;)
The Commentariat -- August 31, 2017
For the record, here is mike pence hugging a victim of Hurricane Harvey. Mission Clean-up-apres-Trump accomplished:
*****
Rex Is Off the Reservation Now. Morgan Chalfont of the Hill: "The Trump administration is ordering Russia to shutter a consulate in San Francisco as well as annexes in Washington and New York, the State Department announced Thursday. The move was positioned as a response 'in the spirit of parity' to the Russian government's order that the United States cut down the number of diplomatic personnel in Russia, which a State spokesman described as 'unwarranted and detrimental.' Moscow is ordered to close the facilities by Saturday."
AP: "The United States flew some of its most advanced warplanes -- including two nuclear-capable bombers -- to South Korea on Thursday for bombing drills intended as a show of force against North Korea. A South Korean military official confirmed the joint operation to NBC News, adding that the aircraft later returned safely to their home bases."
Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: You may want to look at the photographic "evidence" Trump provided to "prove" he "witness[ed] first hand the horror & devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey." ...
... MEANWHILE, meany-nitpicker Aaron Blake of the fake-news Amazon Washington Post begs to differ: "A reporter asked White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders about this ["first-hand" claim] later Wednesday, and her answer was ... something: 'He met with a number of state and local officials who are eating, sleeping, breathing the Harvey disaster. He talked extensively with the governor, who certainly is right in the midst of every bit of this, as well as the mayors from several of the local towns that were hit hardest. And detailed briefing information throughout the day yesterday talking to a lot of the people on the ground. That certainly is a firsthand account.' No, it's not. That's a *second*hand account -- the very definition of one, in fact." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Besides, Aaron, a guy who gets all his briefings from Fox "News" instead of from the living, breathing briefers who come sit with him in the Oval every day (or every day he lets them in) is bound to think that looking at a real, big ole radar screen instead of the picture of one he sees on the teevee is "first hand."
Josh Gerstein of Politico: "... Donald Trump's public electoral threat Wednesday against Sen. Claire McCaskill during a speech in Missouri on tax reform triggered another round of questions about the administration's blurring the line between partisan politics and official business. Speaking at an industrial-fan factory in Springfield, Trump singled out McCaskill, a Democrat who is up for reelection next year in a state the president won decisively in 2016. 'We must -- we have no choice -- we must lower our taxes. And your senator, Claire McCaskill, she must do this for you, and if she doesn't do it for you, you have to vote her out of office,' Trump said to loud applause and whistling from the audience.... Trump is not covered by the Hatch Act, the federal law prohibiting politicking while on official duty, but White House officials are subject to the measure. 'The Office of Special Counsel should examine very closely if staffers were involved in the preparation of these remarks,' said Nick Schwellenbach, a former OSC official...."
Jacqueline Thomsen of the Hill: "Eric Trump ripped negative media coverage of his father during a radio interview Wednesday, saying that a person 'would end up killing yourself out of depression' if they got as much negative coverage as the president.... 'It's the media, the mainstream media, who does not want [President Trump] to succeed. It's government who does not want him to succeed.... No matter what he does, he's going to get hit, and listen, I think you have to tune it out.' He added that his father wasn't being attacked by just the media, but by everyone in politics in general, including people 'in their marble offices.'" Mrs. McC: If I'm not mistaken, Trump Tower, where Eric helps run pop's vast empire, has pink marble glued to nearly every standing surface. Eric's efforts to sound like a populist ring a tad hollow, like the sound of cleats on pink marble floors.
Rebecca McCray of Slate: Joe "Arpaio’s tactics, while outrageous, aren't as anomalous as we'd like to think they are. In counties across the United States, elected sheriffs oversee their communities and jails using variations on the same methods. The difference is that they typically get less press coverage and that the courts rarely hold them accountable for their actions. The foremost example of an Arpaio-like figure is David Clarke. The Trump-endorsed author and sheriff of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, runs a jail system rife with abuse and fatalities...." McCray cites several other sheriffs. "This handful of examples includes a number of instances in which a sheriff was investigated. But investigations like these, much less guilty verdicts like Arpaio's, are atypical."
*****
AP, via digby: "... Donald Trump is promising billions to help Texas rebuild from Hurricane Harvey, but his Republican allies in the House are looking at cutting almost $1 billion from disaster accounts to help finance the president's border wall. The pending reduction to the Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster relief account is part of a spending bill that the House is scheduled to consider next week when Congress returns from its August recess. The $876 million cut, part of the 1,305-page measure's homeland security section, pays for roughly half the cost of Trump's down payment on a U.S.-Mexico border wall." (The AP story was a brief, & it's moved since Wednesday morning.) ...
... digby: "There's only 2.3 billion left in the disaster fund anyway, so they'll probably leave it alone. But Trump is going out on the stump to hold a rally for tax cuts as we speak. Today. While southeastern Texas is still drowning. He's running the country like one of his failed casinos." (Linked above.) ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Hey, digby, Trump went to Texas way back on Tuesday, remarked on how yuge the storm was, bragged about the great job his people were doing, cheered on a small crowd of supporters, & left. He's doesn't have time for drowning people. Tax cuts for Donald Trump -- now that's worth some effort. ...
After witnessing first hand the horror & devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey,my heart goes out even more so to the great people of Texas! -- Donald J. Trump August 30, 2017
Our reporting does not match claim that @POTUS witnessed any horror or devastation first hand. -- Todd Gillman of the Dallas Morning News, in a tweet
In the past, Trump has viciously attacked others for making similarly misleading claims. Most memorably, Trump and his supporters mercilessly went after former NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams after a 2015 segment in which the reporter misrepresented events that happened during his 2003 Iraq War coverage. -- Caroline Orr of Shareblue ...
... Katie Leslie of the Dallas Morning News: "Vice President Mike Pence is heading for Texas on Thursday to survey Hurricane Harvey's destruction and meet with storm survivors.... Pence, notably, is expected to meet with people affected by the storm. According to the White House, he will travel with second lady Karen Pence and several Cabinet members, including Energy Secretary Rick Perry, the former Texas governor. Also traveling with Pence: Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta, Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin and Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke. In Corpus Christi they'll meet with Gov. Greg Abbott and Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Corpus Christi." Mrs. McC: All, except Pajama Boy Fahrenthold, have explicit instructions to hug & commiserate with flood victims & say they're hugging & commiserating for the President*. ...
