;)
The Commentariat -- January 27, 2018
It's kind of amazing that, with the plethora of news items on offer here in RC World, there are relatively few comments. I look forward every day to the ideas you all put forward. -- Akhilleus, at the end of yesterday's thread.
Ditto. Commenting on Reality Chex couldn't be easier. You can assume almost any pseudonym you like. I do suggest you keep a copy of your comment until it is published. To assure your comment has been published, just refresh the page; the comment should come up right away. The only rules are that (1) you don't attack other commenters -- disagree with their ideas, not with their characters or intelligence -- (2) you don't advocate ideas that shock the conscience, and (3) (which seems to be a difficult one) your comments stick to political matters. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie
Murray Waas of Foreign Policy, via Digby: "... Donald Trump pressed senior aides last June to devise and carry out a campaign to discredit senior FBI officials after learning that those specific employees were likely to be witnesses against him as part of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, according to two people directly familiar with the matter. In testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee on June 8, recently fired FBI Director James Comey disclosed that he spoke contemporaneously with other senior bureau officials about potentially improper efforts by the president to curtail the FBI's investigation.... Not long after Comey's Senate testimony, Trump hired John Dowd, a veteran criminal defense attorney, to represent him in matters related to Mueller's investigation. Dowd warned Trump that the potential corroborative testimony of the senior FBI officials in Comey's account would likely play a central role in the special counsel's final conclusion, according to people familiar with the matter. In discussions with at least two senior White House officials, Trump repeated what Dowd had told him to emphasize why he and his supporters had to 'fight back harder,' in the words of one of these officials.... Dowd denied the accounts of administration officials contained in this story.... Since Dowd gave him that information, Trump -- as well as his aides, surrogates, and some Republican members of Congress -- has engaged in an unprecedented campaign to discredit specific senior bureau officials and the FBI as an institution." ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: digby has a link to the original FP story, but unless you already have a subscription or wish to purchase one, trying to get thru FP's firewall probably is not worth the trouble, IMO. digby has a bit more than I've excerpted. ...
... Kevin Drum: "It's a little unclear [from Waas's report] precisely what Dowd told Trump, or precisely what orders Trump gave to others. Those details are going to make the difference between whether this is a 3 or a 7 on the obstruction-of-justice Richter scale." ...
... Michael Shear & Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "Senate Democrats said on Friday that they would seek to ensure that continuing budget negotiations included legislation to protect Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel in the Russia investigation, from being fired by President Trump. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the top Democrat in the Senate, said an article in The New York Times detailing an effort by Mr. Trump to fire Mr. Mueller in June demonstrated the urgency for Congress to act.... The move by the Democratic leadership escalates previous efforts by lawmakers in both parties to stave off a possible constitutional crisis should Mr. Trump try to shut down the Russia investigation by getting rid of Mr. Mueller.... The legislation went nowhere as the president, his lawyers and his top aides insisted that he was not -- and never had been -- considering firing Mr. Mueller." ...
... Karen Freifeld of Reuters: "White House Counsel Donald McGahn threatened to quit last June because he was 'fed up' after ... Donald Trump insisted he take steps to remove the special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.... The person told Reuters on Friday that Trump asked McGahn to raise what he said were Mueller's conflicts with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.... McGahn ... did not discuss the issue with Rosenstein and threatened to quit when Trump continued to insist that he do so, the person said. The lawyer did not issue an ultimatum directly to the president but told then White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and then chief strategist Steve Bannon he wanted to quit because he was 'fed up with the president,' the person said." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I'm guessing Bannon was one of the NYT's sources. ...
... White House Switches to Non-Denial Denials. Oliver Willis of Shareblue: "Appearing at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump was asked about the latest revelation that Trump had plotted to fire [Robert] Mueller almost immediately after his appointment.... 'Did you seek to fire Mueller?' a reporter asked. 'Fake news, folks, fake news,' he responded. 'Typical New York Times, fake story.' But in the past when reporting indicated that Trump has sought to remove Mueller, the denial was far more detailed than his go-to rhetoric attacking the free press. There are at least eight instances of the Trump and his team denying plans to go after Mueller.... Now there has been a dramatic shift in tone, from unequivocal denials to now simply attacking a news outlet." ...
