;)
October 21, 2022
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
President Biden speaks about this past fiscal year's historical deficit reduction -- the largest-ever decline in the federal deficit:
** Luke Broadwater & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack issued a subpoena on Friday to Donald J. Trump, paving the way for a potentially historic court fight over whether Congress can compel testimony from a former president. The subpoena was the most aggressive step taken so far by what was already one of the most consequential congressional investigations in decades. Coming as the Justice Department conducts a separate criminal inquiry into efforts to overturn the 2020 election and weeks before the midterm elections, the subpoena threatened to thrust Mr. Trump and the Jan. 6 committee into a protracted legal battle that could ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court.... After interviewing more than 1,000 witnesses and obtaining millions of pages of documents, the Jan. 6 committee has presented a sweeping summation of its case placing Mr. Trump at the center of a calculated, multipart effort to overturn the vote that began even before Election Day.... The subpoena to Mr. Trump requires him to turn over documents by Nov. 4 and to appear for a deposition on or about Nov. 14. It says the interview could last several days.... Legal experts doubted that any lawyer representing the former president would allow him to testify." The AP report is here. ~~~
~~~ ** Marie: The eight-page subpoena, linked above, is a committee document). It's a doozy, and well-worth your reading.
Ryan Reilly of NBC News: "A Donald Trump supporter who brought two guns to the Capitol on Jan. 6, and dropped one of them on Capitol grounds, was sentenced to five years in federal prison on Friday. Mark Mazza was sentenced to 60 months behind bars by Judge James E. Boasberg.... Federal prosecutors said that Mazza, 'while armed with [a] .40 caliber loaded firearm, engaged in multiple efforts to break through the police line: he repeatedly pushed against officers using the combined physical exertion of the mob; he armed himself with a stolen police baton and assaulted officers with the baton; he yelled at officers telling them to get out the mob's way and to "Get out of our house!"; he held open the door to the tunnel entrance against the resistance of officers, and after being rebuffed, he gathered additional rioters into the tunnel area to continue "heave-ho" pushes against officers in the doorway.'"
Ha Ha. Just heard Michael Cohen call that Florida club "Mar-a-Lardo." I guess he's been reading Reality Chex.
Jeff Cox of CNBC: "The U.S. budget deficit was sliced in half for fiscal 2022, the biggest drop in history following two years of huge Covid-related spending. Though still large in historical terms, the budget shortfall declined to $1.375 trillion, compared to the 2021 deficit of $2.776 trillion."
Glenn Thrush & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Friday sentenced Stephen K. Bannon, a longtime adviser to ... Donald J. Trump who aided in the effort to overturn the 2020 election, to four months in prison for disobeying a subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Mr. Bannon, 68, was found guilty of two counts of contempt of Congress this summer after Judge Carl J. Nichols rejected an array of arguments offered by Mr. Bannon's defense team, including that he was protected from being compelled to testify by executive privilege. In a contentious exchange with the defense team before announcing a sentence, he said Mr. Bannon had shown 'no remorse for his actions' and had yet to 'demonstrate he has any intention of complying with the subpoena.... Others must be deterred from committing similar crimes,' said Judge Nichols, a Trump appointee, who also imposed a fine of $6,500 on Mr. Bannon.... Mr. Bannon will remain free pending his appeal" ~~~
~~~ Marie: That last bit gives me a sad. I am anxious to see that disgusting SOB modeling the orange jumpsuit fit for Trump, albeit Bannon probably will sport layers of shirts beneath the orange coverall. ~~~
~~~ The AP's report is here.
** Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "Some of the classified documents recovered by the FBI from Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home and private club included highly sensitive intelligence regarding Iran and China, according to people familiar with the matter.... At least one of the documents seized by the FBI describes Iran's missile program, according to these people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe an ongoing investigation. Other documents described highly sensitive intelligence work aimed at China, they said. Unauthorized disclosures of specific information in the documents would pose multiple risks, experts say. People aiding U.S. intelligence efforts could be endangered, and collection methods could be compromised. In addition, other countries or U.S. adversaries could retaliate against the United States for actions it has taken in secret." ~~~
~~~ Marie: As Barrett reminds us, these super-sensitive documents are among those Trump said he could have declassified "even by thinking about it." It's too bad the Dubya/Darth team is not still in office, because Trump is the type of tool whom that bunch would have tossed in a black hole & waterboarded till he choked up what he knew. In the meantime -- and I'm serious here -- I think the FBI & DOJ have badly mishandled this matter; the minute they discovered what Trump had stolen, they should have locked down every single property owned by the Trumps, every safe deposit box, every storage facility, every other possible hideyhole where that Great American Spy might have secreted his booty; then the feds should have thrown Trump in solitary confinement in a federal pen without the ability to speak to anyone except his own lawyers -- any only if those lawyers had top security clearance.
