;)
The Commentariat -- June 12, 2019
Afternoon Update:
"What is Being Hidden?" Charlie Savage & Julie Davis of the New York Times: "President Trump invoked executive privilege to block access by Congress to documents about how a citizenship question was added to the 2020 census ahead of a House committee vote to recommend that two cabinet secretaries be held in contempt of Congress over the matter. In a letter to the chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, Representative Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland, the Justice Department said that Mr. Trump had decided to invoke his secrecy powers to provide a lawful basis to defy the panel's subpoena for the census-related materials. In response, Mr. Cummings put off until later on Wednesday a vote whether to recommend that the House hold Attorney General William P. Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur L. Ross Jr. in contempt. Mr. Cummings called the move 'another example of the administration's blanket defiance of Congress' constitutionally mandated responsibilities,' adding that it raised a question: 'What is being hidden?'” ...
... What Is Being Hidden Is Racism, Election-Rigging & Blue-State Discrimination. Rafi Schwartz of Splinter: "As part of a federal lawsuit against the citizenship question's inclusion, lawyers for the ACLU provided documents from the late former Republican National Committee redistricting chairman-turned gerrymandering consultant Dr. Thomas Hofeller, which showed the clearest look to date at the GOP's racist effort to use the Census to skew elections to their advantage.... [Hofeller] concluded that the effect of a citizenship question on reworking election district maps would be 'advantageous to Republicans and non-Hispanic whites.' Subsequently, parts of Hofeller's documents were reportedly included 'word-for-word' in a Department of Justice letter to the Census Bureau over including a citizenship question the census." Mrs. McC: It's kinda quaint that the administration wants to hide their racist election-rigging, isn't it?
Mexico Ignores Trump, Goes to Jared. Erin Banco & Asawin Suebsaeng of the Daily Beast: "It was Friday night last week and top officials in Mexico, including those in the president and foreign minister's offices, were alerted by their aides that Donald Trump had tweeted, again.... Most times they ignored the missives, believing that Trump's public statements were often divorced from the reality of the negotiations, according to individuals with direct knowledge of that strategy. Instead, they relied on what Mexican officials viewed as a better source of information from inside the Trump administration: Jared Kushner.... Tapping on Kushner for clarity has become a semi-official policy in the top ranks of the offices of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard...." ...
Stephen Colbert reveals what that U.S.-Mexico agreement really says:
Emoluments Galore! Shelby Hanssen & Ken Dilanian of NBC News: "Representatives of at least 22 foreign governments appear to have spent money at Trump Organization properties, an NBC News review has found, hinting at a significant foreign cash flow to the American president that critics say violates the U.S. Constitution. The extent and amount of foreign spending at Trump's hotels, golf clubs and restaurants is not known, because the Trump Organization is a private company and declines to disclose that information. Trump promised to donate any profits from foreign governments, and the Trump Organization has sent $343,000 to the U.S. Treasury for 2017 and 2018. The company did not release underlying numbers to support that figure.... Donald Trump is the first president in modern history to retain ownership of a business empire while in office. He says the company is being run by his sons, but he continues to derive income from the various businesses...."
Tierney Sneed & Matt Shuham of TPM: "Former National Security Advisor Mike Flynn has hired attorney Sydney Powell to replace his legal team. Powell bashed Mueller's tactics in commentary before she was hired by Flynn, suggesting Flynn might be doubling down on a strategy to cast doubt on his guilty plea even as he continues to cooperate with prosecutors.... Legal experts have said it would be 'suicidal' for Flynn to escalate any attacks on the FBI while he awaits his sentence. Yet he has hired a lawyer who has done just that, in punditry on Twitter and on television.... Her commentary has focused specifically on Flynn's case and claims that he did not commit the crimes he pleaded guilty to."
Congressional Races 2020. Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "Donald Trump and his top allies are moving to make Justin Amash pay for becoming the sole Republican congressman to call for the president's impeachment. Trump and his top advisers have discussed the prospect of backing a primary challenge to the Michigan lawmaker -- a highly unusual move for a president against a member of his own party that would effectively amount to a warning shot to other Republicans thinking of crossing him.... Amash is not the only sitting Republican incumbent that the Trump team has its eye on. Trump advisers are growing increasingly annoyed by Texas Rep. Will Hurd, a frequent critic of the president's immigration policies. Last week, Trump's reelection campaign took the rare step of sending a tweet taking the swing-district congressman to task over one of his cable news appearances. The president also met recently with Rep. Mark Walker, a North Carolina Republican who is weighing a primary challenge to Sen. Thom Tillis. Last year, Tillis co-sponsored legislation to protect then-special counsel Robert Mueller, and he initially opposed the president's emergency declaration to build a border wall before ultimately voting for it."
Driving While Black Is a Moving Violation in Missouri. Michelle Lou of CNN: "Black drivers are 91% more likely than whites to be pulled over by police, a report from the Missouri Attorney General has found."