... Dan Friedman of Mother Jones: "No, Trump Did Not 'Deny' Reports That He Tried to Fire Mueller.... his promiscuous use of the phrase ['fake news'] leaves it with no real meaning. As Steve Coll wrote last month in the New Yorker, Trump's 'definition of "fake news" is credible reporting that he doesn't like.'... Trump may [have] avoided a direct denial of the story because an overt lie about an effort to fire the head of an investigation into him could be used by Mueller to demonstrate that Trump had intent to obstruct justice. Lying about the attempt could show that Trump was aware his actions were improper.... By labeling the [NYT] scoop 'fake news,' Trump obfuscated while giving his supporters something to rally behind. When publications describe Trump's non-denial as a denial, they are unwittingly assisting him in this effort." ...
... Jeff Toobin of the New Yorker: "The issue of whether President Trump obstructed justice centers on his decision to fire James Comey ... last May. This is a classic intent case. The President clearly had the right to fire Comey, but he did not have the right to do so with improper intent.... It is this question of corrupt intent that makes the Times's recent blockbuster scoop so important. According to the article, the President tried to fire Robert Mueller ... last June, but he stopped when Don McGahn, the White House counsel, threatened to resign if Trump insisted on the dismissal. Trump apparently offered three [pretextual] justifications to fire Mueller.... McGahn recognized ... that Trump wanted to fire Mueller ... because his investigation was threatening to him. This, of course, also illuminates the reasons behind Trump's firing of Comey.... On perhaps the most important question of all -- whether the President of the United States committed the crime of obstruction of justice -- the answer now seems clear."
... Timothy O'Brien of Bloomberg: "As the White House gets rattled further, Trump will test how deeply Congress believes in and respects the rule of law.... Republicans and Democrats in Congress should remind themselves of that and prepare for the very real possibility that the president will try to fire the special counsel again -- especially if Mueller's probe ensnares any of the Trumps, including the paterfamilias." ...
... Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "... it is increasingly clear that [White House counsel Don] McGahn has been at the center of nearly everything [Robert] Mueller's obstruction investigation is scrutinizing. Mr. McGahn was the first White House official to hear the Justice Department's concerns that Michael T. Flynn ... was vulnerable to blackmail by Russia. On Mr. Trump's orders, he tried to persuade Attorney General Jeff Sessions not to recuse himself from the Russia investigation. He also took part in Mr. Trump's dismissal of the F.B.I. director James B. Comey. As a participant to those events, Mr. McGahn has been interviewed at length by Mr. Mueller's team as it has sought to understand the president's motivations and thinking. The investigators have also obtained memos, notes and emails about how Mr. McGahn tried to carry out Mr. Trump's decisions in legally appropriate ways.... Mr. McGahn's threat to resign is an example of how he has tried to both help and constrain an idiosyncratic client who hates to be managed and defies the norms of the presidency.... He has had a major effect on public policy through his support of efforts to dismantle regulations and his role in the administration's aggressive attempt to fill vacancies in the upper reaches of the federal judiciary with deeply conservative judges." ...
... Lloyd Grove of the Daily Beast: "Newsmax chief executive Chris Ruddy, a longtime friend of Donald Trump's, was roundly discredited by the White House communications shop last June when he went on television to warn that the president was seriously considering the politically damaging step of firing special counsel Robert Mueller. On Friday ... Ruddy was taking a victory lap of sorts. 'I don't want to get into a pissing match with the White House press shop, but I stand by the comments I made in June that the president was considering firing Robert Mueller,' Ruddy told The Daily Beast. '... I had been told by very high-ranking senior White House officials that he was seriously moving in that direction....'" ...