Florida Man. Miles Cohen of ABC News: "A Florida man had his election fraud charges dismissed on Friday, making him the first of 20 people who Gov. Ron DeSantis announced had been charged with voter fraud in August, to beat his case. The ruling by a Miami judge may now pave the way for similar motions and rulings in the other 19 election fraud cases, which garnered national attention and controversy when they were announced on Aug. 18. DeSantis said at the time that they were the 'opening salvo' by Florida's newly funded Office of Election Crimes and Security to crack down on voter fraud.... The judge agreed with the defense's argument, that the alleged violations, applying to vote and voting while ineligible, only occurred in Miami-Dade County. Thus, the statewide prosecutor [who brought the charges], was found to not have jurisdiction. In order for the attorney general's office to have jurisdiction, the crimes that they allege must have occurred in at least two judicial circuits. All 20 cases are being prosecuted by the statewide prosecutor."
U.K. Mark Landler of the New York Times: "No sooner had Prime Minister Liz Truss of Britain announced her sudden resignation on Thursday afternoon than a familiar name surfaced as a candidate to succeed her: Boris Johnson, the prime minister she replaced a mere 45 days ago. Mr. Johnson, who is vacationing in the Caribbean, has said nothing publicly about a bid for his old job. But the prospect of Boris redux has riveted Conservative Party lawmakers and cabinet ministers -- delighting some, repelling others, and dominating the conversation in a way that Mr. Johnson has for his entire political career." MB: Or, as one British reporter said this morning, the possible reinstallment of Boris as PM would be "like a dog returning to its own vomit."
~~~~~~~~~~
Mine, Mine, All Mine. Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump is claiming that nine documents seized by the F.B.I. from his Florida residence are his personal property -- but the Justice Department says they are official records that should be deposited with the National Archives, according to a new letter to the special master who is overseeing a review of the materials. The letter, filed on Thursday by the Justice Department, describes disputes over ownership and executive privilege claims involving a batch of 15 records that have undergone early review. It likely foreshadows larger fights to come over the main bulk of roughly 13,000 documents and other materials F.B.I. agents took from Mar-a-Lago.... The materials from the initial tranche that Mr. Trump maintains belong to him include six packages ... supporting requests that he grant clemency to pardon-seekers; two documents related to his administration's immigration policies; and an email addressed to him from a person at a military academy, it said....
"[The] dispute appeared to shed light on a comment that Judge [Raymond] Dearie[, the special master,] made in a telephone conference with the parties earlier this week. Complaining that the Trump legal team had not offered much substance to explain its claims, he noted a document that the lawyers had claimed was both personal property and protected by executive privilege. 'Unless I'm wrong..., there's certainly an incongruity there,' Judge Dearie said at the time." ~~~
~~~ Marie: As an MSNBC contributor (I forget who) suggested yesterday, it makes a certain kind of "sense" that Trump thinks those pardon docs are his. He never understood the pardon power as a particular presidential responsibility but as a personal perq, which allowed him to reward his criminal made men.
Nicholas Wu, et al., of Politico: "... Donald Trump has hired a firm to engage with the Jan. 6 select committee on its forthcoming subpoena of him.... A person familiar with the situation said [the Dhillon Law Group] is now being tasked with negotiating the terms of the Trump subpoena, which the committee voted to issue last week.... Harmeet Dhillon, the firm's managing partner, is a national Republican committeewoman from California. She has helmed litigation related to other conservative causes including pushing back on policies that shut down schools, churches and businesses during the Covid pandemic. Dhillon has also been critical of previous select committee and Justice Department grand jury subpoenas to her other clients." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Perhaps the committee will soon be able to find someone who will accept its subpoena of Trump.
