The Commentariat -- April 7, 2016
I've done a piss-poor job here, & not by accident. I need some help. -- Constant Weader
CW Update: The contributions safari & LT have made since I posted my plea for help are terrific. LT even does the work a commenter could not be bothered to do: provide facts, put them in context & link the sources.
Afternoon Update:
Guardian: Fox "News" host Megyn Kelly "spoke openly about her evolving relationship with [Donald] Trump during a discussion with Katie Couric at the Women in the World Summit in New York City on Wednesday night, revealing that he used to call repeatedly after shows and send her signed press clippings in an attempt to ‘curry favor’ ahead of his presidential run." Video.
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Louise Story of the New York Times: "The United States government is close to issuing a rule that will for the first time require banks and other financial institutions to find out the identities of people hidden behind shell companies. The rule is meant to close a major loophole in the American banking system that enables the sorts of secretive financial maneuvers that were thrust into the spotlight this week with the leak of millions of documents from a law firm in Panama." -- CW
Jonelle Marte of the Washington Post: "The Labor Department announced sweeping rules Wednesday that could transform the financial advice given to people saving for retirement by requiring brokers and advisers to put their clients’ interests first. The long-awaited 'fiduciary rule' would create a new standard for brokers and advisers that is stricter than current regulations, which only require that brokers recommend products that are “suitable,” even if it may not be the investor’s best option." -- CW ...
... Jared Bernstein, in his blog, explains the importance of two of the key actions taken by the Obama administration this week. He thinks the conflict of interest rule for financial advisors (linked above) is, "one of the administration’s biggest wins for middle-class people trying to do the right thing and save for their retirement." He also weighs in on the importance of Obama's attempts to snuff out corporate inversions to avoid US corporate tax, reminding us that, "Because Congressional conservatives would never have let either of these new rules become law, they’ve been run through executive action. That means the next president could reverse them." --safari. Via Washington Monthly
J. Weston Phippen of The Atlantic: "The U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil antitrust lawsuit Wednesday to block a merger between Halliburton, the world’s second-largest oilfield-services company, and the third-largest, Baker Hughes. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said the deal would 'skew energy markets and harm American consumers.'" --safari
Michael Shear of the New York Times: "On Thursday,[President Obama] will return to the [University of Chicago] law school for the first time as president, using the backdrop of his academic life [there] to underscore his demand that Republicans follow the letter of the law by agreeing to hold a hearing and a vote on his nominee to the Supreme Court, Merrick B. Garland, the chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit." -- CW
Mary Ellen Kustin of ThinkProgress: "The national monuments that President Obama has created or expanded are generating more than $156 million in local economic activity annually, according to a study published Wednesday. (...) Harry Reid (D-NV) said in a statement. 'As this report shows, we can protect the most magnificent areas of our nation while also providing real opportunities for local economies.'" --safari note: Tell that to the Bundy Bunch.
Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "The Obama administration will take $589 million in existing federal funds — most of which were intended to combat the Ebola virus — and spend the money instead on fighting the spread of the Zika virus. The move, which federal officials described as a stopgap measure, came after GOP congressional leaders refused to provide $1.9 billion in emergency funds to limit transmission of Zika in the United States and abroad." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... CW: So, a new way to get around Congress. Let them scare themselves silly (see Paul, Rand) about one threat, claim it costs billions to eliminate; then, when that threat abates, transfer the left-over money to needs the Congress won't fund, like ones that most affect women & minorities/"foreigners," about whom Republicans care NOTHING.
Hannah Fairfield & Tim Wallace of the New York Times: "Republican leaders have blocked the closing of the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, because they say they do not want terrorists held on United States soil. But American prisons currently hold 443 convicted terrorists, far more than the 89 men who remain imprisoned in Cuba.The New York Times was able to confirm locations for about a third of the terrorists, shown on the map above. The Department of Justice would not release the names or locations of the other prisoners who had been convicted of terrorism." Includes map of know locations. ....
