The Commentariat -- July 5, 2018

Afternoon Update:

** Adios, Scotty! Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "Scott Pruitt, President Trump's administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, resigned after facing months of allegations over legal and ethical violations. Mr. Trump announced the resignation in a tweet on Thursday in which he thanked Mr. Pruitt for an 'outstanding job' and said the agency's deputy, Andrew Wheeler, would take over as the acting administrator on Monday." ...

... Pruitt Quit Because People Were Mean to Him. Politico publishes Scotty's resignation letter: "You're great, Trump, blah blah, the unrelenting attacks on me personally, my family, are unprecedented and have taken a sizable toll on all of us blah blah." Mrs. McC: So not his fault. I hope that mom who approached him in the restaurant earlier this week was the last straw. She's my hero. ...

... Coral Davenport, et al., of the New York Times: "Before he resigned on Thursday, Scott Pruitt ... was facing new questions about whether aides deleted sensitive information about his meetings from his public schedule and potentially violated the law in doing so. Last summer one of his senior schedulers, Madeline G. Morris, was fired by Mr. Pruitt;s former deputy chief of staff, Kevin Chmielewski, who said he let her go because she was questioning the practice of retroactively deleting meetings from the calendar. Mr. Chmielewski has emerged as a harsh critic of Mr. Pruitt after a bitter falling out that led to his departure from the agency as well." ...

... Paul Farhi & Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "Former Fox News Channel executive Bill Shine is joining the White House as assistant to the president and deputy chief of staff for communications, the White House announced Thursday.... With Thursday's announcement, Shine becomes the fifth communications chief since Trump took office nearly 18 months ago.... The appointment is also likely to open the White House up to attacks regarding Shine's record at Fox, as well as the Trump administration's response to sexual misconduct allegations against officials within its own ranks." Mrs. McC: Will Shine be able to get a security clearance?

Lachlan Markay & Dean Sterling Jones of The Daily Beast: "A mystery client has been paying bloggers in India and Indonesia to write articles distancing President Donald Trump from the legal travails of a mob-linked former business associate. Spokespeople for online reputation management companies in the two countries confirmed that they had been paid to write articles attempting to whitewash Trump's ties to Felix Sater, a Russian-born businessman who, with former Russian trade minister Tevfik Arif, collaborated with the Trump Organization on numerous real estate deals from New York to the former Soviet Union. The campaign appears designed to influence Google search results pertaining to Trump's relationship with Sater, Arif, and the Bayrock Group, a New York real estate firm that collaborated with Trump on a series of real estate deals, and recruited Russian investors for potential Trump deals in Moscow." --safari

** Jamelle Bouie of Slate: "At some point in the not-distant future, a majority of Americans will be of black, Hispanic, and Asian origin. But there's a difference between a nation'spopulation and its electorate -- its share of people who can exercise the full rights and privileges of citizenship. Republicans realize this, and are trying -- at every level of government -- to reverse-engineer a white electorate large enough to secure their own power, and along with it, the existing hierarchy of class and race. Donald Trump is a major part of this story. But as with all things Trump, it would be wrong to treat this project as unique to him and his administration." --safari

*****

The U.S. as "Annoying Problem." Juan Cole: "The five foreign ministers, minus US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, of the countries signatory to the 2015 Iran deal on curbing its civilian nuclear enrichment program, will meet in Vienna on Friday to explore ways of preserving the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action after the treaty was violated by the Trump administration.... I'm of a generation where the idea of the UN Security Council meeting without the US is hard to imagine. The conference is eloquent about how isolated and increasingly irrelevant Trump has made America. The rest of the world now sees Washington as an annoying problem to get around." --safari

Coral Davenport & Ana Swanson of the New York Times: "Even as the president’s pro-business stance is broadly embraced by the corporate community, in some significant cases the very industries that Mr. Trump has vowed to help say that his proposals will actually hurt them. They also warn that policies designed to aid one group will eat into someone else's business in ways that policymakers should have anticipated.... Richard Newell, president of Resources for the Future, a nonpartisan research organization in Washington, described the administration's overall approach as 'whack-a-mole policy' that suggests a lack of appreciation of the complexity of global commerce. 'The law of unintended consequences abounds,' Mr. Newell added.... Experts say the unpredictability of many of Mr. Trump's proposals -- the lack of clarity on when or how Nafta might be renegotiated; the risk of potential litigation over his rollback of auto-pollution rules; the ways in which other countries might retaliate against Mr. Trump's tariffs -- seeds confusion across the American economy, making it tough for businesses to plan effectively for the future."

Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: "Many of the nonprofits, corporations and religious groups watching over migrant children detained at the southwest border have been in this business for years -- and they have a history of political connections, donating millions of dollars to Democrats and Republicans alike. Now..., it is also becoming clear that some of the players in this billion-dollar industry have particularly strong ties to the Trump administration. The president's education secretary provided funding to one of the groups. His defense secretary sat on the board of another. Mr. Trump's own inauguration fund collected $500,000 from two private prison companies housing detained migrant families. And some of the contractors employ prominent Republican lobbyists with ties to Mr. Trump and his administration, including someone who once lobbied for his family business.... There is no indication that political favors or influence motivated any of the contracts...."

... Perfect Independence Day Eve Message. Chris Sommerfeldt of the New York Daily News: "Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday rescinded a 2011 Justice Department guidance mandating that asylum seekers and refugees have a 'right' to work in the U.S. The Obama-era document was included on a list of 24 Justice Department guidances that Sessions scrapped because he said they were 'unnecessary, outdated, inconsistent with existing law' or imposed without congressional approval.'" ...

... Canadian Press: "A little-known cross-border dispute that has simmered between Canada and the United States since the late 1700s is now approaching the boiling point. In the past two weeks, at least 10 Canadian fishing boats from New Brunswick have been intercepted by U.S. Border Patrol agents while fishing in the disputed waters around Machias Seal Island, a spokesperson for the fishermen says. Laurence Cook, chairman of the advisory board for Lobster Fishing Area 38, said Wednesday that some Canadian vessels were boarded by American agents who asked about possible illegal immigrants.... 'They're in international waters, so border patrol shouldn't be boarding Canadian vessels.'... Both Canada and the United States claim sovereign jurisdiction over the island and the surrounding waters at the mouth of the Bay of Fundy." ...

... Washington Post Editors: "WHEN THE Obama administration argued, in 2015, that an influx of migrant families illegally entering the country was justification for detaining the families indefinitely, federal courts rejected that stance out of hand. Now the Trump administration is making a similar argument with a fresh twist: that a new court ruling ordering that separated children be promptly reunited with their parents amounts to a green light for federal officials to detain them -- together.... The Flores settlement [of 2015] was impelled by abundant evidence that migrant children were suffering owing to long detentions in facilities ill-suited to minors. Unfazed by that history..., the Trump administration proposes to revive long-discredited practices. Its position is antithetical to American values, offensive to the law and an affront to decency." ...

... Daily Beast: "The Immigration Counseling Service produced a short film called Unaccompanied, meant to depict the experiences of unaccompanied children defending themselves in court -- armed without parents or lawyers. The clips depicting court proceedings, which are reenactments based on court transcripts, show small children answering questions from former Oregon Judge William Snouffer -- who plays the trial judge." ...

David Cay Johnston, in a New York Times op-ed, wants New York State to examine Donald Trump's income tax returns: "Mr. Trump asserts that he is no crook despite abundant indications to the contrary. Let's find out the truth.... Mr. Trump has a well-documented history of cheating governments." If you've devoted hundreds of hours over your lifetime to boring records-keeping, this could make you feel silly: "Mr. Trump lost two civil tax fraud trials over his 1984 income tax returns, on which he reported zero income as a consultant but took more than $600,000 in deductions. He had no receipts to substantiate the deductions."

Helena Andrews-Dyer & Emily Heil of the Washington Post: "The Fourth of July White House concert used to be a sea of stars. For Trump, it's a drought." Last year, the White House had no concert at all. ...

