;)
Thursday
Jul052018
The Commentariat -- July 6, 2018
Afternoon Update:
Maria Sacchetti of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration will not fully meet a federal judge's deadline to reunite all migrant families separated at the U.S.-Mexico border, and instead is seeking more time in instances where officials are struggling to match children to parents, according to court records filed late Thursday. The government's request, hours before a scheduled hearing on the issue Friday, marks an abrupt departure from comments made earlier Thursday from President Trump's secretary for Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, whose agency cares for the children in shelters. He had said the Trump administration 'will comply' with the deadlines, though he criticized the judge's timetable as 'extreme.'"
** Annie Snider of Politico: "The Trump administration is suppressing an Environmental Protection Agency report that warns that most Americans inhale enough formaldehyde vapor in the course of daily life to put them at risk of developing leukemia and other ailments, a current and a former agency official told Politico. The warnings are contained in a draft health assessment EPA scientists completed just before Donald Trump became president, according to the officials. They said top advisers to departing Administrator Scott Pruitt are delaying its release as part of a campaign to undermine the agency's independent research into the health risks of toxic chemicals. Andrew Wheeler, the No. 2 official at EPA who will be the agency's new acting chief ..., was staff director for the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in 2004, when his boss, then-Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), sought to delay an earlier iteration of the formaldehyde assessment.... As long ago as January, Pruitt told a Senate panel that he believed the draft assessment was complete. Five months later, it has yet to see the light of day."
Chris Cillizza notes some of the men Donald Trump believes over their accusers: Jim Jordan, Roy Moore, Rob Porter, Rogers Ailes & Bill O'Reilly. (Al Franken, not so much.) "It doesn't take a genius to diagnose a severe case of situational ethics in Trump."
Peter Walker of the Guardian: "Donald Trump will almost entirely avoid London during his four-day visit to the UK next week, Downing Street has said, unveiling an itinerary that is likely to prompt accusations he is trying to avoid planned protests against him.... Trump, who is to meet Theresa May and the Queen among others before spending two days in Scotland, will only spend the night in London on Thursday, the day of his arrival, staying at the US ambassador's official residence in Regent's Park, Winfield House. Before that he will attend a gala dinner at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, and the following day he will hold talks with the prime minister at her Chequers country retreat in Buckinghamshire. Both are places where protesters can be kept out of sight and earshot. Later on the Friday he will meet the Queen at Windsor Castle before heading to Scotland for the weekend." Mrs. McC: Hope he gets to see Blimpy Baby Trump (story linked below).
*****
Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: "This, to say the least, is not normal." That's what Susan Glasser writes (linked below) about the administration's revolving spinning door. But "not normal" also is true of most news that comes out of the White House every day. Just look at today: we've begun a massive trade war with China initiated by presidential fiat without any consideration of the consequences for the greater economy (but not touching Trump's personal profits); a President making racist, sexist remarks against a sitting U.S. Senator; an administration so incompetent that it crosses the line into criminal negligence in its cruel treatment of children & their families (DNA tests to find out who's who!); a President who finally fires a scandal-plagued Cabinet member (via a surrogate who also is about to get canned), then lies about the circumstances of the firing; a President who hires a new scandal-plagued deputy who enabled a sexual abuser not unlike the President himself; a President who unequivocally supports (for now) a Congressman accused of covering up rampant sexual abuse & who dismisses out-of-hand widespread allegations against the MoC. We cannot become accustomed to this. It is "normal" now; but it is not normal over the course of the nation's history.
Ana Swanson of the New York Times: "A trade war between the world's two largest economies officially began on Friday morning as the Trump administration followed through with its threat to impose tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese products, a significant escalation of a fight that could hurt companies and consumers in both the United States and China. The penalties, which went into effect at 12:01 a.m., prompted quick retaliation by Beijing. China said it immediately put its own similarly sized tariffs on an unspecified clutch of American goods. Previously, the Chinese government had said it would tax pork, soybeans and automobiles, among other goods. In a statement, China's Ministry of Commerce said the United States 'has launched the biggest trade war in economic history so far.'" Mrs. McC: The Minister's comment is very Trumpy. ...
... As Ye Sow... Paul Krugman: "... big business is reaping what it sowed. No single cause brought us to this terrible moment in American history, but decades of cynical politics on the part of corporate America certainly played an important role.... Partly I mean the tacit alliance between businesses and the wealthy, on one side, and racists on the other, that is the essence of the modern conservative movement.... Trump isn't just a protectionist, he's an authoritarian.... Trump is already in the habit of threatening businesses that have crossed him.... But organizations like the [C]hamber [of Commerce] and Heritage are still trying to ensure a Republican victory." ...
... Jonathan O'Connell & David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: "... the president's businesses continue to benefit from partnerships involving the Chinese government, via state-backed companies and investors. Chinese government-backed firms are slated to work on parts of two large developments -- in Dubai and Indonesia -- that will include Trump-branded properties. The Trumps are the landlord to one of China's top state-owned banks, which has occupied the 20th floor of Trump Tower in Manhattan since 2008. The bank's lease is worth close to $2 million annually, according to industry estimates and a bank filing. And despite the Trump administration's focus on American manufacturing, assembly-line workers in China still produce blouses, shoes and handbags for the clothing line created by Trump's daughter Ivanka, a White House adviser. The tariffs that were set to kick in at 12:01 a.m. Friday are not expected to affect the Trumps' financial interests...."
Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "President Trump lobbed personal and derogatory attacks at two Democratic senators, mocked the #MeToo movement and vouched for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Thursday during a freewheeling, raucous rally ostensibly intended to solidify support for Montana's Republican Senate candidate. Taunting Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, with a refusal to apologize for calling her 'Pocahontas,' Mr. Trump imagined a debate during which he would gently throw an ancestry testing kit at Ms. Warren to make her prove the Native American heritage she has controversially claimed. 'We are going to do it gently because we're the #MeToo generation, so we have to be very careful,' the president said to scattered laughter, adding that he would donate $1 million to charity if Ms. Warren followed through. Mr. Trump, who has faced accusations of sexual assault and harassment, announced earlier in the day that Bill Shine, who was ousted from Fox News over his handling of the network's harassment scandals, would take a position on his administration's communications staff." Trump also criticized Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.). Do read on. ...
While you obsess over my genes, your Admin is conducting DNA tests on little kids because you ripped them from their mamas & you are too incompetent to reunite them in time to meet a court order. Maybe you should focus on fixing the lives you're destroying. -- Elizabeth Warren, following Trump's remarks, in a tweet ...
... ** Caitlin Dickerson of the New York Times: "Faced with a court-imposed deadline to reunite families separated at the southwest border, federal authorities are calling in volunteers to sort through records and resorting to DNA tests to match children with parents. And they acknowledged for the first time Thursday that of the nearly 3,000 children who are still in federal custody, about 100 are under the age of 5. The family separations, part of an aggressive effort by the Trump administration to deter illegal immigration, have produced a chaotic scramble as officials now face political and judicial pressure to reunite families. Records linking children to their parents have disappeared, and in some cases have been destroyed, according to two officials of the Department of Homeland Security, leaving the authorities struggling to identify connections between family members." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Donald Trump, Jeff Sessions, DHS head Kirstjen Nielsen & HHS Secretary Alex Azar must answer for this. The administration's purposeful incompetence is nothing short of criminal negligence. Their cavalier ineptitude has deep consequences for their victims; now it must have consequences for the perps. ...
... MEANWHILE. David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: "President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club has applied for permission to hire 40 foreign workers to serve as waiters during the winter social season in Palm Beach, Fla., according to data posted Thursday by the Labor Department.... The application filed with the Labor Department signals that -- despite Trump's insistence that immigration is holding down wages and crowding out native-born American workers -- his club believes it cannot find any Americans willing and able to hold the waiter jobs." ...
... Maria Sacchetti of the Washington Post: "Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Thursday that officials are racing against a federal judge's 'extreme' deadlines to reunite 'under 3,000' migrant children separated from their parents at the U.S. border. Azar did not provide a precise number, but he said hundreds of government employees are poring over databases, examining case files, and conducting DNA tests to reunite families. The children are being held in shelters overseen by HHS. Their parents are in Homeland Security's immigration jails.... International advocacy groups and Pope Francis had criticized the administration for traumatizing families.... Thursday, two House Oversight Committee leaders pressed key Trump Cabinet officials for a detailed accounting of the thousands of children separated from their parents since the administration began in May to prosecute every illegal border crossing. In a bipartisan letter, sent to Azar, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen M. Nielsen, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, lawmakers made 11 specific requests for information about every child -- including their age, gender and location."
Martha Mendoza & Garance Burke of the AP: "Some immigrant U.S. Army reservists and recruits who enlisted in the military with a promised path to citizenship are being abruptly discharged.... The AP was unable to quantify how many men and women who enlisted through the special recruitment program have been booted from the Army, but immigration attorneys say they know of more than 40 who have been discharged or whose status has become questionable, jeopardizing their futures.... Some of the service members say they were not told why they were being discharged. Others who pressed for answers said the Army informed them they'd been labeled as security risks because they have relatives abroad or because the Defense Department had not completed background checks on them."
** 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." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... The story has been updated; Lisa Friedman & Maggie Haberman now are also on the byline. Here's one update: "An individual close to Mr. Pruitt said the president acted after he found one particular story in recent days embarrassing: a report that Mr. Pruitt had asked Mr. Trump to fire Jeff Sessions, the attorney general, so that Mr. Pruitt could run the Justice Department. The idea had been discussed privately for months by the president, who occasionally asked advisers if it was a good idea.... But seeing those deliberations being aired publicly, amid a string of other damaging reports, focused Mr. Trump's attention, a person close to the president said. Fresh allegations that Mr. Pruitt had retroactively altered his public schedule, potentially committing a federal crime, had also escalated concerns about him at the White House, according to a White House aide. On Thursday afternoon, around 1:30, Mr. Trump's chief of staff, John F. Kelly, reached out to Mr. Pruitt to tell him the time had come." ...
... Margaret Hartmann reports in the post linked below, "Trump described a much different, more flattering, scene, telling reporters that the EPA chief 'came to me and said, "I have such great confidence in the administration. I don't want to be a distraction.'" ...
