;)
The Commentariat -- April 28, 2018
Late Morning Update:
Elizabeth Drew of the New Republic reviews This Week in Trump, with an emphasis on Thursday. Mrs. McC: Sadly, she wrote before the Judge in the Stormy Daniels case put the civil suit on a 90-day hold. But as legal scholar Paul Butler said on MSNBC Friday, "Cohen won [that] battle, but the lost the war"; the reason Judge Otero gave for delaying the civil proceedings was that it was likely Cohen soon would be indicted on related charges. (Related story linked below.)
*****
Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "With news breaking that the North and South Korean leaders agreed to work toward the 'common goal' of denuclearization and a formal end of the 65-year-old war on the Korean Peninsula this year, Trump was more ebullient than most.... 'KOREAN WAR TO END! The United States, and all of its GREAT people, should be very proud of what is now taking place in Korea!' [Trump tweeted].... [And] 'Please do not forget the great help that my good friend, President Xi of China, has given to the United States, particularly at the Border of North Korea. Without him it would have been a much longer, tougher, process!'.... This is premature, to say the least. If there's one thing everyone agrees upon, it's that the 'process' is really just beginning. The news was big, if not unprecedented, but we've had agreements between North and South Korea before, and they haven't panned out. Trump's tweets weren't just spiking the football but 'spiking the ball while still in the locker room before the coin is tossed to start the game,' said Thomas Weiss, a scholar at the City University of New Yorkwho has studied North Korea." ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: I'd give the prize jointly to leaders like Merkel, Macron & Trudeau who manage to be civil to Trump. They're far more polite than I could be. ...
... Anne Gearan writes this morning's top WashPo story, headlined "Trump rebrands diplomatic norms as events in Asia, Europe and elsewhere spin on his axis." Mrs. McC: To the extent that the leader of a powerful country is bound to be an important player, Trump is right. And to the extent that villainous leaders will attract outsized attention as others try to contain or restrain them, Trump is right. But as an agent for world peace or something like that, not so much. ...
... Max Boot in the Washington Post: "... it's a good thing the two Korean leaders are meeting and talking. It is certainly better than the saber-rattling we saw last year, with North Korea testing nuclear weapons and missiles, and President Trump responding with threats to rain down 'fire and fury.' But let's not imagine that Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong Un are making 'historic' breakthroughs with their summit declaration. It is full of lofty but empty language promising 'no more war on the Korean Peninsula.'... There is very little of substance here.... The two Koreas do not have the power to conclude a peace treaty because South Korea was not a party to the 1953 armistice. It was an agreement between the United States (acting on behalf of the United Nations Command), China and North Korea. If there is to be a peace treaty, it will involve those powers, not just South Korea.... Kim ... is pursuing his family's old policy of mixing provocations such as missile tests with peace offensives designed to convince the West to relax sanctions and extend his odious regime a life line." ...
... Julie Davis of the New York Times: "President Trump and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany made no attempt on Friday to hide their disagreements over the future of the Iran nuclear deal and trade relations between the United States and Europe after a day of White House meetings that appeared to have produced no breakthroughs on major disputes. Mr. Trump and Ms. Merkel, who have had a chilly relationship from the start, steered away from the kind of awkward confrontations that have characterized past meetings, going out of their way to compliment each other and accentuate areas of agreement. But Mr. Trump pressed his complaint that the trade relationship between the United States and Europe was 'unfair,' and Ms. Merkel made clear that the president had not made the commitment she was seeking -- permanently exempting the European Union from the steel and aluminum tariffs he imposed in March."
... Adam Raymond of New York: "Who deserves credit for this momentous meeting and the push toward peace? Donald Trump, says South Korean foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha. 'He's been determined to come to grips with this from day one,' she recently told CNN. And he may soon have a Nobel Peace Prize to show for it. Trump and Kim are currently the favorites to win the prize, according to one British oddsmaker, and some of Trump's aides are telling reporters that a lasting thaw between North and South Korea should win Trump the award."
