;)
The Commentariat -- January 6, 2018
Afternoon Update:
David Atkins in the Washington Monthly: "The President of the United States got up this morning, watched Fox And Friends do a segment on his mental health, and used his Twitter thumbs to give the world a textbook example of the Dunning Kruger effect[.] ...
... David Frum of the Atlantic: "There's a key difference between film and reality, though: The Corleone family had the awareness and vigilance to exclude Fredo from power. The American political system did not do so well." ...
... Steve M. finds quite a few tweeters who were driven to writing Gilbert & Sullivan ditties in response to the Twit-in-Chief's defense of his gen-i-us.
Naturally, no one told Eric the family had scheduled a group portrait. More Trump Family Troubles. David Cloud of the Los Angeles Times: "Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III has recalled for questioning at least one participant in a controversial meeting with a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer at Trump Tower in June 2016, and is looking into President Trump's misleading claim that the discussion focused on adoption, rather than an offer to provide damaging information about Hillary Clinton. Some defense lawyers involved in the case view Mueller's latest push as a sign that investigators are focusing on possible obstruction of justice by Trump and several of his closest advisors..., rather than for collusion with the Russians. Investigators also are exploring the involvement of the president's daughter, Ivanka Trump, who did not attend the half-hour sit-down on June 9, 2016, but briefly spoke with two of the participants, a Russian lawyer and a Russian-born Washington lobbyist. Details of the encounter were not previously known." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Okay then, that's three Trump kiddies (Junior, Eric & Ivanka) & one son-in-law who are now under investigation. Couldn't be more pleased. And who better to design the orange jumpsuits than Ivanka? Maybe a family crest?
Brennan Weiss of Business Insider: "The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has launched a probe into Kushner Companies, the New York real-estate firm owned by the family of ... Jared Kushner, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday. The investigation reportedly focuses on the company's use of the EB-5 visa program, which allows 10,000 immigrant visas each year in an effort to promote investment from foreign countries into less-developed regions or create jobs in the US."
Cold as ICE. Mark Curnutte of the Cincinnati Enquirer: "Federal immigration officials said Friday they will proceed with the deportation of an Ohio man who is the sole provider and trained medical caregiver of a 6-year-old paraplegic boy. The Detroit office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a statement via email to The Cincinnati Enquirer, which profiled the boy, Ricky Solis, and had requested an update on the case on Wednesday. Yancarlos Mendez, 27, of Springdale has lived with the boy's mother, Sandra Mendoza, since 2014 and has become the only father Ricky has known. His birth father is no longer in Ricky's life after he had beaten and emotionally abused Mendoza."
Oh, Good News. Irony Has Been Resuscitated Already. Adam Raymond of New York: "National Security Agency head Admiral Mike Rogers is retiring in the spring, he reportedly told staffers in a 'classified memo' Friday. The memo has since leaked to NPR and Politico, among others. It's a fitting end to Rogers's four-year tenure at the NSA, which was marked by high-profile intelligence leaks and his efforts to prevent them. Brought on in the aftermath of Edward Snowden's bombshell NSA leaks.... But he wasn't successful."
Ruby Cramer of BuzzFeed: "One of the Democratic Party's biggest donors says she is reconsidering her support for the women in the U.S. Senate who called for Al Franken's resignation following multiple allegations of sexual misconduct and inappropriate touching. The San Francisco-based donor, Susie Tompkins Buell, 75, has given millions of dollars to Democratic causes since the 1990s. She is best known as a staunch supporter of Hillary Clinton, but has also contributed for decades to Democratic women senators, hosting a regular spring fundraiser for the lawmakers in California called 'Women on the Road to the Senate.'... In two interviews this week, Buell described the push for Franken's departure as 'unfair,' 'cavalier,' and somewhat politically motivated -- 'a stampede,' 'like a rampage,' she said, speaking in stark terms about senators she has backed for years, naming [Kirsten] Gillibrand [D-N.Y.] in particular."
