;)
The Commentariat -- January 31, 2019
Afternoon Update:
Are You Going to Believe Your Eyes & Ears -- or Trump? Matthew Choi of Politico: "... Donald Trump claimed Thursday that his top intelligence officials were 'misquoted' and 'taken out of context' when they publicly broke with some of his core foreign policy views during congressional testimony earlier this week. CIA Director Gina Haspel and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats on Tuesday shared assessments that were at odds with Trump's talking points on sensitive issues such as North Korea and ISIS, prompting Trump to lash out at his intelligence officials, calling them 'naive' and that they should 'go back to school.' When asked by reporters Thursday morning if he still has confidence in Haspel and Coats to give him good advice, Trump replied: 'No. I disagree with certain things that they said. I think I'm right. Time will prove me right, probably.' But later Thursday afternoon, after meeting with Haspel and Coats in the Oval Office, Trump ... argued the comments were taken out of context -- though a full report and recordings are publicly available -- and that his intelligence team actually agrees with his world view.... 'They said they were totally misquoted and they were totally -- it was taken out of context,' Trump told reporters. 'So what I do, I suggested you call them. They said it was fake news.'" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: So if you believe Trump, you should give a lot of credit to the C-SPAN gremlins who in real time so seamlessly substituted fake remarks for what the intel chiefs were really telling Congress, which was totally in sync with Trump's fantasies.
Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "The Senate, in a bipartisan rebuke to President Trump's foreign policy, voted overwhelmingly to advance legislation drafted by the Senate majority leader to express strong opposition to the president's withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Syria and Afghanistan. The 68-to-23 vote to cut off debate ensures that the amendment, written by Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and backed by virtually every Senate Republican, will be added to a broader bipartisan Middle East policy bill expected to easily pass the Senate next week.... Senate liberals, many of them exploring presidential runs in 2020, including Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, voted against the measure, signaling a growing willingness in the party to question long-running conflicts." ...
... Mitch McConnell Has Had Enough. Alexander Bolton & Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "Frustrated Republicans say it's time for the Senate to reclaim more power over foreign policy and are planning to move a measure Thursday that would be a stunning rebuke to a president of their own party. GOP lawmakers are deeply concerned over President Trump's reluctance to listen to his senior military and intelligence advisers, fearing it could erode national security. They say the Senate has lost too much of its constitutional power over shaping the nation's foreign policy and argue that it's time to begin clawing some of it back.... They plan to send Trump a stern admonishment by voting Thursday afternoon on an amendment sponsored by [Mitch] McConnell warning 'the precipitous withdrawal' of U.S. forces from Syria and Afghanistan 'could put at risk hard-won gains and United States national security.'... It's a pointed rebuttal to the claim Trump made on Twitter in December that 'we have defeated ISIS in Syria.' Speaking on the Senate floor, McConnell said his amendment 'simply re-emphasizes the expertise and counsel offered by experts who have served presidents of both parties,' a subtle rebuff of Trump's tweets from earlier in the day mocking his intelligence advisers as 'naive.'"
Julia Manchester of the Hill: "Roger Stone ... on Thursday claimed that he believes special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russia's election meddling is a partisan plot to make Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and possibly even Hillary Clinton president. Speaking about his indictment last week on charges in the Mueller probe, Stone said he thinks the investigation is about finding a way to 'void the 2016 election' in an attempt to get Pelosi or Clinton into the White House. 'I don't think this is about Roger Stone. I think this is about finding some allegation of Russian collusion to void the 2016 election so that both President Trump and Vice President Pence can be removed, making Nancy Pelosi president,' Stone told Hill.TV's Buck Sexton and Krystal Ball...." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: No, no, that's not Mueller's objective. It's mine.
** Masha Gessen of the New Yorker: "What we are observing is not most accurately described as the subversion of American democracy by a hostile power. Instead, it is an attempt at state capture by an international crime syndicate. What unites [Ukraine's Viktor] Yanukovych, [Natalia] Veselnitskaya, [Paul] Manafort, [Roger] Stone, Wikileaks's Julian Assange, the Russian troll factory, the Trump campaign staffer George Papadopoulos and his partners in crime, the 'Professor' (whose academic credentials are in doubt), and the 'Female Russian National (who appears to have fraudulently presented herself as Putin's niece) is that they are all crooks and frauds. This is not a moral assessment, or an attempt to downplay their importance. It is an attempt to stop talking in terms of states and geopolitics and begin looking at Mafias and profits.... The Mafia state is efficient in its own way. It does not take over all state institutions, but absorbs only the ones necessary for extracting profit.... By the measure of national interest, the Trump Presidency has been disappointing for Russia.... By the metrics of a Mafia state, though, the Trump Presidency has yielded great results for Russia.... The story, it appears, is that the Russian Mafia state is cultivating profit-yielding relationships with the aspiring Mafia boss of the U.S. and his band of crooks, subverting democratic institutions in the process."
