;)
The Commentariat -- February 17, 2018
Afternoon Update:
Audra Burch, et al., of the New York Times: "A Florida social services agency conducted an in-home investigation of Nikolas Cruz after he exhibited troubling behavior nearly a year and a half before he shot and killed 17 people at his former high school in Florida, a state report shows. The agency, the Florida Department of Children and Families, had been alerted to posts on Snapchat of Mr. Cruz cutting both his arms and expressing interest in buying a gun, according to the report. After visiting and questioning Mr. Cruz at his home, the department determined that he was at low risk of harming himself or others.... The report noted that a mental health agency had been contacted in the past to detain Mr. Cruz under Florida's Baker Act, which allows the state to hospitalize a person for several days if they are a threat to themselves or others. The center determined that he was not a risk to himself or others."
All the Best People, Ctd. Robert O'Harrow of the Washington Post: "Doug Manchester, the billionaire nominated by President Trump to be ambassador to the Bahamas, made a fortune as a real estate developer in San Diego while also earning a reputation for his philanthropy, conservative convictions and lavish lifestyle. In 2011, Manchester, then 69, decided to buy the struggling San Diego Union-Tribune. Over the next four years, he employed an unconventional, anachronistic management style that upended the newspaper's culture and made many female workers uncomfortable, according to more than a dozen current and former employees who spoke on the condition of anonymity. During the taping of a promotional video, Manchester once pulled a reporter in for a hug so intimate that it startled onlookers in the newsroom, multiple people said. He complimented young female employees on their appearances, and he and other senior managers required some of them hired for a new in-house television operation to wear short black dresses and serve as hostesses for advertisers and other guests at Union-Tribune events, current and former employees said."
A Leaderless Nation. Peter Baker of the New York Times: "After more than a dozen Russians and three companies were indicted on Friday for interfering in the 2016 elections, President Trump's first reaction was to claim personal vindication: 'The Trump campaign did nothing wrong -- no collusion!' he wrote on Twitter. He voiced no concern that a foreign power had been trying for nearly four years to upend American democracy, much less resolve to stop it from continuing to do so this year.... In 13 months in office, Mr. Trump has made little if any public effort to rally the nation to confront Moscow for its intrusion or to defend democratic institutions against continued disruption.... The administration has been left to respond without the president's leadership.... Rather than condemn Russia for its actions, Mr. Trump in the past has said he accepts the denial offered by President Vladimir V. Putin.... Mr. Trump's own aides readily acknowledge the reality that he does not.... For the moment, the government is left to act without the president." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: This is an astonishing article to appear as the top story in America's paper of record. Baker writes nothing we don't know, but it's a stark admission of where a POTUS* has left us. ...
... A Tottering Alliance. Griff Witte & Michael Birnbaum of the Washington Post: "U.S. national security adviser H.R. McMaster acknowledged Saturday that evidence of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election is 'incontrovertible.'... The comments, a day after the Justice Department indicted 13 Russians for interference in the election that catapulted Donald Trump to the White House, follow months of efforts by the president to cast doubt on assertions of Moscow's meddling. They came as McMaster used a high-profile address at a global security conference to try to rally Western allies against common enemies, offering an olive branch to U.S. partners that have often felt battered and neglected in the age of Trump.... But the appeal to solidarity could not hide the deep fissures among Western allies, examples of which abounded Saturday.... Most glaring was the gap between the United States and its European allies."
Dahlia Lithwick of Slate: "On Friday, the Department of Justice detonated a legal bombshell, announcing the indictment of 13 Russian nationals and three Russian companies accused of interfering in the 2016 presidential election.... Standing at the podium was Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, Donald Trump's much-reviled 'Democrat from Baltimore,' who is widely believed to be just barely hanging on to his day job as special counsel Robert Mueller's minder and whose deputy has just lurched off the national stage for a gig at Walmart. This was a fairly impressive piece of political maneuvering. On the one hand, it makes any attempt by Trump to remove Rosenstein an even more explicit obstruction of justice. Rosenstein has, after all, just publicly linked himself to indictments of Russians (foreigners!) who tried to throw the election to Trump. He's also linked himself even more tightly with Mueller and the special counsel's investigation.... Rosenstein now indisputably stands for the proposition that Russia interfered in the election and that anyone who denies this is lying. Earlier this week, incidentally, CNN reported that 'Trump still isn't buying that Russia interfered in the 2016 election.'"