... CW: The Times story appears to be meant as a persuasive tool cloaked in a factual representation. That is, it proffers an implicit argument: let's save millions by imprisoning 89 more terrorists (& suspected terrorists) in prisons in this country. As such, it assumes facts not in evidence: (1) Congressional Republicans can be swayed by logic or sensible argument; (2) Congressional Republicans care about the safety of all innocent people, including Cubans; (3) Congressional Republicans would pass any legislation that President Obama initiated; (4) Congressional Republicans believe they should do their jobs.
C. J. Chivers of the New York Times: "A terrorist hoping to buy an antiaircraft weapon could look no further than Facebook, which in recent years has been hosting sprawling online arms bazaars, including handguns, heavy machine guns and guided missiles.... This week, after The New York Times provided Facebook with seven examples of suspicious groups, the company shut down six of them." CW: And you people don't like Facebook!
Mark Berman of the Washington Post: "The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday declined a Texas inmate’s request to halt his execution, rejecting an appeal from his attorneys hours before his scheduled lethal injection. Texas authorities plan to execute Pablo Vasquez, 38, on Wednesday evening. Vasquez was convicted in 1999 of murdering David Cardenas, a 12-year-old boy, the previous year." -- CW
America's crumbling instrastructure...Sarah Frostenenson and Sarah Kliff of Vox: "Neighborhoods where kids face the highest risk of lead poisoning exist all across America. (...) So we worked with epidemiologists in Washington state to estimate risk levels in every geographic area in America." --safari note: Includes national map to check out your area.
Presidential Race
Frank Rich: "A contested [Repubican] convention in which the various camps conduct trench warfare to win over, steal, or bribe unbound delegates seems near-certain.... What Sanders is doing and can keep doing is force Clinton to address his signature issues and keep weakening her in the process by calling attention to her inability to plausibly pose as a populist and her overall deficiencies as a candidate. She is now openly exasperated by Sanders’s campaign. And she keeps making astonishing errors...." -- CW
Peter Eavis of the New York Times: "Yes, Bernie Sanders knows something about breaking up banks." Eavis explains what Bernie was saying in that New York Daily News interview (linked below). Hillary Clinton can quit gloating now (which she did, sending transcripts of the interview all around. Maybe she should read the interview.) -- CW
... Steve M.: "I don't know how many votes Hillary Clinton can win by pouncing on this. When she says she's been in the trenches and has the experience, voters seem to envision not statecraft but shady deals in back rooms. Touting her experience is probably hurting her. It's just that kind of year." -- CW ...
... Ryan Grim of the Huffington Post: "In fact, in several instances, it’s the Daily News editors who are bungling the facts in an interview designed to show that Sanders doesn’t understand the fine points of policy. In questions about breaking up big banks, the powers of the Treasury Department and drone strikes, the editors were simply wrong on details." -- CW ...
... Mike Konczal of the Roosevelt Institute: "Let’s Dispel Once and for All With This Fiction that Sanders Doesn’t Know How to Break Up Banks." -- CW
Mrs. Clinton Is No Longer Amused. Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "Hillary Clinton launched a fierce new two-pronged attack on rival Bernie Sanders on Wednesday, questioning the persistent challenger's bona fides as a Democrat and his qualifications to run the country. In comments to a union gathering [in Philadelphia] and in interviews, the Democratic front-runner did not hide her frustration and annoyance with Sanders and his underdog assault as the once-tame Democratic primary turns increasingly testy." -- CW
...Neither is Mr. Sanders. Hanna Trudo of Politico: In response to Hillary Clinton insinuating that Bernie Sanders is not qualified to be President, Sanders replied, "I don't believe that she is qualified if she is, through her super PAC, taking tens of millions of dollars in special interest funds,...voted for the disastrous war in Iraq,... [and] supported virtually every disastrous trade agreement." -- LT ...
