;)
The Commentariat -- August 28, 2019
Afternoon Update:
Alexander Burns of the New York Times: "Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York ... said Wednesday that she was withdrawing from the Democratic primary after failing to qualify for a third debate next month -- a development she described as fatal to her candidacy. Ms. Gillibrand said in an interview that she would endorse another candidate in the primary but had not yet picked a favorite." Here's Gillibrand's tweet announcing the end of her candidacy.
Quint Forgey of Politico: "Two new polls show Joe Biden more than a dozen points ahead of his nearest rivals in the 2020 Democratic primary -- further fortifying the former vice president's front-runner status after an apparent outlier survey put his campaign on the defensive earlier this week.... A Monmouth University poll released Monday ... showed Biden, Sanders and Warren locked in a virtual three-way tie.... Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth poll, acknowledged in a statement on Wednesday that '... the Monmouth University Poll published Monday is an outlier.'" ...
... Tax Axelrod of the Hill: "President Trump trails all five Democrats who have consistently ranked in top spots in surveys of the 2020 Democratic presidential race, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll. The newest survey shows Trump falling behind former Vice President Joe Biden and Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), each by double digits."
Brian Stelter of CNN: "President Trump took his complaints about Fox News, his biggest bastion of support on television, to a new level on Wednesday, claiming that the network 'isn't working for us anymore.'His tweets made explicit Trump's long-held belief that Fox belongs to him and his supporters. Despite daily cheerleading from [Fox program hosts]..., Trump suggests that the network is not sufficiently loyal to him. "We have to start looking for a new News Outlet,' he tweeted on Wednesday, inadvertently lending credence to critics' claims that Fox is akin to state-run TV.In the past Trump has promoted a much smaller conservative channel, OANN, which has positioned itself as a friendlier network to Trump."
Mrs. McCrabbie: Donald Trump claimed in a tweet today that he is "the best thing that ever happened to Puerto Rico!" This is an example of what I meant the other day (last August 26 comment), when I wrote:
Having lost his mastery of the "best words," [Trump] is now robbing the English language of its substance.... Even when he makes proper sentence, the words -- because they are most apt to form lies -- are just sounds an English-speaking person makes. Thus you get headlines like this one in [Monday's] WashPo: "After Trump claims first lady has "gotten to know" Kim Jong Un, White House clarifies they've never met."
He is best at inverting word meanings: this, a climate denier becomes an "environmentalist"; "fake news" turns out to be, by the common understanding of the term, "real news." This is akin to his projections: "Crooked Hillary" is a way of deflecting the reality of "Crooked Donald"; "Sleepy Joe" is a nod to Trump's hatred of & failure to perform the work a real president does....
We know Trump is in general a destructive person, a bull in every China shop he enters. And that is true of his destruction of the Meaning of Anything & Everything. This is pathological nihilism of the first order.
John Wagner & Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post: "Former defense secretary Jim Mattis, who resigned last year after clashing with President Trump, says in a new book excerpt that 'I did as well as I could for as long as I could' and warns of the dangers of a leader who is not committed to working with allies. Mattis, who announced his resignation in December after Trump shocked American allies and overruled his advisers by announcing a withdrawal from Syria, writes in his book that he decided to depart 'when my concrete solutions and strategic advice, especially keeping faith with our allies, no longer resonated.'... In his book excerpt, published Wednesday by the Wall Street Journal, Mattis writes about the need for leaders to appreciate the value of allies without explicitly mentioning Trump...." The WashPo story is republished in Stars & Stripes.
Splinter: "A federal judge on Tuesday ruled in favor of Splinter, the site's managing editor, Katherine Krueger, and the site's parent company, Gizmodo Media Group, in a $100 million defamation lawsuit brought by Jason Miller, a former top spokesman for the 2016 Donald Trump presidential campaign. Miller was appointed as Trump's incoming White House communications director in December 2016 but stepped down from the role after it was reported that he had carried out an extramarital affair with another Trump campaign staffer, A.J. Delgado (who subsequently had Miller's child). He sued Splinter over the September 2018 publication of an article reporting a series of allegations laid out against him in a supplemental filing made by Delgado as part of a protracted, acrimonious child custody case."
Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "Senator Johnny Isakson, Republican of Georgia, announced on Wednesday that he will resign from his seat at the end of the year, citing health reasons for the decision.... He currently chairs both the Senate Select Committee on Ethics and the Veterans' Affairs Committee. His retirement sets the stage for two potentially competitive Senate races in Georgia, a state that Democrats have increasingly targeted, during a presidential election year. Mr. Isakson's colleague, Senator David Perdue, is also a Republican and up for re-election.... [Gov. Brian] Kemp [R] is expected to appoint Mr. Isakson's replacement.... A party official said that the person appointed to Mr. Isakson's seat will have to compete in a primary ahead of a special election in 2020, meaning that both Georgia Senate seats will be on the same ballot." The NPR story is here.
Alexander Smith of NBC News: Britain's Queen Elizabeth approved PM Boris Johnson's request "to close Parliament from early September until mid-October.... The speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, who was elected as a Conservative before taking up the impartial role, said such a move would be a 'constitutional outrage.'... On the opposition benches, Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said in a statement that he was 'appalled at the recklessness' of the move. 'This is an outrage and a threat to our democracy,' he added." Johnson's objective is "to make it harder for lawmakers to thwart the prime minister's Brexit plans before Oct. 31, the date the U.K. is scheduled to leave the European Union." Related stories linked below.
