;)
The Commentariat -- December 12, 2018
Afternoon Update:
BBC: "Prime Minister Theresa May has won a vote of confidence in her leadership of the Conservative Party by 200 to 117. Mrs May is now immune from a leadership challenge for a year. Speaking in Downing Street, she vowed to deliver the Brexit 'that people voted for'. She said she had listened to the concerns of MPs who voted against her and would be fighting for changes to her Brexit deal at an EU summit on Thursday. Mrs May won the confidence vote with a majority of 83, with 63% of Conservative MPs backing her and 37% voting against her. The BBC's Laura Kuenssberg said the result was 'not at all comfortable' for the prime minister and a 'real blow' to her authority."
Kathryn Watson of CBS News: "The media company that owns the National Enquirer admitted to 'working in concert' with the Trump campaign to pay off a woman who said she had an affair with Mr. Trump in order to squash her story, prosecutors in New York said Wednesday. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York said it had agreed not to prosecute American Media, Inc. (AMI), the Enquirer's parent company, for its involvement in the scheme in exchange for the company's cooperation in the investigation into the payment to Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model. AMI 'admitted that its principal purpose in making the payment was to suppress the woman's story so as to prevent it from influencing the election,' the office said. '"AMI further admitted that its principal purpose in making the payment was to suppress the woman's story so as to prevent it from influencing the election,' the [SDNY] news release said."
Juliegrace Brufke of the Hill: "The House on Wednesday narrowly overcame a procedural hurdle allowing them to move forward with a vote on the must-pass farm bill. The bill only narrowly advanced in the House, 206-203, after language was tucked into the procedural rule preventing for the rest of the year a floor vote on any war powers resolution limiting the U.S. involvement in Yemen. The move sparked backlash from a number of lawmakers. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) blasted it, urging his colleagues to vote against the rule ahead of it coming to the floor."
The von Trump Family Grifters. Stephen Braun, et al., of the AP: "The Opportunity Zone program promoted by Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner ... could also benefit them financially, an Associated Press investigation found. Government watchdogs say the case underscores the ethical minefield they created two years ago when they became two of the closest advisers to the president without divesting from their extensive real estate investments. Kushner holds a big stake in a real estate investment firm, Cadre, that recently announced it is launching a series of Opportunity Zone funds that seek to build major projects under the program from Miami to Los Angeles. Separately, the couple has interests in at least 13 properties held by Kushner's family firm that could qualify for the tax breaks because they are in Opportunity Zones in New Jersey, New York and Maryland.... On Wednesday morning, Ivanka Trump continued her public promotion of Opportunity Zones in a series of tweets. She did not address the AP investigation.... The couple's financial disclosures ... require recusal from dealing with policy matters that touch on real estate and 'would have a direct and predictable effect on Cadre.'" See also Akhilleus's commentary below.
Benjamin Weiser & William Rashbaum of the New York Times: "Michael D. Cohen, the former lawyer for President Trump, was sentenced to three years in prison on Wednesday morning for his role in a hush-money scandal that could threaten Mr. Trump's presidency by implicating him in a scheme to buy the silence of two women who said they had affairs with him." ...
... According to NBC News, the judge also ordered Cohen to pay a $50,000 fine. Update: Cohen will also have to pay almost $1.4MM in back taxes & another $500K in forfeiture. The NYT story has added some figures since its story first broke, but they don't quite line up with NBC News' report.
Frank Rich: "My profound hope is that Trump makes good on his threat and shuts down the government right before Christmas. He will set his party back even further than he already has, and do so at a time when congressional Republicans are going to be trapped with angry constituents back home during the holiday break." Rich also weighs in on Nick Ayers' last-minute no-thank-you.
<>Mrs. McCrabbie: Former Sen. William Cohen (R-Maine) & Secretary of Defense made the same point on MSNBC that I did earlier today: Trump appears to have warned that if any legal attempt is made to remove him from office, he will incite his followers to revolt.Vanessa Romo of NPR: "A scathing report by the Office of the Inspector General revealed that a consulting company hired by U.S. Customs and Border Protection to fill thousands of new jobs to satisfy President Trump's mandate to secure the southern border is 'nowhere near' completing its hiring goals and 'risks wasting millions of taxpayer dollars.' The audit found that as of Oct. 1, CBP had paid Accenture Federal Services approximately $13.6 million of a $297 million contract to recruit and hire 7,500 applicants.... But 10 months into the first year of a five-year contract, Accenture had processed only 'two accepted job offers,' according to the report. The inspector general called for immediate action."
Allan Smith of NBC News: "New York Attorney Gen.-elect Letitia James [D] says she plans to launch sweeping investigations into ... Donald Trump, his family and 'anyone' in his circle who may have violated the law once she settles into her new job next month.... James campaigned on passing a bill to change New York's double jeopardy laws with an eye on possible pardons coming out of the White House. James told NBC News she wants to be able to pursue state charges against anyone the president were to pardon over federal charges or convictions and whose alleged crimes took place in the state. Under current New York law, she might not be able to do that."
