;)
The Commentariat -- August 28, 2018
Ella Nilsen & Dylan Scott of Vox: "Tuesday brings some of the most anticipated primary elections of 2018 when Arizona and Florida go to the polls. Voters will also finally decide who the Republican nominee for governor will be in the Oklahoma runoff."
*****
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Joshua Hoyos of ABC News: "Puerto Rico had a significant increase in deaths following Hurricane Maria in 2017, according to a new study. Researchers determined that an additional 2,975 people died from September 2017 through the end of February 2018 due to the hurricane. The independent study, from George Washington University's Milken School of Public Health, was commissioned by the Puerto Rican government.... Donald Trump visited the island in the days following the storm. 'If you look at a real catastrophe like Katrina, and you look at the tremendous hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people that died ... 16 people versus in the thousands. You can be very proud of all of your people,' he said. Hurricane Katrina claimed over 1,800 lives, according to the National Hurricane Center.... The GWU report also offered a blistering criticism of [Gov. Ricardo] Rossello and his government, saying there was 'inadequate preparedness and personnel training for crisis and emergency risk communication.'"
Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "BREAKING: A federal judge in D.C. postponed Paul Manafort's trial on conspiracy and money laundering charges related to his lobbying work until Sept. 24. It had been set to begin Sept. 17." ...
... Josh Gerstein of Politico: "The judge overseeing former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort's upcoming trial plans to exclude the press and public from jury selection. At a hearing Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson said she plans to conduct individual questioning of potential jurors in the jury room with lawyers from special counsel Robert Mueller's office, the defense team and the defendant present."
Bernard Condon of the AP: "The Kushner family real estate company was fined $210,000 by New York City regulators on Monday following an Associated Press investigation earlier this year that showed it routinely filed false documents with the city claiming it had no rent-regulated tenants in its buildings when, in fact, it had hundreds.... The city's buildings department fined the Kushner Cos. for filing 42 false applications for construction work on more than a dozen buildings when ... Jared Kushner ran the business. The AP report showed that the false paperwork allowed the Kushners to escape extra scrutiny designed to stop landlords from using construction to make living conditions for low-paying, rent-regulated tenants unbearable and get them to leave.... Separately, a watchdog group said Monday that former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen has engaged in the same practice, perhaps in a more brazen way, by telling the city that buildings he owned were empty, though tax records showed they were filled with tenants, many rent-regulated." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I'm shocked to learn that Jared is a lying, cheating scum who purposely made life unpleasant for his low-rent tenants. I wonder where he got that idea.
Dumb & Dumber Make up Stuff about Google. Adam Satariano of the New York Times: "President Trump attacked Google on Tuesday for what he claimed was an effort to intentionally suppress conservative views supportive of his administration, an accusation that increases pressure on technology companies grappling with their increasingly central role as purveyors of information. Mr. Trump's remarks -- an about-face from last month, when he said Google was 'one of our great companies' -- come ahead of congressional hearings next week in which executives from many of the country's largest internet companies will be questioned.... 'Google search results for "Trump News" shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake New Media,' Mr. Trump said on Twitter at 5:24 a.m. 'In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD.'... Mr. Trump's criticism appeared to be inspired by a segment last night from Fox Business Network host Lou Dobbs." ...
... Isaac Stanley-Becker, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration is 'taking a look' at whether Google and its search engine should be regulated by the government, Larry Kudlow, President Trump's economic adviser, said Tuesday outside the White House. 'We'll let you know,' Kudlow said. 'We're taking a look at it.' The announcement puts the search giant squarely in the White House's crosshairs amid wider allegations against the tech industry that it systematically discriminates against conservatives on social media and other platforms." ...
... Greg Sargent: "Political Twitter is having fun this morning with President Trump's latest conspiracy theory: Google is rigging its results, so when you search 'Trump news,' only 'Fake' news criticism of Trump pops up, while conservative media are getting suppressed! Trump's claim is, of course, absurd: As Daniel Dale explains, this is based on a bogus right wing media claim, and all it really means is that when you google about Trump, you are likely to initially see stories from major news organizations that are legitimately reporting aggressively on Trump, rather than from conservative opinion sites that are putting out propaganda on his behalf. But while this might seem like typical Trumpian buffoonery, at its core is some deadly serious business. These attacks on the media -- which are now spreading to extensive conspiracy-mongering about social media's role in spreading information -- form one part of an interlocking, two-piece Trumpian strategy (whether by instinct or design is unclear) that serves to underscore the urgency of this fall's elections." Read on.
Kyle Cheney: "Bruce Ohr, the Justice Department official whose longtime relationship with former British spy Christopher Steele has drawn intense scrutiny from Capitol Hill Republicans, is facing questions Tuesday about the timing of his contacts with Fusion GPS, the firm that worked with Steele to create and disseminate his so-called dossier about... Donald Trump's relationship with Russia. Ohr, who appeared for a closed-door interview in a Capitol office building, has become the Trump allies' latest focus in their efforts to raise questions about the investigators who ran the probe into the Trump campaign's contacts with Russia. As a senior Justice Department staffer, Ohr passed along Steele's information to the FBI, even after the bureau terminated its formal relationship with Steele over media leaks." ...
... Rudy Admits to Using Cheap Trick. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "In a new profile, the New York Times gets at a question we've all been asking for months: What on earth is Rudy Giuliani doing?... Here's the most telling part of the profile...: 'Mr. Giuliani ... quickly noted with evident satisfaction that '[Robert] Mueller is now slightly more distrusted than trusted, and Trump is a little ahead of the game. So I think we've done really well,' said the president's lawyer. 'And my client's happy.'... He's admitting that job No. 1 is to undermine the man in charge of [the investigation]. It's the end that justifies all the unholy means. It's the thing that makes him a good lawyer for his client." The New York Times story is here.