... Anthea Butler, in a New York Times op-ed: "Before it began to rain in Houston last week, the spectacularly wealthy pastor Joel Osteen could have opened up his megachurch to ... evacuees.... Instead he wrote tweets like 'God's got this' and 'don't drift into doubt and fear ... stay anchored to hope.'... On Sunday, Mr. Osteen's church announced that it was inaccessible because of 'flooding.' But intrepid journalists proved otherwise. After Mr. Osteen was humiliated on social media, he finally opened the 16,800-seat church to the public on Tuesday. When asked about the delay, Mr. Osteen said that 'the city didn't ask us to become a shelter.' President Trump, too, revealed his morally bankrupt soul during the storm when he said that he timed his pardon of the racist former sheriff Joe Arpaio to coincide with the hurricane's landfall because he assumed that it would garner 'far higher' TV ratings than usual. Mr. Trump did visit Texas, but there was apparently no mention of dead or displaced Texans, and no expressions of sympathy. Mr. Trump and Mr. Osteen ... both enjoy enormous support among evangelicals, yet they lack a command of biblical scripture. Both are among the 1 percent.... Mr. Trump's and Mr. Osteen's brands are rooted in success, not Scripture. Believers in prosperity like winners.... Mr. Trump and Mr. Osteen unwittingly revealed its ugly underbelly: the smugness, the self-aggrandizing posturing. It has co-opted many in the Republican Party, readily visible in their relentless desire to strip Americans of health care, disaster relief and infrastructure funding." ...
... AND Then There's Mattress Mack. The Week: "On Sunday, Jim 'Mattress Mack' McIngvale, the owner of Gallery Furniture, opened the doors of his Houston-area furniture emporia to people flooded out of their homes by Tropical Storm Harvey. Since then, he and his employees, plus volunteers, have rescued, housed, and fed about 400 people, and also provided a place to unwind for a National Guard unit. His 24-foot furniture trucks 'picked up about 200 people,' McIngvale told ABC News on Wednesday. 'They were stranded on bridges, they were stranded in convenience stores, they were walking through the water with snakes and alligators, and we brought 'em out here.' When the flood evacuees arrived, McIngvale said, he told them to make themselves at home, on the twin theories that 'furniture's made to be sat on, slept on, laid on, whatever,' and 'to hell with profits, let's take care of people.' He still plans to sell the furniture when his store is just a store again. 'We'll have a Harvey floor model sale, or something -- I'll come up with some shtick,' he told ABC News. 'This is the right thing to do. That's the way I was brought up.'" ...
Our GF N FWRY & GF Grand PKWY stores are open for those in need. If you can safely join us, we invite you for shelter and food. God Bless. pic.twitter.com/IHHgjKmjMY
— MattressMack (@MattressMack) August 28, 2017
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I'm happy to say Melbar & I purchased a knock-off Lutyens bench from Mattress Mack when last we were in Houston.
... Julie Davis of the New York Times: "President Trump on Wednesday pitched a sweeping tax overhaul that he said would unleash the American economy and growth to help ordinary people, promising that a vague recipe of large corporate tax cuts and individual tax reductions would boost the middle class. Wrapping his message in the populist rhetoric that powered his presidential campaign, Mr. Trump ... offered few specifics beyond a goal of a 15 percent corporate tax rate, down from 35 percent. The politically difficult legislation has yet to be drafted despite months of private negotiations between members of his administration and Republicans on Capitol Hill.... Democrats seized on the disconnect between Mr. Trump's tax-cutting message and the large reductions for businesses and high earners that he has championed, vowing to fight what they called a gift to the rich cloaked in populist language.... Many economists, too, rejected the premise underlying Mr. Trump's stated priorities, arguing that large corporate tax cuts would do relatively little -- particularly in the near term -- to boost wages or create jobs, instead helping the wealthiest Americans who can afford to invest.... The already long odds of completing a plan and signing it into law before year's end appear to be dwindling." ...
... Ms. McCrabbie: Donald Trump even outdoes the U.S.'s heretofore favorite flim-flam man Paul Ryan. Most of the time Trump doesn't know what he's talking about, but on taxes, he knows. Ergo, he's straight-out lying, not just making up phony stuff. ...
... Damian Paletta & John Wagner of the Washington Post: "Unlike his boisterous rallies, Trump rarely strayed from carefully worded remarks.... Trump closely followed the economic vision many Republicans have tried to advance for years -- namely that cutting corporate taxes will grow the economy, lead companies to pay workers higher wages, spur those workers to spend more money and help grow the economy.... The speech had Trump's trademark lofty promises -- he said numerous times the tax cut plan he envisioned would reshape the U.S. economy and the morale of workers who 'will love getting up in the morning. They will love going to work.'... On tax reform [unlike on repeal & replace], the White House is planning a series of pitches by Trump himself, building on his remarks Wednesday.... [Speaking in Missouri,] Trump ... [said] there could be political consequences for Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, who is up for reelection next November, if she doesn't support the bill.... Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Wednesday that Democrats were open to discussing changes to the tax code but they would oppose any plan that is not squarely focused on the middle class and that would add to government debt, saying it would lead to Republicans later targeting programs such as Social Security or Medicare for savings." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Obviously, Trump is working on tax "reform" where he did nothing but whine about repeal & replace & never knew what was in the various abominable GOP proposals; he really, really wants that huge tax cut for himself & his family. Of course in both cases, let the public be damned. ...
... Lies, Damned Lies & Statistics. Glenn Kessler & Michelle Lee of the Washington Post lie-check Trump's speech. Mrs. McC: Evidently Trump's speechwriters & talking-points preparers are big fat liars, too. ...
