;)
The Commentariat -- December 2, 2018
Afternoon Update:
Alissa Rubin of the New York Times: "President Emmanuel Macron returned to France on Sunday from a summit meeting in Argentina to find his country in turmoil after a day of violent protests, surveying the destruction for himself even as his government weighed declaring a state of emergency. A third weekend of nationwide protests by the 'Yellow Vests' movement, largely made up of working-class people angry about a planned increase in fuel taxes, left burned cars and smashed store windows in several of the wealthiest neighborhoods of Paris. Broken glass and empty tear gas canisters fired by the police littered Paris, where hundreds of vandals joined the ranks of the protesters. One person died in the unrest this weekend, bringing to three the number of casualties on the margins of the demonstrations over the last three weeks. More than 260 people were wounded nationwide, at least 133 of them in Paris, according to the prefecture of police. Some were bystanders caught in the fray who needed treatment after exposure to tear gas. About 412 people were arrested nationwide. The interior minister, Christophe Castaner, said on Sunday that the government might declare a state of emergency." ...
... Angelique Chrisafis of the Guardian: "The French president, Emmanuel Macron, will hold an emergency meeting of senior ministers on Sunday after central Paris saw its worst unrest in a decade on Saturday. Thousands of masked protesters fought running battles with police, set fire to cars, banks and houses and burned makeshift barricades on the edges of demonstrations against fuel tax rises. On Sunday morning, Paris authorities hired extra trucks to begin removing the carcasses of burnt cars on from the scorched pavements of some of Paris's most expensive streets, amid graffiti calling for Macron to resign. Piles of teargas canisters littered broken pavements in front of rows of shattered shopfronts and smashed windows, as TV channels showed non-stop footage of central Paris in flames during Saturday's events."
CBS News: "Vice Adm. Scott Stearney, who oversaw U.S. naval forces in the Middle East, was found dead Saturday in his residence in Bahrain, officials said. Defense officials told CBS News they are calling it an 'apparent suicide.' Stearney was the commander of the U.S. Navy's Bahrain-based 5th Fleet. Rear Adm. Paul Schlise, the deputy commander of the 5th Fleet, has assumed command, the Navy said in a statement."
David Halbfinger & Isabel Kershner of the New York Times: "The Israeli police recommended on Sunday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu be indicted on bribery, fraud and other charges, accusing him of trading regulatory favors for fawning news coverage, in what is potentially the most damaging of a series of corruption cases against him. It was the third time this year that the police have urged that Mr. Netanyahu face criminal prosecution. And it dealt another blow to his teetering governing coalition, which narrowly averted collapse last month and is clinging to a one-vote majority in Parliament while edging closer to calling early elections. Mr. Netanyahu, who ... continues to dominate all potential challengers in opinion polls, now must await the decision of the attorney general, whom he appointed, on whether to indict him in all three cases. That may take months, and Mr. Netanyahu could well win another term as prime minister before he is formally charged...."
Ben Kamisar of NBC News: "New York Democrat Jerry Nadler, the incoming chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said Sunday that new revelations from one of President Trump's allies amount to proof that Russia had 'leverage' over Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign.... 'The fact that he was lying to the American people about doing business in Russia and the Kremlin knew he was lying gave the Kremlin a hold over him,' Nadler said. 'One question we have now is, does the Kremlin still have a hold over him because of other lies that they know about?'" ...
... Kris Schneider of ABC News: "The leading Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee [Adam Schiff] said Sunday on 'This Week' that there is now a witness in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation..., Donald Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen, who he said confirms that 'the president and his business are compromised.'"
Kyle Cheney of Politico (Nov. 30): "The top Democrats on the House Judiciary and Oversight committees said Friday they spoke with acting attorney general Matthew Whitaker, who pledged to follow 'all the regulations, policies and procedures' that govern special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. Reps. Jerry Nadler and Elijah Cummings, the likely incoming chairmen of Judiciary and Oversight, respectively, say Whitaker also committed to testifying before their panels in January, when Democrats will take control of the House."
