax Heist bills. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: They're right, of course, but it's ironic that Trump may be listening only to the rich about a drastic change to the tax code that has a negative impact on every person who itemizes deductions & pays state &/or local taxes. As the reporters write, "The mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio, has estimated that there could be tax increases for as many as 700,000 residents if the legislation is approved." I'm not sure why they haven't noticed, but the limitation of the property tax deduction to $10,000 is going to hurt some of these rich guys almost as much. Most of them own more than one expensive home, & their property taxes are likely far higher than $10,000. ...

... ** "The Republican War on Children." Paul Krugman: "Republicans are showing that they consider it more important to give extra millions to one already wealthy heir than to provide health care to a thousand children.... While there is zero evidence that tax cuts pay for themselves, there's considerable evidence that aiding lower-income children actually saves money in the long run.... And despite everything we've seen in U.S. politics, it's still hard to believe that a whole political party would balk at doing the decent thing for millions of kids while rushing to further enrich a few thousand wealthy heirs. That is, however, exactly what's happening. And it's as bad, in its own way, as that same party's embrace of a child molester because they expect him to vote for tax cuts." ...

... The GOP Tax Heist Also Aims to Wreck the Environment. Brad Plumer & Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "The Republican tax bills moving through Congress could significantly hobble the United States' renewable energy industry because of a series of provisions that scale back incentives for wind and solar power while bolstering older energy sources like oil and gas production. The possibility highlights the degree to which the nation's recent surge in renewable electricity generation is still sustained by favorable tax treatment, which has lowered the cost of solar and wind production while provoking the ire of fossil-fuel competitors seeking to weaken those tax preferences. Whether lawmakers choose to protect or jettison various renewable tax breaks in the final bill being negotiated on Capitol Hill could have major ramifications for the United States energy landscape, including the prices consumers pay for electricity.... The tax bill joins a host of federal policy changes proposed by the Trump administration that could crimp the growth in clean energy."

Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "Congress passed a short-term spending deal Thursday, sending to President Trump a bill to avert a partial government shutdown and setting up a heated budget fight later this month. Trump has indicated that he will sign the deal, preventing a government stoppage that had been set to take effect at 12:01 a.m. Saturday.... The short-term measure passed the Senate 81 to 14 and passed the House 235 to 193.... The deal does not resolve numerous debates over domestic spending, immigration and funding for the military that brought the government to the brink of partial closure, leaving party leaders with a new Dec. 22 deadline to keep the government open."

Sheryl Stolberg, et al., of the New York Times: "Senator Al Franken of Minnesota, in an emotional speech on the Senate floor, announced on Thursday that he would resign from Congress, the most prominent figure in a growing list of lawmakers felled by charges of sexual harassment or indiscretions.... As his Democratic colleagues looked on, he took a parting shot at President Trump and Roy S. Moore; both have also been accused of sexual misconduct." ...

... Masha Gessen of the New Yorker: "The force of the #MeToo moment leaves no room for due process, or, indeed, for Franken's own constituents to consider their choice. Still, the force works selectively.... Trump and Moore are immune because the blunt irresistible force works only on the other half of the country.... The Trump era is one of deep and open immorality in politics.... These are men who proclaim their allegiance to the Christian faith while acting in openly hateful, duplicitous, and plainly murderous ways." Read on. Mrs. McCrabbie: I have a fundamental disagreement with Gessen in that I think the matters she attributes to sex are better attributed to power struggles. In an ideal world, sex is about love. In the real world, sex is often about power. ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: Nanny Ruth Marcus has a pretty good take on the way Senate Democrats dealt with Al Franken. AND when she compares the Senate's reactions to Franken & Bob Menendez, she helps make Gessen's point. ...

... Michelle Goldberg: "... the Republican Party is not the party of people who are fundamentally opposed to sexual harassment.... While the current frenzy to expose sexual harassers is, in large part, a reaction to the trauma of Trump's election, it has not yet touched Trump himself.... The incendiary rage unleashed by Trump's election needs to be directed back at him. Otherwise, only those who already advocate women's equality will be forced to grant it." ...

... Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Representative Trent Franks of Arizona, one of the House's most ardent social conservatives, said Thursday night that he would resign after the House Ethics Committee began an investigation into complaints that he had asked two female staff members to be a surrogate to bear his child.... Mr. Franks denied that he had ever 'physically intimidated, coerced, or had, or attempted to have, any sexual contact with any member of my congressional staff.' His statement said only that he deeply regretted discussing the topic of surrogacy, but a Republican familiar with the accusation said that Mr. Frank had specifically asked those aides to be surrogates.... Mr. Franks, whose strident social conservatism and adamant opposition to abortion in all forms have defined his tenure, said he would step aside at the end of January rather than wait for the outcome of the investigation." ...

... In case you're feeling all sorry for poor Trent Franks, Jeff Singer of Daily Kos has a reminder of who Franks is: "... Franks has been a mouthpiece for some of the worst ideas of the far-right. Franks said in 2010 that '[f]ar more of the African-American community is being devastated by the policies of today than were being devastated by policies of slavery,' declared the next year that same-sex marriage was 'a threat to the nation's survival,' and mused in 2013 that the instances of rape causing pregnancy are 'very low.' Franks also was very unbothered by the Russian government's meddling in the 2016 elections, saying, 'The bottom line is if they succeeded, if Russia succeeded in giving the American people information that was accurate, then they merely did what the media should have done,' before claiming his comments were misconstrued."

... A Reckoning for Pajama Boy? Michelle Lee of the Washington Post: "The House Ethics Committee announced Thursday it has established a subcommittee to investigate allegations of misconduct by Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Tex.), expanding its work in light of new information that surfaced in recent weeks about a 2015 settlement agreement he reached with his former aide.... His former communications director, Lauren Greene, in 2014 accused Farenthold of making sexually charged comments designed to gauge whether she was interested in a sexual relationship."

Senate Races -- The GOP Has the Best Candidates

Roy Moore's Family Values. Roy Moore longs for the days when "families were strong, our country had a direction..., even though we had slavery." Tim Murphy of Mother Jones: The institution of slavery was built on tearing apart families. Parents were separated from their children. Husbands were separated from their wives. Plantation owners, such as the third president of the United States, routinely raped their enslaved workers. Excepting the centuries-long genocide of American Indians (or 'reds,' in the parlance of the Republican nominee for US Senate), slavery was the greatest attack on American families the country has ever seen.... Only a broken view of society that excludes people of color from the calculus entirely and makes accommodations for mass rape could possibly consider the society of slavery a time when families were 'strong.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I'll concede Moore's flaming racial bigotry is the worst part of his nostalgia. But also, what makes Moore, or anyone, think that "families were strong" in antebellum days? I suppose he means that a patriarchal society is highly preferable to one where a white man's aspirations might be upended by revelations about his sexual assaults on underaged girls. He means that families were strong, I guess, because the old man ruled the roost, women were chattel & the kids pulled their own weight or got the belt. Please bear in mind, Alabamians, that Moore is perverted in many more ways than one. ...

... Ben Kamisar of the Hill: "President Trump is headed to Florida on Friday for a rally that appears aimed at boosting Alabama GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore's chances in a special election next week. The trip to Pensacola, Fla. -- just 20 miles away from the Alabama border -- may have initially been scheduled to give Trump a way to rally the Republican base in Alabama while keeping some distance from Moore, who is accused of molesting teenagers. But Trump explicitly endorsed Moore this week, calling the candidate directly to offer his support." ...

AND This. Scott Bixby of the Daily Beast: "Former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has no interest in running for Rep. Trent Franks' (R-AZ) soon-to-be vacated seat, he said on Thursday. Instead..., [Arpaio,] who was recently pardoned by ... Donald Trump..., [said], 'I am seriously, seriously, seriously considering running for the U.S. Senate,' Arpaio told The Daily Beast, 'not the congressman's seat.' Whatever he decides, Arpaio's next political step will have profound implications in the Grand Canyon State. He is a darling of anti-immigration hardliners, but reviled by Democrats and even some mainstream Republicans for his reputation of breaking the law to enforce it."