... David Dayen in the Nation: "A new report from the Institute for Policy Studies shows [that] ... US companies are already paying minimal amounts in corporate taxes, and the ones most likely under Republican theory to pour tax savings into job creation have instead been more likely to cut their workforce over the past nine years. The data shows [sic.!] that low corporate tax rates more often lead to increases in CEO pay and boosts for shareholders.... 'If claims about the job creation benefits of lower tax rates had any validity,' report author Sarah Anderson writes, 'the 92 consistently profitable tax-dodging firms we identified would be among the nation's strongest job creators.' But the lower rates didn't correspond to job creation. Collectively, the 92 profitable corporations cut jobs by 0.74 percent over the period studied, from 2008-16. During that same time, the private sector added jobs at a 6 percent clip. So low-tax corporations did far worse on hiring than their counterparts." ...
... Mrs. McC: Yeah but those are factual statistics, & they have no place in any Republican brain, much less in any policy considerations.
This Is What Corruption Looks Like. Stephanie Kirchgaessner of the Guardian: "Donald Trump called a senior Republican senator from Iowa [Chuck Grassley] on Wednesday whose congressional committee is investigating his son, Donald Trump Jr, and promised him critical federal support for the biofuel ethanol, a key issue for the lawmaker. Chuck Grassley, the chairman of the Senate judiciary committee and a major advocate of the ethanol industry, announced on Twitter that he had received a phone call from Trump and had been assured by the US president that Trump was 'pro ethanol' and was 'standing by his campaign promise' to support the biofuel. The phone call came less than a day after CNN reported that Trump's eldest son had reached an agreement with the committee to appear in a private session and answer investigators' questions.... It is not clear, however, how Trump will make good on his promise to Grassley. Bloomberg reported in June that US ethanol producers were concerned that oil industry lobbyists who oppose important biofuel mandates could hold sway over Trump's Environmental Protection Agency...." ...
... Mrs McCrabbie: Yo, Chuck. You might want to take a look at Trump's spectacular record of breaking promises before you decide to jolly go lightly on Junior. ...
... Noor Al-Sibai of the Raw Story: "According to the Financial Times, Rinat Akhmetshin, the Russian lobbyist and former Soviet army official who attended the meeting in Trump Tower [with Donald Jr., Paul Manafort, Jared Kushner & other Russian operatives] last summer, has testified before [Robert] Mueller's grand jury. According to two sources close to the testimony, Akhmetshin testified for 'several hours' on August 11. Though Akhmetshin declined FT's requests for comment, the report claims his testimony centered around a 'dossier' provided by Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya. The dossier reportedly contained information about 'how bad money ended up in Manhattan and that money was put into supporting political campaigns.' The report also noted that Akhmetshin is currently under investigation by the Senate Judiciary Committee, who are looking into the circumstances surrounding his American citizenship, his role in the Soviet military and 'whether he improperly lobbied for Russian interests.'" ...
... Josh Dawsey of Politico: "Special counsel Robert Mueller's team is working with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on its investigation into Paul Manafort and his financial transactions, according to several people familiar with the matter. The cooperation is the latest indication that the federal probe into ... Donald Trump's former campaign chairman is intensifying. It also could potentially provide Mueller with additional leverage to get Manafort to cooperate in the larger investigation into Trump's campaign, as Trump does not have pardon power over state crimes. The two teams have shared evidence and talked frequently in recent weeks about a potential case, these people said. One of the people familiar with progress on the case said both Mueller's and Schneiderman's teams have collected evidence on financial crimes, including potential money laundering. No decision has been made on where or whether to file charges." ...
... Maggie Haberman & Matt Apuzzo of the New York Times: "President Trump's longtime lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, has given Congress a point-by-point rebuttal of a dossier alleging that he [Cohen] has deep ties to Russian officials -- an effort to clear his name as the Justice Department and congressional committees investigate Russia's attempts to disrupt last year's election.... Mr. Cohen's name appears throughout the dossier compiled by the retired British spy, Christopher Steele, who has deep expertise in Russia.... The dossier ... portrays Mr. Cohen as a central figure in the conspiracy. In an eight-page letter to the House Intelligence Committee, a lawyer for Mr. Cohen offered a full-throated rejection of any suggestion that Mr. Cohen was involved in an effort to work with Russia to disrupt the election." ...
... Andrew Roth of the Washington Post: Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin 's personal spokesman, "confirmed on Wednesday that he had received a request for assistance on a stalled Trump Tower real estate project in Moscow from a close aide [Michael Cohen] to President Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign, but added that the Kremlin did not respond to the letter.... Peskov said that the email described a 'Russian company together with certain people [who] had the goal of creating a new skyscraper in Moscow city, but the deal is not moving forward, and they were asking for some recommendations and help advancing this deal.' Peskov said that he had seen the email but that it was not given to Putin." ...
... Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker: "The Trump Organization's efforts to build in Moscow finally fell apart, in late January, 2016, because, according to the Post, 'they lacked the land and permits to proceed.' But, despite this failure, Trump's pursuit of the deal while he was campaigning on a platform of friendlier relations with the Russian President -- a foreign adversary who controlled the deal's fate -- is scandalous, even without any other context. And additional details, unearthed this week by the Times and the Post, about the Trump Organization's attempts to secure the deal make the scandal far worse.... First, Trump was taking a policy position -- one deeply at odds with his own party -- that would benefit him personally. It's a startling conflict of interest. Second, his statements and actions, and those of his subordinates and their associates pursuing the deal, may fuel the obstruction-of-justice inquiry against Trump that the special counsel, Robert Mueller.... The more it looks like Trump had something to cover up, the stronger an obstruction charge would be."
Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "The United States has about 11,000 troops in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said on Wednesday, acknowledging for the first time publicly that the total forces there are higher than formally disclosed in recent years. Previously, Defense Department officials had said 8,400 troops were in Afghanistan as part of NATO's Resolute Support mission. An additional 2,000 American troops, which military officials have not publicly acknowledged, are in Afghanistan to help local forces conduct counterterrorism missions. The new count includes covert as well as temporary units, defense officials said."