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Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "The Democrat-led House voted on Tuesday to authorize the Judiciary Committee to go to court to enforce two subpoenas related to Robert S. Mueller III's investigative findings and to empower other panels to move more quickly to court in future disputes. The resolution, which passed along party lines, 229 to 191, grants the Judiciary Committee the power to petition a federal judge to force Attorney General William P. Barr and the former White House counsel Donald F. McGahn II to comply with congressional subpoenas that they have either completely or partly defied. But it stops short of holding either witness in contempt of Congress, as lawmakers had initially threatened to do, forgoing for now a formal accusation of a crime. The decision appears to be based, at least in part, on new signs of cooperation from the Justice Department, which on Monday agreed to begin sharing key evidence collected in Mr. Mueller's obstruction of justice investigation." The resolution is here. ...
... Betsy Woodruff of the Daily Beast: "... House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) announced on Monday that he had reached an agreement with the Justice Department to view some of the underlying evidence behind Special Counsel's Robert Mueller's report.... But Nadler may get less than expected. That's because the Trump White House will work with the Justice Department to decide what exactly the committee gets to see, two senior administration officials told The Daily Beast. And, so far, the White House has not waived executive privilege regarding any of Mueller's materials, the two officials said. Neither official would discuss if the White House plans to use executive privilege to limit Nadler's access to documents.... The deal reached on Monday still gives Congress expanded access to Mueller's work. All the members of the House Judiciary Committee, as well as some committee staff, will be able to read some evidence at Justice Department headquarters in downtown D.C. They will be able to take notes on what they read, and they will be able to take those notes with them when they leave the building."
Encore! Pamela Brown, et al., of CNN: "Donald Trump Jr. is returning to the Senate Intelligence Committee to be interviewed behind closed doors on Wednesday, according to a source familiar with the matter. The appearance of the President's eldest son Wednesday comes after a lengthy and contentious fight that spilled into public view after the committee issued a subpoena to Trump Jr. and he initially balked at testifying for a second time. Trump Jr.'s allies mounted an aggressive campaign targeting Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr for the subpoena, accusing the North Carolina Republican of helping the Democrats by continuing his committee's investigation even after special counsel Robert Mueller had wrapped up his probe. Many of those criticizing Burr included his own Senate Republican colleagues. But Burr did not back down from the subpoena, and the committee and Trump Jr. struck a deal for him to testify for two-to-four hours on roughly a half dozen topics, including the key questions the committee has for the President's eldest son about the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting and the Trump Tower Moscow project."
Mitch Says "Meh." Jonathan Chait: "There ... are a lot of bills to safeguard the 2020 elections from the next Russian attack. Mitch McConnell is blocking all of them.... There's a Democratic bill to provide election funding to state and local governments. There's a bipartisan Senate bill to 'codify cyberinformation-sharing initiatives between federal intelligence services and state election officials, speed up the granting of security clearances to state officials, and provide federal incentives for states to adopt paper ballots.' The threat from Russian election interference is actually quite severe.... The reason the government isn't doing more to protect our democracy from the next attack is that the people who cooperated with the last attack don't want to." ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: No less serious a person that former CIA Director John Brennan speculated on MSNBC Tuesday that Trump well may be looking forward to more help from Russians & other foreign operatives in the 2020 election. Mitch, BTW, is up for re-election this cycle, too. ...
... AND digby reminds us, via Newsweek: "'Rusal, the aluminum company partially owned by Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, announced plans to invest around $200 million to build a new aluminum plant in Kentucky just months after the Trump administration removed it from the U.S. sanctions list. The new aluminum plant, slated to be built in the home state of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, will be the biggest new aluminum plant constructed in the U.S. in decades.' Deripaska was the Russian oligarch to whom Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, allegedly owed 20 million dollars. He's also the Russian suspected of receiving that polling information from Manafort for reasons about which we can only speculate. He's reportedly very close to Vladimir Putin. Maybe McConnell is obstructing all that election protection legislation for reasons beyond protecting Donald Trump." ...
... Nancy LeTourneau of the Washington Monthly: "It is helpful to remember that McConnell took on forces within his own party to fight for the right of the wealthy to utilize massive amounts of dark money to undermine our democratic processes. He is also the one who mocked attempts to reform our electoral system as nothing more than a 'power grab' by Democrats. When it comes to Russia's attempt to interfere, it was McConnell who refused to cooperate with the Obama administration in making a bipartisan statement about the need to protect our voting systems in the lead-up to the 2016 election.... It has been clear for a while now that McConnell's partisan interests don't align with our democratic processes.... When it comes to elections, the strategy adopted by Republican leadership has been fourfold: (1) suppress the Democratic vote, (2) gerrymander districts to favor the GOP, (3) infuse our politics with the influence of dark money, and (4) allow foreign (and perhaps domestic) interference." ...