How Trump Waged War on Dreamers. David Nakamura & Mike DeBonis: "As much of the country was gripped Wednesday by horrific images from the mass shooting at a Florida high school, two dozen senior Trump administration officials worked frantically into the night to thwart ... a vote the next day in the Senate [that would have spared Dreamers from deportation].... But to the men and women huddled in a makeshift war room in a Department of Homeland Security facility, the measure would blow open U.S. borders to lawless intruders. 'We're going to bury it,' one senior administration official told a reporter at about 10:30 p.m. that evening. The assault was relentless -- a flurry of attacks on the bill from DHS officials and the Justice Department and a veto threat from the White House -- and hours later, the measure died on the Senate floor. The Trump administration's extraordinary 11th-hour strategy to sabotage the bill showed how, after weeks of intense bipartisan negotiations on Capitol Hill, it was the White House that emerged as a key obstacle preventing a deal to help the dreamers. The episode reflected President Trump's inability -- or lack of desire -- to cut a deal with his adversaries even when doing so could have yielded a signature domestic policy achievement and delivered the U.S.-Mexico border wall he repeatedly promised during the campaign."
Shane Harris, et al., of the Washington Post: "White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly announced Friday that beginning next week, the White House will no longer allow some employees with interim security clearances access to top-secret information -- a move that could threaten the standing of Jared Kushner.... Two U.S. officials said they do not expect Kushner to receive a permanent security clearance in the near future.... And apart from staff on the National Security Council, he issues more requests for information to the intelligence community than any White House employee, according to a person with knowledge of the situation...." ...
... All the Best People, Ctd. In today's Comments, Capt Russ draws a parallel between "undocumented immigrants" & "undocumented White House staff": "... so happy to see that the Chief of Staff for the President* who promised serious vetting of immigrants has discovered 'serious shortcomings with the system for vetting top-level officials with access to the United States' most closely guarded secrets' just 1 year and 29 days into the administration. Looks like this administration is 'extremely careless' with classified information. LOCK 'EM UP!!"
*****
This Russia Thing -- A Spectacular Friday Afternoon Dump
The end of another successful Infrastructure Week! May we have more of these ... -- Gloria, in today's Comments
Sharon LaFraniere of the New York Times: "The special counsel investigating Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election charged 13 Russian nationals and three Russian organizations on Friday with illegally using social media platforms to sow political discord, including actions that supported the presidential candidacy of Donald Trump and disparaged his opponent, Hillary Clinton. The indictment represents the first charges by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, for meddling in the 2016 presidential election -- the fundamental crime that he was assigned to investigate. In a 37-page indictment filed in United States District Court, Mr. Mueller said that the 13 individuals have conspired since 2014 to violate laws that prohibit foreigners from spending money to influence federal elections in the United States." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Scott Shane & Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times write a sort of narrative version of the indictment. ...
... Ashley Parker & John Wagner of the Washington Post provide a similar narrative. ...
... Rosenstein just blew up Trump's "hoax defense." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
Claims of a 'hoax' in tatters. -- John Brennan, former CIA director, in a tweet ...
... End of Trump's 400-pound Couch Potato Theory. Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "During the first 13 months of his presidency, Trump has rejected the evidence that Russia waged an assault on a pillar of American democracy -- something many in his administration regard as objective reality -- and has sought to discredit the case that Russia poses a threat to the United States.... Trump has never convened a Cabinet-level meeting on Russian interference and has resisted or attempted to undo efforts to hold Moscow to account, such as additional penalties imposed last August by Congress. On the National Security Council, there has been an unspoken understanding that the president would see raising the Russia matter as a personal affront.... The indictment -- signed by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and announced by Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, both of whom Trump has at times mused about wanting to fire -- reveals that the scope of Russia's alleged efforts to help Trump defeat ... Hillary Clinton was extraordinary. Even Trump seemed to partly concede the point Friday, acknowledging Russia's election interference while still minimizing its effects. 'The results of the election were not impacted,' he tweeted. 'The Trump campaign did nothing wrong -- no collusion!'" ...