Julian Borger of the Guardian: "Donald Trump appeared to rule out contacts with the North Korean regime in the wake of its missile test over Japan on Wednesday, declaring: 'Talking is not the answer.' Minutes later, however, the defense secretary, James Mattis, flatly contradicted the president's blanket statement, telling reporters: 'We[re never out of diplomatic solutions.' Such sharply conflicting statements have become a norm for the Trump administration, but it is unclear how they are being read by the regime in Pyongyang and US allies in the region."
EPA to Scientists (Again): "STFU." Valerie Volcovici of Reuters: "The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday rejected a contention by scientists that the historic rainfall from Tropical Storm Harvey was linked to climate change, calling it 'an attempt to politicize an ongoing tragedy.' Several scientists have said that factors related to global warming have contributed to increased rainfall from storms like Harvey, which struck the Texas coast as a major hurricane on Friday and has since triggered catastrophic flooding in Houston, killing at least 12 people and forcing tens of thousands from their homes."
Secrets & Lies. Robert Pear of the New York Times: "A Trump administration official said Wednesday that the administration wanted to stabilize health insurance markets, but refused to say if the government would promote enrollment this fall under the Affordable Care Act or pay for the activities of counselors who help people sign up for coverage. The official also declined to say whether the administration would continue paying subsidies to insurance companies to compensate them for reducing deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs for low-income people. Without the subsidies, insurers say, they would sharply increase premiums. The administration, the official suggested, will do the minimum necessary to comply with the law, which Mr. Trump has called 'an absolute disaster' and threatened to let collapse.... Asked if the Trump administration wanted the public marketplaces to succeed, the official did not answer directly.... The Trump administration official spoke to about 20 journalists on Wednesday on the condition of anonymity, evidently because major decisions had not been made." ...
... Mrs. McC: How is the administration supposed to meet this claimed desire to "stabilize health insurance markets" when it won't say what its plans are, suggests there are no plans, & the spokesperson is so secretive she won't even allow publication of her name?
David Kocieniewski & Caleb Melby of Bloomberg look down the huge financial hole Jared Kushner dug for Kushner Companies. It isn't entirely clear how much Kushner Companies actually owns of some "Kushner" properties. "Even after selling big sections of 666 Fifth [-- the biggest albatross in the Kushner zoo --] in 2011, they have increased their own vulnerability by borrowing more money for other deals, people close to the company say. After a refinancing, the deed to 666 Fifth sits in an escrow account, ready to be seized by lenders in a default, an action indicating their trust has grown thin.... Under some dire circumstances, guarantees in the refinancing agreement could even give lenders the ability to go after the family's other assets -- many of which are also underpinned by debt."
This Also Is What Corruption Looks Like. John Bresnahan of Politico: "Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez allegedly starting taking bribes from a wealthy donor shortly after he entered the Senate in 2006, federal prosecutors assert in a new document. Menendez's bribery and corruption trial is set to begin next week. In preparation for that, Justice Department prosecutors filed a new document Wednesday laying out their case against the New Jersey senator, as well as Dr. Salomon Melgen, his alleged co-conspirator. Melgen has already been convicted in a separate case of bilking Medicare but has not been sentenced yet. Menendez's fate -- and the what happens to his Senate seat if convicted -- is part of the drama surrounding the high-profile case. Menendez has denied all allegation of wrongdoing, and he has denied any talk of a plea deal with the Justice Department." ...
... Mrs. McC: If Menendez is convicted, there's a good chance he would resign or the Senate would kick him out. (It takes a 2/3rds vote.) If a conviction occurs in the next five months, Chris Christie would replace him with a Republican. Christie has denied he would appoint himself.
** Jason Sattler, in a CNN opinion piece, explains the rules of etiquette Republican apply to their support for white supremacists & how Trump exposed the plot by breaking those rules: "Perhaps Republicans know they get away with policies that enforce white supremacy through voting restrictions and mass incarceration, but to do this, they must reject public displays of bigotry. This unstated compromise is the heart of a strategy that has helped the party accumulate more political power than at any time since the Great Depression.... The Republican approach to white identity politics that has been reinforced in the last decade by adding new voting restrictions and more effective racial gerrymandering on top of felon disenfranchisement that combine to diminish the power of non-white voters. But it has been stoked for generations by an assault on public services that has fed by the dog whistle that 'government' equaled 'coddling of nonwhites.'"
Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A federal judge on Wednesday tore into President Trump's voter commission for reneging on a promise to fully disclose public documents before a July 19 meeting, ordering the government to meet new transparency requirements and eliciting an apology from administration lawyers. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of Washington said the Election Integrity Commission released only an agenda and proposed bylaws before its first meeting at the White House complex last month. But once gathered, commissioners sat with thick binders that included documents the public had not seen, including a specially prepared report and a 381-page 'database' purporting to show 1,100 cases of voter fraud, both from the Heritage Foundation, and also received a typed list of possible topics to address from the panel vice chairman, Kansas Secretary of State Kris W. Kobach. Kollar-Kotelly said the panel's after-the-fact argument was 'incredible' when it said it did not believe documents prepared by individual commissioners for the July meeting had to have been posted in advance."
Manny Fernandez of the New York Times: "A federal judge in San Antonio on Wednesday blocked Texas from enforcing its ban on so-called sanctuary cities, questioning the constitutionality of a law that has pitted Republican state leaders against several Democratic-leaning cities. The judge's ruling was only temporary, and prevents the law from taking effect on Friday while a suit against it goes forward. But the decision, which Texas said it would appeal, served as a legal blow to one of the toughest state-issued immigration laws in the country and puts the brakes on a measure backed by the Trump administration that critics had called anti-Latino.... A number of the state's biggest cities, including Houston, Austin, San Antonio and Dallas, all of which are run by Democrats, joined a lawsuit against Texas seeking to strike down the law, which was passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature and signed by the Republican governor, strong>Greg Abbott, in May."
Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd.