... The Limits of Sucking Up. Margaret Hartmann: Pruitt "survived months of increasingly outlandish misconduct allegations -- featuring props like a used Trump hotel mattress, fancy lotion, expensive fountain pens, and a $43,000 soundproof phone booth -- because Trump only cared that environmental regulations were being torn up, and Pruitt took an 'adoring tone' in their interactions, according to the Washington Post.... It can seem like [Trump is] bizarrely devoted to his top aides.... But if Trump decides someone is a liability, he'll drop them in an instant." ...
... The Consequences of Pissing Down. Lachlan Markay & Asawin Suebsaeng of the Daily Beast: "Though well-liked by Trump until recently, Pruitt routinely alienated many senior staff members and would-be allies. Their subsequent press leaks and congressional whistleblowing made Pruitt too much of a liability even for Trump.... [Pruitt's] routine mistreatment of his subordinates ... led them to speak out -- and may have sealed his fate.... The litany of former staffers with an ax to grind kept the Pruitt controversy in the headlines for months, eventually managing to exhaust President Trump's patience, White House sources say. Even Fox News ... had turned on Pruitt by the end." ...
... Pruitt Says He 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 Kristen Mink -- that mom who approached him in the restaurant earlier this week -- was the last straw. She's my hero. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... God Ordained Trump & Pruitt, Sez Pruitt. Ed Kilgore: "Pruitt's resignation letter ... [ended] on a characteristic (to Evangelical ears) note: 'I believe you are serving as President today because of God's providence. I believe that same providence brought me into your service.' Considering that his issues would have probably forced him out much, much earlier under most, if not all, of the first 44 presidents, that sentiment is understandable.... His legendary tenure will likely earn him a spot in history alongside such ethical blackguards as Harding's Interior Secretary Albert Fall, who accepted bribes for no-bid federal oil leases in the Teapot Dome scandal, or Grant's War Secretary William Belknap, whose Pruitt-like taste for luxury was supported by kickbacks from military trading post concession-holders. What's missing so far in Pruitt's case is any acknowledgement from his Cabinet peers or the president that he's done anything wrong. And that may be the biggest Pruitt scandal of them all." ...
... Remembering Scotty. Eli Watkins & Clare Foran of CNN published an organized list of Scotty's Scandals in mid-April & have "updated with more developments." It's a really impressive list! ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: While the Congress might be able to end some or all of its inquiries into Pruitt, I don't see how any investigations -- by the IG or FBI or others -- that reasonably might lead to criminal charges can be shut down just because Scotty has slipped out of his tactical pants & cleaned the family photos out of his hermetically-sealed office. If a bank employee is under investigation for embezzlement, she doesn't get to keep the money just because she quit her job. It would be great if Trump decided to pardon Pruitt right before the November elections. ...
... 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." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Emily Atkin of the New Republic: "A considerable amount of reporting went into exposing all of [Pruitt's] scandals, as [Kristen] Mink [-- the mother who confronted Pruitt at a restaurant --] noted on Thursday. 'It's not like I can take all the credit for this,' the schoolteacher told DCist. 'The great majority goes to effective fact-based research of quality journalists who exposed the depth of Scott Pruitt's corruption.' But the celebration of journalists' dogged work in covering Pruitt, while deserved, shouldn't obscure how much daunting work remains in covering Trump's EPA.... [Pruitt] was at his most dangerous when he was systematically dismantling America's public health protections for the benefit of polluters. Andrew Wheeler, the EPA's deputy administrator and soon-to-be acting administrator, may be even more qualified for that mission given his previous work as a coal lobbyist for Murray Energy and an aide to climate-denying Senator James Inhofe. Whereas Pruitt was often hasty and sloppy in his attempts to repeal Obama-era environmental regulations..., Wheeler 'is viewed as a consummate Washington insider who avoids the limelight and has spent years effectively navigating the rules,' The New York Times reported Thursday." ...
... Pruitt without the Baggage. Steve Mufson of the Washington Post: Andrew "Wheeler spent a decade lobbying for just the sort of companies the agency regulates, and before that he worked for Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.), who rejects climate change. Drawing on more than a quarter-century in Washington, Wheeler is expected to pick up where the departing Pruitt left off -- only without the controversy that constantly plagued him.... At the firm Faegre Baker Daniels Consulting, Wheeler represented energy companies, mining companies and a mixture of others.... Among his professional activities, he once listed his post as vice president of the Washington Coal Club.... Environmental groups vowed to fight him as much as they have the outgoing chief." ...
... Steve M.: "Fear of midterm attack ads was what finally brought this to a head. Morality and ethics certainly weren't getting the job done.... So Pruitt and Trump are on God's side [according to Pruitt in his resignation letter] ... and Pruitt's enemies are pure evil[.].... Has Pruitt done anything wrong? Pruitt's answer is no. Trump's answer is no -- nothing except possibly providing fodder for negative campaign commercials. The Republican commentariat's answer is an unasmbiguous no as well. We're the sole source of evil, as usual." ...