Paul Krugman: "Soon after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a friend of mine -- an expert on international relations -- made a joke: 'Now that Eastern Europe is free from the alien ideology of Communism, it can return to its true historical path -- fascism.'... As of 2018 it hardly seems like a joke at all.... [In] Poland and Hungary, both still members of the European Union, in which democracy as we normally understand it is already dead. In both countries the ruling parties -- Law and Justice in Poland, Fidesz in Hungary -- have established regimes that maintain the forms of popular elections, but have destroyed the independence of the judiciary, suppressed freedom of the press, institutionalized large-scale corruption and effectively delegitimized dissent. The result seems likely to be one-party rule for the foreseeable future. And it could all too easily happen here.... The Republican Party is ready, even eager, to become an American version of Law and Justice or Fidesz, exploiting its current political power to lock in permanent rule."
AND look at the Trump Effect here:
... Kyle Cheney & Rachel Bade of Politico: "When ... Donald Trump attacked Attorney General Jeff Sessions last year, Alabama Republicans jumped to his defense, beating back the presidential incursion and sending Trump a clear signal: back off our guy. Now, as Trump reprises his public assault on the man he blames for his mounting legal woes, Sessions is getting the silent treatment from his hometown allies.... As Trump escalated his attacks on Sessions in recent days -- and signaled his desire for a new attorney general -- Alabama's leading Republican lawmakers have gone dark." ...
... Lorraine Woellert of Politico: "Jerry Falwell Jr., a top conservative religious leader, said Monday he urged ... Donald Trump to fire Jeff Sessions over his handling of investigations into Russian election meddling, saying the attorney general has lost evangelicals' support. 'He really is not on the president's team, never was,' Falwell, the president of Liberty University, said of Sessions. 'He's wanted to be attorney general for many, many years. I have a feeling he took a gamble and supported the president because he knew he would reward loyalty.'"
Trump just tried to use speakerphone on live TV.
— jordan (@JordanUhl) August 27, 2018
It did not go well. pic.twitter.com/ZJRgxOxWUD
I’m dying laughing at this log of Trump trying to use the speaker phone with Nieto. Laughing so hard. pic.twitter.com/q2KDm1sXp4
— Lauren Peikoff (@laurenpeikoff) August 27, 2018
*****
Ana Swanson, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump on Monday said the United States and Mexico had reached agreement to revise key portions of the North American Free Trade Agreement and would finalize it within days, suggesting he was ready to jettison Canada from the trilateral trade pact if the country did not get on board quickly. Speaking from the Oval Office on Monday, Mr. Trump touted the preliminary agreement with Mexico as a new trade pact that could replace Nafta and threatened to hit Canada with auto tariffs if it did not 'negotiate fairly.' 'They used to call it Nafta,' Mr. Trump said. 'We're going to call it the United States Mexico Trade Agreement,' adding that the term Nafta -- which he has called the 'worst' trade deal in history -- had 'a bad connotation' for the United States. Yet while Mr. Trump may want to change the name, the agreement reached with Mexico is simply a revised Nafta, with updates to provisions surrounding the digital economy, automobiles and labor unions. The core of the trade pact -- which allows American companies to operate in Mexico and Canada without tariffs -- remains intact." (This is a substantial revision of a story linked yesterday afternoon.)" ...
... Katie Rogers & Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "The president seemed so willing to deliver a policy win to the public that the television cameras went live before the telephone equipment had Enrique Peña Nieto, the Mexican president, on the line. 'Enrique?' Mr. Trump asked, growing flustered on live television as his aides tried to figure out the phone. 'Do you want to put that on this phone, please? Hello? Be helpful.'" ...
... Sometimes the Reality Show Does Not Go Well. David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "Parts of the conversation [between Trump & Peña Nieto] were so stilted that it took on the air of a hastily arranged photo op.... The awkward, real-time sequence in the Oval Office offered another example of Trump's willingness to discard protocol and conduct his presidency like a reality show playing out in real time, conscripting those around him in service of the spectacle. From hour-long Cabinet meetings broadcast live on cable television to White House events and campaign rallies in which he impulsively invites guests on stage to speak, Trump has employed his showman's mind-set to cast those around him in bit parts in a never-ending series about himself."
When is a deal not a deal? When Trump tweets this: A big deal looking good with Mexico!
When is a deal not a big deal? when Trump says this: This is one of the largest trade deals ever made. Maybe the largest trade deal ever made. -- Trump, during a phone call to President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico on Monday ...
... Linda Qiu of the New York Times: "False.... It is premature to consider the bilateral agreement a done deal. Canada, the third country that was a party to Nafta in 1993, has not yet agreed to the changes.... Congress would also need to approve the changes before the trade deal could go into effect. Even if [the deal with Mexico is approved], it would by definition be smaller than Nafta, a three-country deal.... Several other trade agreements eclipse the size of a potential bilateral deal between the United States and Mexico."
Adam Edelman of NBC News: "Sen. John McCain, who passed away Saturday from brain cancer, penned a farewell message before he died that appears to take thinly veiled shots at ... Donald Trump for fanning the flames of 'tribal rivalries' and hiding 'behind walls.' The moving message, a personal tribute to America and its people, was read to the public Monday by Rick Davis, a close friend of McCain's and the national campaign manager of the Arizona Republican's 2008 and 2000 presidential campaigns. Speaking of country's best qualities, McCain wrote that 'we weaken our greatness when we confuse our patriotism with tribal rivalries that have sown resentment and hatred and violence in all corners of the globe.'" ...
... The full text is here. ...
