;)
The Commentariat -- February 22, 2020
Afternoon Update:
The New York Times has live updates of the Nevada Democratic caucuses here. The Washington Post's live updates are here. NPR's caucus liveblog is here.
Holly Otterbein of Politico: "Nevada is a notoriously tough place for presidential candidates to attract volunteers. But Bernie Sanders has somehow amassed an army. Thousands of the Vermont senator's volunteers and aides in the state have knocked on 500,000-plus doors, two-thirds of which took place in February, according to his campaign. Those mega-fans helped propel his strong grassroots performances in Iowa and New Hampshire -- and now appear poised to help him turn out the vote and cinch a victory in Nevada."
Animal Cruelty Masquerading as Satire. Anita Hassan & David Li of NBC News: "Pigeons with tiny Make American Great Again hats glued to their heads were released in downtown Las Vegas this week in what appears to be a sarcastic statement of loyalty to ... Donald Trump and a mock protest of Nevada's coming Democratic presidential caucuses. A group calling itself P.U.T.I.N., Pigeons United To Interfere Now, claimed responsibility for the stunt. The pigeons were set loose Tuesday, according to the group."
Michael Crowley & David Sanger of the New York Times: "When President Trump's national security adviser, Robert C. O'Brien, convenes meetings with top National Security Council officials at the White House, he sometimes opens by distributing printouts of Mr. Trump's latest tweets on the subject at hand. The gesture amounts to an implicit challenge for those present. Their job is to find ways of justifying, enacting or explaining Mr. Trump's policy, not to advise the president on what it should be. That is the reverse of what the National Security Council was created to do at the Cold War's dawn -- to inform and advise the president on national security decisions. But under Mr. O'Brien, the White House's hostage negotiator when Mr. Trump chose him to succeed John R. Bolton in September, that dynamic has often been turned on its head.... In the fourth year of his presidency and in his fourth national security adviser, Mr. Trump has finally gotten what he wants -- a loyalist who enables his ideas instead of challenging them." Mrs. McC: We're paying these people ... to stroke Trump & promote his Fox-generated "ideas."
Kyle Cheney of Politico: "... Roger Stone, sentenced to 40 months in prison this week..., moved Friday to disqualify the judge in his case, claiming her remarks at his sentencing rendered her unable to fairly rule on his bid for a new trial. Stone's lawyers say, in particular, that Judge Amy Berman Jackson's decision to assert that jurors in the case 'served with integrity' strikes at the heart of Stone's motion for a new trial, which they indicated is largely based on whether at least one juror was inappropriately biased against him.... Stone's latest motion appears to be a last-ditch, longshot bid to forestall his imminent prison sentence. But it will also likely reach the receptive ears of the president, who has repeatedly amplified criticism of Jackson and repeated false claims about the nature of the charges against Stone."
Mark Stern of Slate: "On Friday evening, by a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration's wealth test for immigrants to take effect in Illinois. All four liberal justices dissented from the order, which changes relatively little.... What's most remarkable about the decision is Justice Sonia Sotomayor's withering dissent, which calls out -- with startling candor -- a distressing pattern: The court's Republican appointees have a clear bias toward the Trump administration.... When some of the most despised and powerless among us ask the Supreme Court to spare their lives, the conservative justices turn a cold shoulder. When the Trump administration demands permission to implement some cruel, nativist, and potentially unlawful immigration restrictions, the conservatives bend over backward to give it everything it wants. There is nothing 'fair and balanced' about the court's double standard that favors the government over everyone else. And, as Sotomayor implies, this flagrant bias creates the disturbing impression that the Trump administration has a majority of the court in its pocket."
Anderson Cooper Had a Blago Sandwich Last Night:
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~~~ Really terrific! Thanks to PD Pepe for the link.
NBC News: The Nevada caucuses are today. "Check-in begins at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT. The actual call to caucus is at 3 p.m ET/12 p.m. PT.... The state [Democratic] party participated in early voting for the first time this year and turnout was robust; the state party said that almost 75,000 people voted early." ~~~
~~~ Alex Seitz-Wald & Garrett Haake of NBC News: "Nevada Democrats have hired a professional call center with 200 paid operators and dedicated reporting lines to help take in results from caucus sites around the state, diverging from Iowa where lightly trained volunteers manned the phones and reported chaos and jammed phoned lines after an app that was supposed to process most of the results malfunctioned. 'We have been working around the clock to ensure that what happened in Iowa will not happen here, which is why we're taking no chances when it comes to reporting,' Molly Forgey, spokesperson for the Nevada Democratic Party, told NBC News."