*****
David Remnick of the New Yorker: "Future scholars will sift through Trump's digital proclamations the way we now read the chroniclers of Nero's Rome -- to understand how an unhinged emperor can make a mockery of republican institutions, undo the collective nervous system of a country, and degrade the whole of public life.... There is little doubt about who Donald Trump is, the harm he has done already, and the greater harm he threatens. He is unfit to hold any public office, much less the highest in the land. This is not merely an orthodoxy of the opposition; his panicked courtiers have been leaking word of it from his first weeks in office. The President of the United States has become a leading security threat to the United States." ...
... Jordan Fabian & Jacqueline Thomsen of the Hill: "President Trump on Saturday launched a remarkable defense of his mental fitness for office.... Trump made the defense in a series of tweets that appeared to push back on questions raised by a new book that painted a chaotic and dysfunctional picture of his campaign and early months of his presidency. 'Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart,' Trump tweeted. The president said doubts about his mental capacity have been frequently raised by his critics, but he proved them wrong with his stunning victory in the 2016 election and his career in television and business. 'I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius....and a very stable genius at that!' he said." Thanks to Marvin S. for the lead. ...
... Michael Tackett of the New York Times: "By taking on the issue so directly, the president ensures that the discussion of his capacity will only intensify. He is set to undergo a physical examination this coming week, but those tests for presidents do not generally involve mental acuity.... Democrats in Congress have introduced legislation to force the president to submit to psychological evaluation. Mental health professionals have signed a petition calling for his removal from office." Includes screenshots of this morning's Twitterstorm.
The president believes in making sure that information is accurate before pushing it out as fact, when [the Wolff book] certainly and clearly is not. -- Sarah Sanders, Jan. 4
For the second straight day Thursday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders fought back against Michael Wolff's Trump tell-all. And in doing so, she may have finally killed off what's left of irony in the White House briefing room. -- Aaron Blake of the Washington Post, Jan. 5
... The Trumpies. Dana Milbank: "It's no small irony that book excerpts [from Michael Wolff's Fire & Fury] showing Trump's perfidy appeared the day after Trump announced that he would host 'THE MOST DISHONEST & CORRUPT MEDIA AWARDS,' featuring 'Bad Reporting in various categories.' Call it the Trumpies? For once in his life, Trump is being modest. In the field of dishonesty, it is he who deserves the Cecil B. DeMille Award for Lifetime Achievement: Obama wiretapped him. He had the largest inauguration audience ever. The Russia story is fake news. Muslims celebrated in New Jersey on 9/11. He only got a small loan from dad. Hillary Clinton started the 'birther' movement. The tax cut will cost him a fortune." Milbank goes on to suggest "various categories" Trump would win, like "Best Actor in a Misleading Role." ...
Look, I think it's absolutely insane to think all of these individuals, reporters and others, who suddenly have a medical degree and think that they can diagnose somebody, many times who they've never even had a conversation with.... What I think is really mentally unstable is people that don't see the positive impact that this president is having on the country. -- Sarah Sanders, on Fox "News"
So it's "insane" for nonprofessionals to "diagnose" Trump's psychological disabilities from afar, but it's A-OK for Sanders to mass-diagnose tens of millions of unnamed Americans as "mentally unstable" based on their disliking Trump. That's pretty much the view of dictators who lock opponents & suspected dissidents in mental institutions. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie
Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa, Mea Maxi.... Oh, Never Mind. Asawin Suebsaeng of The Daily Beast: "On Wednesday morning, Steve Bannon and his closest advisers were preparing a statement to atone for scorched-earth comments he'd made about ... Donald Trump and his eldest son Donald Trump Jr., that had been printed in Michael Wolff's new book on the Trump White House. But before Team Bannon was able to make its statement public, the president dropped atomic tonnage on his former White House chief strategist. 'Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my Presidency,' read Trump's statement, which as The Daily Beast reported, he personally dictated key parts of.... After Trump made his statement, Bannon quickly spiked his own, according to The Hill and Axios. The Daily Beast has obtained portions of the final draft of Bannon's unreleased statement.... The text of Bannon's written statement that was obtained by The Daily Beast does not mention Kushner...."