... MEANWHILE, down the Avenue.... The finale begins at about 1:05 hours in, & it's super:

... David Jackson of USA Today: "The Democratic National Committee's annual Fourth of July statement reflects its long-standing tensions with ... Donald Trump. While hailing the nation's founding ideal of equality for all, DNC chairman Tom Perez said in the statement, 'we recognize that America's founding promise remains out of reach for too many families.' Adding that everywhere we look, our most fundamental values are under attack,' Perez referred to problems surrounding low-paying jobs, health care, immigration, injustice to people of color and members or the LGBTQ community, a recent Supreme Court decision on public unions, and the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Cohen Declares Independence on the Fourth of July. Adam Raymond of New York: Michael Cohen "declared his independence from the President by deleting Trump's name from his Twitter bio. The bio previously said, 'Personal attorney to President Donald J. Trump.' Now it's blank.... He also changed his banner image from one of him standing at a podium bearing the Trump campaign logo to a generic picture of an American flag."

The GOP of Trump. Jonathan Chait: "Among the right-wing intelligentsia, the debate over whether Trump authentically represents or has deviated from movement conservatism has been a full-scale rout. Trump's loyalists continue to pour through the decimated ranks of their anti-Trump foes, bayoneting the survivors.... Anti-Trump conservatives have not lost an argument. They have merely lost a party.... For all the ugly anti-intellectualism of Trump's supporters, they have grasped one underlying reality: Trumpism and conservatism are tethered, and the practical choice in American politics is to have either both or neither." --safari

War on the Poor, Ctd. Daniel Mclean of ThinkProgress: "Despite previously claiming they wouldn't, the Trump administration is moving forward with plans to boost rents by an average of 26 percent on vulnerable Americans who rely on federal housing subsidies to avoid becoming homeless. Meanwhile, a separate bill has been introduced by a Republican congressman that would raise rents on poor people at an even higher rate than what the administration has proposed.... Rep. Dennis Ross (R-FL) ... introduced a bill that would let state and local housing authorities raise the minimum monthly rent on the poorest Americans -- families with an annual adjusted income of $2,000 or less -- by more than $500 a month on average, far exceeding [HUD Secretary Ben] Carson's proposal.... That increase would cause millions of Americans to become homeless." --safari

Dave Philipps of the New York Times: "Civil rights groups immediately sued [after President Trump abruptly & capriciously cancelled an Obama-administration plan to accept transgender people into the military], claiming that a blanket ban was unconstitutional, and the courts blocked the new rules. Three federal judges hearing separate cases issued injunctions against the ban last fall that cleared the way -- in theory at least -- for transgender recruits to start enlisting on Jan. 1. Since then, scores have applied -- but it appears almost none are being accepted. The Defense Department refused requests for statistics on transgender enlistments. But Sparta, an organization for transgender recruits, troops and veterans, says that out of its 140 members who are trying to enlist, only two have made it into the service since Jan. 1.... The applicants are being stalled or turned away at a time when some branches of the military face a shortage of recruits...."

Anthony Adragna & Emily Holden of Politico: "EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt placed a former political fundraising ally [-- Elizabeth White --] in charge of an office that has been slow to release his most sensitive documents -- including details about his meetings with industry lobbyists and taxpayer-funded travels across the U.S. and Europe.... Pruitt's office has had the slowest response rate of any section of the agency, far exceeding legal deadlines and prompting a massive surge in court challenges.... Public records advocates called White's EPA role a glaring conflict of interest."

Jennifer Smola & Jessica Wehrman of the Columbus Dispatch: "U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan never witnessed abuse by the Ohio State University wrestling team's doctor and he hasn't been contacted by anyone investigating possible incidents that occurred while he was an assistant coach two decades ago, the Urbana Republican's spokesman said Tuesday. However, lawyers hired by OSU to probe the allegations said Jordan was contacted -- both by phone and email -- to request an interview, but he never responded. And three members of the wrestling team under Jordan insist that he knew about the abuse but looked the other way.... Doug Andres, a spokesman for House Speaker Paul Ryan, called the allegations 'serious.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Rebecca Morin of Politico: "Black female leaders and allies expressed their 'deep disappointment' with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for their 'recent failure to protect' Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) 'from unwarranted attacks from the Trump administration and others in the GOP.'"

Congressional Race. Natasha Korecki of Politico: "Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner [R] refused to follow Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz's lead and call on voters of a Chicago-area congressional district to back a Democrat over a declared Nazi candidate in November. Instead, Rauner on Tuesday called for Holocaust denier Arthur Jones to drop out of the race."

