;)
Monday
Jul302018
The Commentariat -- July 31, 2018
Afternoon Update:
Stephanie Murray of Politico: "'The Fake News Media is going CRAZY! They are totally unhinged and in many ways, after witnessing first hand the damage they do to so many innocent and decent people, I enjoy watching,' [Donald] Trump said in a tweet [Tuesday morning]. 'In 7 years, when I am no longer in office, their ratings will dry up and they will be gone!'" ...
... Ken Meyer of Mediaite: Trump spent a good deal of the morning Tuesday tweeting "news" he heard on Fox "News." Mrs. McC: And cynics call Fox "state media." How unfair!
Sharon LaFraniere & Emily Baumgaertner of the New York Times: "Before a packed federal courtroom, jury selection began Tuesday in the bank and tax fraud trial of Paul Manafort, President Trump's former campaign chairman.... The court began choosing 16 jurors -- 12 to be seated and four alternates. The trial is expected to last at least three weeks.... Mr. Manafort, 69, is the first American charged in the inquiry by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, to maintain his innocence and to force the prosecutors to prove their case at trial.... The trial is being carefully watched because of Mr. Manafort's role as the chairman of the Trump campaign and his longstanding ties with pro-Russia businessmen and politicians, which he developed over a decade of political consulting work in Ukraine.
Nicholas Fandos & Kevin Roose of the New York Times: "Facebook announced on Tuesday that it has identified a coordinated political influence campaign, with dozens of inauthentic accounts and pages that are believed to be engaging in political activity around divisive social issues ahead of November's midterm elections. In a series of briefings on Capitol Hill this week and a public post on Tuesday, the company told lawmakers that it had detected and removed 32 pages and accounts connected to the influence campaign on Facebook and Instagram as part of its investigations into election interference. It publicly said it had been unable to tie the accounts to Russia, whose Internet Research Agency was at the center of an indictment earlier this year for interfering in the 2016 election, but company officials told Capitol Hill that Russia was possibly involved, according to two officials briefed on the matter."
Duncan Campbell of Computer Weekly: "A British IT manager and former hacker launched and ran an international disinformation campaign that has provided ... Donald Trump with fake evidence and false arguments to deny that Russia interfered to help him win the election. The campaign is being run from the UK by 39-year-old programmer Tim Leonard, who lives in Darlington, [England,] using the false name 'Adam Carter'. Starting after the 2016 presidential election, Leonard worked with a group of mainly American right-wing activists to spread claims on social media that Democratic 'insiders' and non-Russian agents were responsible for hacking the Democratic Party.... The claims led to Trump asking then CIA director Mike Pompeo to investigate allegations circulated from Britain that the Russian government was not responsible for the cyber attacks, and that they could be proved to be an 'inside job', in the form of leaks by a [Democratic] party employee. This was the opposite of the CIA's official intelligence findings."
Matt Shuham of TPM: "White House chief of staff John Kelly announced to staff Monday that he'd agreed to stay in that position through the 2020 election, the Wall Street Journal first reported Tuesday. Citing unnamed White House officials, the Journal said Kelly was responding to Trump's request that he stay through 2020. The Washington Post and CNN, also citing unnamed officials, confirmed the news."
Nick Miroff & Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "Trump administration officials mounted a fierce defense Tuesday of the controversial family separation policy at the border, defending sites as 'more like a summer camp' than holding facilities, and arguing that the detention system simply was not set up to facilitate court-ordered reunions easily. 'I'm very comfortable with the level of service and protection that is being provided,' top Immigration and Customs Enforcement official Matthew Albence told the Senate Judiciary Committee about the conditions at the 'family residential centers,' which he likened to summer camps. He and other administration officials told senators that the government had mechanisms in place to return children to their parents after they were separated, but they had to improvise a new reunification system under orders from a federal judge. 'This is a novel situation,' said Cmdr. Jonathan D. White, a public health coordinating official for the reunification effort. 'The systems were not set up to have referrals include parent information.'... The defensive comments from Trump officials dumbfounded Democratic members of the committee, such as Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), who charged that the Trump administration had created a situation at the border that was like a Kafka novel, suggesting that ... Chuck E. Cheese had a better system for preventing children from being separated from their parents than the U.S. government." ...
... No More Drugging the Kiddies at Summer Camp. Samantha Schmidt of the Washington Post: "A federal judge on Monday found that U.S. government officials have been giving psychotropic medication to migrant children at a Texas facility without first seeking the consent of their parents or guardians, in violation of state child welfare laws. U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee in Los Angeles ordered the Trump administration to obtain consent or a court order before administering any psychotropic medications to migrant children, except in cases of dire emergencies. She also ordered that the government move all children out of a Texas facility, Shiloh Residential Treatment Center in Manvel, except for children deemed by a licensed professional to pose a 'risk of harm' to themselves or others. Staff members at Shiloh admitted to signing off on medications in lieu of a parent, relative or legal guardian, according to Gee's ruling.... The facility also has a history of troubling practices, including allegations of child abuse, according to the Center for Investigative Reporting."
Digby, in Salon, does a good job of summarizing the weird Giuliani media blitz of the past couple of days.
Contributer forrest m. has been doing original research for us re: the DOJ's new so-called "religious liberty task force" (related stories linked below.) forrest "tried Googling how many Baptist churches have been attacked by the LGBTQ community and guess what---it's less than zero." Also in today's thread, Jeanne doesn't seem all that sure we need a taxpayer-funded "Christian freedom" enforcement squad: "Why do we have to have an entire sucabinet outfit to ballyhoo and whine and complain that one can't practice one's Christian religion anymore when we have that font of virtue, Sam Brownback? Wasn't he supposed to be the gatekeeper so none of the 'wrong' religions get consideration ever?"