Leigh Caldwell, et al., of NBC News: "McCrae Dowless, the man whose 'get-out-the-vote' activities are the center of the election fraud investigation in North Carolina, told a local political campaign volunteer that he was holding onto 800 absentee ballots, according to a new affidavit obtained by NBC News. The new affidavit is the latest development in an investigation into election fraud involving absentee ballots that has postponed the certification of the election of the ninth congressional district race and at least two local races in the Tar Heel State."
Jay Senter of the Shawnee Mission [Kansas] Post: Kansas state "Sen. Barbara Bollier this morning officially changed her party affiliation from Republican to Democrat. Citing 'frustrations that have been ongoing for nine years,' Bollier said Wednesday that the inclusion of anti-transgender language in the party platform had proved a breaking point for her. 'Morally, the party is not going where my compass resides,' Bollier said. 'I'm looking forward to being in a party that represents the ideals that I do, including Medicaid expansion and funding our K-12 schools.'"
*****
"Trump Shutdown." Julie Davis & Michael Tackett of the New York Times: "President Trump on Tuesday vowed to block full funding for the government if Democrats refuse his demand for a border wall, saying he was 'proud to shut down the government for border security' -- an extraordinarily statement that came during a televised altercation with Democratic congressional leaders. 'If we don't have border security, we'll shut down the government -- this country needs border security,' Mr. Trump declared in the Oval Office, engaging in a testy back-and forth with Senator Chuck Schumer of New York and Representative Nancy Pelosi of California.' I will take the mantle. I will be the one the shut it down. I'm not going to blame you for it,' Mr. Trump added, insisting on a public airing of hostilities even as the Democrats repeatedly asked him to keep their negotiating disputes private.... Ms. Pelosi ... appeared to trigger the president's temper when she raised the prospect of a 'Trump shutdown' over what she characterized as an ineffective and wasteful wall." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Donnie argues with Chuck & Nancy. You can skip the first 5-1/2 minutes, which Big Fat Pinnochio lies his way through. Thanks to Jeanne for the lead:
... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post has the transcript, annotated. (Also linked yesterday.) ...
Annie Karni of the New York Times: The meeting "was a remarkable exchange between a veteran congressional leader and a president who is rarely challenged to his face in public, especially by a woman. 'Mr. President, please don't characterize the strength that I bring to this meeting as a leader of the House Democrats who just won a big victory,' Ms. Pelosi said, about halfway through the meeting, after Mr. Trump accused her of 'being in a situation where it's not easy for her to talk right now.'... The exchange between Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Trump -- the first that tested their new power dynamic as Democrats prepare to take control of the House -- seemed aimed at making clear to Ms. Pelosi's Democratic caucus that she can take on Mr. Trump and brush off mansplaining. And it was Ms. Pelosi who may have benefited from the negotiating-in-public style the president prefers. She put him off balance from the start by referring to the possibility of a 'Trump shutdown,' causing the president to visibly recoil. Without raising her voice, she stood her ground as Mr. Trump repeatedly interrupted her with finger wags and calling her 'Nancy.'... Speaking to reporters outside the White House after the meeting, Ms. Pelosi suggested that she actually had gone easy on the president. 'I did not want to, in front of those people, say that you don't know what you're talking about,' she said." ...
... Rachel Bade & Sarah Ferris of Politico: "Minutes after a very public showdown with Donald Trump on Tuesday over his border wall with Mexico, the House minority leader [Nancy Pelosi] returned to the Capitol and railed against the president in a private meeting with her colleagues. Trump 'must have said the word "wall" 30 times,' the California Democrat said, according to multiple sources in the room. 'I was trying to be the mom,' Pelosi added, but 'it goes to show you: You get into a tinkle contest with a skunk, you get tinkle all over you.' And then, she went for the most sensitive part of Trump's ego. 'It's like a manhood thing with him -- as if manhood can be associated with him,' Pelosi deadpanned. 'This wall thing.'... At one point, after reporters and TV cameras left the Oval Office, Trump told Pelosi and Schumer that the new trade agreement he recently struck with Canada and Mexico is going to pay for the wall, Pelosi told lawmakers.... The entire thing baffled Pelosi. It's a 'cultural phenomenon,' Pelos told her colleagues, that 'the fate of our country [is] in the hands of this person.'" ...
... Russell Berman of the Atlantic: "Sparring with Trump in public, Pelosi more than held her own. She told him directly, 'You will not win,' and repeatedly shot down his cocksure pronouncements that a bill with wall funding could pass the House. Yet after a few minutes going back and forth with the president, she ... [said,] 'I don't think we should have a debate in front of the press on this,' Pelosi told Trump. 'Let us have our conversation, and we can meet with the press again.' Schumer, on the other hand, is a ... man about whom it is famously said, 'The most dangerous place in Washington is between Chuck Schumer and a TV camera.'... As Pelosi and Trump went at it, Schumer waited impatiently for his chance to speak. When his turn came, he promptly reminded the president that The Washington Post had given him 'a whole lot of Pinocchios' for constantly misstating the cost of the border wall. 'We do not want to shut down the government,' Schumer told Trump. 'You have called 20 times to shut down the government.'... As the president bestowed Democrats with a political gift [-- taking ownership of a government shutdown --] Schumer sat with his hands clasped and his head nodding. The cameras were running, and the smile never left his face." ...