... Sara Murray, et al., of CNN: "Months after his reported effort to fire special counsel Robert Mueller..., Donald Trump is still fuming over the Russia investigation and has Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in his crosshairs. The President has been venting about Rosenstein -- who oversees [Robert] Mueller and the special counsel investigation -- in recent weeks, according to four sources familiar with the situation. At times, Trump even gripes about wanting Rosenstein removed, two of those sources said. One source said the President makes comments like 'let's fire him, let's get rid of him' before his advisers convince him it's an ill-fated idea.... Trump has come to view Rosenstein as one-in-the-same as Mueller -- another government official who is out to get the President, one source said." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: A couple of days ago contributor Fleeting Expletive asked, Michael "Wolff spent a year in the WH -- did his book (haven't read more than excerpts) allude to T's attempt to fire Mueller back on June 12,2017? Did he not hear about it at the time, or was he just that discreet in not revealing it? Sounded like the WH was in screaming-fits mode as that was going on: If he was there how did he miss it?" I haven't read the book either (though a friend is sending me her used copy (at my request, in a plain brown wrapper!). Here's the answer, more or less:
... Noor Al-Sibai of the Raw Story: "... Donald Trump's lawyers are reportedly researching a 1997 federal court case whose ruling found that presidents and their advisors are protected from disclosing information about their decisions. As the Wall Street Journal reported Friday evening, the 1997 case involved then-Agriculture Secretary Michael Espy, who was indicted for taking improper gifts in his official capacity but later acquitted in appeals court. In the case, an independent counsel subpoenaed the White House for records regarding Epsy." Mrs. McC: I heard several lawyers on the teevee saying that the opinion in the Espy case specifically states that the decision does not apply to a president or his top aides. ...
... Richard Painter & Norman Eisen, in a New York Times op-ed: "Reports that President Trump ordered the White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, to bring about the firing of the special counsel Robert Mueller last June are deeply troubling -- not only as evidence of what the president has already done, but what he may yet do to obstruct justice and undermine the rule of law.... [The order to fire Mueller] is yet more evidence that the president is determined to block the investigation at all costs.... The argument that President Trump has the absolute right to fire Mr. Mueller is just plain wrong.... Mr. McGahn's forbearance in this instance offers only limited comfort to lawmakers and the public." The writers remind us of a number of times McGahn has reportedly acted unethically. ...
... Oh, for Pete's Sake. Sadie Gurman of the AP: "Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Friday his own Justice Department may be fair game for criticism amid Republican complaints of anti-Trump bias in the FBI. Sessions, speaking to law enforcement officials in Norfolk, Virginia, said the department's mission is to identify and correct 'mistakes of the past' and eliminate political bias 'in either direction' from its investigations and prosecutions, a suggestion that that has not always been the case." ...
... Issie Lapowsky of Wired: "The Department of Justice's special counsel Robert Mueller and his office have interviewed at least one member of Facebook's team that was associated with President Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, according to a person familiar with the matter. The interview was part of Mueller's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election and what role, if any, the Trump campaign played in that interference. Facebook and other social platforms have emerged as a key part of that investigation, not only because the company embedded staff with the San Antonio -- based digital team working on Trump's campaign but also because it sold more than 3,000 Facebook and Instagram ads to fake accounts linked to the Russian propaganda group Internet Research Agency. All in, content shared by those accounts reached 126 million Facebook users, including more than 62,000 of whom signed up to attend events organized by those fake accounts."
Trump Makes Nice to Global Fat Cats. Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Trump reassured the world's political and financial leaders on Friday that his 'America First' agenda was not a rejection of international cooperation, but he insisted that cross-border trade had to be made fairer and vowed to take action against predatory practices." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Tom Embury-Dennis of the (U.K.) Independent: "Donald Trump has been booed at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos after launching an attack on what he described as the 'nasty, mean and fake' press. 'It wasn't until I became a politician, that I realised how nasty, how mean, how vicious and how fake the press can be,' Mr Trump said. Pointing into the crowd, he added: '... as the cameras start going off in the back.' The comment was met by a mixture of boos and laughter from the audience." Mrs. McC: If only the U.S. press weren't so "impartial" & polite. AND of course this is ludicrous coming from someone who denied President Obama was even an American, constantly called his opponent "crooked," slammed the press to its face, & so forth. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Trump Threatens Young People. Addy Baird of Think Progress: "The New York Times reported Thursday that White House officials ... 'warned that if no deal is reached [on immigration reform], DACA recipients will face deportation when the program fully expires on March 5.' One unnamed senior official said the young immigrants would not be specifically targeted, but rather they would be treated as 'illegal immigrants' who would be processed for deportation if they came into contact with immigration officers.... The government has a vast amount of personal information on each Dreamer that they were required to turn over to apply for the program -- without the DACA program, its recipients will lose their work permits." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Peter Overby & Emily Sullivan of WAMU Radio (Washington, D.C. & Baltimore): "Barely a month ago, a federal judge in New York dismissed an anti-corruption lawsuit against President Trump. But on Thursday, another federal judge, in a different courtroom, gave the same basic argument a much friendlier response. Judge Peter Messitte, of federal district court in Greenbelt, Md., seemed sympathetic to the assertion that the Trump profits from the nexus of his hotels and the presidency.... Judge Messitte seemed to urge the plaintiffs to amend the suit in ways that might make it more likely to succeed.... The Justice Department is defending the president." Thanks to NJC for the link. As NJC notes, contrary to the DOJ's position, "The problem is that Congress IS a potted plant." ...