*****
Populist Prez "Mulls Unilateral Tax Cut for the Rich." Alan Rappeport & Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "The Trump administration is considering bypassing Congress to grant a $100 billion tax cut mainly to the wealthy, a legally tenuous maneuver that would cut capital gains taxation and fulfill a long-held ambition of many investors and conservatives. Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, said in an interview on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit meeting in Argentina this month that his department was studying whether it could use its regulatory powers to allow Americans to account for inflation in determining capital gains tax liabilities. The Treasury Department could change the definition of 'cost' for calculating capital gains, allowing taxpayers to adjust the initial value of an asset, such as a home or a share of stock, for inflation when it sells.... Independent analyses suggest that more than 97 percent of the benefits of indexing capital gains for inflation would go to the top 10 percent of income earners in America. Nearly two-thirds of the benefits would go to the super wealthy -- the top 0.1 percent of American income earners." ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Take that, you poor, ignorant Trumpbots. What? Can't get a job that pays more than the lousy federal minimum wage? Lost your health insurance? The kids' teachers went on strike? Boo-fucking-hoo. But, hey, none of those sluts can get abortions, right? Nobody has to bake artistic wedding cakes for homo-sexuals. (See Sessions' "religious liberty task force" stories linked below.) And a few hundred scary immigrant kids lost their parents forever. #MAGA! (Made in China) ...
... Patrick Temple-West & Victoria Guida of Politico: "Some of the biggest winners from ... Donald Trump's new tax law are corporate executives who have reaped gains as their companies buy back a record amount of stock, a practice that rewards shareholders by boosting the value of existing shares. A Politico review of data disclosed in Securities and Exchange Commission filings shows the executives, who often receive most of their compensation in stock, have been profiting handsomely by selling shares since Trump signed the law on Dec. 22 and slashed corporate tax rates to 21 percent. That trend is likely to increase, as Wall Street analysts expect buyback activity to accelerate in the coming weeks. 'It is going to be a parade of eye-popping numbers,' said Pat McGurn, the head of strategic research and analysis at Institutional Shareholder Services, a shareholder advisory firm." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
The big thing is, it will be a total denuclearization, which is already starting taking place. -- Donald Trump, remarks June 22
There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea. -- Donald Trump, in a tweet, June 13
Kim Jung-Un ... has really been very open and I think very honorable based on what we are seeing. -- Donald Trump, remarks April 25 ...
... Ellen Nakashima & Joby Warrick of the Washington Post: "U.S. spy agencies are seeing signs that North Korea is constructing new missiles at a factory that produced the country's first intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States, according to officials familiar with the intelligence. Newly obtained evidence, including satellite photos taken in recent weeks, indicates that work is underway on at least one and possibly two liquid-fueled ICBMs at a large research facility in Sanumdong, on the outskirts of Pyongyang, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity...."
Prima L'Italia. Jeet Heer: "Meeting with newly-elected Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte in the White House, President Trump singled out for commendation Italy's new tough line on immigration. As a nationalist and populist, Conte has more in common with Trump than most American allies.... Trump's warm words for Conte illustrate that the president's 'America First' foreign policy is in practice a policy of building closer ties with governments that share the president's own politics. As Max Fisher of The New York Times observes, this is a genuine innovation given previous American governments have tried to work with allies of varying political orientation."
Jeet Heer: "First: Threaten nuclear war on Twitter. Second: Invite Iran over for tea. At a press conference on Monday, the president said he'd be willing to meet Iranian President Hassan Rouhani at the drop of a hat. 'No preconditions,' Trump asserted.... This openness to diplomacy is admirable and follows the pattern set by Barack Obama, who also said preconditions are not necessary for meetings with foreign adversaries like North Korea. But it should be noted that this development strikingly resembles President Trump's pattern with North Korea: first creating a crisis, and then using meetings as a way to present himself as a necessary problem solver.... In effect, Trump is using a Good-Cop/Bad-Cop routine but one in which he is both the good and bad cop." ...
... Michael Shear & Rick Gladstone of the New York Times: "But hours before Mr. Trump spoke, Iran said that talks with the United States would be impossible under what it called the Trump administration's hostile policies, seeming to close the door on any chance of a dialogue." Mrs. McC: That's faggedaboudit, but in Farsi.
Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "President Trump on Monday a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/399533-trump-doubles-down-on-shutdown-threat" target="_blank">doubled down on his threat to shut down the government to secure enhanced border security measures. 'If we don't get border security after many, many years of talk ... 'I would have no problem doing a shutdown,' Trump said during a joint press conference with Italy's prime minister." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times: "In the days after the 2016 presidential election, Donald J. Trump's advisers had an unequivocal message about contacts between Russians and members of the campaign team: There were none. In the ensuing months, as numerous such communications were revealed, the message changed: There was no collusion with Russia's effort to disrupt the election. On Monday, President Trump's lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani consistently presented a third line of defense: Even if Mr. Trump did collude with the Russians, he committed no crime.... 'My client didn't do it. And even if he did it, it's not a crime,' he said on Fox News.... His remarks follow similar comments from several of Mr. Trump's allies during interviews over the weekend.... The evolving narrative is a sign of how much Mr. Trump and his aides have had to recalibrate their public message in the face of considerable evidence of contacts between Russia and the Trump campaign.... But some experts said the difference between 'collusion' and 'conspiracy' is semantic." ...
... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "President Trump's defense in the Russia investigation has been a study in goal-post moving -- constantly watering down previous denials and raising the standard for what would constitute actual wrongdoing. But rarely has it been so concentrated in one morning.... Rudolph W. Giuliani appeared on Fox News's and CNN's morning shows.... The most notable portion of the interviews was when Giuliani rekindled the idea that collusion isn't even a crime. Trump's defenders have occasionally noted that the word doesn't appear in the criminal code -- which is true but misleading -- but Giuliani took it a step further: He basically suggested Trump would have had to pay for Russia to interfere on his behalf[:]... 'Hacking is the crime. The president didn't hack. He didn't pay for the hacking.'... Giuliani also seemed to offer a very narrow denial of what happened with the Trump Tower meeting.... Giuliani focused his defense on arguing not necessarily that Trump didn't know about it -- but that he wasn't physically at meetings at which information from Russians was discussed. And he did it on both shows." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Jonathan Chait: "I think we can all agree that Trump lacks the technical expertise to personally design and execute a spearfishing attack on John Podesta or the Democratic National Committee.... What we have seen over the last day is a sharp turn in the pro-Trump message, from denying that any collusion took place to redefining what collusion means and whether it is okay.... If Trump solicited the hacking, or was an accessory to the crime, his lawyer is prepared to paint him as innocent.... As you watch Trump's defenders retreating over the horizon, a salien fact to bear in mind is that there are probably more revelations to come with regard to collusion." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: By Giuliani's standards, most of the famous murdering dictators in history were innocent! because they weren't the ones who actually set the bomb, pulled the trigger or released the bow a million times. ...
... Kevin Drum: "So: Trump didn't pay the Russians to hack the DNC server and he wasn't physically present at the Trump Tower meeting. As far as I know, no one has ever accused him of either of these things, but now that he's denied them I suppose my working assumption is that he did pay for the hacks and he was at the Trump Tower meeting." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Oops! Rudy Let Slip Another Trump Tower Meeting. Josh Marshall: "... from the start, I've had the sense that Giuliani does know specifically what Cohen is talking about but is denying the specifics.... In a back and forth with CNN's Alisyn Carmerota, [Giuliani] appears to say that two days before the meeting with the Russian lawyer there was a planning meeting to prepare for that meeting. This prep meeting would have been on June 7th, 2016. Giuliani says that meeting included Don Jr., Jared Kushner, Manafort, Rick Gates and others.... I don't think I'd ever heard of this planning meeting.... It suggests that the Trump team took the planned encounter with the Russian government emissary much more seriously than they've suggested to date.... Gates is now a cooperating witness. Big problem for the Trump Team, if he was at such a planning meeting.... June 7th. That's the date when Trump made that primary election night victory speech where he teased his upcoming anti-Hillary speech where he'd reveal a bunch of new dirt on Hillary, a speech that ended up never happening.... It lines up perfectly with what many have long suspected: that Trump was so excited about the dirt his campaign was going to receive from Russia two days later that he couldn't help but brag about it in public that night." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Update. Matt Shuham of TPM: Giuliani called into Fox "News" Monday to clean up the clean-up revelations he made earlier on Fox & CNN. "Giuliani discussed three meetings on Fox News on Monday -- though he contends that two of them never actually happened.... Giuliani also attempted to 'pre-but' reporting on yet another 2016 campaign meeting, information about which he said had already been given to two news outlets who hadn't published it yet." Mrs. McC: I'll leave it to you to try to figure out what Giuliani is saying now & what he said then. None of it makes much sense. But "no collusion," maybe. Or else, "who cares?" ...
... "Clarification." Adam Silverman of Balloon Juice: "Anyhow, so when Rudy Giuliani went on CNN this [Monday] morning to clarify what he said on Fox News before he went on CNN, he directly contradicted what Rudy Giuliani told CNN last Thursday. Everybody still with me? Good, because Rudy Giuliani has now gone on Fox News again to clarify what Rudy Giuliani told CNN this morning to clarify what Rudy Giuliani had told Fox News even earlier this morning, but which contradicts what Rudy Giuliani told CNN last Thursday." Mrs. McC: Got that? ...
... It Was Maggie Haberman's Fault! Asawin Suebsaeng of the Daily Beast: "Throughout Monday..., Rudy Giuliani went on a chaotic media tour, with each subsequent interview seeming to atone or clean up for a key element laid out in a previous appearance. In an interview with The Daily Beast on Monday night, Giuliani appeared to blame the maelstrom he kicked up on inquisitive New York Times reporters who he suggested had compelled him to proactively spin a potentially damaging story that may or may not actually be real. Several veterans of the Trump campaign, like much of the viewing public, were left befuddled."
... Redcoats. David Corn of Mother Jones: "On Capitol Hill on Friday evening, I ran into Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), who has earned the moniker 'Putin's favorite congressman.'... I ... asked him about the latest Trump-Russia bombshell: the news that Michael Cohen ... was prepared to tell special counsel Robert Mueller that Trump had advance knowledge of and approved the notorious Trump Tower meeting.... 'There's not a person in this town who would not take a meeting to get material like that,' Rohrabacher shot back. He suggested he would." --safari
David Jackson of USA Today: "Rudy Giuliani ... says his team is preparing a 'counter-report' designed to rebut any accusations that special counsel Robert Mueller makes in his expected report about the Russia investigation. Giuliani told USA Today that he believed Mueller's team is 'writing the report as we speak.'" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Hold on a minute. If Team Trump is writing a "counter-report," then they must strongly suspect Mueller's report will show some evidence of criminal or civil liability to "counter." You don't write a "counter-report" when the original report is an extended encomium. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "... Rudy Giuliani has angrily compared >Michael Cohen to famous traitors Benedict Arnold, Brutus and Iago.... Giuliani also called Cohen a 'scumbag' and repeated a claim that investigators have seized more than 180 tapes made by Cohen, which he claimed without offering evidence Cohen had doctored, and said no one on the tapes knew they were being recorded. He said again that only one of those tapes contains Trump's voice." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Veronica Stracqualursi of CNN: "... Donald Trump railed Tuesday against billionaire conservative brothers Charles and David Koch, accusing them of being against key components of his populist agenda and suggesting they're irrelevant in today's Republican Party. Trump's public attack, following a weekend in which he was criticized at a Koch network summer meeting, comes amid speculation that the Koch brothers are reconsidering their typically full-throated support for Republican candidates during the midterm elections. 'The globalist Koch Brothers, who have become a total joke in real Republican circles, are against Strong Borders and Powerful Trade. I never sought their support because I don't need their money or bad ideas,' Trump tweeted Tuesday morning. 'They love my Tax & Regulation Cuts, Judicial picks & more.'"
