;)
The Commentariat -- December 30, 2018
Afternoon Update:
Molly O'Toole of the Los Angeles Times: "In [a] phone interview Friday, [outgoing White House chief-of-staff John] Kelly defended his rocky tenure, arguing that it is best measured by what the president did not do when Kelly was at his side. It was only after Kelly's departure was confirmed Dec. 8, for example, that Trump abruptly announced the pullout of all U.S. troops from Syria and half the 14,000 troops from Afghanistan, two moves that Kelly had opposed. Kelly's supporters say he stepped in to block or divert the president on dozens of matters large and small. They credit him, in part, for persuading Trump not to pull U.S. forces out of South Korea, or withdraw from NATO, as he had threatened.... Trump sometimes pressed his advisors on the limits of his authority under the law, often asking Kelly, '"Why cant we do it this way?"' But Trump never ordered him to do anything illegal, Kelly stressed, 'because we wouldn't have.'" ...
... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "A few months ago, a senior Trump administration official wrote a controversial anonymous op-ed in the New York Times that said forces within the administration were working to rein in President Trump's potentially damaging whims. And in a recent interview [with the LA Times], Trump's departing chief of staff basically confirms it.... Kelly defended those serving Trump as delivering him the right information, even if it might be disregarded.... This is ... a person who was involved in those decisions covering his backside and basically saying, 'We tried to tell him!' Kelly also distanced himself from the separation of families at the U.S.-Mexico border, blaming then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions for a zero-tolerance border policy.... It's worth noting that Kelly himself floated just such a policy in a 2017 interview with CNN. He also defended it as chief of staff, while emphasizing he hoped it would only be temporary.... Kelly again suggested Trump's border wall demands were less-than-serious. 'To be honest, it's not a wall,' he said, noting the barriers were only part of the proposal. Previously, Kelly drew Trump's ire by telling congressional Democrats that Trump had 'evolved' on the wall and was not 'fully informed' when he made it a campaign issue.... The idea that Kelly regards his biggest success as standing in Trump's way is a pretty strong indictment of Trump as a person and of his presidency."
Roey Hadar of ABC News: "The former top commander of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan, retired four-star Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, criticized ... Donald Trump's behavior and handling of the presidency, saying the commander-in-chief is dishonest and immoral.... 'If we want to be governed by someone we wouldn't do a business deal with because their -- their background is so shady, if we're willing to do that, then that's in conflict with who I think we are. And so I think it's necessary at those times to take a stand.'... McChrystal said he would not take a job in the Trump administration if he were asked." McChrystal said he disagreed with Trump's pullout of Syria & "the president's leaked guidance" on a major troop pullout in Afghanistan.
Feliciz Sonmez of the Washington Post: "Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.) said Sunday that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell is 'doing a good job' and rejected the notion that President Trump could fire him..., in the strongest statement yet from a Republican against any moves by the president to oust the central bank chief. Trump most likely does not have the authority to remove Powell, experts say. Yet amid the markets' recent volatility, the president has repeatedly sought to blame Powell and asked advisers whether he has the power to fire him, two people familiar with the exchanges told The Washington Post. In an interview on CBS News's 'Face the Nation,' Shelby described the Federal Reserve as 'the bedrock of our financial system' and said it is 'set up to be independent.' 'I don't believe blaming the Federal Reserve for this or that -- whoever the president or a congressman or senator is -- helps matters,' Shelby said. 'The president cannot fire the chairman of the Federal Reserve, except for cause....' Shelby chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee and previously led the Senate Banking Committee, which is responsible for holding confirmation hearings for Fed nominees."
Quint Forgey of Politico: "... Donald Trump's demand for billions of dollars to fund a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border amounts to a 'ransom note' for taxpayers being held 'hostage' by the partial government shutdown, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said Sunday."
Vladimir Soldatkin of Reuters: "... Vladimir Putin told ... Donald Trump in a New Year letter on Sunday that Moscow was ready for dialogue on a 'wide-ranging agenda', the Kremlin said following a series of failed attempts to hold a new summit.... Moscow has said one of the key issues it wanted to discuss with the United States is Washington's plans to withdraw from a Cold War era nuclear arms pact."