John Bowden of the Hill: "President Trump's attorney, Rudy Giuliani, took aim at special counsel Robert Mueller in an interview airing Sunday, criticizing what he called 'unethical' tactics by prosecutors in Mueller's office after former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress. In an interview with AM 970 in New York, Giuliani accused Mueller of crossing a line by 'intimidating' Trump's allies into saying 'what he believes [is] his version of the truth.' 'They obviously exerted a lot of pressure on him. Mr. Cohen unfortunately has a history of significant lies in the past,' Giuliani told host John Catsimatidis...."
Oliver Laughland of the Guardian: "Roger Stone ... has said he has not discussed a potential pardon with the president should he be implicated in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Mueller's investigation appears laser-focused on Stone's possible ties to WikiLeaks amid mounting evidence that Stone and another Trump ally, the conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi, may have been aware of the organisation's plans to publish stolen emails from the Clinton campaign long before they were released. Speaking to ABCs This Week on Sunday, Stone again denied ties to WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange, and insisted he had not discussed a pardon with Trump. 'There's no circumstance under which I would testify against the president because I'd have to bear false witness against him,' Stone said. 'I'd have to make things up. And I'm not going to do that. I've had no discussion regarding a pardon.'"
Roey Hadar of ABC News: "Former FBI Director James Comey wrote on Twitter that he will testify privately before a House panel Monday on the condition that he will be able to speak freely afterward and that a public transcript will be released within 24 hours. 'Hard to protect my rights without being in contempt, which I don't believe in. So [I] will sit in the dark, but Republicans agree I'm free to talk when done and transcript released in 24 hours. This is the closest I can get to public testimony,' Comey wrote on Twitter Sunday morning.... Comey had filed suit in federal court Thursday to block the subpoena requiring him to testify behind closed doors to the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees, instead preferring to testify publicly. In the lawsuit, the former FBI director condemned the process as being powered by 'a poisonous combination of presidential tweets and the selective leaking that has become standard practice' for Republican lawmakers."
"Trump's Book Club." Katie Rogers of the New York Times Is So Mean: "President Trump, a leader who is not exactly a man of letters -- at least not beyond those on his CAPS LOCK keyboard -- has been using his Twitter account to promote a slew of books that he regards as 'incredible,' 'terrific' and 'great originals.' At least six books, presumably in the running to line the conspiracy theory section of the future Trump presidential library, have titles like 'Spygate: The Attempted Sabotage of Donald J. Trump' and 'The Russia Hoax.' The authors are supporters like Jeanine Pirro, a longtime friend whose book 'Liars, Leakers, and Liberals: The Case Against the Anti-Trump Conspiracy,' has, according to the president, aptly explained 'the phony Witch Hunt.' Most of the titles given an Oprah's-book-club-like stamp by the president have authors who mirror his view that there are forces within the government intent on bringing him down. And some contain their share of Trump-friendly declarations that do not necessarily track with the truth: 'The Russia collusion investigation is over,' Ms. Pirro wrote in her book. (It's not.)"
*****
Jacey Fortin of the New York Times: President George H.W. "Bush, who died at home in Houston, will soon be taken to Washington. President Trump ... said that the plane that is known as Air Force One when the president is aboard will transport Mr. Bush's coffin. Mr. Trump said it was 'a special tribute that he deserves very much.' Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate and the House of Representatives announced that a bicameral arrival ceremony for Mr. Bush will be held at the United States Capitol in Washington on Monday at 5 p.m. Mr. Bush will lie in state in the Rotunda with his coffin on display for public viewing until Wednesday morning.... Mr. Bush will also be honored with a state funeral at the National Cathedral in Washington. The White House confirmed that Mr. Trump will attend.... Mr. Trump has directed national flags to be displayed at half-staff for 30 days beginning on the day Mr. Bush died. He declared Wednesday a national day of mourning.... In a separate executive order, Mr. Trump said that 'all executive department and agencies' of the federal government should be closed on Wednesday as a sign of respect for the former president. On Thursday, Mr. Bush will be laid to rest on the grounds of his presidential library and museum at Texas A&M University. He will be buried in a family plot behind the library alongside his wife, Barbara, who died in April after 73 years of marriage; and a daughter, Robin, who died at age 3 in 1953...."