This Russia Thing, Ctd. Collusion, Hiding in Plain Sight:
Karoun Demirjian, et al., of the Washington Post: "House Intelligence Committee Republicans released a redacted version of their final report from a year-long probe into Russia's 'multifaceted' influence operation, generally clearing President Trump and his associates of wrongdoing while accusing the intelligence community and the FBI of failures in how they assessed and responded to the Kremlin's interference in the 2016 election. The report accuses the intelligence community of 'significant intelligence tradecraft failings,' suggesting that Russia's main goal was to sow discord in the United States and not to help Trump win the election. It says investigators found 'no evidence that the Trump campaign colluded, coordinated, or conspired with the Russian government' -- even as it details contacts between Trump campaign officials and Russians or Russian intermediaries. Trump seized on the report to call for an end to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's criminal investigation into whether his campaign coordinated with Russia. 'Just Out: House Intelligence Committee Report released. "No evidence" that the Trump Campaign "colluded, coordinated or conspired with Russia,"' Trump wrote. 'Clinton Campaign paid for Opposition Research obtained from Russia- Wow! A total Witch Hunt! MUST END NOW!' But committee Democrats quickly charged that their Republican colleagues had rushed to end their work prematurely in a 'a systematic effort to muddy the waters and to deflect attention away from the President.'" See links to related story & report -- both marked "NEW" -- at the top of yesterday's Commentariat. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Here is the response of Democrats on the committee (pdf). ...
... Charles Savage & Matthew Rosenberg of the New York Times: "Here are five takeaways [from the GOP report]: One after another, the Republican report explains away links between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.... [The report] raised doubts about one key finding of intelligence agencies: that the Russian government wanted to help Donald J. Trump defeat Hillary Clinton, rather than just to sow discord.... The Republican report echoed several talking points circling among Mr. Trump's allies on conservative news and opinion outlets. For example, the report dovetails with the script-flipping narrative that a dossier alleging complicity between Trump associates and Russia compiled by Christopher Steele, a former British spy, was itself a Russian plot.... The Republican report was often skeptical in tone about statements and testimony by people who put forward information that could be damaging to Mr. Trump, and more credulous about statements in his favor.... The Republican report is scathing about leaks to the news media that have brought to light various information about Trump-Russia contacts." ...
... Dan Friedman of Mother Jones: "One particularly notable example of the committee's less-than-zealous approach to the investigation is its analysis of the infamous June 9, 2016, Trump Tower meeting at which Trump Jr. and other top Trump aides met with a Russian lawyer in an effort to acquire damaging information about Hillary Clinton from the Kremlin.... According to the Democrats' report, Trump Jr. exchanged calls about the meeting with Emin Agalarov on June 6 at [Rob] Goldstone's request. The first call was at 4:04 pm. At 4:27 pm, prior to Trump Jr.'s second call with Emin, Trump Jr. received a call from a 'blocked' number. Trump Jr. told the committee last year he did not know who had called him. The Democrats note, however, that Corey Lewandowski, Trump's first campaign manager, told the committee that Trump Sr.'s 'primary residence has a blocked [phone] line.' Democrats say they made 'repeated efforts to obtain the home or cell phone records for then-candidate Trump to determine whether the blocked call was Trump Jr.'s father.' But, they note, 'the Majority was unwilling to pursue the matter.'" ...
... Paul Waldman & Greg Sargent: "Although [the GOP report] is meant to exonerate President Trump and everyone around him, what it actually does is bring the utter degradation and disgrace of that committee to its fullest expression. By contrast, there may be real news in the Democrats' response to the report.... If Trump Jr. did inform his father of the meeting in between calls with Emin Agalarov, it would be absolutely explosive news.... If the Democratic response is accurate, what we know is that Republicans didn't want to find out one way or the other. 'It speaks to all the majority was determined to ignore, and the fundamental unseriousness of what they did,' [ranking committee Democrat Adam] Schiff [Calif.] said.... It's possible special counsel Robert S. Mueller III will take an interest in these phone records, if he hasn't already." ...
... Chris Geidner of BuzzFeed: "A direct line of communication between the Kremlin-connected Agalarov family and the Trump family was open during the transition after ... Donald Trump's presidential election, BuzzFeed News has learned. The 'first of a series' of text messages was sent between Emin Agalarov and Donald Trump Jr. two days after the 2016 election, a source familiar with the communications told BuzzFeed News. The communications continued through at least mid-December 2016, according to information made public Friday. It is not clear how many messages were sent, whether Trump Jr. sent any of them, or how many were sent by either party -- although BuzzFeed News confirmed that multiple messages were sent.... After the short [June 9, 2016, Trump Tower] meeting [among Junior, Manafort, Kushner & the Russians], according to the Democrats' report, the group -- excluding Trump Jr., Manafort, and Kushner -- went to the bar in Trump Tower. While there, Kaveladze took a call from Aras Agalarov. The next day, Aras had 'an expensive painting' delivered to Trump [Sr.]," supposedly a birthday gift. Trump's birthday is June 14. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie BTW: It's fair to say that not only Natalia V. Veselnitskaya -- the lawyer who represented Russian interests at the meeting & has now admitted to her ties to Russia's prosecutor general -- but also the Agalaraovs were acting as agents for the Kremlin. ...