Reuters: "Arkema SA expects chemicals to catch fire or explode at its heavily flooded plant in Crosby, Texas in the coming days, and has no way to prevent that from happening, the chief executive officer of the company's North America unit said on Wednesday. The company evacuated remaining workers on Tuesday and Harris County ordered the evacuation of residents in a 1.5-mile radius of the plant that makes organic chemicals.... The Federal Aviation Administration has temporarily barred flights over the area near the plant because of the risk of fire or explosion.... Richard Rowe, CEO of the North America unit, told reporters that chemicals on the site will catch fire and explode if they are not properly cooled, and that Arkema expects that to happen within the next six days as temperatures rise. He said the company has no way to prevent that because the plant is swamped by about six feet of water.... The plant is near a section of Interstate 90 that has been underwater and closed. The plant has been without electric service since Sunday. Back-up generators have largely been inundated with water, the company said." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Medlar can't understand why Arkema didn't have a hurricane/flood plan to prevent such an outcome, which the CEO now says is certain to happen. Seems to me government regulations, by the state and/or feds, could have prevented this impending disaster. Here's an idea: maybe don't put the generators on the first floor. But then, what's to worry? -- the exploding chemicals are organic. ...
... Adam Raymond of New York: "The plant, one of five operated by Arkema in Texas, produces peroxides that are used to make plastics and rubbers. Those volatile peroxides, along with the number of homes near the plant, resulted in it landing on a list of Houston-area industrial sites with the highest potential for catastrophe in the event of a natural disaster. Still, [CEO Richard] Rowe sought to reassure reporters that after the plant blows, worries about any long-term environmental impact should be 'minimal.'" Mrs. McC: Okay then. Could be safe-ish to live in & around Crosby in 25 years or so. ...
... UPDATE. Pam Wright of the Weather Channel: "Multiple explosions were reported at the flooded Arkema chemical plant in Crosby, Texas, early Thursday morning just a day after the company's CEO warned of an unpreventable, imminent explosion. One deputy was rushed to the hospital after inhaling fumes and nine others hospitalized themselves after the explosion, the Harris County Sheriff's Office said. There are no more details on their condition at this time.... KHOU reported that two explosions happened at roughly 2 am local time. "
Matt Egan of CNN: "Wells Fargo has uncovered up to 1.4 million more fake accounts after digging deeper into the bank's broken sales culture. The findings show that Wells Fargo's problems are worse than the bank previously admitted to when the scandal began almost a year ago. Wells Fargo ... now says it has found a total of up to 3.5 million potentially fake bank and credit card accounts, up from its earlier tally of approximately 2.1 million."
Alex Shephard of the New Republic: "Open Markets, a division at the public policy think tank the New America Foundation, had been an intellectual force in progressive circles in recent years, leading to a heightened awareness of the damaging effects that monopolization is having on both consumers and businesses.... Where it really stirred things up was by targeting America's giant tech companies, particularly Amazon, Facebook, and Alphabet (the umbrella company for Google). Now, Google has apparently struck back, revealing a growing divide between progressives and an industry that has long claimed a home in the Democratic Party. On Wednesday, The New York Times's Ken Vogel reported that New America had parted ways with Open Markets following complaints from Eric Schmidt, the executive chairman of Alphabet, a major New America donor. (Schmidt has also made personal donations to New America, and was its chairman until 2016.)... It appears the nail in the coffin was when Open Markets praised the $2.7 billion antitrust fine the European Union levied against Alphabet in June.... The scandal is also an indictment of the relationship between public policy think tanks and corporations. Think tanks have downplayed the role that large corporate donors play in their research, but the situation at New America suggests that donors like Schmidt expect something in return for their money. On the right, this has been obvious for years...." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: The only "scandal" I see is that well-intentioned liberals are so foolish they think people who fund them will keep sending money when the well-intentioned point out the existential flaws of their benefactors. When you heard your ne'er-do-well nephew was bad-mouthing you, did you keep sending him rent money? I didn't think so.
Alison Flood of the Guardian: "The cartoonist who created Pepe the Frog has taken legal action to force the author of a self-published children's book that uses the character to espouse 'racist, Islamophobic and hate-filled themes' to give all of his profits to a Muslim advocacy organisation. Pepe, created by Matt Furie in the early 2000s as a 'peaceful frog-dude' with the catchphrase 'feels good man', was adopted as a symbol by supporters of the US 'alt-right' last year. He has since been designated by the Anti-Defamation League as a hate symbol, but Furie has been attempting to end the association, even killing off the character in one comic strip and subsequently launching a Kickstarter to raise money to 'save Pepe'.... Furie's lawyers have also successfully stopped the distribution of Eric Hauser's children's book The Adventures of Pepe and Pede. According to the Washington Post, the book sees Pepe and 'his best friend Centipede' -- centipede is a term for Trump supporters -- as they attempt to 'bring freedom back to Wishington Farm', battling an alligator named 'Alkah' with buds from 'the honesty tree'. Hauser was an assistant principal at a Texas middle school until details of the book became public." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Who knew frog legs were just desserts? BTW, I think we know now why Trump made Mitt Romney eat frogs legs.
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd.
Sarah Jones of the New Republic Wants to Know: "Why is The New York Times op-ed page publishing Erik Prince's sales pitch for more mercenaries? Prince, whose notorious company Blackwater was responsible for the deaths of Iraqi and Afghan civilians and epitomized the folly of the Bush administration's attempts to outsource U.S. military operations to the private sector, has a brilliant plan for Afghanistan, which you can read about it in the op-ed section of the Times.... It is a sales pitch, written by a very well-connected operator (his sister is Betsy DeVos) who has privately tried to convince the Trump administration to send contractors to Afghanistan — a story that was broken by the Times's reporting desk. He has written a version of this op-ed before, for The Wall Street Journal, arguing that corporations can operate 'cheaper and better than the military.' The conflicts of interest are glaring, and yet this advertisement was given pride of place in the opinion section. What's worse, however, is the product the Times has allowed Prince to shill: mercenaries that, under Prince, committed war crimes in Iraq."