~~~~~~~~~~
It's National Bed Bug Day.
I'm an environmentalist. A lot of people don't understand that. I think I know more about the environment than most people. -- Donald Trump, Monday at the G7 meeting ...
... ** Juliet Eilperin & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "President Trump has instructed Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to exempt Alaska's 16.7-million-acre Tongass National Forest from logging restrictions imposed nearly 20 years ago, according to three people briefed on the issue, after privately discussing the matter with the state's governor aboard Air Force One. The move would affect more than half of the world's largest intact temperate rainforest, opening it to potential logging, energy and mining projects. It would undercut a sweeping Clinton administration policy known as the 'roadless rule,' which has survived a decades-long legal assault. Trump has taken a personal interest in 'forest management,' a term he told a group of lawmakers last year he has 'redefined' since taking office." Mrs. McC: Yes, "redefined," in terms of raking forest floors (the way Trump thinks the Finns do) & now, logging & mining. ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: As Brett Samuels writes in the Hill, Trump's "proved" he was an environmentalist by "citing his experience filing environmental impact statements for real estate developments." Of course, the purpose of those environmental impact statements is to find some hack who will sign his name to a statement that there's no environmental impact whatsoever in filling in wetlands & cutting down virgin forests to build a water-guzzling golf course. What with the clear-cutting of the Tongass Forest, maybe Trump can build Trump Alaska Golf & Chopper Wolf Shoot Resort in the former forest. About those pesky tree stumps the loggers leave? I'm sure Jair Bolsonaro would be happy to direct a burn project. ...
... So as hurricane season begins & a tropical storm already is threatening Puerto Rico & Florida ...
... Felicia Sonmez & Maria Sacchetti of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration is transferring hundreds of millions of dollars in disaster relief funding to boost U.S.-Mexico border enforcement, prompting an outcry from congressional Democrats who panned the action as an executive overreach.... Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) called the move 'backwards and cruel.' 'Taking these critical funds from disaster preparedness and recovery efforts threatens lives and weakens the government's ability to help Americans in the wake of natural disasters,' he said." ...
Once again this Administration is flouting the law and Congressional intent to fund its extremist indefinite detention immigration policies This is reckless and the Administration is playing with fire -- all in the name of locking up families and children and playing to the President's base leading up to an election year. -- Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), Chair of the House Homeland Security Committee ...
... Update. The NBC News story is here. "The allocations were sent to Congress as a notification rather than a request, because the administration believes it has the authority to repurpose these funds after Congress did not pass more funding for ICE detention beds as part of an emergency funding bill for the southwest border in June."
... MEANWHILE, Trump Telegraphs His Concern for Puerto Rico: Wow! Yet another big storm heading to Puerto Rico. Will it ever end? Congress approved 92 Billion Dollars for Puerto Rico last year, an all time record of its kind for 'anywhere.' -- Donald Trump, in a tweet, Tuesday
What? Trump Lied? So far, roughly $42 billion in federal disaster relief funding has been allocated to Puerto Rico. But only about $12 billion has actually been spent. -- Lauren Dezenski of CNN ...
... Why is Trump transferring money from FEMA to the border? Ah, re-election. ...
... Nick Miroff & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "President Trump is so eager to complete hundreds of miles of border fence ahead of the 2020 presidential election that he has directed aides to fast-track billions of dollars' worth of construction contracts, aggressively seize private land and disregard environmental rules, according to current and former officials involved with the project. He also has told worried subordinates that he will pardon them of any potential wrongdoing should they have to break laws to get the barriers built quickly, those officials said.... With the election 14 months away and hundreds of miles of fencing plans still in blueprint form, Trump has held regular meetings at the White House to receive progress updates and hasten the pace.... The companies that are building the fencing and access roads have been taking heavy earth-moving equipment into environmentally sensitive border areas adjacent to U.S. national parks and wildlife preserves, but the administration has waived procedural safeguards and impact studies, citing national security concerns. 'They don't care how much money is spent, whether landowners' rights are violated, whether the environment is damaged, the law, the regs or even prudent business practices,' [a] senior [administration] official said." ...
... Christina Zhao of Newsweek: "After Donald Trump revealed that his struggling Trump National Doral Miami resort in Florida may host the G7 summit next year, the hashtag #TrumpBedBugs began trending on Monday with thousands of Americans ridiculing the president over a bug infestation at the luxury resort in 2017.... Twitter users began ridiculing the president's remarks by resurfacing a 2017 article about the Trump National Doral resort settling a lawsuit over biting bed bugs...." The story includes a photo of the back of the litigant's neck covered with what looks like bug bites & certainly could be bedbug bites. ...