... Dan Spinelli of Mother Jones: "Republicans in Congress Sure Seem Happy Not to Have to Defend Scott Pruitt Anymore.... When Scott Pruitt's scandal-plagued tenure ... finally came to an end Thursday, his many critics in and out of Congress wasted no time rejoicing at another Trump Cabinet member exiting under a cloud.... For Republicans annoyed at Pruitt's laundry list of scandals but eager to continue his legacy of undoing Obama-era environmental regulations, Andrew Wheeler is more than acceptable." Spinelli publishes some Congressional comments on Pruitt/Wheeler. ...
... 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: Can someone who spent years enabling a sexual predator get a security clearance? (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Jeet Heer of the New Republic: "Shine resigned last May from his post as co-president of Fox News amid allegations that he enabled the sexual harassment regime of his boss Roger Ailes. So it is shocking, although not at all surprising, that the Trump administration has hired him with the title of assistant to the president and deputy chief of staff for communications. 'It's extraordinary that the president of the United States could hire someone like this,' a senior Fox News executive told BuzzFeed. 'This is someone who is highly knowledgeable of women being cycled through for horrible and degrading behavior by someone who was an absolute monster.'... Shine is also accused of hiring private investigators to harass journalists." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I suspect hiring Shine was the "real reason" Trump had Kelly fire Pruitt when he did. Trump claimed Pruitt resigned because he "didn't want to be a distraction." But Pruitt provided just the distraction Trump wanted yesterday -- one that would bury stories about Shine's history.
... Susan Glasser of the New Yorker: "Now that President Trump has accepted the resignation of ... Scott Pruitt, the fate of his embattled chief of staff [John Kelly] is the key drama of this drama-plagued Administration.... Barely a week has gone by without a new report about Trump shopping around for Kelly's replacement.... This Trump Unchained era is merely proof that no aide, not even a brusque Marine general with a chest full of medals, is going to bring order to a President determined to have his own way.... When we look back at the Trump Administration, this will be one of its most distinguishing characteristics: West Wing comings and goings without precedent, leaving policies muddled.... This, to say the least, is not normal. It might seem self-evident, but it bears repeating: Trump, whatever else he accomplishes, will certainly go down in the record books as the worst manager of the White House in modern times."
Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Michael D. Cohen ... has hired Lanny J. Davis, the Washington lawyer and public relations consultant best known for serving in the Clinton White House, to represent him."
Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Special counsel Robert Mueller's prosecutors are urging a federal appeals court to reject former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort's bid to be released on bail as he prepares for two criminal trials, including one set to begin later this month. In a filing Thursday, Mueller's team urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit not to disturb a lower court's order last month jailing Manafort over charges that he tampered with witnesses related to the cases against him."
Lachlan Markay & Dean 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 (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "Republican lawmakers who went to Russia seeking a thaw in relations received an icy reception from Democrats and Kremlin watchers for spending the Fourth of July in a country that interfered in the U.S. presidential election and continues to deny it.... Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.) led the eight-member delegation on a multiday tour of St. Petersburg and Moscow.... The point of their visit, Shelby stressed to the Duma leader, was to 'strive for a better relationship' with Moscow, not 'accuse Russia of this or that or so forth.' It played well in Moscow, but not on the home front.... On Russian state television, presenters and guests mocked the U.S. congressional delegation for appearing to put a weak foot forward, noting how the message of tough talk they promised in Washington 'changed a bit' by the time they got to Moscow."
Jillian Jorgensen of the New York Daily News: "New York City has nixed a $48,000 tax break President Trump was set to receive on his Trump Tower condo following inquiries from the Daily News about whether he is still eligible for the savings.... a homeowner is only eligible for the tax break if the condo is his primary residence -- which the city's tax rules define as 'the dwelling unit in which the owner of the dwelling unit actually resides and maintains a permanent and continuous physical presence.'... After The News asked the city Department of Finance about the abatement, it was removed from Trump's tax records for the new tax year." Mrs. McC: Sounds like a homestead exemption; if Trump still votes in NYC, he probably should have been allowed to keep the exemption.
How Diplomatic. Justin McCurry of the Guardian: "When Mike Pompeo meets Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang, he will reportedly attempt to smooth a path towards denuclearisation with a gift that playfully references a low point in relations between the North Korean leader and Donald Trump: a CD of Elton John's Rocket Man. The US secretary of state will present Kim with the CD along with a letter from Trump, who memorably turned the song's title into an epithet after the North stepped up its ballistic missile tests last year."
BBC News: "Plans to fly a giant inflatable figure depicting Donald Trump as a baby over London during the US president's visit have been approved. Mr Trump is due to meet Theresa May at 10 Downing Street on 13 July. Campaigners raised almost £18,000 for the helium-filled six-metre high figure, which they said reflects Mr Trump's character as an 'angry baby with a fragile ego and tiny hands'. London Mayor Sadiq Khan gave permission for the balloon to fly.... Mr Khan and Mr Trump have repeatedly clashed on Twitter, including in the aftermath of the London Bridge attack. Before the figure can take off, campaigners will also need permission from the National Air Traffic Service (NATS) as the project constitutes a 'non-standard flight in controlled airspace'.... Because Parliament Square sits within restricted airspace, additional approvals are also needed from the Metropolitan Police.... On Twitter former UKIP leader Nigel Farage said the plan was 'the biggest insult to a sitting US President ever'." Mrs. McC: That's the idea, Nigel.