President Bill Clinton, in a Washington Post op-ed, remembers President George H.W. Bush & shares the note Bush left for him in the Oval Office on the day of Clinton's first inauguration.
Jeet Heer: "Because of the moment of his death, Bush's passing seems like more than the demise of one man. It truly is the end of a political tradition." Mrs. McC: Heer writes a tough, but I think accurate, obituary.
Andrew Restuccia of Politico: "The contrast couldn't be more striking. President George H.W. Bush was a war hero, an internationalist who played a consequential role in maintaining the post-war world order. In domestic politics, he is remembered as a pillar of the Republican establishment, a pragmatist who pined for a 'kinder, gentler nation.'... Donald J. Trump represents a starkly different strain of Republicanism, and a rejection of nearly all of Bush's values. And as Trump played global statesman at the G-20 summit here against the backdrop of a former president's passing, many world leaders clearly missed the predictability of the Bush years and the America he represented.... Trump told reporters [in Buenos Aires] that he spoke with both George W. Bush and his one-time rival, Jeb Bush, on Saturday to extend his condolences. The president ignored a shouted question from a reporter asking whether he regrets any of his past criticism of the Bushes."
David Lynch of the Washington Post: "... President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping ... met for roughly 2½ hours at the sidelines of the Group of 20 leaders' summit, longer than anticipated. Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, said the talks went 'very well,' and the White House planned to release a statement late Saturday night, according to a pool report. China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported that the two sides had agreed that 'no additional tariffs will be imposed after January 1,' the day U.S. tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods are scheduled to increase from 10 percent to 25 percent. 'Negotiations between the two sides will continue,' it added."
Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "President Trump announced his intention late Saturday to quickly withdraw the United States from the North American Free Trade Agreement, a move intended to force House Democrats to enact a revised version of the pact despite concerns that it fails to protect American workers.... If no deal can be reached, both versions of the treaty would be void, which would result in far more restrictive trade that could have a severe impact on industry and agriculture in all three nations, economists have warned."
American Exceptionalism. Rebecca Leber of Mother Jones: "It is telling that on two of the most contentious topics at the Buenos Aires Group of 20 meeting, the United States eventually joined 19 other world leaders on trade, but when it comes to climate change, President Donald Trump remained firmly alone in his belief that it is a hoax.... On climate ... Trump was the only holdout." --s
Trump Jumps a Low Bar. Philip Rucker, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump managed to spend two days in the company of world leaders he has long antagonized without any visible eruptions. There were no feuds, or at least none publicly detected, as Air Force One took off from Buenos Aires on Saturday night. Trump signed on to a statement of principles with the other leaders at the Group of 20 summit, the kind of document he refused to endorse at a summit in Canada a few months earlier. He made nice with the European leader he most regularly trashes, German Chancellor Angela Merkel. And the biggest diplomatic faux pas to occur here did not even involve the gaffe-prone American president. It was the autocratic bro-shake between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. A president who prides himself on being the ultimate disrupter on the global stage instead played the part of reluctant diplomat..., at the risk of making himself something of a non-factor.... Thomas Wright, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said, 'The worry was that things could unravel, so there was a retraction of ambition from the other democratic leaders. They are worried about him creating a fuss over attempts to forge cooperation, which means these summits now are just gatherings of the leaders without a real agenda. That's the function of Trump.'"
This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd. -- Liars' Edition.
Ryan Koronowski of ThinkProgress put together a handy timeline of Trump denying the Russer business interests he just admitted to. --s
Sharon LaFraniere of the New York Times: "If the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, has proved anything in his 18-month-long investigation -- besides how intensely Russia meddled in an American presidential election -- it is that Mr. Trump surrounded himself throughout 2016 and early 2017 with people to whom lying seemed to be second nature.... [The] people surrounding Mr. Trump -- including some White House and cabinet officials -- ... contribute to a culture of bending, if not outright breaking, the truth, and whose leading exemplar is Mr. Trump himself.... For decades, such behavior was relatively free of consequence for those who aligned with Mr. Trump.... But in Mr. Mueller, those in Mr. Trump's orbit now confront a big-league adversary with little tolerance for what one top White House adviser once called 'alternative facts.'" ...