... William Cummings of USA Today: "Pence sat stoically as his boss got into testy exchanges with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and the likely next Speaker, House Minority Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Stoically may be an understatement. Stonily might be more accurate. And he didn't say a word. As one Twitter user phrased it with a holiday metaphor, Pence sat there 'exactly like our Elf on the Shelf.'... Radio host Dean Obeidallah wondered if Pence 'is actually still alive' or if it was a "'Weekend at Bernie's" type scenario where they just prop up Pence at meetings.'" And so forth."
... The report cited below refutes pretty much everything Trump asserted & that first five-and-a-half minutes of hoo-hah:
... Rebekah Entralago of ThinkProgress: "According to a scathing report released by the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security, the federal government doesn't have much to show for its costly effort to increase border security staffing at the U.S.-Mexico border.... Last January, Trump signed an executive order directing DHS to amp up the number of agents on staff.... Accenture Federal Services ... [was granted] a $297 million contract to hire 7,500 CBP [customs & border protection] officers, Border Patrol agents, and Air and Marine Interdiction Agents.... An audit conducted by the federal government shows it has already paid Accenture [a global 'consulting' company] $13.6 million, but as of October 1, had only processed two job offers -- largely by using CBP's own resources.... The Pentagon estimates that [the active soldiers sent to the border] costs about $72 million. In exchange, troops are being tasked with shoveling manure, changing tires, and carrying out various other chores that don't include border control. All the while, the Trump administration is demanding even more money to secure the border. " --s ...
... AND This. Erin Banco & Lachlan Markay of the Daily Beast: "... Donald Trump on Tuesday cited the recent apprehension of ten suspected terrorists to bolster his case for building a wall along the southern border, implying that a porous border with Mexico is leaving the country vulnerable to national security threats. But the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees security and law enforcement at U.S. borders and ports of entry, was unable to provide data to directly substantiate that claim." Emphasis added. ...
... Aaron Rupar of Vox: "... Donald Trump wants you to believe that the southern border is now secured because of his tough measures. But he also wants you to believe the same border is in crisis and requires the construction of an expensive border wall to secure it.... Trump sent a tweet Tuesday morning accusing Democrats (falsely) of pushing for 'Open Borders for anyone to come in. This brings large scale crime and disease.' In fact, Democrats don't support open borders, and experts say migrants do not pose a public health risk. Trump then boasted about his achievements at the border: '... Our Southern Border is now Secure and will remain that way.'... But less than an hour later, Trump seemed to realize that claiming the border is secure is not a good bargaining position ahead of a meeting about funding a border wall. In another tweet he said 'A Great Wall' at the southern border is needed so desperately that he'll order the military to build it if Congress won't allocate money for it. (There's just one problem: The president doesn't have the authority to do that without congressional approval.) Trump also falsely claimed that 'much of the Wall ... has already been built.' The $1.6 billion Congress allocated for border security measures last year actually expressly prohibited funds from being spent on new wall designs." --s
This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd.
Adam Serwer of The Atlantic: "Donald Trump can't stop telling on himself.... Given every advantage conferred on the wealthy and connected, including being the president of the United States, Trump can't help but provide both the public and the authorities investigating him and his campaign with knowledge of his state of mind. Proving guilt in white-collar crime is an exceedingly difficult task for prosecutors. Trump is doing his best to make it easier." --s ...
... So After Serwer Wrote That... Jeff Mason & Steve Holland of Reuters: "... Donald Trump said on Tuesday he was not concerned that he could be impeached and that hush payments made ahead of the 2016 election by his former personal attorney Michael Cohen to two women did not violate campaign finance laws. 'It's hard to impeach somebody who hasn't done anything wrong and who's created the greatest economy in the history of our country,' Trump told Reuters in an Oval Office interview. 'I'm not concerned, no. I think that the people would revolt if that happened,' he said.... 'Michael Cohen is a lawyer. I assume he would know what he's doing,' Trump said when asked if he had discussed campaign finance laws with Cohen. 'Number one, it wasn't a campaign contribution. If it were, it's only civil, and even if it's only civil, there was no violation based on what we did. OK?' Asked about prosecutors' assertions that a number of people who had worked for him met or had business dealings with Russians before and during his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump said: 'The stuff you're talking about is peanut stuff.'" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie P.S. In case you were wondering what could happen if Trump were impeached (and maybe he means also convicted, but who knows?), I think he just gave us a preview: he'll foment a revolution.
Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "Lawyers for Michael T. Flynn, President Trump's first national security adviser, asked a federal judge late Tuesday to spare him prison time for misleading investigators, and they suggested that the F.B.I. agents who interviewed him last year at the White House had tricked him into lying.... Mr. Flynn's lawyers singled out Andrew G. McCabe, the former F.B.I. deputy director, and Peter Strzok, a senior counterintelligence agent who interviewed Mr. Flynn. Both men were fired from the F.B.I. this year, and the president and his allies have attacked them as enemies bent on undermining Mr. Trump. They also have accused Mr. McCabe, Mr. Strzok and other former F.B.I. officials of unfairly targeting Mr. Flynn."