*****
Zeke Miller of the AP: "Trump tweeted Saturday that he was 'in the White House waiting for the Democrats to come on over and make a deal on Border Security.' But there has been little direct contact between the sides during the stalemate, and Trump did not ask Republicans, who hold a monopoly on power in Washington for another five days, to keep Congress in session.... Talks have been at a stalemate for more than a week, after Democrats said the White House offered to accept $2.5 billion for border security last Saturday. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schume rtold Vice President Mike Pence that it wasn't acceptable, nor was it guaranteed that Trump, under intense pressure from his conservative base to fulfill his signature campaign promise, would settle for that amount.... The White House has not directly engaged in weeks with the House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, who has all but locked up the support she needs to win the speaker's gavel after the new Congress convenes on Thursday." ...
... Home Alone. Anna Palmer, et al., of Politico: "The President has the unique ability to mold the newscycle to his liking -- especially with Congress out of town. Yet he hardly did anything publicly. Further ... why didn't Trump instruct GOP leadership to keep Congress in town until they got a deal? ... If he believes his position is the right one, why not try to highlight that?... The White House has been putting out the message that Chuck Schumer wants a deal, but Nancy Pelosi -- fearful she'll lose the speakership -- is holding Democrats back. Schumer and Pelosi have worked judiciously to make sure there is zero daylight between them. Plus, she takes the majority in five days, at which point the game shifts in her direction.... If the White House is so concerned about Pelosi, why has ... Donald Trump not spoken with Pelosi since Dec. 11? That's 18 days without contact between the president and the incoming speaker during a federal government shutdown. The White House has not reached out to Pelosi's staff to try to schedule a get together. There has been no outreach to Pelosi at all from VP MIKE PENCE or Interim Chief of Staff MICK MULVANEY." ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: The fake author of The Art of the Deal thinks "negotiation" is sitting home pouting, whining & wailing, lashing out at & making ridiculous claims against opponents -- while waiting for public opinion to turn against him. It's a strategy, I guess. Of course, I'm not a dealmaker like Trump, so what do I know?
Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "President Trump blamed Democrats on Saturday for the deaths of two migrant children brought into the country by their parents, his first public remarks about the episodes since they died in detention at the southwest border this month. The comments came in twin posts on Twitter, where the president spent much of the day denouncing Democrats as the partial government shutdown approached its eighth day over his demand for funding for a border wall. 'Any deaths of children or others at the border are strictly the fault of the Democrats and their pathetic immigration policies that allow people to make the long trek thinking they can enter our country illegally,' he wrote in one message. 'They can't. If we had a wall, they wouldn't even try!'... The president dug in further on Saturday, claiming: 'For those that naïvely ask why didn't the Republicans get approval to build the wall over the last year, it is because IN THE SENATE WE NEED 10 DEMOCRAT VOTES, and they will gives us "NONE" for Border Security! Now we have to do it the hard way, with a shutdown. Too bad!' Democrats have repeatedly indicated that they would support substantial funding increases for security at the southern border with Mexico. Many voted to do so in 2013 as part of a bipartisan, comprehensive immigration overhaul. But they view a wall like the one Mr. Trump advocates as an ineffective and costly response to an immigration system in disrepair." ...
... Rebecca Leber of Mother Jones: "On Saturday..., Donald Trump offered his first response to the deaths [of two young migrant children], but rather than offering condolences he lashed out and blamed Democrats for not funding his wall, while trying to absolve his administration of any responsibility by calling the children 'very sick before they were given over to Border Patrol.'... Adam Isacson, a[n] expert on Mexico..., recently explained to Mother Jones how Trump's immigration policies risk more migrant deaths. He pointed to Trump's policy to require migrants to wait in Mexico while their applications for asylum in the US are pending. It has nothing to do with the wall[.]" ...
... Nomaan Merchant, et al., of the AP: "... Donald Trump sought to deflect blame for the deaths of two Guatemalan children in U.S. custody by claiming they were 'very sick' when they arrived, even though immigration authorities have said both children passed initial health checks." ...
... Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post: "With President Trump, there is no bottom. Every time you think you have seen it, he manages to sink even lower. It is not news that the president is indifferent to human suffering. His limp response to the devastation of the 2017 hurricane in Puerto Rico -- which he claimed to have been a 'fantastic job' on the part of his administration -- stands out in that regard. But on Saturday, we saw yet another level of depravity when Trump made his first comments regarding the deaths in recent days of two migrant Guatemalan children after they were apprehended by federal authorities. It revealed not only callousness but also opportunism, as he sought to turn this tragedy into a partisan advantage in his current standoff with Democrats over the government shutdown." ...