Federal Judge Good with "Separate AND Unequal." Jacey Fortin of the New York Times: "Do students at poorly performing schools have a constitutional right to a better education? On Friday, a Federal District Court judge [-- Stephen J. Murphy III --] in Michigan decided that they did not when he dismissed a class-action lawsuit filed by students at troubled schools in Detroit. The suit, filed in September 2016, argued that students at some of the city's most underperforming schools -- serving mostly racial minorities -- had been denied 'access to literacy' because of underfunding, mismanagement and discrimination. The complaint described schools that were overcrowded with students but lacking in teachers; courses without basic resources like books and pencils; and classrooms that were bitingly cold in the winter, stiflingly hot in the summer and infested with rats and insects." Mrs. McC: Murphy is a white guy, appointed by George W. Bush. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Every person, from Betsy Charter-School DeVos to Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder to the state-appointed financial managers to members of the Detroit Public School board should be reeling with shame at the deplorable state of public education in the city.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. "Fair & Balanced." Aris Folley of the Hill: "Fox News analyst Brit Hume drew sharp backlash on social media Wednesday after saying members of the Democratic party 'don't love' America. Hume had shared a tweet on July 4 linking to a post on the conservative political blog, Power Line, titled: 'Why do Democrats hate America?' 'Hate may be too strong a word but they sure don't love it,' Hume wrote in response to the link on Twitter."

Campaigning While Black. Everton Bailey of the Oregonian: "A black Oregon state representative says one of her constituents called police on her Tuesday while she was canvassing alone in a neighborhood she represents. Rep. Janelle Bynum, a Democrat who is running for a second term this fall in the state House of Representatives, said she was knocking on doors and talking to residents for two hours along Southeast 125th Avenue in Clackamas. She was taking notes on her cellphone from [a] conversation she'd had ... when a Clackamas County deputy pulled up to her.... He asked if she was selling something. She introduced herself as a state legislator and said that she was out canvassing and that she guessed someone called him. The deputy said someone called and reported Bynum appearing to spend a long time at houses in the area and appearing to be casing the neighborhood while on her phone." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Driving While Black. Jamiles Lartey in the Guardian: "A study published this month by the state attorney general's office confirmed what many fear about 'driving while black' in Missouri. It concluded black motorists were 85% more likely to be pulled over in traffic stops last year. It is the highest disparity since stops data began being collected 18 years ago.... [A] 2014 Department of Justice study dubbed the 'Ferguson report', detail[ed] the ways that St Louis area police departments were operating as de facto revenue collection agencies for the more than 85 municipalities that dot the county.... The report concluded that this practice was a major factor in priming Ferguson and other nearby jurisdictions for the unrest that followed the police killing of Michael Brown in August 2014. Reforms and lawsuits have since pushed that revenue collection down by more than 50% in the county, but advocates, who decry the court revenues as a regressive tax on the most vulnerable residents, say that's a sign of just how bad things were, not how far the county has come." --safari

... Jason Samenow of the Washington Post: "From the normally mild summer climes of Ireland, Scotland and Canada to the scorching Middle East, numerous locations in the Northern Hemisphere have witnessed their hottest weather ever recorded over the past week. Large areas of heat pressure or heat domes scattered around the hemisphere led to the sweltering temperatures. No single record, in isolation, can be attributed to global warming. But collectively, these heat records are consistent with the kind of extremes we expect to see increase in a warming world." ...

... MEANWHILE, Carolyn Kormann of the New Yorker writes & posts videos about Miami's underwater future. Here's a new phenomenon many of us will probably become familiar with: "climate gentrification." If only Mar-a-Lago, situated on an island a short distance north of Miami, goes underwater first. I might learn to scuba-dive to view "The Lost Mansion of Mar-a-Lago." Might have to be renamed: "En-Mar-y-Lago."