... Yo' Mama Update. Anne Gearan & John Wagner of the Washington Post provide a blow-by-blow account. -- CW
Glenn Thrush of Politico interviewed Hillary Clinton Monday, & she unloaded on everybody, especially Bernie Sanders. "She was ticked off — already factoring in an inevitable loss in Wisconsin Tuesday — and was in a rare mood of public introspection...." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Eliza Collins of Politico: Former Obama advisor & campaign guru David Alexrod "was asked on CNN’s 'New Day' on Wednesday about Clinton telling Politico that she felt sorry for the young supporters of Sanders who 'are fed this list of misrepresentations' about her record. Axelrod ... cautioned the former secretary of state against being dismissive of Sanders' allure to young voters. 'One thing I would stay away from, I would stay away from the insinuation that these young people who are inspired by Bernie Sanders are dupes and they are being fed misinformation and that is why they are enthusiastic about Bernie Sanders,' Axelrod said." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Jonathan Chait: Hillary "Clinton’s dominance of the African-American vote has been explained as a residue of the long-standing ties she and her husband have built over decades on the national scene. Sanders’s failure has likewise been attributed to his decades of confinement to the flamboyantly white state of Vermont. Both factors have surely played a role. But there is a larger and more durable force behind the African-American place in the Democratic Party mainstream: a long historical tradition of highly rational electoral pragmatism." -- CW
Democrats need not worry about the Bickersons. Over on the Republican side, a catastrophe is brewing. Paul Waldman in the Week: "Republicans ... may be facing the worst of all possible worlds: a terribly damaged [Donald] Trump who nonetheless can't be stopped from winning their party's nomination. Trump has certainly suffered in the last couple of weeks, as the horrifying farce that his candidacy represents has become more clear with each passing day.... Ted Cruz[? ... That won't sit right. In the current establishment fantasy, a deadlocked convention is resolved when the attendees finally give the nomination to that fine young man, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. That would be a disaster of a different sort." -- CW
Jenna Johnson & Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump’s campaign will soon announce the hiring of several 'seasoned operatives' and 'well-known, established names' to help the Republican front-runner quickly grow his operation and prepare for a likely contested convention, his campaign manager said Wednesday." -- CW ...
"Seasoned operatives"? Why didn't you say so? Karoli Kuns on Crooks and Liars, reports that Trump BFF and former dirty trickster with the Nixon Gang, Roger Stone, who was born under a rock, is looking at calling upon a few of his own "seasoned operatives" if Trump doesn't get the crown next summer in Cleveland. His plan? "'We’re going to have protests, demonstrations. We will disclose the hotels and the room numbers of those delegates who are directly involved in the steal,' Stone said Monday in a discussion with Stefan Molyneux on Freedomain Radio, as he alleged that Trump's opponents planned to deny the democratic will of Republican primary voters.'" And if you're not sure whether or not someone from your area is involved, Stone and his thugs will help."...we’ll tell you who the culprits are. We urge you to visit their hotel and find them." Jeff Toobin, in a New Yorker profile (mug shot is more like it) of Stone a few years back relayed the Stone mantra: "'Attack, attack, attack—never defend' and 'Admit nothing, deny everything, launch counterattack.'" No wonder Drumpf loves this guy. -- Akhilleus
... John King, et al., of CNN: "Donald Trump met Wednesday with GOP strategist Paul Manafort, a huddle that suggests campaign changes could be in the works.... The move raised questions about the future of Trump's embattled campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski.... Friction between Lewandowski and Manafort may have already had an impact on Trump's campaign.... Campaign sources say Lewandowski's role is clearly being diminished....Trump's adversaries see the campaign overhaul as coming too late in the process." ...
... CW: The CNN reporters write that "Trump and his team simply appeared unaware of how the delegate process worked." As we mentioned here last week, Trump seems to have believed -- until he met with the RNC & even thereafter -- that he should be nominated by acclamation, & that anything less was "unfair" to him. He has continued to characterize rival campaigns' customary outreach to delegates as "stealing." ...