** 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's population 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 (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Corky Siemaszko of NBC News: "A fourth former Ohio State University wrestler came forward Thursday to contradict Rep. Jim Jordan's claim that he had no idea the wrestling team doctor was molesting athletes. The wrestler, Shawn Dailey, said he was groped half a dozen times by Dr. Richard Strauss in the mid-1990s, when Jordan was the assistant wrestling coach. Dailey said he was too embarrassed to report the abuse directly to Jordan at the time, but he said Jordan took part in conversations where Strauss' abuse of many other team members came up.... Calling Jordan 'a close friend,' Dailey said he is a Republican and that he contributed to the powerful Ohio congressman's first political campaign for state representative in 1994.... Also Thursday, Mark Coleman, another former wrestler and a former UFC world champion, told The Wall Street Journal that Jordan was aware of the abuse and had not taken action.... 'I don't believe them at all,' Trump [told reporters on AF1 Thursday] of the allegations against Jordan. 'I believe him. Jim Jordan is one of the most outstanding people I've met since I've been in Washington. I believe him 100 percent." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: "I believe the men" is President Pussy-Grabber's default position on all allegations of sexual abuse or predation. ...
... Jim Jordan Calls Cops on Sex Abuse Victims. Sunlen Serfaty & Clare Foran of CNN: "Rep. Jim Jordan's office will contact Capitol Hill police after receiving emails from an alleged victim of sexual abuse at Ohio State University when the Ohio Republican was an assistant wrestling coach, a source within the office told CNN Wednesday. The source added that the messages were vaguely threatening in nature in part because of the amount of emails sent, and that Jordan did not respond to the emails because he felt the man was 'bullying him.'" Mrs. McC: What does "law and order" mean to a Republican? Siccing the cops on victims of crimes in which he is implicated. Count this as one more indicator that the U.S. is sinking into a dangerous, authoritarian police state. Thanks to Akhilleus for the lead. ...
Trump, Sessions Foiled Again. Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "A federal judge on Thursday mostly rejected a bid by the Justice Department to block California's 'sanctuary state' laws, which enact policies friendly to undocumented immigrants. In a 60-page ruling, U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez said most of the laws, which limit how state businesses and law enforcement agencies can work with federal immigration authorities, are 'permissible exercises of California's sovereign power.'... California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D) hailed the decision as 'a strong ruling against federal government overreach.' 'The Constitution gives the people of California, not the Trump administration, the power to decide how we will provide for our public safety and general welfare,' he said." Mrs. McC: Mendez is a Bush II appointee.
News Ledes
New York Times: "The Labor Department released its monthly hiring and unemployment figures on Friday morning.... 213,000 jobs were added last month. Economists had expected a gain of about 200,000.... The unemployment rate rose to 4 percent, from 3.8 percent.... Average hourly earnings rose by 0.2 percent after growing by 0.3 percent in May. The year-over-year gain is now 2.7 percent.... The latest jobs numbers cap a string of encouraging economic reports." ...
... Politico: "The White House, in a statement, described the numbers as the 'latest in a string of positive headlines showing that confidence in surging, growth is accelerating and jobs are plentiful in the Trump economy.'... But the tight labor market continued to produce bafflingly weak wage growth, with average hourly earnings up 2.7 percent over the previous year, unchanged from May."
The New York Times is updating developments in the effort to rescue 12 boys & their soccer coach in Thailand. "A former Thai Navy diver helping with the rescue operation has died, running out of air after bringing extra tanks in to the trapped team, Thai officials say."
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Reader Comments (23)
Honor among a$$holes: of course DiJiT said that he believes Jordan, it is reciprocal support. Jordan in the spring said that he has never heard DiJiT lie. Shamelessness is the new honor.
SHINE ON! Jimmy Dean's sunny call out for his breakfast sausage burger. We now have another Shine on the King's list of slaves and knaves. Bill Shine, right hand man to Roger Alles, orchestrator of shutting up and shutting down all those women who were being "used" by ole Roger. Perfect fit for Trump ––guy is slick and savvy –he's an optics guy, but will he pass the smell test? Get a clearance?
And now that Scotty has bit the dust, Andrew Wheeler, decent looking man with glasses, is actually going to fuck up our environment quietly without fanfare nor will he have the need to enrich himself.
As Pruitt once said, "It's an exciting time!"
Warren's response to our tone deaf president* is perfect. What this administration has done to thousands of families–- mainly mothers and children–-chills me to the bone. I can't help comparing this to Nazi Germany's similar methods––I don't think this far fetched. To realize this kind of thing is happening here in this country is mind blowing–-and frightening.
And life goes on...
My boy Beto be jamming with Willie Nelson during the Fourth in Texas–-with video.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/see-congressman-beto-orourke-jam-with-willie-nelson-at-4th-of-july-picnic-696429/
"Roll me up and Smoke me when I die"...if Beto beats Cruz I am definitely going to send my own smoke signals thither and yon. It will be such a great victory not only for democrats but will add one more stellar human being into the senate.
If Krugman had managed to squeeze in a quick reference to what American business has done in the last fifty year to wreck healthcare, his column today could serve as as complete history of the sad state of American politics over most of my lifetime.