... Pamela Larson of the Arizona Republic: "Children in Border Patrol holding facilities 'would vomit on their clothing' and had no soap to clean up. One child 'had diarrhea, had dry lips, he had a fever,' but border agents declined to seek medical care and closed the cell door. Children were told they could drink water from a sink, but 'are not given any cups' nor soap to wash their hands. Those allegations and many others, from families apprehended by Border Patrol agents, were included in a raft of legal filings in August 2018. Four months later, two Guatemalan children being held by the Border Patrol in New Mexico got sick, began vomiting and soon died. The deaths of Jakelin Caal, 7, and Felipe Gómez Alonzo, 8, prompted widespread outcry and, this week, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen announced 'a series of extraordinary protective measures,' adding health screenings and more medical professionals for migrant children. But concerns about migrant children becoming sick -- and the lack of medical care for them in ill-equipped Border Patrol stations -- were far from new.... Federal officials did not comment on the filings directly, but in an interview with The Arizona Republic, defended their handling of migrants and said border agents were not expected to be medical professionals." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Yes, because it takes a medical professional to know that children need clean, safe housing, clean clothing, bathing facilities, healthy nourishment & liquids, & access to medical care when they show signs of illness like fevers, chills, vomiting & diarrhea. One thing that has surprised me throughout this horrifying detention period is that Trump has never tweeted something like, "THESE PEOPLE NEVER HAD IT SO GOOD back in their shithole countries." Turns out that's because back in their shithole countries, things weren't much worse.
This is just pouring salt into the wound. It is shocking that federal employees are taking yet another financial hit. As if missed paychecks and working without pay were not enough, now they have been told that they don't even deserve a modest pay increase. -- Tony Reardon, National Treasury Employees Union President. ...
... This Is the Definition of "Adding Insult to Injury." Noam Scheiber of the New York Times: "President Trump issued an executive order on Friday freezing pay for federal civilian workers in 2019, even as about 800,000 of them were either furloughed or working without pay because of a partial government shutdown. The executive order follows a proposed pay freeze that the president outlined in the budget he sent to Congress last February, and in a letter he sent to Congress in August stating that he would cancel pay increases. Some union officials representing federal government workers said they expected Congress to pass a nearly 2 percent increase, which the Senate has already done in a bipartisan vote, and the incoming Democratic House appears likely to do. Federal workers may still receive a raise in 2019 if Congress approves it and the president signs it, perhaps as part of legislation to reopen the federal government. But that scenario would require resolving a fight between Democrats in Congress and the president over funding for a border wall, the issue at the heart of the shutdown." ...
... Michael Brice-Saddler of the Washington Post: "The agency that oversees the government's civilian workforce [Office of Personnel Management] is facing scrutiny after suggesting federal employees affected by the partial government shutdown barter with their landlords if they can't make rent payments, advice that it later said was posted 'inadvertently.'... In a Saturday statement, an OPM spokesman said the ... language was from the 2013 government shutdown. The office 'regrets any unintended concern caused by legacy documentation,' the spokesman wrote." Mrs. McC: In other words, it's all Obama's fault.
This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd.
He owed us a lot of money. And he was offering ways to pay it back. -- Victor Boyarkin, speaking of Paul Manafort ...
... Simon Shuster of Time: A former Russian intelligence officer, Victor Boyarkin, whose name was at the top of the list of those the U.S. Treasury recently sanctioned, had pressured Paul Manafort, to repay his supposed large debts to Oleg Deripaska, for whom Boyakin worked. Manafort had worked for Deripaska to help Montenegro gain its independence from Serbia. But the government of Montenegro had a falling-out with Deripaska: "After years of disputes over unpaid debts, the Russian billionaire sued Montenegro in 2014 for seizing the aluminum plant he controlled. The country then sped up its plans to join the NATO military alliance and integrate with the West." The Russians of course opposed Montenegro's move to NATO, & in 2016, after losing his gig on the Trump campaign, Manafort reportedly went to work for the anti-NATO/pro-Russia faction, although "It remains unclear whether Manafort actually provided any services in Montenegro in 2016." "This summer, President Trump took issue with [NATO's protection of Montenegro]. 'Montenegro is a tiny country with very strong people,' he said, after being asked by Fox News in July if the U.S. should come to Montenegro's defense. 'They are very aggressive people, they may get aggressive, and congratulations, you're in World War III.'" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: So once again, Trump just accidentally happens to take Putin's side against our NATO allies. Funny that. ...