... The End of a Trumpian Myth. David Remnick of the New Yorker: "For well over a year, Donald Trump has dodged the subject of Russian interference in the 2016 election and potential charges of collusion and obstruction of justice. It's all 'phony,' a 'hoax,' 'fake news,' a 'witch hunt.' Last year, during a multilateral summit in Vietnam, Trump met briefly with Vladimir Putin and then told reporters that he had asked the Russian President about election meddling. Not to worry, he told reporters: 'Every time he sees me, he says, "I didn't do that." And I believe, I really believe, that when he tells me that, he means it.' Trump cannot really accept what his own intelligence leaders tell him about the election; he even directed his C.I.A. director to meet with a former operative turned conspiracy theorist who thought that the hack of the Democratic National Committee was an 'inside job.'... The indictment bluntly states that the intent of the Russian operation was to damage the Democratic candidate.... Michael McFaul, the U.S. Ambassador to Russia under President Obama, wrote on Twitter that Trump's statement was 'shockingly weak. Putin attacked America and no pushback whatsoever. Why?'" ...
... Greg Sargent: "Here are three key takeaways: 1. We now know not just that Russians did sabotage our election, but also that crimes may have been committed in the process -- and what those crimes were.... 2. We still don't know whether Trump campaign officials or any other Americans conspired with this alleged effort to influence the election.... 3. This confirms just how massive an abdication Trump's continued claims of a 'hoax' really are." ...
... Jonathan Chait: "One of President Trump's favorite methods to defend his innocence in the Russia investigation is to claim that any piece of evidence that does not explicitly assert his guilt is in fact evidence of his innocence.... Trump repeats this method for the indictments handed down today by Robert Mueller.... Trump's defense is simply to pretend it is an investigation of his campaign and he's somehow been cleared.... Literally nothing like this is found in the indictment. It does not say there's no collusion. It simply addresses an aspect of Russian activity that may not have entailed collusion." ...
For all of those who have been asking 'where is the evidence of a crime?' -- this is it. This is the criminal conspiracy. This is what President Trump and his allies have repeatedly called a 'hoax' and 'fake news.' This is what they tried to cover up. -- Rep. Elijah Cummings [D-Md.]
... David Corn of Mother Jones: "(According to the Washington Post, in his first year as president, Trump said the Russia probe was a Democratic hoax 44 times.) Hours after Friday's indictment, Trump issued a statement once again dismissing the Russia investigation for producing 'outlandish partisan attacks, wild and false allegations, and far-fetched theories.' But with this indictment -- and possibly others -- Mueller has demonstrated that Trump, by refusing to acknowledge fully the Russian assault of 2016, has been helping Putin cover up a crime." ...
... Matthew Nussbaum of Politico: "New charges on Friday in the special counsel's Russia investigation put attention squarely on a notion ... Donald Trump has aggressively sought to avoid: the legitimacy of his 2016 election.... The indictment, like intelligence reports before it, came to no conclusion about the impact of the Russian campaign. And, for the first time, Americans were shown in granular detail how Russian spies worked to sway the election in Trump's favor.... The indictment ... only compounds fears in the White House that Trump will attack the FBI in the wake of a school shooting in Florida that left 17 dead, and revelations that the bureau mishandled a tip about the alleged shooter it received in January. Senior staffers are actively urging Trump to avoid attacking the FBI, one administration official said. But for Trump, famously furious about the notion that a foreign adversary aided his political rise, the detailed revelation that Russia poured resources toward securing his win could prove an instigation too far." ...
... "Putin's Cook." Neil MacFarquhar of the New York Times: "Despite his humble, troubled youth, [Yevgeny] Prigozhin became one of Russia's richest men, joining a charmed circle whose members often share one particular attribute: their proximity to President Vladimir V. Putin. The small club of loyalists who gain Mr. Putin's trust often feast, as Mr. Prigozhin has, on enormous state contracts. In return, they are expected to provide other, darker services to the Kremlin as needed. On Friday, Mr. Prigozhin was one of 13 Russians indicted by the United States special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, for interfering in the American election. According to the indictment, Mr. Prigozhin, 56, controlled the entity that financed the troll factory, known as the Internet Research Agency, which waged 'information warfare against the United States'.... Mr. Prigozhin's critics ... say he has emerged as Mr. Putin's go-to oligarch for ... a variety of sensitive and often-unsavory missions, like recruiting contract soldiers to fight in Ukraine and Syria." ...