Zack Montellaro of Politico: "The Iowa state Democratic Party announced Friday it accepted a limited recount request from the two top candidates in this month's caucuses: Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders. An unsigned statement from the state party said it will recount 10 precincts requested by the Sanders campaign and 14 by the Buttigieg campaign, for a total of 23 unique precincts. The party accepted the entirety of Sanders' recount request, according to data it released earlier this week. However, the party did not accept the entirety of Buttigieg's campaign request. His campaign requested a recount in 54 precincts, but just 14 were accepted, according to a list released by the state party."
The Guardian has a liveblog of Friday's campaign events. (Also linked yesterday.)
Shane Harris, et al., of the Washington Post (Updated): "U.S. officials have told Sen. Bernie Sanders that Russia is attempting to help his presidential campaign as part of an effort to interfere with the Democratic contest, according to people familiar with the matter. President Trump and lawmakers on Capitol Hill have also been informed about the Russian assistance to the Vermont senator, according to people familiar with the matter.... 'I don't care, frankly, who Putin wants to be president,' Sanders said in a statement to The Washington Post. 'My message to Putin is clear: Stay out of American elections, and as president I will make sure that you do. In 2016, Russia used Internet propaganda to sow division in our country, and my understanding is that they are doing it again in 2020. Some of the ugly stuff on the Internet attributed to our campaign may well not be coming from real supporters.'... At a Democratic candidates debate Wednesday in Las Vegas, Sanders indirectly blamed Russia, saying it was possible that malign actors were trying to manipulate social media to inflame divisions among Democrats.... After Sanders's remarks..., some social media analysts were skeptical of the notion that Russians already were masquerading as the candidate's supporters.... Sanders told reporters Friday after The Post's report was published that he received the briefing 'about a month ago.'" (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times has a story here. NBC News has a related story here. ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: It seems Bernie had no trouble condemning Russia at the first opportunity. So why can't Donald do the same after years & years of pleas from reporters? Instead, Trump blames Democrats for spreading a "hoax," then fires the top White House intelligence officials who actually provided the information to Congress, and -- as it turns out -- to the Sanders campaign. Trump isn't just a flagrant liar; he's a 'fraidy-cat wuss who can't own up to the free help he's getting from foreign subversives. ~~~
~~~ Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), appearing on CNN, suggests that Trump may be "working as an agent of Russia," feeding Russia information on what Democratic candidate he prefers; i.e., Sanders. Mrs. McC: One might, for instance, see this as a signal to Russia: Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "... at a Nevada campaign rally Friday..., Trump ... suggested that Moscow would prefer to see Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) ... in the White House, noting that he 'honeymooned' in the Soviet Union." ~~~
~~~ Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "President Trump said Friday that a disclosure by American intelligence officials that Russia was again meddling in a presidential election in his favor was merely another partisan campaign against him, dismissing the warning as a hoax cooked up by rivals. 'Another misinformation campaign is being launched by Democrats in Congress saying that Russia prefers me to any of the Do Nothing Democrat candidates who still have been unable to, after two weeks, count their votes in Iowa,' Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter. 'Hoax number 7!'... Mr. Trump has a long history of discarding assessments made by intelligence agencies that he has deemed unfair or unflattering.... Mr. Trump, with the assistance of his Justice Department, has moved to retaliate against the intelligence community rather than Mr. Putin...." The Hill has a report here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "Trump and his GOP defenders appear to be actively abetting an attack on our country. By contrast, Democrats can be accused only of passivity -- a serious abdication, but not remotely comparable to what Trump and his defenders are orchestrating.... Trump is angry because our intelligence officials followed the law and informed members of both parties about what the intel indicated about new Russian efforts.... So now the media scrutiny must fall heavily on what the administration is doing to mitigate the threat that its own intelligence has identified. Is Trump facilitating or hindering those efforts?... There is no longer any excuse for failing to ramp up the oversight immediately."