... John Wagner & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Monday ordered the American flag to be flown at half-staff this week in honor of Sen. John McCain after intense criticism of his response to the Arizona Republican's death. The announcement came after the flag atop the White House was raised to full-staff earlier in the day, less than 48 hours after McCain's family announced that the six-term senator had died Saturday.... 'Despite our differences on policy and politics, I respect Senator John McCain's service to our country and, in his honor, have signed a proclamation to fly the flag of the United States at half-staff until the day of his interment,' Trump said in a statement.... Earlier in the day, Trump ignored almost a dozen shouted questions from reporters asking for his views about McCain, who was a persistent critic of the president.... U.S. code calls for flags to be lowered in the event of the death of a member of Congress 'on the day of death and the following day.' But presidents have the power to issue proclamations extending that period, and have done so routinely." Chuck Schumer & Mitch McConnell "had asked the Department of Defense to 'provide necessary support so that U.S. flags on all government buildings remain at half mast through sunset on the day of Senator McCain's interment.'... The American Legion ... also called on Trump to treat McCain with more reverence." ...
... From the Rogers & Sullivan NYT story linked above: "Mr. Trump spent much of Monday declining several requests by journalists to comment publicly on the death Saturday of Mr. McCain after a yearlong battle with brain cancer, adding to the ire from veterans groups and critics that grew around his conspicuous silence and apparent delay in ordering the White House flag lowered to half-mast.... The president sat with his arms crossed and looked straight ahead as reporters asked him several times to expand on the single tweet he sent over the weekend offering his condolences to Mr. McCain's loved ones. During another event with President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, Mr. Trump leaned forward, hands steepled, and ignored shouted questions about Mr. McCain as the cameras rolled." ...
... As Benjamin Hart of New York pointed out, the White House's lowering the flag Monday morning also violated the U.S. flag code. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... John Cassidy of the New Yorker: "The flag represents the United States and the office of the Presidency, not Trump personally.... Whatever one thinks of McCain's political views, his record -- five and a half years in a Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camp, thirty-one years in the Senate, and two Presidential bids -- surely merited such an honor. As Mark Knoller, of CBS News, noted on Monday morning, Trump failed to order the proclamation. Evidently, there is no limit to his smallness.... Who persuaded Trump to change course? Was there a rebellion in the West Wing?... It was clear that the last thing the White House needs right now is another public-relations disaster. Although McCain's death knocked the saga of Michael Cohen's guilty plea off the front pages, at least temporarily, the past week was a disaster for the White House, and a reminder that Trump's pettiness is only exceeded by his deceitfulness." ...
... Steve M. "... I could easily see Trump telling his staff to 'raise the fucking flag' one day between now and McCain's interment, just because McCain will be receiving laudatory news coverage all week and Trump won't.... It's quite possible he'll go back on his word, because he's a sullen brat, and he doesn't like being compelled to do anything he doesn't want to do." ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: So much fake news! Trump was not dishonoring McCain. Rather, he was having trouble finding the right flag: the one with the red and blue stripes. (See Sunday's post on Trump's True Colors.)
Asawin Suebsaeng of The Daily Beast: "It took two full days for President Donald Trump to issue a lukewarm statement about the death of Sen. John McCain.... The president's handling of the situation further added to Trump's lengthy track record for botched responses to solemn occasions involving recently deceased celebrities, grieving Gold Star family members, natural disaster victims, and even mass murder and traumatized communities." --safari ...
... Two Funerals & a Wedding, Etc. Ashley Parker of the Washington Post: "Shunned at two funerals and one (royal) wedding so far, President Trump may be well on his way to becoming president non grata. The latest snub comes in the form of the upcoming funeral for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), which, before his death, the late senator made clear he did not want the sitting president to attend.... Less than two years into first term, Trump has often come to occupy the role of pariah -- both unwelcome and unwilling to perform the basic rituals and ceremonies of the presidency, from public displays of mourning to cultural ceremonies. In addition to being pointedly not invited to McCain's funeral and memorial service later this week ... Trump was quietly asked to stay away from former first lady Barbara Bush's funeral earlier this year. He also opted to skip the annual Kennedy Center Honors last year amid a political backlash from some of the honorees, and has faced repeated public rebuffs from athletes invited to the White House after winning championships.... During a trip to the United Kingdom in June, his visit with Queen Elizabeth II was undermined by reports in the British press that she was the only member of the royal family willing to meet with him."
... The Onion: "In a timely tribute to a woman they are calling a fearless American hero, the White House released a statement Monday recognizing and honoring the woman who called then-presidential candidate Barack Obama an Arab during a town hall event in 2008. 'It is with great reverence that we celebrate the courage, life, and work of the woman who told John McCain at a 2008 campaign rally that she couldn't trust Barack Obama because he was an Arab,' the statement read in part." (It's satire! But plausible!) ...
... Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) on the Senate floor Monday:
... Russell Berman of the Atlantic on the McCain-Trump feud that Trump started. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Franklin Foer of the Atlantic: McCain had a history of making mistakes, owning up to them & rectifying them. "One of John McCain's mistakes, which he would belatedly rectify, was a relationship with the just-convicted lobbyist Paul Manafort.... At the same time as [McCain] sincerely railed against influence-peddlers ... his inner circle contained the very forces he decried. One of these loyalists was the man who eventually managed his campaign in the 2008 presidential race, Rick Davis. For nearly a decade, Davis was the named partner in Paul Manafort's lobbying firm, Davis, Manafort.... Paul Manafort ... hoped to leverage his relationship with Rick Davis to enrich himself.... Davis Manafort's most prized client in 2006 was the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, one of the richest men in the world.... [The] story [of McCain & Deripaska] is fully told in an outstanding investigative piece, published by The Nation.... Manafort lobbied desperately to become manager of the Republican National Convention [of 2008].... But McCain didn't want any further association with Manafort, so he denied him the job.... All the evidence for rejecting Paul Manafort as a man of dubious character was amply available in 2008 -- and McCain acted upon it." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Juan Cole reminds us of "That Time the Republican Party Made McCain Black to Defeat his Presidential Bid." --safari
Chris Sosa of Alternet: "Fox News has disabled comments on YouTube videos about the death of John McCain following an outpouring of nastiness on the network's own website from its commenters." --safari ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: As ye sow, so shall ye reap. There is a curious miracle story in Matthew (8:28-34), in which Jesus drives some demons into a large herd of pigs, "and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water." It seems Fox "News" has driven the Trump demon into a whole herd of pigs. Now we need a miracle worker to drown the Trumpbot swine. ...