... Amy Russo of Huffington Post: "... Donald Trump vehemently denied on Tuesday that bedbugs are crawling through his Doral golf resort in Florida, where he envisions holding next year's G-7 summit of world leaders. Though the hotel settled a guest's lawsuit alleging a bedbug infestation in 2017, Trump blamed suggestions of the pests on a left-wing smear. 'No bedbugs at Doral,' he wrote in a tweet. 'The Radical Left Democrats, upon hearing that the perfectly located (for the next G-7) Doral National MIAMI was under consideration for the next G-7, spread that false and nasty rumor. Not nice!'... Eric Linder, a Doral guest from New Jersey, sued the resort in 2016, alleging 'his back, face and arms were devoured by voracious bed bugs' during his stay, according to the Miami Herald. The paper published a photo showing the back of Linder's neck covered in small red welts when it reported the settlement in 2017. From 2013 to 2018, government inspectors logged 524 health code violations at the Doral, according to state records and research from American Bridge, a liberal super PAC. None of the violations mention bedbugs.... Ethics experts say the president's push to profit from the summit amounts to open corruption."
Katie Lobosco of CNN: "American farmers are still feeling the pinch from President Donald Trump's multifront trade war, but they finally got some good news this week when the President announced he struck an 'agreement in principle' on trade with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.... [T]he deal, which is still being finalized..., only gives them the same level of access to the Japanese market as they would have gotten if Trump had never pulled out of the Obama-era Trans-Pacific Partnership in the first place.... Trump and Abe intend to sign the agreement on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in mid-September." --s ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I'm not convinced there is any "good news" for farmers here. While he was at the G7, Trump lied about the extent to which an agreement was reached, according to Abe. I'd like to know if Lobosco had a Japanese government source for confirming Abe's "intent" to sign an agreement in a few weeks.
David Enrich & Emily Flitter of the New York Times: "Deutsche Bank told a federal appeals court on Tuesday that it was in possession of some tax returns sought by congressional subpoenas issued earlier this year to President Trump, his family and his businesses.... The [Deutsche Bank] letter ... was in response to a question posed last week [by the appeals court judges] to lawyers for Deutsche Bank and Capital One, the two financial institutions that were issued subpoenas by House committees in April.... Although the identities of the people or organizations were redacted in the publicly available document, current and former bank officials have said Deutsche Bank has portions of Mr. Trump's personal and corporate tax returns for multiple years as part of the reams of financial data it has collected over its two-decade relationship with him." The CNN story is here. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Congress wants to know why Deutsche Bank was willing to lend to Trump when other banks would not. Lawrence O'Donnell said last night he had a single source who claimed to have seen Deutsche Bank documents related to Trump's loans which showed Russian billionaires cosigned the loans. If true, that would explain why Trump wants to keep his financial information secret. David Cay Johnston, who was on O'Donnell's MSNBC show at the time said that evidence Trump was deeply-obligated to Putin-controlled oligarchs would "require Trump's removal from office."
Jonathan O'Connell & David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: "Last month, [Attorney General William] Barr booked President Trump's D.C. hotel for a 200-person holiday party in December that is likely to deliver Trump's business more than $30,000 in revenue. Barr signed a contract, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post, for a 'Family Holiday Party' in the hotel's Presidential Ballroom Dec. 8. The party will feature a buffet and a four-hour open bar for about 200 people. Barr is paying for the event himself and chose the venue only after other hotels, including the Willard and the Mayflower, were booked, according to a Justice Department official. The official said the purpose of Barr's party wasn't to curry favor with the president. Barr holds the bash annually...." Mrs. McC: Right after the party, Kickback Billy will be getting right on that conflict-of-interest thing, making sure Trump doesn't use the presidency for personal profit. ...
... Paul Campos, in LG&$, does not seem favorably impressed: A major "point of this petty graft is for Barr to just throw it in everybody's face that he really doesn't care, do you? Barr is scum, and Ken Starr is scum for vouching for him, (as well as for a lot of other reasons), and everybody who volunteered to work for this administration should be treated as pariahs for the rest of their lives by anybody who isn't part of the ongoing destruction of public life by this immoral travesty of an administration." ...
... And How 'bout That Emoluments Clause, Billy Boy? Josh Dawsey & David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post (Aug. 26): "President Trump said Monday that he was likely to hold next year's Group of Seven summit -- the ultraexclusive annual gathering of world leaders -- at his golf resort in Doral, Fla. That decision would be an unprecedented use of American power to create private revenue for the American president. If Trump does choose Doral, he would be directing six world leaders, hundreds of hangers-on and massive amounts of money to a resort he owns personally -- and which, according to his company's representatives, has been 'severely underperforming.'... Trump said his advisers have searched the nation and decided the most suitable spot for the 2020 summit is something different: A golf club set among drab office parks near the Miami airport. It just happened to be his golf club, Trump said. 'They went to places all over the country, and they came back and they said, 'This is where we'd like to be,"' Trump said. 'It's not about me. It's about getting the right location.' He praised the club's ample parking --as if world leaders generally lost time at summits while circling the parking lot.... After he spoke, the White House's official Twitter account ... call[ed] Doral 'the location of the next [G-7] summit.'" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I'm still looking for stories where the Justice Department tells the President* he can't do that, because Constitution. Oh, wait ...