... Josh Marshall: "This is another article that helps see the bigger picture beyond individual emails and meetings and who exactly denies or admits to some meeting. Manafort worked for the same Russian oligarch (with or through, depending on your perspective) in Ukraine, Montenegro and various other countries. His appearance in US politics, running the campaign of the future President, fits the model from those other countries pretty much exactly."
Chris Sommerfeldt of the New York Daily News: "New Jersey prosecutors have collected evidence that supervisors at President Trump's Garden State golf club may have committed federal immigration crimes -- and the FBI as well as special counsel Robert Mueller have played part in the inquiry.... Anibal Romero, a Newark attorney who represents several undocumented immigrants who used to work at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, said Friday he recently met with investigators from the state attorney general's office and handed over fraudulent green cards and Social Security numbers that management at the club allegedly procured and gave his clients, Victorina Morales and Sandra Diaz.... Morales, a Guatemalan national who is still employed at the club but has stopped going to work, and Diaz, a Costa Rican national who used to work there and has since obtained legal status, are among at least five undocumented housekeepers at the club who allege they were set up with fraudulent documents and subjected to abuse and racial harassment. Morales and Diaz first came forward with their allegations in interviews with The New York Times earlier this month." ...
... digby: Trump "employs undocumented workers and foreign workers on visas at all of his properties. I suspect if anyone ever really grilled him on that he'd says it's because he's a very stable genius who hires the cheapest labor he can --- and that his followers would all nod their heads and agree that makes good sense. And then they'd all chant 'build that wall' and cheer the horror of little children being held in cages as a good 'deterrent.'"...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: If Mueller ever writes a report, I think it will begin something like this: "Donald J. Trump, currently President of the United States, has been running a multi-facted criminal enterprise since at least [fill in the year]."
Jonathan Alter & Maxwell Tani of the Daily Beast: "On Dec. 27, McClatchy DC -- a reputable news outlet that broke the most important stories about the Iraq War -- reported that cell phone tower records obtained by foreign intelligence sources place Michael Cohen (or at least his phone) in Prague in the late summer of 2016.... But ... unlike many other scoops about the Mueller probe, no other outlet has been able to confirm McClatchy's reporting.... The stakes are immense.... On the other hand, if the McClatchy story is false, it significantly lessens the odds that Mueller can prove a conspiracy case -- the only case that is likely to lead to impeaching the president and removing him from office.... Multiple prominent national security reporters told The Daily Beast they were unconvinced by the story...."
Grace Panetta of Business Insider: "As of now..., Donald Trump faces over a dozen ongoing investigations into his 2016 campaign, his conduct as president, and other criminal and civil offenses relating to his alleged campaign finance violations, business practices, and his charity.The investigation Trump publicly disparages most often as a 'rigged witch hunt' and a 'disgrace' is special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether the Trump campaign collaborated with Russia to tilt the race in Trump's favor. But the one that poses the most immediate danger to Trump himself is the campaign finance probe in the Southern District of New York. In that case, federal prosecutors secured a guilty plea from his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen for paying for the silence of women who alleged affairs with Trump, a crime to which prosecutors listed Trump as an unindicted co-conspirator. Here are all the areas currently subjected to ongoing government investigations and state-led lawsuits involving Trump[.]"
Alone Are We. Katie Lobosco of CNN: "A major 11-country agreement goes into effect Sunday, reshaping trade rules among economic powerhouses like Japan, Canada, Mexico and Australia -- but the United States won't be a part of it.... It's the opposite of what the Obama administration planned when it began negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership, known as TPP. The proposed deal, which never passed Congress, formed the backbone of the US strategy to counter Chinese economic influence, but it was one of the first things ... Donald Trump moved to undo when he took office, pulling the United States out of the deal in January of 2017. Instead, he's pursued a series of direct bilateral agreements, launching a trade war with escalating tariffs on $250 billion in Chinese goods to force Beijing to the negotiating table. The strategy has led to a new round of talks between Trump and his counterpart Xi Jinping -- but leaves US producers out of broader regional arrangements with other Pacific Rim nations, for now.... The stakes will be even higher now that the Trans-Pacific deal is going into effect -- especially for American farmers who were eager to take advantage of more open markets abroad."