~~~ Julian Barnes, et al., of the New York Times: "Richard Grenell's tenure as the nation's top intelligence official may be short-lived, but he wasted no time this week starting to shape his team of advisers, ousting his office's No. 2 official -- a longtime intelligence officer -- and bringing in an expert on Trump conspiracy theories to help lead the agency, according to officials. Mr. Grenell has also requested the intelligence behind the classified briefing last week before the House Intelligence Committee where officials told lawmakers that Russia was interfering in November's presidential election and that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia favored President Trump's re-election.... Joseph Maguire, the former acting director of national intelligence, and his deputy, Andrew P. Hallman, resigned on Friday. Mr. Grenell told Mr. Hallman, popular in the office's Liberty Crossing headquarters, that his service was no longer needed, according to two officials. Mr. Hallman ... has worked in the office or at the C.I.A. for three decades.... One of [Grenell's] first hires was Kashyap Patel, a senior National Security Council staff member and former key aide to Representative Devin Nunes.... Mr. Patel will have a mandate to 'clean house,' CBS News reported...." ~~~
~~~ Isaac Arnsdorf of ProPublica: "... Donald Trump's new acting intelligence director, Richard Grenell, used to do consulting work on behalf of an Eastern European oligarch who is now a fugitive and was recently barred from entering the U.S. under anti-corruption sanctions imposed last month by the State Department. In 2016, Grenell wrote several articles defending the oligarch, a Moldovan politician named Vladimir Plahotniuc, but did not disclose that he was being paid, according to records and interviews. Grenell also did not register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which generally requires people to disclose work in the U.S. on behalf of foreign politicians. FARA is the same law that Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort and former deputy campaign manager Rick Gates were convicted of violating. (Manafort went to trial. Gates pleaded guilty.)"
~~~ Ha Ha. According to Nicolle Wallace of MSNBC, Trump considered Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah) to be Director of National Intelligence, but dropped him when a 2016 video resurfaced featuring Stewart calling Trump "Our Mussolini." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Stephen Collison of CNN: "America is blundering into a new Russia election-meddling hall of mirrors that's already doing Moscow's work: tearing fresh political divides and threatening to again tarnish democracy's most sacred moment, a national election.... Trump was informed that the House Intelligence Committee was told of the Russian intelligence operation last week by Rep. Devin Nunes..., a source told CNN.... Partisan uproar over the new claims, meanwhile, suggests that the alleged operation is again delivering for Russia on its intended goals: sowing distrust in the US system and turning Americans against themselves in a way that weakens national unity." --s (Also linked yesterday.)
Steve Contorno of the Tampa Bay Times: "Just as the 2020 U.S. Census count is about to begin, the Republican National Committee is sending people across the country a letter it confusingly labeled as a '2020 Congressional District Census.' Like the census, the piece of mail includes a survey. But unlike the official decennial questionnaire the federal government will soon send out to millions of Americans, this one is asking for donations to the GOP and a loyalty pledge to ... Donald Trump. And it's 'Commissioned by the Republican Party,' according to the form, not the U.S. Department of Commerce. A Democratic Party spokesman called the GOP mailers 'reprehensible' and 'intentionally deceptive,' according to the Los Angeles Times, which reported on the letters Friday after they arrived in California mailboxes. The mailer also appeared in Florida this month and the Tampa Bay Times recently obtained one sent to a Tallahassee voter.... An envelope claims the mail is an 'official document,' according to the Los Angeles Times. 'Do not destroy,' it says, while telling recipients, 'Your participation is urgently needed.'"
Dareh Gregorian of NBC News: "Mike Bloomberg said Friday his company would release from nondisclosure agreements three women who complained about inappropriate comments they said he made, two days after he was pressed to do so by Elizabeth Warren during the Democratic debate. 'Bloomberg LP has identified 3 NDAs signed over the past 30+ years with women to address complaints about comments they said I had made. If any of them want to be released from their NDAs, they should contact the company and they'll be given a release'" Bloomberg tweeted Friday." (Also linked yesterday.)
Biden Appears to Make up a Dramatic Story. Katie Glueck & Thomas Kaplan of the New York Times: "In at least three campaign appearances over the past two weeks, Joseph R. Biden Jr. has told a similar story as he tries to revive his campaign in states with more diverse voters. On a trip to South Africa years ago, he has said, he [& the U.N. ambassador were] arrested as [they] sought to visit Nelson Mandela in prison.... But if Mr. Biden, then a United States senator from Delaware, was in fact arrested while trying to visit Mr. Mandela, he did not mention it in his 2007 memoir when writing about a 1970s trip to South Africa, and he has not spoken of it prominently on the 2020 campaign trail. A check of available news accounts by The New York Times turned up no references to an arrest.... Andrew Young .., who was the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from 1977 to 1979, said that he had traveled with Mr. Biden over the years, including to South Africa. But Mr. Young said that he had never been arrested in South Africa and expressed skepticism that members of Congress would have faced arrest there. 'No, I was never arrested and I don't think he was, either,' Mr. Young, now 87, said in a telephone interview." Mrs. McC: If you read the whole article, you'll see how Biden embellishes the story as he repeats it. Pretty soon he'll have himself chained to Mandella, like Tony Curtis & Sidney Poitier in "The Defiant Ones."