... Greg Jaffe & Jenna Johnson of the Washington Post: "Sen. John McCain had been dead only a few hours before hard-line critics in his own party began to pounce. Some tore apart McCai's unsuccessful first marriage and his military service, reveling in long-debunked conspiracy theories about his time as a prisoner of war. A few suggested that he should 'rot in hell.'... [Polarization] appears to account for much of the animosity toward McCain, particularly among Republicans.... [Some] McCain partisans blamed Trump, who has remade the Republican Party in his pugilistic image. Trump's overwhelming popularity among Republicans has increased the demand for party members -- even elected ones -- to fall into line.... In the final years of his life, McCain railed against this disturbing trend in American politics as forcefully as anyone. On three major occasions, two speeches delivered in the last year of his life and a statement issued posthumously Monday, McCain spoke in favor of modesty, bipartisanship and compromise." ...
... Yes, But Those Are the Saner Critics. Dana Milbank: "... according to a conspiracy theory network popular among some Trump boosters, when McCain supposedly died on Saturday, he did not succumb to cancer but took his own life to avoid being hauled off to Guantanamo Bay and put before a military tribunal for his longtime work helping Islamic State terrorists and others. (And before he died, he concealed his criminal ankle bracelet by wearing a medical boot on his leg.) Unless, of course, the suicide, like the cancer, was just a ruse. In that case, McCain will continue to work secretly for the deep state and for the Clinton Foundation.... Last Thursday..., Trump hosted Lionel Lebron, a prominent conspiracy theorist, and posed with him in the Oval Office. Lebron ... is a leading promoter of the very online network floating the notion McCain is alive or a suicide. Three days after his White House visit, Lebron tweeted an image of Trump crossing a swamp of Democrats, featuring racist images of Barack and Michelle Obama and the words 'fire at will.'... McCain answered these nuts with calm reason. In memory of him, let's continue his fight until they, and their leader in the Oval Office, return to the crevices whence they came."
Gabriel Sherman of Vanity Fair: "More than ever, Trump is acting by feeling and instinct. 'Trump is nuts,' said one former West Wing official. 'This time really feels different.' Deputy Chief of Staff Bill Shine has privately expressed concern, a source said, telling a friend that Trump's emotional state is 'very tender.' Even Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump are unsettled that Trump is so gleefully acting on his most self-destructive impulses.... Senior officials talked about inviting Rudy Giuliani and a group of Trump's New York real-estate friends including Tom Barrack, Richard LeFrak, and Howard Lorber to the White House to stage an 'intervention' last week. 'It was supposed to be a war council,' one source explained. But Trump refused to take the meeting, sources said.... 'He spent the weekend calling people and screaming,' one former White House official said." ...
... MEANWHILE, Sherman reports: "... Trump continues to raise the possibility of a pardon for [Paul] Manafort.... Trump has been clashing with White House counsel Don McGahn, who, sources said, is strongly against granting Manafort a pardon.... Trump has told people he's considering bringing in a new lawyer to draft a Manafort pardon, if McGahn won't do it. 'He really at this point does not care,' a former official said. 'He would rather fight the battle. He doesn't want to do anything that would cede executive authority.'" ...
... So Guess What "Brave" Paul Manafort Has Been Doing? Aruna Viswanatha of the Wall Street Journal: "Paul Manafort's defense team held talks with prosecutors to resolve a second set of charges against the former Trump campaign chairman before he was convicted last week, but they didn't reach a deal, and the two sides are now moving closer to a second trial next month, according to people familiar with the matter. The plea discussions occurred as a Virginia jury was spending four days deliberating tax and bank fraud charges against Mr. Manafort, the people said. That jury convicted him on eight counts and deadlocked on 10 others.... Prosecutors have until Wednesday to report whether they plan to retry Mr. Manafort on the deadlocked counts.... The plea talks on the second set of charges stalled over issues raised by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, one of the people said. It isn't clear what those issues were, and the proposed terms of the plea deal couldn't immediately be determined." (Open in private window.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: In an interview on MSNBC, Viswanatha said it was not clear whether or not Manafort offered to cooperate with investigators. Still, the news that Manafort's lawyers attempted to negotiate a plea deal could upset Trump & his plans to pardon Manafort.
The Stormy Glitch. Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "... in President Trump's recent scandal involving Stephanie Clifford, the pornographic film star known as Stormy Daniels, something that was never there to begin with could play an unexpected role. The missing item is the signature that Mr. Trump failed to place on Ms. Clifford's non-disclosure deal two years ago. And if her lawyer has his way, there is a chance that the inch-long blank space could force Mr. Trump to testify about what he knew of the arrangement.... Earlier this year, Ms. Clifford's lawyer, Michael Avenatti, filed a civil lawsuit against Mr. Trump and [Michael] Cohen, claiming that the non-disclosure contract was 'null and void' because Mr. Trump left empty the [signature] line.... The lawsuit was stayed this spring after federal agents raided Mr. Cohen's office and apartment, prompting him to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination to avoid having to testify in the suit.... But now that Mr. Cohen has pleaded guilty, he may no longer be able -- or choose -- to avail himself of the Fifth Amendment's safeguards." If the court lifts the stay, as Avenatti has requested, he could depose Trump & ask unanswered questions about the hush-money deal.