** Susan Glasser of the New Yorker on how Trump has alienated our allies, particularly Germany, and how they are dealing with it. Sounds a bit boring, but it isn't. The description of Trump at the G-7 in Canada is itself worth the price of admission. The November 2016 meeting between President Obama & Chancellor Merkel, as Glasser describes it, was remarkable.
Mary Jo Pitzi of the Arizona Republic: "Videos from a Southwest Key shelter for migrant children show staffers dragging and pushing children, incidents that occurred shortly before the federal government suspended the shelter's operations early this fall. The Arizona Republic obtained the videos from the Arizona Department of Health Services under state public-records law. Southwest Key had reported the mid-September incidents, which involved three children and numerous staffers at the Youngtown shelter, to state authorities, as well as local law-enforcement and federal officials, but declined to publicly provide details at the time. Southwest Key ultimately closed the shelter, called Hacienda Del Sol, in late October. That came in the wake of negotiations with state health authorities over potential revocation of all 13 licenses that Southwest Key holds in Arizona, because of the company's lapses in background checks for staff." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: What digby said, linked above. Also too, what Trump said: child abuse is the Democrats' fault. At least the feds & the state shut down this (and another Southwest Key) facility.
There were no Trump fans on the set. I don't know a single person who worked on the show who voted for Trump. -- Jonathan Braun, an editor on "The Apprentice" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Since I linked but didn't read the New Yorker's profile of Mark Burnett, the producer of "The Apprentice," I missed these tidbits, which Daniel Politi of Slate highlights: "Although Trump immediately proved himself to be an ideal character for reality television, producers had to do a lot of editing work to make him seem coherent. 'He wouldn't read a script -- he stumbled over the words and got the enunciation all wrong,' Katherine Walker, a producer on the show, said. Producers didn't just edit Trump so that his words made sense; they also made sure to make it seem as though Trump's decisions were coherent with what happened in the challenges every week. Trump often was unprepared for the 'board room' sessions and fired people 'on a whim.' That sometimes meant he got rid of people who had done a good job in the challenge, so editors would go back and 'reverse engineer' the episode. Show veterans see lots of parallels with what Trump is doing as president now. 'I find it strangely validating to hear that they're doing the same thing in the White House,' Jonathon Braun, an editor, said."
Tony Barboza, et al., of the Los Angeles Times: "A cyberattack that appears to have originated from outside the United States caused major printing and delivery disruptions at several newspapers across the country on Saturday including the Los Angeles Times.... The attack led to distribution delays in the Saturday edition of The Times, the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun and several other major newspapers that operate on a shared production platform. It also stymied distribution of the West Coast editions of the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, which are all printed at the Los Angeles Times' Olympic printing plant in downtown Los Angeles.... All papers within The Times' former parent company, Tribune Publishing, experienced glitches with the production of papers."
Eli Rosenberg of the Washington Post: Abdulrahman Sameer Noorah, a Saudi Arabian national living in the United States, allegedly killed a 15-year-old girl, Fallon Smart, in a hit-and-run in which he was driving 71 mph on a 25-mph street in Portland, Oregon. Noorah returned to the scene, possibly because the license plate had fallen off his vehicle when he hit Smart, and he showed no remorse, according to police officers. He was charged with first-degree manslaughter. The Saudi government paid $100K for his bail, which was set at $1MM. However, the Saudis gave the money to Noorah, so he theoretically paid the bail & would be responsible for the $900K if he fled. The court confiscated his passport & required him to wear a GPS ankle bracelet. On a court-approved outing, Noorah removed the bracelet & fled to Saudi Arabia. Shawn Overstreet, the prosecutor, believes -- though he has no direct evidence -- that the Saudi government must have helped Noorah flee. "The United States does not have an extradition treaty with Saudi Arabia." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: The Saudis really seem to think it's okay to kill Americans & American residents.
Beyond the Beltway
Living While Black. Daniel Politi of Slate: "The DoubleTree hotel in Portland, Oregon that found itself engulfed in controversy this past week fired the two employees who were responsible for calling police on a black guest while he was talking on the phone in the lobby. The Hilton-owned hotel posted a statement on Twitter saying that the 'mistreatment' of Jermaine Massey was 'inconsistent with our standards & values.... Massey's story went viral after he posted a series of videos on Instagram showing how a security guard and a manager at the hotel were responsible for kicking him out even though he was a guest there. The guard -- who came to be known as 'Hotel Earl' on social media -- apparently asked Massey whether he was a guest in the middle of his phone call and then decided to call police when he was not satisfied with the answer. When police arrived they told Massey he had to leave, meaning he was forced to find a new place to spend the night at around midnight."