... Alison Durkee of Vanity Fair: "Complicating Barr's decision to host a Trump hotel event of his own is the fact that as the head of the Justice Department, Barr and his attorneys are the ones defending Trump in the multiple Emoluments lawsuits focused on these hotel charges -- which could particularly be a problem if Trump gives Barr a discount on the bill.... Barr's choice of venue also doesn't help the attorney general's existing reputation as a Trump sycophant willing to show blind loyalty to his boss, whether that's through misrepresenting the Mueller report, or, now, putting some extra holiday cash in his boss's pockets.... The venue choice could also signal to those in the Trump orbit that money is an acceptable -- and, perhaps, even encouraged -- way to demonstrate the loyalty that Trump so clearly craves."
David Lynch of the Washington Post: "The Federal Reserve should stop trying to offset the economic costs of President Trump's trade war and instead force him to bear the consequences of the most aggressive use of tariffs since the 1930s, according to the former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. 'Officials could state explicitly that the central bank won't bail out an administration that keeps making bad choices on trade policy, making it abundantly clear that Trump will own the consequences,' William C. Dudley, who stepped down last year after nine years as the head of the New York Fed, wrote in an opinion column for Bloomberg. In an extraordinary broadside, Dudley said the Fed also should consider how its actions will affect the 2020 presidential election since, 'Trump's reelection arguably presents a threat to the U.S. and global economy, to the Fed's independence and its ability to achieve its employment and inflation objectives.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Dudley's Bloomberg opinion piece is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Conor Finnegan & Trish Turner of ABC News: "Two U.S. senators say that they were denied visas as part of an official delegation to Russia for talks with their counterparts in the country's parliament.... Republican Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Democrat Chris Murphy of Connecticut were scheduled to leave on their trip next week, according to aides, with stops in Ukraine, Kosovo, and Serbia as well." Related story linked yesterday. Mrs. McC: I guess we can believe Johnson over the Russian Embassy. That's a good thing. (Also linked yesterday.)
Mitch Smith of the New York Times: "A federal judge in Missouri blocked the state on Tuesday from enforcing a ban on abortions after the eighth week of pregnancy, enacted by Republican legislators this year as part of a national campaign to restrict abortion and perhaps prompt the United States Supreme Court to revisit Roe v. Wade. Senior Judge Howard F. Sachs of the Federal District Court in Kansas City, Mo., issued his ruling a day before the law was scheduled to take effect. The judge criticized lawmakers' 'hostility' to Supreme Court precedent on abortion, and said the eight-week ban stood little chance of prevailing. He also blocked other portions of the law that variously sought to ban abortions after 14, 18 or 20 weeks of pregnancy, all before a fetus becomes viable outside the womb." The NBC News story is here.
Presidential Race 2020
of CNN: "Former Vice President Joe Biden is airing a new TV ad in Iowa that highlights his continued support for the Affordable Care Act, at a time when other progressive Democratic candidates are pushing for a 'Medicare for All' approach. The minute-long ad ... draws on his personal experiences after a 1972 car accident took the lives of his wife and daughter, and badly injured his sons Hunter and Beau, as well as his late son Beau's diagnosis with brain cancer":
** "This Is Our Country, Not Theirs" -- Trump Campaign. Eric Levitz of New York: "Last Friday, Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez argued that Republicans oppose electing presidents by a national popular vote because 'they *know* they aren't the majority' and 'rely on establishing minority rule for power.' Her Republican colleague Dan Crenshaw took exception to this tweet; not because the Texas congressman felt his party represented the preferences of a majority of Americans, but rather, because he felt it anti-American to advocate for majority rule." Levitz tears down Crenshaw's argument. Then, "In a fundraising letter, the president's campaign informed its supporters that 'Socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez dialed up the crazy to a whole new level recently when she called for abolishing the Electoral College' and that 'The President is calling on you at this critical time to remind AOC and Democrats that this is our country, not theirs." ...
... ** Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "If there's substance behind 'We're a republic, not a democracy,' it's not as a description of American government. There's really no difference, in the present, between a 'republic' and a 'democracy': Both connote systems of representation in which sovereignty and authority derive from the public at large. The point of the slogan isn't to describe who we are, but to claim and co-opt the founding for right-wing politics -- to naturalize political inequality and make it the proper order of things. What lies behind that quip, in other words, is an impulse against democratic representation. It is part and parcel of the drive to make American government a closed domain for a select, privileged few."
Elections 2020
Hannah Trudo of The Daily Beast: "Several Democratic National Committee members have a message to their organization's top leadership: President Trump is crushing us.... Jim Zogby, who co-chairs the DNC's ethnic counsel, a group that represents people across different ethnic, racial, national origin, and religious identities, says he has been pushing Perez and other party leaders to expand its outreach to voters in the same areas that Trump successfully captured: Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and -- a Democratic sore spot in post-2016 politics -- Wisconsin. But that outreach to the committee has fallen on deaf ears.... The national party's fundraising woes continue to present a problem when up against the Republican National Committee and the Trump campaign's significant advantage, multiple members said." --s
Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "Facebook on Wednesday announced it would tighten some of its rules around political advertising ahead of the 2020 presidential election, requiring those who purchase ads touting candidates or promoting hot-button issues to provide more information about who actually paid for them. The changes seek to address a number of well-documented incidents where users placed misleading or inaccurate disclaimers on ads, effectively undermining a system for election transparency that the tech giant built after Russian agents spread disinformation on the site during the 2016 race. Facebook already requires that political advertisers verify their identities. Starting in September, though, the company will require buyers of so-called issue ads or advocates of a political candidate to include information about who is funding the ads."...