... Eric Tucker of the AP: "A pattern of deception by advisers to ... Donald Trump, aimed at covering up Russia-related contacts during the 2016 campaign and transition period, has unraveled bit by bit in criminal cases brought by ... Robert Mueller. The lies to the FBI and to Congress, including by Trump's former fixer and his national security adviser, have raised new questions about Trump's connections to Russia, revealed key details about the special counsel's findings and painted a portrait of aides eager to protect the president and the administration by concealing communications they presumably recognized as problematic. The false statements cut to the heart of Mueller's mission to untangle ties between the Trump campaign and Russia and to establish whether they colluded to sway the election. They concern some of the central questions of the investigation, including why the incoming Trump administration discouraged Russia from retaliating over sanctions imposed for election hacking; who knew what when about illegally obtained Democratic emails; and how plans for a Trump Tower in Moscow came together and fell apart." ...
... Thanks, Devin! David Lurie of Slate: "... prosecutions for lying to Congress are rarely brought.... Until very recently, lying before the House Intelligence Committee during its Russia investigation has seemed, even by generally lax congressional standards, likely to be nonconsequential.... Yet that will soon change. Incoming Democratic House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff has made it clear that one of the first items on the new majority's agenda next year will be to forward ... transcripts [of testimony and interviews] to the special counsel.... The irony of this new situation is that, as Susan Hennessey has observed, outgoing House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, Rep. Mike Conaway (who purportedly led the Russia inquiry after Nunes’ quasi-recusal), lead interrogator Trey Gowdy, and the other GOP members of the committee may ... have all but openly encouraged its witnesses to deny any and all potential wrongdoing, regardless of the plausibility of their denials.... As a result, some witnesses affiliated with Trump and his campaign may have been lulled into thinking they could lie with particular impunity." ...
... James Risen of The Intercept: "Special counsel Robert Mueller is closing in on Donald Trump, and as one shoe after another drops in the Trump-Russia investigation, the pressure sometimes prompts the president to inadvertently blurt out the truth. Or at least as close to the truth as a serial liar like Trump can get.... Faced with Cohen's admissions in court on Thursday, Trump ... quickly switched gears and effectively confirmed what Cohen had said. 'There was a good chance that I wouldn't have won, in which case I would have gotten back into the business, and why should I lose lots of opportunities?' Trump's comments ... reveal that he had much deeper connections to Russia in the midst of the campaign than he has ever previously acknowledged. It suggests that Trump will lie about his Russian connections until he realizes he can no longer get away with it, and then will quite casually admit that he has been lying all along." --s (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
** Marcy Wheeler of Emptywheel: "If there's a conspiracy to obstruct Mueller's investigation, I'm fairly certain the Trump Organization was one of the players in it.... It made me realize something has been missing from every analysis of the indictment question I've seen: whether you can indict a sitting President's eponymous corporate entities.... [I]t was the entity that signed the Letter of Intent, would be the entity that would obtain funding, and would be the entity that would profit. But the Trump Organization did not get elected the President of the United States (and while the claims are thin fictions, Trump has claimed to separate himself from the Organization and Foundation). So none of the Constitutional claims about indicting a sitting President, it seems to me, would apply.... With Trump, a pardon won't go far enough: he may well be facing the criminal indictment and possible financial ruin of his corporate person...." --s
Sophie Tatum, et al., of CNN: "Defense Secretary James Mattis said Saturday that Russia attempted to interfere in the US midterm elections last month. '(Putin) tried again to muck around in our elections this last month, and we are seeing a continued effort along those lines,' Mattis said, speaking at the Reagan National Defense Forum at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. Mattis said the relationship between the United States and Russia has 'no doubt' worsened amid Russia's continued efforts to intervene in the US electoral process.Mattis said he didn't know if the threat from Russia had increased, but he said Russian President Vladimir Putin has 'continued efforts to try to subvert democratic processes that must be defended[.]'" ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: How odd that Trump did not mention this as a reason for cancelling his meeting with Putin.