Ryan Grim of the Intercept: "Progressive radio and television personality Sam Seder will be offered his MSNBC contributor job back and plans to accept, according to multiple MSNBC sources. Seder and MSNBC were set to part ways when his contributor contract expired next year, with reports indicating the departure had to do with a 2009 tweet from Seder surfaced by the far-right provocateur Mike Cernovich. After initially caving in to right-wing internet outrage over the tweet, MSNBC reversed its decision to not renew Seder's contract.... Cernovich is a ... conspiracy theorist who works in hand-in-glove with white supremacists. Cernovich dug up a 2009 tweet from Seder and claimed it endorsed rape. The tweet was meant as a satirical criticism of accused rapist Roman Polanski's liberal defenders, but MSNBC took Cernovich's bad-faith reading at face value and fired Seder." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Teevee executives are not very bright people & even obvious satire is way over their heads. When there's a possibility that one of these guys is in your audience, be sure to end your remark with "Only kidding!" Sure, it ruins the punchline, but it will save you from being the brunt of ridiculous rumors.

Beyond the Beltway

Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "Michael T. Slager, the white police officer whose video-recorded killing of an unarmed black motorist in North Charleston, S.C., starkly illustrated the turmoil over racial bias in American policing, was sentenced on Thursday to 20 years in prison, after the judge in the case ruled that the shooting had been a murder. The sentence was pronounced in Federal District Court in Charleston about seven months after Mr. Slager pleaded guilty to violating the civil rights of Walter L. Scott when he shot and killed him in April 2015. It concluded one of the few cases in which a police officer has been prosecuted for an on-duty shooting." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Way Beyond

Washington Post: "British Prime Minister Theresa May and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker announced Friday that they had reached an agreement for Britain to exit the bloc, a milestone that means Britain will likely move on to trade talks early next year, pending confirmation by the rest of the 27 E.U. leaders next week." This is a breaking story at 2:20 am ET. ...

... The Guardian is liveblogging updates.

News Ledes

New York Times: "The economy's vital signs are stronger than they have been in years. Companies are posting jobs faster than they can find workers to fill them. Incomes are rising. The stock market sets records seemingly every month. The latest evidence of the revival came Friday, when the Labor Department reported that American employers added 228,000 jobs in November. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.1 percent, the lowest since 2000. Job growth has slowed since its peak in 2014 but remains remarkably steady: For the first time on record, employers have added jobs every month for more than seven years -- 86 months, to be precise."

Los Angeles Times: "Gusty Santa Ana winds and bone-dry conditions continued to stoke major wildfires in Southern California on Thursday as Ventura County fire officials said the battle there could last well over a week. By Thursday evening, the Thomas fire had consumed 115,000 acres, destroyed 427 structures in Ventura and damaged at least 85 more.... An additional 12 structures were destroyed in unincorporated areas of Ventura County. As the blaze intruded on Santa Barbara County, residents living in Carpinteria, Summerland and other coastal communities nearby were told to prepare to evacuate...."

The Commentariat -- December 7, 2017

Afternoon Update:

Mike Lillis of the Hill: "House Democrats will oppose a short-term spending bill when it comes to the floor Thursday afternoon, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said hours before. The announcement puts the onus on GOP leaders to gather the 218 votes they'll need to pass the measure largely on their own -- a feat they've been unable to accomplish on a long list of budget bills going back to 2011, when they took the House gavel."

Joe Concha of the Hill: "Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) former presidential campaign manager, Steve Schmidt, said early Thursday that President Trump was 'clearly slurring his words' during an announcement that the U.S. will recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, adding that 'the impairment is chilling.' 'I don't know the cause of it, but when you combine it with [Sen.] Bob Corker's critique that the president of the United States is unstable, that he's dangerous, when you look at the private comments that are made by members of Congress around his stability, you look at his actions in recent weeks,' said Schmidt.... 'Morning Joe' co-host Joe Scarborough has questioned Trump's mental fitness on several occasions in the past, with the former GOP congressman most recently stating on Nov. 30 that 'people close to him during the campaign' told him 'he had early stages of dementia.'"

Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "Michael T. Slager, the white police officer whose video-recorded killing of an unarmed black motorist in North Charleston, S.C., starkly illustrated the turmoil over racial bias in American policing, was sentenced on Thursday to 20 years in prison, after the judge in the case ruled that the shooting had been a murder. The sentence was pronounced in Federal District Court in Charleston about seven months after Mr. Slager pleaded guilty to violating the civil rights of Walter L. Scott when he shot and killed him in April 2015. It concluded one of the few cases in which a police officer has been prosecuted for an on-duty shooting."

Ryan Grim of the Intercept: "Progressive radio and television personality Sam Seder will be offered his MSNBC contributor job back and plans to accept, according to multiple MSNBC sources. Seder and MSNBC were set to part ways when his contributor contract expired next year, with reports indicating the departure had to do with a 2009 tweet from Seder surfaced by the far-right provocateur Mike Cernovich. After initially caving in to right-wing internet outrage over the tweet, MSNBC reversed its decision to not renew Seder's contract.... Cernovich is a right-wing provocateur and conspiracy theorist who works in hand-in-glove with white supremacists. Cernovich dug up a 2009 tweet from Seder and claimed it endorsed rape. The tweet was meant as a satirical criticism of accused rapist Roman Polanski's liberal defenders, but MSNBC took Cernovich's bad-faith reading at face value and fired Seder." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Teevee executives are not very bright people & even obvious satire is way over their heads. When there's a possibility that one of these guys is in your audience, be sure to end your remark with "Only kidding!" Sure, it ruins the punchline, but it will save you from being the brunt of ridiculous rumors.

*****

NEW. Loveday Morris & Ruth Eglash of the Washington Post: "Palestinian protesters battled Israeli soldiers on Thursday in Jerusalem, Ramallah and other places in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, one day after President Trump announced that his administration would recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The Palestinian Authority called for a general strike in Palestinian cities. In Gaza, the Islamist Hamas movement urged its followers to ignite a third intifada, or uprising, against Israel. Shops in Jerusalem's Old City were shuttered. On the edge of the Palestinian city of Ramallah, Israeli forces fired dozens of rounds of tear gas and stun grenades at hundreds of Palestinian protesters gathering to air their anger over Trump's statement." ...

... Mark Landler of the New York Times: "President Trump on Wednesday fformally recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, reversing nearly seven decades of American foreign policy and setting in motion a plan to move the United States Embassy from Tel Aviv to the fiercely contested Holy City." ...

... NEW. Josh Dawsey, et al., of the Washington Post: "For two decades, U.S. presidents had promised to do what Trump did Wednesday, but they ultimately issued repeated waivers to a law requiring relocation of the embassy. They said they were postponing the issue in hopes that it could be addressed in an eventual Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.... Several advisers said he did not seem to have a full understanding of the issue and instead appeared to be focused on 'seeming pro-Israel,' in the words of one, and 'making a deal,' in the words of another.... 'The decision wasn't driven by the peace process,' one senior official said. 'The decision was driven by his campaign promise.'" ...

... Trumpbot Nation. Mark Landler: "For Mr. Trump, the status of Jerusalem was always more a political imperative than a diplomatic dilemma. Faced with disappointing evangelical and pro-Israel backers like [Sheldon] Adelson, or alarming allies and Arab leaders while jeopardizing his own peace initiative, the president sided with his key supporters. In doing so, Mr. Trump invited opprobrium from foreign leaders, who said the move was reckless and self-defeating. He also acted against the counsel of Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who worried about anti-American blowback, not least to diplomats and troops serving overseas. Mr. Trump conceded the provocative nature of his decision. But as he has before..., the president on Wednesday seemed to relish playing a familiar role: the political insurgent, defying foreign policy orthodoxy on behalf of the people who elected him." ...