... Melanie Schmitz of ThinkProgress: "The Kuwaiti embassy is set to host its annual independence day celebration at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., according to a source who provided ThinkProgress with a copy of the invitation. It's the second year in a row the embassy has chosen the venue for its national day party." --safari
Your Tax Dollars at Work: Trump Gets Two $12MM Refrigerators. Zachary Cohen & Ryan Browne of CNN: "Air Force One is primed to receive an upgrade that will include new refrigerators expected to cost American taxpayers nearly $24 million. The US Air Force awarded Boeing a $23.6 million contract in December to replace two of the five 'cold chiller units' aboard the aircraft.... The $24 million contract will cover the costs of engineering support services for the new chillers -- including prototype design, manufacturing and installation, according to the DOD contract." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: That's funny, because I remember way back when Trump promised to cut better deals with Boeing. Apparently that does not apply to AF1. Are these fridges solid gold, like that toilet Trump didn't want to borrow?
Chris D'Angelo of Mother Jones: "President Donald Trump and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke have repeatedly said they oppose selling off federal lands.... It was over this very issue that Zinke ... resigned as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 2016. And in a speech one day after arriving at his new post, Zinke promised Interior staffers: 'You can hear it from my lips. We will not sell or transfer public land.' But a leaked White House infrastructure plan has many conservation groups concerned that Trump and Zinke could soon be singing a different tune: that of the Republican Party, whose platform calls for transferring control of federal lands to states." --safari
Kyla Mendel of ThinkProgress: "Robert Mercer and his daughter Rebekah, powerful conservative donors with close ties to the Trump administration, donated millions of dollars to climate science denial groups, newly released 2016 tax filing details show. According to the tax filings ... nearly a quarter (23 percent) of the total $19 million donated to nonprofits by the Mercer Family Foundation in 2016 went to groups working, at least partially, on spreading misinformation around climate change and pushing to repeal environmental protections." --safari
Cristiano Lima of Politico writes a Page Six-style piece on rumors about Melania & Donald Trump, etc. Mrs. McCrabbie: Being a person of probity & discernment, I read almost every word. ...
Steve Wynn. A picture is worth 1,000 words.Adam Raymond of New York: "Billionaire Steve Wynn, the flamboyant casino mogul and finance chair for the Republican National Committee, has engaged in a 'decades-long pattern of sexual misconduct,' The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. In interviews with dozens of people who worked at Wynn's casinos over the years, the Journal learned that the 75-year-old has a well-known reputation for making sexual advances on salon and spa employees from whom he received massages and manicures.... The most 'striking' story the Journal heard was about a manicurist who said Wynn forced her to have sex with him. Wynn later paid her a $7.5 million settlement.... The allegations against Wynn come less than a week after he and Ronna [Romney!] McDaniel, the chairwoman of the RNC, threw a $100,000-a-head bash at Mar-a-Lago to celebrate the first anniversary of President Trump's inauguration. Wynn became the RNC's finance chair last January at Trump's request, despite their history of feuding." ...
... German Lopez of Vox: The Journal "heard back from dozens of people that Wynn repeatedly sexually harassed employees and pressured them to perform sex acts.... [Wynn's victims] were also physically intimidated in some cases, such as when Wynn would make the requests in a small office space with one or more of his German shepherds present.... Wynn blamed the allegations on his ex-wife Elaine Wynn, 'with whom I am involved in a terrible and nasty lawsuit in which she is seeking a revised divorce settlement.' The Wall Street Journal said it reached out to employees on its own and did not speak to Wynn's ex-wife.... Wynn has given millions to Republicans and their dark money groups...."
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Bad news for GOP members of Congress: they need Wynn's $$$. ...