... Jeremy Herb of CNN: "The Russian oligarch and Russian lawyer who were key players in the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting reached out to Trump's team after Donald Trump was elected President to try to lobby on the Russian sanctions they sought to overturn, according to Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee. Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the intelligence panel, told CNN's Jim Sciutto on Friday that Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya reached out to the Trump family after the election with a request to follow up on efforts to repeal the Magnitsky Act, the 2012 Russian sanctions the US enacted over human rights abuses. Veselnitskaya was the Russian lawyer at the center of the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting, where Donald Trump Jr. expected to receive damaging information on Hillary Clinton but instead Veselnitskaya focused on the repeal of the sanctions.... In addition, another effort to reach out to Trump's team after the election came from Aras Agalarov, the Azerbaijani-Russian oligarch who also has ties to the Trump Tower meeting.... Trump's team has denied there was any follow up after the [June 2016] Trump Tower meeting."
... Betsy Woodruff & Adam Rawnsley of the Daily Beast: "Before traveling to Russia in 2015 for a dinner hosted by a propaganda network, retired Gen. Michael Flynn and his son, Michael Flynn Jr., went to the home of Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak for a private meeting. That was just one of several findings in a new, long-awaited report from House intelligence committee Republicans...." ...
... AND, in a tweet Michael Isikoff of Yahoo! News suggests that the report reveals that Michael Flynn had prior knowledge of the Russian hacks ("nation-states") & WikiLeaks impending release of DNC e-mails: ".@wikileaks released DNC emails on 7/22/16. Per House intel report, one week earlier, on 7/15, Flynn wrote email saying: 'There are a number of things happening (and will happen) this election via cyber operations (by both hackivists, nation-states & the DNC')." ...
... Martin Longman, in the Washington Monthly, has quite a good, concise post on incontrovertible evidence of collusion between Trump & Russia that somehow went over the heads of Nunes, Conaway & Co.: "The basic conspiracy is that Trump adopted positions towards Russia in return for their assistance in helping him win. That's so observable that it's essentially proven." Longman elaborates. Lots of quids & quos.
Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort has lost his lawsuit claiming that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and special counsel Robert Mueller exceeded their authority in charging him with alleged crimes that he says have nothing to do with the 2016 campaign. A judge said Friday that Manafort can't use this lawsuit to stop the special counsel's office from continuing to pursue an investigation of him. 'A civil case is not the appropriate vehicle for taking issue with what a prosecutor has done in the past or where he might be headed in the future,' Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the US District Court in Washington, DC, wrote Friday." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Beth Reinhard of the Washington Post: "A federal judge on Friday granted Michael Cohen's request for a delay in a lawsuit brought against him by porn star Stormy Daniels, saying it appeared likely Cohen will be indicted in a related criminal investigation. Judge S. James Otero's order for a 90-day stay comes two days after Cohen, PresidentTrump's personal attorney, said he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself in the lawsuit.... Cohen's declaration cited the investigation by federal prosecutors in New York, who are examining his role in quashing embarrassing stories about Trump during the 2016 campaign.... Otero said Friday that the issues in the civil dispute with Daniels overlap with the criminal probe into Cohen.... It is not uncommon for defendants facing both civil liability and criminal prosecution to request a pause in civil proceedings to avoid giving sworn testimony and producing documents that could prove incriminating."
Sara Murray of CNN: "The National Rifle Association is setting aside years of documents related to its interactions with a Kremlin-linked banker, as the gun-rights group appears to be bracing for a possible investigation, according to sources familiar with the situation. The NRA has faced fresh scrutiny from congressional investigators about its finances and ties to Alexander Torshin, one of the 17 prominent Russian government officials the US Treasury Department recently slapped with sanctions. The gun-rights group has said it is reexamining its relationship with Torshin, who is a lifetime NRA member, in the wake of the sanctions. The renewed attention has highlighted the close-knit if sometimes uneasy alliance between top NRA officials and Torshin -- a relationship that ensnared members of Trump's team during the presidential campaign, inviting further congressional scrutiny.... The NRA recently found itself facing allegations that the FBI was investigating whether Torshin illegally funneled money through the group to bolster Trump, according to a McClatchy report."
Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump is tweeting this morning, which is the same thing as writing "Trump is lying this morning": "....Allegations made by Senator Jon Tester against Admiral/Doctor Ron Jackson are proving false. The Secret Service is unable to confirm (in fact they deny) any of the phony Democrat charges which have absolutely devastated the wonderful Jackson family. Tester should resign. The..... great people of Montana will not stand for this kind of slander when talking of a great human being. Admiral Jackson is the kind of man that those in Montana would most respect and admire, and now, for no reason whatsoever, his reputation has been shattered. Not fair, Tester!" Tester of course did not make any allegations against Jackson. Rather, the allegations came from members of the military, specifically those who worked in the White House. ...
... Update. Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Trump on Saturday called for the resignation of Senator Jon Tester, the Montana Democrat who helped thwart his effort to install the White House physician in the cabinet, suggesting that the president may try to exact retribution in the fall congressional elections in a state that he won by a wide margin.... The president has been sharply criticizing Mr. Tester for days, singling out the Democrat while ignoring Republican opposition that had built to Dr. Jackson's nomination. Mr. Tester, the ranking Democratic member of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, took the lead in publicly questioning Dr. Jackson's record, but he had the support of Senator Johnny Isakson of Georgia, the Republican chairman of the committee, who signed a joint statement with him saying the issues should be investigated." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: It's probably worth noting, too, that Sens. Tester & Isakson were doing their Constitutionally-prescribed duty to "advise" the president, and "consent" does not necessarily follow. That is, we have a president who thinks a senator should resign for doing his job. ...
... Gabriel Sherman of Vanity Fair: "For months, Donald Trump has discussed replacing his chief of staff, John Kelly, who has attempted, with increasing futility, to rein in the president's impulses.... For the past few weeks, Trump has often governed as if Kelly weren't there, as evidenced by [Thursday's] Fox & Friends interview, during which the president essentially undermined his own legal defense. The cringe-inducing telephone interview was precisely the kind of unscripted media appearance the chief of staff had made a point of preventing.... According to sources familiar with the situation, White House officials and Trump confidantes are currently discussing the possibility of moving Kelly to head the Department of Veterans Affairs. 'They're looking for a place for Kelly to land that won't be embarrassing for him,' one Republican briefed on the conversations said."
Closing the Barn Door after the Horse Has Bolted. Amy Gardner & Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "The White House on Friday said officials had conducted a thorough review of presidential physician Ronny L. Jackson's vehicle records and found three minor incidents but no evidence that he 'wrecked' a car after drinking at a Secret Service going-away party, as was alleged in a document released by Senate Democrats this week.... Also Friday, the Secret Service issued a statement denying the details of a published report that agents had intervened on an overseas trip to prevent Jackson from bothering then-President Barack Obama. According a report from CNN, Jackson had pounded on another White House official's hotel room door close enough to the president's room to risk disturbing him.... All of it has emboldened President Trump and the White House to accuse [Sen. Jon] Tester [D-Mont.] of a smear campaign -- and has muddied the case against Jackson...." ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Judge for yourself, but in regard to the alleged car accident, I find the "proof" unconvincing. Human nature being what it is, it is not unreasonable to suppose that Jackson reported minor fender-benders for which he was or was not responsible but accidentally forgot to report wrecking a car while drunk-driving. I'm not saying that's what happened; I'm saying it's plausible. In addition, I would not be surprised if the Secret Service also accidentally forgot to write a report re: the supposed hotel incident. It wouldn't be the first time the Secret Service covered up an embarrassing incident. In addition, I would not trust a Trump White House "investigation" any more than I do the House Republicans' No Collusion fictional narrative.
Jennifer Dlouhy of Bloomberg: "The Environmental Protection Agency’s internal watchdog will probe Administrator Scott Pruitt's unorthodox rental of a Capitol Hill condominium from a lobbyist, marking at least the 10th federal investigation of the agency's chief.... Previously, EPA's top ethics officer said the lease itself didn't violate federal ethics regulations barring certain gifts. But the ethics officer didn't examine whether the arrangement with a lobbyist violated other ethics rules, nor whether the actual use of the space was consistent with the lease agreement." (Open link in private window.)