... NEW. Benjy Sarlin of MSNBC: "Colorado is a rare state where party officials choose delegates without any input from a primary or caucus vote," and the Trump campaign has little or no presence there. Donald Trump himself "canceled an appearance in the state to campaign in New York instead." Meanwhile, Ted Cruz has a sophisticated delegate outreach operation, & he plans to address the state's convention. "It’s not just Cruz and Kasich that Trump has to worry about either. The anti-Trump group Our Principles PAC, which has spent millions on ads opposing his candidacy, is increasingly devoting its focus to the delegate selection fight." Sarlin casts the Trump campaign's near-absence in Colorado as consistent with its lack of effort in other states. -- CW
Philip Bump of the Washington Post: Without providing any evidence, Donald Trump casually accused Ted Cruz of violating campaign finance law by coordinatng with a pro-Cruz superPAC, which would be a federal crime. But there's this: "Trump himself appeared at fundraising events for a super PAC supporting him last year, before the super PAC was shuttered following a Post story that raised questions about how the campaign and the PAC were interacting. In that case, the two organizations shared a vendor, and that vendor reached out to raise money for the PAC using information he apparently received from Trump's office." -- CW
Trump Blows off Pro-Lifers. Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "Anti-abortion activists gathered in Washington on Wednesday had expected to hear from Donald Trump about his abortion positions. They left disappointed. Trump did not address the 115 Forum, a conference of abortion foes in Washington organized by Priests for Life. Three sources associated with the group said organizers had initially led attendees to believe that Trump would be speaking to them by phone. Yet later on Wednesday, organizers said the mogul would not be speaking." -- CW ...
... CW: Please. Donald loves babies, even girl babies, despite the fact they don't yet have the most important female assets:
... See? A pro-lifer AND a feminist.
Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker, in a greatest-hits column, demonstrates how, during the past several weeks, Donald Trump blew a lock on the nomination with a series of stupid Trump tricks. -- CW ...
... CW: IMO, Trump cannot fix these goofs, because they are part and parcel of who he is -- a narcissistic, childish, shallow, tasteless, misogynistic, mean-spirited bully. Candidate Trump has sought to cast his oafish public persona as a long-running media act. To the extent that he's covered his cowardice with boorishness, that's true. But the goonish persona has been a means to try to hide a host of abhorrent character traits and personal shortcomings that he cannot undo by pretending to "act presidential." "Presidential" isn't an act; it is a galaxy of traits that one develops (or doesn't) over a lifetime: intellectual depth, emotional equilibrium, empathy, decency, diplomacy, humility, grit. Maybe money can buy Trump love, maybe it can even buy him the presidency, but it cannot make him presidential. Ever.
Trump in a funny way has normalized Ted Cruz because without Trump, the establishment would be totally opposed to Cruz. -- Newt Gingrich ...
... Nolan McCaskill of Politico: "Newt Gingrich on Wednesday marveled at one of Donald Trump's biggest accomplishments in the 2016 race — making Ted Cruz appear normal." -- CW
Chauncey Alcorn & Leonard Greene of the New York Daily News: Ted "Cruz was scheduled to speak [about education] at Bronx Lighthouse College Preparatory Academy until students wrote a letter to the principal asking her not to let Cruz come, prompting staffers to cancel the appearance. 'We told her if he came here, we would schedule a walkout,' said Destiny Domeneck, 16. 'Most of us are immigrants or come from immigrant backgrounds. Ted Cruz goes against everything our school stands for.'" -- CW
Allegra Kirkland of TPM: "While campaigning in the Bronx on Wednesday, Sen. Ted Cruz explained that his attacks on Donald Trump’s “New York values" were really attacks on the 'liberal Democratic' values he said were held by leading politicians in the state." --safari note: Classic Cruz, Uniter-in-Chief.