*****
Seung Min Kim, et al., of the Washington Post: "Senior Republicans are warning [Donald Trump] away from a national emergency declaration to build a border wall. The top Senate leader is directly rebuking his national security policy in Syria and Afghanistan. And Democratic committee chairs are threatening subpoenas for his top officials.... In private, Trump has told aides he wants to take an aggressive posture toward such oversight -- including fighting any effort by Congress to obtain his tax returns all the way to the Supreme Court. He has told House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) that if House Democrats begin investigating his administration, he will not negotiate with her on other issues, according to a White House official and a Democratic aide who heard the comments.... On Wednesday, some Senate GOP leaders rebutted Trump;s latest criticism of his own intelligence officials, which the president issued in a tweet [Mrs. McC: actually, tweets plural].... Twice in his weekly news conference on Tuesday, [Mitch] McConnell underscored the need to reach an agreement on border security that both averts another shutdown in February and prevents Trump from concluding that he should declare a national emergency.... Two senior GOP aides said Trump and other top officials have continued to float a national emergency declaration to secure money for a border wall -- though there is 'widespread resistance' to it within the Senate, one of these people said.... Some Republican senators are urging the president to keep his distance from a 17-member committee tasked with coming up with a border security deal...."
Chuck Schumer Has Had Enough. Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is urging top intelligence officials to meet with President Trump after the commander-in-chief lashed out at the intelligence community earlier Wednesday. Schumer sent a letter to Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats on Wednesday, saying that it was 'incumbent' that the former senator, CIA Director Gina Haspel and FBI Director Christopher Wray 'insist on an immediate meeting' with Trump in the wake of his tweets. 'You cannot allow the President's ill-advised and unwarranted comments today to stand.... He is putting you and your colleagues in an untenable position and hurting the national interest in the process. You must find a way to make that clear to him,' Schumer wrote in the letter. In a separate tweet on Wednesday night, Schumer added that it's 'past time for U.S. Intelligence Community leaders to stage an intervention' with the president. Schumer said he wants Coats, Haspel and Wray to use a meeting with Trump to 'educate' the president about 'the facts and raw intelligence underlying the Intelligence Community assessments.'" ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Nisky Guy wrote in yesterday's thread, "trump pushing back against the national security assessments is 25th amendment material. Full stop." I was thinking that was a little harsh until it dawned on me that it might not be that Trump needs intelligence agencies to "educate" him; maybe they ought to be surveilling him as a likely agent of a foreign hostile nation or nations. How did he get his marching orders? How about those secret meetings with Putin. ...
... Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "President Trump on Wednesday pushed back against his intelligence chiefs' national security assessments, saying 'the Intelligence people seem to be extremely passive and naive when it comes to the dangers of Iran,' and he defended his own, more positive appraisals of threats to the United States posed by North Korea and the Islamic State. 'Perhaps Intelligence should go back to school,' Mr. Trump said.... In a series of Twitter posts the day after senior American intelligence officials briefed Congress and directly contradicted some of Mr. Trump's rosier estimations, the president reasserted his own conclusions and trumpeted his accomplishments on critical national security matters. He said the Islamic State's control in parts of Iraq and Syria 'will soon be destroyed,' and that there was a 'decent chance of Denuclearization' in North Korea." Ms. McC: Because he says so. If these people are so naive, why did Trump appoint them to positions so vital to our national security? (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
The Trump Shutdown, Month Two, Ctd.
Burgess Everett of Politico: "Mitch McConnell is willing to go big, go small or anything in between to avoid another government shutdown. He's even willing to appeal to a higher power. At a meeting with GOP chairmen on Wednesday, the Senate majority leader had a lighthearted message for his negotiators trying to avoid another shutdown, according to attendees: 'We're praying for you. Get this done.'... McConnell's sentiments -- reflecting a Senate GOP deeply disturbed by the latest debacle -- will make it far more difficult for Trump to close the government again and still maintain party unity.... After previously beating the drum repeatedly in favor of Trump's border wall and attacking Democrats for being unreasonable on the Senate floor, the GOP leader is also shying away from needling Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Speaker Nancy Pelosi.... The conference committee [to hammer out a funding deal] met for the first time on Wednesday, with few signs of tangible progress in a public meeting."
Erica Werner, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump warned Wednesday that lawmakers would be 'wasting their time' if they do not discuss a wall or physical barrier along the Southern border as part of a deal to stave off another government shutdown. But some Democrats said their starting point in the new negotiation is no money for physical barriers of any kind." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: They're not "wasting their time" if they can come up with a bill that garners veto-proof majorities in both houses. This is not impossible. Trump caved on the shutdown because he got the message that Congressional Republicans would humiliate him. They don't want another shutdown & they don't want to cede their power of the purse to a Trump-ordered fake "national emergency."
There's no magic glossary telling you the difference between a fence and wall or a barrier, they are kind of interchangeable. There is a distinction between governing and political rhetoric, and people should not get trapped in the binary. The moment when we reach a compromise on the vocabulary is the moment we reach a compromise on the policy. -- Jeh Johnson, former Homeland Security Secretary ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Glenn Thrush of the New York Times has (sort of) taken up my suggestion of defining what "wall" means.
This Russia Thing, Etc., Ctd.
Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "Robert Mueller's office on Wednesday accused a Twitter account with apparent ties to Russia of disclosing more than 1,000 sensitive files that the special counsel shared in an active criminal case, all in a bid to discredit his investigation.... Mueller lodged the complaint in an 18-page court filing that objects to a discovery request from the Russian company Concord Management and Consulting, which has been charged with helping orchestrate the massive online campaign to interfere with the election.
Donie O'Sullivan of CNN: "Fancy Bear, a hacking group linked to Russian military intelligence, targeted a Washington think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies.... A court in Virginia gave Microsoft control of a group of websites that were intended to look like login sites for the think tank's internal systems, court filings Wednesday show.... Hackers successfully used [the same] form of attack, known as spearphishing, to target Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta in 2016." ...
... Ben Collins of NBC News: "Federal prosecutors said on Wednesday that special counsel Robert Mueller's office was subject to a Russian disinformation campaign that intended to discredit his investigation into the Kremlin's meddling in the 2016 election. The Kremlin-backed disinformation campaign that targeted Mueller's office failed to gain any traction, however, as the contents of a fake trove of the special counsel's files were immediately dismissed as largely fabricated by the reporter and researcher who received them. The fake documents were sent to ThinkProgress reporter Casey Michel and independent disinformation researcher Josh Russell in November in direct messages from a Twitter account called @HackingRedstone. The messages' sender claimed to be 'anonymous hackers.'... Both Michel and Russell were immediately skeptical of the documents. 'The DM I got was ridiculous...,' Michel told NBC News. 'It reminded me of the types of language we saw on some of the fake Russian Facebook pages, like when the Russian trolls claimed they were Texas secessionists who were "in love with Texas shape!"' Mueller's team confirmed some of the documents were legitimate and obtained through the trial's discovery process.... The Internet Research Agency is a St. Petersburg-based firm run by a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin [Mrs. McC: Yevgeny Prigozhin, a/k/a 'Putin's chef' --] whose key executives have been indicted by Mueller on charges of defrauding the United States."
Trump May Have Planned a Dirty Campaign as Early as April 2016. Betsy Woodruff & Erin Banco of the Daily Beast: "Days after Donald Trump rode down an escalator at Trump Tower [in 2015] and announced he'd run for president, a little-known consulting firm with links to Israeli intelligence started gaming out how a foreign government could meddle in the U.S. political process.... The firm conducted an analysis of how illicit efforts might shape American politics. Months later, the Trump campaign reviewed a pitch from a company owned by that firm's founder -- a pitch to carry out similar efforts. The founder of the firm, called Wikistrat, has been questioned by Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team as they investigate efforts by foreign governments to shape American politics during the 2016 presidential campaign.... In April 2016, senior Trump campaign official Rick Gates reviewed a pitch produced by a company called Psy Group [owned by Wikistrat's founder Joel Zamel].... After Trump became the party's official nominee, Zamel met with Donald Trump Jr. and discussed the plan, which echoed both the real election interference already underway by the Kremlin and the scenario Wikistrat gamed out the year before.... It's unclear if the Psy Group plans ever went forward." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Betsy Woodruff: "A former NRA president hoped to win access to Vladimir Putin on a trip to Moscow, according to an email from one of the trip’s organizers. That organizer, Republican operative Paul Erickson [-- Maria Butina's boyfriend --], also said the trip could have 'enormous diplomatic consequences.' The email, sent in November 2015 and reviewed by The Daily Beast, came just months before the Kremlin's election meddling went into full gear. In the email, Erickson wrote that an official with the Russian Central Bank had made a tantalizing, though tentative, offer to former NRA president David Keene: an interview for his newspaper with ... Putin. At the time, Keene was the
... MEANWHILE. Peter Weber of the Week: "The National Rifle Association is distancing itself from a controversial December 2015 trip to Moscow by several prominent NRA leaders and members, telling The New York Times on Monday that NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre 'was opposed to the trip' and forbade staff members from going.... 'It's not credible for the NRA to claim that they played no official role in the 2015 Moscow trip,' Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) told ABC News on Tuesday.... The Moscow trip was organized by Maria Butina ... and ... David Keene. Internal emails show that the NRA paid for at least Keene's travel expenses and provided official NRA 'gifts' for the delegation's Russian hosts."