... ** Susan Halpern of the New Yorker: Mitch "McConnell has made 2020 open season for hackers aiming to undermine our election system. The [U.S. Election Assistance Commission (E.A.C.)] has made this easier, by displaying not only intransigence and institutional weaknesses but also a willful disregard of the threats facing our elections.... The E.A.C. is a small, relatively obscure agency, established by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (H.A.V.A.), an election-modernization bill that was passed in response to the disastrous failure of voting equipment during the 2000 Presidential election.... Inadvertently, perhaps, H.A.V.A. made the E.A.C. the closest thing this country has to a national election authority.... Lawrence Norden [of] ... the Brennan Center for Justice, testified in Congress recently, 'There are more federal regulations for ballpoint pens and magic markers than there are for voting systems and other parts of our federal election infrastructure.' The E.A.C. can suggest best practices, but election officials are free to ignore them. It can certify election machines, but election officials are not obligated to use them." Read on. The Republicans on the EAC are corrupt hacks & advocates for voter suppression; the agency's director is a protégé of Kris Kobach. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Remember Hillary Clinton's "vast right-wing conspiracy"? Well, the conspirators have specialties, and one of those specialties is to undermine democracy right where it begins -- at the ballot box. And "vast"? You betcha: from the POTUS* to justices & judges, to federal & state legislators, to federal agencies, to state attorneys general & governors (think Brian Kemp of Georgia, Greg Abbott of Texas & Kobach), to well-funded voter suppression advocacy groups like ALEC & True the Vote, to local election officials, right down to the day workers at local precincts.
Nah-Nee-Nah-Nee-Nah-Nee. Aaron Rupar of Vox: "... Donald Trump is going to increasingly odd lengths to sell people on the idea that his immigration agreement with Mexico isn't the nothingburger it appears to be. While answering questions from reporters outside the White House on Tuesday afternoon, Trump pulled a sheet of paper from his pocket and brandished it but refused to show it to reporters. 'That's the agreement that everybody says I don't have,' Trump said, waving the sheet of paper. 'Here's the agreement -- it's a very simple agreement.'... Pressed later to detail the contents of the agreement, Trump again refused to do so, but pounded the piece of paper in his jacket's chest pocket and said, 'I don't want to say, but you can just figure it out yourself -- right here ... right here is the story.'... After the event ended and the president boarded Marine One en route to Iowa, Washington Post photographer Jabin Botsford tweeted an enhanced photo of the sheet of paper Trump brandished.... The paper appeared to contain text about 'burden-sharing in relation to the processing of refugees,' and a paragraph in which the Mexican government made a vague promise 'to take all necessary steps under domestic law to bring the agreement into force'...." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I do not know what every U.S. president did every day of his presidency. I do feel certain that none of them ever pulled a childish stunt like this. True, it's a form of bullying, which is signature Trump, but this is so infantile, we have to think he's regressing. ...
... The Outlaw Donnie Trump. (Bear with me on this.) Pia Deshpande of Politico: "... Donald Trump talked up his relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday, saying he had received a 'beautiful letter' from Kim, shortly after 2020 hopeful Pete Buttigieg slammed the president for 'exchanging love letters with a brutal dictator.'... Like the supposed one-page Mexico deal Trump teased reporters with moments earlier, the president quipped: 'I can't show you the letter, obviously.'" ...
... Scott Neuman of NPR: "Kim Jong Nam, the half-brother of the North Korean leader who was killed in a nerve-agent attack allegedly ordered by the North Korean government, had been working with the CIA prior to his death, according to The Wall Street Journal and a new book by a Washington Post reporter. The Journal, in a story published Monday, cites 'a person knowledgeable about the matter' as saying that Kim Jong Nam, who was living in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory of Macau in the years before his death, had 'met on several occasions with [CIA] operatives.' Washington Post correspondent Anna Fifield, in a book published Tuesday, makes a similar assertion, citing 'someone with knowledge of the intelligence who spoke on condition of anonymity.'" ...
... ** "Trump Sides With North Korea Against the CIA." David Graham of the Atlantic: "Trump was asked about the revelation as he left the White House for a trip to Iowa, and his answer was jarring. 'I see that, and I just received a beautiful letter from Kim Jong Un,' Trump said. '... I saw the information about the CIA with regard to his brother or half brother, and I would tell him that would not happen under my auspices. I wouldn't let that happen under my auspices...'.... Trump gave no sign of having been aware of the story prior to the Journal report. He did not, however, dispute its accuracy.... By saying he wouldn't allow American intelligence to cultivate an asset so close to Kim, he';s saying he wouldn't use spying to better understand the country's biggest overseas challenge.... Trump is sending a clear message to any would-be informants: The United States doesn't have your back. Why would any other North Korean take the risk of ending up like Kim Jong Nam?... When an alleged American informant is killed, his response is not to warn North Korea not to act that way again, but to rush to assure North Korea that he won't let such spying happen again." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: It would be somewhat comforting to believe Trump sided with Kim because he's far more clueless buffoon than traitor. But the truth is that Trump is attracted to brutal dictators & he distrusts U.S. intelligence agencies, largely because some agencies have the power & all have the ability to discover some of the illegal and embarrassing things Trump does here & around the world. Trump has been an outlaw all his life, and that's the way he operates today.
Carol Lee, et al., of NBC News: "... Donald Trump appears to be having second thoughts about his choice of Patrick Shanahan as his next secretary of defense and asked several confidants in France last week about alternative candidates, according to four people familiar with the conversations. The White House announced May 9 that Trump had decided to nominate Shanahan, who has served as acting defense secretary since January. But the White House has yet to formally submit Shanahan's nomination to the Senate.... Asked by NBC News on Tuesday about Shanahan's nomination, Trump said he 'put it out officially' weeks ago and now the acting secretary 'has to go through the process.'" Mrs. McC: Trump is nothing but a "mean girl," one of those junior-high-school brats who get a kick out of humiliating other kids.