... The Reuters story is here. The new rule also will apply to Instagram.
Congressional Race 2020. White Nationalist "Humor." Bret Hayworth of the Sioux City Journal: "Iowa 4th District Rep. Steve King made light Tuesday of China reportedly forcing Muslim women in concentration camps to eat pork in violation of their Islamic faith. During a town hall meeting in Audubon, King recounted China's alleged crackdown against the nation's ethnic Uighur minority and other Islamic groups. The abuses, King said, include rounding up the Uighur, sterilizing their women, 'so there's no more Uighurs to be born,' and putting them on a Chinese diet, 'which includes trying to force them to eat pork.' 'That's the only part of that I agree with,' King said with a laugh. 'Everybody ought to eat pork. If you have a shortage of bacon, you can't be happy.'"
Joanna Walters of the Guardian: "Purdue Pharma and members of the multi-billionaire Sackler family, who own the company that makes the prescription painkiller OxyContin, have offered to settle more than 2,000 lawsuits from US states and cities for between $10bn and $12bn.... [T]he opioids crisis, which has cost the lives of more than 400,000 people across the US in the last 20 years and still kills 130 through overdoses every day, according to government figures.... The New York Times reported that the settlement proposal involved the Sacklers giving up ownership of Purdue Pharma and paying $3bn of their own money towards the settlement. --s ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I suppose this is the ultimate "Capitalism Is Awesome" story. The Sacklers didn't just cheat people in the great American corporate tradition; they knowingly destroyed people's lives before killing them. ...
... MEANWHILE. Sarah Varney of the Guardian: "As the Indian government loosens its prescription opioid laws after decades of lobbying by palliative care advocates desperate to ease their patients' acute pain, the nation's sprawling, cash-fed health care system is ripe for misuse. The sheer size of India's system makes oversight difficult but presents a tantalizing opportunity for India's burgeoning pain industry and multinational pharmaceutical companies seeking new markets.... If you cannot see the direct influence of American pharmaceutical companies in India, you can detect their shadow.... [T]he business acumen propelling India toward economic prosperity has been brazenly co-opted by eager pharmaceutical companies." --s
Benjamin Weiser, et al., of the New York Times: "Judge Richard M. Berman had scheduled [a] hearing on Tuesday after federal prosecutors wrote to him last week, saying that in light of [Jeffrey] Epstein's death, they planned to drop the criminal charges against him -- a decision that requires a judge's approval.... Judge Berman said in the order that he wanted to hear from the prosecution and the lawyers who had been representing Mr. Epstein, and he also invited Mr. Epstein's accusers and their lawyers to address the court if they wished to..... One by one, the women walked up to a podium ... Tuesday...." The AP story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Aram Roston & Joshua Schneyer of Reuters: "Evangelical leader and prominent Donald Trump backer Jerry Falwell Jr personally approved real estate transactions by his nonprofit Christian university that helped his personal fitness trainer obtain valuable university property, according to real estate records, internal university emails and interviews.... Now, after a series of university real estate transactions signed by Falwell, [the trainer Benjamin] Crosswhite owns a sprawling 18-acre racquet sports and fitness facility on former Liberty property.... In 2016, Falwell signed a real estate deal transferring the sports facility, complete with tennis courts and a fitness center owned by Liberty, to Crosswhite. Under the terms, Crosswhite wasn't required to put any of his own money down toward the purchase price, a confidential sales contract obtained by Reuters shows. Liberty committed nearly $650,000 up front to lease back tennis courts from Crosswhite at the site for nine years. The school also offered Crosswhite financing, at a low 3% interest rate, to cover the rest of the $1.2 million transaction, the contract shows."
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Bret Stephens Is a Vindictive Whiney-baby. Tim Elfrink & Morgan Krakow of the Washington Post: David Karpf, a professor at George Washington University, "took a story that bedbugs had infested the New York Times newsroom as an occasion to dig at ... the conservative columnist Bret Stephens. 'The bedbugs are a metaphor,' Karpf wrote on Monday. 'The bedbugs are Bret Stephens. The tweet got nine likes and zero retweets, Karpf said." Stephens emailed Karpf, copying GW's provost: "I'm often amazed about the things supposedly decent people are prepared to say about other people -- people they've never met -- on Twitter. I think you've set a new standard. I would welcome the opportunity for you to come to my home, meet my wife and kids, talk to us for a few minutes, and then call me a "bedbug" to my face. That would take some genuine courage and intellectual integrity on your part." "The exchange quickly went viral after Karpf posted Stephens's full email to Twitter, leading to waves of backlash against a columnist whose contrarian takes on climate change and race have prompted canceled subscriptions and pointed questions for his editors in the past.... Stephens also deactivated his Twitter account on Tuesday, writing that the platform 'is a sewer.'" (Also linked yesterday.)...