... BUT the RNC Isn't Talking. Lachlan Markay & Asawin Suebsaeng of the Daily Beast: "Just months after the Republican Party worked to tie Democrats to alleged serial sexual abuser Harvey Weinstein, the GOP's chief fundraiser has been accused of pressuring multiple women, over the course of decades, into performing sex acts.... The [WSJ] report ... puts the [Republican National Committee] in a bind after it made a show of demanding that Democrats return money that Weinstein donated to their campaigns over his years of activity in party fundraising circles. Numerous Democrats ended up giving their Weinstein donations to either charities or, in some cases, political groups who work to elect progressive female lawmakers. Officials at the RNC and those close to it deemed such giving insufficient.... The RNC, which last year chose not to distance itself from another official credibly accused of sexual harassment -- Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore -- did not respond to a request for comment as to whether they would now do the same." ...
... Allan Smith of Business Insider lists some of the politicians & political groups to whom Steve Wynn has contributed. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: See also Schlub's comment in today's thread. Apparently sexual abuse is rampant in Las Vegas & is scarcely limited to Wynn & Co.
Maggie Haberman & Amy Chozick of the New York Times: "A senior adviser to Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign who was accused of repeatedly sexually harassing a young subordinate was kept on the campaign at Mrs. Clinton's request according to four people familiar with what took place. Mrs. Clinton's campaign manager at the time recommended that she fire the adviser, Burns Strider. But Mrs. Clinton did not. Instead, Mr. Strider was docked several weeks of pay and ordered to undergo counseling, and the young woman was moved to a new job.... Mr. Strider, who was Mrs. Clinton's faith adviser, was a founder of the American Values Network..., was hired five years later to lead an independent group that supported Mrs. Clinton's 2016 candidacy, Correct the Record, which was created by a close Clinton ally, David Brock. He as fired after several months for workplace issues, including allegations that he harassed a young female aide, according to three people close to Correct the Record's management." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
Matt Stevens of the New York Times: "Bowing to the demands of the United States Olympic Committee, U.S.A. Gymnastics confirmed Friday night that all the remaining members of its board of directors would resign -- the latest fallout from a widespread sexual abuse scandal involving the federation's longtime national team doctor, Lawrence G. Nassar. The announcement came one day after the head of the Olympic committee threatened in an email to decertify U.S.A. Gymnastics -- the sport's national governing body — if its entire board of more than 20 people did not resign by next Wednesday. Several board members, including the chairman, Paul Parilla, had already resigned by the time the email was sent." ...
... Paula Lavigne & Nicole Noren of ESPN: "Michigan State University administrators have long claimed, to the federal government and public, that they have handled sexual assault, violence, and gender discrimination complaints properly. But an Outside the Lines investigation has found a pattern of widespread denial, inaction and information suppression of such allegations by officials ranging from campus police to the Spartan athletic department, whose top leader, Mark Hollis, announced his retirement on Friday. The actions go well beyond the highly publicized case of former MSU athletic physician Larry Nassar. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I'd be surprised if the only schools to suppress multiple allegations of sexual abuse by coaches & players were Michigan State & Penn State.
... Marc Tracy of the New York Times: "Michigan State University was pushed further into disarray on Friday when the university's athletic director, Mark Hollis, announced his resignation just two days after the university presient resigned amid widespread outrage over Lawrence G. Nassar, who is accused of serially abusing more than 150 young women while he was a doctor at Michigan State and for the national women's gymnastics team." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Way Beyond the Beltway
Ben Hubbard of the New York Times: "Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, Saudi Arabia's most prominent and flamboyant investor, has been released from detention in the Ritz-Carlton in the capital [Ridyah, Saudi Arabia] after he was arrested amid a sweeping crackdown on corruption, two close associates of his family said on Saturday. The billionaire prince was arrested in November and detained in Riyadh, along with 10 other princes and hundreds of other members of the Saudi elite, as part of what the government called a mass crackdown on corruption. But the arrests were also seen as the latest moves by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to consolidate power."
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Reader Comments (12)
Emoluments litigation news here: https://wamu.org/story/18/01/26/federal-judge-seems-sympathetic-to-anti-corruption-case-against-president-trump/
The problem is that Congress IS a potted plant.
There are three possible reasons why Trump is against the Mueller probe.
1. Trump colluded with Putin
2. Without Trump, friends and family did bad things.
3. There was a voter in Iowa who made his decision to vote for Trump based on Russian 'news' and not because he recognized Trump as wonderful.
Multiply 3. x millions and Trump will do anything to prove that Trumplove, Trumphonor were the only reason he won.
