;)
Thursday
Jul182019
The Commentariat -- July 19, 2019
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Julian Borger & Patrick Wintour of the Guardian: "Iran's Revolutionary Guards claim to have seized a British oil tanker, the Stena Impero, which suddenly veered off course and headed into Iranian waters. The ship's owners issued a statement saying it had been 'approached by unidentified small crafts and a helicopter during transit of the Strait of Hormuz while the vessel was in international waters.' 'We are presently unable to contact the vessel which is now heading north towards Iran,' the owners, Stena Bulk, and the ship's managers, Northern Marine, said in the statement." ...
... Update: According to the New York Times, "There were also unconfirmed reports on Friday that a second British-owned tanker may have been seized."
Never Mind. Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump on Friday took fresh aim at Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) while deflecting blame away from his supporters who chanted 'send her back' at a Wednesday night rally. When asked about his unhappiness with the chants in North Carolina, Trump quickly turned his criticism to Omar.... Trump's renewed focus on Omar is a shift from just a day earlier, when he sought to distance himself from the chants of 'send her back.'" Mrs. McC: He said of Omar, "She's lucky to be where she is." ...
... Joan Greve of the Guardian (at 18:26 in the liveblog): “Trump also praised the crowd that broke out in the racist chant as 'incredible.' 'Those are incredible people; those are incredible patriots,' the president told reporters, bragging about the 'record crowd.'" Mrs. McC: You knew this would happen.
Nate Cohn of the New York Times: Donald Trump's "advantage in the Electoral College, relative to the national popular vote, may be even larger than it was in 2016, according to an Upshot analysis of election results and polling data. That persistent edge leaves him closer to re-election than one would think based on national polls, and it might blunt any electoral cost of actions like his recent tweets attacking four minority congresswomen."
Erin Banco of the Daily Beast: "George Nader, who was a key witness in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, was hit with new federal charges of sex trafficking for allegedly having sex with a 14-year-old boy he transported from Europe. An indictment unsealed Friday morning in Eastern District of Virginia also charges Nader with counts of child pornography and obscenity. The charges come on top of separate child-porn charges leveled by the same prosecutors last month. Nader pleaded not guilty to all charges during a court appearance Friday.... Nader met several times with individuals associated with the Trump campaign throughout the election and into the early days of the administration."
Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "As Trump's racist invective against [Rep. Ilhan] Omar and three other freshman Democratic congresswomen has dominated the news, the president's defenders have used Jews as human shields, pretending that hatred of the quartet is rooted in abhorrence of anti-Semitism.... 'When they start asking people to go back where they came from, that's the first line of attack on the Jewish people over centuries,' said [Jeremy] Ben-Ami [of J Street]. It's terrifying enough to have a president who says such things. It's an almost incalculable insult for Trump and his enablers to act as if he's helping the Jews when he adopts the language of the pogrom."
Trump's So Low Even David Brooks Gets Him Right: "In Trump's version, 'American' is defined by three propositions. First, to be American is to be xenophobic. The basic narrative he tells is that the good people of the heartland are under assault from aliens, elitists and outsiders. Second, to be American is to be nostalgic. America's values were better during some golden past. Third, a true American is white. White Protestants created this country; everybody else is here on their sufferance. When you look at Trump's American idea you realize that it contradicts the traditional American idea in every particular. In fact, Trump's national story is much closer to the Russian national story than it is toward our own. It's an alien ideology he's trying to plant on our soil. Trump's vision is radically anti-American." ...
... Quint Forgey of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Friday accused the media of siding with Rep. Ilhan Omar and the other freshman progressive congresswomen with whom he has feuded this week, criticizing reporters' coverage of the 'send her back' chant that broke out at his most recent campaign rally. 'It is amazing how the Fake News Media became "crazed" over the chant "send her back" by a packed Arena (a record) crowd in the Great State of North Carolina, but is totally calm & accepting of the most vile and disgusting statements made by the three Radical Left Congresswomen,' the president tweeted." Mrs. McC: Three?? Trump seems to lost one of his nemeses; he named four during his Wednesday campaign rant. Also too, he's very upset with the media for covering the crowd who enthusiastically greeted Omar when she returned to Minnesota: "They even covered a tiny staged crowd as they greeted Foul Mouthed Omar in Minnesota," Trump tweeted.