... Hayes Brown & Vera Bergengruen of BuzzFeed run down who the perps are. ...
... Steve M. can't figure out "which right-winger has the stupidest Mueller indictment take." But he has come up with some excellent candidates! ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: AND I can't figure out why the Russians' shenanigans described in the indictment would change more than 12 votes. I get why the efforts are illegal & I get what the Russians' objective was, but really. If you happened upon any of their posts or tweets would they cause you to decide, "Oh, better vote for Trump"? Or even for Jill Stein or Bernie Sanders? What if you saw an actress in a cage/jail pretending to be Hillary? Would that change your vote? I suppose putting together public rallies for these Not-Hillary candidates could have some effect -- a person might attend a rally for the fun of it & get caught up in the speakers' rhetoric (were there speakers?), but most of the Russian effort described in the indictment seems to be downright stupid.
... Dan Friedman & A.J. Vicens of Mother Jones: "... minutes after Rosenstein spoke, Mueller's office announced a plea deal with a man who appears to be the first American charged with helping Russians meddle in the election. The unlikely suspect is Richard Pinedo, a Californian who agreed to plead guilty to one count of identity fraud and to cooperate with investigators. From 2014 to 2017, according to a Statement of Offense Mueller's office posted Friday afternoon, Pinedo operated an online service called 'Auction Essistance' based in Santa Paula, California, through which he used stolen identities to help clients avoid security features of online digital payment companies. One of the payment companies, referred to in the document as 'Company 1,' appears to be PayPal. Mueller's Friday indictment of the 13 Russians alleges that they and their co-conspirators 'opened accounts at PayPal' and created other false materials as part of a plot to imitate real Americans while working to impact the election."
Josh Gerstein of Politico: "... Robert Mueller's office has told a federal judge it has found evidence that Paul Manafort committed bank fraud not addressed by the indictment last October in which he was charged with money laundering and failure to register as a foreign agent. As legal wrangling continues over a $10 million bail package for Manafort, prosecutors this week accused him of submitting false information to a bank in connection with one of his mortgages.... The filing by Mueller's office says Manafort obtained a mortgage using 'doctored profit and loss statements' overstating 'by millions of dollars' the income for his consulting company, DMP International."
Betsy Woodruff of the Daily Beast: "Mark Corallo, former spokesperson for ... Donald Trump's legal team, spoke with Special Counsel Bob Mueller earlier this week for over two hours, two people familiar with the matter told The Daily Beast. He isn't expected to go in for another interview, according to a person familiar with the matter. The New York Times reported last month that Corallo's conversation with Mueller would likely involve topics related to potential obstruction of justice." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
"There's a Pretty Good Chance President Trump Is Being Blackmailed." Jonathan Chait: "Ronan Farrow's new story [linked below] shows that Trump habitually pays for sex.... Farrow's reporting also implies, without quite establishing as an absolute certainty, that Trump maintained a system for silencing his sexual partners.... We know Russia has a decades-old system for gathering compromising sexual secrets on prominent foreign visitors.... Far from being bizarre, imagining Trump paying prostitutes to pee on a bed Obama used as a primitive revenge ritual, and Russians taping the episode, is perfectly consistent with what we know about both parties.... Indeed, sex is not the only kind of secret Trump harbors. He endured months of criticism first from Republican candidates, then Democrats, and all along from the media, for refusing to disclose his tax returns.... All in all, the odds are disconcertingly high that Russia, or somebody, has blackmail leverage over the president of the United States." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Mark Berman & Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "The FBI said Friday that a month before the shooting rampage at a South Florida high school, the bureau received a warning that the 19-year-old charged in the massacre might carry out such an attack -- but then investigators failed to act on it. The startling revelation came two days after police say Nikolas Cruz marched into his former high school and gunned down 17 people. In a statement, the FBI said it received a tip last month from 'a person close to Nikolas Cruz' reporting concerns about him, specifically saying that he could potentially carry out a school shooting. While this should have been investigated 'as a potential threat to life ... these protocols were not followed,' the bureau said in a statement. 'We are still investigating the facts,' Christopher A. Wray, the FBI director, said in the statement." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... The New York Times story, by Patricia Mazzei & Adam Goldman, is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... The FBI statement is here. ...