I lived in Las Vegas for nearly twenty years, and while I have no first hand knowledge of Steve Wynn's (alleged) transgressions, I did spend about five of those years as the room service/hospitality sales manager for a very large property on the Strip (not one of Wynn's).
I can tell you one thing for certain: The male dominated culture in the casinos runs rampant. Women employees - cocktail servers and massage therapists in particular - were constantly harassed. Many women - one of my assistant managers, for instance - were put on the payroll not to perform any meaningful work, but to be at the beck and call of the fifteen or so exclusively white male vice presidents. Very few took these jobs willingly; the large majority accepted more lucrative positions or shifts along with the harassment because they did the math. They decided they would rather deal with the harassment than deal with the consequences that would absolutely ensue if they refused to bend to the will of the executives.
Criminal conduct on the part of the executives? Absolutely. Possibility that some casino exec will ever be prosecuted for such behavior in Clark County, Nevada? Absolutely zero.
So no, I don't have any kind of evidence that Steve Wynn himself engaged in the sort of conduct described by his accusers, but you would have to be hopelessly naive to put more faith in Wynn's account than in the accounts of his accusers.
The idea of the Evil Little Elf promoting himself as an unbiased promoter of law and order is both laughable and demonstrably untrue. Here’s a guy who first came to national prominence as the subject of senate scrutiny over a possible appointment to the federal bench. Sessions’ history as an unreconstructed racist who supported voter suppression and demonstrated a bias was so embarrassing that even Republicans on the committee couldn’t possibly see their way clear to allowing such an obvious bigot to impose his biased views from the bench.
This is a guy who, as Alabama’s AG, once showed up in court dressed in his Army Reserve officers uniform in an effort to bias the jury. The judge ordered him home to change. Schmuck.
And reading that Sessions holds truth in such high regard is in direct opposition to Sessions’ propensity for lying. During his confirmation hearings for his current position, he lied repeatedly about meeting with Russians. When it came out that he lied he tried to say something along the lines of his lies not being actual untruths, and he did it all in a whining, aggressive manner, outraged and butt-hurt that anyone could possibly not just take him at his word.
Finally, the nail in this particular coffin is the simple fact that Donald Trump, mortal enemy of truthful, unbiased action, picked him. Can you see Trump choosing someone who didn’t share his own conditional, toxic approach to exactly the sort of clean, unbiased, straight up and down philosophy Sessions now claims informs his work as AG?
Hell no.
If, according to Michael Wolff, Trump's "we gotta fire Mueller" was like "part of the wallpaper"––I gather that meant it was part of his daily threats––then instead of zeroing in on "intent to stop the investigation" these rants could very well be construed as crazy ramblings from an unhinged buffoon and if that is the case then we'd have to look at the 25th amendment.
The other nugget from Wolff relating to some affair that Trump is supposed to be having with a wink and nod to Niki Haley is frankly laughable. If there is some kind of between the sheets liaison going on I'd like to know when that could occur––with a White House that has an extraordinary leaking problem I'd bet we would have had word straight away. Of course there's always the possibility of someone like slinky Steve Miller secretly providing comfort by letting in a damsel in the dead of night––"here's your treat, sir, along with your burgers and fries."
The story of "Nip and Tuck" poster boy, Steve (such a popular name) Wynn is disgusting as well as interesting in the sense of how the Republicans will deal with this. Who knew we had such schmucks––it's like cockroaches coming out of the woodwork––-sadly, the women knew, the ones whose voices weren't heard.
And one of those schmucks is Burns Strider–-another name that fits the person––Hillary's faith advisor and founder of the American Values Network. Really??? Hillary needs to address this.
Here's a piece worth reading–-devoid of sexy salaciousness or palace intrigue, it shows how democrats paid a huge price for letting unions die and in the end this is one of the operations we need to deal with if we want to change the reds into blues sooner than later.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/01/democrats-paid-a-huge-price-for-letting-unions-die.html
Steve Wynn, another disreputable, misogynistic creep who supports Confederares and their policies.
Wonder why so many assholes are drawn to the GOP like flies to fecal matter and dead things?
Never mind, rhetorical question.
William Ruckselhaus, the first and fifth EPA administrator, has been a fierce critic of Scott Pruitt and Trump:
"If your position is, 'I don't believe the science, therefore I'm going to get rid of all the scientists studying this and let's not mention it in any public announcement'––-that's just crazy!.."