David Kocieniewski of Bloomberg: "Tucked into last week's indictment of Roger Stone, the brash longtime confidant of President Donald Trump, was a fleeting reference to an attorney who had the ability to contact WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Prosecutors wrote that an email from Stone, seeking dirt on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, was forwarded to the attorney, who wasn't identified[.]... That attorney is Margaret Ratner Kunstler, according to a person familiar with the investigation. Kunstler, 73, who lives in Brooklyn, is a civil rights lawyer and activist.... In 2015 and 2016, she helped [Julian] Assange ... plan his legal strategy and arrange media appearances. Her name popped up in public when ... Donald Trump Jr., released messages after his correspondence with WikiLeaks became public. One of these, a 2017 direct message from Assange's Twitter account to Donald Jr., identified Kunstler as a person for the Trump administration to contact at WikiLeaks.... It appears to throw a left-leaning champion of civil disobedience and free speech into a mix of right-wing allies of Trump whose methods are now under deep scrutiny." --s
Casey Michel of ThinkProgress: "Last month, a new leak site called Distributed Denial of Secrets went live, compiling a cache of hacked emails and documents of Russian officials, confidants of sanctioned Russian oligarchs, and those steering Russian interference efforts. Among the revelations: A higher-up at the Bradley Foundation [Dan Schmidt], one of the main financiers of right-wing groups in the U.S. -- including the Daily Caller News Foundation and anti-immigrant organizations -- apparently attended a notorious 'pro-family' conference in Russia in 2014, held shortly after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine.... According to experts ... that conference was a turning point in how Western Christian fundamentalists viewed the Kremlin." --s
Mike Memoli, et al., of NBC News: "House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., formally named the nine Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee Wednesday, ending a weekslong delay that may have cost special counsel Robert Mueller valuable time to act on potential leads the panel could offer...."
Trump Pulls a "Romney" on Ted Cruz's Wife. Jennifer Jacobs, et al., of Bloomberg News: "... Donald Trump interviewed Heidi Cruz for the job of World Bank president although he's not offering the post to the Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executive and wife of Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, people familiar with the matter said. Treasury Undersecretary David Malpass remains the clear frontrunner for the job.... [Heidi Cruz] was thrust briefly into the spotlight during the campaign when Trump tweeted an unflattering image of her and disparaged her appearance." Mrs. McC: Don't feel bad, Heidi; this is just Trump's way of twisting the knife a little deeper into Ted's back.
God Ordained Trump. Rebecca Morin of Politico: "White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders claimed Wednesday that ... Donald Trump's presidency was part of a higher calling. 'I think God calls all of us to fill different roles at different times and I think that he wanted Donald Trump to become president,' Sanders said during an interview with Christian Broadcast Network News. 'And that's why he's there, and I think he has done a tremendous job in supporting a lot of the things that people of faith really care about.'"
Paying the Presidunce*. David Corn of Mother Jones: "It's not news. But it still worth headlines: President Donald Trump collects money directly from foreign governments ... when overseas governments (and foreign corporations and persons) spend money at his hotels.... And this is exactly what happened last year [with Saudi Arabia].... [Another] such entity: the government of Kuwait.... The Gulf State is holding its independence anniversary shindig at the Trump International Hotel next month. This will mark the third year in a row that the Kuwaitis have decided to grace Trump's hotel with their presence and petro-dollars.... These transactions are arguably violations of the Constitution's emoluments clause.... It seems like Trump and the Kuwaitis don't mind providing more potential evidence." --s
"When They Go Low," Melanie Sues. Emily Heil of the Washington Post: "If the papers that line supermarket checkout lanes are to be believed, previous first ladies have: adopted a space-alien baby; attacked the president and left 'claw marks' on his cheek; snuck out of the White House at night for trysts with a secret-agent boyfriend. Gained 95 pounds. Had liposuction. Carried on an affair with an alien named P'Lod. But there's one thing that no first lady -- until Melania Trump -- has done in response to wildly negative and untruthful stories: Sued a publication. Trump has won settlements against three outlets for 'false statements' made during her husband's time in the White House. Her litigious strategy tracks with her willingness to push back on her critics by issuing harsh public statements."
** Jon Schwarz of The Intercept: "This past Friday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo named [Elliott] Abrams as America's special envoy for Venezuela. According to Pompeo, Abrams 'will have responsibility for all things related to our efforts to restore democracy' in the oil-rich nation. The choice of Abrams sends a clear message to Venezuela and the world: The Trump administration intends to brutalize Venezuela, while producing a stream of unctuous rhetoric about America's love for democracy and human rights. Combining these two factors -- the brutality and the unctuousness -- is Abrams's core competency.... Abrams participated in many of the most ghastly acts of U.S. foreign policy from the past 40 years, all the while proclaiming how deeply he cared about the foreigners he and his friends were murdering. Looking back, it's uncanny to see how Abrams has almost always been there when U.S. actions were at their most sordid." --s
Fuck You, Nevada! Michelle Rendels & Humberto Sanchez of the Nevada Independent: "Federal officials have disclosed that they shipped radioactive plutonium to Nevada in spite of the state's vehement opposition to the idea and concerns that doing so would be a slippery slope to opening the state up to further nuclear waste dumping. In a federal court filing on Wednesday, National Nuclear Security Administration General Counsel Bruce Diamond stated that the agency sent about half a metric ton of the substance sometime before November 2018, prior to Nevada suing over the proposed move. The transfer was done after a U.S. District Court in South Carolina ordered the material be removed from that state." --s
Ha Ha. Elise Viebeck of the Washington Post: "An undocumented worker who was fired from the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., after she publicly disclosed her immigration status will attend President Trump's State of the Union address next week. Victorina Morales, who was born in Guatemala, will be a guest of Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, a New Jersey Democrat, when the president speaks to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night. Watson Coleman's office confirmed the decision Wednesday. The choice to invite Morales follows news stories about the Trump Organization's failure to fully check the work status of all its employees, even as Trump described illegal immigration as a national crisis and demanded funding for a U.S.-Mexico border wall."