Katelyn Polantz, et al., of CNN: "Kash Patel, a top adviser to ... Donald Trump who has been deeply involved in disputes over classified records Trump kept from his presidency, appeared recently before the federal grand jury looking into the handling of documents at Mar-a-Lago, sources familiar with the matter tell CNN. Patel spent several hours throughout the morning of October 13 before a grand jury at the US courthouse in Washington, DC. But it's not clear if Patel answered the grand jury's questions or declined to respond citing his Fifth Amendment protections.... He is one of a handful of advisers around Donald Trump after his presidency who could have legal risk related to the Mar-a-Lago situation.... He has claimed in media interviews he personally witnessed Trump declassifying records before he left the presidency, and has argued [Trump] should be able to release classified information."
Sara Murray, et al., of CNN: "Prosecutors in Georgia have secured grand jury testimony from two prominent witnesses -- former US Sen. Kelly Loeffler and former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone -- in their investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in that state, sources familiar with the matter tell CNN. Their grand jury appearances in recent months, which have not been previously reported, highlight the wide-ranging investigation underway as Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis probes efforts by ... Donald Trump and his allies to try to keep him in power."
Richard Fausset & Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "A federal appeals court ruled on Thursday that Senator Lindsey Graham must appear before the special grand jury that is investigating efforts by ... Donald J. Trump and his allies to overturn Mr. Trump's election loss in Georgia, although the court set limits on the kinds of questions Mr. Graham could be asked. The ruling means that Mr. Graham, at some date after the Nov. 8 midterm elections, will most likely have to travel to the Fulton County courthouse in downtown Atlanta to answer questions about phone calls he made to the Georgia secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, in the weeks after the 2020 election.... The appeals court lined up behind [a] lower court ... ruling ... that 'any non-investigatory conduct covered by the subpoena was not protected' by the [U.S. Constitution's] Speech and Debate Clause, adding that there was 'genuine dispute about whether Senator Graham's phone calls with Georgia election officials were investigatory.'" An AP story is here.
Kyle Cheney & Nicholas Wu of Politico: "A log of text messages sent and received by former Sen. Kelly Loeffler [R-Ga.] during the weeks leading up to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack is raising questions about potentially unauthorized access to investigative material relevant to probes of the 2020 election. The messages, reviewed by Politico, shed light on Loeffler's shifting political calculus as she weighed whether to lodge a challenge to the 2020 results at the urging of ... Donald Trump.... The 59-page log of 405 texts was obtained by media organizations via an anonymous sender who declined to reveal more details about the source of the messages, which begin on Nov. 8, 2020 and end Feb. 3, 2021. The document, which Politico is not publishing in full because it contains unauthenticated as well as authenticated conversations, focuses only on Loeffler's election-related correspondence." After Loeffler called for the resignation of of Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, his wife Tricia Raffensperger wrote to Loeffler in an authenticated text, "... My family and I am being personally besieged by people threatening our lives because you didn't have the decency or good manners to come and talk to my husband with any questions you may have had. Instead you have put us in the eye of the storm." (Also linked yesterday.)
Alan Feuer & Zach Montague of the New York Times: "... messages from Jan. 6, revealed on Thursday at the seditious conspiracy trial of [Oath Keepers founder & leader Stewart] Rhodes and four of his subordinates, were shared with the jury along with striking audio and video recordings of the Capitol attack, presenting what amounted to a panoramic view of the chaos at the building and the move to push inside it as the crowd began to overwhelm the police.... But Mr. Rhodes, far from condemning the violence, seemed almost to be giddy.... These dramatic scenes ... placed the Oath Keepers squarely in the middle of the upheaval at the Capitol as the House and the Senate met inside to certify the results of the 2020 election." ~~~
~~~ Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Stewart Rhodes ... grew increasingly frustrated before Jan. 6, 2021 that Donald Trump had not taken even more extreme measures to seize a second term. Messages displayed by prosecutors Thursday showed Rhodes -- who littered his voluminous text messages with a stew of conspiracy theories -- venting his disappointment with Trump's refusal to invoke the Insurrection Act, a move he believed would permit the Oath Keepers to take up arms to prevent Joe Biden from taking office. Rhodes repeatedly exhorted his Oath Keeper brethren in the weeks before Jan. 6 to prepare to engage in a bloody battle if Trump refused to act, the messages reveal. 'Either Trump gets off his ass and uses the insurrection Act to defeat the ChiCom puppet coup or we will have to rise up in insurrection (rebellion) against the ChiCom puppet Biden,' Rhodes wrote in a Dec. 20, 2020 message.... '... They won't fear us until we come with rifles in hand,' he wrote on Dec. 29 to a group of five allies, including Kellye SoRelle, a girlfriend who Rhodes has also claimed was the group's attorney."