TrumpCare. Robert Pear of the New York Times: "Older Americans have been flocking to Medicare's private plans, which promise predictable costs and extra benefits. But the private Medicare Advantage plans have also been getting an unpublicized boost from the Trump administration, which has in the last few weeks extolled the virtues of the private plans in emails sent to millions of beneficiaries. Medicare's annual open enrollment period closes on Friday. Administration officials predict that almost 37 percent of the 60 million Medicare beneficiaries will be in Medicare Advantage plans next year, up from 28 percent five years ago. The officials deny that they are steering patients to private plans, but the subject lines of recent emails read almost like advertisements. 'Get more benefits for your money,' says a message dated Oct. 25. 'See if you can save money with Medicare Advantage,' said another sent a week later." Mrs. McC: It won't be long till we see Trump doing one of those 3 am infomercials.
Amy Sorkin of the Atlantic: "... a day after U.S. Border Patrol agents fired tear gas at a crowd of Central American migrants, as some tried to rush across the border from Tijuana, [President Trump] boasted about the incident at a rally. 'Frankly, if we didn't show them strength and a strong border,' he said, 'you would have hundreds of thousands of people pouring into our country.' Strength is a display, in other words, meant to demoralize the vulnerable. 'We are doing a job,' Trump added. 'We're doing what's right.' He was wrong on both counts. It is not a President's job to try to renounce a law that promises even undocumented people already in this country an opportunity to apply for asylum, as Trump did, until a federal district court temporarily stopped him. And it is not right to approach the issue of immigration, as Trump has done, with an indifference to human tragedy, cavalier threats to use lethal force and to close the border, and a zeal to divide.... A fair approach would begin with recognizing that a person seeking asylum has a right to be heard, as an individual, by immigration authorities." ...
... Kim Barker, et al., of the New York Times: Juan "Sanchez has built an empire on the back of a crisis. His organization, Southwest Key Programs, now houses more migrant children than any other in the nation. Casting himself as a social-justice warrior, he calls himself El Presidente, a title inscribed outside his office and on the government contracts that helped make him rich. Southwest Key has collected $1.7 billion in federal grants in the past decade, including $626 million in the past year alone. But as it has grown, tripling its revenue in three years, the organization has left a record of sloppy management and possible financial improprieties.... It has stockpiled tens of millions of taxpayer dollars with little government oversight and possibly engaged in self-dealing with top executives.... Though Southwest Key is, on paper, a charity, no one has benefited more than Mr. Sanchez, now 71. Serving as chief executive, he was paid $1.5 million last year -- more than twice what his counterpart at the far larger American Red Cross made."
Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "The admiral overseeing American naval operations in the Middle East and Southwest Asia was found dead in Bahrain on Saturday, the Navy said. The officer, Vice Adm. Scott A. Stearney, was found in his residence in Bahrain, Adm. John M. Richardson, the chief of naval operations, said in a statement, noting that no foul play was suspected. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Bahraini Ministry of Interior are cooperating on the investigation, Admiral Richardson said."
Damian Paletta & Erica Werner of the Washington Post: "Congressional negotiators and White House officials are discussing a one-week budget bill that would delay a partial government shutdown while Washington prepares for the state funeral of former president George H.W. Bush, according to several people briefed on the talks. On Saturday, President Trump weighed in, too, saying he'd possibly sign a two-week funding extension while the Bush memorials took place, according to an Associated Press report. A final decision has not been made but could come as soon as Sunday, when Trump returns to Washington. Funding for parts of the federal government is set to expire at midnight Dec. 7, but Congress is deadlocked over Trump's demand for $5 billion in funding for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border."
Lyin' Ryan: Big Spender. Jonathan Chait: "[Paul] Ryan has devoted his career to passing policies that would increase the national debt. Under the Bush administration, he supported every one of the debt-financed measures that turned the surplus the administration inherited into the trillion-dollar annual deficit it bequeathed its successor: tax cuts, a Medicare prescription-drug benefit, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and a large security buildup, all financed by debt.... Under the Obama administration, Ryan opposed the deficit-reducing health-care reform that has led to falling health-care inflation, and foiled efforts by President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner to craft a bipartisan deal to reduce the debt.... When Ryan has had to share power, he has blocked compromise to reduce the debt. When he has not had to share power, he has supported laws to increase it." --s ...