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Oh. Actual Populists. Sheryl Stolberg & Jeanna Smialek of the New York Times: "The House voted Thursday to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025, delivering a long-sought victory to liberals and putting the Democratic Party's official imprimatur on the so-called Fight for $15, which many Democratic presidential candidates have embraced. The bill would more than double the federal minimum wage, which is $7.25 an hour -- about $15,000 a year for someone working 40 hours a week, or about $10,000 less than the federal poverty level for a family of four. It has not been raised since 2009, the longest time the country has gone without a minimum-wage increase since it was established 1938. The measure, which passed largely along party lines, 231-199, after Republicans branded it a jobs-killer, faces a blockade in the Senate, where Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, said he will not take it up." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: On the other hand, Trump & McConnell deserve credit for giving themselves huge tax breaks at the expense of the rest of us. The truth is, Trump's antics are extremely useful to McConnell. Few are paying attention to McConnell's stonewalling of almost every bill the House passes when we're all tearing out hair out over Trump's latest outrage.
Once Again, Trump Denies Reality Caught on Tape. Julie Davis of the New York Times: "President Trump on Thursday disavowed the 'send her back' chant that broke out at his re-election rally Wednesday night when he railed against a Somali-born congresswoman, as Republicans in Congress rushed to distance themselves and their party from the ugly refrain. Mr. Trump said he was 'not happy' with the chant, directed at Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, a hijab-wearing freshman Democrat whom the president has singled out repeatedly for verbal excoriation. On Thursday he claimed that he had tried to cut off the chant, an assertion contradicted by video of the event. Asked why he did not stop it, Mr. Trump said, 'I think I did -- I started speaking very quickly.' In fact, as the crowd roared 'send her back,' Mr. Trump looked around silently and paused as the scene unfolded in front of him, doing nothing to halt the chorus.... Mr. Trump's effort to dissociate himself from his own supporters reflected the misgivings of his allies, who have flooded the upper echelons of his team with expressions of concern in the wake of a rally that veered into ugly nativist territory.... Among them were House Republican leaders, who pleaded with Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday morning to separate the party from the message embraced by the crowd in Greenville, N.C." Ivanka Trump reportedly got to Daddyo this morning. (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Let's go to the videotape:
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Let's not forget Trump's late Wednesday tweet: "Just returned to the White House from the Great State of North Carolina. What a crowd and what great people. The enthusiasm blows away our rivals on the Radical Left. 2020 will be a big year for the Republican Party!" (Linked below.) IOW, Trump only accepted the notion that a threatening, racist, nativist taunt was not that good a look after advisors & allies begged him to disavow the fascist chant. Up till then he thought it was so great he congratulated the chanters. Then he pretended the chant had nothing to do with him and said he heroically tried to stop it. And I am the Queen of Romania.
Wussilini:
... You may have noticed there are two more of Daniel Dale's "'Sir' Tell"s in just the few short clips Colbert featured.
... Aaron Rupar of Vox: "Trump isn't shy about gaslighting -- during a speech last summer, he advised his supporters to 'just remember, what you're seeing and what you're reading is not what's happening.' But his claim that he 'started speaking very quickly' is directly contradicted by video footage of Wednesday's event.... Even Trump and his supporters seem to realize that this is a bad look. But instead of apologizing, they're lying." Mrs. McC: Rupar cites House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's & White House spokesperson Hogan Gidley's lame excuses, but I'd say Lindsey Graham's rationale was the worst: "If you're a Somali refugee wearing a MAGA cap, [Trump] doesn't want to send you back. What does that tell me? That it's about the criticism, not the critic." That is a repudiation of the First Amendment or at least an assertion that freedom of speech is a right not accorded immigrants. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Kevin McCarthy managed to tell three, count 'em three, lies in defense of Trump re: the "Send her back" chant: (1) Trump never named the Congresswomen/he named them all, and name-checked Omar several times; (2) Trump "moved on in the speech"/he "moved on" only after the chant died down; (3) It was a "small group to the side" who chanted/the chant was deafening & you can see Trumpbots standing behind Trump joining in with the rest of the audience. ...