Beyond the Beltway

Justice Delayed. Tim Prudente of the Washington Post: "For 30 years, Jerome Johnson maintained that he was innocent of the 1988 killing of a Baltimore man inside the Nite Owl bar. On Monday, a judge agreed. Johnson, convicted of murder in the death of Aaron Taylor, was exonerated Monday and set free. He had been convicted on inconsistent and faulty witness testimony, his defense attorneys and prosecutors say.... Johnson has spent his entire adult life in prison. He tried several times to get his conviction overturned.... The shooter admitted to the crime in 2000, prosecutors say, and said Johnson wasn't there." A then-15-year-old girl, who was the only witness against Johnson, changed her story, but prosecutors didn't tell defense attorneys about her prior, conflicting, account.

Brynn Gingras & Alanne Orjoux of CNN: "A woman who climbed up to the robes of the Statue of Liberty to protest the separation of migrant families was taken into custody after a standoff with police on the Fourth of July. Authorities had tried to talk the woman down but she refused to leave. For nearly two hours, she crossed the base of the statue, at times sitting in the folds of the statue's dress and under Lady Liberty's sandal. Finally, officers with ropes and climbing gear reached her. They put a harness and ropes on her to bring her down, and she crossed to the other side of the statue with the officers where a ladder was propped up on the base of the statue." Mrs. McC: This is probably the scariest moment I've ever seen on live TV, even more harrowing than the rescue of the passenger & crew of a US Airways flight that in January 2009 landed in the Hudson not far from Lady Liberty:

Random Act of Kindness. Caitlin O'Kane of CBS News: "Houston Police Officer Sandy Fernandez says he was working security at a quinceañera last weekend, when he noticed a ... little girl in a wheelchair, who was watching other party guests dance" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.):

Way Beyond the Beltway

Marc Santora of the New York Times: "Surrounded by cheering supporters, Poland's top Supreme Court justice took a defiant stand on the courthouse steps [in Warsaw] Wednesday morning, hours after the government purged the tribunal. She vowed to keep fighting to protect the Constitution and the independence of the nation's courts.... The courthouse confrontation was followed by dueling news conferences, fiery speeches and more street protests. The only thing that seemed certain was that the Supreme Court itself was in disarray, with the purged judges refusing to recognize their dismissal, and government officials saying that they would no longer be allowed to hear cases.... Lech Walesa, who led the Solidarity labor movement in the 1980s that helped topple the Communist government and who later served as Poland's president, joined the demonstrators. In an radio interview earlier in the day, Mr. Walesa said he would pursue peaceful means to protect the Constitution, but warned of dire consequences if the governing party did not back down."

US-supported Torture. AP: "The United Arab Emirates (UAE) engaged in ill-treatment, torture and sexual abuse across Yemen's prisons according to the UN human rights office, the Anadolu Agency reported.... The Associated Press revealed in an investigation late last month that some 15 UAE officers ordered Yemeni prisoners to undress and lie down for anal cavity checks, claiming they were looking for contraband mobile phones. Worse-off, some Yemeni prisoners were electrocuted and rocks hung from their testicles, and others were abused with steel and wooden poles." --safari

Dario Thuburn of AFP: "A rare parchment copy of the US Declaration of Independence found at a British archive among the papers of an aristocrat [-- Charles Lennox, the Third Duke of Richmond --] who supported the rebels has been authenticated, officials said. The manuscript was discovered last year at the West Sussex Record Office in the southern English city of Chichester by a team of researchers led by two Harvard University academics. Tests supported the hypothesis that it was produced in the 1780s, West Sussex County Council said earlier this week -- just a few years after the declaration itself was issued in 1776. The document 'is the only other contemporary manuscript copy of the Declaration of Independence on parchment apart from the signed copy at the National Archives in Washington DC,' known as the Matlack Declaration, a council statement said earlier this week. There are other printed parchment copies and handwritten copies on paper but the Sussex Declaration, as it has been dubbed, and the Matlack Declaration in Washington are the only two known ceremonial parchment copies of the declaration." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

News Lede

New York Times: "Ed Schultz, a former conservative radio show host whose politics moved left before he joined MSNBC's nightly lineup in 2009 and then shifted again when he was hired by RT America, Russia's state-financed international cable network, died on Thursday at his home in Washington. He was 64."