Benjamin Weiser of the New York Times: "Michael D. Cohen, the former lawyer for President Trump, is to be sentenced on Wednesday morning for his role in a hush-money scandal that could threaten Mr. Trump's presidency by implicating him in a scheme to buy the silence of two women who said they had affairs with him."
Lucien Burggeman & Soo Rin Kim of ABC News: "A federal judge presiding over special counsel Robert Mueller's case against Paul Manafort asked prosecutors for the 'underlying evidence' to support their claims that the former Trump campaign chairman lied after signing a cooperation agreement as part of their probe of Russian election meddling during the 2016 campaign. Defense attorneys for Manafort and prosecutors with the special counsel's office met Tuesday in a federal courthouse for the first time since Robert Mueller and his team described the subject of lies Manafort of perpetrating. The defense counsel said they did not have enough information from the government about their client's alleged lies to respond to their allegations Tuesday. A series of January deadlines were set for the defense to submit disputes with the government's accusations and for the prosecution to respond."
Rosalind Helderman & Tom Hamburger of the Washington Post: Russian national Maria Butina "called her strategy the 'Diplomacy Project,' an elaborate, multiyear scheme to infiltrate the conservative movement in the United States in hopes of cementing bonds to benefit the Kremlin.... Butina laid out the proposal in March 2015 and then pursued her plan over the next two years, traveling to conferences to schmooze Republican presidential candidates.... New details [of Butina's project] are included in documents obtained by The Washington Post that will be filed in court Thursday, when Butina is expected to admit for the first time that her activities were part of a concerted endeavor, coordinated with a top Russian official with the express intent of establishing unofficial lines of communication with Americans who could influence U.S. politics. The documents show Butina plans to admit she worked at the direction of a former senator who was deputy governor of the Russian central bank. That description matches Alexander Torshin, who was subjected to economic sanctions by the U.S. government earlier this year and resigned his bank position in November. Butina is being prosecuted by the U.S. attorney's office in Washington, not special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. But with a plea, she will become the first Russian national convicted of working to influence U.S. policy around the time of the 2016 election."
Khorri Atkinson of Axios: "A federal judge in California on Tuesday ordered adult film star Stormy Daniels to pay Donald Trump $293,052.33 in attorneys' fees for her defamation case against the president, which the judge dismissed in October, and another $1,000 in sanctions for filing a 'meritless' legal challenge."
Greg Miller of the Washington Post: "President Trump continues to reject the judgments of U.S. spy agencies on major foreign policy fronts, creating a dynamic in which intelligence analysts frequently see troubling gaps between the president's public statements and the facts laid out for him in daily briefings on world events, current and former U.S. officials said.... Presidential distrust that once seemed confined mainly to the intelligence community's assessments about Russia's interference in the 2016 election has spread across a range of global issues. Among them are North Korea's willingness to abandon its nuclear weapons program, Iran's nuclear and regional ambitions, the existence and implications of global climate change, and the role of the Saudi crown prince in the killing of a dissident journalist. 'There is extraordinary frustration,' a U.S. intelligence official said. The CIA and other agencies continue to devote enormous 'time, energy and resources' to ensuring that accurate intelligence is delivered to Trump, the official said, but his seeming imperviousness to such material often renders 'all of that a waste.'" ...
... So After Miller Wrote That... Steve Holland & Robert Rampton of Reuters: "... Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he stood by Saudi Arabia's crown prince despite a CIA assessment that he ordered the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and pleas from U.S. senators for Trump to condemn the kingdom's de facto ruler....Trump again reiterated on Tuesday that the 'crown prince vehemently denies' involvement in a killing that has sparked outrage around the world.... Asked by Reuters if standing by the kingdom meant standing by the prince, known as MbS, Trump responded: 'Well, at this moment, it certainly does.' Some members of Saudi Arabia's ruling family are agitating to prevent MbS from becoming king, sources close to the royal court have told Reuters, and believe that the United States and Trump could play a determining role. 'I just haven't heard that,' Trump said. 'Honestly, I can't comment on it because I had not heard that at all. In fact, if anything, I've heard that he's very strongly in power.'" ...
... Shira Tarlo of Salon: "Jared Kushner ... told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Monday night that U.S. intelligence agencies 'are making their assessments' about the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. (The CIA has reportedly concluded that the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the murder. After receiving a briefing on the killing, Sen. Lindsey Graham declared, 'There's no smoking gun -- there's a smoking saw.') When Hannity asked Kushner whether the U.S. would 'get to the bottom' of who was responsible for Khashoggi's brutal murder inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, the White House aide did not mention the crown prince. Instead, he said only that 'we're hoping to make sure that there's justice brought where that should be.'"
David Sanger, et al., of the New York Times: "The cyberattack on the Marriott hotel chain that collected personal details of roughly 500 million guests was part of a Chinese intelligence-gathering effort that also hacked health insurers and the security clearance files of millions more Americans, according to two people briefed on the investigation. The hackers, they said, are suspected of working on behalf of the Ministry of State Security, the country's Communist-controlled civilian spy agency. The discovery comes as the Trump administration is planning actions targeting China's trade, cyber and economic policies, perhaps within days. Those moves include indictments against Chinese hackers working for the intelligence services and the military, according to four government officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The Trump administration also plans to declassify intelligence reports to reveal Chinese efforts dating to at least 2014 to build a database containing names of executives and American government officials with security clearances." ...