Trump Takes Young Hostages. Sheryl Stolberg & Michael Tackett of the New York Times: "The White House on Friday presented Congress with an expansive list of hard-line immigration measures, including an $18 billion request to build a wall at the Mexican border, that President Trump is demanding in exchange for protecting young undocumented immigrants. The request, which totals $33 billion over a period of 10 years for border security measures including the wall, could jeopardize bipartisan talks aimed at getting an immigration deal. Among the items on Mr. Trump's immigration wish-list: money to hire 10,000 additional immigration officers, tougher laws for those seeking asylum, and denial of federal grants to so-called 'sanctuary cities.' The list, delivered to Senator Richard J. Durbin, the Illinois Democrat who has been leading the talks related to young immigrants without documentation, is identical to one Democrats declared a non-starter when the White House issued it in October." Durbin & other Democrats were not amused.
Trump Weaponizes the DOJ. Adam Goldman & Matt Apuzzo of the New York Times: "F.B.I. agents have renewed asking questions about the dealings of the Clinton Foundation amid calls from President Trump and top Republicans for the Justice Department to take a fresh look at politically charged accusations of corruption. People familiar with the F.B.I.'s steps said on Friday that agents have interviewed people connected to the foundation about whether any donations were made in exchange for political favors while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state from 2009 to 2013. Career prosecutors shut down that investigation in 2016 for lack of evidence.... [Trump] briefly struck a ... magnanimous tone after the election.... That has changed as Mr. Trump's legal problems have mounted.... He has openly called for Mrs. Clinton to be investigated and one of her top aides to be imprisoned.... Since the Watergate scandal, the Justice Department has conducted criminal investigations largely free of White House political influence. Mr. Trump, by contrast, has declared he has 'absolute authority' over the Justice Department." ...
... Matt Zapotosky & Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "The FBI has been investigating the Clinton Foundation for months, reviving a probe that was dialed back during the 2016 campaign amid tensions between Justice Department prosecutors and FBI agents about the politically charged case, according to people familiar with the matter. The inquiry resumed about a year ago. Agents are now trying to determine if any donations made to the foundation were linked to official acts when Hillary Clinton was secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, these people said. The people did not identify what specific donations or interactions agents were scrutinizing." ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: The last time the U.S. had a federal "justice" system nearly this corrupt, J. Edgar Hoover was head of the FBI & John Mitchell was attorney general. ...
... Trump Enablers Pounce. Nicholas Fandos & Matthew Rosenberg of the New York Times: "More than a year after Republican leaders promised to investigate Russian interference in the presidential election, two influential Republicans on Friday made the first known congressional criminal referral in connection with the meddling -- against one of the people who sought to expose it. Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a senior committee member, told the Justice Department that they had reason to believe that a former British spy, Christopher Steele, lied to federal authorities about his contacts with reporters regarding information in a dossier, and they urged the department to investigate.... The decision by Mr. Grassley and Mr. Graham to single out the former intelligence officer behind the dossier -- and not anyone who may have taken part in the Russian interference -- infuriated Democrats and raised the stakes in the growing partisan battle over the investigations into Mr. Trump, his campaign team and Russia." ...