Scott Bixby of the Daily Beast: "Former Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli's long-rumored role as a top coordinator of the Department of Homeland Security immigration policy finally has an official title. According to an email sent to staff at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on Monday, the longtime border hawk has been named acting director of the agency.... While his support for ... Donald Trump may be relatively newfound, his championing of hardline Trump-style immigration policies is more than a decade in the making." Bixby does a good job of reminding us what a complete ass Little Kenny is. Mrs. McC: One big reason Kenny is "acting": the Senate probably wouldn't confirm him. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Rachel Frazin of the Hill: "An activist group is hoping to protest President Trump's planned Lincoln Memorial 4th of July address with an orange, yellow haired 'Baby Trump' blimp that also appeared during his visits to the U.K. Feminist anti-war group Code Pink announced in a statement last week it planned to protest the president's speech. 'The president is shifting the 4th of July festivities to celebrate his administration,' said Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin in the statement. 'We will bring together people opposed to the pain and suffering caused by this administration, from family separation at the border to supplying weapons used by Saudi Arabia to kill Yemeni children.'... According to The Washington Post, Code Pink requested a protest permit on Monday."
Nice Optics. W. J. Hennigan of Time: "The Trump Administration has opted to use an Army base in Oklahoma to hold growing numbers of immigrant children in its custody after running out of room at government shelters. Fort Sill, an 150-year-old installation once used as an internment camp for Japanese-Americans during World War II, has been selected to detain 1,400 children until they can be given to an adult relative, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services." ...
... Even Worse. Robert Moore of the Texas Monthly: U.S. "Immigration officials have resumed the much-criticized practice of keeping people outdoors for weeks [at the U.S.-Mexico border] to relieve dangerous overcrowding.... New Mexico State University professor Neal Rosendorf [discovered] ... migrants who said they'd been held outdoors for weeks as temperatures rose to nearly 100 degrees [near the El Paso-Juarez bridge]. Rosendorf described it as 'a human dog pound' -- one hundred to 150 men behind a chain-link fence, huddled beneath makeshift shelters made from mylar blankets and whatever other scraps they could find to shield themselves from the heat of the sun.... 'They told me they've been incarcerated outside for a month, that they haven't washed or been able to change the clothes they were detained in the entire time, and that they're being poorly fed and treated in general.' U.S. Customs and Border Protection took eight days to respond to Texas Monthly's questions about Rosendorf's discovery. In a statement this week, a CBP official acknowledged that the agency was detaining migrants outdoors for extended periods."
Salvador Hernandez of BuzzFeed News: "The viral crowdfunding effort to build a wall on the southern border aimed at deterring immigrants from crossing illegally was only recently completed, but on Monday the newly installed wall suffered a major setback -- a large gate built into the barrier was ordered opened by officials. The controversial half-mile wall constructed along the US-Mexico border near Sunland Park, New Mexico, was erected earlier this month after organizers raised more than $23 million on GoFundMe, the online crowdfunding site. But We Build the Wall organizers failed to obtain the required authorization to build the barrier on federal land, cutting off access to waterways and a public monument.... On Tuesday evening, after publication of this story, [the International Boundary and Water Commission] announced the gate would be locked at night 'due to security concerns.' The agency said in a statement that it 'is continuing to work with We Build The Wall regarding its permit request.'" The group initially told the agency the wall would be built on private land.
And Mitch Says 'Meh." Again. Brandon Carter of NPR: "Comedian Jon Stewart slammed representatives on Tuesday at a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on funding for the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, saying it was 'shameful' that more of them did not attend. 'As I sit here today, I can't help but think what an incredible metaphor this room is for the entire process that getting health care and benefits for 9/11 first responders has come to,' Stewart said in his statement. 'Behind me, a filled room of 9/11 first responders; and in front of me, a nearly empty Congress.' Rep. Steve Cohen noted that the hearing was held before the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties and not the full committee. 'All these empty chairs, that's because it's for the full committee. It's not because of disrespect or lack of attention to you,' the Tennessee Democrat said.... The fund has faced recent financial problems, including a spike in the number of claims ahead of its December 2020 expiration date.... Local, state and federal officials have rallied around the Never Forget the Heroes Act, which would provide funding for the victim fund through fiscal year 2090. The bill was introduced by Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., in October 2018, and reintroduced this year, but has since languished in the House. When asked about the legislation, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY., sidestepped the issue, saying he would have to look at the bill."
Jeff Zeleny of CNN: "Rep. Steve King, the Iowa Republican who was stripped of his congressional committee assignments earlier this year, was not allowed to fly aboard Air Force One on Tuesday as ... Donald Trump traveled to Iowa, two GOP officials say. King, who represents the state's 4th District in Western Iowa, asked the White House to join the President's entourage, but administration officials rejected the request, two officials familiar with the matter told CNN. Republican Sens. Joni Ernst of Iowa and Deb Fischer of Nebraska joined Trump aboard Air Force One." Mrs. McC: So the country's No. 1 White Nationalist doesn't want to be seen with a lesser white nationalist, or what?