Comments

[PD Pepe]

The video of the wheelchair dance and the Bonny and Clyde video are in sharp contrast to the other News of the Day. The former warms your heart; the latter is hilarious. And then we have the rest:

" ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Every person, from Betsy Charter-School DeVos to Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder to the state-appointed financial managers to members of the Detroit Public School board should be reeling with shame at the deplorable state of public education in the city."

And I would add that what is needed here is an exposé on this deplorable state. Talk about vermin! In the public schools? Like the Flint water debacle, this needs to be outed, big time!

One of the other depressing stories is the Yemen situation. The PBS News has been doing a four part series on this. Our bombs are contributing to the dire straits––children are dying by the hundreds every day due to starvation and typhoid. I've been waiting for some congressional hearings on our involvement in that country but so far haven't seen any.

As far as the democrats not embracing this "great country of ours", the question should be "WHY would that be?" When you love your country you rail against its demise; those that don't have closed their eyes.

And it's another bloody hot day here in New England–-a place that's getting older by the years of living dangerously.

[Akhilleus]

Still Not Getting It.

Danny Cavallos, a legal analyst on MSNBC has news for us: the Supreme Court, as reconstituted by a pugnacious racist who wants to blow it all up, will not overturn Roe.

"Abortion will likely not be illegal in 20 states within 18 months. A new justice will certainly create a new balance on the court. Retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy was the fulcrum, now Chief Justice John Roberts is the median vote. But Roe will not be overturned just because there may be a new conservative majority on the court after President Donald Trump, who is set to announce his nominee on Monday, replaces Kennedy."

Yeah, and war and hunger will be forever banished by sundown. Danny, Danny, Danny. Have you been Rip Van Winkling it for the last two years?

Before we get to this latest bit of specious reasoning about Trump and the Law, let's address a couple of assertions Cavallos makes.

First, Roe was decided on the questionable basis of privacy. Without getting into a whole big megillah about that argument, let me suggest that although the word privacy does not appear in the Constitution, what is the Fourth Amendment if not an explicit guarantee of a right to privacy? Next, if he thinks Roe has a questionable rationale, what about Citizens United? I must have missed that part of the Constitution that declares corporations to be people too, my friend.

Okay, that aside. Here's two more weird assertions. Stare decisis will be, in a word, decisive. Next, Little Johnny is now the moderate swing vote. Hold on a sec. Hahahahahahahahaha.

We can debate the relative merits of stare decisis, but leave us recall that the Trumpies on this court don't give a donkey doo-doo in hell about precedent. Trump is considering one jamoke who thinks precedents are stupid. Anyone counting on stare to save Roe has been in a medically induced coma since 2012. And yes, in certain cases stare decisis should not be the deciding factor. Should Brown have been decided differently because of the Court's previous stances along racial divides? And let's not forget, if Roe is overturned, it won't be because of a sound legal argument (like Brown), it will be done purely on religious grounds no matter what sort of bullshit casuistry about states rights is floated.

And John Roberts a swing vote? Um.....no. Kennedy might have been a "swing vote" if you think that voting with the troglodytes for the last FOURTEEN decisions constitutes swinging. Roberts will be no different.

Some people are STILL not getting it! This is not a blip on the radar, this is a fucking freight train bearing down on the very essence of America and justice and a Constitutional democracy.

In short, note to self. When looking for a legal analyst, don't call Danny Cavallos.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!

[Akhilleus]

As the Orange Headed Baboon makes life even more contentious between the US and our old friends to the north, I wanted to pass on something I heard the other day, an interview with Porter Fox, the author of a new book about the border, "Northland"(written with a MacDowell grant--pretty cool).

Fox grew up in northern Maine, his dad was a boat builder, so he's familiar with the territory, a place where border crossings are largely invisible and unmarked. Or used to be.

Years ago, my brother and I were backpacking up in that region. We found an old timber road and decided to see where it led us. Great hulks of rusted logging machinery half hidden in the trees since the mid 19th century marked our passing. After a couple of hours on that trail, we ran into a guy coming back from fishing at a pond who told us we were now in Canada. He said "You boys up here on official business, eh?" We all laughed. It reminded us that, except for official points of entry, most borders in the world can only be seen on maps.

One of the more amazing points Fox makes is that the border region, the Northland of the title, didn't change from the days of the Revolution all the way up to the 1970's.