... Kathryn Watson of CBS News: "Florida's Republican Gov. Rick Scott is calling on FBI Director Christopher Wray to resign, after the FBI admitted it received a tip about the suspect in the Parkland shooting ... but failed to follow through on it. The FBI admitted in a statement Friday that it received a call on Jan. 5 detailing concerns about Nikolas Cruz, the 19-year-old law enforcement officials believe is responsible for the deaths of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School earlier this week. The FBI determined 'protocols were not followed' when a tip was phoned into the FBI's public access line, but was never forwarded to the FBI's Miami field office and received no further investigation. Scott called that 'unacceptable' in a statement he issued Friday." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: AND I would call on Rick Scott to resign because of his support for pro-gun laws. ...
... Michael Biesecker & Collin Binkley of the AP: "The troubled teen authorities say killed 17 people at a Florida high school excelled in an air-rifle marksmanship program supported by a grant from the National Rifle Association Foundation, part of a multimillion-dollar effort by the gun group to support youth shooting clubs and other programs. Nikolas Cruz, 19, was wearing a maroon shirt with the logo from the Army Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School when he was arrested Wednesday shortly after the shooting. Former JROTC cadets told The Associated Press that Cruz was a member of the small varsity marksmanship team that trained together after class and traveled to other area schools to compete." ...
... Paul Murphy of CNN: "In a private Instagram group chat, confessed school shooter Nikolas Cruz repeatedly espoused racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic views and displayed an obsession with violence and guns.... The hatred he and others in the group espoused met little resistance from its active members. In one part of the group chat, Cruz wrote that he hated, 'jews, ni**ers, immigrants.' He talked about killing Mexicans, keeping black people in chains and cutting their necks. The statements were not made in jest. There are hundreds of racist messages, racist memes and racist Instagram videos posted in the group." ...
... Richard Luscombe & Lois Beckett of the Guardian: "Donald Trump visited a Florida hospital on Friday night to meet survivors of this week's deadly high school shooting, as the local public defender said the suspect would plead guilty. 'It's very sad something like this could happen,' Trump told reporters at Broward Health North hospital. 'But the job the doctors did, the nurses, the hospital, the first responders, law enforcement, was really incredible.' But when asked if gun laws needed to be changed, Trump had no comment." Mrs. McC: That's pretty much all we need to know. ...
... Lois Beckett: "Americans have to be 21 before they can legally buy alcohol. But in most states, they can buy an AR-15 military-style rifle starting at age 18. Federal law has stricter age requirements for buying handguns than for the military-style rifles that have become the weapon of choice for mass shootings. With some exceptions, Americans must be 21 to buy a handgun from a licensed dealer. But the age limit is lower for long guns, a category that includes traditional hunting rifles, shotguns, and the military-style guns categorized under law as 'assault weapons'. After a federal assault weapon ban lapsed in 2004, only seven states and the District of Columbia still have a continuing ban on such firearms." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Masha Gessen of the New Yorker: "Many Americans understand how important it is for every person in this land to feel safe. The most commonly advanced argument for sanctuary cities (or towns, or states) is that immigrants must feel safe reporting crimes -- they must know that the police will not be monitoring their immigration status. This is the simplest expression of the thesis that none of us are safe unless all of us are safe. Trump seems to understand this instinctively. Tyrants -- or aspiring tyrants -- thrive when populations feel unstable and under threat. His Administration's ongoing attack on sanctuary cities is more than the belligerent demand for total compliance: it is part of an effort to insure that some of us are never safe, in order to insure that no one is ever really safe."