Contributor MAG points to this video of a CNN "reporter" doing standard if-it-bleeds-it-leads "reporting" -- i.e., asking disaster victims, "How do you feel now that you've lost everything?" -- & accidentally hitting on a media critic. The hapless interviewee, who probably knew she was supposed to give a canned response like, "I thank God for saving my children & me. I know he has a higher purpose for us," goes another way:
Medlar's Sports Report
John Branch of the New York Times: Ed Cunningham, a color analyst for ABC Sports & ESPN college football games, "resigned from one of the top jobs in sports broadcasting because of his growing discomfort with the damage being inflicted on the players he was watching each week. The hits kept coming, right in front of him, until Cunningham said he could not, in good conscience, continue his supporting role in football's multibillion-dollar apparatus.... 'In its current state, there are some real dangers: broken limbs, wear and tear,' Cunningham said. 'But the real crux of this is that I just don't think the game is safe for the brain. To me, it's unacceptable.' Football has dominated Cunningham's life, he said, since he began playing as a freshman in high school. He was captain of the University of Washington's 1991 national championship team and a third-round draft choice in the N.F.L., where he was an offensive lineman for five seasons. He has been a broadcaster since.... He was in the prime of his career as a broadcaster, and most likely could have continued to make a comfortable living doing it for decades.... A football broadcaster leaving a job because of concerns over the game's safety appears to have no precedent." Mr. McC: No, Bea, color analysts are not personal style consultants. But yes, Cunningham did something gutsy & principled here.
News Ledes
Washington Post: "The rain from Harvey is in a class of its own. The storm has unloaded over 50 inches of rain east of Houston, the greatest amount ever recorded in the Lower 48 states from a single storm. And it’s still raining." ...
... Washington Post: "ExxonMobil acknowledged Tuesday that Hurricane Harvey damaged two of its refineries, causing the release of hazardous pollutants. The acknowledgment, in a regulatory filing with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, follows repeated complaints on Twitter of an 'unbearable' chemical smell over parts of Houston. However, it was not immediately clear what caused the smell.... A variety of ... chemicals was emitted during the shutdown of the plants.... Most of the other facilities belonging to major companies also filed notices with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality." ...
... New York Times: "As one of the most destructive storms in the nation's history pummeled southeast Texas for a fourth day, forecasts on Monday called for still more rain, making clear that catastrophic flooding that had turned neighborhoods into lakes was just the start of a disaster that would take years to overcome. Local, state and federal officials conceded that the scale of the crisis was so vast that they were nowhere near being able to measure it, much less fully address it. Across a region that is home to millions of people and includes Houston, the nation's fourth-largest city, no one has a clear idea how many people are missing, how many evacuated, how many hunkered down or were trapped in their waterlogged homes, or how many inundated houses and vehicles are beyond saving.... Local officials reported 10 deaths possibly related to the storm, six of them in Harris County, which includes Houston. But the painstaking and heartbreaking work of clearing streets, going door to door, assessing damage — and finding victims -- has not yet begun."
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This NYT article from Fall 2015 is a reminder of just how deeply Trump's tax cut plan would benefit the rich and upper middle class ($100K). It remains the fever dream of Republicans.
One of the proposal that I have seen floated is to eliminate charity deductions and mortgage interest /property taxes in exchange for doubling the standard deduction. It is very worrying for a number of reasons. Foremost, I imagine that charities will suffer in a profound way. Not to be completely cynical, but our donations to charities (+mortgage interest/ property taxes) will not be offset by doubling the standard deduction. We are not wealthy, but comfortable enough to be able to help others. Most importantly, I want to direct my tax dollars toward the positive, not to bumblefuck's evil pursuits like the wall, voter suppression commission and toward things that are designed to enhance the Trump family wealth and that of his scumbag loyalists. Everything I have read is quite clear that proposed tax cuts for the wealthy will not be offset by anything but cuts to other programs. Obviously programs that help the poor and vulnerable.
The Dems should prepare charts, in a tax table format, make them highly available and distribute them far and wide, that show exactly the savings in tax dollars at every income. The bullshit promises of "cuts" has to be met with relentless facts in a way that breaks through the noise. "Better Deal" is just stupid!
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/29/upshot/trump-plan-is-tax-cut-for-the-rich-even-hedge-fund-managers.html
With the concentration on the flooding, and rightly so, beady eyed administrative electors are quietly doing damage to our once implemented laws. It's as if they wait until the dark of night, slip out of their foxholes, sneak over to the coop, break in and carry off the chickens which they will devour in due time. A case in point:
Jeff Sessions is bringing back civil forfeiture with a bang and nary a whimper is heard––yet.
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/jeff-sessions-bringing-back-civil-forfeiture-bang/
Mrs. Mac: Re: Trump: "He doesn't have time for drowning people."
Well, shucks, looks like he may very well be doing exactly that.
Now that airports in Houston are opening, the presidunce should
swing back by there to see some devastation first hand and hug
some victims in person. Relatives returning to Corpus Christie
reported that all he would have seen were a few tree limbs down, but
I don't think he would be all that welcome in Houston.
The Lie That Won't Die
Since St. Ronald of Rayguns promoted the concept of a Trickle Down economy, almost 40 years ago, there is zero evidence that huge tax breaks to the very wealthy will "unleash the American economy" and spur a rash of building, innovation, and job creation (the likes of which the world has never seen, because the Donald, natch).
One would be better off believing a guy wielding a divining rod can find oceans of water in the Sahara.
This hoary canard, which relies on memories of Rockefellers and Carnegies, without taxes to "hold them back" putting thousands to work (but with no benefits, no insurance, no unemployment, and no unions) . But that leaves out the horde (or should that be "hoard") of wealthy fat cats who don't put anyone to work and don't create anything. Besides, the sort of industrialized, pre-automation work requiring an enormous amount of hands on Labor doesn't exist anymore. For every Elon Musk, these days, there are hundreds of Donald Trumps who employ relatively few Americans or Ivanka Trumps who ship all their jobs to slave laborers in third world countries or who help China increase its own economy at the expense of the American labor force, because, hey, fuck them. They should have been born rich. Suckers!
There has not been a scintilla of evidence demonstrating that enormous tax cuts on the rich and a reduction of corporate taxes result in jobs and prosperity that put us on a rocket sled to economic Shangri-La. Nothing.