It's a lot different now. Back when I was in college, and for a long time after, we could jump in the car and head to Montreal to see a hockey game at the old Forum (then off to le Vieux Munich for shots of schnapps and the oom-pah bands). No problem. Now you need a passport. Also too, now we have a president* treating Canada as if it were North Korea and North Korea as if it were Canada.

Up is down.

Anyway, "Northland" sounds like a great read. A spot of sanity in an increasingly insane country.

[Akhilleus]

Little Scotty (Cone of Silence) Pruitt has found a magical solution to the problem of all those pesky investigations (what is it, up to 50 now?) into his perfidious approach to, um, public service (*cough-cough*).

Be the next attorney general! Yeah....that's the ticket. The little dictator can dump Sessions and make Pruitt the AG. Then Scotty can decide that everything he did as EPA detonator was poifectly legal-like. And as an extra benefit to the boss, he can fire Mueller, jail Rosenstein, arrest Hillary, deport Maxine Waters, and deep-six the entire Mueller report.

Cones of silence and tactical pants for everyone!

[Akhilleus]

I'm Calling the Police!

Tough guy congressman Jim (Sexual abuse? What Sexual abuse?) Jordan calls the cops on former students who would like him to man up and acknowledge that he knows about the Ohio State doctor who routinely engaged in abusive sexual contact with athletes.

Jordan "...claims he is being 'bullied' by former Ohio State wrestlers who accuse the congressman of turning a blind eye to the sexual abuse of hundreds of student athletes while he worked as the assistant wrestling coach from 1986 to 1994.

According to a CNN report Wednesday, Jordan will contact the Capitol police after receiving emails from one of the wrestlers who has accused Jordan of doing nothing about the sexual abuse by the team doctor, Dr. Richard Strauss."

Hey, please don't "bully" the congressman, guys. He is busy doing Trump's Work. We're sorry if he didn't help you back in the day. Right now he's working hard helping another sexual predator, so fuck off.

It's estimated that, because Mr. Right-Wing Morals looked the other way, up to 2,000 student athletes were sexually abused. But now he's busy helping a degenerate traitor escape the consequences of his actions. I guess some things don't change all that much, do they?

Are we great yet?

[safari]

@Ak

And how ironic that Jim "molest thee, not me" Jordan prowls the hall of Congress as the self-styled "attack dog" of the Freeeeedom Caucus. But it appears upon confrontation from his actual constituents, Mr. Macho is much more into flight than fight.

Sounds like another case of an insecure, self-interested white guy manipulating systems of power to climb up the backs of whoever stands in his way to self-proclaimed glory. Exactly the type of mirror image confederates would vote into public office.

If his laissez-faire attitude to serial sexual abuse somehow stunts his shambolic political career, I suggest he send his resume to the Vatican; he'd fit right in.

[Akhilleus]

Safari,

Yeah, I'm sure the "kept quiet about sexual abuse, then threatened to have anyone mentioning it arrested" line in his resume would move him right to the front of the queue, toot sweet. He'd be measured for the robes and a funny hat within days.

[Akhilleus]

The right-wing takes over the Supreme Court. Nationalists attack peaceful protesters. The right's propaganda media arm, basically state TV, rips into those who decry the right's attempt to railroad the country into a pre-civil rights era, calling them "shameful", as if their own actions are completely above suspicion.

Trump Amerika?

Not yet. It's Poland. But remember when we'd read stuff like this and think "Whew, glad we don't have to worry about that sort of thing"?

Not anymore. The right HAS taken over the Supreme Court by denying a sitting president his Constitutional rights. They DO have state-run media here. Trump's brownshirts DO attack peaceful protesters. Civil rights ARE under assault, and those who decry Trump and his band of traitors ARE described in the nastiest terms even as they themselves work to undermine the basic notion of America and democracy.

We no longer have the luxury of reading reports from dangerous, chaotic places around the world where democracy is attacked by nationalists and violent thugs and thinking ourselves lucky we don't live there.

We DO live there.