... Matthew Yglesias of Vox: "Paul Ryan is heading out of Congress the way he served: with a blizzard of false statements about substantive matters of public policy. That started with Thursday's bizarre exit interview with the Washington Post's Paul Kane, in which Ryan claimed to regret congressional inaction on debt and immigration when he was, in fact, personally responsible for congressional inaction on debt and immigration. Now comes a tweet in which he offers the view that the policy vision that made him famous -- the Roadmap for America's Future -- has been enacted into law under the Trump administration.... Basically none of Ryan's policy goals were achieved, but rich people did get to pay less in taxes.... [Sheldon] Adelson personally reaped from Ryan's beloved TCJA [tax cut]. His company scored a tax windfall of $670 million in just one quarter[.]" --s (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Election 2018
Alaska. Becky Bohrer & Lisa Baumann of TPM: "Republican Bart LeBon has won an Alaska state House race by one vote after a ballot recount, officials said. Before Friday's recount, LeBon and Democrat Kathryn Dodge were tied with 2,661 votes apiece. Recount results showed LeBon with 2,663 votes while Dodge had 2,662 votes, after LeBon picked up two votes and Dodge picked up one, according to the Alaska Division of Elections.... If LeBon's win holds up, the GOP will control the House, Senate and governor's office. Dodge has five days to decide whether to appeal the outcome to the state Supreme Court." --s
North Carolina. Colin Kalmbacher of Law & Crime summarizes some of the mess in what appears to be a massive election fraud scheme on the part of the Republican Congressional candidate in North Carolina's 9th district. Voiding the election results altogether remains a possibility. ...
... AND There's This. Raleigh News & Observer Editors: Democrat Andy Penry resigned from the state's Board of Elections Saturday after a county Republican party chairman complained to Gov. Roy Cooper (D) of partisan tweets Penry wrote while serving on the board. "[Penry] said he didn't want the controversy over his Twitter posts to affect an investigation into voting irregularities in the 9th Congressional District race."
Racism, Alive and Well. Zak Cheney-Rice of New York: "Senator Tim Scott announced ;on Thursday that he would oppose the judicial nomination of Thomas Farr, who President Donald Trump had tapped to become a United States District Judge for the Eastern District of North Carolina.... His opposition -- paired with Arizona Senator Jeff Flake's -- effectively killed Farr's bid.... Farr's abysmal record on black voting rights is well-documented.... It should surprise no one that none of this was disqualifying for the Senate GOP. On the contrary, the vast majority still backed Farr's nomination, with only a handful besides Scott and Flake signaling their reservations in light of his record.... That Farr came up short attests to Tim Scott's brief flirtation with morals, as his party's only black senator. But that may not matter in 2019, when Republicans control two more senate seats and Trump can re-nominate." --s
Kyla Mandel of ThinkProgress compiles 10 important facts you might have missed from the government's climate change report --s ...