... Josh Rogin of the Washington Post: "The State Department has set up a 24-hour task force to collect information and coordinate response to Trump's speech, which has already caused protests at several U.S. embassies and consulates abroad.... Such a move is typically made to address a security concern or when American lives can be in danger. Examples of past task forces include the Japanese and Haiti earthquakes, the Kenyan elections and the attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi. ''Trump is putting diplomats as well as American citizens at risk,' one official said. 'He is putting a bullseye on the U.S. and making Israel a target for more violence right before the holidays, which always is a time for high alerts.'" ...

... Brian Bennett of the Los Angeles Times: "The White House said President Trump's slurred speech at the end of his announcement about Jerusalem was no more than a case of dry mouth.... The slurred word prompted questions on social media about why the president stumbled over the phrase at the end of his speech. Trump regularly ridiculed ... Hillary Clinton over health concerns during the 2016 campaign, repeatedly questioning her stamina and strength." Mrs. McC: Really? Did the "White House" given Trump a physical? This is not a credible explanation. Surely after the screw-up just a few weeks ago, Trump's staff made sure he had water available. So it's something else. ...

     ... In today's thread, Victoria has an interesting & plausible theory about what is causing Trump's slurred speech.

... Pope Pops Trump. Philip Pullella of Reuters: "Pope Francis, speaking hours before ... Donald Trump;s announcement on Jerusalem, called on Wednesday for the city's 'status quo' to be respected, saying new tension in the Middle East would further inflame world conflicts." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

"Trump Threatens Government Shutdown, Blames Democrats." Jane Timm of NBC News: "... Donald Trump said Wednesday that a government shutdown 'could happen' and blamed Democrats for the looming threat, claiming 'they want to have illegal immigrants pouring into the country, bringing with them crime.' 'Democrats are really looking at something very dangerous for our country. They are looking at shutting down, they want to have illegal immigrants, in many cases people that we don't want in our country,' Trump told reporters at the White House. 'We don't want to have that, we want to have a great, beautiful, crime-free country.' It's the latest swipe at Democratic leaders from the president, who needs the party's help to keep the government open and funded past Friday. And it's an exaggeration of what Democrats have said they want: protections for Dreamers, or recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program -- young immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents, who work and live and pay taxes here." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Um, it's not an "exaggeration." It's a lie.

The Russia Report

** It Was Always about the Money. Mark Mazzetti & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "Michael T. Flynn, President Trump's former national security adviser, told a former business associate that economic sanctions against Russia would be 'ripped up' as one of the Trump administration's first acts, according to an account by a whistle-blower made public on Wednesday. Mr. Flynn believed that ending the sanctions could allow a business project he had once participated in to move forward, according to the whistle-blower. The account is the strongest evidence to date that the Trump administration wanted to end the sanctions immediately, and suggests that Mr. Flynn had a possible economic incentive for the United States to forge a closer relationship with Russia. Mr. Flynn had worked on a business venture to partner with Russia to build nuclear power plants in the Middle East until June 2016, but remained close with the people involved afterward. On Inauguration Day, according to the whistle-blower, Mr. Flynn texted the former business associate to say that the project was 'good to go.' The account is detailed in a letter written by Representative Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee. In the letter, Mr. Cummings said that the whistle-blower contacted his office in June and has authorized him to go public with the details. He did not name the whistle-blower." ...

... The Best People, Ctd. Ryan Hutchins of Politico: "New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Wednesday he was ousted as head of ... Donald Trump's transition due in part to his opposition to the hiring of Michael Flynn.... Christie has long said he had concerns about the retired three-star Army general, though he had never said exactly why.... When Christie was fired on Nov. 11, Flynn and former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon tossed binders full of potential personnel picks into the trash to celebrate the departure.... It was ultimately Trump himself who decided to ignore Christie's recommendation against hiring Flynn, two former transition officials had said...."

Manu Raju & Jeremy Herb of CNN: "Donald Trump Jr. would not tell House investigators Wednesday what he and his father discussed after reports surfaced about a June 2016 meeting he had in Trump Tower with Russians, citing attorney-client privilege.... Donald Trump and his son had a conversation this summer after Trump Jr. produced emails about his involvement in the Trump Tower meeting, according to Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat and the committee's ranking member who attended the Wednesday session. At the classified hearing, Trump Jr. acknowledged speaking with senior White House aide Hope Hicks to help craft a response to the initial reports, sources said. But Trump Jr. did not provide details about communications with his father and invoked attorney-client privilege because of the presence of attorneys during the exchange with his father." Mrs. McC: As Schiff pointed out in his remarks, there's no such thing as an attorney-client privilege between parent & child, & the presence of lawyers is immaterial. ...

... Manu Raju & Jeremy Herb of CNN: "Donald Trump Jr. told House investigators that he did not communicate directly with his father when confronted with news reports about his June 2016 Trump Tower meeting, according to multiple sources with knowledge of his testimony. Instead, Trump Jr. said he was speaking to White House aide Hope Hicks about how to respond to the reports. He said ... Donald Trump ... was debating between a longer and a shorter statement while the President and Hicks were aboard Air Force One. Hicks was aboard Air Force One and was speaking with Trump while the statement was being crafted.... While aboard Air Force One, Trump took part in crafting his son's initial response to the reports of the meeting, which was sent out through the Trump Organization under Trump Jr.'s name." ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: Okay, Junior talked to Daddy, but he's not telling what-all they discussed. Then he talked to the woman who steam-irons Daddy's pants (while Daddy is wearing them), but not to Daddy, about what-all would be in "his" response to the press. This makes sense in that it covers for Daddy's participation in obstructing justice, but it doesn't make sense unless he's trying to save Daddy's fat ass. Meanwhile, we see why Hicks got a promotion to communications director; it was a bribe to make sure she'd fall on her sword (or steam iron). It doesn't appear Junior is nearly as good at lying as is his old man. ...

... Sharon LaFraniere & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "While he refused to recount his conversation with his father, the younger Mr. Trump told the committee about his earlier discussions with the White House adviser Hope Hicks about how to respond to the coming Times article, first published on July 8. His statement said the Trump Tower meeting was primarily about the ability of Americans to adopt Russian children. It made no mention of any promise of incriminating information from the Russian government against Mrs. Clinton.... He said that he was unable to remember a phone call that took place as he was discussing the need for the meeting with a Russian intermediary.... Mr. Trump was also asked about his private Twitter communications last fall with WikiLeaks, the antisecrecy group whose release of a trove of hacked emails rocked Mrs. Clinton's campaign. Mr. Trump told the committee that he considered WikiLeaks to be an independent news organization much like CNN or NBC...." ...

It's time to call out WikiLeaks for what it really is: a nonstate hostile intelligence service often abetted by state actors like Russia. -- CIA Director Mike Pompeo, a Trump appointee, April 2017

... Josh Meyer of Politico: "Congressional investigators are scrutinizing trips to Europe taken last year by several associates of ... Donald Trump, amid concern they may have met with Kremlin-linked operatives as part of Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election. Several people close to then-candidate Trump visited Europe during and after the campaign, including his son Donald Trump Jr., Trump lawyer Michael Cohen and foreign policy advisers Carter Page, George Papadopoulos and Jeffrey Gordon.... Their explanations of those trips have not always been forthcoming, and some congressional investigators find their stories suspect.... Trump Jr. flew to Paris late in the campaign to meet with and speak before a foreign policy group with ties to Russian officials."

Sam Thielman of TPM: "TPM has obtained what appears to be the draft opinion article that Paul Manafort allegedly helped to ghostwrite, getting him in hot water with federal prosecutors and potentially the judge in his criminal case.... The draft op-ed, which can be read in full at the bottom of this article, could be described as a love letter to Manafort, crediting him with a number of pro-Western advances in Ukraine.... The op-ed is strikingly similar to the way Manafort has defended himself from charges of propping up a tyrant...." Thielman adds some detail on the possible provenance of the work of fiction. ...

... Jeremy Stahl of Slate: "As a reminder, here are some of the things that Manafort has already been accused of doing in Mueller's indictment related to alleged secret work done on behalf of a pro-Russian Ukrainian political party: Concealing payments of millions of dollars for pro-Russian lobbying work in Ukraine. Laundering millions of dollars through dummy companies 'to enjoy a lavish lifestyle in the United States.' Evading taxes on those millions of dollars. Lying to federal investigators and on federal forms about these activities. Using money from these activities to defraud banks to the tune of millions of more dollars of loans. Those are just the alleged criminal activities we already know about. On Wednesday, it was reported by CNN that more charges could be coming."