Mark Joyella in Forbes: "On Thursday morning, Donald Trump wrapped himself in the trappings of the presidency, standing in the White House Diplomatic Reception Room ... and plodded his way through a somber six-minute speech about the mass shooting Wednesday in Florida.... Then he ducked out without taking any questions from reporters. Trump, who famously ridiculed Hillary Clinton for going 235 days without holding a solo press conference, will hit 365 days on Friday -- and still counting. Mr. Trump ... has decided that when the news gets tough, he'll go missing. Under Trump's leadership, the back-and-forth exchange of information between the executive branch and the news media has ground nearly to a halt, with the afternoon briefings held by press secretary Sarah Sanders at times veering toward farce.... The president has abandoned the White House briefing room, and so should journalists -- at least until somebody shows up who's willing to answer questions." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Michael Shear of the New York Times: "John F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff, ordered on Friday an overhaul of the process for granting security clearances that will revoke top-secret access for some aides and could affect Jared Kushner.... In a five-page memo distributed Friday afternoon to White House staff, Mr. Kelly suggested that there were serious shortcomings with the system for vetting top-level officials with access to the United States' most closely guarded secrets.... In the memo, Mr. Kelly said that all White House employees whose background investigations have been pending since June 1 will have their temporary clearances revoked next Friday."
Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "President Trump came to Washington promising to 'drain the swamp.' But after less than 13 months, more than 40 percent of the people he originally picked for Cabinet-level jobs have faced ethical or other controversies. The list has grown quickly in recent weeks." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Donovan Slack of USA Today: "The third most senior official at the Department of Veterans Affairs is stepping down amid findings she misled ethics officials to secure approval for VA Secretary David Shulkin's wife to accompany him on taxpayer-funded trip to Europe. Vivieca Wright Simpson, Shulkin's chief of staff, told colleagues Friday morning that she is retiring after 32 years at the agency and more than two years as Shulkin's most senior aide. The announcement came two days after the VA inspector general released recommendations that she be disciplined for doctoring an email to an ethics lawyer to show Shulkin was getting special recognition or an award during the trip to Denmark and London last year, the criteria for clearing his wife's flights on the public's dime." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Senate Races
Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: "In a long-expected announcement, Mitt Romney said on Friday that he would run for the United States Senate, pledging to bring Utah's priorities of balanced budgets, strong economy and welcoming borders to Washington. Mr. Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts and the 2012 Republican nominee for president, made the announcement in a two-minute video posted to Twitter and Facebook. He cited his experience as the chief executive of the organizing committee for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and compared Utah, where his mother was born, favorably to the nation's capital." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Alex Shephard of the New Republic: "Instead of attacking Trump, as he did during the 2016 election, Romney is embracing an implicit critique by standing up for a different kind of conservatism. But it's also an acknowledgment that Romney's critiques of Trump (and his overtures to him) have failed. Romney hasn't been able to influence the president or his party, so he's going to try to ignore Trump and run a conventional Senate campaign. The question is whether he'll also be a conventional Republican senator -- which is to say, obeisant to Trump." (Also linked yesterday.)
Joel Ebert of the Tennessean: "Former U.S. Rep. Stephen Fincher is halting his bid for the U.S. Senate and is encouraging U.S. Sen Bob Corker to seek re-election.... Fincher's exit nearly assures U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn will be the Republican nominee for the seat unless Corker gets back in the race. Although the two-term U.S. Senator announced plans to retire in September, in recent days he's been encouraged to seek re-election, as some Republicans remain worried about Blackburn's chances of beating [Phil] Bredesen, a Democrat, in a head-to-head matchup."
Guardian: "The studio co-founded by disgraced mogul Harvey Weinstein has sacked its chief operating officer. The Weinstein Company (TWC) announced on Friday that the board had decided to part ways with David Glasser. 'The board of The Weinstein Company has unanimously voted to terminate David Glasser for cause,' a TWC statement said, according to multiple reports. The move comes days after a proposed sale of the studio was jeopardised when New York's attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, filed a lawsuit accusing the board of failing to protect employees from Weinstein.... Schneiderman said in a media conference that Glasser would have been put in charge after the sale despite, he claimed, there being evidence he failed to stop Weinstein."
Guardian: "Wynn Resorts said on Friday that former chief executive officer Steve Wynn was not entitled to severance payments or any other compensation. Wynn, 76, resigned as CEO of the company earlier this month after allegations of sexual misconduct. Wynn, who denied the accusations, remains Wynn Resorts' largest shareholder and owns about 12% of the company. He had informed the company last week that he had no immediate plans of selling the company's shares that he owns."