David Remnick of the New Yorker: "On July 20th, the new publisher of the Times, A. G. Sulzberger, visited the Oval Office at the invitation of President Trump. The meeting was meant to be off the record.... The President broke the off-record agreement nine days later by tweeting that he and Sulzberger had talked about 'the vast amounts of Fake News being put out by the media & how that Fake News has morphed into phrase, "Enemy of the People." Sad!' Sulzberger fired back with a statement saying that he went to the meeting expressly to push back on the President's 'deeply troubling anti-press rhetoric,' which has proved not just divisive but increasingly dangerous.' The once-secret session provides a fascinating look at Trump's capacity to feign charm and receptiveness to criticism in private and then return to a war footing not long after." ...
... OR, maybe this is just another instance that demonstrates Trump's vulnerability to "sympathetic audience control." ...
... Robert Epstein, in a USA Today op-ed: "... Trump is highly vulnerable to what can reasonably be called 'sympathetic audience control.'... In general, when Trump is around someone whom he perceives as supportive..., his thinking is rapidly influenced by what that person is saying.... With Trump, the impact is so strong that it persists after the person is gone -- maybe even until another sympathetic individual comes along. When Trump is in front of a large group of cheering people, his thinking is fully controlled by the crowd. It might seem he's in control, but the opposite is actually the case.... Moment to moment, he either sees a foe and shoots, or he sees a friend and is influenced. In that kind of perceptual world, Trump inevitably -- and without shame or even awareness -- shifts his views frequently, sometimes multiple times a day.... The small time window and sympathetic audience control also explain why Trump always seems to be creating foreign policy on the fly, why his meetings with world leaders rarely produce tangible results, [and] why he can't get congressional deals.... Trump is capable of only a minimal level of analytical or critical thinking." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Epstein argues "Trump is not mentally ill." But if you define "mentally ill" as "unable to function normally," what Epstein describes as "sympathetic audience control" renders Trump incapable of functioning normally. A normal adult is not overly-influenced, as a number of people have put it "by the last person in the room." S/he is able to hold in mind & weigh multiple fact sets & opinions, learned over time, then incorporate (or reject) those elements into an action decision. This is a minimum requirement of any leadership position, but it's something we all do on matters significant & picayune.
We've seen nuns ordered to buy contraceptives. We've seen U.S. senators ask judicial and executive branch nominees about dogma -- even though the Constitution explicitly forbids a religious test for public office. We've all seen the ordeal faced so bravely by Jack Phillips [the anti-gay cake artiste]. -- AG Jeff Sessions, Monday ...
... OMG. Lydia Wheeler of the Hill: "Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Monday that the Department of Justice is creating a 'religious liberty task force.' Sessions said the task force, co-chaired by Associate Attorney General Jesse Panuccio* and the assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Office of Legal Policy, Beth Williams, will help the department fully implement the religious liberty guidance it issued last year. The guidance was a byproduct of President Trump's executive order directing agencies to respect and protect religious liberty and political speech.... Sessions said the cultural climate in this country -- and in the West more generally -- has become less hospitable to people of faith in recent years, and as a result many Americans have felt their freedom to practice their faith has been under attack." ...
... * More on Panuccio below.
... ** Tim Teeman of the Daily Beast: "Sadly it is no exaggeration, no hyperbole, to say that Attorney General Jeff Sessions declared a holy war on LGBT people, LGBT equality, and LGBT rights on Monday. He declared war on anything that could be perceived to trespass on the 'religious freedom' or 'religious liberty' of Christians -- which is loosely defined enough to be construed as trespassing on pretty much anything he and his allies choose it to mean. Sessions said this was because there was a 'dangerous movement' to erode the Christian right to worship. There isn't, of course; it's an invented bogeyman for a ravenously-pursued ideological crusade. Women, religious minorities, LGBT people: Prepare to fight for your bodies, your rights to worship, your wedding cakes.... Church and State have never appeared so poisonously intertwined.... It is a charter for discrimination, now sanctioned by the president, the legislative branch, and -- if Trump and Sessions have their way -- the courts." ...
... Charlotte Clymer of the Human Rights Campaign: "Today, HRC blasted the Trump-Pence Administration's creation of a taxpayer-funded task force as part of their ongoing campaign to license discrimination against LGBTQ people in the public square. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the creation of the task force this morning at the U.S. Department of Justice alongside anti-LGBTQ extremists from Alliance Defending Freedom and the Colorado baker who refused to serve a gay couple in violation of the state's nondiscrimination law. It will be led by Jesse Panuccio, who was an attorney in 2010 for supporters of Proposition 8, California's same-sex marriage ban." ...