Devlin Barrett & Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post: "Republican activists and lawmakers are engaged in a multi-front attack on special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's probe of possible connections between associates of President Trump and Russian agents, trying to stop or curtail the investigation.... For months, the president and his allies have been seizing on any whiff of possible impropriety by Mueller's team or the FBI to argue that the Russia probe is stacked against Trump.... Several law enforcement officials said they are concerned that the constant drumbeat of conservative criticism seems designed to erode Mueller's credibility, making it more politically palatable to remove, restrict or simply ignore his recommendations as his investigation progresses. Fox News Channel personality Sean Hannity, one of the president's informal advisers as well as one of hi most vociferous defenders, on Tuesday night called Mueller 'a disgrace to the American justice system' and said his team is 'corrupt, abusively biased and political.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: The Hannitys and Nuneses are the ideological descendents of the right-wing perpetrators of the 1940 & '50s "Red Scare," Joe McCarthy & the House Unamerican Activites Committee. The goal of these guys was to ferret out anyone who might have belonged to the Communist party at some time in the past & ruin their careers or imprison them (see Smith Act). Now, as Russia is even more successfully undermining the federal government, these wingers have come full circle & are aiding & abetting Russia. It's mindboggling, but for the fact that then, as now, the objective has been to undermine democratic principles & establish repressive, authoritarian control, especially of non-Christians & people of color (see, for instance, Paul Robeson).

** Thank You for Your Service. Now Go Find a Cardboard Shelter. Arthur Allen & Lorraine Woellert of Politico: "Four days after Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin held a big Washington event to tout the Trump administration's promise to house all homeless vets, the agency did an about-face, telling advocates it was pulling resources from a major housing program. The VA said it was essentially ending a special $460 million program that has dramatically reduced homelessness among chronically sick and vulnerable veterans. Instead, the money would go to local VA hospitals that can use it as they like, as long as they show evidence of dealing with homelessness. Anger exploded on a Dec. 1 call that was arranged by Shulkin's Advisory Committee on Homeless Veterans to explain the move. Advocates for veterans, state officials and even officials from HUD, which co-sponsors the program, attacked the decision, according to five people who were on the call.... The agency's move came as HUD on Wednesday released its annual survey showing a 1.5 percent increase in veteran homelessness over 2016 -- the first rise since 2010."

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Republican leaders moved closer on Wednesday to resolving some key differences between the House and Senate tax bills, though several big issues, including the size of the corporate tax cut, remained in flux. As the Senate voted to begin the process of reconciling its tax bill with he House version, the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, threw his support behind allowing a more generous state and local tax deduction in the final legislation.... Right now, both bills would only allow taxpayers to deduct property taxes and cap that at $10,000.... Complicating the discussions is the need to ensure that the overall bill stays in the $1.5 trillion bucket lawmakers have budgeted for the cuts. All the changes under discussion would cost money, requiring lawmakers to find ways to offset the effect on the deficit." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: That would be because the whole tax heist is "financed" by ballooning the deficit. But not to worry. The Great American Flim-Flam man has announced the GOP's plan to "fix" that. ...

... AND Away We Go! Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) said Wednesday that congressional Republicans will aim next year to reduce spending on both federal health care and anti-poverty programs, citing the need to reduce America's deficit.... 'Frankly, it's the health care entitlements that are the big drivers of our debt, so we spend more time on the health care entitlements -- because that's really where the problem lies, fiscally speaking.' Ryan said that he believes he has begun convincing President Trump in their private conversations about the need to rein in Medicare.... As a candidate, Trump vowed not to cut spending on Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid. (Ryan also suggested congressional Republicans were unlikely to try changing Social Security, because the rules of the Senate forbid changes to the program through reconciliation -- the procedure the Senate can use to pass legislation with only 50 votes.)" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie Translation: We need tax cuts for the rich so we can make sick people sicker & poor people poorer. It would be great to throw old people out in the streets, but those obstructionist Democrats won't go along.

For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.... And the King will say, 'I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me! 'Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, 'Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons.' -- Attributed to Jesus, Matthew 25:35-41

I think he meant "those on the right." -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

Helaine Olen of the Washington Post: Susan Collins is either getting hosed on promises made to her (one from Trump, one from McConnell!) re: health insurance or she doesn't care & was just looking for an excuse to vote for the tax heist. Olen writes that the bills Collins wants to get passed & signed into law wouldn't do much to keep ]remiums down (and would be sunsetted after two years anyway), but there's a good chance Congress will ignore her proposed bills. "Will Collins vote for the bill in the end? I'd predict public hemming and hawing and expressions of 'concern' from Collins -- before she goes along and votes yes. Mrs. McC: Olen pretty much pegs Collins as a craven dolt.

The Republicans yell states' rights all the time, but they're hypocrites. The last time Congress passed a bill to impose the laws of one state on a different state, it was the Fugitive Slave Act. -- Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y) (slight paraphrase) ...

... Guns for Everybody, Everywhere. Nicholas Fandos: "The House on Wednesday easily passed a sweeping expansion of the right to carry concealed firearms virtually anywhere in the country, putting the fate of the National Rifle Association's top legislative priority in the hands of a divided Senate. To win over Democrats, House Republicans paired the measure, which would require all states to recognize any other state's concealed-carry permit, with a more modest bipartisan fix meant to incentivize better reporting of legal and mental health records to the national background check system. Together, the measures were the first gun-related bill to pass through the chamber since two of the deadliest mass shootings in the United States, in Las Vegas and Sutherland Springs, Tex., in the fall. But the background check measure was not enough to win over most Democrats, nor did it persuade law enforcement officials in some of the largest cities, including New York, who say the legislation would force locales with strict gun laws to bow to places with few or no gun restrictions. Passage in the Senate would almost certainly require 60 votes to overcome a Democratic filibuster...." ...

... Gail Collins: "The gun bill's Republican handlers refused to permit an amendment banning bump stocks. Those are the devices that were used by the gunman who killed 58 people in Las Vegas. But you knew that, right? We now live in a country where average people know what's required if you want to make an assault rifle work like a machine gun.... Liz Cheney [R-Nuts] of Wyoming declared the right to carry a concealed weapon is 'God given.' We will not pursue the question of What Would Jesus Pack."

Yamiche Alcindor & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "More than half the Senate’s Democrats, including the Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer of New York, called for Senator Al Franken to resign Wednesday, after a sixth woman came forward to charge that the Minnesota Democrat had made an improper advance on her. 'Senator Franken should resign,' Mr. Schumer said in a statement. 'I consider Senator Franken a dear friend and greatly respect his accomplishments, but he has a higher obligation to his constituents and the Senate, and he should step down immediately.' Mr. Franken scheduled an announcement Thursday on his future in the Senate, and Minnesota Public Radio reported that he would be leaving." ...

... Brian Bakst of Minnesota Public Radio: "A Democratic official who has spoken to Al Franken and key aides says Franken will resign his Minnesota Senate seat on Thursday, the official tells MPR News. The official spoke to Franken and separately to Franken's staff. A staff member told the official that Franken had gone to his Washington home to discuss his plans with family." ...

... Matt Shuham of TPM: "Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) denied a report Wednesday that he had decided to resign the following day. Minnesota Public Radio had reported, citing an unnamed Democratic official who had spoken to Franken and his staff, that the senator would resign Thursday. Shortly after the story went live, however, Franken’s office said it was 'not accurate.'" ...

... Maggie Severns of Politico: "Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton is expected to appoint his lieutenant governor and close ally, Tina Smith, to Al Franken's seat if the Democratic senator resigns on Thursday, three people familiar with the Democratic governor's thinking said. But that appointment would be just the start of an upheaval in Minnesota. Part of the reason Smith could be heading to the Senate, the sources said, is that she has indicated no interest in running for Congress in the past and would not run for the remainder of Franken's term, which expires in 2020, in a 2018 special election. That would clear the way for a wide open Democratic primary next year if Franken steps down." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: In other words, let's give Republicans every advantage possible, other than just not fielding a candidate at all. Dumb. ...