The Party of Corruption. Alex Shephard of the New Republic: "A strange thing has happened over the past month or so: Senate Republicans have begun to stand up to President Trump. Haltingly, tentatively, perhaps, but on things that matter, a bit of spine has been sighted.... This growing willingness to undercut the president's policy and personnel decisions has, however, coincided with Republicans growing ever more defensive of Trump, himself.... [This dualism] points to a party increasingly bound together by an embrace of a corrupt and plutocratic approach to governance.... While there might be growing disagreements on free trade and tariffs, [Republican] leaders are in lockstep on the idea that it is completely acceptable to use the government for corrupt ends.... It's been repeated again and again during the administration, with both relative newcomers to government and veterans like [Transportation Secretary Elaine] Chao [who has set up an apparatus to steer projects to her husband Mitch McConnell's state] using their offices to benefit themselves and their families." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Presidential Race 2020
Katie Glueck & Annie Karni of the New York Times: "President Trump and former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. both traveled to the key early voting state of Iowa on Tuesday, trading attacks in sharply personal terms.... Mr. Biden, who leads in early polls for the Democratic presidential nomination, described Mr. Trump as 'an existential threat' who could fundamentally change the nature of the country and its values, and who is already jeopardizing America's standing around the world, remarks that came during an afternoon appearance at an events center here. Mr. Trump, as he departed the Oval Office, told reporters that he though Mr. Biden was 'a loser' and questioned his mental fitness. 'I'd rather run against, I think, Biden than anybody,' he said. 'I think he's the weakest mentally, and I like running against people that are weak mentally. I think Joe is the weakest up here. The other ones have much more energy." Mrs. McC: Do take note of the difference in the caliber & veracity of the candidates' "personal attacks."
John Harwood of CNBC: "It may be time for Wall Street to recalibrate expectations about the 2020 election. In a survey of institutional investors this spring, more than 70% told RBC Capital Markets they expect ... Donald Trump to win a second term in 2020. But a new national poll of voters Tuesday points toward a different outcome. The Quinnipiac University poll showed the top Democratic candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden, leading Trump by a double-digit margin in a potential 2020 matchup. But it also found that five other Democratic contenders -- every one the poll pitted against Trump -- leading the president as well."
Josh Kraushaar of the National Journal: "Trump is in the weakest political shape of any sitting president since George H.W Bush. Despite a historically strong economy, his job approval ratings are still badly underwater. He's never hit 50 percent job approval in any reputable national poll throughout his presidency. At least 40 percent of voters are fired up to vote against him, no matter what happens in the next year. He's already lost ground with the working-class voters that defected from the Democrats to support him in 2016, with his favorability rating dropping 19 points among that critical Obama-Trump constituency in the last two years. The latest wave of polling is even more alarming for Trump.... Trump's clearest path to victory relies on Democrats making a series of self-destructive decisions. But even if Democrats turn leftward and nominate a weak challenger, they'd still have a credible chance at unseating Trump." Mrs. McC: The link may or may not work for you. I got a notice that I could read NJ articles until June 18. BTW, I've glanced at quite a few articles arguing Trump is a near shoo-in.
Brian Beutler of Crooked: "Ever since it became clear Joe Biden would seek the Democratic presidential nomination, politically active liberals have been engaged in internal dialogue over why he routinely asserts such a generous view of the very same Republicans who goosed birthers, sabotaged the Obama administration, abetted a foreign attack on the last presidential election, stole a Supreme Court seat, and have participated in a spree of political corruption, crime, institutional vandalism, and deceit over the last two and a half years.... [Biden's approach is] a recipe for failure.... The good news is candidates can help voters understand what lies ahead for the next Democratic government now, so that the GOP's nihilism is on the ballot, and everyone knows what to expect and fight for in 2021. The alternative is a campaign of false hope far more unrealistic than Medicare for All or a Green New Deal...."
Scott Detrow & Clay Masters of NPR: "California Sen. Kamala Harris says that if she's elected president, her administration's Department of Justice would likely pursue criminal obstruction of justice charges against ... Donald Trump.... 'I do believe that we should believe Bob Mueller when he tells us essentially that the only reason an indictment was not returned is because of a memo in the Department of Justice that suggests you cannot indict a sitting president. But I've seen prosecution of cases on much less evidence.'"
Thomas Edsall of the New York Times on meritocracy & how our society determines who makes the cuts. This is another "on-the-one-hand/on-the-other-hand" Edsall columns, but therein lies plenty of food for thought.
Beyond the Beltway
Arizona. Astrid Galvan of the AP: "A U.S. jury could not reach a verdict Tuesday against a border activist charged with conspiracy to transport and harbor migrants in a trial that humanitarian aid groups said would have wide implications on their work. Defense attorneys argued that Scott Daniel Warren, a 36-year-old college geography instructor, was simply being kind by providing two migrants with water, food and lodging when he was arrested in early 2018. He faced up to 20 years in prison. But prosecutors maintained the men were not in distress and Warren conspired to transport and harbor them at a property used for providing aid to migrants in an Arizona town near the U.S.-Mexico border.... Glenn McCormick, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Arizona, declined to comment on whether Warren will face another trial. The judge set a July 2 status hearing for the defense and prosecution."