San Diego Union-Tribune Editors endorse Pete Buttigieg in the Democratic presidential primary.
San Francisco Chronicle Editors endorse Amy Klobuchar in the Democratic primary.
Seattle Times Editors endorse Amy Klobuchar.
Jeremy Diamond, et al., of CNN: "... Donald Trump's new personnel chief told agency officials at a meeting on Thursday to expect staffing changes and movements across the government, people familiar with the meeting told CNN. A White House official said John McEntee, the President's former body man who was elevated to run the presidential personnel office, made it clear his office will be on the lookout for staffers across the bureaucracy who are seen as disloyal to Trump. Another official said McEntee indicated he plans to first focus his efforts on personnel at the State Department and Department of Defense. He also told the liaisons that promotions and significant staff changes should not occur without prior approval from the presidential personnel office." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: McEntee, who is 29 years old & had an illustrious career ordering burgers & fries for President Big MacDonald before John Kelly had him frog-marched out of the White House because of security issues related to possible financial crimes, is now moving career officials around, nixing their promotions & whatever based upon his judgment of their "loyalty" to Trump. ~~~
~~~ Jonathan Swan & Alayna Treene of Axios: "Trump has empowered McEntee -- whom he considers an absolute loyalist -- to purge the 'bad people' and 'Deep State.'" According to Swan & Treene, McEntee will stifle only political appointees. (Also linked yesterday.)
Josh Dawsey, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump has directly weighed in on the White House review of a forthcoming book by his former national security adviser, telling his staff that he views John Bolton as 'a traitor,' that everything he uttered to the departed aide about national security is classified and that he will seek to block the book's publication, according to two people familiar with the conversations. The president's private arguments stand in contrast to the point-by-point process used to classify and protect sensitive secrets and appears to differ from the White House's public posture toward Bolton's much-anticipated memoir. The National Security Council warned Bolton last month that his draft 'appears to contain significant amounts of classified information,' some of it top secret, but pledged to help him revise the manuscript and 'move forward as expeditiously as possible.'... But the president has insisted to aides that Bolton's account of his work in Trump's White House ... should not see the light of day before the November election, according to the two people.... Trump told national television anchors on Feb. 4 during an off-the-record lunch that material in the book was 'highly classified'according to notes from one participant in the luncheon. He then called him a 'traitor.' 'We're going to try and block the publication of the book,' Trump said, according to the notes. 'After I leave office, he can do this. But not in the White House.'"
Jeff Stein & Laura Reiley of the Washington Post: "President Trump promised in an all-caps tweet Friday to provide additional bailout funding to American farmers if necessary, as questions arise over whether China's purchases of agricultural products will fall short of what it pledged in the recently signed trade deal. Trump said he may expand the nearly $30 billion bailout program until the administration's recently struck trade deals with China, Canada, and Mexico 'kick in.' On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief economist, Robert Johansson, projected that agricultural exports to China would reach roughly $14 billion in the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30, far short of what White House officials said would take place.... Trump also said in the tweet that the federal bailout funding will be 'PAID FOR OUT OF THE MASSIVE TARIFF MONEY COMING INTO THE USA!' But critics have noted tariffs are paid by U.S. consumers in the form of higher prices."(Also linked yesterday.)
Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Friday night removed the remaining obstacle to the Trump administration's plan to implement new 'wealth test' rules making it easier to deny immigrants residency or admission to the United States if they might depend on public-assistance programs. Although legal challenges will continue on the merits of the policy in lower courts, the justices voted 5 to 4 to remove the last remaining judicial order blocking the new standards from going into effect while those battles play out. Critics say the rules, which the administration plans to begin enforcing Monday, replace decades of understanding and would place a burden on poor immigrants from non-English-speaking countries."
Moooo! Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A federal judge has tossed out a racketeering lawsuit House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes filed last year against the private investigation firm at the heart of the Trump-Russia saga. Alexandria, Virginia-based U.S. District Court Judge Liam O'Grady's two-page order made short work of Nunes' suit, which sought $9.9 million in damages from Fusion GPS, its founder Glenn Simpson and a nonprofit watchdog group, Campaign for Accountability. The judge also signaled that pressing on with the legal battle could result in sanctions against Nunes and his attorney, Steven Biss."