... Heather Caygle of Politico: "A former Democratic congressional aide said Al Franken tried to forcibly kiss her after a taping of his radio show in 2006, three years before he became a U.S. senator. The aide, whose name Politico is withholding to protect her identity, said Franken (D-Minn.) pursued her after her boss had left the studio. She said she was gathering her belongings to follow her boss out of the room. When she turned around, Franken was in her face. The former staffer ducked to avoid Franken's lips. As she hastily left the room, she said, Franken told her: 'It's my right as an entertainer.'... Franken, who has been accused by six other women of groping or trying to forcibly kiss them, denied the accusation." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Elana Schor & Seung Min Kim of Politico: "A half-dozen female senators on Wednesday called on Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) to resign in the wake of multiple sexual misconduct allegations against him. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand was the first of Franken's fellow Senate Democrats to take that step and was quickly followed by Democratic Sens. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Patty Murray of Washington and Kamala Harris of California." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Ed Kilgore takes a sober & sensible look at Senate Democrats' sudden decision to urge Franken to resign. "The obvious answer is that Democrats have significantly less leverage over Trump than over one of their own. But clearly some people think Democrats shouldn't unilaterally disarm by disciplining a grabby senator when a grabber of a different order is allowed to run the country. That's an argument Democrats must squarely confront. It would be good if they could get it all straight overnight." See also Jeanne's comment in today's thread. ...

... Rebecca Savransky of the Hill: "A vast majority of respondents in a new poll think Congress should investigate sexual harassment allegations made against President Trump. A new Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday finds 70 percent of respondents think Congress should investigate the allegations. Just one-quarter of respondents think Congress shouldn't investigate the accusations." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: The downside for Republicans: they would expose Trump's disgusting serial pussy-grabbing. etc. The upside: the Gross Old Pervs would get real thrills out of "investigating" sexual abuse. Luckily for the rest of us, they work from behind humungous desks.

... Lindsey Bever & Abby Ohlheiser of the Washington Post: "Time magazine has named 'The Silence Breakers' as its 2017 Person of the Year, recognizing the women (and some men) who came forward with stories of sexual harassment and assault and helped force a nationwide reckoning. The magazine calls them 'the voices that launched a movement.' Among them Ashley Judd and Rose McGowan, the actresses whose stunning accusations against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein helped lead to his downfall; and activist Tarana Burke, creator of the #MeToo movement, along with the Hollywood star who amplified it on social media, Alyssa Milano." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Here's the Time cover story. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Abettor of the Year. Julia Manchester of the Hill: "White House counselor Kellyanne Conway defended President Trump's endorsement of Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore on Wednesday.... 'The president has tremendous moral standards. He has said, the White House has said the allegations are troubling,' Conway told CNN's Chris Cuomo on 'New Day,' after Cuomo said 'the president seems to have no moral standard at play.'" This would appear to be another alternative fact in which the allegations are "troubling" only because the women are all liars (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Lachlan Markay & Asawin Suebsaeng of the Daily Beast: "... Donald Trump has privately told confidants over the past week that he firmly believes Roy Moore's innocence and feels no hesitation at all about endorsing the embattled Alabama Senate candidate, three sources close to the president tell The Daily Beast." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

Kelly Weill & Katie Zavadski of the Daily Beast: "Harvey Weinstein and the Weinstein Company are the subjects of a new class-action lawsuit in federal court that accuses them of a pattern of racketeering to cover up Weinstein's alleged serial sexual assaults. The plaintiffs, six women, seek to be certified as a class to sue on grounds of racketeering, civil battery, assault, and intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress. All six women say Weinstein sexually assaulted them when they auditioned for him or met him at a company-sponsored events." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... ** Yes, Harvey Weinstein Is a Crime Boss. Alyssa Rosenberg of the Washington Post: "... as more details about [Harvey] Weinstein's behavior emerge -- most recently in a report from the New York Times entitled 'Weinstein's Complicity Machine' -- the more this legal argument feels like a potent metaphorical description of the people who facilitated and concealed Weinstein's decades of depredation. Weinstein's alleged ability to carry off an astonishing list of crimes depended on the participation of a disturbing number of other people.... Reportedly Weinstein was the boss, and he had a highly organized hierarchy of underbosses, caporegimes, soldiers and associates working under him." ...

... Congressional Races

Jamel Bouie: "Nothing substantive about the [Roy Moore] story has changed since the Post first broke the allegations. Moore's accusers haven't changed their stories, although Moore has changed his story on his memory of the women, first saying he remembered two of them and later denying that he knew any of them. What has changed is Moore's political position. When he appeared weak and likely to lose, senior Republicans kept their distance. Now, with stronger prospects, they're prepared to welcome him into the fold. Call it the Access Hollywood phenomenon.... [Upon the release of the Access Hollywood tape,] Republican leaders moved quickly to distance themselves from [Trump].... As Election Day approached, and the race between Trump and Clinton tightened, Republican lawmakers began downplaying their criticism.... Trump, for his part, responded to the allegations by framing them as part of a global conspiracy to thwart his nationalist movement, echoing the anti-Semitic rallying cries of the alt-right."

Josh Dawsey of the Washington: "President Trump is pushing Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) to run for the U.S. Senate, according to White House advisers. Trump has told advisers that he plans to call LePage, who endorsed him in February 2016, and ask him to jump in against Sen. Angus King in 2018 and offer his endorsement. King is an independent who often caucuses with the Democrats." Mrs. McC: Hey, Maine already has one U.S. senator who's a crave dolt. Why not two?

Andrew Blankstein & Alex Johnson of NBC News: "John Conyers III, a Detroit hedge fund manager named as a possible successor to his scandal-rocked father, Rep. John Conyers, was arrested in Los Angeles this year on suspicion of domestic violence, but prosecutors declined to charge him, according to documents obtained by NBC News." Oh, read on.

... Mrs. McCrabbie: Our candidates for public office are so special.

Outside of Washington, D.C., there is some encouraging news. ...

Beyond the Beltway

Linda Blackford of the Lexington Herald-Leader: "David Ermold, one of the men denied a same-sex marriage license by Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis in 2015, hopes to challenge her for the clerk's seat next year, he announced Wednesday. Davis set off an international furor when she denied a marriage license to Ermold and his partner, David Moore, despite a U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding the right for same-sex couples to marry. Davis, who said providing the license violated her religious beliefs, continued to withhold the license, even after a federal judge ordered her to issue it.... The issue was solved when one of her deputies, Brian Mason, agreed to issue licenses, and in 2016 the Kentucky General Assembly established an alternate license." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Now here's a candidate for office whom I can support. Even if Ermold is not particularly fabulous, the poetic justice of his replacing L'il Kim would be a thing of beauty.

He Doth Protest Too Much. Tommy Christopher of Shareblue: "Apparently, when Republican elected officials aren't practicing or enabling sexual predation, they're busy projecting it onto others. At least, that's what appears to have happened this week when state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R-PA) was the victim of a gentle arm-touch during a committee meeting, and lashed out at fellow lawmaker, Democratic Rep. Matt Bradford. As Bradford tried to finish a thought by gently patting Metcalfe on the forearm (over his clothes), Metcalfe went on a rant about how he loves his wife, and doesn't like men, and could he please go molest some Democrats who might like that sort of thing.... A stunned Bradford could only try and laugh it off, but now, the state's Democratic governor, Tom Wolf, is calling on Pennsylvania House leadership to remove Metcalfe from the state's civil rights committee, citing a history of discriminatory statements...." With video.

Way Beyond

Michael Koziol of the Sydney Morning Herald: "Australia has officially become the 26th country to legalise same-sex marriage after the law was passed on Thursday with the overwhelming backing of the Federal Parliament. Thirteen years after changing the Marriage Act to explicitly forbid same-sex unions, federal politicians voted to undo the last major piece of discrimination against gay and lesbian Australians. It followed last month's emphatic resolution of the Australian public in the postal survey to join the rest of the English-speaking world by embracing marriage equality."