Addy Baird of ThinkProgress: "In a video posted to Twitter last week, President Trump referenced critics of his administration's family separation policy ... comparing the plights of those separated immigrant families with [Mollie] Tibbetts in a racist monologue.... At Tibbetts' funeral Sunday, her father, Rob Tibbetts, alluded to the president's remarks, suggesting Trump was not only wrong, but that hateful commentary was not what his daughter would've wanted.... Rob Tibbetts' comments are the latest in a line of statements from Mollie's family hitting back at the racist, anti-immigrant narrative pushed by the president and his supporters.... Another relative, Sandi Tibbetts Murphy, released a similar statement on Facebook over the weekend. Murphy said the real problem, one that may have led to Tibbetts' death, was male entitlement.... She added, 'Our national discussion needs to be about the violence committed in our society, mostly by men[...].'" --safari
Poor Melanie. Kyla Mandel of ThinkProgress: "Melania Trump on Saturday held an event to celebrate the 102nd anniversary of the National Parks Service (NPS). She thanked the service for its 'commitment to this country.'... Over the course of Trump's presidency so far, the NPS has repeatedly been in the administration's crosshairs.... The backlash was similarly swift after Melania's tweet on Saturday in praise of the NPS. Twitter was quick to point out the irony, with individuals asking whether this was the 'same Parks service that was punished for telling the truth about the inauguration crowd size?'" --safari
Tim Teeman of The Daily Beast: "It was an evening that featured a room full of LGBT prejudice and hatred, and in the photographs Ivanka Trump, alleged one-time supporter of LGBT equality, looked like she was enjoying every second. Jim Garlow, senior pastor of Skyline Wesleyan Church in San Diego, California ... whose passionate hatred of LGBT people appears as powerful as his taste for selfies, managed to get his picture taken with [nearly all the White House Trumpenfrauds], and -- most surprising of all, given that past professed support for LGBT people -- Ivanka Trump.... Perhaps she had forgotten, or simply didn't know, that Garlow has said LGBT marriage is the creation of Satan, and much more besides." --safari ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Hard to know which is worse: (1) Ivanka went knowingly to this event; or (2) The White House is so incompetent, staff didn't warn Ivanka to stay away from Garlow.
Ken Sweet of the AP: "The government's top official overseeing the $1.5 trillion student loan market resigned in protest on Monday, citing what he says is the White House's open hostility toward protecting the nation’s millions of student loan borrowers. Seth Frotman will be stepping down as student loan ombudsman at the end of the week, according to his resignation letter, which was obtained by The Associated Press. He held that position since 2016, but has been with Consumer Financial Protection Bureau since its inception in 2011. Frotman is the latest high-level departure from the CFPB since Mick Mulvaney..., Donald Trump's budget director, took over in late November. But Frotman’s departure is especially noteworthy, since his non-partisan office is one of the few parts of the U.S. government that was tasked with handling student loan issues."
Joshua Shneyer & Andrea Januta of Reuters: "The U.S. Army has drafted a plan to test for toxic lead hazards in 40,000 homes on its bases, military documents show, in a sweeping response to a Reuters report that found children at risk of lead poisoning in military housing." --safari
Congressional Race. Shameless Wretch. Josh Israel of ThinkProgress: "Over his more than 20 years in Congress, Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH) has literally taken millions of dollars from corporate political action committees. And his campaign committees have spent more than $170,000 in possibly illegal payments to his son-in-law's web design company. But in an odd twist, a new campaign ad by Chabot attacks his Democratic opponent [Aftab Pureval] for taking a much smaller sum -- $200,000 -- from 'Washington special interests.'" --safari
"Capitalism is Awesome", Extinction Ed. Emily Gerty of Mother Jones: "An analysis of [Brett] Kavanaugh's 12-year record on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit finds that he has consistently ruled against measures to protect species. In the 18 significant, species-related suits that have come before Kavanaugh, he's decided against protections in 17 — or about 95 percent of the time.... Recently-retired Justice Anthony Kennedy was a centrist whose swing vote sometimes landed environmental cases like Weyerhaeuser in favor of protection. But Kavanaugh's confirmation to the court would give it an even stronger 5-4 pro-business majority, dramatically stacking the odds against species in future decisions.... By comparison, Judge Merrick Garland, whom President Bill Clinton appointed to the same court in 1997, favored wildlife protection in about 54 percent of his species-related cases." --safari...
... Kyla Mandel of ThinkProgress: "Ten Democratic Senators have written to Charles Grassley (R-IA), chairman of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, demanding the release of documents showing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's environmental record.... Kavanaugh is known to take a more narrow interpretation of what environmental protections the federal government can implement.... He does, however, acknowledge that climate change is happening. Two years ago he told a federal courtroom hearing that 'the earth is warming. Humans are contributing.' 'There is a moral imperative. There is a huge policy imperative,' he said at the time." --safari
** Rick Hasen: "In a case with potentially national implications both short term and long, a three judge district court in North Carolina has held that the congressional redistricting plan — put in place after North Carolina's districts last time were found to be a racial gerrymander — are an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander. The remedy is not set yet, but the court may have a remedy in place for the 2018 elections, something I find surprising. You can find the 321 pages of opinions (which consists mostly of a majority opinion by Judge Wynn) at this link. If this opinion stands (and given the current 4-4 split on the Supreme Court, any emergency action could well fail, leaving the lower court opinion in place), the court may well order new districts be drawn in time for the 2018 elections.... If the lower court orders new districts for 2018, and the Supreme Court deadlocks 4-4 on an emergency request to overturn that order, we could have new districts for 2018 only, and that could help Democrats retake control of the U.S. House." ...