... ** Christopher Mathias of the Huffington Post: Trump's Greenville, N.C., rally presented "an arresting scene: a predominantly white crowd of thousands, many in red 'Make America Great Again' hats, encouraging a receptive president to illegally deport one of his political opponents, who is a black, Muslim American woman. To scholars of fascism -- who have been ringing the alarm bells since Trump began his climb to power in 2015 -- the rally in Greenville felt like an escalation. Like the U.S. just made another leap toward outright fascism.... Among Trump supporters in Greenville on Wednesday, anti-Muslim bigotry was ubiquitous.... As at every Trump rally before it, there was a widespread hatred of the press in Greenville, a well-documented characteristic of fascist movements." Read on. Mathias cites both experts on fascism & the fascists at the Trump rally. ...
... ** Adam Serwer of the Atlantic: "The only thing new Trump brings to the American nationalism of recent decades is a restoration of its old ethnic-chauvinist tradition. Conservative intellectuals cannot rescue nationalism from Trump, any more than they could rescue [Barry] Goldwater from Jim Crow, because Trump's explicit appeals to racial and religious traditionalism, and his authoritarian approach to enforcing those hierarchies, are the things that have bound conservative voters so closely to him.... the president's [believes] that American citizenship is conditional for people of color, who should be grateful we are even allowed to be here.... Trump has falsely accused [Rep. Ilhan] Omar of supporting al-Qaeda, of betraying her country. But when a foreign power attacked American elections, it was the president who first sought to profit from that attack, and then to obstruct the investigation into it, and finally to offer a vocal defense of the perpetrators.... Under Trumpism, no defense of the volk is a betrayal, even if it undermines the republic, and no attack on the volk's hegemony can be legitimate, even if it is a defense of democracy.... Racism is at the core of Trumpism.... What Americans do now, in the face of this, will define us forever." Mrs. McC: Serwer (rightly, IMO) lets House Democrats have it for slow-walking any defense of democracy, ostensibly as a political strategy. Thanks to Anonymous for the link. ...
... Zak Cheney-Rice of New York: "... some Republicans may be put off by Trump's racist remarks, but they're fine with his racist policies. This is predictable, given that much of this agenda marks a continuation of mandates the party has pursued for years — indulging the electorate's most extreme Islamophobic impulses, suppressing votes and gerrymandering districts to enshrine minority rule, and drumming up resentment toward immigrants from Latin America.... They object to the crudeness of the vessel [Trump]. But its substance aligns firmly with their views." ...
... Annals of "Journalism", Ctd. Matt Gertz of Media Matters for America: "Commentators will debate the factors that created the bitter brew that led here, to public cries at a presidential rally for the banishment of a U.S. citizen who came to this country as a child refugee from Somalia. They will attribute blame to a craven and complicit Republican Party, to a feckless Democratic one, to the rise off fractured, paranoid social media. To those I'll add: You don't get frothing crowds chanting 'send her back' without Fox News." --s
Will Sommer of The Daily Beast: "... Donald Trump suggested on Wednesday that Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) once married her own brother in an immigration fraud scheme.... The remarks were the first Trump had ever uttered on Omar's marriage. And they represented a remarkable -- if not depressing -- capstone for the unproven rumor, which has gained steam in the fever swamps for three years as Omar became one of the country's most outspoken and controversial lawmakers.... [T]he completely unproven idea that she married her brother is based entirely on a single, anonymous, unsourced allegation initially made on an obscure internet forum." --s
Prosecutors Let Individual 1 off the Hook. Tom Winter & Adam Edelman of NBC News: "The FBI believed then-candidate Donald Trump was closely involved in a scheme to hide hush-money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels, who claimed to have had an affair with Trump, court documents from the closed campaign finance case against former Trump-fixer Michael Cohen show. The documents, released Thursday, describe a 'series of calls, text messages, and emails' among Cohen, Trump, Trump campaign aide Hope Hicks, Keith Davidson -- an attorney for Daniels..., and David Pecker, an executive of the company that published the National Enquirer." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Kevin Johnson & Kristine Phillips of USA Today: "Federal prosecutors' decision to end an investigation into hush money payments to women claiming affairs with Donald Trump relied at least in part on long-standing Justice Department policy that a sitting president cannot be charged with a crime, a person familiar with the matter said Thursday.... A person familiar with the case, who was not authorized to discuss i publicly, said it was unclear whether prosecutors made a determination that they had sufficient evidence to bring a case against Trump or anyone other than his former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty last year. But the Justice Department's opinion that a president cannot be indicted factored into the decision to end the probe, the person said.... House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said the unsealed documents bolstered Cohen's assertions. 'The inescapable conclusion from all of the public materials available now is that there was ample evidence to charge Donald Trump with the same criminal election law violations for which Michael Cohen pled guilty,' Schiff said." ...