McConnell Does Not Want You to Vote. Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday that a Democratic bill that would make Election Day a federal holiday is a 'power grab,' sparking a fierce backlash online.... His remarks prompted a wave of criticism by Democrats, some of whom argued that McConnell was acknowledging that Republicans want to make it more difficult for Americans to vote.... The far-reaching legislation [HR-1] would also prohibit the purging of voter rolls, require presidential and vice-presidential candidates to release their tax returns, compel states to adopt independent redistricting commissions and create a matching system for small-dollar donations to congressional campaigns, among other changes.
Bruce Schreiner of the AP: "U.S. Sen. Rand Paul was awarded more than $580,000 in damages and medical expenses on Wednesday in his lawsuit against the neighbor who tackled him and broke several of his ribs in a dispute over lawn maintenance. A jury in Bowling Green, Kentucky, deliberated less than two hours before delivering the award to the Republican lawmaker who had been attacked while doing yard work at his Kentucky home." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I'm all for Paul's receiving some recompense from the crazy neighbor. But it seems Li'l Randy used both the police & the court system to obtain these damages, which got me to looking for my broken hypocrite meter. Aren't libertarians supposed to protect themselves & their property without the assistance of "intrusive" government entities? This looks like another instance of a politician who has railed against government "overreach" relying on government assistance when he has a problem.
Presidential Race 2020
Danny Westneat of the Seattle Times: "State and county election records show that going back to 2005, [Howard] Schultz has cast a ballot in just 11 of 38 elections.... Schultz has at least voted in every election for the office he's now seeking, the presidency. He also voted in the most recent midterms, in 2018. But he has skipped most of the state and local elections over the years, as well as some of the big midterms.... This is all a little awkward, because a couple years ago, when Starbucks rolled out a voter participation drive, Schultz said this: 'It's not just about who will be the next occupant of the White House. More Americans should participate in all elections, even those for city councils and school boards.'... Schultz's lackluster voting history does suggest a certain trope -- the business executive who's above the messy political fray, but also somehow most qualified to swoop in and fix it." ...
... Was I Saying Schultz Was Tone-Deaf? Excuse Me. Rachel Frazin of the Hill: "Howard Schultz ... deleted a tweet Wednesday in which he praised a column that insulted other 2020 contenders. In the now-deleted tweet, Schultz linked to a piece that called Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) 'shrill' and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) 'Fauxcahontas,' a reference to her claims of Native American heritage. 'Thank you @Rogerlsimon for a thoughtful analysis of what's possible. #ReimagineUS,' Schultz tweeted, along with a link to 'Howard Schultz Could Actually Win the Presidency,' from [right-wing blog] PJ Media." Mrs. McC: Tone-deaf? Nah. Make that "Ignorant, Misogynistic, Racist Moron." Denigrating more than half the voters is a brilliant move out of the gate. But "thoughtful," as Schultz notes. The tweet could earn him a following among disillusioned Trumpbots, though; most of them are ignorant, misogynistic, racist morons. ...
... Ken Meyer of Mediaite: "As [Howard Schultz] described himself as someone who understands the American people, Mika Brzezinski surprised Schultz with what should not be a tough question: 'How much does an 18 ounce box of Cheerios cost?' Schultz ... had no idea...." ...
... Maura Judkis of the Washington Post: "'An 18-ounce box of Cheerios? I don't eat Cheerios,' [Schultz] told host Mika Brzezinski. When she told him it costs $4, he seemed surprised, saying, 'That's a lot.' Which makes you wonder: If Schultz thinks $4 is expensive for cereal, then by extension, isn't a $4 coffee 'a lot?' After all, an 18-ounce box of Cheerios will feed a family breakfast for nearly a week, and contains whole grains and fiber. A grande cafe mocha, which is about $4 will caffeinate you for a few hours."
Maxwell Strachan of the Huffington Post: "Starbucks is doing what it can to prepare employees for potentially uncomfortable customer encounters as anger grows at former CEO and chairman Howard Schultz.... The coffee chain's 'Barista Need-To-Know' update for the week of Jan. 21-27 included instructions on how to 'diffuse [sic] the situation' should anyone 'share aggressive political opinions,' as well as what to do if someone asks about Schultz's 'political intentions.'"
Linda Greenhouse opines that far-right activist Ginni Thomas, the Wife of Clarence (Mrs. McC: sounds like a 'Canterbury Tales' character), has 'broken no rules except the rules of good taste. What she’s violated are longstanding norms of behavior. And in an age when nearly every norm is being shredded, that makes her the perfect Supreme Court spouse for our time."
Binyamin Appelbaum of the New York Times: "The Federal Reserve kept interest rates steady on Wednesday and signaled that it may not raise them again anytime soon, a surprising reversal from last month, when the central bank indicated it expected to continue raising rates in 2019. In a statement following a two-day meeting of its policymaking committee, the Fed said that economic growth remained 'solid,' and that it expected growth to continue. But in a sharp deviation from its stance just one month ago, the Fed did not say it expected to keep raising interest rates. Instead, the statement said the Fed would be 'patient' in evaluating the health of the economy. And it indicated that the Fed stood ready either to increase or to reduce rates, depending on economic conditions."