... The New York Times story, by Michael Wines & Richard Fausset, is here. "The decision, which may have significant implications for control of Congress..., is likely to be appealed to the United States Supreme Court, which for the moment is evenly split on ideological lines without a ninth justice to tip the balance."
Elizabeth Dias & Laurie Goodstein of the New York Times: "In a remarkable break from the usual decorum among the bishops, American Catholic leaders are in open conflict over the explosive allegations from a former Vatican diplomat that Pope Francis knew about, and ignored, accusations of sexual abuse against a now-disgraced American cleric.... Archbishop [Carlo Maria] Viganò's extraordinary 11-page letter, filled with personal attacks, has brought simmering ideological differences among American Catholics out into the open. Divisions in the church are quickly coming to a head, with many conservatives lining up to defend Archbishop Viganò and progressives rallying around Pope Francis, wrapping ideological competition and political maneuvering into what is quickly threatening to be the church's biggest scandal in decades."
Chico Harlan, et al., of the Washington Post: "A former Vatican ambassador to the United States has alleged in an 11-page letter that Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis -- among other top Catholic Church officials -- had been aware of sexual misconduct allegations against former D.C. archbishop Cardinal Theodore McCarrick years before he resigned this summer.... Speaking to reporters on the papal plane while returning [from Ireland] to Rome, Francis declined to address the claims but said the letter 'speaks for itself.' 'I read the statement this morning and, sincerely, I must say this to you and anyone interested: Read that statement attentively and make your own judgment,' Francis told reporters, according to the Catholic News Service. Asked when he first learned of allegations about McCarrick, Francis declined to comment. 'This is a part of the statement on McCarrick. Study it, and then I'll speak,' the pope said, according to Crux, another Catholic outlet." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
** Damien Carrington & Lily Kuo of the Guardian: "Air pollution causes a 'huge' reduction in intelligence, according to new research, indicating that the damage to society of toxic air is far deeper than the well-known impacts on physical health. The research was conducted in China but is relevant across the world, with 95% of the global population breathing unsafe air. It found that high pollution levels led to significant drops in test scores in language and arithmetic, with the average impact equivalent to having lost a year of the person's education." --safari
Beyond the Beltway
Capitalism is Awesome, Ctd. Fernando Salazar of The Wichita Eagle: "The state [of Kansas] allowed hundreds of residents in two Wichita-area neighborhoods to drink contaminated water for [6] years without telling them.... In 2011, while investigating the possible expansion of a Kwik Shop, the state discovered dry cleaning chemicals had contaminated groundwater ... in Haysville.... The delays stem from a 1995 state law that places more emphasis on protecting the dry cleaning industry than protecting public health.... When consumed [the dry cleaning chemical perchloroethylene] can build up over time, potentially harming a person's nervous system, liver, kidneys and reproductive system." --safari
Way Beyond
Hannah Ellis-Peterson of the Guardian: "Myanmar's military has been accused of genocide against the Rohingya in Rakhine state in a damning UN report that alleged the army was responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity against minorities across the country.... They found that the military were 'killing indiscriminately, gang-raping women, assaulting children and burning entire villages' in Rakhine, home to the Muslim Rohingya, and in Shan and Kachin. The Tatmadaw also carried out murders, imprisonments, enforced disappearances, torture, rapes and used sexual slavery and other forms of sexual violence, persecution and enslavement -- all of which constitute crimes against humanity." --safari
Juan Cole: "Mohamed Bin Salman, the thirty-two-year-old crown prince of Saudi Arabia, is finding his wings clipped, by his father and by the heavy hand of reality, so severely that some are speculating about whether he can survive politically.... It is said that Salman is afraid his historical legacy will be tarnished by his son's rash policy moves, some of which are deeply unpopular in the Arab World." --safari
Tom Dart of the Guardian: "In the autumn and winter of 2013, the so-called 'Frack Master' [Chris Faulkner] was one of 16 witnesses who appeared before the [Welsh affairs] committee [of the British parliament], which was considering the economic and environmental impact of drilling potentially thousands of shale gas wells.... In June 2014, the MPs issued a cautiously supportive report that cited Faulkner five times.... But Faulkner was not in fact much of a 'technical animal' with a 'scientific oil background'. According to the US government, he is a fraudster who ran an investment scam worth between $60m and $80m.... In June this year, Faulkner was arrested by federal agents as he attempted to board a flight from Los Angeles to London. Charged with securities fraud, mail fraud and illegal monetary transactions, he could face decades behind bars. Deemed a flight risk, he is currently detained in a Texas prison." --safari
News Lede
New York Times: "The adoring public came from far and wide to glimpse [Aretha] Franklin, resplendent in a red gown and red pumps and with cherry red lipstick on a placid smile, lying in a gold coffin surrounded by flowers. The dress was a tribute to the Delta Sigma Theta, a sorority of African-American women of which Ms. Franklin was an honorary member. At one point in the morning, the line of visitors waiting to enter the first of two 12-hour viewing periods on Tuesday and Wednesday stretched for five blocks. Ms. Franklin was only the third person to lay [lie!!] in state at the Wright Museum, the other two being the civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks and Detroit's first African-American mayor, Coleman Young Jr...."
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Trump's Fabulous Phone Conversations:
T: Hello Enrique? hello?
Male voice: Yeah, hello–-who's this?
T: Enrique? hello?
MV: Hey, Bud, I am NOT En–-ree- kay –-you got the wrong number.
Trump bangs down the phone, screams at his aide to get the right number. Tries again.