... Kara Scannell & Marshall Cohen of CNN: "Federal search warrants released Thursday detail how Donald Trump and others scrambled in the final weeks of the 2016 campaign to arrange a hush-money deal to hide his alleged affair and contain the fallout from related stories in the press. The internal chaos consumed Trump, then-attorney Michael Cohen, campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks and even reached campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, according to the documents unsealed by a federal court in New York. After the 'Access Hollywood' tape came out in October 2016, there was a mad scramble inside the Trump campaign to contain the damage and suppress additional allegations of a sexual nature from reaching public view...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Manu Raju & Jeremy Herb of CNN: "The House Judiciary Committee is examining the truthfulness of former White House communications director and Trump confidante Hope Hicks' statements in the aftermath of new documents released on Thursday, asking her to clarify her testimony to the committee last month. The FBI documents released earlier Thursday revealing that one day after the tape came out..., Michael Cohen spoke on th phone with then-campaign spokeswoman Hicks and candidate Donald Trump. Those conversations were apparently about adult film actress Stormy Daniels..., according to the documents. House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler wrote to Hicks asking if she wanted to voluntarily clarify her testimony, saying the new evidence 'raises substantial questions about the accuracy" of several statements she made. In her appearance last month before the Judiciary Committee, Hicks said 'no' when asked multiple times by Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee whether Hicks was ever present when Trump and Cohen discussed Daniels, according to a transcript released of the closed-door interview. She also said she had no information about Daniels other than what she learned from reporters.... Hicks told CNN on Thursday that she doesn't believe anything in these documents contradicts what she has previously said or testified. She said the early October conversations with Cohen were regarding the Access Hollywood tape."
Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A judge on Thursday stopped just short of acquitting Michael Flynn's former business partner, Bijan Rafiekian, on charges stemming from a Turkey-related lobbying campaign the men worked during the 2016 campaign.... 'There are very substantial issues with respect to the sufficiency of the evidence,' [U.S. District Judge Anthony] Trenga said. He called the government's proof 'all very circumstantial,' adding: 'Most of it's speculative.' However, the judge noted that court rules at this stage call for him to assess the evidence in the light most favorable to the government. Then, he announced he was planning to 'reserve' on the issue."
Julian Borger of the Guardian: "Iran has offered a deal with the US in which it would formally and permanently accept enhanced inspections of its nuclear programme, in return for the permanent lifting of US sanctions. The offer was made by the Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, on a visit to New York. But it is unlikely to be warmly received by the Trump administration, which is currently demanding Iran make a range of sweeping concessions, including cessation of uranium enrichment and support for proxies and allies in the region. Zarif insisted, however, that his offer was 'a substantial move'." ...
... So Hours Later, This Happened. Kevin Liptak & Barbara Starr of CNN: "... Donald Trump says a US ship 'destroyed' an Iranian drone on Thursday. He said the drone came within 1,000 yards of the USS Boxer and ignored 'multiple calls to stand down. 'Speaking at the White House Trump said the drone was 'threatening the safety of the ship and the ship's crew' in the Strait of Hormuz and was 'immediately destroyed.' The drone was destroyed using electronic jamming, according to a US defense official. The crew of the Boxer took defensive action after the drone came within a threatening distance of the US ship, the official said. 'This is the latest of many provocative and hostile actions by Iran against vessels operating in international waters,' Trump added." With video. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Watching Trump haltingly read from the teleprompter, leaving the viewer/listener with no confidence he has any idea what he's talking about, I couldn't help think of President Obama & other previous real presidents who, even when they mostly read their remarks about national security issues, seemed to know not only what they were talking about but much more than they revealed. We must not forget how real presidents communicate in crises. You can watch Trump in the video accompanying the CNN story & contrast the presentation by Trump -- a former TV star & con-man/professional actor -- with this:
All the Best People, Ctd. Oh. Fake Populist. Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump said Thursday that he would name Eugene Scalia as his next secretary of labor, tapping the longtime labor lawyer and son of the former Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia for a position with vast responsibility over the American work force. The appointment is likely to be contested by Democrats and labor unions because Mr. Scalia has a long record of representing Walmart and other companies that pushed back against unions and tougher labor laws.... 'President Trump has again chosen someone who has proven to put corporate interests over those of worker rights,' [Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said. 'Workers and union members who believed candidate Trump when he campaigned as pro-worker should feel betrayed.'"