When money is your only value, you have none.
Records linking children to their parents have disappeared, and in some cases have been destroyed, according to two officials of the Department of Homeland Security, leaving the authorities struggling to identify connections between family members." ...
At least the Nazi Party kept better records.
@PD Pepe: Thanks. Looks as if Beto has nailed retail politics. A sort-of endorsement by Willie Nelson is a really good thing.
@Dan Lowery: Incompetent Nazis! Such a winner.
@ Dan
Thanks.
Another good summary: The Pretender and his band of half-assed Nazis.
Oh, no, you're all wrong... Why just yesterday, Alex A said he wanted to make it perfectly clear that he/they know exactly where all 2000 children are and that he knew their care was 100% perfect. This schmuck Dartmouth jerk fits in well with the administration, as he lies easily, especially when anyone with half a brain cell knows that there is no way they know anything of the sort, nor do they know how many children they have secreted around the US and in what hellholes. Naturally, no one is raising his or her hand to say Pardon me, poorly educated clunkwease, that is a goddamn lie from start to finish. Thank you, Fourth Estate, for allowing these endless lies to just sit there and fester. (And Dartmouth must be very proud of their grad...)
Music for the Fourth, Moscow Edition
While Beto was jamming with Willie on the Fourth of July (Thanks, PD), Cruz's Confederate pals in the Senate were slow dancing with the Russians (hold me close, vozlyublennaya).
In Moscow.
Hey, a new tradition. Moscow for the Fourth! If that doesn't give Vlad and his ex-KGB operatives a stiffy and a good laugh, I'm not sure they're alive.
All those supposedly tough on commies You-Ess-Ay flag pin wearing motherfuckers spending the Fourth in the former Soviet Union begging the Russians to please be nice to the little dictator when he comes calling with hat in hand (again). The thesaurus offers nothing strong enough to describe the disgust.
Talk about a bad look. According to a story in the WaPo, these obsequious frauds promised to be "...tough with Russian officials". By tough they meant they wouldn't kiss after the first dance. They'd make them wait until the second one. Ooooh. Tooooouugghh. That gave the Ruskies a chuckle as they noted "how the message of tough talk they promised in Washington 'changed a bit' by the time they got to Moscow." A bit. Yeah. I guess so. They were puckering up the minute they saw Putin's boys.
Even better, from Putin's point of view, the Confederate contingent led by stalwart patriots Richard Shelby and Ron Johnson, were "...hoping for: a meeting with Putin" that never happened. Boo-hoo, boys. Vlad is making you sit up and beg.
While Beto and Willie were gettin' down on some good music in Texas, Dick and Ron and the other lovelorn weasels were singing that old Dusty Springfield song:
Wishin' and hopin' and thinkin' and prayin'
Plannin' and dreamin' each night of Vlad's charms
That won't get you into his arms
So if you're lookin' to find love you can share
All you gotta do is hold him and kiss him and love him
And show him that you care
Show Vlad that you care just for him
Do the things he likes to do
Wear your hair just for him, 'cause
You won't get him
Thinkin' and a-prayin', wishin' and a-hopin'
I'm betting the little dictator is singing along. He's all about doing the things Vlad likes to do (screwing America), and wearing his hair (or whatever that thing on his head is)...just for him. He's not wishin' and hopin', he's already under the sheets doing the nasty with any Russian who cares to hop in. It's a Russian gangbang and little donnie is the party boy. Shelby and Johnson are there as fluffers.
Russians were laughing at them. "We need to look down at them and say: You came because you needed to, not because we did," said a Russian military expert. They looked weak and stupid. The classic Trump-Confederate combination.
Could there be a better way for traitors to spend the Fourth of July? Not just out of the country, but in the heart of the old Soviet Union, wooing a murderous dictator who ratfucked our last election and is getting ready (they hope) to do it again. Which reminds me of another perfect song for this band of evil machers, while they're back in the USSR.
The Ukraine girls really knock them out
They leave the West behind
And Moscow girls make them sing and shout
That Georgia's always on their mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mi minds
Show them round your snow peaked mountains way down south
Take them to your daddy's farm
Let them hear your balalaikas ringing out
Come and keep your comrades warm
They're back in the USSR
They don't know how lucky they are, boys,
Back in the USSR
(Can you imagine the terminal conniption fits if Schumer and Pelosi spent the Fourth in Moscow simpering to Putin? Fox would go supernova).
All you gotta do is hold him and kiss him and squeeze him and love him
Yeah, just do it
And after you do, you will be his
You will be his
You will be his
They're already his. All of them.
Jeanne,
Hey, remember, bottom feeder Dinesh D'Souza is a Dartmouth grad too, so Azar is in good company.
The most important quote of the day (so far):
"The tariffs that were set to kick in at 12:01 a.m. Friday are not expected to affect the Trumps’ financial interests...."
As long as the Trumps and their money are safe from the coming storm, they could not care less who else has to suffer so long as the little dictator can convince himself he's looking tough for his base. And I do mean base.
THE BEACH DIVIDE: On Connecticut's shoreline, a big gap between liberal values, exclusionary practices.