Michael Gerson, former Bush II staffer & current Washington Post opinion columnist goes full woke. At long last, by his own admission, he recognizes that racist remarks, most often made by Republicans, are not mere "gaffes" or "blunders, rooted in ignorance." Rather, "In MAGA world, the incitement of white grievance is the strategy. Such appeals are inseparable from racism." MB: I should not mock Gerson. It is indeed refreshing when a life-long Republican eventually gets the centrality of racism in our culture & in our institutions.
** Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "Attempts to block President Biden's student debt relief programs were dealt dual setbacks on Thursday, as a federal judge in Missouri and Justice Amy Coney Barrett rejected challenges to the sweeping measure.... Judge Henry E. Autrey of the Federal District Court in St. Louis dismissed the more prominent of the two lawsuits, one brought by six Republican-led states. The suit accused Mr. Biden of overstepping his authority under a 2003 federal law that allows the education secretary to modify financial assistance programs for students 'in connection with a war or other military operation or national emergency.'... Judge Autrey, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, did not rule on the [central] issue in the lawsuit, which was brought by Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and South Carolina. Instead, he said the states had not suffered injuries of the sort that gave them standing to sue.... Lustice Barrett denied [a Wisconsin taxpayer] association's challenge without comment.... She acted on her own, without referring the application to the full court, and she did not ask the administration for a response. Both of those moves were indications that the application was not on solid legal footing." ~~~
~~~ An AP story on the Supreme Court bid fail is here. The AP's story on the GOP states' fail is here.
Stacy Cowley of the New York Times: "A federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a leading financial regulator, has been unconstitutionally funded since its creation more than a decade ago, a decision that vacated a bureau rule on payday lending and cast doubt over a vast swath of its regulations. The consumer bureau is funded directly by the Federal Reserve, a structure that Congress created through the 2010 Dodd-Frank law to shield the independent agency from political whims. It has been a frequent target of ire from Republican lawmakers. A three-judge panel of the New Orleans-based Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals said that the funding method improperly ceded too much authority to the bureau and insulated it from being accountable to Congress and the American people." (Also linked yesterday.)
Craig Whitlock & Nate Jones of the Washington Post: "Two retired U.S. admirals and three former U.S. Navy civilian leaders are playing critical but secretive roles as paid advisers to the government of Australia during its negotiations to acquire top-secret nuclear submarine technology from the United States and Britain. The Americans are among a group of former U.S. Navy officials whom the Australian government has hired as high-dollar consultants to help transform its fleet of ships and submarines, receiving contracts worth as much as $800,000 a person.... All told, six retired U.S. admirals have worked for the Australian government since 2015, including one who served for two years as Australia's deputy secretary of defense. In addition, a former U.S. secretary of the Navy has been a paid adviser to three successive Australian prime ministers. A Washington Post investigation found that the former U.S. Navy officials have benefited financially from a tangle of overlapping interests in their work for a longtime ally of the United States. Some of the retired admirals have worked for the Australian government while simultaneously consulting for U.S. shipbuilders and the U.S. Navy, including on classified programs." (Also linked yesterday.)
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Kipp Jones of Mediaite: "Newsmax TV has severed ties with Lara Logan after she said on the network the global elite 'dine on the blood of children' and made other bizarre statements.... [She told network host Eric Bolling that 'global elites'] 'want us eating insects.'... Logan was once an award-winning reporter with CBS News. She was cut loose by Fox Nation after she compared Dr. Anthony Fauci to Nazi doctor and madman Josef Mengele last year." Turns out even Newsmax has a red line when it comes to extreme batshit wingerdom.
Julia Jacobs & Nate Schweber of the New York Times: "A federal jury in Manhattan found Kevin Spacey not liable for battery on Thursday after the actor Anthony Rapp filed a lawsuit accusing Mr. Spacey of climbing on top of him and making a sexual advance in 1986, when Mr. Rapp was 14.... The disclosure by Mr. Rapp, which BuzzFeed News published in October 2017, was followed by more than a dozen other sexual misconduct accusations against Mr. Spacey. He has pleaded not guilty to sexual assault charges in Britain...." The NBC News story is here.