Sheila Kaplan of the New York Times: "The high salary set for the newly appointed director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has come under criticism from Senate Democrats and watchdog groups who questioned the use of an exemption to pay him nearly twice as much as his predecessors. Dr. Robert R. Redfield, who became the director in March, is receiving $375,000 a year, a substantially higher salary than the heads of many other government agencies. It was granted under a provision known as Title 42, which gives the department the authority to pay staff more than the approved government rate if the personnel provide a specific scientific need that cannot otherwise be filled.... 'It is difficult to understand why someone with limited public health experience, particularly in a leadership role, is being disproportionately compensated for his work,' compared to others in comparable government roles, wrote Senator [Patty] Murray [Wash.], the ranking Democrat on the committee that oversees federal health agencies."
Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "In a letter released Friday, nearly 20 Senate Democrats said they want the Department of Homeland Security to hand over documents shedding more light on [acting ICE chief Thomas] Homan and his formal nomination to become the next director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The nomination of Homan, who has been leading the immigration agency in an acting capacity since the beginning of Trump's presidency, has stalled since it was officially submitted to the Senate on Nov. 14, 2017.... Homan has projected a hard-line approach to immigration enforcement, including his declaration last year that immigrants 'should be afraid' under the Trump administration if they entered the United States illegally. Democratic senators said DHS needs to give more information to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee before the nomination can proceed, but the department has yet to do so. The fact that it took Trump nearly 10 months to officially nominate an ICE director was also 'striking,' Democrats wrote, 'given the priority this Administration claims to place on immigration enforcement.'" ...
... Paige St. John & Joel Rubin of the Los Angeles Times: "... Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents repeatedly target U.S. citizens for deportation by mistake, making wrongful arrests based on incomplete government records, bad data and lax investigations, according to a Times review of federal lawsuits, internal ICE documents and interviews. Since 2012, ICE has released from its custody more than 1,480 people after investigating their citizenship claims, according to agency figures. And a Times review of Department of Justice records and interviews with immigration attorneys uncovered hundreds of additional cases in the country's immigration courts in which people were forced to prove they are Americans and sometimes spent months or even years in detention." The story of Davino Watson, a U.S. citizen whom ICE held fo4 3-1/2 years, is horrifying. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-Pa.), who previously announced his retirement from Congress following reports he had paid a secret settlement to a staffer who accused him of harassment, resigned outright Friday. His resignation came as the House Ethics Committee continued a probe into his behavior that could have resulted in serious sanctions. The former aide, a younger woman, alleged that Meehan had confessed romantic feelings for her after she became involved with another man. Meehan, she alleged, later retaliated after she repelled his advances.... Meehan said that within 30 days he will repay taxpayers for the $39,000 settlement that was paid as a severance payment to his former staffer.... Meehan's departure could prompt a special election in his suburban Philadelphia district. That decision will be made by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D), who is also considering whether to hold a special election in the Allentown-area district that Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) is expected to vacate later this year." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Juliegrace Brufke of the Hill: "The House rejected a resolution on Friday that would have set up a select committee to investigate Patrick Conroy's dismissal as House chaplain. In a 215-171 mostly party-line vote, the House turned aside the measure from House Democratic Caucus Chairman Joe Crowley's (N.Y.), who argued it was necessary to look into the 'motivations and actions' behind Conroy's dismissal. Conroy announced his retirement as chaplain earlier this month, a decision most members thought was voluntary until Thursday, when it emerged that Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) had pushed him out." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... He Persisted. Dana Milbank: "Praying for the poor is now apparently a firing offense in the corridors of power. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) did not give a reason when his chief of staff this month told the Rev. Patrick Conroy, a Jesuit priest and House chaplain, to resign or face dismissal. But we know this much: Ryan's office complained to Conroy about a prayer he offered on the House floor during the tax overhaul debate that those who 'continue to struggle' in the United States would not be made 'losers under new tax laws.' Ryan admonished the priest after the Nov. 6 prayer, saying, 'Padre, you just got to stay out of politics,' Conroy told the New York Times. He was warned. He was given an explanation. Nevertheless, he persisted. Over the five months since Ryan's warning, Conroy dared to continue to preach the teachings of Jesus on the House floor[.]" ...