... Jessica Kang of Splinter: "This isn't even about protecting religious liberties anymore. It's about taking away the rights of anyone whom Sessions may disagree with, whether it be LGBTQ people or women...[.]"
Zack Ford of ThinkProgress: "During the State Department's Ministerial on International Religious Freedom last week, Mick Mulvaney -- President Trump's Director of the Office of Management and Budget -- suggested that the Trump administration would end the practice of punishing African countries for their laws that criminalize homosexuality. 'Our US taxpayer dollars are used to discourage Christian values in other democratic countries,' he said during his remarks to theconference.... Mulvaney's implication that the Trump administration would turn a blind eye to anti-gay persecution around the world is consistent with actions it has already taken." --safari
Josh Eidelson of Bloomberg: "Six years before .. Donald Trump nominated him for the Supreme Court, Judge Brett Kavanaugh sided with Trump Entertainment Resorts' successful effort to thwart a unionization drive at one of its casinos. Kavanaugh was one of three Republican-appointed judges who in 2012 voted unanimously to set aside an order by the National Labor Relations Board that would have required the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, to bargain with the United Auto Workers. The casino has since shut down. But labor advocates point to the case -- as well as ones where he backed management at Sheldon Adelson's Las Vegas Venetian hotel and at SeaWorld after an orca killed a worker -- as evidence that Kavanaugh may hobble enforcement of workplace laws and the already-embattled union movement. 'Kavanaugh, along with Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch -- and Roberts along for the ride -- will comprise the most radical, anti-labor-law Supreme Court in my lifetime," said University of Wyoming law professor Michael Duff, a former attorney for the NLRB...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
Paul Krugman: "... we should be seeing more attention devoted to the way Trump&'s nomination of Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court [betrays his white working-class voters].... Kavanaugh is, to put it bluntly, an anti-worker radical, opposed to every effort to protect working families from fraud and mistreatment. The most spectacular example is his opinion that Sea World owed no liability for a killer whale attack that killed one of its workers, because she should have known the risks. He has declared the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ... unconstitutional. He's taken an extremely expansive view of the rights of business to suppress union organizing. This is all, by the way, the opposite of populism. The public strongly supports worker protections." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Gorsuch, if possible, is even worse. Unlike the other judges on his own Appeals Court panel & the lower-court judges & arbitrators who came before him (because they apparently are all human beings), he ruled that a truck driver should have opted to freeze to death in sub-zero temperatures rather than abandon his broken-down truck. Democrats need to own these nominees in ad after ad. There's no a worker in America (and that truck driver was an employee, not an owner-operator) who thinks a truck driver ought to go down with his rig.
... Elana Schor of Politico: "Sen. Rand Paul announced his support for Brett Kavanaugh on Monday, cutting short speculation over whether the Kentucky Republican might actually oppose ... Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee over his record on privacy." Mrs. McC: Two people who weren't speculating all that much were Akhilleus & Jeanne (see yesterday's thread). (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Lisa Rein of the Washington Post: "The personnel chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency -- who resigned just weeks ago -- is under investigation after being accused of creating an atmosphere of widespread sexual harassment over years in which women were hired as possible sexual partners for male employees, the agency's leader said Monday. The alleged harassment and other misconduct, revealed through a preliminary seven-month internal investigation, was a 'systemic problem going on for years,' said FEMA Administrator William 'Brock' Long. Some of the behavior could rise to the level of criminal activity, he said. Some of the claims about the agency's former personnel chief are detailed in a written executive summary of the investigation provided to The Washington Post. FEMA officials gave other details and confirmed that the individual under investigation, whose name was redacted from the report, is Corey Coleman, who led the personnel department from 2011 until his resignation in June.... Many of the men and women Coleman hired were unqualified yet are still at the agency, officials said." Mrs. McC: The details are horrifying.
Gone Phishin'. Andrew Desiderio & Kevin Poulsen of The Daily Beast: Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) "known for her outspoken criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was hit with a bizarre impersonation attempt by someone hoping to get inside information on American sanctions targeting Russia, according to emails and an audio recording obtained by The Daily Beast.... [A]n individual who said he worked for the foreign ministry of Latvia ... said he was trying to set up a phone call between the senator and Edgars Rinkevičs, the Latvian foreign minister. The purpose of the meeting ... was to discuss 'prolongation of anti-Russian sanctions' and 'general security with Kaspersky laboratorycase.'... Shaheen authored the law mandating a government-wide purge of software made by Moscow-based cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab, and is a key backer of sanctions intended to isolate Russia.... Shaheen's office contacted the Latvian embassy.... The embassy responded that the outreach attempt was fake.... [T]here's no evidence so far that the Russian government was involved in the attempted Latvian fake-out against Shaheen." --safari
Oops! Jordan Weissmann of Slate: "A prominent conservative think-tanker appears to have published a white paper showing that Bernie Sanders' plan for a national single-payer health care system could, in theory, reduce American health care spending by as much as $1.4 trillion. Take that, Medicare for all. The study was published by Charles Blahous of the libertarian Mercatus Center at George Mason University, who is known, among other things, for arguing that Social Security retirement benefits need to be cut.... He calculates that if Sanders' bill delivered on all of its promises, it would increase federal spending on health care by $32.6 trillion between 2022 and 2031 -- which is, of course, quite a bit of money, and the number that conservatives are choosing to focus on. But as economist Ernie Tedeschi noted on Twitter this morning, Blahous' report also shows that total U.S. health care spending would fall by about $2.05 trillion during that time period, even as all Americans would finally have insurance, because the plan would reduce payments to doctors and hospitals to Medicare rates (which are lower than what private insurance pays) while saving on prescription drug costs and administrative expenses."