... Roberta Rampton & Jeff Mason: "... Donald Trump said on Tuesday that China was buying a 'tremendous amount' of U.S. soybeans and that trade talks with Beijing were already under way by telephone, with more meetings likely among U.S. and Chinese officials.... But traders in Chicago said they have seen no evidence of a resumption of such purchases following China's imposition of a 25 percent tariff on U.S. soybeans in July.... U.S. government data has not shown any soybean sales to China since July...." ...
... Jeff Mason & Steve Holland: "... Donald Trump said on Tuesday he would intervene in the Justice Department's case against a top executive at China's Huawei Technologies [HWT.UL] if it would serve national security interests or help close a trade deal with China. Huawei's Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada Dec. 1 and has been accused by the United States of misleading multinational banks about Iran-linked transactions, putting the banks at risk of violating U.S. sanctions.... 'If I think it's good for what will be certainly the largest trade deal ever made -- which is a very important thing -- what's good for national security -- I would certainly intervene if I thought it was necessary,' Trump said." ...
... MEANWHILE. Josh Wingrove, et al., of Bloomberg News: "The detention of a former Canadian diplomat by China's spy agency signaled an escalation in the feud between the two nations, raising new questions about the safety of foreigners doing business in China. The former diplomat, Michael Kovrig, was detained by a branch of China's Ministry of State Security during a visit to Beijing on Monday, his employer, the International Crisis Group, said in a statement. The Brussels-based non-profit said Wednesday it has received no information from Kovrig since his detention and was working to secure consular access to verify his health and safety. Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lu Kang declined to comment on the case, deferring questions to the Crisis Group, which he noted wasn't registered as a non-governmental organization.... Kovrig's detention marked a potentially explosive twist in the saga surrounding Canada's arrest of a top Huawei Technologies Co. Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou earlier this month in Vancouver. Chinese officials expressed outrage over her arrest and threatened 'severe consequences' if Canada failed to handle the case to its liking."
Chris Geidner of BuzzFeed News: "The Trump administration went to the Supreme Court on Tuesday, seeking an order that would allow it to enforce its new policy barring asylum claims by those who cross into the country at the southern border without authorization.... On Dec. 7, the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit denied the Justice Department's request to put on hold a district court judge's order that halted the policy's enforcement.... The ACLU sued on behalf of organizations that assist with asylum applications. US District Judge Jon Tigar halted enforcement of the policy change -- issuing a temporary restraining order in the days before Thanksgiving. 'Whatever the scope of the President's authority, he may not rewrite the immigration laws to impose a condition that Congress has expressly forbidden,' Tigar wrote."
IOKIYAR. Shawn Boburg & Anu Narayanswamy of the Washington Post: "President Trump has repeatedly derided prosecutors investigating potential coordination between his presidential campaign and Russia as 'angry Democrats,' pointing to their past political donations as proof of bias. But William P. Barr, Trump's nominee to lead the Justice Department and oversee the Russia investigation, would be by far the most prolific political donor to step into the country's top law enforcement post in at least a quarter-century, according to a Washington Post analysis. Barr has donated more than $567,000 in the past two decades, nearly all to GOP candidates and groups, federal records show. His wife, Christine Barr, gave more than $220,000 over that time, records show. Before he was nominated to be attorney general, Barr criticized past donations by prosecutors working for special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.... A White House official ... drew a distinction between contributions from political appointees and those from career prosecutors.... Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, a nonprofit group that works to limit money in politics, said in a statement that the nomination of Barr shows that Trump's attacks 'are hypocritical as well as bogus.'"
Juan Cole: "Trump is making Heather Nauert his ambassador to the United Nations, the most empty-headed such appointment since W. Bush tried to shoehorn the crazed John Bolton into that position.... Nauert is Trump' mini-me, aping his shell-shocked insouciance at atrocities and struggling to understand the simplest questions.... To plumb the depths of Nauert's ignorance about international affairs it would be necessary to deploy the Deepsea Challenger (DCV 1) that director James Cameron used to reach the deepest part of the Mariana Trench at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.... Nauert isn't capable of diplomacy, just of mouthing off in imitation of Trump's Twitterhea." --s
Adam Federman of Mother Jones: "In an internal memo circulated within the Interior Department earlier this year, government scientists issued a stark warning: The Trump administration's plans to allow oil exploration in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) could further jeopardize the region's already fragile polar bear population.... That analysis contrasts sharply with the administration's public rhetoric suggesting that the project would be harmless and should therefore be quickly approved.... Despite the Fish and Wildlife Service document warning of serious environmental and legal obstacles to the project, the administration has continued to downplay the impact that seismic surveys could have on the refuge." --s
Confused GOP MOC's Still Sure the Googles Are Conspiring Against Them. Colby Itkowitz of the Washington Post: "In an effort to understand how Google search algorithms work, a Democratic congresswoman [Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.)] asked the tech company's chief executive a simple question: 'If you Google the word "idiot" under images, a picture of Donald Trump comes up. How would that happen? How does search work so that that would occur?'... Lofgren was reacting to Republicans' allegations that Google employees manipulate results for political reasons.... Google chief executive Sundar Pichai, who was testifying Tuesday morning before the House Judiciary Committee, tried to explain to the roomful of mostly tech novices how the algorithms take into account some 200 factors -- such as relevance, popularity, how others are using the search term -- to determine how to best match a query with results.... Republicans on the panel couldn't get past the myth that some person(s) inside Google couldn't arbitrarily change search algorithms for political gain." ...