Nancy Cook & Margaret Harding McGill of Politico: "The White House is pushing a top aide to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross [Commerce policy director Earl Comstock] ;out of the Trump administration, the first round of house-cleaning after the 2020 census debacle and clashes over tech policy." --s
Ephrat Livni & David Yanofsky of Quartz: "In the past [William] Barr gave [donations] sporadically, once in 2009 and 2011, twice in 2014, one contribution in 2015, and another in 2016. Then, Jeff Sessions' tenure as attorney general got rocky, and Barr started giving regularly. He donated on a schedule, providing $10,000 every month to the NRSC, on the third of the month, starting in October. That continued until he was confirmed on Feb. 14, 2019, just 11 days after his last contribution.... In total, Barr gave $51,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) -- a group that raises money to help elect Republicans to the Senate -- in the months leading up to the Senate's confirmation of his nomination ... [although the NRSC refunded $30,000 to Barr on Feb. 6, about a week before he was confirmed].... The donations do not violate FEC rules." --s
Tom Philpott of Mother Jones: "On Wednesday, the United States Environmental Protection Agency doubled down on one of the most controversial environmental deregulation moves of the Trump presidency ... reaffirm[ing] its 2017 decision to reject a proposal from the agency's own scientists to ban an insecticide called chlorpyrifos [made by Dow Chemical].... Major studies ... have found strong evidence that low doses of chlorpyrifos inhibits kids' brain development ... with effects ranging from lower IQ to higher rates of autism. Since the 2017 chlorpyrifos decision, the administration has approved the Dow-Dupont merger, and named several former Dow execs to high posts within the US Department of Agriculture." --s ...
... Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "The Trump administration took a major step to weaken the regulation of toxic chemicals on Thursday when the Environmental Protection Agency announced that it would not ban a widely used pesticide that its own experts have linked to serious health problems in children. The decision by Andrew R. Wheeler, the E.P.A. administrator, represents a victory for the chemical industry and for farmers who have lobbied to continue using the substance, chlorpyrifos, arguing it is necessary to protect crops. It was the administration's second major move this year to roll back or eliminate chemical safety rules. In April, the agency disregarded the advice of its own experts when officials issued a rule that restricted but did not ban asbestos, a known carcinogen."
Ted Hesson of Politico: "The Trump administration is considering a virtual shutdown of refugee admissions next year -- cutting the number to nearly zero -- according to three people familiar with the plan. During a key meeting of security officials on refugee admissions last week, a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services representative who is closely aligned with White House immigration adviser Stephen Miller suggested setting a cap at zero, the people said. Homeland Security Department officials at the meeting later floated making the level anywhere from 3,000 to 10,000, according to one of the people. The proposal for a near-shutdown of the refugee program is alarming officials at the Department of Defense, who don't want to see a halt in admissions of Iraqis who risked their lives assisting U.S. forces in that country."
Matthew Yglesias of Vox: "[I]f you want to really understand American politics in the summer of 2019, it makes sense to tune out the carnival barker's antics for a moment and consider a plaintive memo issued earlier on Wednesday by Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen, and Katz -- one of America's top business law firms.... [The memo states that] under Trump there's been a 'significant drop over the past two years in both the number of white-collar prosecutions and the scale of corporate fines and penalties.'... In the fight Trump wants to have, he casts himself as a champion of the typical white American Christian who is beset by various alien forces and politically correct elites. But when you bring the entire iceberg into view, you see a version of Trump that is much more reflective of Trump's entire business career -- a scam artist who profits off the misplaced trust of his fans just as much as anything else." --s ...