Edmund Lee of the New York Times: "On Monday, three days after the publication of an article detailing allegations of sexual harassment against [Les] Moonves [CEO of CBS], the company went through with a regularly scheduled meeting of its board of directors.... The company had announced [a] planned investigation on Friday, hours after The New Yorker published a report that included six women who said Mr. Moonves had asked them for sexual favors and retaliated when they declined. The CBS statement on Monday added, 'No other action was taken on this matter at today's board meeting.' And so ended the speculation that Mr. Moonves would face immediate consequences for his alleged behavior."
>Gaia Pianigiani of the New York Times: "For the second time in three days, Pope Francis on Monday accepted the resignation of a powerful prelate -- this time, an Australian archbishop -- in a sexual abuse scandal, as the pontiff tries to send the message that high officials no longer enjoy near-immunity from consequences within the church when it comes to sexual misconduct. The archbishop, Philip Edward Wilson of Adelaide, had resisted intense pressure in Australia to resign, despite his criminal conviction for covering up for sexual abuse by a priest. Two months after being found guilty, he submitted his resignation on July 20, though it was not made public until the pope accepted it on Monday."
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Reader Comments (24)
Dear Rudy,
Just spent the last three days camping and swimming in warm coastal waters of British Columbia's Sunshine Coast. You are one of the reasons I was not eager to return to the nation of my birth.
Perhaps, though I think less of you all the time, I could offer a little help. Not collusion, you say, because the Pretender didn't pay for the hacking?
Ah, but Putin, taking a page from the Pretender himself, was happy to do what he did on credit, expecting later payment.
I'd point out that as events have proved, though you may not have noticed, Putin is now being paid back with interest on his relatively small loan calculated at usurious rates.
Late last week, some fancy new file cabinets I had ordered arrived. I had managed to muscle the old cabinets out of the house & then I muscled the new ones off the porch, out of the boxes & into place. They look great!
But when I went to put the files in the new drawers, I discovered that regular- or legal-sized hanging files do not fit the rails in the drawers. What to do? I looked online & found an expensive solution that would mean (a) a long wait, (b) a lot of installation work on my part, & (c) high cost (tho the vendor said he'd pay for the parts).
So today I started looking for other alternatives. I found quite a few possible solutions, each of which has a downside. I hit on one that has possibilities -- something called "Sure Hook" Pendaflex folders that have a spring action that looks as if it would allow the files to flex to fit the rails. Maybe. So tomorrow, when I have to go to town anyway, I'll buy some of these & test them out.
The Sure Hook folders were one of maybe 50 different possible solutions I looked at. They weren't the last; they were somewhere in the middle.
This is what I mean when I wrote, above, that we all sift & winnow information every day "on matters significant & picayune," this one, of course, being picayune.
If it turns out the special Pendaflex folders don't work, I'll have to choose another method. But if I were Trump, according to Dr. Epstein, the Pendaflex folders would be long forgotten, because I looked at quite a few other options after finding those folders. My original plan -- which I still may choose -- would be far out of mind. The last option I looked at, I think, was a folder frame thingy that I figured would slide around in the drawer & scratch the bottom. But if I were Trump, that would be my pick.
Everybody makes these kinds of choices every day. Maybe not every problem presents 50 possible solutions, but every problem usually has more than one resolution. You weigh the pros & cons. Maybe it's a situation where you can test a possible alternative or two. Then you decide. Maybe you don't make the best decision, but the odds are you make a better one than the cockamamie one that randomly came up in the end.
Which is to say, this is no way to run a country. Or get your files off your sofa.
Religious Liberty Task Force, as envisioned by wannabe Confederate slave owning Civil War era officer, Jeffrey Beauregard Sessions: a semi-militaristic operation with the full force, funding, and support of the federal government put in place to favor anti-LGBT, anti-Islamic, anti-anything not far right wing white Christians (mostly Baptists), and the odd Catholics who go along with anti-choice misogyny.
Sound about right?
It cracks me up when these jamokes try to camouflage their obvious bigotry by employing what they must think is a clever use of the word “religion” as a euphemism for “Christian”. Do you see Trump and Jeffbo stepping up for Native American religions? For Buddhism? For Judaism? For Islam? Hinduism? Zoroastrianism? And if we’re really talking liberty, how about agnosticism and atheism?
Fuck no. Another ridiculously transparent winger attempt to unconstitutionally institutionalize a state religion. Theirs.
The problem with the files fitting properly: Yes, these kinds of decisions/ choices made by most of us on an ongoing basis are done as you described by people with brains that can weigh this thing over that thing ...Trump's inability to weigh these kinds of decisions presents an ever growing catastrophe not only for the nation but for those who have to deal with him on a daily basis.
Jessica Mathews writes about what she calls the "Singapore Sham" where she spells out the rash decisions made by Trump in his dealing with North Korea. Not making progress with N.K. is of course no shame since that's to be expected given the history here, but without getting anything from them, Trump kept giving and giving. Whether from impulsiveness or ignorance–-possibly both, I'd say, ––he produced real losses for American security and that of South Korea and Japan. She says, "Kim must have been stunned by the rain of unreciprocated gifts."
From the recent news of a sighting of a new missile site being erected, it sure looks like a one sided situation, don't it? Pathetic!
I wonder what the GOP will do with C. Blahous' study (see above)––certainly the Democrats could take that on the road, I would think.
On a completely insignificant matter: Just noticed the sidebar story about Kimberly Guilfoyle, Donny Junior's new sweetie, who had been showing pictures of male gentitalia to her Foxy friends at work and they were to guess whose Johnsons' they were. I'm curious: How did she get these pictures? After sex with all of them did she say, "hold on there, cowboy, got to take a pic of those jewels" ?? If we were operating under normal circumstances this story would be front and center; as it is, it's just a smarmy sidebar. SAD.