... Let's add to this the DOJ's newest investigation of Hillary Clinton's e-mail server, which Betsy Woodruff of the Daily Beast reported earlier this week. (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Kevin Johnson of USA Today: "FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, whom President Trump has blamed for influencing the decision not to criminally charge Hillary Clinton for her use of private email server, did not oversee that inquiry while his wife was running for state office in Virginia as a Democrat, according to bureau records released Friday. The internal documents, published on the FBI's website, support what the bureau has asserted previously: that McCabe had no conflicts when he assumed oversight of the Clinton investigation. His role began in February 2016, following his appointment as deputy director and three months after his wife, Jill McCabe, lost her bid for a state Senate seat. McCabe has been repeatedly targeted by Trump and some Republican lawmakers.... As recently as last month, Trump seized on McCabe's role in the Clinton inquiry and his wife's political bid, noting that Jill McCabe received nearly $470,000 from a political action committee associated with Clinton ally and Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe."
... ** Conservative Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post: "This is an outrageous political stunt, one with no legal ramifications and obviously designed to take the heat off the White House as damning reports bolstering an obstruction-of-justice claim and questioning the president's mental fitness have sent the White House spinning. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), a member of the Judiciary Committee and a former prosecutor, tells me, 'I cannot understand why it would be necessary for members of Congress to make a criminal referral to the FBI concerning information we know the FBI already has.' The referral itself is devoid of any particulars, simply accusing [Christopher] Steele of making false comments relating to the dossier. Were these under oath? How do they have knowledge of such comments?... [Committee] Democrats were never consulted on this.... Moreover, the statute that Grassley and Graham cite -- 18. U.S.C. 1001 -- requires that a misstatement be intentionally wrong and material. It is ironic that the Justice Committee chairman who witnessed now-Attorney General Jeff Sessions repeatedly make false statements under oath would ignore these misstatements of fact and choose instead to vaguely point to ones apparently made to other people." Read on. Rubin cites several other experts who make clear this is what a real "witch hunt" looks like. Emphasis original. ...
... David Corn of Mother Jones: "... the public now knows that the United States was attacked by Putin, that Trump associates were interacting with Russians during this period, and that Trump and his crew, intentionally or not, provided cover for Moscow by insisting no such operation was occurring. Yet what now draws the ire of congressional Republicans the most is [Christopher] Steele and his reports.... And it's not the first distraction they have tried to create. Remember the so-called 'unmasking' scandal of last spring?... The Republican Party, which for decades claimed it was the party that championed patriotism and national security, has jettisoned these priorities for Trump protectionism." ...
... Jonathan Chait: "Republicans Are Weaponizing Law Enforcement Against Trump;s Enemies.... Two Republican senators, one of whom chairs the Judiciary Committee, have taken up Trump;s demands to treat the dossier's author, a well-respected British intelligence agent, like a criminal.... The [Clinton] foundation's arrangements may have been unwise, or even unethical, for a presidential candidate, but it has survived intense scrutiny without a hint of any criminal behavior.... It is impossible to imagine any new lead or legitimate reason to reopen an investigation [of Hillary Clinton's e-mails] that was completed last year, other than to satisfy Trump's lust to criminalize his opponents. At minimum, the effect will be to feed the right-wing news media's message that Trump's opponents are the real criminals, in order to supply a distraction for his base. At maximum, the 'charges' will allow Trump to have something to trade away -- he could fire Mueller while 'magnanimously' pardoning his enemies in the alleged spirit of letting old feuds die. In either case, the threat of investigation can be used to make any potential Trump critic think twice." ...
... Steve M.: "The GOP is a party of limitless bad faith -- we see that in the way they legislate, the way they investigate, the way they bottle up Democratic appointees. We use the word 'normalization' to attack efforts to minimize the baroque villainy of Trump -- but what about the media's normalization of the Benghazi inquisitions or the refusal to consider Merrick Garland's appointment? The press has made some serious efforts not to normalize Trump, and bravo for that. But McConnell and Ryan, Graham and Grassley, Nunes and Gowdy have all been normalized for years. The press hasn't been willing to portray them as the scoundrels they are. After we're rid of Trump, that will continue to be the case with regard to his enablers." ...