Nicole Perlroth of the New York Times: "... it wasn't until ... more than a week after [Michele] Thompson first notified Apple of [a serious security flaw on an Apple app which her son Grant discovered], that Apple raced to disable Group FaceTime and said it was working on a fix. The company reacted after a separate developer reported the FaceTime flaw and it was written about on 9to5mac.com, a news site for Apple fans, in an article that went viral. The FaceTime problem has already been branded 'FacePalm' by security researchers, who say Apple's security team should have known better.... The company has not addressed how the flaw passed through quality assurance, why it was so slow to respond to Ms. Thompson's urgent warnings, or whether it intends to reward the teenager whose mother raced to alert the company to the bug in the first place." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Lachlan Markay & Asawin Suebsaeng of the Daily Beast: "Jeff Bezos' personal security team has launched an investigation into how his text messages ended up in The National Enquirer, and the inquiry is increasingly convinced that political motives are behind the disclosure.... Bezos, the world's richest man, is personally funding [the investigation]. Investigators want to know who leaked the texts that publicly blew up Bezos' marriage earlier this month by revealing, in lurid detail, his affair with Los Angeles news anchor Lauren Sanchez.... That the leak was politically motivated, is one that investigators believe would explain not just the leak itself, but its publication in the Enquirer, rather than a more reputable outlet, and the extensive resources that the tabloid devoted to digging into the story. That avenue of investigation stems from Bezos' new role as a punching bag for ... Donald Trump. The president gleefully promoted the Enquirer's story, using it to hammer Bezos over his ownership of The Washington Post, which Trump frequently maligns as a hostile advocacy arm of Amazon."
Beyond the Beltway
Illinois. Kate Feldman & Peter Sblendorio of the New York Daily News: "Chicago police said late Wednesday that detectives have found video footage of persons of interest in the attack of 'Empire' star Jussie Smollett.... It's unclear what exactly was seen on the video.... The attack on the black actor, who came out as gay in 2015, is being investigated a possible hate crime."
Kentucky. John Cheves of the Lexington Herald-Leader: "Citing 'conduct that violates civil rights,' lawyers for Gov. Matt Bevin say former Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis should be held responsible for nearly $225,000 in legal fees and court costs incurred by couples who sued her in 2015 when she refused to issue marriage licenses because of her religious opposition to same-sex marriage. Although Bevin, a Republican, publicly has praised Davis as 'an inspiration ... to the children of America,' his attorneys are taking a more critical tone in court briefs, blaming the ex-clerk for failing to do her job following the U.S. Supreme Court's June 2015 decision legalizing gay marriage. A three-judge panel will hear arguments about who should bear the case's expenses Thursday at the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. A district judge ruled in 2017 that the couples suing for marriage licenses clearly prevailed and that the state of Kentucky must pay their fees and costs." Thanks to forrest m. for the link. Mrs. McC: Looks as if Gov. Matt will be able to hide beyond state lawyers' skirts, possibly collecting from Miss Kimmy while still holding her up as an "inspiration."
Keep Kentucky White Again. Addy Baird of ThinkProgress: "One out of every four African American voters is disenfranchised in the state of Kentucky, a higher rate than any other state, as a result of the state's law barring people with felony convictions from voting, according to a new report from the Kentucky League of Women Voters released Tuesday.... Kentucky is one of three states [Iowa & Virginia too] that currently has a lifetime ban keeping people with felony convictions ... from voting, and the report found that the state ranks third in the United States in rate of disenfranchisement. Currently, more than 312,000 people in Kentucky are currently without ballot access, or one out of every 11 adults. (For context, nationally, just one in 40 people, about 2.5 percent of the country, are ineligible to vote due to felony convictions, including about 9.1 percent of African Americans.)" --s
Hey, Wisconsin, You've Been Had. Natalie Kitroeff & Patricia Cohen of the New York Times: "Foxconn, the giant Taiwan-based company that announced plans for a $10 billion display-making factory in Wisconsin, now says it is rethinking the project's focus because of 'new realities' in the global marketplace. The project was hailed by President Trump at a groundbreaking last June as the 'eighth wonder of the world' and an example of his efforts to attract foreign investment to create manufacturing jobs.... Foxconn is a supplier to Apple and other tech giants. It was lured to Wisconsin in 2017 after former Gov. Scott Walker and state lawmakers agreed to more than $4 billion in tax credits and other inducements over a 15-year period. Those subsidies amounted to $15,000 to $19,000 per job annually, for a plant that the company said would employ as many as 13,000 workers in Mount Pleasant, near Racine." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
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Reader Comments (20)
This week in God. Sarah Huckabee Sanders says it was Gods' plan
that donald is president*. He (God, not donald) has a plan for
everyone.
So does that mean He wanted Barack Obama to be president twice?