November Elections
Arizona Voter Intimidation. Yvonne Sanchez of the Washington Post: "For months..., [Arizona] elections officials and democracy advocates have worried that bands of activist observers hunting for fraud will harass and intimidate voters. Citizen watchdogs, organized and freelance, have advertised stakeout events to monitor the goings-ons in parking lots and other drop box locations as voters deposit their early ballots ahead of Election Day. [On Monday, the first report came in.]... 'There's a group of people hanging out near the ballot dropbox filming and photographing my wife and I as we approached the dropbox and accusing us of being a mule,' said the report, which was written by a voter in the Phoenix suburbs.... 'They took ... photographs of our license plate and of us and then followed us out the parking lot in one of their cars continuing to film.'... By Wednesday, Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D), who oversees elections here, referred the matter to the U.S. Justice Department and the Arizona attorney general.... Hobbs's office also alerted county officials of another complaint about drop box observers...."
Pennsylvania Governor. Colby Itkowitz of the Washington Post: "As he campaigns for governor across Pennsylvania, Democrat Josh Shapiro tells voters how his Jewish faith drives his values. He also tells them about his Republican rival Doug Mastriano, who paid a consulting fee to a far-right social media website where a mass shooter went on antisemitic rants. And in an interview, Shapiro said that when he heard Mastriano accuse him of having 'disdain for people like us' because Shapiro and his children have attended a 'privileged, exclusive, elite' Jewish academy in the Philadelphia suburbs, the Democratic candidate immediately thought of all the students and teachers whose lives he felt his opponent had put 'at risk' by singling out their school."
Beyond the Beltway
California. Michael Levenson of the New York Times: "An obstetrician-gynecologist [James Heaps] who worked for years at the University of California, Los Angeles, was convicted on Thursday of sexually abusing patients in a case that cost the university hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements and came amid similar accusations against doctors at other universities.... Dr. Heaps faces up to 21 years in prison at his sentencing hearing, scheduled for Nov. 17, according to the office. U.C.L.A. has already paid about $700 million to settle claims of sexual misconduct against Dr. Heaps, who was affiliated with the university in various roles from 1983 to 2018.
Way Beyond
~~~ With a few shout-outs to the execrable Kevin McCarthy
Ukraine, et al.
The New York Times' live updates of developments Friday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's summary report is here. ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Friday are here: "European Union leaders agreed early Friday to pursue measures to 'protect its citizens and businesses' against Russia's 'weaponization of energy,' though there was no consensus on capping the price of natural gas.... The United States said Iranian military personnel in Crimea are assisting Russia in its drone attacks against Ukraine by providing tech support and training.... Both the E.U. and Britain announced further sanctions Thursday against Tehran over Russia's use of Iranian-made drones in Ukraine.... In his nightly address Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned of a Russian plot aimed at destroying a major hydroelectric dam near the Russian-occupied city of Kherson, as he warned that Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities could escalate.... Russia conducted three missile attacks and 24 airstrikes in the past day, hitting more than 15 settlements, including in the Kherson and Kharkiv regions, Ukraine's Defense Ministry said early Friday.... President Biden said he is worried that Republicans may cut aid to Ukraine if they win back the House." ~~~
~~~ Dan De Luce, et al., of NBC News: "Amid concerns that a new Congress could take a more skeptical view of aid to Ukraine, lawmakers from both parties are looking to lock in billions of dollars in military assistance to Kyiv before newly elected members are sworn in in January, according to a lawmaker and congressional staffers. House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy of California, who is poised to take over as speaker if the GOP wins a majority in the House in the November midterm elections, warned this week that his fellow party members are 'not going to write a blank check to Ukraine.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: Richard Haas, of whom I am not much of a fan, made a valid point this morning. Kevin's threat is a sign to the international community that Donald Trump was not an aberration but a harbinger of the new reality that the U.S. cannot be counted on to fulfill its role as world leader. (I would say this has been evident for some time, particularly in Senate Republicans' history of blocking ratification of common-sense treaties.)
U.K., et al.