Back in the late sixties I took about twelve young boys, both black and white, to a private Madison beach (our family had automatic passes since we lived in Madison at the time). These children were from the Children's Center in Hamden, a residential treatment center where I was employed. It never occurred to me that this was verboten, but I certainly felt the distain from the glare not of the sun but from quite a few residents that were present. The next day the director of the beach club notified us that this kind of thing was against the rules and I was not to bring these children to the beach again. I cancelled my pass and never returned.
Today in the Hartford Courant there is a story about this very situation and it looks like nothing has changed. Town ( not just Madison but all towns that are situated on coastlines) officials enacted a host of measures aimed at decreasing the number of non-residents on their public beaches: cost of seasonal passes: $490 to $775 (for three months access); cutting number of day passes; restricted parking for residents only. So here we have a liberal enclave of the wealthy living on the shorelines but not wanting to share their space on the sand and waters with those that "don't belong." The exclusionary methods that were heretofore mentioned were finally challenged by activists and in 2001 Ct's Supreme Court declared resident-only beach ordinances unconstitutional. Today, much of the state's coastline remains as inaccessible to the general public as ever.
This practice fails at promoting a truly equal and inclusive society, and promotes social exclusion in other areas, like the caging of families desperately seeking to enter our country and building that WALL to keep them out.
Years ago certain public pools were drained and refilled after the few days blacks were allowed in. This was back in those "good ole days", when America was great.
About this Repug-Russian love fest:
Though Krugman didn't get to it, he could well have included it in today's artful summary of how corporate Amerika has brought the country to this point. American business has not just played footsie with our own racists for fifty years and longer and through those years lobbied against fact when it got in the way of profit, it has also exported it's own top-down organizational principles and its penchant for autocratic, minority government to the body politic as a whole. Witness the Pretender, our current SCOTUS and the McConnell Senate, none of whom even pretend to have any interest in or respect for democracy.
Over time, as they have grown larger, American corporations with their global reach have also forged relationships with autocrats and oligarchs around the world (have to mention that oil thing that began to infect our corporate thinking and national politics even before WWII) and have become even more autocratic in their turn, to the point where cozy and very public relationships with the world's Putins is no more than a natural next step.
And, of course, generally speaking, Repugnant white men, the basest of the base, who are very comfortable with autocratic rule as long as it keeps their inferiors in their place, see little problem with it.
Rocket Men
So let me get this straight. Mike Pompeo demonstrates his Secretary of State chops by handing Kim Jong Un a CD with the song "Rocket Man" on it. Wow. I'm sure that tickled Kim's funny bone.
Maybe when he goes to China, Pompeo can give Xi a CD of "Kung Fu Fighting":
"They were funky China men from funky Chinatown...
There was funky Billy Chin and little Sammy Chung / He said 'Here comes the big boss, let’s get it on'."...and everybody was kung-fu fighting (cue cheesy faux Chinese riff).
When he goes to visit Shinzo Abe he can give him a copy of "Turning Japanese":
I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so,
Turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so
No sex, no drugs, no wine, no women
No fun, no sin, no you, no wonder it's dark...
A visit to any African nation wouldn't be complete without a recording of "Mississippi Mud" as an indication of the Trump administration's, um, goodwill:
They don't need no band,
They keep time by clapping their hands
Just as happy as a cow chewing on a cud
When the darkies beat their feet on the Mississippi mud
Trump Diplomacy.
Oh, and by the way, that song, Rocket Man? It's about a guy who's up in space pushing buttons not knowing what he's doing. "All this science, I don't understand...it's just my job five days a week" And don't forget the line "I'm not the man they think I am at all..."
Trumpies: Rocket men, all.
Just like back in the pre-2008 era more and more articles are citing an increasing number of Wall Street-ers, economists, corporate execs, et al...who are speculating of a pending and overdue recession.
Betcha, Trump won't/can't handle it when it hits!
...and that's the trooth!
Sure, the economy seems to be humming, for now, but not for any of the reasons that Trump thinks—and a recession may be closer than it appears per William D. Cohan over on Vanity Fair : "Why Wall Street Hates the Trump Economy"
...it (Wall Street) hates pretty much everything about the man and resents deeply the fact that he may have a few genuine accomplishments to crow about as the country heads into the midterm election. “It’s, like, offensive to our intellects,”
Do go on....
In addition, the Wall Street executive also said, “That’s not really the problem we have. The problem we have is that 40 percent of the American population is strongly supportive of him, regardless of what he does. The reality is Hillary Clinton was right when she called them the ‘Deplorables.’ And, by the way, his base is either a combination of ignorance, stupidity and, at best, amorality. They’re the problem in this country. That’s how divided this country’s become, that we have 40 percent of our population looking at this person and saying, ‘Go, baby, go,’ right? That’s the problem.”
PD - paying for public access just seems "New England" to me. I grew up in Washington D.C., where almost everything (Smithsonian, National Gallery, monuments, zoo, etc.) is open and free (no admission fee). When I spent a year in Cambridge, MA I was surprised that New England galleries, museums, etc. had admission fees, and not cheap either. And I guess that's the norm now, with public institutions being deprived of general revenue funds.
In DC the Mall stuff is still free, but parking is expensive (to me, but not like Manhattan!)