T: Enrique?
Female voice: Who?
T: Who's this?
FV: oh, honey, I know why you're calling. but I'm afraid we are all booked up tonite––you know my problem–-not enough girls to go round.
T: SOMEONE FIX THIS FUCKING PHONE!
Aide one more adjusts buttons and once again show the president how to operate phone.
T: Hello Enrique? ( Trump appears to be listening but looks puzzled, finally screams, "NO Translator? That Mexican fool can't speak English!!")
Enrique: I know nough English to get that message––bye, bye Trade deal, you son of bitchy witch.
Trump: Enrique? Hello?.....
Other outlets are having a field day with this. Veep is adding Trump's phone fiasco on one of their serie's endings. Some comedians are shoring up this goodie for more laughs. One could, I imagine, feel a teeny, tiny bit sorry for the man, but only if one still harbored a shred of that thing called compassion for him; unfortunately that was killed off long ago.
Finally Myanmar's military is being accused of genocide against the Rohingya. Why has it taken this long?
Flags flying for John McCain and once again Trump shows his true colors. It's truly remarkable how petty and perverse this buffoon can be.
Hello? anybody home?
VIPs and telephones:
Years ago I was working overseas in the executive office on a Sunday, and the boss (an ex-governor (R) in his new job) was at his desk, which was abnormal. He usually didn't come in on weekends.
After a while he walked out and asked for help. He said that there was something wrong with the telephone on his desk, and asked me to check it out.
I went in and picked up the handset. He said "hear that funny noise?"
It was the dial tone. Admittedly, a different sound than a U.S. dial tone. He had never heard one, since all his calls during workdays were handled by his secretary or the switchboard operator!
These people are truly different than u n me.
With the rise of TrumpKulture, I'm beginning to think we're all going to have to become Stuart Smalley clones, repeating our daily affirmations: "I'm Good Enough, I'm Smart Enough, and Doggone It, People Like Me!"
I don't know that people like me, but I'm beginning to feel like part of a diminishing group of reality-based people living in a world dominated by conspiracy-believers. Of course this always was true to the extent that I haven't shared a belief in the Judeo-Christian idea of the supernatural since I was in high school. But that was a difference I managed to isolate. Now the difference is I "believe in" all kinds of things heretofore described as fact-based. Could the "facts" change over time? Well, sure. Scientists keep on discovering stuff, so old "accepted" matters are sometimes tweaked or even disproved. Altho I was always learning new things, I felt I had a pretty fair handle on the real world & it was exciting, rather than disconcerting, to find my handle had to bend here & there as new information became available.
The cult of Trump has become so large that it is no longer a cult but a full-fledged belief system, & the reality-based world itself may soon shrink to cult status. Paul Krugman says it could happen here. I think it already is happening. The midterm elections will tell us more, but we might not like what they have to tell. Meanwhile, I'm good enough, I'm smart enough....
The statement by Sandi Tibbetts Murphy, a response to the hatred fomented by Trumpbots and the usual cast of winger racists who are frothing at the mouth at the idea of being able to make hay out of Mollie Tibbetts' death, is powerful indeed. And it's easy to see why president* pussy grabber will ignore it entirely. Ms. Murphy's point, as can be seen in the link, above, is that the fact that Mollie was killed by an immigrant is less important than the fact that she was killed by a man who didn't take no for an answer, and that as a society, we have a far bigger problem with male entitlement than with murdering immigrants. Of course Confederates will never see it this way, especially because their Glorious Leader, is an entitled pussy-grabbing misogynist for whom sexual assault is his prerogative.
Admitting that Ms. Murphy had a point would be nothing less than an admission of what a criminally minded, assaulting creep he is, and that ain't gonna happen.
And before I forget, something else you won't hear from the Build the Wall crowd is where Tibbetts' killer lived
.
"A top Republican fund-raiser whose firm works for several prominent immigration hardliners is the partial owner of the land where the Mexican man accused of killing Iowa college student Mollie Tibbetts lived rent-free, a farm spokeswoman said.
Nicole Schlinger has long been a key fund-raiser and campaign contractor for GOP politicians in Iowa and beyond, including this cycle for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Virginia Senate candidate Corey Stewart...Schlinger is married to Eric Lang, the president of the family-owned dairy that has acknowledged providing employment and housing for the last four years to Cristhian Bahena Rivera, the man charged with murder in Tibbetts’ death."
Soooo....Schlinger and her family make money off their dairy farm which houses workers (other immigrants as well) so they can have live-in employees.
So even though she raises millions for haters who are making hay off Mollie's death, she had been employing an immigrant whose status seemed not to matter to her as long as she had regular workers to take care of her farm.
Think they'll include that in their hate packets?
I'm sure pussy-grabber won't be mentioning it. She might be raising money for him too.
Mrs. Bea: I hear your pain (does that sound Bill Clintonian??)and I share it. Sometimes the stupid, the wrong, the unbelievable and the disheartening events/actions come in like tidal waves and I fear the same things. Maybe we all need to band together somehow, and fight this nuttiness/swampiness. What started as disbelief that so many people were taken in by the con man has turned into total cynicism on my part. If highly educated (mostly? some?) people like our national leaders in congress turn into trumprats (hello, Lindsey--) seemingly overnight in the face of compelling opposition, what hope is there? I will never get it. Willful blindness? Who knows... When people say things like that hateful Kelli Ward and get away with it, where are society norms? Gone, I guess.
The meek shall inherit the earth, (what's left of it). I plan to sell
my share on e-bay. Everyone, please bid so I can move to that
planned development on Mars, or wherever it is.
No Cure for Cancer
Aristotle opens his work on Metaphysics thusly: "All men, by nature, desire to know."
Aristotle obviously never met a Trump voter.