... Ted Lieu Is So Mean: If you want positive search results, do positive things. If you don't want negative search results, don't do negative things. And to some of my colleagues across the aisle, if you're getting bad press articles and bad search results, don't blame Google or Facebook or Twitter, consider blaming yourself. -- Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), during Tuesday's hearing ...
Sorry, Mr. Lieu, you are trying to pierce the impenetrable Confederate Feedback Loop. Can't be done. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie
Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Reversing course, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said on Tuesday that the Senate would vote on a substantial criminal justice bill before the end of the year, teeing up a bipartisan policy achievement that has eluded lawmakers for years. Advocates of the prison and sentencing law changes on Capitol Hill and in the White House have spent weeks lobbying Mr. McConnell, who controls the Senate calendar. They had the backing of President Trump, who endorsed the bill last month and urged Mr. McConnell in recent days to 'Go for it Mitch!' Mr. McConnell had repeatedly said that there was probably not enough time to consider the measure, and Republican leaders maintained as recently as a few days ago that the bill did not have the support of the majority of Republicans. Mr. McConnell made clear on Tuesday that the Senate was considering the legislation 'at the request of the president' and said that debate could begin later this week." (Also linked yesterday.)
Charles Pierce: Clarence Thomas, in his dissenting opinion in the Medicaid cases "went zooming off into the fever swamp to find a rationale...: ... these particular cases arose after several States alleged that Planned Parenthood affiliates had, among other things, engaged in 'the illegal sale of fetal organs' and 'fraudulent billing practices,' and thus removed Planned Parenthood as a state Medicaid provider.'... [Thus,] a veteran justice of the Supreme Court, as part of the reasoning for his dissent, has included a debunked smear emanating from the most notorious ratfcking operation in the professional conservative ratfcking apparatus." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Update. In yesterday's thread, Akhilleus asked rhetorically, "Doesn't this guy have clerks who can do, like, research? Doesn't he do research? I mean, something beyond the Breitbart archives." Later, RAS found the very likely answer to these questions: "It sounds as if Clarence Thomas' wife is now doing his legal research." Ginni Thomas, as Mark Stern of Slate lays out, is a key distributor of outlandish right-wing conspiracy theories. Even worse, she publicizes these nutty notions in service of her lobbying business. This presents, needless to say, a profound ethical challenge for the hubby. But, needless to say, his own ethics do not seem to be of concern to him.
Nathaniel Popper of the New York Times: "CBS News reached a legal settlement with three women who accused the network of not doing enough to stop one of its anchors, Charlie Rose, from sexually harassing them.... Three recent employees -- Katherine Harris, Sydney McNeal and Yuqing Wei -- sued the network and Mr. Rose this year after another article in The Post indicated that the network had ignored complaints from CBS employees who worked with him.... The women are continuing to pursue their claims against Mr. Rose, a lawyer for the women, Kenneth Goldberg, said."
Beyond the Beltway
Arkansas. Elham Khatami of ThinkProgress: "The Arkansas state legislature advanced a proposal Monday that would slash Medicaid payments to assisted living facilities that provide services to the elderly and individuals with disabilities -- a move that continues the state's assault on the public health insurance program designed for low-income people.... The Department of Human Services proposal would impact nearly 9,000 Arkansas residents who rely on the ARChoices Medicaid program.... According to the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette, the proposal could lead to the shutdown of the nearly 100 assisted living facilities in the state that accept Medicaid patients." --s
California. Rosa Furneaux of Mother Jones: "Just a few months ago, climate activists in California were celebrating an impressive victory: New data showed that the state had brought greenhouse gas emissions down to 1990 levels, four years earlier than planned.... The recent Camp and Woolsey fires, officials say, have produced emissions equivalent to roughly 5.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, more than three times the total decrease in emissions in 2015. Recently, the Department of the Interior announced that new data shows the 2018 California wildfire season is estimated to have released emissions equal to about one year of power use." --s
North Carolina. Zach Montellaro of Politico: "The North Carolina Republican Party said Tuesday that a new election should be held in North Carolina's 9th Congressional District if a new allegation regarding the leak of early-voting results before Election Day is proven. The results of the race between Republican Mark Harris and Democrat Dan McCready have already been held up over allegations of election fraud against a contractor for one of Harris' campaign consultants. But the state Democratic Party has highlighted another incident in the inquiry into the House race, releasing a signed affidavit from a Bladen County poll worker alleging that the results of early votes were shared improperly before the election.... Dallas Woodhouse, the executive director of the state Republican party, said it was likely early votes were leaked."