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/30/sarah-huckabee-sanders-
trump-god-1137547
This week in justice. Citing "conduct that violates civil rights",
lawyers for Gov. Matt Bevin (R-Ky) say former county clerk
Kim Davis should pay the $225,000.00 legal fees incurred by
couples who sued in 2015 when she refused to issue marriage
licenses to same-sex couples on religious grounds.
He had previously said that she is "an inspiration to the children
of America."
https://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article
225247295.html
Interesting to read about that incredible security flaw in Apple’s iPhones. Anyone who knows the trick can use it to spy on anyone else who owns an iPhone, even if they don’t accept the call, apparently. They can hear what’s being said in the room and reportedly get video as well if the phone is on not in a pocket.
The flaw was discovered by a kid playing around with his phone. Security experts say that it’s entirely likely that he’s not the only one. I’m betting that many hackers know the secret, including the Russians. And probably the Saudis, Iranians, Syrians, The French, the Brits, the Israelis, and maybe a couple dozen people in Caracas and a guy sitting in a bar on Pago Pago drinking Mai Tais and drunk dialing phone numbers in Washington.
Trump has two iPhones.
I bet Putin has both numbers.
Interesting to read about that incredible security flaw in Apple’s iPhones. Anyone who knows the trick can use it to spy on anyone else who owns an iPhone, even if they don’t accept the call, apparently. They can hear what’s being said in the room and reportedly get video as well if the phone is on not in a pocket.
The flaw was discovered by a kid playing around with his phone. Security experts say that it’s entirely likely that he’s not the only one. I’m betting that many hackers know the secret, including the Russians. And probably the Saudis, Iranians, Syrians, The French, the Brits, the Israelis, and maybe a couple dozen people in Caracas and a guy sitting in a bar on Pago Pago drinking Mai Tais and drunk dialing phone numbers in Washington.
Trump has two iPhones.
I bet Putin has both numbers.
@Forest: These kinds of acclamations from the God-besotted make you realize the mindsets of those that adhere to –-cling onto–-the airy, fairy– wingy world of an all powerful deity that controls. (fits into comments yesterday from Marie and me on this power issue) Figures how Sarah can work and praise a boss like the Donald and I would add her father who drummed Jesus' love into her dear little ear from the get-go.
And then we have Tucker Carlson. Watch how he tries to inveigle Monica Klein, a pro choice advocate, re: the issue of late term abortion. Monica will have none of it right from the start so he says: "Don't be tiresome" and "Don't be a robot"––watch her expression when he says these things–-priceless! Of course she trumps him in the end and we detect Tucker's wagging tail slide back into his ass as he bids her farewell.
While food shopping the other day instead of buying more Starbuck's coffee I opted for an organic Sumatra by Wellesley Farms (B.J's brand) less than twice the price of Starbucks and this morning had my first cup and I am thrilled to report it's better than Starbucks–-has a richer flavor and I can use less to get more. So–-up yours, Howie––up yours!
Last night when Rachel was done explaining in her usual long winding way re: Mueller's investigation being a subject to a Russian disinformation campaign I hopped over to Fox just to check on what kind of cockamamie thing they were discussing: there was Lindsay yapping about the shutdown. Later there was Pompeo covering up for Trump's nix on his National Security Team. So what we have here is a Secretary of State not completely in sync with the aforementioned and is covering up for a president that is telling the world he thinks his intelligence people are WRONG.
How safe do we feel? Let us count the ways.
Forgot to put on the link:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tucker-carlson-monica-klein-abortion_us_5c5296e0e4b04f8645c79405
One ringy-dingy, two ringy-dingies...
Interesting to read about that incredible security flaw in Apple's iPhones. Anyone who knows the trick can use it to spy on anyone else who owns an iPhone, even if they don't accept the call, apparently. They can hear what's being said in the room and reportedly get video as well if the phone is not in a pocket or otherwise covered.
The flaw was discovered by a kid playing around with his phone. Security experts say that it's entirely likely that he's not the only one. I'm betting that a whole raft of hackers knows the secret, including the Russians. And probably the Saudis, Iranians, Syrians, the French, the Brits, the Israelis, a couple dozen people in Caracas, and a guy drinking Mai Tais in a bar in Pago Pago, drunk dialing DC phone numbers.
Trump has two iPhones.
I bet Putin has both numbers.
Ak, you make it sound as though Putin could be eavesdropping on Donnie.
I'd bet that Trumpf says, "Siri, call Vlad."
Done deal.
Now that it's come out that Putin has set his thug/hackers on Mueller, it's crystal clear that Fatty's usefulness to Russian goals is not finished. And it's another reason that Trump will never do anything to halt or attempt to diminish Russian attempts to screw with American elections and governmental operations. As long as the Russian thugs are helping him, they can do whatever they like.
Putin needs Trump in power. Only the Russians know what the ultimate goals are. I'm willing to bet that Fatty doesn't know either, except that it's not good for the United States. But as long as it's good for Trump, who cares? The general plan, which seems to be very far along, is to sow discontent and ramp up American suspicions about the entire nature of the democratic experiment. Putin's election of Trump was a huge win for his side and, as we all have seen, an enormous loss for America. Having his puppet president do his bidding (he must have something pretty good on Fatty) is a coup no other Russian leader has been able to accomplish. And he did it on the cheap.