News Lede

Los Angeles Times: "Several homes were destroyed by a wildfire in Bel-Air on Wednesday, and authorities warned of potentially catastrophic winds continuing through at least Thursday. Authorities said high winds -- which could top 50 mph in some areas -- create an 'extreme fire danger.'... The Los Angeles school system has canceled classes at many San Fernando Valley campuses and officials are bracing for more fires across the region. Powerful winds can worsen existing fires but also help fan new ones. About midnight, UCLA canceled Thursday classes 'given the array of uncertainties caused by the fire near campus,' according to an alert posted on the university's website.... Los Angeles police warned Brentwood residents to prepare to evacuate in case a wind shift sends embers westward."

The Commentariat -- December 6, 2017

Afternoon Update:

Heather Caygle of Politico: "A former Democratic congressional aide said Al Franken tried to forcibly kiss her after a taping of his radio show in 2006, three years before he became a U.S. senator. The aide, whose name Politico is withholding..., said Franken (D-Minn.) pursued her after her boss had left the studio. She said she was gathering her belongings to follow her boss out of the room. When she turned around, Franken was in her face. The former staffer ducked to avoid Franken's lips. As she hastily left the room, she said, Franken told her: 'It's my right as an entertainer.'... Franken, who has been accused by six other women of groping or trying to forcibly kiss them, denied the accusation." ...

... Elana Schor & Seung Min Kim of Politico: "A half-dozen female senators on Wednesday called on Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) to resign in the wake of multiple sexual misconduct allegations against him. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand was the first of Franken's fellow Senate Democrats to take that step and was quickly followed by Democratic Sens. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Patty Murray of Washington and Kamala Harris of California." ...

... Lindsey Bever & Abby Ohlheiser of the Washington Post: "Time magazine has named 'The Silence Breakers' as its 2017 Person of the Year, recognizing the women (and some men) who came forward with stories of sexual harassment and assault and helped force a nationwide reckoning. The magazine calls them 'the voices that launched a movement.' Among them Ashley Judd and Rose McGowan, the actresses whose stunning accusations against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein helped lead to his downfall; and activist Tarana Burke, creator of the #MeToo movement, along with the Hollywood star who amplified it on social media, Alyssa Milano." ...

... Here's the Time cover story. ...

... Abettor of the Year. Julia Manchester of the Hill: "White House counselor Kellyanne Conway defended President Trump's endorsement of Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore on Wednesday.... 'The president has tremendous moral standards. He has said, the White House has said the allegations are troubling,' Conway told CNN's Chris Cuomo on 'New Day,' after Cuomo said 'the president seems to have no moral standard at play.'" ...

... Lachlan Markay & Asawin Suebsaeng of the Daily Beast: "... Donald Trump has privately told confidants over the past week that he firmly believes Roy Moore's innocence and feels no hesitation at all about endorsing the embattled Alabama Senate candidate, three sources close to the president tell The Daily Beast." ...

Kelly Weill & Katie Zavadski of the Daily Beast: "Harvey Weinstein and the Weinstein Company are the subjects of a new class-action lawsuit in federal court that accuses them of a pattern of racketeering to cover up Weinstein's alleged serial sexual assaults. The plaintiffs, six women, seek to be certified as a class to sue on grounds of racketeering, civil battery, assault, and intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress. All six women say Weinstein sexually assaulted them when they auditioned for him or met him at a company-sponsored events."

Pope Pops Trump. Philip Pullella of Reuters: "Pope Francis, speaking hours before ... Donald Trump's announcement on Jerusalem, called on Wednesday for the city's 'status quo' to be respected, saying new tension in the Middle East would further inflame world conflicts."

*****

Mark Landler & David Halbfinger of the New York Times: "President Trump told Israeli and Arab leaders on Tuesday that he plans to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a symbolically fraught move that would upend decades of American policy and upset efforts to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Mr. Trump is expected to announce his decision on Wednesday, two days after the expiration of a deadline for him to decide whether to keep the American Embassy in Tel Aviv. Palestinian officials said Mr. Trump told the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, that the United States would move the embassy to Jerusalem. Jordan said the president gave a similar message to King Abdullah II. American officials, however, said such a move could not occur immediately for logistical reasons.... As a result, Mr. Trump is expected to sign a national security waiver that would authorize the administration to keep it in Tel Aviv for an additional six months. Still, Mr. Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital -- and to set in motion an embassy move -- is his riskiest foray yet into the thicket of Middle East diplomacy." (Also linked yesterday afternoon. The story has been updated.) ...

... Nick Wadhams, et al., of Bloomberg: "... in a sign the announcement could be more symbolic than substantive, the White House warned that any actual move would take years and that the specific boundaries of Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem are still subject to peace talks that have bedeviled U.S. presidents for decades." ...

... Sarah Wildman of Vox: "The administration's planned announcement is already sparking fury across the Arab world. A spokeswoman for [Palestinian President Mahmoud] Abbas's office issued a statement early Tuesday warning of 'dangerous consequences' if Trump moves forward with plans to eventually move the embassy. King Abdullah [of Jordan] was equally critical, saying in a statement that the White House shift on Jerusalem 'will undermine the efforts of the American administration to resume the peace process.' Right-wing Israeli leaders, by contrast, didn't try to disguise their happiness."

... Yanqui Go Home. Gardiner Harris of the New York Times: "Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson's reception in Brussels was distinctly chilly, as disappointment among European diplomats in President Trump's nationalistic tone and insulting messages on Twitter built into quiet fury on the eve of an expected announcement that the United States would recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Such a move could infuriate the Palestinians, who want East Jerusalem to be their capital in a future Palestinian state. In a brief public appearance beside Mr. Tillerson, Federica Mogherini, the European Union's top diplomat ... made clear that the European Union saw the Trump administration's possible announcement on Jerusalem as a threat to peace in the Middle East.... Ms. Mogherini also warned the United States not to walk away from the Iran nuclear deal, something President Trump has said he may do.... Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel of Germany declared at a foreign policy conference in Berlin that relations with the United States 'will never be the same' and said that the Trump administration increasingly viewed Europe as a 'competitor or economic rival' rather than an ally. On Monday, President Emmanuel Macron of France warned Mr. Trump in a phone call that recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel was a bad idea, joining leaders from Jordan, Egypt, Turkey and the Arab League in speaking out publicly against the move." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: In less than a year, Donald Trump has alienated all our allies & foes alike. We are now a second-tier nation -- the Turkey of North America. That's quite a feat. Was that the plan all along? It looks that way; that is, Trump's desire for an alliance with Russia was just one leg of a plan to make the U.S. & Russia, along with some other authoritarian nations (like Turkey) a new "Axis of Evil."

The Russia Scandal, Ctd.