... Robin McKie of the Guardian: "For 24 years the annual UN climate conference [convening in Katowice, Poland on Sunday] has served up a reliable diet of rhetoric, backroom talks and dramatic last-minute deals aimed at halting global warming. But this year's will be a grimmer affair -- by far. As recent reports have made clear, the world may no longer be hovering at the edge of destruction but has probably staggered beyond a crucial point of no return. Climate catastrophe is now looking inevitable. We have simply left it too late to hold rising global temperatures to under 1.5C and so prevent a future of drowned coasts, ruined coral reefs, spreading deserts and melted glaciers." --s
Sarah Jones of New York: "The Fight for 15 movement to raise minimum wages directly led to a collective $68 billion raise for 22 million low-wage workers in both the public and private sectors. That's the conclusion of new analysis published by the National Employment Law Center, which backs a higher minimum wage.... Opponents of minimum wage increases -- like the D.C. restaurateurs who campaigned against higher wages for tipped workers -- typically argue that extra expenses will force fire workers or even close, harming employers and employees alike. More research is necessary, but right now there's no conclusive proof that a higher minimum wage leads to significant job losses." --s
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Juan Cole gives a class on Israeli oppression of Palestinians: "CNN has fired contributor Marc Lamont Hill for a speech he gave on Palestinian rights at the UN. The speech can be found here.... CNN would have been under special pressure to fire Hill because he is a prominent African-American intellectual with a following in his own community, and the Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs (the propaganda arm of the Likud government) is worried about the boycott and sanctions movement spreading among American minorities who might sympathize with the oppressed Palestinians.... One way that the Israeli right wing gets away with these atrocities [against the Palestinians] is to use techniques of blackballing, smearing, and propaganda to marginalize any voices they don't like.... And they've been remarkably successful in marginalizing anyone who takes them on." --s (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Claudia Koerner of BuzzFeed News: "Fox Broadcasting Company and National Geographic are investigating astrophysicist and Cosmos host Neil deGrasse Tyson after three women came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct." The article details the accusations. ...
... Elizabeth Harris of the New York Times: "In a lengthy Facebook post on Saturday, the well-known astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson disputed accounts that he had behaved inappropriately with three women, a day after the broadcasters of his show 'Cosmos' said they were investigating his conduct."
Beyond the Beltway
Arizona. Adam Peck of ThinkProgress: "Until last week, Republican State Rep. David Stringer was the chair of the Arizona House Sentencing and Recidivism Reform committee, having been re-elected to his seat last month. But on Friday, Stringer unceremoniously resigned his position amid a growing scandal involving racist remarks he made following a lecture at Arizona State University.... Stringer has been a racist for much longer than the past week. In June, during a local Republican Men's Forum, he called immigration 'an existential threat,' and remarked that there 'aren't enough white kids to go around,' in Arizona's public school system." --s
Illinois. Don't Drink the Water. E. A. Crunden of ThinkProgress: "Widespread, deadly contaminants are rampant in groundwater near coal ash dumping sites in Illinois, according to an in-depth new report published Wednesday. The report, authored by the Environmental Integrity Project, Earthjustice, Prairie Rivers Network, and the Sierra Club, found that groundwater near 90 percent of reporting Illinois coal ash sites contain toxic pollutants like arsenic, cobalt, and lithium. That number accounts for 22 of 24 total dumping sites with available data." Check the map on p. 9 of the linked report [pdf] to see affected locations. --s
Oklahoma Fundamentalists. Lindsay Gibbs of ThinkProgress: "Oklahoma's state senate is considering a bill that would criminalize all abortions in the state, without exception, 'in any circumstance.' Senate Bill 13 was filed Thursday by Joseph Silk, a republican state senator in Oklahoma who has been relentless in his pursuit to outlaw all abortions in his home state.... The bill sets forth harsh punishments for any woman who has a successful abortion -- it states that 'any abortion procedure that results in the death of an unborn child is subject to the same laws governing homicide, manslaughter, justifiable homicide, and excusable homicide.'" --s
Way Beyond
France. Alissa Rubin of the New York Times: "A third week of anti-government protests intensified in violence on Saturday, as demonstrators burned cars, smashed windows and confronted riot police firing tear gas in the heart of Paris in the most serious crisis of President Emmanuel Macron's administration. The 'Yellow Vest' protests -- spurred by an increase in the gasoline tax, and named for the roadside safety vests worn by the demonstrators -- have emerged as a spontaneous outcry over declining living standards. Diffuse, seemingly leaderless and organized over the internet, they have drawn deepening and widespread support around the country, where other demonstrations were held on Saturday. Many were peaceful though others were violent, as in the town of Le Puy-en-Velay, where protesters briefly set fire to a local prefecture."