... "Will No One Rid Me of This Meddlesome Priest?" Gail Collins: "Ryan himself is leaving Congress at the end of the year. When he announced his retirement, some malcontents muttered that he ought to step down from the speaker's job now and give someone else a turn. No way. 'I intend to run through the tape, to finish the year,' said the man who loves everything about physical fitness, including metaphors. 'Paul Ryan's giving himself that luxury,' said [Rep. Gerald] Connolly [D-Va.]. 'Why wouldn't you give it to the chaplain?'"
Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A divided federal appeals court panel has thrown out a challenge to a revised voter identification law the state of Texas passed last year after an earlier measure ran into legal trouble. In a 2-1 decision on Friday, a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel overturned a district court judge's ruling that the 2017 law, known as Senate Bill 5, unconstitutionally discriminated against minority voters. The new decision was not a surprise since a three-judge panel of the same court stayed the lower court's ruling in September, allowing the state to put the new law into effect. The same judge who sharply dissented from the decision last year, James Graves Jr., dissented again on Friday. However, the other two judges on the panel who ruled on Friday, Edith Jones and Patrick Higginbotham, were not part of the earlier stay ruling.... Jones and Higginbotham are appointees of President Ronald Reagan. Graves was appointed by President Barack Obama."
Michael de la Merced of the New York Times: "Sprint and T-Mobile are in advanced discussions about merging, and a deal could be announced as soon as this weekend, people briefed on the matter said on Friday. A combination of the two companies would complete one of the telecommunications industry's most long-awaited transactions and would create the third-largest wireless carrier in the United States, with more than 127 million customers. Sprint and T-Mobile have tried to negotiate a merger twice before." (Also linked yesterday.)
Hannity Should Rename His Show "The Simon Legree Hour." Jon Swaine of the Guardian: "The number of eviction orders obtained against tenants in a Georgia apartment complex owned by Sean Hannity has sharply increased since the property was bought by the Fox News host.... The court records suggest the rate of eviction orders at Hampton Place [-- a Georgia apartment complex --] has increased by more than 400% under Hannity's ownership." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: You might wonder why Hannity has bought two apartment complexes in Georgia since he seems to have no particular connection to the state. Maybe this explains it: "'Georgia is one of the harshest states for tenants,' said [Lindsey] Siegel[, a Georgia legal aid attorney]. 'You can be evicted for being a single day late on your rent -- regardless of whether you've paid on time for the past five years.'" ...
... Matt Pearce & Jenny Jarvie of the Los Angeles Times: "Since [Hannity's heretofore secret limited-liability partnership] SPMK took over [another Georgia apartment complex called Lithia Springs], the homes got renovated. Old carpets were replaced with hardwood floors; kitchens got new cabinets and appliances. Outside fresh siding went up and flower beds were filled with uniform rows of privet and pink roses. But longtime tenants of this predominantly blue collar, African American neighborhood also said their monthly payments on their small two-bedroom apartments had gone up 50% over the last five years, increasing from about $650 to as much as $1,000. Rents are rising nationally. But a rate increase of roughly 10% a year since 2013 is surprisingly high, about double the rate of rentals in the Lithia Springs area, said Dan Immergluck, a professor at Georgia State University's Urban Studies Institute...."
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: This Guardian story, by Jon Henley, about Brigitte Macron & Melania Trump is notable for its correction. If you read the correction & are not sure what I mean, you might be (a) a man or (b) a fan of Phyllis Schlafly. If neither, please do try to catch up. P.S. If you think omitting the spouses' age differences would have been best, well, yeah.
Marisa Guthrie of the Hollywood Reporter: "Tom Brokaw, the NBC News anchor who has served as a distinguished anchor emeritus since stepping down as anchor of Nightly News in 2004, penned a blistering rebuttal to accusations that he subjected an underling to unwanted advances in the 1990s when he was the network&'s biggest star and she was a 28-year-old just starting out in network news." Guthrie publishes the entire e-mail Brokaw wrote to some NBC News colleagues. Here's one sentence: "I was ambushed and then perp walked across the pages of The Washington Post and Variety as an avatar of male misogyny, taken to the guillotine and stripped of any honor and achievement I had earned in more than a half century of journalism and citizenship." ...