Texas. Jason Silverstein of CBS News: "A former Baylor University frat president who was indicted for allegedly sexually assaulting a fellow student will not serve jail time or register as a sex offender under a plea deal accepted by a Texas court on Monday, CBS affiliate KWTX-TV reports. A judge in Waco, Texas, accepted the deal and sentenced Jacob Walter Anderson, 24, to three years of deferred probation. Anderson must also pay a $400 fine and seek counseling. His criminal record will be expunged if and when he completes probation. In a tearful statement to the court, Anderson's accuser said she was devastated by the decision to 'let my rapist go free.'... In a statement to CBS News, Assistant District Attorney Hilary LaBorde defended Anderson's sentence and said the public didn't know all the facts that led to it. 'Conflicting evidence and statements exist in this case making the original allegation difficult to prove beyond a reasonable doubt,' LaBorde said." (Also linked yesterday.)
Way Beyond
** Britain. Stephen Castle of the New York Times: "Britain's beleaguered prime minister, Theresa May, will face a no-confidence vote on Wednesday within her own Conservative Party, as lawmakers upset with her handling of Britain's withdrawal from the European Union seek to topple her from power. Graham Brady, the chairman of the backbench 1922 committee of Conservative lawmakers, announced Wednesday morning that he had received letters of protest from more than 48 Conservative members of Parliament, the number needed under party rules to trigger a vote on her leadership. He said the contest would take place Wednesday evening." ...
... The Guardian is liveblogging developments here.
France. Foo Yun Chee & Gilbert Reilhac of Reuters: "A gunman on a security watchlist killed at least two people and wounded at least 11 others near the picturesque Christmas market in the historic French city of Strasbourg on Tuesday evening before fleeing.... Amid fast-moving, confusing scenes it was not clear if the suspect, identified by police as Strasbourg-born Chekatt Cherif, 29, had been cornered by commandos or had slipped the dragnet."
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In another smack upside the head, Fatty learns that not only is he not Time’s Person of the Year, but that the winners of that award are journalists, a class he routinely attacks and derides, in true authoritarian fashion, as enemies of the people. And to top it off, the award is intended to acknowledge the importance of jailed and murdered journalists, those on the front line of Trump’s never-ending war on truth.
Never fear, little donnie, impeachment and exposure as the first candidate to get help from a foreign country in stealing the presidency are sure to get you on next year’s list of finalists. Don’t forget, Hitler was once Man of the Year.
The Pretender presents many mysteries , but at the top of tonight's list is how in the world someone so unquestionably and transparently incompetent could have such a high opinion of himself.
Does he never (I just know he does) view videos of himself?
As a teacher intern, lo! those many moons ago, I did, and the experience humbles me to this day.
It's obvious why mike pence seemed so absent in the meeting yesterday: Nancy was showing WAY too much skin for pence to be in that room without his Mommy. I would've thought pence had a few burqas laying around the White House for such perilous circumstances.
I bet he went home last night, cried in mom's arms, and repented. Fuck'n psycho.
@safari: I think you've hit on it. Several photos I've seen show him -- at different points in the meeting -- with his eyes closed. He wasn't napping, as some suggested; he was delivering himself from temptation.
I noticed that the lower end of pence's tie, though not as long as the presidunce*'s, is strategically placed over his crotch. Think it may be to hid the fact that he's sportin' a woody?
BEE-HOLD THE WINGERS
Yesterday Akhilleus wrote a lovely homage to Verdi and gave us a bit of historical background on this brilliant composer. His point here was to equate Verdi's ability and genius ("Otello and Falstaff composed when he was well into his dotage) with Nancy Pelosi's acumen as Speaker. I just loved that.
Now this may be a stretch but yesterday I was reading about bees and I couldn't help make some connections with "our friends from the other side." About one fifth of all bee species are parasites on other bees, prompting some bee researchers to recognize PARASITISM as one of the major evolutionary adaptations of the lineage. The parasites survive either by by stealing honey or wax from other bees or by tricking them into raising their young much like cuckoos do. But bees. as we all know, are in trouble. One reason is that they have fallen victim to a pathogen known as "Nosema bombi" (which sounds like a horrible nosebleed) which reached the US when bumblebees, raised in Belgium, were imported to pollinate tomatoes in greenhouses. This pathogen prevents male bees from having sex. Their bodies fill with Nosema spores and become so so heavy that they can't fly and their abdomens swell so much that they can't touch a female in the right spot to copulate. When that happens–-YOU'RE DONE.
I just couldn't stop making connections–-my political antenna still working while reading about bees.
And speaking of parasites: Orrin Hatch, man much too long at the fair, has come out defending the cuckoo in the W.H. Hey, he says, all those allegations don't matter–-the economy is doing great–-what's all the fuss about–-I stand firmly with the president. BUT––back in the Clinton days when he "were a younger man" he railed against Clinton–-"What a jerk!" he said and with head held high he told reporters that it was his sworn duty as a US senator to impeach (the economy was doing great then, too.)
Sometimes wisdom and acumen don't come with age; Hatch was 64 in the Clinton era, he is 84 now.
Trump=Idiot
Any questions? I mean, seriously. How would his puss not show up as a result of a search for "idiot"? Even better, since R's are so pissed about this doing a search for "idiot" now gets even more hits connecting that word with Fatty.
Although when you switch to an image search you get a few other results besides just Trump. You get Uday and Qusay. Idiot spawn of the First Idiot. You also get a picture of Rudy Giuliani, still pondering the mysteries of Twitter.