[MAG]

So, what's everyone waiting for? David CayJohnston offers this over on the NYTimes Opinion pag.s...How to Make Trump’s Tax Returns Public "Let's see those tax returns’"

"New York State tax returns strictly adhere to the federal tax system’s definition of income, so an audit of Mr. Trump’s state tax returns would apply equally to his federal tax returns. If an investigation concludes that Mr. Trump cheated the state, Ms. Underwood and Mr. Vance have the authority to put Mr. Trump’s tax returns — both state and federal — into the public record by filing civil or criminal tax fraud charges."

...enfin the list of losers & goners grows!

Took long enuff! Another Trump selection gone! Wonder how Scott Pruitt will manage having to pay for things on his own? Who will continue support him in the style he thinks he is accustomed to?

[Rose in Michigan]

@Akhilleus
Looks like Scott Pruitt won't be going to the Justice Department any time soon: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/05/climate/scott-pruitt-epa-trump.html

Unfortunately, as with any position in this administration, the vacancy will be temporarily filled by the deputy administrator, Andrew Wheeler, who is a former coal lobbyist. Quelle surprise.

@PD
Please don't give up on Michigan. We've got our share of deplorables, but we also have energized progressives, and the Democrats in my area are fielding some really exciting candidates for the state legislature. One of the members of my small resistance group has been instrumental in getting the gerrymandering proposal on the ballot for November (it's a proposal to amend the state constitution to prohibit the kind of nonsense to which we are currently subjected). We even have two excellent choices in the Democratic primary for the governership (along with one DINO who reminds me far too much of Trump for comfort). The candidate I support, Abdul el Sayed, isn't getting the polling numbers, but neither did Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and she ended up winning big.

It's an uphill battle, but a lot of people are working hard to turn this state around -- to Make Michigan Great Again, so to speak.

Also, too, (it's been quite a busy afternoon for news, and it's not even Friday): Ed Schultz has died.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/radio-personality-ed-schultz-dead_us_5b3e4d73e4b05127ccf00466
I always considered him one of the good ones.

[Akhilleus]

Rose,

It appears to be the case that little Scotty won't replace Sessions (although I didn't actually believe that would happen), but as our old pal Will S. has suggested, the past if prologue. To which I would add that the past is not just prologue, but a clear indication of an even more pernicious prospectus.

The little dictator lauded Pruitt for doing an "outstanding job". What he means is that Pruitt has laid the groundwork for the upcoming elimination of environmental protections. Trump kept him there long enough to weaken the agency's infrastructure, like a ravenous termite devouring the foundation past the point of it being easily repaired.

Pruitt was an industry/lobbyist ass kisser. Now Trump is appointing an ACTUAL lobbyist. And here is where we may also get a look at what life could be like after the Trump Monster.

Pruitt, very much like Trump, is a cartoon character. Dangerous, insidious, evil, but still, at least on the surface, cartoonish. How can you look at that Dr. Evil picture of piggish Pruitt sucking on his little finger, eyes squinting conspiratorially at the thought of exquisitely delicious environmental evil to come, consider his Cone of Silence, Tactical Pants, cheapo condo, gigantic phalanx of bodyguards, rapacious behavior, secret meetings expunged from his date book which others have ratted him out on, and think otherwise.

But now that he's done the dirty work, the little dictator is replacing him with a much more insidious force. A lobbyist who has been a DC insider for years, someone who knows how to avoid the landmines that Pruitt seemed always to stuff down the front of his pants. This means he can be even more vicious, more effective at eviscerating environmental protections, and so much more of a potent advocate for the corporate monetization and destruction of the natural world for the benefit of Trumpian donors.

In the same way, we will get a look at what life will be like after the Trump demon is replaced with a slicker, smarter, more personally abstemious monster.

The Trumpen Monstrosity may be voted out in 2020, but he has crafted a road map to Mordor for the Mitch McConnell's of the world.

Pruitt gone doesn't mean anything for environmental protection. It's the exact opposite.

[PD Pepe]

@Rose: Thanks so much for giving us a bit of hope for Michigan–-good to hear that there are fighters in the works. I lived in Michigan from 1960 to 1964.My then husband was an executive at Ford. Our experience during that time was exciting and fulfilling; Detroit itself had wonderful restaurants, concerts, plays, and best of all places you could go and listen to great jazz, drink martinis, dance and lose yourself. I have fond memories.