The tsunami of right-wing fake news, conspiracy theories, and out and out lies, spouted by Trump and repeated by Fox and then by his acolytes and so on down to his bots out in TrumpLand represent a textbook case of totalitarian propaganda as described by Hannah Arendt in her study on the "Origins of Totalitarianism". The supporters of the Leader are fed a continuous stream of lies to the point where everything is possible and nothing is true, thus the craziest conspiracy theories can seem entirely plausible, especially if directed against the enemies of the Leader:
"The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness."
Does this not sound like Trump's attacks on the press and now Google? "They're all lying to you about me, ME, Glorious Me!"
The line about "irrefutable proof" reminds me of a statement Arendt makes in another book, "The Life of the Mind", about science and leads one to consider how and why Trumpbots and so many wingers are distrustful of scientific observations. "What science and the quest for knowledge are after" she writes, "is irrefutable truth, that is, propositions human beings are not free to reject--they are compelling."
Not compelling enough, however, for Trump and his minions and the contingent of science deniers in Congress. We've discussed the problems stemming from a lack of critical reasoning ability at length out here on RC. There's a reason Plato once dismissed the idea of anyone becoming a great thinker who was untrained in mathematical logic. He understood the importance of clear thinking and logical processes to the discovery of truth and knowledge.
But in Trump World, it's perfectly okay to reject logic and "irrefutable truth" if it helps propel the Leaders to their goal of domination of the Enemies and the centralization of power and knowledge, knowledge being whatever they say it is.
Ultimately, the constant barrage of lying, of propaganda, of attacks on truth, yields a frightened and uncertain group of supporters whose fear and paranoia spread far beyond the boundaries of the The Leader's demesne.
"The result of a consistent and total substitution of lies for factual truth is not that the lie will now be accepted as truth and truth be defamed as a lie, but that the sense by which we take our bearings in the real world—and the category of truth versus falsehood is among the mental means to this end---is being destroyed."
The entire basis for a consistent structure of understanding and knowledge in the world, based on facts and logic, is eradicated. Reality is whatever the Leader says it is.
And the sheep go along.
If you were, at one point, to tell me that 10% of the American population of voting age would consistently act in such a way, I would have been appalled. Now, however, we're talking about well over 35% who believe such things.
The Age of Alternative Facts, and the idea that truth isn't truth and that facts "evolve over time", and way 'round the bend conspiracy theories are not just signs of a weird and transitory sub-culture, they are a biopsy of the body politic that returns a positive result for serious, life threatening cancer.
And rather than address the cancer and attempt to treat it, Trump and Fox and Republicans in Congress say, "Relax, have another filterless cigarette or six. Don't worry about that cough. It's nothing. Besides, liberals don't want you to smoke, so light up. Show them they can't tell you how to live your life, the bastards!"
There might not be a cure for cancer, but there a ways to avoid it, and plenty more ways to get it.
Confederates know them all.
A few more facts on trade:
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-08-28/trump-s-mexico-trade-deal-looks-like-a-lemon
And my source at the WA Fair Trade Coalition reports this AM that Mexico thought it was negotiating TRIlaterally...but is willing to sign a bilateral agreement.
Could Mexico have been deliberately misled? Oh, probably not. Someone on the Pretender negotiating team would have had to lie.
Or is that the real art of the deal?
Ken,
It always has been. Why should it change it now?
Now that a court has called bullshit on the electoral vandalism going on in North Carolina (and told them to get their shit together toot sweet, before the midterms), there are a few "no doubts" in the offing.
No doubt this decision against the Confederate plans to ratfuck the voting rights of anyone who might not vote for them and theirs will make its way to the Supreme Court.
Next, there's no doubt that the current court will split, Confederates on the court being genetically incapable (never mind morally unfit) to make a fair judgement even in such an outrageously obvious case of comically hyper-partisan gerrymandering.
And finally, who amongst you believes, for a nanosecond, that were Brett ("Ask about the blowjobs! Ask about the blowjobs!") Kavanaugh ensconced on the court, he wouldn't look at the lower court's graphics laying out the painfully distorted R-designed districts, most of which look like a Rorschach test, and conclude that everything was perfectly ducky and that it was all nice and legal-like, Jesus-approved, even, to pack, crack, frack, and whack Democratic voters.
No doubt.
@Akhilleus: Plato, Aristotle, Arendt. Very nice. But what about Stuart Smalley? I'm good enough, I'm smart enough....
(When I was younger, I didn't believe Arendt [much less Orwell], because I didn't believe people, in general, could be so obtuse. Now we're living their dystopian nightmares. My mistake.)
Marie,
Oh Stuart SMALLEY! I thought you said Stuart Little. They're both kinda cute though. And everyone likes them (well, except the cat in the Little household).
As for abuse from the obtuse, what's the use? Until they get the noose. Then all hell will break loose as they inveigh and traduce. We need Dr. Seuss, I deduce. A better ending, then, may conduce. If not, we vamoose and pray the obtuse don't reproduce. Oh god, pass the chartreuse.
Oh-oh.
Undemocratic winger election riggers in NC are pissed, PISSED! that a court told them they can't cheat anymore.
"We had a great plan in place to fuck us some Demycraps and take all them seats for our own party. Then some uppity judge tells us we can't steal the election? It ain't fair!"
This isn't really a joke though. Look for R's in NC to really go to town on this ruling. My guess is they won't lift a finger to change the gerrymandered districts. They'll let the "election" go ahead as planned, steal all the seats they can, then dare the court to do something about it once their rigged districts have been handed over to the crooks.
Then by the time the whole mess gets to the Supreme Court (which it will), BlowJob Kavanaugh will be safely on the court, courtesy of Mitchy and Grassley and, well, see comment above.