But, for the most part, as someone has already noted, the best way not to show up as the number one result for a search for "idiot" is....don't be an idiot.
NB: The package containing the Ayatollah Pence doll does not include batteries.
PD,
Can you imagine that Orrin Hatch was once considered Supreme Court justice material? Man, we dodged a big fat stink bomb there. Although maybe not. At least, to my knowledge, he never raped anyone or thought a guy should freeze to death in his truck so as not to discommode his corporate bosses.
Hatch is an excellent example of the terrible idea of letting someone representing 3 million people have as much influence and power in the senate as someone representing 39 million.
Western red states, Utah, Colorado, Montana Wyoming, Arizona, and Idaho are represented by 12 senators but California, with a population that dwarfs all six put together, has only 2. I get the idea, but jeez...
The founders were great guys but, hoo-wee, did they blow it on this one.
Them that Gots, Gets, Trump Edition, Chapter 724
Stop me if you've heard this one...
Trump kids make out like bandits because of their connections and influence and ability to help themselves to millions.
Whoa, stop the presses, right? Nah...just another day in Trump World.
So what is it this time? Another Saudi prince bails out Young Jared? A Trump flunky shills for some Ivanka money-making scam?
No, this is more of a self-help story. So, a while back, Javanka was pushing for something called "Opportunity Zones", a plan that would let real estate developers shovel in the money. And guess who benefits!
"There have long been questions about the conflicts of interests surrounding Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump in their tenures in the Trump administration. The latest: an investigation outlining how the pair stands to benefit from a tax break they pushed to get passed."
Even Fatty noted that the pair were particularly interested in this new scam, er, plan:
"Even the president took note of his daughter’s interest in the matter. The AP highlighted a moment in the Oval Office earlier this year when Trump touted the Opportunity Zones program and asked Ivanka to speak, since 'you’ve been pushing this very hard.'"
And know how much money these two vultures have piled up in just the last year?
"Kushner and Ivanka Trump made at least $82 million in outside income while serving as White House advisers in 2017."
Oh, and even though this Opportunity Zone scam, er, plan, is supposed to have something to do with low income neighborhoods (Fatty pumped it as a program that would help minority areas), Jared and Ivanka stand to make a killing:
"Trump and Kushner jointly own a big stake in a real estate investment firm, Cadre, that recently announced it is launching a series of Opportunity Zone funds that seek to build major projects under the program from Miami to Los Angeles. Separately, the couple owns interests in at least 13 properties held by Kushner’s family firm that could qualify for the tax breaks because they are in Opportunity Zones in New Jersey, New York and Maryland — all of which, a study found, were already coming back."
Ho-hum, another day, another few mill. It's so tiring to have to work three hours every day at the White House then go home and count those stacks of money. Poors have no idea how lucky they are.
The shamelessness is on a par with, well, Fatty himself. The quicker these vultures are out of Washington or in prison, the better for everyone.
Keith,
Does that Ayatollah pence doll come with stick pins? I know where I'd put the first one...
Unclear to me from the report if this session's House will have to vote on this measure for it to stick, but at least Collins did make an (empty?) gesture in the direction of sanity...I doubt next year's Senate will repeat this act of Pretender and Koch betrayal.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/12/12/senate-democrats-overturn-trump-donor-disclosure-1057535
Kurt Eichenwald has a long and interesting take on the Cohen/Trump Org financial chicanery. According to him, the payments are even more suspect than originally known, and if Donny or anyone in his family knew about how they were set up, they should be behind bars.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1071201140010815489.html
Wondering if this is what the judge was thinking of saying to Mickey (the Dunce) Cohen, Fixer and Liar Extraordinaire, today in court:
"I will make sure that you and I meet one day while we’re in the courthouse. And I will take you for every penny you still don’t have. And I will come after your [livelihood] and everybody else that you possibly know. So I’m warning you, tread very fucking lightly, because what I’m going to do to you is going to be fucking disgusting. You understand me?"
...and have fun in prison, you fucking creep.
I've been hearing that the Dunce made a tearful speech in court today. Boo-fucking-hoo, motherfucker. So you made a mistake by tying your bouncy tail to Trump? "Hey mom, I'm a crook!" is not an announcement promising happy endings.
Two things about that.
First, anyone who thought they had made a good decision by glomming on to the Trump Scam Circus deserves everything they get.
Second, Trump didn't make you do it. Claiming that you did what you did out of misplaced loyalty is bullshit. You saw piles of money awaiting you, and all you had to do was push around those who had no money, no connections, and little power. Loyalty had nothing to do with it. You're a congenital asshole. As with everyone connected to the Orange Monster, it's all about greed and power.
So fuck you, Mickey. Your primary mistake was that you were/are an unscrupulous, unethical, criminal, bullying douchebag. Enjoy prison, dickhead. Now you can tread "very fucking lightly" by fellow prisoners who would like nothing better than to pound you into oven-ready cookie batter.
Meanwhile, think of your former boss, who won't do a minute of jail time. He might be disgraced and not get reelected, but he'll spend the rest of his life in luxury because he had corrupt, venal, shady asshats like yourself to do his dirty work for him.
Ta-ta, scumbag.