There is, however, plenty of evidence that the rich, once freed from paying even less than their fair share, bank the rest or, like the Romneys, build newer and bigger stuff for themselves.
This is nothing but an anti-American scam. The same scam run by the Gipper, Poppy, and the Decider. The only rash it spurs is the one enriching dermatologists.
It's the lie that won't die.
The need to have breaking news & what's happening 'there' right now goes off the rails.
The Daily Inquisitor (published August 29, 2017): CNN stepped on a rake with their Houston hurricane coverage, interviewing a mother who wasn’t having any of the network’s behavior concerning interviewing survivors at a shelter. The news network decided to set up shop in an evacuation center, interviewing those who have been picked up by rescuers from the rising waters. For this woman and her family, it was simply too much. It was unseemly. Did CNN really need to know what was wrong with these folks?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqkcajYOTfc
@MAG: Your video was hard to watch yet at the same time I cheered this woman who clearly had it up to those waters that kept her and her children captive for days––without food, she says. I abhor the kind of questions thrust in the face of those that have suffered––"How do you feel..." such disrespect, such a lack of connection. I must confess I also feel sorry for the gal that was interviewing–-no one apparently has figured out whom to interview or how to do it. This irate mother has shown them how NOT to do it.
WOW-- agree that the interviewee was sooo right. But also was the young interviewer who was, it was true, trying to NOT ask her how she felt to be in that state at that moment-- am hoping it is a learning experience for the young woman, but I'm not counting on it. Her job IS to milk the situation so we all have the vicarious experience of seeing disaster happen to everyone else, and not us-- About the exploding death factory-- "they" say that the fumes are "noxious" but "the toxicity is relative..." HUH? Too bad there was no backup plan, and no regulations preventing destruction for residents, but hey, people have the freedom to suffer and die without government intrusion... it's the Murkin Way, and apparently Houston/Southeast TX is the poster child for the GOP's bankrupt morals/ideas of governing. FREEEEEEDUMB!!
Regarding the spokesman for the exploding chemical company: the way everybody is talking about how harmless (just like a campfire folks) the explosions were reminds me of how people were saying how harmless the fumes coming from the ruins of the twin towers were. An obvious ploy to avoid paying out liability judgments.
Chemical plant explosions seem to be a thing in Texas.
A few years ago, a fertilizer plant in West, TX blew up taking half the town with it. There had been no safety inspections in almost thirty years. Theft of some of the more toxic chemicals had been going on until the police informed the plant owners that gates and a security system might not be a bad idea. Even if stuff wasn't being stolen, kids breaking in at night just to fool around (we did it when I was a kid) could run into some very bad times.
As for this company in Houston, if they're using highly volatile chemical products that require refrigeration, why, in a place right in a serious storm path, a situation that could incur power outages, did they not have a backup power generator to maintain proper temperature? This shit is explosive when temperature rises. It's not like you're baking something in the oven and it got burnt. A burned casserole is not going to take the neighborhood with it.
But this is exactly the sort of laissez-faire, "free market" situation promoted by Confederate ideology and political policies. If it's in any way "bad for business" or "anti-growth", fuggedaboutit. That "anti-growth" excuse is one reason Harvey was so devastating to Houston, a city that has expanded dramatically in last couple of decades, expansion that ignored warnings from scientists and planners (those fake news perpetrators) that a large increase in paved areas, without proper flood controls, would ensure that rising waters could not be soaked into the ground and could not be diverted.
Of course, the other major Confederate policy decision, to completely ignore global warming and kick its consequences down the road, was likely responsible for the severity of the storm.
This is the sort of "business friendly" "Libertarian" right-wing "solution" promoted endlessly by frauds and fakers and fact-free idiots. The ones who have been giving our biggest fact-free idiot free rein.
Another problem in that West, TX plant explosion was the overworked, understaffed OSHA situation. Republicans, for years, have hated OSHA and have worked to make sure it has been continually underfunded.
And they're still at it, making sure that workplaces and factories holding dangerous chemicals are less safe: "The Trump administration and Congressional Republicans are moving fast. And what they’re targeting for 'reform' are regulations that protect public and workplace health and safety. Among the targets are rules that protect the manufacturing and construction workers the Trump administration claims to support. The rollback of other regulations will adversely impact Americans from coast-to-coast but most seriously affect low-income and minority communities."
Surprised?
One of the (many other) Obama era rules now on hold by Trump whackos is an emergency management plan that would, among other things, make clear the nature and amount of dangerous chemicals being stored in a facility so that, for instance, fire departments know what they're up against when they put their lives on the line in the event of a disaster. The men who died fighting the fire in West, TX had no such information. They may still be alive had that been the case. Trump and his lackey, EPA hater (and boss) Scott Pruitt, are now claiming that such information is no one's business but the company's. It's an "anti-business" rule made for no other reason than government interference with "growth".
More on how well right-wing, no-tax, no-government "interference" solutions are working in another Texas town in just a bit. It's a hummer.
@Akhilleus: They have generators. Evidently they thought it was a good idea to situate them in the basement or on the first floor so they would be the first things to get flooded. I was suggesting that in a flood zone that wasn't the best plan. But what-do-I-know capitalism is awesome &, as Jeanne says, "FREEEEEEDUMB!!"
Victoria,
I had the same thought. "Oh, it's just like a gasoline fire". Oh, you mean like THIS ONE?
Gasoline fires aren't that bad, right? I mean, shit blows up, burns for a few days, no biggie. How bad could it be? And fumes? Simple. Hold your breath.
Where do these people come from?
Mrs. M.,
Just amazing. Let's see. We're on a flood plain, historically horrible hurricanes have come through here. Where should we put our generators? High above ground on some stable platform? Nooooo...let's put 'em in the basement!
Great idea.
Do you think maybe a routine OSHA inspection might have suggested that dangerous substances be properly protected and generators moved to a rational location? Government regulations are not all horrible.
Some of them might even save your life, but what do I know?
Hey, at least I know I wouldn't put generators in a place that would be the first to go in the event of a flood.
Jesus.