Virginia Election Results. Alan Suderman of the AP: "Virginia's closely watched off-year primary contest produced plenty of surprises Tuesday, but little in the way of a coherent message. The top Democrat in the state Senate narrowly won his primary despite heavily outspending a progressive challenger, and another incumbent lost her seat to a former Virginia lawmaker who used to spend his days at the state Capitol and his nights in jail after being accused of having sex with his teenage secretary. Conservative challengers upset with Republican incumbents who backed Medicaid expansion had mixed results. One delegate in a key swing district lost to a more conservative challenger, while a moderate senator easily cruised to victory.... [Democrats] lost a major advantage earlier this year when its top three statewide office holders became ensnared in scandal.... Adding a significant new headache for Democrats was Joe Morrissey's victory over incumbent Sen. Rosalyn Dance in a Richmond-area senate district. Morrissey was jailed four years ago after a sex scandal involving a teenager, who Morrissey later married. He denied wrongdoing but entered an Alford plea to a misdemeanor, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, acknowledging that prosecutors had enough evidence for a conviction." Mrs. McC: Morrisey, who is 61 (not a typo), later married the teenager with whom he was having an affair.
Wisconsin. Patrick Marley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "The state Supreme Court late Tuesday reinstated most of the lame-duck laws Republican lawmakers approved in December to trim the powers of the state's top Democrats. With a pair of 4-3 orders, the high court canceled a trial that was to commence Wednesday and put back in place almost all the lame-duck laws while it considers an appeal. Under one of the most significant aspects of the rulings, Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul -- at least for the time being -- will have to get the approval of a committee of lawmakers before settling lawsuits. Under another, the Evers administration will have to take public comments for weeks before publishing certain documents. The status of the laws could change in the months ahead because the Supreme Court has to make more rulings in the case, as well as another one. A federal judge is overseeing another challenge to the lame-duck laws that is in its early stages. After Tuesday's rulings, just two provisions of the lame-duck laws have been kept from going into effect. One would have limited early voting; the other would have required a public commenting period for older government documents."
Way Beyond
Israel. David Halbfinger of the New York Times: "Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, accepted a plea bargain on Wednesday morning and will pay about $15,000 in fines and restitution to settle accusations that she misused about $100,000 in public funds in managing the couple's official residence. Prosecutors said that Ms. Netanyahu, whom they charged with fraud, had concealed that a cook was on the payroll so that she could order hundreds of catered meals from expensive restaurants and charge them to the state. Under the deal with the State Attorney's Office the amount of public money at issue was halved to about $50,000, and Ms. Netanyahu agreed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of trickery.... She is due to pay about $2,800 in fines and $12,500 in restitution.... Prosecutors accused her of 'exploiting her status as the wife of the prime minister' and colluding with a top aide in a 'planned, ongoing and systematic' scheme to break government rules and conceal it from state accountants.... Mr. Netanyahu faces a far more serious criminal prosecution of his own, on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust over his ties to wealthy businessmen, and accusations that he traded official favors for gifts and positive news coverage. He is widely expected to be indicted subject to a hearing now set for Oct. 2...." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: No wonder the U.S. has such a strong bond with Israel; both countries are run (more or less) not just by right-wing grifters but by families of grifters. Tho sorry, Israel, our grifters are bigger than their grifters.
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Reader Comments (14)
Regarding the Victim’s Compensation Fund bill, I’m wondering why Donaldo hasn’t tried to scarf a few mill off that fund because it could have taken him extra time to travel downtown to some lower Manhattan brothel thereby making him a “victim”. After all, he sleazed money made available for buildings damaged or destroyed during the attack on 9/11 for a building he owned that didn’t have so much as a broken window.
More to the point, it’s clear that Republicans use disasters like 9/11 to build political capital and bolster their faux position as Protectors of ‘Merica. Like Trump, they really don’t give a shit if people die for what they pretend to believe in, as he did during the Vietnam War. They care that they can use those events for their benefit.
I’m 100% sure that faux patriots in the GOP had themselves a good snicker at Jon Stewart’s legitimate consternation over their apathy towards first responders at the World Trade Center. “Doesn’t this idiot realize that stuff like 9/11 is only useful for us as long as it promotes our ideological goals? First responders? Fuck them. They were stupid. We’d never have run toward a burning building.”
@Akhilleus: It's ridiculous that 9/11 victim-heroes have to go to Capitol Hill to lobby for funding. This is a bill that shouldn't even be on our radar because passage should be as pro forma as naming a post office. Yet it is reportedly "languishing in the House" & Mitch hasn't given it so much as a passing thought.
trump whines about google and Facebook being against him. Welcome to the world, dude. When I watched Jon Stewart on the CNN YouTube clip, there was an ad asking me to join the fight to end discrimination against believers in American Exceptionalism, put up by some RWNJ group.
I don’t see why they attached the label “comedian” to Stewart. He was speaking as a real Real American.
I listened to an interview yesterday with Anna Fifield who has just came out with a book on Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s brutal dictator and Trump’s current love interest.