But he lucked out by getting his claws into a vain, stupid, greedy dolt.
I fear the 2020 election will be a crazy mess. Even if he's voted out, Trump will no doubt declare the results to be fraudulent and send his marching morons marauding across the countryside.
Impeachment is our best bet. Let little mikey try to win on his own. The sooner we're shut of this treasonous crook the better.
Unwashed,
"Siri, call Vlad" just has to be the best new meme.
I'm trying to game out what would happen if Trump declared a fake national emergency before Congress voted on a funding bill. I guess Democrats (and maybe some Republicans would join them) immediately would try to get an injunction to stop work before Trump could get the Corps of Engineers to start work on wall, but it's theoretically possible they couldn't get the injunction. In the meantime, let's say Congress passed veto-proof legislation funding the government that contained no wall funding. Trump, of course, could still veto the bill & Congress would have to go back & re-pass it, but that wouldn't take more than a week or two. Then what? We have two competing measures, one a law & one an executive order, both "operational" at the same time. Quelle mess.
Marie,
Your funding scenario sounds a little too inside baseball for Fatty. I'm sure there are plenty of old hands in Congress and among congressional staffers who might think up something like this, but a strategy requiring tight planning and clever two-steps around Congress is not his speed at all.
I'm not even sure he has anyone around him who could plan this out with the necessary nerve and aplomb. And even if there was someone who could game this out to get a win for Orange Boy, he would find some way to fuck it up.
If a stiletto was required, he'd bring a broadsword. And a dull one at that.
I see that the brain of Howard (Cream and Sugar?) Schultz has declared that universal health care is "unAmerican".
Really?
I'm pretty sure there was a time when women's suffrage, the 40 hour work week, Social Security, and laws designed to prevent the poisoning of our air and water were all considered unAmerican as well.
But Schultz talks about universal health care as if it's a unicorn riding a T-Rex into Alice's mirror for a sitdown with the March Hare to decide the type of cheese most prevalent on the moon.
Dear Howie,
Most advanced industrialized countries around the world (and a lot that don't make that list) have universal health care. It is not the impossible, fantasy feat you seem to think it is. I would say "We can't because we've never done it that way" is much more of an unAmerican sentiment than considering healthcare for everyone. Douchebag.
Saturday Night Live writers will be working overtime this week
with Donald Trump Jr. referring to the show as "S&L." Quick,
set up that loan department and get some interest money coming in.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/donald-trump-jr-s-snl-goof-
gift-comedy-gods-154713901.html?.tsrc=fauxdal
Forrest,
I was wondering when Junior would pop out of his rabbit hole to say or do something stupid/repulsive/racist/ignorant/...did I mention stupid?
So I guess this means when he wants to request that old Cole Porter song, he goes up to the piano player and asks for And and Day.
He says goodnight: goodand
He has a nightmare: andmare
Before bed he has an: andcap
At six he watches the: andly news
If he were British I'm sure he want to be: Kanded
All of which means he is completely beanded.
A person's opinion about universal health care depends on how one views one's fellow citizens. I have yet to figure out how a person can be opposed to universal health care and yet believe that every human being deserves respect and care.
Health care advocates can present arguments about how universal health care will save money and make for a healthier population until they are blue in the face, but as long as there are rich, powerful people who can't stand the idea of helping their neighbors (in the biblical sense) it'll never happen.
@forrest morris & @Junior. I thought S&L was "sadism & lechery."
@Mrs. Bea McCrabbie. That's too close to S&M to even comment.
@Akhilleus: What Howie said, according to the Chicago Tribune: "Schultz also knocked the views of a policy adviser to Ocasio-Cortez as 'un-American.' The adviser, Dan Riffle, has said that he considers every billionaire to be a 'policy failure.'
"'It's so un-American to think that way,' Schultz said when presented with a quote from Riffle."
I haven't seen Riffle's original remarks, but I'm guessing his point was that a tax structure that permits such gross disparity in income & wealth is a failed tax structure. I don't see anything wrong -- on the face of it -- with Schultz's earning a billion dollars. What is wrong, in a country where so many live at or near poverty, is a tax structure that allows the billion-dollar earner to keep so much of that $BB.
Naturally, a billionaire is not going to agree with that. Less natural, as @Nisky Guy points out is why a billionaire -- or anyone -- would begrudge his neighbor reasonable & necessary access to health care.
Speaking of Howie's neighbors, let's look at his employees. Starbucks allows employees who work at least 20/hours/week to buy into one of six healthcare plans, making it more generous than most employers.
On the other hand, the median hourly wage of a Starbucks barista is $10.35. They start at $7.25/hour.
Now, I'll admit I don't provide access to health insurance to my occasional employees, but I never pay my workers -- no matter how mundane on unskilled the work they do for me -- less than $15/hour. But then again, I'm not a billionaire. Maybe the Starbucks hourly wage gives you a teensy clue about what it is Riffle objects to.
"... Mrs. McCrabbie: No, no, that's not Mueller's objective. It's mine."
Love it!!!!!!!!