... Paul Krugman: "... we now have the Republican party as a whole fully complicit in Trump's crimes -- because that's what they are, whether or not he and those around him are ever brought to justice. What this means, among other things, is that expecting the GOP to exercise any oversight or constrain Trump in any way is just foolish at this point. Massive electoral defeat -- massive enough to overwhelm gerrymandering and other structural advantages of the right -- is the only way out." It's worth noting that Krugman wrote this before Grassley & Graham decided to initiate this latest hoax. ...
... Kevin Drum: "The American legal system is really getting a workout these days, now that we have a president who sees courts and the Justice Department primarily as tools to take revenge on his enemies. I hope it's up to the task."
Trump Family Scandal. Natasha Bertrand of Business Insider: "The digital director of the Trump campaign said Friday that the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and son Eric Trump 'were joint deputy campaign managers' whose 'approval' was required for every decision before the 2016 election. 'Nobody else. Not one person made a decision without their approval,' the digital director, Brad Parscale, tweeted.... Kushner was Parscale's 'patron.'... Kushner got Parscale hired, the person said, 'despite the fact that a number of people in the campaign wondered whether he had any idea what he was doing.'... Federal and congressional investigators are reportedly scrutinizing the data operation Kushner supervised and Parscale directed, looking into whether it colluded with Russian bots and trolls that targeted voters with disinformation and propaganda before the US election. Congressional committees are also investigating whether voter information stolen by Russian hackers from election databases in several US states made its way to the Trump campaign." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I, for one, am way thrilled that Eric von Trump has finally made his way into the Trump Family Scandal. The family that preys together stays together. Sweet! ...
... Alex Zielinski of the San Antonio Current: "Senator Dianne Feinstein has summoned Brad Parscale -- web director of San Antonio's Giles-Parscale design firm -- to testify and submit documents to the Senate Judiciary Committee on any interaction he's had with Russian nationals. This, of course, has to do with Parscale's integral role in Donald Trump's presidential campaign in which he led the team's digital media efforts. As the main guy pouring campaign money into the Facebook advertisements and marketing strategies that ushered Trump into the White House, Parscale has inevitably been linked to those in Trump's camp suspected of letting Russia interfere with the 2016 election. Parscale, who's called the Trumps 'family,' has previously denied any corroboration with Russia in regards to his campaign work." ...
... Russia Scandal Began with Sex, After All. David Wroe of the Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald: "It was a chance romantic encounter by George Papadopoulos that set in train the events that led to the Australian government tipping off Washington about what it knew of Russian hacking efforts to swing the US presidential election. Fairfax Media can reveal a woman in London with whom Papadopoulos became involved happened to know Alexander Downer [-- Australia's ambassador to the U.K. --] and told ... [him] about Papadopoulos, a newly signed staffer for Donald Trump. Downer ... followed it up and arranged a meeting with the young American, who was mostly living in London at the time. What followed was the now infamous May 2016 conversation over many glasses of wine at the swanky Kensington Wine Rooms, during which the 28-year-old Papadopoulos spilled to Downer that he knew of a Russian dirt file on the rival Clinton campaign consisting of thousands of hacked emails. That night was a key moment that helped spark the FBI probe...." ...
... Conservative Jack Goldsmith in Lawfare: Deputy Attorney General Rod "Rosenstein ... appears to be smack in the middle of [Robert] Mueller's ostensible obstruction investigation. Indeed, he appears to have contributed to the firing and provided a seemingly neutral basis for it, with the knowledge that the president was motivated at least in part by the Russia investigation. If the president abused his power in firing [James] Comey due to the Russia investigation, Rosenstein appears to have knowingly contributed to it. I cannot fathom how, in this light, he remains the supervisor in charge of that investigation, since a reasonable person would question his impartiality in the matter.... Rosenstein's non-recusal might, despite the many stories to the contrary, be evidence that Mueller is not in fact investigating whether Trump obstructed justice or otherwise violated the law in firing Comey.... A second possibility is that Mueller is investigating obstruction by the president and that, with respect to that issue, Rosenstein has in fact recused himself but not publicly announced it.... A third possibility is that Rosenstein is bending the rules a bit.... Something here doesn't make sense."
Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "President Trump has begun telling advisers that it will likely be impossible to advance legislation this year to reduce welfare spending and enrollment -- a priority he previously embraced with the backing of House Speaker Paul D. Ryan and a number of conservative activists.... Some Republicans want to reduce health-care, housing and food-stamp spending by making it tougher for beneficiaries to receive the dollars -- such as through new work requirements.... A number of White House officials and advisers have begun tamping down expectations..., and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has told Trump it's a nonstarter in his chamber because he would need the support of Democrats who oppose the idea...." ...
... Elizabeth Bruenig of the Washington Post: "If the poor must work to earn every dollar, shouldn't the rich?... Before deciding whether it's morally right for [needy Americans] to receive income without working, consider a far larger group that takes in far more money without toil: the idle rich. They soak up plenty of unearned money from the economy, in the form of rent, dividends and capital income. Salaries and wages -- that is, money paid for work -- only make up about 15 percent of the income of Americans making $10 million per year or more; the rest is capital income from simply owning assets.... [Yet] the government shells out huge sums of money to the rich every year through tax breaks and subsidies."
Tim Egan: "We know Attorney General Jeff Sessions is a small, backward-looking man with even smaller, more backward-looking ideas, but what was the thinking behind his new federal crackdown on legal marijuana? Punish the blue states? Create cannabis chaos in the large swath of the American West and the other states where voters have said they want the police to spend their time on real crime? Or is it just another betrayal of the fools who voted for a man aptly described from inside the White House in Michael Wolff's new book, as 'less a person than a collection of terrible traits'?... And yet, after the government spent more than $1 trillion over the last four decades on the failed drug war, Trump now wants to double down on the most failed aspect of modern prohibition.... More people are arrested for pot possession than all the crimes that the F.B.I. classifies as violent -- one arrest every minute. This at a time when only 14 percent of the people think marijuana should be illegal."
Nothing to Worry About, Folks. Rebecca Shabad of CBS News: "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has scheduled a briefing for later this month to outline how the public can prepare for nuclear war. 'While a nuclear detonation is unlikely, it would have devastating results and there would be limited time to take critical protection steps. Despite the fear surrounding such an event, planning and preparation can lessen deaths and illness,' the notice about the Jan. 16 briefing says on the CDC's website, which features a photo of a mushroom cloud. The notice went on to say that most people don't know that sheltering in place for at least 24 hours is 'crucial to saving lives and reducing exposure to radiation.'... This comes amid rising tensions between the U.S. and North Korea. President Trump tweeted Tuesday night, boasting about the size of his 'nuclear button' and how it's 'much bigger & more powerful' than North Korea's."
Trump Has "Absolute Right" to Do What He Wants with DOJ AND Twitter. Brian Feldman of New York: "Having twisted itself in knots over the last few years trying to defend its free-speech absolutism as its platform grew increasingly toxic, Twitter has recently earned a lot of flack for continuing to offer Donald Trump a place to drop his bad ideas.... In a short blog post, the company writes, 'Blocking a world leader from Twitter or removing their controversial Tweets, would hide important information people should be able to see and debate. It would also not silence that leader, but it would certainly hamper necessary discussion around their words and actions.'... This is probably as straightforward an articulation of Twitter's messy internal thinking as we're going to get. 'He's the president, duh' makes more sense than most of the reasons Twitter has tried to supply."
Beyond the Beltway
Marwa Eltagouri of the Washington Post: "The home of Tina Johnson, who accused former U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore of groping her, was destroyed Wednesday in a fire that is being investigated as an arson, though officials say they do not believe it is related to the Moore allegations." ...
... The AL.com story, by Anna Vollers, is here.
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Reader Comments (11)
Have the feeling that once again I'm missing something.