Hound Bites Border Patrol. Gene Johnson of the AP: "Greyhound, the nation's largest bus company, said Friday it will stop allowing Border Patrol agents without a warrant to board its buses to conduct routine immigration checks. The company's announcement came one week after The Associated Press reported on a leaked Border Patrol memo confirming that agents can't board private buses without the consent of the bus company. Greyhound had previously insisted that even though it didn't like the immigration checks, it had no choice under federal law but to allow them. In an emailed statement, the company said it would notify the Department of Homeland Security that it does not consent to unwarranted searches on its buses or in areas of terminals that are not open to the public -- such as company offices or any areas a person needs a ticket to access. Greyhound said it would provide its drivers and bus station employees updated training regarding the new policy, and that it would place stickers on all its buses clearly stating that it does not consent to the searches.... Border Patrol arrests videotaped by other passengers have sparked criticism, and Greyhound faces a lawsuit in California alleging that it violated consumer protection laws by facilitating raids."
Beyond the Beltway
Florida/Turkmenistan. Eric Lavai & Scot Stedman of Forensic News: "Florida's official Republican Party Facebook page, along with nine other Florida Republican county Facebook pages, have a page manager located in Turkmenistan, a country in Central Asia with no public affiliation to Florida Republicans or political social media consultants. All ten of the Facebook page managers from Turkmenistan disappeared after Forensic News contacted the Florida GOP page owner for comment.... Because Facebook does not require page managers to reveal their names, there is no way to know who is managing the pages from Turkmenistan. There was, however, a page owner, the person who runs the entire Florida GOP Facebook page, listed as longtime GOP social media strategist Jordan Gibson.... Turkmenistan's government maintains total control over their Internet. All major social media sites, including Facebook, are banned." --s (Also linked yesterday.)
Way Beyond
U.K. Royal No More. Mark Landler of the New York Times: "Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, will give up the name 'royal' as they withdraw from official duties as members of the British royal family and embark on new lives in the private sector, the couple confirmed on Friday. Harry and Meghan, who are also known as the duke and duchess of Sussex, had planned to use the name SussexRoyal as an umbrella brand for their new charitable foundation and social media accounts. But after protracted and difficult negotiations with Buckingham Palace, the couple has agreed not to use 'royal' in any of their philanthropic or commercial activities after this spring. They will withdraw trademark applications using the name and remove it from their Instagram account and website."
News Lede
The New York Times' live updates of developments in the coronavirus epidemic are here.
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Reader Comments (7)
THE DAY DEMOCRACY DIED:
High in the heavens a group of old men, every Friday night, get together for their weekly poker game. They are a motley crew but all stellar fellas known back in the day as "The Founders"––George, John, Tom, the two Jimmies, good old Ben and of course Alexander Hamilton who constantly reminds the guys "They made a musical about me!" then prances around and belts out a few of his favorites. The lone wolf here is John Jay who joins in the game but refuses to play for money.
Now given that all are political creatures they keep a keen eye on how their Founding has flourished or faltered. Since Trump has entered the stage all eight have been shocked, then saddened, which led to deep depression but now–– their ire is up! So last Friday, instead of poker, Alex suggested they send a song of sagacity to the populace below. "Wake up, people! Can't you see what's happening?" cries Ben, who was always able to see what was happening before it happened. Here is the result:
https://youtu.be/-Ue5F57dZMU
Last night Lawrence gave us two minutes (from his radio show of shows) of Rush Limbaugh's explanation of what he sees happening re: the "so called" Russian interference. He posits that just like the intelligence guys and CIA made up the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq during the Bush administration, so have they now made up shit about Russia interfering with our elections. It's all a hoax to implicate Trump. Deep state stuff––very bad!
As Lawrence said, here is the guy millions listen to in their cars––filling their ears with outrageous junk day after day after day. And this is the guy who received a medal from Fatty for lying to the public and doing his best to satisfy the King. He called it freedom or honor or something––I forget what spurious special tag was given.
Bernie's condemnation of Russia was great, but then he and his campaign's questioning of the timing of the news plays right into the hands of Russia and the paranoid Bernie bros.
I wonder if Jon Stewart is going honor his deal to hug Blago if he got acquitted?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzMleJlVABo
Granted, acquittal is not the same as pardon. Maybe just a handshake then.
Re: “The Day Democracy Died”
So excellent, PD Pepe!
The animation *and* your lead-in narrative.
grazie mille
From above —
". . . Pigeons with tiny Make American Great Again hats glued to their heads . . . A group calling itself P.U.T.I.N. . . . “
Animal Cruelty, indeed! Surprised the hats weren’t soldered on and the creatures stomped, shot or ignited for a splashing finale.
It’s been noted that those possessing zero compunctions about torturing animals are also those most likely to move on . . .