From today's WaPo story on how DiJiT's tariffs are starting to hurt people:
"On Monday, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross compared the trade actions to “going on a diet” where it is “no fun at the beginning” but is worth it in the end."
Ol' Wilbur clearly is no dietician, else he would know that diets that "end" don't work. You can go on a short regimen to lose some pounds, but if you don't modify your intake and exercise on a long term basis, it doesn't work. Which is why the weight-loss industry in the US is big bucks.
Anyway ... they are ignorant about everything, not just their nominal areas of responsibility. Good to remember.
Why do we have to have an entire subcabinet outfit to ballyhoo and whine and complain that one can't practice one's Christian religion anymore when we have that font of virtue, Sam Brownback? Wasn't he supposed to be the gatekeeper so none of the "wrong" religions get consideration ever? I want to see in action the things/people/events keeping them from (actually not)doing Jesus' work. Where are the mobs burning down the Baptist churches, and (like in our town--) keeping the splinter Christian megachurches from opening weekly and raking in the cash? Those whiners never give specifics-- I wanna know what's keeping Bridgetroll Sessions from freely exercising his beliefs...
Jeanne,
I was wondering myself why we need this new Protect Christians from Gays Task Force when we already have that nice Sam Brownback (the guy who ran Kansas into the ground then skedaddled), ambassador, something, something, for International Protection of Christians from Gays. How many of these things do we need?
The only way I will ever believe the tripe about any of these fake religious thingies--being paid for by American taxpayers, by the by--is if they ever appoint a Buddhist or Sikh to run the thing.
But before that, why are we even involved in religious protection period? Forget the Mexican wall, what happened to the wall between church and state?
If someone is being persecuted for their religion (and asking a guy to bake a cake for a wedding is not persecution, assholes), there are civil remedies. We do not need the Attorney General up on his white horse with his hood and his burning cross rampaging across the countryside torching those whose opinions or lifestyles he fears.
The sentiment "When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross" has often been attributed to Sinclair Lewis (who apparently didn't say it), but the vision behind it is becoming more and more concrete with each passing week as the idea of America is chloroformed by Trump and Sessions and their band of haters, con artists, bilkers, white supremacists, and garden variety greedy crooks. Oh yeah, and traitors. Let's not forget the traitors.
Dang! Sessions has already got his Protection of Christians group up and running. That's him in the middle (he looks better with the fake beard and red suit).
And here is famous Christianist explainer, Betty Bowers, to explain it all to you RC heathens.
Jeanne,
Loved your examples. I think you know the answer to your question:
No, those Christian whiners never do give specifics. No more than do the right wing whiners in the letter column of our local paper, who are remarkable in their ability to float far above reality's ground from one letter to the next, buoyed only by a vague sense of grievance.
Not a one of them ever notices that beyond the generalizations and name-calling they have said nothing of substance. More proof that if self and your feelings are your only focus, you're blind to absolutely everything else.
There is a good reason the rightists shrink from facts.
Facts get in the way of their wallowing in self-pity, the Right's activity of choice.
RE: Holy war claptrap:
As we were coming back from grocery shopping this morning I was gazing up in the sky and noticed a huge cloud formation that looked like a giant and I said to the mister: "Where do you think these god believers think HE lives, I wonder?" and mentioned the fact that I found it ironic that there is so much "doubt" from these folks about a myriad of things and yet they believe in an actual person who lives somewhere UP there and is orchestrating the ways of the world.
"There is a good reason the rightists shrink from facts."
"Facts get in the way of their wallowing in self-pity, the Right's activity of choice.."
Praise Jesus, if that ain't da truth!
LITERARY LICKS:
Bob has done it again: the new book by Woodward, "Fear" is all about Donald and his foray into the presidency and according to his publisher it's a doozy. Will be published in September, just in time for some leaves to fall along with the other dried up miscreants to fall from grace. Recall how impressed we were with Bob's being able to tell us who spoke when and where to whom when Bob wasn't in the room–-and the said speakers never spoke to Bob. Well, in this book it looks like people talked–-leaked would be a better word, I guess. We can anticipate a fall insurgence of Woodward's profile on all the talk shows coming your way soon.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bob-woodward-trump-book-fear_us_5b5fcc9ee4b0fd5c73d29c09
Here's another bombshell book coming straight at Donny's fat ass. While he bloviates about NO COLLUSION!, it appears the obstruction of justice part of the investigation is getting rock solid.
https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2018/07/31/what-trump-knew-and-when-he-knew-it/
I tried Googling how many Baptist churches have been attacked by
the LGBTQ community and guess what---it's less than zero.
And a trumpbot happened to tour my garden last weekend, I know
he was, because he said we have to give trump credit because
there haven't been any school shootings in months. I reminded him
that it's July and school has been out for 2 months.
Forrest,
You mean there aren’t roving bands of LGBTQ zealots torching the odd Baptist church and generally infringing on the rights of Christians to pray that all those horrible gays go straight to hell? Why, to hear Sessions and Fox tell it, these sorts of things happen dozens of times a day. But then, you’re biased. I can tell.
You have a brain.
(Love the anecdote about the Trumpbot praising the Glorious Leader for halting school shootings, when schools are closed for the summer. He’s probably amazed that it gets dark at night.)
Would someone please clue me in as to why the vomitous administration villains involved in the border mess keep comparing jails and cages and not enough food or blankets to "summer camp?" These conservatards must have been brutalized as youngsters-- the descriptions by people who have been there compare the facilities more to "concentration camps." They (the Foxbots) all deserve a trip to the fire regions which they might compare to a campfire...which of course the administration doesn't tweet about cuz CA...