... Igor Derysh of Salon: "Federal prosecutors are on pace to file 162 child sex trafficking cases this fiscal year, marking a 26.7 percent drop from last year and a 32.2 percent drop from five years ago, according to a report from Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC)." --s
Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: "House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings ripped into the acting head of Homeland Security Thursday, upbraiding Kevin McAleenan over the conditions of detention facilities for migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. The Maryland Democrat got emotional while discussing the crowded centers migrants are being held in. Reading from a court document in which a federal judge found that Homeland Security 'did a better job of tracking immigrants' personal property than their children,' Cummings repeatedly shut down McAleenan's attempts to speak up."
Ryan Grim of The Intercept: "Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., ventured across the Capitol complex on Tuesday afternoon to meet privately with House members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.... Schumer ... told the Progressive Caucus members that the Senate had always expected the House to pass a stronger [border security] bill, after which the two chambers would negotiate a compromise -- either informally or through a conference committee. Instead, House leaders simply waved through the Senate bill without letting him know they planned to cave." --s
Presidential Race 2020
Orion Rummler of Axios: "CNN has determined the schedule for the second round of 2020 Democratic debates.... A live, random drawing during a "special edition" of Anderson Cooper 360 kicked off the debate lineup on Thursday.... Each candidate's podium position on debate night will be based on public polling, per CNN.
"July 30: Steve Bullock, Elizabeth Warren, Tim Ryan, John Hickenlooper, John Delaney, Marianne Williamson, Bernie Sanders, Amy Klobuchar, Beto O'Rourke and Pete Buttigieg.
"July 31: Bill de Blasio, Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, Michael Bennet, Tulsi Gabbard, Kirsten Gillibrand, Jay Inslee, Cory Booker, Andrew Yang and Julián Castro."
A Solid No-Confidence Vote. Alexi McCammond of Axios: "On July 9, John Delaney's senior team sat him down and told him to drop out of the presidential race by mid-August, according to three sources close to the campaign."
Ian Millhiser of ThinkProgress: "Imagine, for a moment, what 2009 would have looked like if the Senate's Democratic supermajority showed up for its first day of work and immediately nuked the filibuster. In such a world, the White House didn't have to beg Republican senators for the votes it needed to enact President Barack Obama's stimulus package.... [C]onservative Senate Democrats also could have been sidelined during the Obamacare negotiations.... Obama could have filled the federal courts with lions of the civil rights, criminal defense, poverty, and consumer protection bars.... If the next Democratic president hopes to be more than a figurehead, they will need to think in terms of structural reforms that will restore some resemblance between the popular vote and the composition of the United States Senate." --s
Benjamin Weiser & Ali Watkins of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Thursday denied bail for Jeffrey Epstein, the financier facing sex-trafficking charges, rejecting his request to await trial under home detention at his Upper East Side mansion. The judge, Richard M. Berman of Federal District Court in Manhattan, said Mr. Epstein, who owns property in Paris and has a private plane, would be detained in jail until his trial on charges that he sexually abused and trafficked dozens of underage girls in the early 2000s. Judge Berman emphasized Mr. Epstein's danger to the others, particularly his accusers and 'prospective victims as well.'"(Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Jackie Kucinich & Lachlan Markay of the Daily Beast: "A Pentagon cybersecurity contractor has been charged with threatening to kill a member of Congress over the introduction of a bill that would require public schools to vaccinate children, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in the District of Maryland. Darryl Albert Varnum of Westminster, Maryland called the congressperson -- identified only as 'congressperson #1' -- on June 28, 2019, according to the complaint, and left a voicemail threatening to kill the member if the bill was introduced. 'I'm gonna kill your ass if you do that bill. I swear,' Varnum's voicemail began. 'I will fucking come down and kill your fucking ass. And you're a Congressperson, that's fine. I hope the fucking FBI, CIA and everybody else hears this shit. This is the United States of America, bitch. Get the fuck out,' the voicemail continued. 'I'll tell you what I'll come down to Miami bitch. I'll fuck you up. Like the Cubans don't even know.' Though the name of the member targeted is not listed in the complaint, The Daily Beast has learned that the Varnum's death threat was directed at Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-FL)." Mrs. McC: Wilson is black. Varnum repeats Trump's racist "get the fuck out" trope.