Beyond the Beltway
Tim White of WPRI Rhode Island: Rhode Island "State Sen. Nicholas Kettle, R-Coventry, has been arrested by the state police and charged with one count of video voyeurism and two counts of extortion. The 27-year-old was arrested by state police on Friday. The extortion counts were through a grand jury indictment, according to Lt. Col. Joseph Philbin. He did not immediately provide more details on the charges." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: One would get the impression, upon reading the news over a period of time, that some of the most depraved people in the country are elected officials.
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Reader Comments (14)
The end of another successful Infrastructure Week!
May we have more of these ...
THE RUSSIAN BARE-NAKEDS {at the theatre of the absurd}
Spies, sabotagers, trolls, hackers, hookers, and a Cook in the kitchen brandishing a large cleaver, the best tool for all the hatchet jobs.
Something for everyone and this is only the first act.
"...most of the Russian effort described in the indictment, if extensive, seems to be downright stupid." (Mrs. M.)
You mean like a whole lot of Trump voters?
So it appears that Trump and the missus only went to the hospital––scant coverage––none of his meetings with the parents of the victims? What the hell!!! So are we to conclude he never met with the parents?
But the good news is these children, survivors of the shooting, are rallying round, denouncing congress and their governor for not doing a bloody thing about gun control. These children have voices and they are loud and angry.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/florida-high-school-students-stage-walkout-to-protest-gun-violence_us_5a87067be4b004fc3191a117
@PD Pepe: I don't think all that many students & parents are anxious to meet with Trump.
Personally, I find it offensive that Trump & Rick Scott are showing up at events related to this mass murder, inasmuch as they refuse to do more than pray & think up ways to get more guns to people predisposed to gun violence.
I wrote to my congressman yesterday, asking him to force Paul Ryan's hand on getting facts and data about gun violence.
He wrote back, mostly with a form letter. The good news is that HB 1478, the Gun Violence Research Act, has been introduced. The sad news is that it was introduced in response to the Texas church shooting. How many shootings ago was that?
A perspective again. Trump's problem with Russian influence in his election only concerns one issue. The possibility that one voter made their decision to vote for Trump on the basis of Russia, not the fact that he admires (loves?) Trump.
Isn't that nice of Mr. Kelly, giving those that haven't been able to clear their background check, for the last 9 months, until next Friday to turn in their badges. That should be enough time for them to fill their USB memory sticks and take all kinds of photos of documents they have access to.
I wonder who will be the highest bidder?
Mrs. McCrabbie, it may seem to you, or any reasonably intelligent person that “the Russians' shenanigans described in the indictment… seems to be downright stupid.” I am in Trump Country where there are very few reasonably intelligent people. This is all too complicated for someone barely able to think a single move ahead in a game of Tic Tac Toe.
Last week during a conversation with an acquaintance, the topic of immigration came up and he said something to the effect that “We need laws like Bermuda, which has such strict immigration laws that parents are forced to make their children leave the island if they have too many children.” I attempted to explain that I had lived in Bermuda, (the immigration laws are indeed strict,) and he was conflating immigration laws with automobile laws. Bermuda does limit each household to just two automobiles, forcing the adult children to move out if they want their own automobile.
Bermuda has one of the highest standards of living in the world. It is a small island of 15 square miles, about 2/3rds the size of Manhattan, and located 665 miles from the nearest land. Many of the best and brightest Bermudians go to the US, Canada or Europe for college. The government there wants them to come home to Bermuda after completing their education and they want them to know they will receive preferential treatment when looking for a job. The immigration laws allow the phrase “Only Bermudians Need Apply” in help wanted ads.
It’s a small island on a coral atoll, there is no reasonable comparison with the US and its large land mass. Tall buildings and large vehicles are rare. The population is limited to maintain their standard of living and to avoid overcrowding. While households are forced to ship automobiles off-island (or sell them,) they are not forced to ship their children off-island.
But, I digress. I think got as far “I lived in Bermuda” when his eyes rolled, and I lost him completely by the time I got to “conflating”. (I’m pretty sure I said confusing, to avoid, well, confusing him.)
My point is, that the low information voter who turns to Faux News, InfoWars and other such illustrious outlets for “information” will lap up any simple thing that can fit on a bumper sticker. Anything more complex than that, which requires actual discernment, is ignored. Conversely, anything that reinforces their simple preconceived notions is absorbed and parroted.