Lettuce Outlasts Liz. Peter Walker, et al., of the Guardian: "Liz Truss has resigned as prime minister and will step down after a week-long emergency contest to find her successor, she has announced outside Downing Street. It follows a turbulent 45 days in office during which Truss's mini-budget crashed the markets, she lost two key ministers and shed the confidence of almost all her own MPs. Her statement came after she met Graham Brady, the chair of the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs at Downing Street, followed by her deputy PM, Thérèse Coffey, and the party chair, Jake Berry." MB: In fairness to Liz, she is the first British PM since Winnie whose "leadership" spanned the reigns of two rulers. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Mark Landler & Stephen Castle of the New York Times: "Prime Minister Liz Truss announced on Thursday that she would resign, just days after her new finance minister reversed virtually all of her planned tax cuts, sweeping away a free-market fiscal agenda that promised a radical policy shift for Britain but instead plunged the country into weeks of economic and political turmoil. 'I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected,' she said in brief remarks outside Downing Street." This is a liveblog. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Leo Sands of the Washington Post: "The question was all over British social media. Who would survive longer: the United Kingdom's prime minister, Liz Truss, or a wilting head of lettuce with a shelf life of just 10 days? By Thursday at lunch time, Britain had its answer. It was the lettuce.... [A head of iceberg lettuce] has done what many Machiavellian politicians have failed to achieve -- a takedown of a sitting prime minister." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
The Daily Star lettuce has come out victorious in the battle of the year - to see whether it could outlast Prime Minister Liz Truss in #LizVsLettuce
— Daily Star (@dailystar) October 20, 2022
[THREAD] pic.twitter.com/sP7QDgqcfr
BUT, on the Upside. Euan Ward of the New York Times: "Liz Truss is eligible for a taxpayer-funded allowance capped at 115,000 pounds ($129,000) a year for the rest of her life. Despite her short time in office, Ms. Truss became eligible on Thursday for what's called the Public Duty Costs Allowance -- a government reimbursement plan for staff and salary costs incurred by former prime ministers 'arising from their special position in public life' after they leave office, according to the government's website.'" MB: So I guess we know why she waited all the way till Thursday to announce her resignation.
Karla Adam & William Booth of the Washington Post: "After a whirlwind two months packed with drama and crisis, Britain finds itself right back where it was before with some of the same faces competing to become the third prime minister in just eight weeks. Supporters for the three presumed front-runners -- Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt and, yes, Boris Johnson -- were out of the blocks early on Friday, setting out their pitches for why their person should get the keys to 10 Downing Street, the prime ministerial residence.... Rishi Sunak is the bookies' favorite." ~~~
~~~ The Guardian is liveblogging developments.
Marie: Last month, while new PM Liz was hastening the death of the beloved Queen Liz, Larry Kudlow -- Trump's National Economics Council Director & perpetual Fox host & guest -- had high praise for PM Liz's economic plan. You know, the plan that immediately tanked the British economy, the pound & Truss's popularity (which bottomed out at about 9 percent). The plan Truss had to completely reverse within weeks. Just before she lost her job in the shortest tenure of a PM in British history. "Truss has it exactly right," Kudlow assured Fox viewers in September. ~~~
~~~ A couple of days before Truss announced her resignation, I remarked that the the situation in Downing Street was funnier because it was "befalling a country that is not our own." But of course it could happen here. As RAS noted the same day, such an economic agenda would be even worse here: "Looking at the disaster in Britain and knowing that the GOP would try to implement some of the same policies that Truss did, but without anyone to turn the bus around when everyone started to freak out about what it would do in the real world to the US and world economies." ~~~
~~~ AND as Kudlow, in September, noted with glee, Kevin McCarthy will make it happen here:
Larry Kudlow on Fox Business 9/23/22: "The new British prime minister, Liz Truss, has laid out a terrific supply-side economic growth plan which looks a lot like the basic thrust of Kevin McCarthy's Commitment to America plan.” pic.twitter.com/SlW349niNx
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) October 20, 2022
Amanda Holpuch of the New York Times: "Anne Sacoolas, an American who fled Britain in 2019 [under diplomatic immunity] after her car fatally stuck a 19-year-old British motorcyclist in central England, pleaded guilty on Thursday to causing the death of the teenager, Harry Dunn, by careless driving, British prosecutors said. The British Crown Prosecution Service had previously charged Ms. Sacoolas, 45, with causing death by dangerous driving in December 2019, but she pleaded guilty to the lesser charge in a hearing in London on Thursday at the central criminal court of England and Wales. She appeared at the hearing in a video call. The police said that Ms. Sacoolas, a State Department employee, was driving on the wrong side of the road near the village of Croughton, in central England, on Aug. 27, 2019, when her car struck Mr. Dunn, who was riding a motorcycle on the correct side of the road. Mr. Dunn died at a hospital shortly after." (Also linked yesterday.)