We know Donald hates taxes and wants more hoarding for himself, but I think it's assuming a bit too much that he actually understands anything about the tax code.
I imagine it went something like this: a close friend, long ago, once ranted about how their taxes were feeding colored folks, Donny's ass puckered up at the thought of separating with his monies, and he commanded his Mob friends to find the tax-fixer. You think he demanded to know the ins and outs of his taxes? Can the complexity of his personal taxes be boiled down to a few colorful pie charts and 5 Twitter-sized bullet points? I'm skeptical.
As with all other policy, the Drumpf is clueless, beyond "less taxes=good (for him)". But he'll take that argument to the people, that's for damn sure.
Like I said when the unregulated fertilizer plant exploded: Business is booming in Texas!
I can't find any mention of the Arkema emergency generators being located in a "basement". References? All I find is that they are flooded.
But then the whole complex is underwater.
If the complex is located in a 100 year flood plain I would expect the emergency generators to be elevated. Hell, even in a 500 year flood plain. But what if it is not located in any recognized flood plain? Who would be stupid enough to build a multi- million dollar complex in a flood plain? Especially in Texas where it would seem possible to build a fire-works factory in downtown Houston. But, if I have the location correctly, on the Harris County Flood Location Map the Arkema complex is not located in a 100 year flood plain. It is not located in a 500 year flood plain. Where it is located it should NEVER experience a flood. Which is why the emergency generators are probably set on a surface foundation. That is also true for some residential areas in Houston. Areas which, because they are not in a recognized flood plain, do not have flooding insurance but were flooded in 2015, 2016, and now, 2017. I don't blame the owners but local, state and federal authorities who are so obviously far down a learning curve as the environmental and climate factors change. Things are only going to worsen as the federal government defunds and depopulates the relevant agencies and repeals Obama era initiatives.
Cowichan,
According to the Harris County Flood Mapping Tool, 18000 Eastgate Road, the location of the Arkema plant, is about 2500 feet (less than half a mile) from a floodway. Technically, the plant resides on a 100 (not even 500) year flood plain, and it doesn't appear to be anywhere near a location that could never, ever, possibly--based on your assessment--be flooded.
According to your calculations, there should never have been a flood in this location. Ever (not a word I'd choose to employ in any historical context, but, whatever...). You also say that had the plant been built on a 100 or even 500 year flood plain, which, according to this map, it was, then they should have taken precautions about their emergency backup power supply, which they didn't.
And your supposition that no business would ever ignore historical information regarding possible catastrophic situations is, I think, a tad optimistic. By this calculation, no enterprise would be stupid enough to build or design some element of their essential business chain so as to invite any possible disasters. We know, of course, that this is not true.
In any event, the political powers in a blood red state like Texas, pay zero attention to things like scientific calculations. I guess NASA is an oasis in that regard. Nevertheless, money making operations (ie, businesses), left to their own devices with no entity looking over their shoulder suggesting (or insisting on) things like, oh, I dunno, safety, probably only care about building somewhere other than a 100 or 500 year flood plain if it won't cost them any more money. If so, I'm guessing plenty of businesses would roll the dice, even on a 100 year flood plain, if it would save money in the short term (see Bush, George W. "Why worry about that? We'll all be dead by then.").
Governments, whether state, or local, of federal, don't mean much in Red states. They'll make suggestions and CEO's will give them the finger, then the red state apparatchiks will back them up.
Next stop, exploding chemical plants.
@Cowichan: Thanks for writing in again -- as you always do -- for the sole purpose of aggravating the editor. What I wrote in the body of the Commentariat is that the generators were on the first floor. In response to Akhilleus, it occurred to me that the plant -- as do many plants even in frequently-flooded regions -- might have a basement. So I wrote "in the basement or on the first floor."
Arkema claimed the area was under 6 feet of water. The picture on this page, taken at the height of the flooding, shows non-flooded areas on the plant's campus. Ergo, the plant placed the generators in a low spot, either on the first floor or in a basement, inasmuch as I'm going to assume that every storey is taller than 6 feet.
Chicago Tribune: "In February, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined Arkema nearly $110,000 — later reduced to just over $90,000 — over 10 safety violations found during an inspection at the Crosby plant, according to agency records. The records contained no details on the violations, but investigators classified them as 'serious,' meaning they could have resulted in death or serious injury."
I'm not banning you from commentary just because you write commentary designed to annoy, but I would urge you, as both the Constant Weader & I have before, to quit being such an asshole.
Pro Publica piece (Derek Kravitz, Isaac Arnsdorf and Marina Affo) on Trump appointees whose shit stained pasts position them to enrich themselves. "Fox in the hen house" seems wholly inadequate. The speed and depth of Trump's corruption is unholy. Criminal and insane.
https://www.propublica.org/article/lifting-the-veil-on-another-batch-of-shadowy-trump-appointees
Pence must be in quite a dilemma with the huggery decisions. Can't touch women, but he might be accused of being gay if he touches a man. Children prior to puberty watch out.
@Diane: Not to worry. I read where mrs. pence was traveling with the veep. I'm sure she kept watch to ensure that none of those hugs was out of bounds.
Ever notice how mike pence always seems to wear a pained, slightly pinched expression as if he just farted and in a room full of people and is hoping no one will know it was him.
Just blame the dog, mike. Or Trump.
@Mrs Bea McCrabbie: Wrong I was. Plunking 18000 Crosby Eastgate Rd into the Harris county map shows the Arkema plant not where I thought it was but on a 1:500 year promontory projecting into a 1:100 year flood plain. I can't imagine what they were thinking or who would ever insure the plant.
I've been taught that generally basements in chemical facilities are a bad idea as there are many heavier than air chemical fumes that collect in low enclosed structures and ventilation fans don't work without electricity making it a death trap so I assumed the emergency generators are at ground level and am genuinely interested if those at Crosby are in a basement.
Plant personal were so concerned about power failure that they brought in emergency generators to back-up the emergency generators.With 50" of rain forecast you might wonder where these generators were located or who was going to refuel them and the refrigerated trucks after all personal had been evacuated.