... Reed Richardson of Mediaite: "New York Times columnist and ostensible free speech champion Bret Stephens wrote a vaguely threatening email to an associate professor at George Washington University -- and cc'ed the university provost -- who had jokingly referred to the op-ed writer as a 'bedbug' on Twitter.... Stephens' over-the-top response to a Tweet that notably did not use his Twitter handle, as well as the not-so-subtle attempt to get [David] Karpf in trouble with the professor's boss at the college, seemed to run counter to the proclaimed free speech champion's disgust with thin-skinned 'PC culture' and societal 'safe spaces' where no one has a sense of humor anymore." Read on Mrs. McC: An associate professor does not have tenure; Stephens was apparently trying to get Karpf fired. See Balaban's correction in today's Comments. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)...
Imagine being on Twitter and having the worst thing you're called in a given day is 'bedbug.' My own friends roast me harder than that. For real though, it is pretty concerning that this guy abused his position to try to get someone fired over something so insignificant - esp after creating a career defending vile language as a sacred freedom & deriding people organizing for basic human dignity as 'snowflakes.'). -- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Adult-N.Y.)
... Scott Lemieux in LG&$ has an appropriate response to Stephens, too. His post is titled, "Today in the Robust Public Discourse With Bret 'Bedbug' Stephens." Mrs. McC: Expect a bad note from Bret, Scott. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Update. Rachel Frazin of the Hill: "A provost at George Washington University has invited New York Times columnist Bret Stephens to speak after a feud between the writer and a university professor went viral. Provost Forrest Maltzman invited Stephens to speak about civil discourse in the digital age in a statement tweeted out by the university. Maltzman also stood by associate professor Dave Karpf, who apparently upset Stephens when he called the columnist a 'bedbug' on Twitter amid news of possible bedbugs in the Times's newsroom. 'Professor Karpf speaks for himself and does not take direction from me,' the provost said. 'Our commitment to academic freedom and free speech are integral to GW's mission.'" Mrs. McC: Maltzman is the provost of GW, not a provost. We should all take a moment to congratulate the NYT anew for hiring Bedbug Stephens.
Way Beyond the Beltway
Never Mind. Marina Lopez & Terrence McCoy of the Washington Post: "Brazil's president Tuesday retreated from his country's initial rejection of a $22.2 million package from the Group of Seven nations to help fight fires sweeping through the Amazon rainforest. But President Jair Bolsonaro said any consideration of the aid remained tied up in his dispute with French President Emmanuel Macron -- even as officials in the fire-stricken regions spoke of negotiating directly with other countries for help if needed. Bolsonaro said he wouldn't make a final decision until Macron apologized for remarks that Bolsonaro considered a challenge to his credibility and an attack on Brazil's sovereignty. Before speaking or accepting anything from France, even if it comes from the best possible intentions, he must retract his words. Then we can talk,' he told journalists." This is an update of a story linked earlier yesterday. The NBC News story is here. Mrs. McC: Bolsonaro is definitely South America's Trump. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Ryan Grim of the Intercept: "Two Brazilian firms owned by a top donor to ... Donald Trump and ... Mitch McConnell are significantly responsible for the ongoing destruction of the Amazon rainforest, carnage that has developed into raging fires that have captivated global attention. The companies have wrested control of land, deforested it, and helped build a controversial highway to their new terminal in the one-time jungle, all to facilitate the cultivation and export of grain and soybeans.... The Amazon terminal is run by Hidrovias do Brasil, a company that is owned in large part by Blackstone, a major U.S. investment firm.... Blackstone co-founder and CEO Stephen Schwarzman is a close ally of Trump and has donated millions of dollars to McConnell in recent years." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
U.K. Jessica Elgot & Heather Stewart of the Guardian: "Boris Johnson has confirmed he has asked the Queen for permission to suspend parliament for five weeks from early September. The prime minister claimed MPs would have 'ample time' to debate Brexit, as he wrote to MPs on Wednesday, saying he had spoken to the Queen and asked her to suspend parliament from 'the second sitting week in September'. MPs will then return to Westminster on 14 October, when he said there would be a new Queen's speech, setting out what he called a 'bold and ambitious domestic legislative agenda for the renewal of our country after Brexit'. The effect of the decision will be to curtail dramatically the time MPs have to introduce legislation or other measures aimed at preventing a no-deal Brexit. Parliament is expected to sit for little more than a week from 3 September." ...
... That Went Over Well. The Guardian is liveblogging the ensuing "outrage." Mrs. McC: I suppose Trump, never one to pass up an opportunity to cheat, is already ordering unnamed "advisors" to tell him he has the power to indefinitely suspend Congress.
News Ledes
New York Times: "Tropical Storm Dorian is expected to land in Puerto Rico on Wednesday, slamming the island municipalities of Vieques and Culebra, and the Virgin Islands, before clipping the northeastern corner of Puerto Rico's big island east of San Juan, the capital. The compact storm has been maddeningly difficult to forecast, as tends to be the case with disorganized systems. As a result, Puerto Ricans have had little certainty over where, exactly, Dorian will hit." Except live updates on the linked page. ...
... The Weather Channel's report is here. "Tropical Storm Dorian will strike Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands Wednesday...." The Weather Channel's front page also links to related stories. ...
... Update: According to MSNBC, Dorian has been upgraded to a Category 1 hurricane & could hit Florida as a Cat 3.