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Reader Comments (16)
Doesn’t Whitey Graham-Cracker understand how utterly asinine he sounds? (rhetorical)
<< . . . on Thursday, when asked by a reporter if Trump’s comments were racist, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) responded, “No, I don’t think it’s racist.”
His reasoning? “A Somali refugee embracing Trump would not have been asked to go back . . . If you’re a racist, you want everybody from Somalia to go back cause they’re black or they’re Muslim.” >>
Respect to all upright Southerners, but with that diphthong-ing twang of his (and hyper-averting eyes) the dude’s none too convincing.
(Did he say congress*men*?)
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/07/lindsey-graham-trump-isnt-racist-because-he-wouldnt-attack-somalis-who-supported-him/
(apologies if already posted)
A few random thoughts on the State of the Union:
The MSM geared us up yesterday for AmaZinG RevElaTiOns on Agent Orange & his cohorts. Turns out, again, (Groundhog's Day every day now?) the president* and his family mafia racket got caught red-handed violating federal finance laws, with all the docs to prove it, and NO ONE gets even a slap on the wrist. And the money changer Alan Weisselberg, who signed the checks, got IMMUNITY from Meuller. For what??? For breaking the law? I thought immunity was supposed to catch bigger fish, and this just got HIM off the hook. I'd love the Dems to ask him about this, but he'll just blandly claim bullshit DOJ regulation n° FU says I can't talk about that.
With all the immunity deals Meuller was dishing out (remember Flynn, no recommended jail time, for treason?!?), it's sounding more like the Meuller Team was actually Bill Barr Lite until the official bag man came and bleached the crime scene.
And not even a fucking fine for the Trump Org., the criminal entreprise making the payments. Nothing. Freddo signed the checks, too. Nothing. Hope Hicks apparently lied to Congress about her role. She won't come back to clarify her comments, and she'll face zero consequences.
The only good thing yesterday was Epstein is behind bars. But he's so fucked and such an existential creep that no cooperation agreement will let him see the light of day, except, maybe, if he's lucky, the last few days of his wretched life. His incentive to rat out elites is nil to none.
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Pelosi: "Impeachment is useless because it'll die in the Senate."
Also Pelosi: "$15/hr pay bill getting sent to the Senate!"
I digress.
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The factoid that Kellyanne Conjob was involved in the frantic coverup of Stormy Daniels is so fucking rich, knowing that she knew all the details of her candidate's pathetic personal life, and still smiles at the camera today like a rebooted robot. This revelation immediately brought me back to her snake-tongued spate with Pelosi when Pelosi was negotiating at the White House and essentially ignored Conjob and said she wants to talk to the president and not his "aides", wherein Conjob reportedly shot back: "Oh, that very pro-woman of you." Yeah, Kellyanne, go cry to Javanka and STFU.
That empty vessel, along with Neo-Nazi Stephen Miller, is one of the worst, most cynical players in this administration, and that is saying A LOT. May she rot in the racist rightwing media sewers for all her long days.
But TGIF
Let's acknowledge that this administration and he who is Trump is killing us slowly––literally in their denial of Climate change ( I say denial since they are doing everything to help it along) and their giving the green light for those deadly pesticides in order to curry favor with a chemical company. Rachel once again reminded us in big bold letters last night to not get tangled up with what they say but concentrate on what they DO.
" But when you bring the entire iceberg into view, you see a version of Trump that is much more reflective of Trump’s entire business career — a scam artist who profits off the misplaced trust of his fans just as much as anything else." - Yglesias
Will his fans finally figure this out? He's blaming them for the "Send her back" rant––if I were one of those ranters I'd pause a mite and think, gee, does he just use us for his own gains? Naw––don't think so--gonna take more than that me thinks.
The piece by Adam Serwer was as mentioned an excellent read and last night Haye's had him on. I did think that his mention of Goldwater was too brief and could give the impression that Barry was a racist: The senate voted on the Civil Rights Act on June 19, 1964; the twenty-seven Republican senators voting against it were Southern segregationists. Goldwater was not a segregationist nor was he a racist. He was, in fact, a life-long opponent of racial discrimination. He voted against the CRA because he believed, as a conservative, that the federal government did not have the power to compel or to dictate to individuals whom they must associate with. It was a hard decision and it haunted him but before he voted he got counsel from none other than William Rehnquist who assured him that that the bill was unconstitutional. Robert Bork also weighed in agreeing with Willy. Consequently, Goldwater's longest-lasting legacy was to drive African-Americans out of the party of Lincoln.