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ruckelshaus-climate-gop_us_5a6b96f1e4b06e25326783fd?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
I think of all the agencies in this administration that are headed by people out to destroy them, the EPA is my biggest concern. And again the Koch's evil tentacles are far reaching and all over this.
It looks like updating president* Fire Pants' total lies from last year is going to be a full time job. 2,100 wasn't bigly enough. I don't know how anyone in the media can take anything anyone in this administration says seriously. If any of these people told me it was their birthday I wouldn't believe them until I got witness statements from their mother (in triplicate), a doctor and two nurses to attest to their birth (plus the long form birth certificate).
I enjoy reading the great comments here, but it is difficult to have to scroll down through the entire day's entries to get to them. Especially if you are going really fast and might run over the previous day's thread. Or am I doing it wrong?
And this is one of my favorite sites and my first look in the morning and again later for the updates.
Thanks!
I read the NY magazine piece recommended by PD, and it made me think that everything is messaging, and not having an entire network and Facebook trolls, the Democratic party has missed out.
I watched the WI foofarah some years ago with the teachers' union etc, and there was so much interest, so much action there. But when the messaging is always "us white people vs those brown people," (and in this case, the unions were "them" regardless of their membership colors--)and "they are trying to take our stuff and our jobs and our guns" (regardless of the stupidity involved) there seems to be no end to the victim whining, perpetuated by the press. Ever since last year's election, there has been no shortage of mea culpas, regrets at not "listening" to every white middle-aged palooka out there in dustbowl-land, and sticking microphones into every sad little diner and church basement in the states mentioned.
The unions were demonized systematically for many years, and it's still going on. I don't know that Democrats "let them die" any more than Democrats don't listen to the little guy on the street of Jalopyville. We can't compete with a press that has been hopelessly in the tank for bothsidesism since W graced us with his presence (please, is there any point to reading the NYT anymore??)and an entire network devoted to lies and damned lies. The point should have been made that depending on unions for votes is a lost cause when business has been solidly in the column for the reds. Union members are a minority and we know how the Fox nation feels about minorities. I am heartily sick of all the blame for the election loss being dumped on our heads and the Clintons. The fact that half the electorate is stupid and uneducated and gullible comes with a cost, and the Democrats didn't elect Reagan to start this whole mess. What a headline-- I guess it sells magazines...
"Did you vote for me? That's the extent of T's vetting process, and its previous version was "Will you help me win?" That's how Sessions was hired, and anyone who answered yes to that signed up to ...
The Asshole Party.
Women and unions and the great Rest of Us party. We have to stop this infestation of pernicious white men, it's up to the Rest of Us. As Fred Rogers told us, "find the helpers" and it works in just about any situation.
Thanks for mentioning my comment and for answering my question. Insert emoticon for blushing face here.
@pat (small p): Don't know that there is a right way or wrong way to go about viewing/reading RC. My system is not a system, it varies with how early I get up, checking to see coffee is ready (usually like a jolt of caffeine while I tackle the news & blogs of the day).
1. You can fast scan, stop on paragraphs that highlights some significant breaking story or opinion writer's take.
2. Hit the BLUE band with the words "The Commentariat—(with date)" at the very top. That opens with all of the Bea McCrabbie/safari/akhilleus headline captures and then you can scroll, scroll, scroll to where the comments begin. All on one view-able Web page.
3. Sometimes the comments give a clue as to what will be the lead thread or threads of the day. Find your argument!
4. Some days starts with a mere one or two, some days you'll see a half dozen or more commenters weighing in early.
5. Sometimes, we RC-ers get off to a late start.
6. Sometimes the weekends (for whatever reason) are unusually light. Once in a while there's a beaucoup flurry of insights on Saturday & Sunday. Go figure.
7. Scan, pick your own hot topic...come back for others later.
8. It always worth checking throughout the day!
@Jeanne: You asked ".... is there any point to reading the NYT anymore??)" Of course. Hard to give up on the Grey Lady and I've been a subscriber for nearly (ahem) 60 years)...now totally digital, and I also subscribe online to WaPo. Have noticed, however, that I more frequently click on WaPo before NYT. Often is seems WaPo has the breaking stories up sooner. NYT's approach is more cautious.
@Ak: my two cents contribution for the day!