Italy. Jason Horowitz of the New York Times: "... even before a government can be sworn in, [Silvio Berlusconi,] the 86-year-old billionaire media mogul has proved himself to be less of a stable, moderating force, than the source of renewed anxiety after the leak of surreptitiously recorded remarks revealed that he blamed Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, for forcing President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to invade Ukraine. The remarks, complete with talk about a 'sweet letter' and vodka from Mr. Putin, raise concerns that the new right-wing government, led by Giorgia Meloni, herself a solid supporter of Ukraine, is wobblier than expected and could, if it ever actually comes together with another Putin-admiring partner, potentially lead Italy to undercut Europe's united front against Russia.... Within days, the hard-right leader Giorgia Meloni ... is expected to become prime minister. But she needs Mr. Berlusconi's support, and he has now become the largest, and most erratic, obstacle to forming a government." (Also linked yesterday.)
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Reader Comments (15)
The continued stamping of fat baby feet down at MAL about…well, everything, is just another example of how much money, time, and effort that gets wasted in this country by this whiny crook.
Money, time, and effort taken away from serious problems, all to satisfy the narcissistic whims of an ignorant child, all of which could have been saved had he just once in his fucking conceited life followed the goddam rules, like he promised to do when inaugurated. THAT was the Big Lie.
Just think of the enormous expenditure in money, time, and effort being wasted on this spoiled prick: multiple lawsuits in NY, Georgia, DC. The work of the January 6 committee alone must be extraordinary, not to mention the work of dozens of investigators behind the scenes and lawyers and staff in the SDNY and Georgia. All because of this piece of shit, lying, fascist anus crevice.
Everything begins with Trump’s inveterate criminality and arrogance. And he’s backed up by sniveling sycophants like Kevin McCarthy, and harping lunatics like MTG.
We’re way beyond outrageous here. Courts often penalize those who bring baseless nuisance suits before them, wasting everyone’s time. Trump’s entire existence is a baseless nuisance suit.
“Larry Kudlow”. A synonym for “Wrong all the time”.
The most recent example, his unqualified support for Liz Truss’s terrifically I’ll advised tax cuts. This plan blew up in days. Wrong, Larry.
Back in July as job growth figures were set to be released, Kudlow wagged his finger at Wall Street analysts who predicted a 250k increase in jobs. He sniffed that it would barely be 100. The actual figure? 528k. Wrong again, Larry.
Back when Clinton raised the top tax bracket from 31% to 38.6%, this genius howled that it would kill the economy. The result? The famous 90’s bull market which ended with a budget surplus for about the first time since members of Congress rode to work in horse drawn carriages.
When Bush took over, with the federal budget in the black, Kudlow said the surplus was all Reagan’s doing. Reagan had been out of office for 12 years at that point, and the last couple of years in the White House he was experiencing early stage Alzheimer’s. But then when the economy started tanking under Bush, Kudlow blamed Clinton. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
Then we come to the default swap/mortgage crisis. Kudlow attacked real economists (he isn’t one, he just plays one on TV) for issuing warnings. “Nonsense” he snipped. He promised the biggest boom in modern history was just around the corner. The result? Something big alright, but not a boom. A global economic disaster and the worst recession since the Great Depression. Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, and wrong. And did I say “wrong”?
Everyone’s allowed to be wrong sometimes. No one gets it right all the time. But to be not just wrong, but catastrophically wrong? All the time?
But this schmo still gets paid a bundle to spout excruciatingly bad advice ALL the time. Only in ‘Merica.
It’s just wrong.
Do we think that Republicans learned anything from Liz Truss's
trickle down economic plan i.e.: tax cuts for the rich don't help the
overall economy? Nah. They're still slow learners, if they learn
anything at all.
Today's word in 'inFoxication', as in 'driving while infoxicated'.
Forrest,
“Infoxicated”. Nice. Might have to steal that one.
Intellectual consistency has never been a strong suit of the right.
On the one hand, under the sway of Miss Direction, MTG, R’s have gone from labeling Democrats as soshulists to dirty, evil commies. But they uniformly, and unquestioningly support the biggest dirty, evil commie still alive in Russia, Vladimir Putin. And they likewise threaten and despise one of the most successful democracies to have come out of the old Soviet Union, Ukraine.