James Reston said at the time that Goldwater "has wrecked his party for a long time to come." Well, not exactly. Nixon picked up the mantle by learning the value of appealing to white anxiety about integration.
And so we come full circle although the insides of that circle has been crammed with Republican double-speak ever since Reagan made small government sound just as warm and caring as big government–-he gave conservatism a human face. And now we have what we have proving how difficult democracy is to maintain––and to flourish.
P.S. The "Welcome Home Ilhan!" that greeted her yesterday from her many supporters was heartwarming. Golden nuggets in this sea of scum.
From story above:"According to the complaint, Varnum’s wife previously told police that he owns “numerous guns.” He has registered just one: a .45 caliber Ruger pistol. His wife’s statement came in the course of another law enforcement encounter in 2015. Carroll County sheriff's deputies responded to a call from Varnum’s wife, who reported that her husband was having “behavioral issues.” When police arrived, an intoxicated Varnum had holed up in his garage with a rifle and a bottle of vodka, insisting that Taliban militants were en route to his house."
and this guy is a senior cyber systems engineer??????
and were those "numerous guns" confiscated??????
and does his wife still reside with him or was she smart enough to flee?
A horrible story!
Rep. Wilson has a way of getting under old white boys' skin, doesn't she?
Remember how she made John Kelly look like the racist fool he is?
Must be the hats.
I get a meet and greet Sunday with Mayor Pete. I rest assured that
he won't tell me to go back to where I came from. I ain't never
goin' back to the land of cotton, soon forgotten (by me).
Here's how Seth Meyers' show reacted to Trump's "go back" message
https://youtu.be/a_DzUr175_0
Where are the anit-vaxxers when you need them? Chlorpyrifos "inhibits kids’ brain development ... with effects ranging from lower IQ to higher rates of autism." The science is actually on their side for once, but I don't see any protest against Dow Chemical. It would be nice if we could harness some of the crazy in this country for good once in a while.
RAS,
Ditto re: Chlorpyrifos and the Anti-Vaxxers. Gotta love all those good folk at due-diligence DOW *and* DOW (D.estroying O.ur W.omen) Corning.
Forrest.Morris,
Fantastic re: your meet ‘n greet!
I passed a really cute guy wearing this tee-shirt the other day:
Boot
Edge
Edge
Soooo fine. Right? . . .
. . . The shirt. It was the shirt that was fine. Finely made. Yup. Really cute, too, that shirt. (beat). Okay. Gotta run now. Bye!
Very sad horrible terrible teeth-grinding stories today. I could barely read them. That’s all I can say.
Forrest,
Please say “Hey” to Mayor Pete. Tell him if he ever gets on the stage with the Cowardly Liar to kick ass and take names. Also, tell him to ask Fatty how those horrible bone spurs are treating him. Which foot was that again??
I’m pretty sure, had I a medical problem that “bad”, I’d be able to recall which foot was affected.
I slid off an icy roof about 25 feet up (throwing snowballs at cars) when I was in the 8th grade and fractured both forearm bones in my right arm (slammed into another roof edge on the way down), bone ends sticking out, all white and splintery; not much blood though, which I found curious. I remember distinctly which arm it was and exactly where on the arm those bones popped through (still have the scar all these years later). Why?
It REALLY HAPPENED!
A direct link to the Adam Serwer piece in the Atlantic, which is Must Read material:
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/07/send-her-back-battle-will-define-us-forever/594307/
Wonder how many millions of dollars the Pretender's hateful antics have already and, if he won't STFU, will continue to raise for Minnesota's most famous Representative.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/19/politics/citizenship-test-revision/index.html
Another Pretender initiative bursting with satiric possibility.
More from the Pretender to make an American proud:
https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2019/07/19/nadia-murad-speaks-with-president-trump-isis-keilar-crn-sot-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/this-week-in-politics/
So proud.