Far from being a nutcase, she paints a picture of Kim as a bright, cold-blooded killer whose two biggest goals in life, maintaining a death grip on power, and gaining legitimacy as a great leader, have both been guaranteed by the witless Trump. Kim’s people, after looking carefully at Trump’s history and background, realized that all one needed to do to get the upper hand on him was to flatter his fat ass. But interestingly, little donnie ended up more flatterer than flattered.
Without doing much more than showing up, Kim manipulated Trump into providing immeasurable help in achieving his goals. Being seen as an equal to the American president (something neither his father or grandfather achieved) has given Kim immense standing at home with both the NK oligarchs and the generals, the only groups he needs to care about.
The other thing that has provided him with serious street cred, with all the various groups in that country, is North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. He will never give it up, something fathead donnie would recognize if he ever bothered to do a little homework.
But no. Trump consults no one but himself, and Fox idiots who know less than he does, which is truly frightening.
As with the Mexicans, all Kim has needed to do is to provide meaningless blather to a blithering idiot in order to get him to go away. Once again, the world watches a sad, not very smart amateur get played, then beat his chest like King Kong, who has just been given a great big banana. In actuality, he didn’t even get that much. He got the peel. Then fell on his face.
Embarrassing doesn’t come close. He’s a dim child wandering among cold killers who treat him like a pet. Throw him a bone now and then and he’ll lick his balls and take a nap.
Way too much winning.
“Come out”, not “came out”. Late night, tiny keyboard, fat fingers.
@Nisky Guy wrote, "I don’t see why they attached the label 'comedian' to Stewart. He was speaking as a real Real American."
Yeah, that bothered me, too. I thought about editing out "comedian" in the same way I always edit out "President" when it precedes "Donald Trump." But then I decided that was too kindly to the NPR reporter & his editor; might as well expose their inappropriate means of IDing Stewart.
DITCH MITCH:
If you happen to travel to Louisville, Ky a large billboard will be in your sight as you turn off the ramp and enter the city. Click on the link to view its splendor: The Turtle's puss plastered over the words, "Ditch Mitch" put up by the group "Invisible Kentucky" and they plan to put another billboard up in another strategic place. As much as I yearn––and boy do I yearn!–-to get rid of Fatty I want this Mitch bitch to get eaten by wolves and ousted in the Senate. He is much more detrimental to our government because he holds the keys and so far he has failed to open the doors to any meaningful legislation so no matter what the House passes it dies in the Senate AND he continues to shine the shoes of the idiot King.
Mitch is a little man whose life-long dream was to become Leader of the Senate––the power that this position gives him has formed him; without it he loses everything, therefore he will fight to the death to keep it and it looks like his wife is helping him do just that.
https://www.wdrb.com/news/louisville-billboard-urges-voters-to-ditch-mitch/article_5a4d0278-923c-5f82-ba90-7c6e426969a3.html?utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR2mT9kG1vr70ynrTAm6BTVsYDY0me9qNqDnoEgjRJn0vQs0SeBCBAnSOnk
Last night Frontline featured Kentucky's fuck-up on their pension funding and it looks like other states might be in the same pickle.
I've learned that the countries these immigrants are fleeing from are not so much about mob murders as they are about drought and poverty therefore Trump cutting off funding is perpetuating the need for the people to leave and come here. DUH!
I have loved Jon Stewart ever since he started on "The Daily Show" but yesterday watching him berate a moribund congress loved him even more and shed a few tears.
Today's LTTE:
Last month, after walking out of a scheduled infrastructure meeting with Democrats, Trump hurried to blame Democrats for his snit, tweeting "Zero is getting done with the Democrats in charge of the House" and that "it is not possible for (Congress) to investigate and legislate at the same time.”
What was that display of un-presidential pique all about?
It certainly wasn’t about the Democratic House. Since January, that House has been legislating like mad. While it is fulfilling its Constitutional responsibility by conducting investigations into this president and his administration, it has also passed more than 235 pieces of legislation, including bills addressing government’s ethical shortcomings, campaign finance reform, bills that would shore up the ACA and lower prescription drug prices, and legislation to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation, create universal background checks for gun purchases, keep the US in the Paris climate agreement and provide Dreamers a path to citizenship.
Could it be that Mr. Trump was tweeting a little fake news of his own?
Or maybe the president doesn’t know it is the Republican Senate, not the House, that is sitting on its hands. House legislation on ethics, voting rights, healthcare and immigration hasn't been allowed a vote in the Senate. As many have said, the Mitch McConnell Senate is where legislation the public actually supports goes to die.
Or could Trump’s tantrum have been mere deflection? Despite the many “infrastructure weeks” declared by the White House, Trump and his party have produced no infrastructure plan Senate Republicans will support (washingtonpost.com). Every day, they show no more interest in fixing the nation’s deteriorating roads and bridges than they do in fair elections, voting rights or peoples’ health.
Again and again, instead of providing real solutions, Trump offers playground drama, while McConnell’s Senate does nothing at all.
Earlier this morning I posted the story about nuns being raped and forced to have abortions but I see it is not here. I either neglected to push the send button or one of those Catholic clerics fingered it void. The other day it was Bill Barr who tried to shut me down; today it's a randy priest.
This story is so fraught with irony and hypocrisy it almost shocks––these men in long robes used these women–-like slaves. "bless us father for we know not what we do." OH YEAH???? BASTARDS!