New York Times: Photographer "[Orlando] Suero ... died on Aug. 19 at a nursing home in Los Angeles. He was 94." The story gives advice on your best chance of espying the meteor shower. Suero chronicled the lives of stars from 1962 to the mid-1980s, as the golden age of Hollywood dipped into its twilight. He took particular delight in capturing celebrities with each other, in their element or not. But he was perhaps best known for his portraits." Includes a few of Suero's iconic photo.
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"It's National Bed Bug Day."
As in crazy as a....?
If so, then every day is.
Last night Rachel had a story about immigrant families with children who have severe physical disabilities––life threatening ones–-who came to the U.S. to receive treatments ( she gave us three examples), treatments they can not receive in their native country and without these treatments the children will die. These families just received letters informing them that they have 33 days to "get out!––go back to where you came from." I have tried to find this story but have not seen it anywhere. I am not shocked because nothing shocks me anymore but I am outraged that this should be the case. Cruel doesn't begin to describe this––and why hasn't this been reported? Rachel mentioned she just learned of it but why has it not been reported today?
It appears that this thing called twitter and other like tappings bring out those bedbugs that heretofore remained sequestered snugly somewhere in the dark corners of one's mind. A foam of freindliness in a sea of rancor.
PD,
Your wish is my....
https://www.apnews.com/e27485eced6e480ca10a6a4c1c043f0c
@PD Pepe: Jason Easley of Politics USA has a post on a Boston Globe story which outlines Trump's cancelling a small “medical deferred action” program designed to allow these children (and a parent, of course) to stay in the country while the kids are undergoing treatment. Google links to a number of earlier stories on this particular cruelty policy.
IMO, the easiest way to find a story on a topic that interests you is to Google a few key words. That's what I did; it looks as if Ken Winkes may have done the same, using slightly different key words so coming up with a different but equally helpful result. I use the Googles every day when I'm looking for a story that covers the same ground a subscriber-firewalled NYT or WashPo story does or when I'm looking for a print story on something I've heard on TV.
@Ken Winkes: It's National Bed Bug Day because I think today is the first time in the 10-year-+ history of Reality Chex that I have linked to a bed-bug story, and today I've linked to stories about two unrelated bed-bug incidents with political implications: the Doral bed bugs (Miami) & the NYT bed bugs (NYC) biting that sweet Bret Stephens. Anyone who wants to comment on their personal experiences with bed bugs is free to do so. I've been bit by "bed spiders" once or twice, but I don't have my own nostalgic memories of bed bugs.
Small correction: an Associate Professor DOES have tenure. ON the tenure track, it is Assistant Professors who do not have that magical job security!
Seriously, can the Times not find a winger commentator who is not an officious twit, a misogynistic douchebag, or a hypocritical turd?
Maybe that’s all that’s out there.
In the meantime, don’t let the bedbug bite. You’ll probably get rabies.
Love the part where this idiot Stephens dares Professor Karpf to come to his house and call him “bedbug” to his face! Yeah, he double dog dares him! Stinky poopy pants! Oooh, those wingers are sooo tough. Instead of getting Karpf fired and flexing his confederate muscles to best another pointy headed liberal who dared to call him a name, this moron has pretty much guaranteed himself a nickname for life. Good ol’ Bedbug Bret. Has he not been paying attention to Devin’s Cow? idiot.
@Balaban: You're absolutely right. I had "assistant" on my mind when I was reading & writing "associate." Thank you.
@Ken and Marie: Thank you for your help ––I feel foolish ––of course I, too, google all the time to find stuff but for some reason didn't do that today. I can only plead guilty of what I'd like to call a"transition phase": My German family left yesterday and the silence is deafening. I don't need to describe the overhaul it takes to have a family of five take over this home of only two. It has been wonderful and gratifying but exhausting. But no bedbugs found and Joe can now have his bathroom back––small mercies.
Bea,
Got the bed bug thing. Was just thinking there could be manifold reasons beyond the two stories you reference that now in the third year of the pretend presidency thoughts of bed bugs were trending.
But I can't blame the Pretender for everything. Corrupt as he is, the system he grew up with, the one that taught him from birth how to measure and achieve "success," is itself fundamentally corrupt.
How do I know?
Today's proof: The Sacklers, who thoughtlessly murdered tens of thousands, may forfeit a few of their billions but will never see the inside of a jail.
@Ken Winkes: I agree about the Sacklers. I guess I've watched too many "Law & Order" shows, but I'm hoping some enterprising DA will charge a Sackler or two with negligent homicide, a jury will convict them & they'll be off to the hoosegow. And bed bugs.
So after 14 days on the water Greta is almost at the end of her journey. (scroll down and zoom in to see on the map.)
Latest news is that they're only 6 nautical miles from reaching their berth at North Cove Yacht Harbor. Currently waiting in Gravesend Bay for customs clearance to proceed.
Hopefully they won't have any problem with CBP. After all they are white and European.
Hmmm....Trump Doral. Isn't this the place that was scheduled to hold a tournament featuring strippers a few months ago? Big money players could select the stripper of their choice to be their "caddy" for the day?
Will that be part of the G7 next year? Strippers and bedbugs, but don't worry, there's plenty of parking. In case world leaders will be driving to the summit.
I can see it now. A cash bar ($17 for a 6 oz cup of flat beer) and a prix fixe menu (only $125/a day, per person, for a baloney sandwich--baloney being a Trump specialty--a small bag of Doritos, and a chocolate chip cookie), and special G7 room rates of $1,200/night. Bring your own bedding.