Steven Arons of Bloomberg: "Special prosecutor Robert Mueller zeroed in on ... Donald Trump's business dealings with Deutsche Bank AG as his investigation into alleged Russian meddling in U.S. elections widens. Mueller issued a subpoena to Germany's largest lender several weeks ago, forcing the bank to submit documents on its relationship with Trump and his family, according to a person briefed on the matter, who asked not to be identified because the action has not been announced.... Deutsche Bank for months has rebuffed calls by Democratic lawmakers to provide more transparency over the roughly $300 million Trump owed to the bank for his real estate dealings prior to becoming president. Representative Maxine Waters of California and other Democrats have asked whether the bank's loans to Trump, made years before he ran for president, were in any way connected to Russia. The bank previously rejected those demands.... Handelsblatt reported the subpoena earlier on Tuesday." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Josh Marshall: "This is a critical development. As we've discussed before..., all major banks have for years refused to do business with Donald Trump. The exception is Deutsche Bank, which is of course not a US bank but does substantial business in the US and is on the scale of other big banks that have refused to do business with the now President. Why Deutsche Bank still works with Trump (they financed most of the DC Trump hotel project, for instance) is a basic question running through the Russia story.... Lots of Russian money goes through Deutsche Bank and indeed the bank has been repeatedly fined for Russian money laundering. The Deutsche Bank subpoena is certainly about probing the President's financial ties to Russia.... This is the kind of move Trump has suggested might provoke him to fire Mueller." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Stephen Collinson of CNN: "... Donald Trump's legal defense against Robert Mueller's unrelenting special counsel investigation is beginning to look as chaotic as his early days in the White House. A sequence of reflexive tweets and comments about the Russia probe from the White House and Trump's legal team has spectacularly backfired, suggesting that the administration was knocked off balance by news of Michael Flynn's plea deal and raising questions about whether its struggles reflect a deteriorating legal position for the President." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Don't Tell Mikey? Elizabeth Landers, et al., of CNN: "New revelations about Michael Flynn's lies to the FBI are laying bare Vice President Mike Pence's in-the-dark strategy when it comes to Russia's election meddling, raising new questions about whether he could have been left in the dark as he has argued for nearly a year.... Pence -- who was in charge of Trump's transition -- knew Flynn had contacted Russia, but was left unaware of the sanctions discussion, according to transition officials.... In the days since Flynn's guilty plea was unveiled last week, seven people close to the vice president continue to maintain that Pence did not know Flynn spoke with Kislyak about Russian sanctions, despite being the head of the Trump transition. But among top transition officials, Pence would have been largely alone in his lack of knowledge." ...

... Ken Dilanian &Natasha Lebedeva of NBC News: "Donald Trump Jr. asked a Russian lawyer at the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting whether she had evidence of illegal donations to the Clinton Foundation, the lawyer told the Senate Judiciary Committee in answers to written questions obtained exclusively by NBC News. The lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, told the committee that she didn't have any such evidence, and that she believes Trump misunderstood the nature of the meeting after receiving emails from a music promoter promising incriminating information on Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump's Democratic opponent. Once it became apparent that she did not have meaningful information about Clinton, Trump seemed to lose interest, Veselnitskaya said, and the meeting petered out.... Veselnitskaya said there was no discussion at the Trump Tower meeting of hacked or leaked emails, social media campaigns or any of the other main aspects of Russian interference in the U.S. election." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: It is illegal in the U.S. for a campaign to accept "something of value" from a foreign entity or person. I don't know if it's illegal to request something of value which you don't receive. But of course Junior anticipated obtaining something of value. He set up the meeting & invited Kushner & Manafort because "On June 3, [Rob] Goldstone wrote ... that 'the Crown prosecutor of Russia ... offered to provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father.'" ...

... Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Robert Mueller may not be through with Rick Gates, a deputy Trump campaign aide and one of the four people who have been charged as part of the special counsel probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. In a court appearance Monday in Manhattan, Gates' attorney Walter Mack said that federal prosecutors have told him that more charges, called superseding indictments, may be coming."

AND More Sad! News for Trumpelthinskin. Rebecca Savransky of the Hill: "No tweets by President Trump made Twitter's list of the year's most retweeted posts. But three tweets by former President Barack Obama made the list. Obama'stweets on 'The 9 Most Retweeted Tweets of 2017' include one with a Nelson Mandela quote that says: 'No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion.' The tweet received 1.7 million retweets and 4.6 million likes." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

** Consumer Fiancial Protection Bureau. Jessica Silver-Greenberg & Stacy Cowley of the New York Times: "The defanging of a federal consumer watchdog agency began last week in a federal courthouse in San Francisco. After a nearly three-year legal skirmish, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau appeared to have been victorious. A judge agreed in September with the bureau that a financial company had misled more than 100,000 mortgage customers. As punishment, the judge ordered the Ohio company, Nationwide Biweekly Administration, to pay nearly $8 million in penalties. All that was left was to collect the cash. Last week, lawyers from the consumer bureau filed an 11-page brief asking the judge to force Nationwide to post an $8 million bond while the proceedings wrapped up. Then Mick Mulvaney was named the consumer bureau's acting director. Barely 48 hours later, the same lawyers filed a new two-sentence brief. Their request: to withdraw their earlier submission and no longer take a position on whether Nationwide should put up the cash."

Noah Bierman of the Los Angeles Times: "The White House press briefing reached an ignominious milestone this week when a spokesman stood before reporters aboard Air Force One, read a series of prepared statements, then refused to take on-the-record questions during one of the newsiest days of the Trump presidency. The briefing for decades has been a mix of spin and information. But under President Trump, a practice established to keep the public informed and the president accountable has increasingly failed to do either, according to academic experts and current and former journalists." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: What if Mrs. Huckleberry gave a "briefing" & nobody showed up? I don't see why reporters waste their time unless it's to get a surreal quote for their papers. This is worse than it was back in the day when Stephen Colbert said, "The President makes decisions. He's the decider. The press secretary announces those decisions, and you people of the press type those decisions down. Make, announce, type. Just put 'em through a spell check and go home." Now they have to add, "But Democrats say that isn't true." I don't know if April Ryan ever got her fake "homemade" pecan pie from Mrs. H., but I do know the White House didn't invite her to its Christmas party for the press. Ryan has been on the guest list for a couple of decades.

Ron Nixon of the New York Times: "The Senate voted on Tuesday to confirm Kirstjen Nielsen as the secretary of homeland security, elevating a top White House aide and former agency official to oversee the department central to President Trump's plan to crack down on illegal immigration and beef up border security. The vote was 62 to 37."

This is gonna cost me a fortune. -- Donald Trump, at a speech in Missouri, November 29 ...

... Patricia Cohen & Jesse Drucker of the New York Times: The biggest winners in the Republican Tax Sweepstakes? -- the Trump & Kushner family businesses. "Most businesses were hit with new limits on deductions for interest payments, but not real estate.... The real estate industry ended up with an even more generous depreciation timetable, allowing owners to shelter more income. And in a break from previous practice, rental and mortgage-interest income qualifies for a lower tax rate, the kind of special treatment traditionally reserved for long-term capital gains and certain qualified dividends." ...

     ... The Trump Cabal. Mrs. McCrabbie: The most troubling part about this is not that Trump & family get a bigger tax break than other types of corporations -- it's that this is more evidence that nearly the entire Republican party has joined a corrupt scheme to enrich its titular leader. There is no chance they will impeach & convict Trump for anything. They are intentional enablers of & participants in an American coup -- the first in our history. ...

... Brian Faler of Politico: "Republicans' tax-rewrite plans are riddled with bugs, loopholes and other potential problems that could plague lawmakers long after their legislation is signed into law. Some of the provisions could be easily gamed, tax lawyers say. Their plans to cut taxes on 'pass-through' businesses in particular could open broad avenues for tax avoidance. Others would have unintended results, like a last-minute decision by the Senate to keep the alternative minimum tax, which was designed to make sure wealthy people and corporations don't escape taxes altogether. For many businesses, that would nullify the value of a hugely popular break for research and development expenses. Some provisions are so vaguely written they leave experts scratching their heads, like a proposal to begin taxing the investment earnings of rich private universities' endowments. The legislation H.R. 1 (115) doesn't explain what's considered an endowment...." ...

We Believe the Women. But So What? Jonathan Martin & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "President Trump's sudden decision on Monday to endorse Roy S. Moore and direct the Republican National Committee to restore funding for the embattled Senate candidate in Alabama undercut party officials who have disavowed him. On Tuesday, Senate leaders appeared dismayed about -- but also resigned to -- being linked to Mr. Moore's candidacy.... Mr. Trump's improvisational, and often impulsive, political decision making has become ... routine.... Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, conceded that he could not stop Mr. Moore, a former state judge, from being seated if he won the special election next Tuesday. But in an illustration of how uneasy Senate Republicans are about Mr. Moore joining their ranks, Mr. McConnell pointedly said that if Mr. Moore was elected, 'he would immediately have an issue with the Ethics Committee.'" ...

... Kevin Drum: "This is the most depraved conduct possible from the Republican Party.... They publicly accepted that the charges against Moore were credible. They agreed that this made him unfit for office. But then, when it looked like he might win, they turned around and decided to support him anyway." ...