Seems like Trump is ready to blow a gasket. If Manafort is found guilty of enough charges to put him away for the rest of his life, and decides to roll, and Trump starts hearing the hounds baying at the door, what is the likelihood that he’ll start a war, declare martial law, and wrap the flag around his fat ass to try to evade punishment for his treasonous acts?
Just wondering...
One last remark and then I WILL shut up: so it is breaking news that Kelly will stay with Dolt until 2020. Color me not impressed. The man is just as big of a nasty bigot as his boss. Ick. He still comes under the category of Horrible People That We Wonder Why Has Not Had A Heart Attack, since he has none, again, like his boss...
Jeanne,
Kelly is Trump's useful idiot just as Trump is Putin's useful idiot.
Idiots and assholes need--and deserve--each other.
Kelly might not do much (he doesn't), but he's useful for when things go bad. Trump can point a flabby finger at General Johnny and absolve his fat ass of any responsibility. And given the eye rolling and sad faces of the good general, he obviously has either 1. zero self-respect, 2. a true believer's sense of the importance of racism and bigotry, or 3. nowhere to go after this.
If he's still in Trump's employ after it's been proven beyond a doubt that he has zero ability to influence or moderate the extreme behavior of the Supreme Glorious Leader, then he clearly has aligned himself with Trump's darkest, racist, un-American fantasies.
Either way, I don't really give a shit because this diddly-poodle has tossed whatever he had in the way of a reputation into the Cesspool of Treason.
If he had the slightest sense of decency he would would be ashamed to show his face in public. Clearly that's not the case.
More fake news?
Now that I'm relieved to find collusion is not a crime, I've discovered this afternoon that rightwing world is claiming that Rosenstein exonerated Manafort in 2010 for the same crimes he's now being tried for...but can't find a reference for the incident.
Can anyone help?
I'd sleep so much better knowing that the unfolding Manafort prosecution is just more fake news...
@Ken Winkes: This could be a teaching moment. I suspect the reason you (and I) can't find the link is that it doesn't exist. Ask the person who told you Rosenstein cleared Manafort to provide you with an original source (like a pdf of a court filing), or (2nd best) a reputable secondary source -- like a major newspaper or other reliable news outlet.
At some point, you'll probably have to explain to him/her that "blogpost," "chat room," "message board" and "the Internet" (or whatever) are not sources. Be nice. You're a Canadian!
Bea,
Haven't heard it but read it in some comments appended to a Fox News John Loo interview.
Maybe this is the source. Looked again, but can't find any others.
"As only one of two people left who could become President, why wouldn’t the FBI or Department of “Justice” have told me that they were secretly investigating Paul Manafort (on charges that were 10 years old and had been previously dropped) during my campaign? Should have told me!"
6:25 AM - Jun 3, 2018 Pretender tweet
...cum grano (or mountains of) salis.
Signed,
Ken
(Still a Washingtonian, but Canada does look better every day.)
@Ken Winkes: I don't think so. According to Jacqueline Thomsen of the Hill that TrumpenTweet & another one published the same day concerned a 2017 CNN story "that Manafort had been under FBI surveillance before and after the 2016 election. He reportedly became the central subject of a probe that began in 2014."
The CNN story (Sept. 19, 2017), which I think I missed, is interesting: "US investigators wiretapped former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort under secret court orders before and after the election, sources tell CNN, an extraordinary step involving a high-ranking campaign official now at the center of the Russia meddling probe. The government snooping continued into early this year, including a period when Manafort was known to talk to President ... Trump."
Rosenstein was the U.S. attorney for Maryland from 2005 to 2017, & he received some special assignments during that period, so it is not impossible that some matter concerning Manafort's financial fraud, money-laundering, etc., came before him, & he chose not to press charges. But if so, the Googles haven't caught it, as far as I can tell. It seems damned implausible that if Rosenstein had "exonerated" Manafort, we wouldn't be hearing about it from Devin Nunes, Jim Jordan, and other Republicans on the House Obstruction of Justice Committee.
I did find other instances in which Internet users claimed "Rosenstein exonerated Manafort in 2010," but none of them had any sort of sources. They just look like the usual pizzagate-type conspiracy theories, but with less "documentation."
@Ken Winkes: I don't think so. According to Jacqueline Thomsen of the Hill that TrumpenTweet & another one published the same day concerned a 2017 CNN story "that Manafort had been under FBI surveillance before and after the 2016 election. He reportedly became the central subject of a probe that began in 2014."
The CNN story (Sept. 19, 2017), which I think I missed, is interesting: "US investigators wiretapped former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort under secret court orders before and after the election, sources tell CNN, an extraordinary step involving a high-ranking campaign official now at the center of the Russia meddling probe. The government snooping continued into early this year, including a period when Manafort was known to talk to President ... Trump."
Rosenstein was the U.S. attorney for Maryland from 2005 to 2017, & he received some special assignments during that period, so it is not impossible that some matter concerning Manafort's financial fraud, money-laundering, etc., came before him, & he chose not to press charges. But if so, the Googles haven't caught it, as far as I can tell. It seems damned implausible that if Rosenstein had "exonerated" Manafort, we wouldn't be hearing about it from Devin Nunes, Jim Jordan, and other Republicans on the House Obstruction of Justice Committee.
I did find other instances in which Internet users claimed "Rosenstein exonerated Manafort in 2010," but none of them had any sort of sources. They just look like the usual pizzagate-type conspiracy theories, but with less "documentation."