Plus there'll be the special sessions such as "The New Fascism" (in the Brownshirt Room), "Dealing with smelly immigrants and their whiny kids" (in the Big Wall Auditorium), "Racism Today" (in the Fred Trump Memorial conference room), and don't forget "Lying to your constituents, aka Saving Your Ass" in the Whopper Pavilion.
A G7 to remember, I'm sure.
Interesting to read that Trump's loans from Deutsche Bank may have been co-signed by some Russian oligarch. Deutsche Bank is not completely stupid. They figured Trump would beat them on repaying the loans, but at least if they got a Friend of Vlad to co-sign, there'd be a slight chance they'd get their money back. No wonder Donaldavich has been doing the Cossack two-step for the last three years.
GAWD!
I sure hope that O'Donnell story is true...and verifiable.
It sure does smell right.
As I once stupidly said, "If I could cross my fingers..."
And the kid said, "Mr. Winkes, can't you?"
I can (barely these days), and I'm crossing them.
The "if true" part of the O'Donnell story about Trump's Russian backed loans looms large. But does anyone really believe it's not?
I'm hoping plenty of bloodhounds are already on the trail here (shouldn't Mueller's guys have run this to ground?) and we'll have multiple sources for this astounding story.
Rest assured that Trump will sic his personal attorney, Bill Barr (the door against the law) on anyone daring to make public his malfeasance and essential treason.
But if a single additional piece of hard evidence is produced proving this to be the case (the president of the United States being economically--and otherwise--beholden to pals of an antagonistic foreign leader and acting in a manner to support this foreign leader against the best interests of the United States) I'm hoping that news will finally rouse Nancy Pelosi to ring up this asshole. So what if McConnell tries to deep six impeachment proceedings in the Senate? He'll just be providing further proof of the accuracy of the Moscow Mitch soubriquet.
The longer we wait, the harder it will be to move forward expeditiously and in a manner demanded by the Constitution.
So let me get this straight. The Constitution says the president cannot profit off his position as leader of the country. But this is pretty much a constant in this administration.
In response to this lawlessness, a number of suits have been brought against President Grifter. President Grifter, in turn, is being defended against these absolutely legitimate complaints by William Barr, a private lawyer, oops, the US Attorney General, appointed by President Grifter to serve the American people, er, to protect him personally.
But now this same lawyer is getting in line with others wishing to curry favor with the Grifter-in-Chief by throwing money at him through one of his businesses as a thank you for being made AG. So at the same time as he’s defending Grifter from charges of grifting, he’s helping to turbo-charge the grift.
Boss Tweed and a passel of Tammany Hall schemers couldn’t have come up with a more corrupt, bullshit skull fucking of the American electorate.
Even better, there’s not the slightest pretense of concern for the Constitution, for ethics or for the appearance of conflicts of interest. It’s all right out in the open, a great big FU to the rule of law.
But let some dark web confederate conspiracy jabroni spit out some bullshit about a deep state attempt to stop President Grifter, and Barr is right on it, ready to empty the treasury to get to the bottom of a fantasy.
We really are in the Upside Down.
With the investigations into his administration and his finances ramping up and the economy starting to slow, rest assured that any and all "executive actions" possible to shove more money into the pockets of voters will be taken. No strategy beyond "electoral bribery", and will surely dig the recession hole deeper once it comes. Reminds me of elections in Africa where the local officials show up with live chicken and bags of grain every few years.
I'm stocking the champagne bottles for now, but the daily frantic wails and whines of the Racist in Chief sound like they are getting more and more desperate and are not resonating for Season Two of the Farce House. Absent some colossal mistakes, I'm feeling hopeful the Orange Menace gets cancelled in 2020, ON THE CONDITION the election is fair and all votes go where they're supposed to. A big "if". Democrats need to mobilize the biggest GOTV effort in history.
I see that another hurricane is headed for Puerto Rico. Never fear, Trump sent one of his flunkies (probably Barr--he's not busy) out to the Dollar Store to buy a couple of rolls of paper towels to send down. He won't be pitching them himself, however. Two visits in three years, residents wouldn't be able to stand such wonderfulness. They're only mere mortals after all, not a god.
Besides, Puerto Rico is out in the ocean. It's an island. Did you know that? And there's big water all around it. Like, BIG. Instead, it's likely the Orange Menace will send the half-pence to toss out the paper towels then beat it before the storm hits. He'll tell pencey to say hello to Puerto Rico's president before he beats feet.
Those Puerto Ricans, they're so lucky. Trump's the best thing that ever happened to them. He's right up there with hurricanes and sharks and starvation. And to think, he doesn't even know they're part of America! So amazing.
So the U.K. leadership refused to govern three years ago, and put the monumental decision of Brexit in the hands of The People, who made the decision based on about as much information as one would have electing a prom king and queen. Now Parliament will be barred (oops) from taking responsible action, banished from Westminster.
Should we be looking to see if Boris Johnson also has loans co-signed by Russian oligarchs?
I'll still keep my fingers crossed, but there's this:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/28/business/media/lawrence-odonnell-trump-claims.html?