The Clinton Foundation HELPS people. As one instance, according to a 2016 "Fortune" report, it "helped negotiate HIV/AIDS therapy price cuts as high as 90%, ensuring access to these treatments for more than 11.5 million people across more than 70 countries."
The report further states it has spent. (in 2016) no more than 2 dollars to raise 100 and thus has an 88 percent efficiency rating....far better than the Red Cross....and there's no mention of using foundation money to purchase a portrait of either Clinton.
Seems downright criminal, doesn't it?
As I keep saying, we have some very bad people running the country.
@Ken: Your comment above connects to your comments yesterday re: "kindness"–––something I thought about off and on throughout the evening. Yes, we participate in altruistic acts because "they make us feel good" ––simple as that––-but in fact there are those that harbor guilt for whatever reason and need to cleanse themselves by doing "good works." You wrote about those conservatives in congress that are clearly enacting "evil" acts and you asked were they, too, feeling good about this? Is a Lindsey Graham who not too long ago made fun of Trump and criticized him colorfully, but now is sucking up and acting like a good soldier a ploy, a play, a what? Did he "feel good" then or does he feel good now? how to explain this.
I have been reading off and on Adrian Forsyth's book on the ecology and evolution of mating behavior which is not a book about how a behavior contributes to the survival of the species. This book emphasizes traits that persist if it contributes to the reproduction success of the creatures that bear and propagate it and examines the self-interest and competition that result from natural selection acting on individual animals and plants:
"The Hobbesian view of life may seem to be contradicted by sociality and cooperation in some species. Here is how evolutionary biologist Michael Ghiselin attacks this view:
'The economy of Nature is competitive from beginning to end. Underneath that economy and how it works and the underlying reasons for social phenomena are manifest.They are the means by which one organism gains some advantage to the detriment of another.'"
In other words, he says, no hint of genuine charity ameliorates our vision of society once sentimentalism has been laid aside. What passes for cooperation turns out to be a mixture of opportunism and exploitation. Can we relate?
But you my friend, are displaying a kindness that is of a human kind. I can only hope that "our friends across the isle" can evolve and cast off their evil ways––their "mixture of opportunism and exploitation" and become better human beings.
O that wishes may come true.
Today's Trumptweets:
7.27AM 'my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart.'.
7.30AM 'I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius....and a very stable genius at that!'.
So 'really smart' isn't enough. So Trump has to officially declare himself an egomaniac. So geniuses need to say it publicly because it is a hidden characteristic. So providing proof that you have NPD is an act of genius. And of course the fact that the majority of Americans get to watch you every day and declare you an idiot needs to be corrected by the tiny brain that knows one thing, 'I'm tiny'.
If it is within the CDC's powers to identify and eradicate diseases, instead of hosting conversations about what to do should nuclear war strike, could it not just go to the heart of the problem and eliminate the cause?
In this case, the Pretender?
It would seem an efficient approach, no messing around, direct and cheap, all in all an ideal business model.
After all business is now in charge of our government, national parks, forests, monuments, seashores and all. Why not our national pathologies, as well?
These tweets––I thought Marvin was doing a "funny" but alas, the very smart, genius bloke actually tweeted these words. Ach du Himmel!, as my mother used to say when she actually meant "what the fuck–-or "hell" in her case." Really Donald? I'd say, unbelievable, but we are past that word.
To put a topper on that just read the Centers for Disease Control announced this week that the agency will hold a public session on how to prepare for a nuclear explosion. Yipppeee!!!!!!
Oh, and Bea's "So it's "insane" for nonprofessionals to "diagnose" Trump's psychological disabilities from afar, but it's A-OK for Sanders to mass-diagnose tens of millions of unnamed Americans as "mentally unstable" based on their disliking Trump. That's pretty much the view of dictators who lock opponents & suspected dissidents in mental institutions." is "spot on" as the British are wont to say and yesterday bought out Wolff's book in many of the bookstores and are laughing all the way through the read.