... The Party of Gross Old Pervs. Conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post: "One can criticize the unapologetic manner in which [Conyers] left and the cheesy effort to install his son, but the important point is that the Democratic Party forced him out.... The contrast with the GOP, which stood behind President Trump even after the 'Access Hollywood' tape and now has thrown its full support behind an accused child molester, could not be greater -- or more toxic -- for the GOP. To be blunt, one party has adopted a zero-tolerance position (with Sen. Al Franken, Democrat of Minnesota, set to go before the ethics committee) and another party opens its arms to people it believes are miscreants." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Gabby Morrongiello, et al., of the Washington Examiner: "Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore's account of when he began dating his wife Kayla would place the start of their courtship before her divorce from her first husband, according to court documents.... Divorce records ... show that Kayla, however, had not yet even filed for divorce from her first husband, John Charles Heald, by the time she caught Moore's attention at [a] Christmas gathering [in December 1984]. In fact, Kayla and Heald had only just separated on Dec. 1, 1984, two weeks before her and Moore's serendipitous introduction." Mrs. McC: Moore had first become interested in Kayla when he saw her performing at a dance recital when she was 15 or 16 years old. ...

... Seung Min Kim & Kevin Robillard of Politico: "Senate Republicans are still trying to keep their distance from Roy Moore, creating a fresh break with ... Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee, which have re-embraced Moore less than a week before a key special Senate election despite accusations of child molestation against the Alabama Republican. Both the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC controlled by allies of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, said they plan on staying out of the contest. Several Republican senators furiously protested the RNC's decision on Tuesday." Mrs. McC: I'm not convinced. They're trying to have their cake & eat it, too. ...

... Nolan McCaskill of Politico: "Sen. Jeff Flake [R-Az.] tweeted an image of a completed check for $100 for [Democrat Doug] Jones' Senate campaign.... The check to Jones' campaign ... is for 'Country over Party,' Flake wrote on Twitter." Mrs. McC: Very nice. You didn't put country over party when you voted for the Tax Heist. You could have sent that $100 to Medlar & me -- or to any other taxpayers who are going to be paying a lot more than $100 in new taxes, thanks to your vote on the bill. There are no Republican heroes. There are grandstanding hypocrites, tho.

Elise Viebeck & Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "Facing multiple allegations of sexual harassment, Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) resigned as Congress's longest-serving member on Tuesday, becoming the first lawmaker to step down as Capitol Hill grapples with allegations of inappropriate behavior by lawmakers. Conyers, who represented the Detroit area for 52 years, yielded to mounting pressure from Democratic leaders to step aside as a growing number of female former aides accused him of unwanted advances and mistreatment. He has denied wrongdoing. From a hospital in Detroit, the 88-year-old congressman said he was 'putting his retirement plans together' and endorsed his son John Conyers III to replace him. Another Conyers family member has already declared his intention to run for the seat, raising the specter of an intrafamily contest.... Now that Conyers has resigned, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) will call a special election to replace him." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

Megan Twohey, et al., of the New York Times: "Harvey Weinstein built his complicity machine out of the witting, the unwitting and those in between. He commanded enablers, silencers and spies, warning others who discovered his secrets to say nothing. He courted those who could provide the money or prestige to enhance his reputation as well as his power to intimidate. In the weeks and months before allegations of his methodical abuse of women were exposed in October, Mr. Weinstein, the Hollywood producer, pulled on all the levers of his carefully constructed apparatus." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: In the end, Weinstein is just a fat, pathetic mogul who filled his hollow soul with shit. Citizen Kane without Rosebud.

When have we ever given protection to a food? -- Justice Sonia Sotomayor, oral arguments, Masterpiece Cake Shop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, December 5 ...

... Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, who almost certainly holds the crucial vote in the case of a Colorado baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple, sent sharply contradictory messages when it was argued Tuesday at the Supreme Court.... The case, which pits claims of religious freedom against the fight for gay rights, has attracted extraordinary public attention and about 100 friend-of-the-court briefs.... Tuesday's argument, which lasted almost 90 minutes instead of the usual hour, appeared to divide the justices along the usual lines." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Dana Milbank: "Piece of cake: If you can't do it to racial and religious minorities, women and the disabled, you shouldn't be able to do it to gay people." ...

... BUT Amy Howe of ScotusBlog, a disinterested & acute observer, sees the vote going 5-4 for the bigoted baker. ...

... Jeff Toobin of the New Yorker seems to agree with Howe: "The briefs in the case were full of testimonials about the artistic qualities of icing, and the argument veered at times into the metaphysical. (Does a four-year-old's cake say 'happy birthday' from the baker, or from the kid's mom?) But the message in the courtroom was, in the end, deeply sombre. Discrimination against gay people (and others) is clearly fine with the Trump Administration, and, in this case, it may be fine with the Supreme Court, as well." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: This is another of those cases that invites an easy fix: Congress (ha ha) could pass a law and the presidunce* could sign it (ha ha) protecting LGBT persons in the same way minorities & women are legally (if not actually) protected under civil rights laws. Of course, Colorado has such a law, but state laws can't override the U.S. Constitution. The bigoted baker is claiming a First Amendment right to free speech, arguing that baking a cake is "speech," just the way confederates think money is speech.

Unsolved Mystery. Josh Lederman of the AP: "Doctors treating the U.S. Embassy victims of mysterious, invisible attacks in Cuba have discovered brain abnormalities as they search for clues to explain the hearing, vision, balance and memory damage, The Associated Press has learned. It[s the most specific finding to date about physical damage, showing that whatever it was that harmed the Americans, it led to perceptible changes in their brains. The finding is also one of several factors fueling growing skepticism that some kind of sonic weapon was involved.... Acoustic waves have never been shown to alter the brain's white matter tracts, said Elisa Konofagou, a biomedical engineering professor at Columbia University who is not involved in the government's investigation."

David Faber of CNBC: "Disney and Twenty-First Century Fox are closing in on a deal, and it could come as soon as next week, according to sources familiar with the matter. CNBC has been reporting that Disney has held talks with the Rupert Murdoch-controlled media company to acquire its studio and television production assets, leaving Fox with its news and sports assets. Fox is also talking with CNBC parent company Comcast, but the talks with Disney have progressed more significantly. The deal contemplates the sale of Fox's Nat Geo, Star, regional sports networks, movie studios and stakes in Sky and Hulu, among other properties. What would remain at Fox includes its news and business news divisions, broadcast network and Fox sports." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Oh, crap. And here I was hoping that Hannity & Dobbs would have to appear on-air in Mickey Mouse costumes.

Medlar's Sports Report. Rebecca Ruiz & Tariq Panja of the New York Times: "Russia's Olympic team has been barred from the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The country's government officials are forbidden to attend, its flag will not be displayed at the opening ceremony and its anthem will not sound. Any athletes from Russia who receive special dispensation to compete will do so as individuals wearing a neutral uniform, and the official record books will forever show that Russia won zero medals. That was the punishment issued Tuesday to the proud sports juggernaut that has long used the Olympics as a show of global force but was exposed for systematic doping in previously unfathomable ways. The International Olympic Committee, after completing its own prolonged investigations that reiterated what had been known for more than a year, handed Russia penalties for doping so severe they were without precedent in Olympics history." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

News Ledes

Los Angeles Times: "Several homes were destroyed in Bel-Air on Wednesday as a wind-driven wildfire triggered mandatory evacuations in one of Los Angeles' most exclusive neighborhoods. The fire prompted evacuations in a large swath of the hillside enclave, which taken with other fires around the region added to a total of more than 100,000 people forced from their homes." ...

... Los Angeles Times: "A series of Santa Ana wind-driven wildfires burned out of control in Southern California on Tuesday, destroying at least 180 structures, forcing thousands to flee and smothering the region with smoke in what officials predicted would be a pitched battle for days. In Ventura, flames consumed dozens of stucco-and-tile homes along tidy streets and cul-de-sacs. Propane tanks exploded and fan palms became ragged torches lofting fiery debris hundreds of yards."