Amber Phillips of the Washington Post: "It's hard to imagine a more far-right presidential candidate than [Ted] Cruz, who has shown little to no willingness to appeal to the broader electorate that Republicans arguably need to win the White House and maintain control of the Senate. Some political analysts even think Republicans' majority in the House could be in play with not just a Trump nomination, but also a Cruz nomination." -- CW
Beyond the Beltway
Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "Donald L. Blankenship, whose leadership of was sentenced on Wednesday to a year in prison for conspiring to violate federal mine safety standards. The sentencing, in Federal District Court here, came six years and one day after an explosion tore through Massey’s Upper Big Branch mine, killing 29 people. Although Mr. Blankenship was not accused of direct responsibility for the accident..., the disaster prompted the federal inquiry that led to Mr. Blankenship’s indictment." -- CW
Company transformed him into one of the wealthiest and most influential men in Appalachia,Amber Phillips: "North Carolina's Republican party has declared war on itself.... In [a] press release they sent Tuesday, party leaders say they now have proof that not only did [the state chairman Hasan] Harnett try to crash their website, but that he tried to divert party funds into his own account.... ]The leaders have] shut down [Harnett's] email account and banned him from accessing their websites from going into party headquarters." -- CW
Tom Fuller of the New York Times: "San Francisco on Tuesday became the first city in the United States to approve six weeks of fully paid leave for new parents — mothers and fathers, including same-sex couples, who either bear or adopt a child." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Gov. Rick Scott (RAsshole-Fla.) hits Starbucks for a latte & a nice chat with the little people (who can afford $4/coffee):
Let's Party Like it's 1865! Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant, another one-a them "uniters, not dividers", you know, like Trump and Cruz and Trump BFF David Duke, has officially designated April Confederate Heritage Month! Praise the white lord, chillun! This not very startling happenstance comes at the behest of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Such nice lads. And, according to Breitbart, defender of all things White Supremacisty, not a racist among them. Know how they know? Why, the SCV says so, that's how. Yeah, and ISIS is dead set against terrorists. Oh, well then. I guess we can ignore some of the stated core values of the SCV, which, according to Max Blumenthal in a an article appearing on Salon, involve "...promoting issues and ideas you wouldn’t believe. One of the books they’re promoting... argues that Jewish northern intellectuals are the South’s deadliest enemy — that civil rights is really a Jewish conspiracy and that blacks have lower IQs. They’re also selling...a book that portrays the KKK as great heroes."
See? Not racist at all. But back to Confederate Heritage Month. Fun will be had by all. Oh...as long as you're white, Christian, and wingnutty. The official proclamation (issued on the SCV website and not the official mississippi.gov site) acknowledges that there might have been a few, er, well, hmmmm....some "mistakes" made...in the past. Long time ago. Not even worth mentioning anymore. What were those mistakes? Who knows? Oh, and there's no mention of the S word. Shhh... Why? Well, former Mississippi Guv, Haley Barbour, had to remind everyone, not long ago, that them darkies were all happy as Larry before all the civil rights foolishness. A-pickin' and a-grinnin. No one sad or nothin'. Of course you won't hear much from black Mississippians anymore on account-a all the amazingly successful vote suppression that has diminished black turnout so dramatically. But anyways, don't forget to jot down April 25th on your calendars. That's Confederate Memorial Day. Aiiieeeeyyyaghohwooo (rough approximation of Rebel Yell, which sounds very much like a dog being castrated.) -- Akhilleus
Way Beyond
Never Mind. Dan Bilefsky of the New York Times: "said he had not formally resigned but had stepped aside for an 'unspecified' period after leaked documents linked him to an offshore company." -- CW
’s already fragile coalition government was thrown into further uncertainty on Wednesday after the country’s prime minister [Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson]Kareem Fahim & C. J. Chivers of the New York Times: "A used bombs supplied by the United States in an attack on a market in Yemen last month that killed at least 97 civilians, including 25 children, said in a report released Wednesday."
-led military coalitionWall Street vs. Puerto Rico. Brian Chappatta, Michelle Kaske and Steven Dennis of Bloomberg: "Puerto Rico risked upending months-long efforts on Wall Street and in Washington to address the commonwealth’s fiscal crisis by authorizing the government to halt payments on a wide swath of its $70 billion debt (...) A default on those obligations would be a first for Puerto Rico" --safari
Michael Forsythe of the New York Times: "At least three of the seven people on the Chinese Communist Party’s most powerful committee, including President have relatives who have controlled secretive offshore companies, the organization that has publicized a trove of leaked documents about hidden wealth reported on Wednesday." -- CW
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