News Ledes
New York Times: "When she died on Wednesday in Germantown, Md., at 93, Dr. [Nancy] Roman was remembered as 'the mother of the Hubble.' As NASA's first chief of astronomy and the first woman in a leadership position at the space agency, Dr. Roman oversaw the early planning for the Hubble Space Telescope, which began orbiting Earth above its atmosphere in April 1990 to capture an unobstructed view of the universe.... She was a trailblazer for women at a time when science was considered a man's world, and she became a longtime advocate for women in science."
Guardian: "Georges Loinger used all his skill and cunning -- and a large dash of chutzpah -- to rescue Jewish children from deportation and near-certain death during the second world war. The French Resistance hero, who has died at the age of 108, would set up ball games for children along the Swiss border in France. Having trained the children to run like the wind, he would throw the ball over the border and tell them to chase after it and then keep running."
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Reader Comments (8)
Had to note this "Chicago Tribune" piece which appeared in the local paper this AM, because it so perfectly illustrates capitalism's limited vision, make that outright blindness, to any consideration that doesn’t bring short-term profit.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-edit-free-markets-energy-independence-fracking-oil-ntural-gas-20181208-story.html.
Buried in this piece on the wonders of the free market's elevation of the US to its position as a net exporter of fossil fuels is this paragraph:
"Fossil fuels contribute to global warming. We empathize with environmental and clean-energy advocates in hoping that the practicalities and economics of wind, solar and other renewables free America and the world from reliance on petroleum and coal.”
Empathy. That’s it.
How large-minded of the Tribune. As if the only ones affected by global warming are clean-energy advocates.
What about the rest of the human race, which I have to assume would include the idiots who penned this piece?
They don't matter, I guess.
Ken: I'd bet that some senior editor changed the word "join" to "empathize." It would read "join ... in hoping ...", which makes more sense than "empathize ... in hoping ..."
Or maybe they're not good writers. Who nose?
@Ken & @Patrick: Patrick's supposition makes sense. Someone on the writing committee must have wanted to "elevate" the piece & thought it a good idea to replace "join" with a two-dollah word.
Perhaps I had gotten myself into a little tizzy over the McClatchy scoop about Cohen being in Prague. Marcy Wheeler brought me back to earth.
"Because of a McClatchy story claiming two new details corroborating a Steele dossier claim that Michael Cohen had a meeting with people serving the interests of Putin’s Administration, people have gotten themselves into a tizzy again about what a smoking gun it would be if the allegations in the Steele dossier were proven true.
It’s an utterly bizarre tizzy, both because the allegations in the Steele dossier not only don’t match some more damning allegations Cohen has already pled guilty to, but because Mueller has already charged other people for some of the allegations about Cohen made in the dossier. In other words, the McClatchy story has people excited about the wrong allegations, rather than focusing on the damning things Cohen (and others) have already been charged with."
Someone Has Already Been Charged for Most of the Actions the Steele Dossier Attributes to Michael Cohen
Jim Wright of Stonekettle Station is one of the best deconstructers of Trump's tweets around. His recent post addressed Trump's threat to close the Southern borders.
"It's a measure of just how much we've normalized this bizarre, ignorant, childish behavior from the President of the United States and a measure of just how much the Press is failing in its duty to the Republic, that the top media coverage a full 24 hours later is centered on speculation about migrant caravans and "Trump threatens to cut off foreign aid..." instead of what Trump's statement actually says.
"We will be forced to close the Southern Border entirely...""
We will be forced to close the Southern Border entirely if the Obstructionist Democrats do not give us the money to finish the Wall & also change the ridiculous immigration laws that our Country is saddled with.
Let's (not) Make a Deal!
Fatty's come-on to Democrats (or Democrat leaders as he puts it--asshole) reminds me of that old show Let's Make a Deal, but Let's Make a Deal as hosted by a sleazy, sniveling con man rather than Monty Hall.
So, a few things about this deal thing.