The good news .. before they raised the price, last summer we bought our senior (62+) lifetime national park passes which get you and a carful into any national park or fed recreational land for no fee. Best bargain ever, but I'm expecting Zinke to try to renege on that any day now!
I don't know about your beaches, but I think most of the exorbitant fees I encounter are really about the money and not about exclusivity. From the redwood stumps to the gulfstream slicks ...
Inquiring minds (after drinking the bong water) want to know:
What Will Scotty Do Now?
Geez...no more grifting, all those extra pairs of tactical pants in the dresser (ah...memories...*sob*), no more gigantic phalanx of heavily armed, humorless bodyguards, no more lower totem pole flunkies to mooch off of, no more heavily armored SUV's with the hotline to extraction industry execs and the bulletproof windows, and no more Cone of Silence! Life is at an end! And all because mean liberals said bad things to him.
What to do? A new cheap DC condo? Nope. He's no good to lobbyists anymore. Scratch that. Attorney General? Sessions is still there. Creep. Doesn't he know Scotty needs a new job? Back to Oklahoma to mooch off that state's taxpayers? Nah. How ya gonna keep him down on the farm after he's mooched in DC?
Hey, I know. Chik-Fil-A! Or maybe Hobby Lobby. One of those gay hating, women hating, religious nut-job operations. Can't you see Scotty driving around in a white delivery van with "Eat Mor Chikin" on the side? Maybe then he can hire the wife. How romantic. Nuzzling with the secret sauce.
I'll have a grilled chicky sandwich, Chikin Man! Hold the mayo.
Oh-oh...is that Fox calling? What? They need an expert on the global warming hoax? Saved!
Stupid or Wicked Stupid? You Make the Call.
Hey, have I missed it? The Second Civil War? I got up this morning and expected to see guys loading mini balls into muskets across the street and soldiers in blue and gray running into each other and blowing shit up.
Didn't see anything. Damn! I must have missed the whole dang thing.
Trump BFF and wicked smaht guy Alex Jones sed Civil War is Cuming. On the Fourth of July. Demycraps gonna be doin' it. (I guess they planned to do it when the Confederate brain trust was in Moscow celebrating Putin. Evil bastards!)
Now apparently, since it didn't, like, actually happen, he's telling any wingnut Trumpbot who will listen (if the drool doesn't get to be too much) that no one actually knows when the first Civil War started either, so there, smarties.
Um...correct me if I'm wrong....let me just check this Civil War history book I have right here....yup...okay....Yeah, here it is.
Fort Sumter. Says here that on Friday, April 12, 1861, at 4:30 a.m (gee, we even have it down to the minute) Confederate batteries opened fire on Fort Sumter and battered the shit out of the place for 34 hours. Civil War begins.
Well....maybe ol' Alex is thinking of some other Fort Sumter. Who knows?
Anyway, I'll be watching. If you see Ken Burns run through your yard with a camera, chasing guys in wool uniforms, let me know.
Glad Jones is Trump's history-stuff consultant. For a minute there, I thought we were in trouble.
Re Dartmouth - Laura Ingraham is also a Dartmouth grad (as was one of the most dickish members of my UVA law school class back in the day). I think being an asshole is an admission requirement.
Ak, did you catch the #secondcivilwarletters twitter that's been going the last couple of days? Funny stuff.
Congresswoman Grace Meng of NY has joined Rep. Sean Maloney in quest of getting members' office budgets permission to provide feminine hygiene products to staff and visitors. Currently NOT allowed! Monday I'm going to call Rep. Meng's office and see who else might just take this up. At any one time some % of women everywhere are in need indeed and this could provide just a little bit of humane and civilized environment to those who must work there. I wonder if the various interns and young staff have any interpersonal organizations? Organize, be persistent, find allies, and make some noise!
Fleeting Expletive,
No, I haven't seen those Civilly Warry missive-tweety things, but thanks for the heads-up. I'll check 'em out.
As for the quest to treat women as if they're something approximating a human, you can bet your bippy (as they used to say on Laugh-In) that were it an issue of men's hygiene products, they'd have grosses of whatever was required available to all visiting male oligarchs, lobbyists, donors, grifters, crooks, con artists, and congressional cardsharps.
In the capitalism is awesome (and the what else is new?) dept:
https://nypost.com/2018/07/06/oxycontin-maker-placed-profits-over-people-lawsuit-reveals
Took years, but the sealed lawsuit finally sees the light day so all can see the noisome Purdue sewer rats scurrying in their pursuit of profit at any cost..
@Fleeting Expletive, if I'm not mistaken all of the "Men's" rooms are equipped with dispensers for free condoms.
Is the Soros foundation complex behind the emergence of these allegations against Jordan who is outstanding as a honorable and determined searcher for truth in his efforts as a committee member dealing with the greatest corruption scandals in my life time unfolding and which have negative implications for the billionaires on that spectrum of political power. Yes money is likely the key to these allegations and the allegers should be questioned under oath after first taking lie detector tests required of all five. Psychopaths can pass pie detectors but it is unlikely all five will be psychopaths.
Unfortunately if billionaires are behind his they are not likely to permit anyone to reveal it.