Mexico. Mary Sheridan of the Washington Post: "A leftist leader vowing to launch a 'radical transformation' of Mexico and improve the lives of the poor was sworn in as president on Saturday, opening an uncertain era in a country with deep economic and security ties with the United States. Andrés Manuel López Obrador, 65, known as AMLO, took office as potentially the most powerful Mexican president in decades. Not only did he take 53 percent of the vote in a three-way race, but his party cinched a majority in both houses of Congress and gained control of numerous state legislatures. 'Today we don't only begin a new government, today we begin a change of our political regime,' he said in a speech moments after the swearing-in ceremony. 'Starting from now, we will carry out a peaceful, steady political transformation. But it will also be profound and radical.' López Obrador is the first leftist president since Mexico transitioned from a one-party authoritarian state to full democracy in 2000. He has promised to increase benefits for the poor, young and elderly -- all while maintaining budget discipline. He has vowed to fight corruption and slash perks for senior officials, even declining to occupy Los Pinos, the Mexican White House. The estate will instead be turned into a public park, set to open Saturday." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
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Reader Comments (5)
Medicare Advantage plans have been such a successful scheme they might have been designed by Krugman's Flim Flam man himself, Lyin' Ryan.
https://www.advisory.com/daily-briefing/2017/08/09/ma-costs
Generally, Advantage plans provide a little more service but cost taxpayers a ton more. If the goal is more efficient, less expensive health care, they are a giant step backwards.
Of course, for Republicans, that is not the goal.
One might say that when it comes to lying, the Pretender had good teachers and has broken little new ground. He has just extended the Republican Ryan's penchant for of inverting numeric truth (less is more) by lying about everything he talks about.
I smell the stink of the little Foxes re: sexual harassment allegations toward Neil deGrasse Tyson. He was on the new Firing Line a few weeks ago criticizing the Trump administration on their handling of climate change. I've heard those on the far right make fun of him, call him a Astro-Asshole. How did this come about, I'm wondering–-the first two allegations are void of any, in my book, real sexual impropriety and if these examples are what constitutes women coming forward with accusations, then heaven help us and the men involved. It puts the Me=Too movement on a much lower level and degrades the women who have actually been sexually raped, hit, compromised professionally, etc.
The last accusation sounds nuts–-I'll leave it at that. The fact that Tyson came back with a long apologia while describing his own feelings is admirable. He has always struck me as a man who is full of life, full of passion for his field of study and perhaps a little full of himself and would be the kind of person who would want to give you a special handshake and gaze into your eyes. But good that his assistant told him how uncomfortable that made her and then proceeded to give him a hug. But now she comes forward? Tis a puzzle. Marie said something some time ago that has stuck with me. We better be careful or we'll only be comfortable with a bunch of eunuchs ( or something like that). I recall a supervisor who got his kicks commenting on my person from time to time. I laughed it off until one morning he said:
"Looks like someone got it real good last night."
This I found over the top and I replied, loudly so others could hear:
"Looks to me you Never get it! Stop getting off on me!
He never bothered me again.
@PD Pepe: I'm not sure about Tyson. I caught a few minutes of that "Firing Line" episode, but I switched channels when Tyson made me uncomfortable because, get this, I sorta thought he came on to the host, who is an attractive woman. I saw the bit before I was aware women had made allegations against him, so his "rep" did not influence my feeling.
Over the years, I've seen Tyson being interviewed by men on a number of shows, and he is a very friendly guy, but I thought in the "Firing Line" piece he was, um, too friendly to the female interviewer. Again, just a feeling on my part, not a fact, and I certainly could be wrong. But still.
Marie
@Marie: your post sent me back to "Firing Line" and I just finished watching the whole episode. (It's Sunday–-time yawns) No where did I sense that Tyson was "coming on" to Margaret who as usual was donned in a sleeveless snug upper body dress, her lovely legs on full display and her feet nicely enconsed in some pretty nifty high heels–-( for Max Boot she was all in black from head to foot). I am not a fan of Hoover (great grandfather was Herbert) –-remember her on Fox and then O'Reilly and was surprised she was hosting "Firing Line"–-her voice alone would have nixed it for me.
So––I'm rooting for Neil whose voice IS an important one in this age of stupid. Thanks for weighing in––YOUR voice always takes notice.
James Comey says he is not a fan of selective leaks. Who knew?!