This last is pretty easy to figure though. These people are often simple creatures. In the same way that Larry Kudlow deems every tax cut wonderful and every tax horrible (it really is that simple), the GQP now must be against anything or anyone hated by the Orange Monster.
Ukraine didn’t knuckle under to his blackmail scheme and made him look bad. Therefore…they must all suffer. And his mewling followers must agree.
It really makes no difference what the facts are or what’s best for the US and our allies. It’s all about what’s best for Fat Donald. More oaths down the crapper.
ISSUE–-TISSUE: Please watch this video: A female doctor showing actual pictures of the uterine procession after implantation and even after nine week there is no visible embryo. Then send it on to all those you know who visualize a teeny tiny fetus floating around at the on set sucking its thumb. This should be shown in Congress on movie night while passing out Puff tissues in case anyone weeps.
https://youtu.be/ibBjFkLiaGU
Not for nothin’, but whatever happens in the ongoing investigation into election finagling in Georgia, as long as Aunt Pittypat gets whacked hard, I’ll feel like it wasn’t a total failure. I mean, yeah, sure, I want Fatty to swing for his attempt to steal Georgia, but the thought of that obsequious, oleaginous toady, Lindsey Graham, being hoist with anyone’s petard brings me waves of unalloyed pleasure.
Okay, one more thing. This shit sooo pisses me off. The other day, on NPR, during a discussion of the recent polls showing the death of Democrats, political correspondent Domenico Montenaro brings up the latest winger lie about how the rise in inflation is all Biden’s fault. He then sez, “Well, this is to be expected because the GOP typically is considered better at taking care of the economy.”
Considered by whom? Seriously. I know that this canard has been around for decades, but look at the facts. Republican administrations have consistently sucked at “taking care of the economy”. Democratic administrations then come along and clean up the mess.
So how about a little context when slinging around such baseless assertions? Letting Republicans preside over the economy is like giving Jeffrey Dahmer his own cooking show. Or putting Kanye West in charge of the JDL.
Jesus!
The Republican's great trickle-down theory was once explained by Galbraith as that trickle being the poop pellets expelled from the horse after a good meal. Whether the Brit's fiasco will awaken our own trickle downers is up for grabs. Poor Liz–--she wilts before a head of lettuce–-- and the lettuce takes a bow.
How I love reading Ak's fury at the fumbling fiends –--and yes, Kudlow has always been wrong but always sounds so right. As for our man of the hour he's like a ticking time bomb––any moment he's gonna GET IT! GOOD AND PROPER––-and we wait and we wait and ========
There's a new sheriff in town. Walker got pranked by the new Colbert show about a stolen laptop.
And the grifters always follow Republicans around wherever they go. The new conservative superhero movie may not happen anymore because the company holding the crowd funded million dollars turned out to be a fraud and now it's all gone.
After seeing the NYT story on TFG claiming thet the pardon and immigration record are "HIS", I can't help but remember an old saying that "possession is 9/10 of the law". Maybe that's why he stole everything?
Anybody here think for one short minute that Democrats are going to trumpet the record deficit reduction?
The NYTimes, as usual, errs on the side of Republican traitors. Ooooh!! Can congress actually subpoena a FORMER PRESIDENT??????????
Yes, douchebags, they can. He’s not a king. He’s not a god, he’s a former, meaning not currently, guy. He’s a private citizen. And describing this slimy, treasonous pig as a citizen is benefit of the doubt like you read about.
This is not a brain buster. Of COURSE they can subpoena him. Suggesting that it’s a question plays straight into the bloody hands of the insurrectionist mob.
Please to be reading the law.
This is just another in the zillion examples of how the MSM has been cowed by fanatical right wing lies about a liberal media. If the Times were truly part of this mythical liberal media, the headline would be “Fat fuck lying traitor subpoenaed, and better get his fascist ass moving, or plead the fifth. Like the criminal he is.”
Okay?
Akhilleus,
And how 'bout a potential President, like maybe you or me? (No, I haven't announced, but it's finally raining here, the wildfire smoke has cleared, the temperature has dropped, and I'm sitting in my chair, weighing my options.,)
Thanks to the Times legal team, I'm feeling safer all the time...
Some MSNBC guest a while back pointed out the fact that a number of countries around the world have prosecuted their former leaders for criminal behavior. It is not in fact the rarity that our media has portrayed it as. There is a huge difference between political sham trials, what Trump would do, and legitimate criminal trials, what Trump may be facing.