All too many Americans here in Trump Country are too much like Trump, as described by Phillip Roth in the New Yorker: “ignorant of government, of history, of science, of philosophy, of art, incapable of expressing or recognizing subtlety or nuance, destitute of all decency, and wielding a vocabulary of seventy-seven words that is better called Jerkish than English.”
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/01/30/philip-roth-e-mails-on-trump
It is no wonder that Nickolas “Cruz wrote that he hated, 'jews, ni**ers, immigrants.' He talked about killing Mexicans, keeping black people in chains and cutting their necks.” HIS President has expressed the same views. He was just playing “follow the leader”.
BTW, so happy to see that the Chief of Staff for the President* who promised serious vetting of immigrants has discovered “serious shortcomings with the system for vetting top-level officials with access to the United States’ most closely guarded secrets” just 1 year and 29 days into the administration. Looks like this administration is “extremely careless” with classified information. LOCK “EM UP!!
unwashed - "fill their USB memory sticks and take all kinds of photos" - exactly what I expect from this transactional den of thieves.
I'm confused. The 13 russians are, according to buzzfeed, being charged with defrauding the US. So why is trump still president?
The idea of Putin blackmailing trump over moral shortcomings (prostitutes, pee games etc) is laughable. But maybe money laundering.
Do reporters have no sense of shame? The pack, howling like dogs for a bone from their master as he flips them off. Disgusting!
This weekend is the Miami Gun Show. Pretty quiet. Why isn't a horde of Floridians tearing the place to shreds? Or does anyone care?
I wonder if the docs at the Florida hospital showed DiJiT photos of the victims' wound ballistics before they were treated and bandaged.
Don't look at this article if you don't want to see how various small arms (all available to U.S. citizens) pulverize living animals. These are animal subjects, but effects on humans are about the same.
I raise this question because many people who are bigtime 2nd Amendment types have never seen the effects of high power military rounds on people. When they do see them, there is sometimes an epiphany. Your prior experience with the game you've shot bears no comparison. These weapons inject massive explosive power into flesh and bone and just pulverize them.
An AR-15 is one of these weapons.
My dad was an Army doctor and I got from him an army medical book called "Wound Ballistics", hundreds of pages of pictures of all types of battlefield and bombing wounds from WW2 and Korea. I was working at the time (decades ago) in an organization where many were involved in strategic and tactical defense analysis/policy, but none had ever seen the effects of combat. I put that book out on my office coffee table so visitors could thumb through it while waiting to do business. Some were enlightened; most were not. Pictures don't really do justice to the subject.
If the docs showed DiJiT the pre-op pictures, I doubt he would even try to take them in. But you never know.
Mrs. McCrabbie says: "One would get the impression, upon reading
the news over a period of time, that some of the most depraved
people in the country are elected officials".
There's an old saying, something like:
Don't lie, don't steal, don't cheat, don't sell drugs or porn because
politicians hate competition.
A glance at this morning's paper provided this nugget.
Pruitt's explanation for his excessive travel costs, which include exclusive and first class accommodations, is the "toxic political environment."
Two thoughts about this man who ought to know everything there is to know about "toxic."
When it comes to toxic environmental waste, he acts as if the citizenry ought to welcome it, say lay it on, and say thank you.
It would also seem that since he and his cohort of robbers have heaped carloads of toxicity on the political environment as well as on the land, as a member of the party of responsibility he should hasten to pay the extra costs that toxicity incurs.
Dream on, Ken.
From the Nakamura and DeBonis report above it would seem the Pretender's Brown Shirts have gravitated, naturally enough, to the DHS where they feel most at home.
In he interests if efficiency, anyway, an exterminator would be pleased to have all the pests "huddled" neatly in one place.
Now, all we need is the exterminator.
Stranger than fiction, as they say. Curious to learn more, I decided to look up info about the San Diego billionaire nominated by President Trump to be ambassador to the Bahamas that CW mentiones above.
And, would you believe this story also has a Russian connection! Things do get weirder and weirder in this no collusion administration. It seems that Papa Doug Manchester picked a Siberian bride-to-be (in 2013) for second wife! Belated wishes to the lovely couple and what a " perfect match" "