... Katie Kilkenny of the Hollywood Reporter: "One day after two women alleged Tom Brokaw sexually harassed them at NBC News in the 1990s, a cadre of female journalists including Rachel Maddow, Andrea Mitchell and Maria Shriver have signed a letter characterizing the veteran journalist as "a man of tremendous decency and integrity.... On Friday, Mika Brzezinski also voiced her support for the journalist, tweeting, 'Add me to the list.'" Kilkenny appends the full letter & signators. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: This is a standard "Well, he didn't assault me" letter that big corporations use to defend their top guys against victims of assault, thus victimizing the victims again. Shame on the signers, each and every one of them. I believe the women. As for Brokaw's "honor," I suspect he truly doesn't remember assaulting Linda Vester & the other woman. It's the kind of thing men forget. But women don't.
Beyond the Beltway
Clint Rainey of New York: "James Shaw Jr. -- the customer being celebrated as 'the Waffle House hero' (and, now, 'Tennessee's hero') who saved lives by wrestling the suspect to the ground -- topped his heroism during the actual shooting by setting up a GoFundMe just hours later that asked for money to give to the victims' families. His initial goal: a somewhat ambitious $15,000. His current amount, raised after just four days: $172,822. Nearly 5,000 people have chipped in so far.... Meanwhile, Yashar Ali, the journalist who saw Shaw's crowdfunding effort and decided the world also owed this man something, has raised even more over on his separate GoFundMe page. A well-connected politics reporter with 261,000 Twitter followers, Ali has managed, as of this writing, to collect $182,311 in three days from more than 5,700 people.... You can find James Shaw's page for the victims' families here. And Yashar Ali’s page for Shaw here."
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Reader Comments (11)
A line included in his top recommended comment to today's Gail Collins piece by Socrates on the Father Conroy firing "...more in toenail painting? " attributed to Paul Ryan.
"Jesus washed the feet of his disciples...and I paint the toenails of the rich - what's the difference ?"
Hah! Easy enough to imagine Ryan on his knees with a small bottle of Rouge de Republican lacquer (vernis à ongle) painting the toenail of David Koch.
I'm confused. How does threatening to kill millions with atomic bombs considered related to 'peace'? And that goes both ways.
Marvin: Recall the Strategic Air Command motto: "Peace is our profession"
If Mrs. Lovett was still making the worst pies in London but had decided to sell her wares in D.C. she might have had a field day picking up the dead meat that the Trump administration has thrown out. Popping pussies into pies wouldn't do in her shop–-she needed fresh flesh to put into her pies. The latest victims, Jackson and Conroy, would be just the thing–-a doctor would be delightful–-hands soft as velvet–-even the alcohol would add just the right amount of piquancy. And then there's the priest:
"It's priest, sir, it's too good, at least,
then again they don't
commit sins of the flesh
So it's pretty fresh."
Seems to me we are in Sweeney Todd territory where the demon barber of Fleet street resembles the demon leader of Deceit street. Besides the bloodletting, this play was centered on the state of the state, the church, and the social nexus that fueled the industrial world. What we have here is another theater production where we are presented daily with acts that boggle our minds and no one is applauding except those that deserve to go into one of those pies.
As Mrs. Lovett always said: TIMES IS HARD
P.S. Re: Brokaw: I would think given this cultural change of outing men of groping hands and inappropriate gestures or/and actual rape and drugged interventions, these women who spoke out should have kept their accolades to themselves–-it undermined the victim in this case. Write Brokaw a wee note–-"Sorry to hear this–-I always thought you a stellar fella."
Bea,
Maybe because I'm a man (or just dense) I apparently need a brief lecture. Read the Guardian story and your comment on it, but sense I'm still missing something. In fact, I am so far out of it, I don't even get why the Guardian felt the need to "correct" the original version.
I know it has something to do with age disparity, but a kind explanation would be welcome.
On Kelly: had wondered what was happening with the general. He has clearly been sidelined, and though he may be be grateful to be out of the camera's eye, he's just the latest of those who were supposed to exert come control over the loon at the top and clearly didn't succeed. Knew we were in big trouble from the beginning when we were told the likes of Preibus and Ivanka were all that stood between the Pretender and government by chaos, and I really never had much hope that anyone who had agreed to head the Dept. of Homeland Security (since we all knew what that would mean in an administration that vaulted to power on the backs of Mexicans and Muslims), would provide much sanity no matter how many medals he sported on his chest.