Trump's idea of making a deal is he wins and everyone else gets screwed. Not to mention that the idea of treating decisions of enormous import with billions of dollars and thousands of lives at stake as a TV game show is insulting and ridiculous on its face. "Come on over and make a deal" is closer than spitting distance to the carny barker's "Step right up, ladies and gentlemen..." In neither instance will you be treated fairly or honestly. In the case of the carny come on, most people expect to be hoodwinked. It's part of the show. But when a Trump (any of them) sez "Come on down!", unless you're an idiot, you either decline or you ask to see what's behind all the doors before agreeing to play the game; what you're looking for may not be behind any of those doors.
Because here's what happens when you "deal" with Trump.
There's a famous logic dilemma called the Monty Hall Problem. I won't go too far into it since we'll get deep into the weeds pretty quickly and lose sight of our feet. But here's the short version. You're on Let's Make a Deal. You can choose one of three doors. You choose door number one. Monty decides to open one of the remaining two doors. He opens door number three. It's a goat. Then he offers you the chance to stay pat with your original choice, or choose the one remaining door. Pick the right one, you win a nice car.
What do you do?
You switch. Take my word for it. Staying pat, you will lose two-thirds of the time. It's counter-intuitive, but the logical answer is to switch.
This is important for a number of reasons, but let's put that aside for the nonce.
Instead, let't see how the game would be played with Fatty McLiar as the host instead of the avuncular (and honest) Monty Hall.
No matter what door you choose, Fatty, before opening it, will have one of his stagehands run behind the curtain and make sure you never get the prize you think you're getting. He shows you a car? You get a goat. He shows you a house? You get a month's supply of deodorant. A crappy brand. Every time. It never fails.
He sez to the knuckledraggers "What do we want?" Their consistent reply makes Pavlov's dog look like he's got a Hamlet complex. "The Wall!!!!" They screech. "And who's gonna pay for our wall?" shouts Fatty? "MEXICO!!!!" they shriek, almost passing out from sadly misplaced fervor.
Well, no matter which door anyone chooses, Fatty makes sure they never get what they were promised. Mexico will pay? No. YOU will pay.
They're happy anyway.
Why? Because they've never figured out the Monty Hall Problem.
In the real world, where things like logic matter, their only real choice is to vote for someone else. In other words, switch from the door they originally picked. Pick door number two. As long as they stay with door number one (Trump), they lose at least two-thirds of the time (in the real world, it's more like five-sixths of the time).
A deal is an agreement where both sides get something they want. What will Democrats get by giving Fatty everything he wants?
Zippo.
Fortunately for us, Schumer and Pelosi are not Trumpbots and they are not fooled by Fatty's carny barker promise to "make a deal". The only deal Trump ever makes is one where he wins and everyone else gets fucked.
Some deal. But hey, maybe when Pelosi hosts the game, Fatty will take home the goat.
Seems RC is experiencing a solstice event this morning, standing still as it were, but since my thought is Dec. 30-related, will contribute it here and hope that elsewhere all is well.
Per Bea's recommendation, read "The New Yorker" piece last night about the Pretender's EU/German/Merkel problem and in it noted similarities to the new Pacific Trade agreement sans the US reported above, which in turn reminded me of the spate of Pretender-inspired trade agreements being reached by other countries that don't include the US.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/11/21/trade-war-other-countries-forge-new-trade-agreements-without-u-s/1694283002/
No doubt, the Pretender does like walls, so I presume that while he keeps government doors shut because he can't have the wall he promised his rubes, he's secretly happy that when it comes to trade other countries are busily walling us off and in.
From the USA piece:
“That’s the beauty of a free market,” Garcia said. “When parties are interested in themselves first, this is how efficient deals are generated. That’s how efficient agreements are made.”
Garcia provides a neat summary of the Pretender's fundamentally flawed (read: stupid) way of viewing the world. When we confuse efficiency with personal or even national profit, and all is competition, us against them, we have adopted a point of view that can only sow more divisions and with those divisions, additional rancor, suspicion, and ill-will, each already far too plentiful.
Competition and war as metaphors and as a way of life might bring short term gains, but in the long term have never proven to be a winning strategy.
We really need to be thinking of the long term, when it is so evident that survival of everything from individual cultures to life on the entire planet requires cooperation.
That is: fewer walls, not more.
@Ken: Something ain't working right here. Take a look again to see if today's Commentariat is up. I thought it was, but another reader wrote to me personally wonder what happened. I think I fixed the problem, but I can't be 100 percent sure from here. It's been opening for me since yesterday, but I don't know if it's visible to anyone else.
If it's there, could you repost your comment on today's Commentariat? Thank you.