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/abused-nuns-reveal-stories-of-rape-forced-abortions
Idiots in Charge
Today on Digby's Hullabaloo site, there's a piece referring to an HBO drama about the Chernobyl meltdown and how the willful ignorance and coverups by Soviet apparatchiks brought unnecessary disaster upon thousands of citizens.
In this clip, a Soviet scientist implores an ignoramus political appointee (like the kind Trump loves) to distribute iodine pills to people living in and around the affected area after the Chernobyl meltdown to help protect them from the coming cancer. The official smiles and says "Nothing to worry about at Chernobyl". The scientist begs to differ, pointing out the extreme difference in their knowledge level.
"I'm a nuclear physicist. You used to work in a shoe factory"
"Yes" he says, "But now I'm in charge. I like my opinion better".
This is at least part of the Trump debacle in a nutshell. Political cronies who know nothing about the jobs they're tasked with, holding people's lives in their hands but making decisions based on what's best for themselves and for Trump, not the country. It's this way with education, climate change, healthcare, the military, foreign diplomacy, the economy, the Justice Department, trade, Energy, Interior...you name it.
There's not a qualified expert in the bunch, making decisions of great import for the nation's future and our current state. And those who are borderline qualified or could be seen as maybe a little bit qualified, if you squinted hard, at night, in a fog, are hopeless partisan hacks.
I'm a nuclear physicist. You made shoes.
But the shoe guy calls the shots during a nuclear meltdown.
Can you see Rick Perry managing a nuclear disaster? He'd have to get a new pair of glasses for his TV appearances, I guess. Can he even spell "nuclear"?
I was in the Soviet Union that year, just a couple of months after Chernobyl. There was no mention of it anywhere in any official reports that I could see. People on the street in Moscow had never heard of it. I couldn't tell if they had but were scared of speaking of it to an American, or if the coverup was so successful even people in the biggest city in the country really hadn't heard anything about what the whole rest of the world was talking about (at the time, if you recall, there were fears that a cloud of irradiated materials was floating toward Western Europe).
Things aren't quite so bad with climate change. At least Trump and his horde of scumbags can't completely put the clamps on everyone who wants to talk about it. But in some ways, what they're doing is worse, telling those stupid enough to believe them that climate change is no big deal, that it doesn't matter, and even if the climate was changing, there's nothing that can be done about it, so go shopping, watch Fox, vote Republican.
Trumpskyev would have fit in perfectly during Chernobyl. With one exception. He'd be wondering how he could make money off the misery of others. Something he's specialized in for years.
He's still at it.
@Akhilleus: Your remarks on Chernobyl remind me of this February 2005 ThinkProgress story:
"In 2003, Former Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge warned Americans they needed to stock up on duct tape and plastic sheeting if they wanted to stay safe from a terrorist attack. His advice incited panic and inspired a run on the items. Duct tape and sheeting flew off the shelves as Americans flocked to stores to stock up on as much as they could carry.
"Ridge resigned as Homeland Security Director last December. So what’s he up to today? It was announced today that Ridge is joining the board of directors of Home Depot … national distributor of duct tape and plastic sheeting."
Marie,
You just cannot make this shit up.
I guess Ridge just liked the "home" in his title. But isn't Homeland Depot Security Director Board Guy a mouthful?
I dunno 'bout youse guys, but I has my duct tape and plastic wrap ready to protect me and mine when those dirty mooslims show up with automatic weapons. Thanks, Tom. And enjoy the discounts on two by fours and post hole diggers.
Jesus, every single one of them is a grifting asshole.
Wingnut Constitution, Article 1: Where's mine?
Decency in the Age of Trump
Jurors in Arizona are not sure whether or not they should send someone to prison for twenty years for acting like a human being.
I suppose we should be grateful that a state that generates lawless, inhuman creeps like Joe Arpaio could find enough people to give thumbs down on finding someone guilty for being a good person.
Then again, half of them wanted to give it to him right in the neck.
The Weak Party and it's Sad, Weak "Leader"
It's way past parody that Prez Hummeda-hummeda-hummeda is referring to Joe Biden as "mentally weak", claiming that he loves to run against the mentally weak (is that like how he loves the poorly educated because the well educated would never vote for him?). And what does that say about him that he claims to love running against mentally handicapped individuals? Who would say such a thing?? In public, no less?
This is like Sarah Palin declaring that she'd put her reading habits and breadth of general knowledge up against any professional librarian in the New York Public Library system. (Or ANYone with a library card, for that matter.)
I'm not a historian of presidential administrations, but I can't think of any president of the last 100 years (or earlier) who is weaker, intellectually, than Trump. Or more emotionally unstable and psychologically disturbed. Plenty of prison inmates could take him to school. Plenty of fifth graders, for that matter. Oh, but not anyone in congress with an R after their name. They're all, by definition, mentally, morally, ethically, and historically weak.
Weak. As in feeble, languid, impuissant, torpid, scarily insubstantial, and not cut out for thinking past which oddly tiny hand to use to jerk off with while watching Hannity sing his praises. Off key.
I could go on, but the whole sorry megillah has become so byzantine, ludicrous, and lugubrious as to beggar the imagination of every serious thinker on the planet.