If I had a higher opinion of Kelly, I'd say he was infected by too close an association with the rot at the top, but it's no surprise he will suffer the same fate as all those who have chosen to gambol in the widening White House swamp: Public humiliation, whatever reputation he did have tattered, muttering second-guesses himself abut the choices he made to the end of his days.
And if he does end up soft-landing at the VA, will he turn out to be as much of a closet privatizer as he was a racist?
If not, the landing may not be all that soft.
@Ken Winkes: First, the relative age of the Macrons has zip to do with the story. The male reporter threw in Brigitte's age relative to Emmanuel's simply because he defines Brigitte Macron as "wife way older than husband, which is creepy."
Obviously, somebody at the Guardian (or maybe a reader) told him that was disgusting, then loaded on by noting the age difference between the Trumps, which Henley ignored. This is especially egregious inasmuch as Trump has defined at least his two second wives by their sex-related physical attributes. So instead of deleting the superfluous reference to Brigitte's age, Henley opted to throw in the age difference between Melania & her creepy husband. That also has nothing to do with the gist of the story, which was what Brigitte said about Melania.
The overarching -- and I thought glaring -- problem with the report is that men consider it "normal" and unremarkable (literally unremarkable in this case) for a man to marry a younger woman, but think it's "abnormal" and therefore necessarily remarkable (again literally here) that a man might marry an older woman. The obvious reason for this is that women are valued principally for their youthful beauty, & other attributes they may have get a distant second billing.
While I see nothing wrong, generally, with remarking on a person's good looks -- I told a number of people about the drop-dead handsome young surveyor who stopped by my house on business last year (though I would never have embarrassed him by speaking directly to him about his appearance) -- "rating" women on appearance alone is abominable. Especially when I was younger, I had good friends who were head-turning beautiful. There was a lot more to my friends than that, & I can you their beauty caused them a lot of problems. Before I knew these women, I suppose I had wished to be beautiful; they taught me the pitfalls. Ordinary is easier.
I know the same is true of very good-looking men; I dated some really gorgeous men when I was young, and they liked me specifically because I could see past their pretty faces.
Any more questions? Ask your wife.
Thanks, Bea.
Thought that might be it. Do understand we've assigned "normal" to men marrying younger wives (tho' that robbing the cradle phrase suggests some social discomfort when the difference is judged too great) and "abnormal" to the reverse. I would add only that biology may play into the matter of age disparity, too. I remember my mother being very disturbed by Bing Crosby's second marriage to a younger woman, a disturbance that tipped into outrage territory when the aging crooner impregnated her. Somewhere in there, tho' we didn't discuss such things in my very Catholic family, I learned that when it comes to procreation men still can long after women can't.
Agree also the reported disparities had nothing to do with the story's crux. They were indeed glaringly gratuitous.
And you were kind.
BTW, I did marry an older woman. Three days older. Yesterday was her birthday.
When my husband and I went to get our marriage license 46 yrs. ago we encountered an elderly woman with glasses perched upon her nose whose questions to me resulted in this exchange:
So you are thirteen years older than this young man here.'
Yes
Any previous marriages?
Yes
Any children from that marriage? (she assumed only one previous marriage–-I didn't correct her)
Yes, two.
At this point she looked up from those perky spectacles, frowned, looked at Joe and said:
Young, man, do you know what you are doing?
I do indeed, madam, Joe said, and wanted to add something more but I gently shoved him out the door.
Last year Joe and I were sitting in our doctor's waiting room and another patient, also waiting, kept looking at us. Finally she asked if we were waiting to see the same doctor she was seeing–-when I told her no, she then asked, "Is that your father?" meaning Joe. Both of us yelped with laughter–-after 45 years we are still having fun with this age thing.
@PD Pepe: Thank you for sharing. It may be 45 years later, but that clerk still makes me angry. Whatever it was Joe didn't say, I agree with him.
There seems to have been some awareness of the impropriety of too great a difference in the age of the man (robbing the cradle) marrying a much younger woman even in the 19th century. In my great aunt's house there were two 19th century portraits: the man and the wife. They appeared to be stern, austere, and about the same age. The story is that the man had his portrait done when he was 40, then waited til his wife was 40 to have her portrait done. Voila! same age!
It's hil-ar-i-ous that congress critters love love love the Catholic Church being deeply political when the topic is women's healthcare, in particular, all forms of family planning. But not so amusing when it is the fundamental Christian tenet of caring for the poor, the old and young, the vulnerable amongst us.