Jimmy Kimmel 'Deduces' why Jeff Sessions hates Marijuana:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jimmy-kimmel-jeff-sessions-hates-marijuana_us_5a509e26e4b003133ec809d9?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
Have to keep reminding myself that Jeff Sessions is a nasty little man whose arrant racism, if nothing else, has earned him all the trouble he's gotten himself into, because my natural tendency when I see someone so befuddled, so unappreciated by those he thought to be friends, so overmatched by events is to feel sorry for him.
It may be just his stature, but the uncomprehending look on Session's face when he tries to duck a question reminds me of my three-year old grandson who faced with a similar quandary looks into some interior distance, pauses, and says, "I don't know." I love him for how comfortable he seems admitting ignorance.
In a three year old, or for that matter at any age, admission of ignorance is laudable. But in an adult such an admission should be only the first step on the road to knowledge.
Neither Sessions nor most of his party has learned that lesson.
Maybe at the top of their list of sins is the comfort they display with their ignorance. That by itself is unpardonable.
@BeaMcCrab: Thanks for posting the link to Steve M.'s blog, the Gilbert & Sullivan-like ditties posed in response to the
Twit-in-Chief's early Tweets of today are so funny! If any RC follower hasn't gone to this blog site yet, STOP whatever you are doing and go it immediately. Suggest you read the responses aloud to get the full effect of the rhyme scheme...
Marie,
Good idea about having Ivanka design the family’s prison togs. Orange would be the perfect color too, but I’m afraid her design skills will be taxed to the max if she wants to whip up a body slimming design for dad. Good luck with that. He’ll look like a triple stick orange popsicle no matter what she does (does Brioni make prison couture?).
And putting some kind of insignia on the jumpsuits is a inspired. She can use the Trumpy “coat of arms, the one Donaldo stole from another family. I think it would be entirely appropriate as well if she restored the original motto deleted by dear old dad: Integritas. Might give them all a certain amount of juice with other inmates.
And after a few years, they can all get matching Russian tats. To go along with Aryan Brotherhood tats.
The decision on the part of so-called sane and "patriotic" Confederate congress-crooks to investigate the investigators and let the traitors off scot-free is a clear indication that they intend to double down on their treachery.
The Party of Treason can't back down now because wingers never back down. They never admit they're wrong and they never correct course. They're committed to supporting a traitor and his family. They have no commitment to the rule of law or to ethics or morals. Or to the United States. They are committed to their own victory at all costs, be it a victory over those seeking the truth about collusion with a foreign power to fraudulently win an election, or over the Constitution, or democracy itself.
Of course, if it ever comes out that there is clear and incontrovertible evidence of Trumpian collusion and obstruction of justice, after a few failed attempts to cover it up, a few of them will yelp that they always knew it and were just ready to stand up for America, but....um....a thing happened and...um...they forgot. But now, by jing, they're all for America, and besides, who ever heard of Donald Trump?
They're worse than all the Trumpies piled on top of one another in a bloody ditch filled with dung covered with anthrax spores.
And worse than that? When Donaldo is sitting in a home babbling to himself about how, like, smart he is, and when Jarvanka and the two hairs apparent are circling days on a calendar on the wall of their cells, these assholes will still be in congress sharpening their shivs with lifetime appointments, courtesy of gerrymandering, election stealing, and voter suppression.
Loved the Gilbert and Sullivan-- I sang mine... The comments had a few more, and one wag did one on"I'm called little Buttercup..." Anyhow, cleverness outweighs the "like, smart...stabile genius" by a mile. I also hate Grassley (lived in Dubuque area when he first got elected and thought he was a warthog then, too--)and REEEEALY hate Ms. Lindsey. Don't these "like smart" clunkweasels know everything they say is on tape? ... and we all know when they become even more evil by denying they said things, and it's plain they are either stoopid or they think we are-- Time for many cocktails tonight. I advise all RC readers to do the same. Love, Little Buttercup