;)
Thursday
Jun142018
The Commentariat -- June 15, 2018
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort will await his trial for foreign lobbying crimes from jail. Two weeks after Robert Mueller's prosecutors dropped new accusations of witness tampering on him, a federal judge Friday revoked Manafort's current bail, which allowed him out on house arrest. Judge Amy Berman Jackson's order marks an end to months of attempts from Manafort to lighten his house arrest restrictions after he was charged and pleaded not guilty to foreign lobbying violations."
** Kathryn Watson of CBS News: "President Trump declared in a spur-of-the-moment interview with 'Fox and Friends' Friday morning that he wants people to sit at attention for him like they do for North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.... Kim stands accused of leading a murderous regime that starves its own people. But Mr. Trump has heaped praise on Kim since meeting with him in Singapore, saying repeatedly that the two have 'good chemistry.' 'Hey, he is the head of a country and I mean he is the strong head,' Mr. Trump told Fox News' Steve Doocy on the White House lawn Friday. 'Don't let anyone think anything different. He speaks and his people sit up at attention. I want my people to do the same.' Pressed by a reporter about those remarks moments later, Mr. Trump said he was 'kidding.' 'I'm kidding, you don't understand sarcasm,' the president said." Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. See his commentary below. ...
... Mrs. McC: I don't think Trump was kidding, & -- rather than insult a reporter, as Trump did -- I'm going to assume the reporter does understand sarcasm, AND s/he can tell when Trump isn't kidding. ...
... Peter Baker & Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "President Trump went on offense on Friday with a withering series of attacks on the F.B.I., congressional Democrats, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Canada's prime minister, football players, the media, the special counsel and other favorite targets even as he hailed his relations with the leaders of North Korea, China and Russia. After a couple of days out of sight following his trip to Singapore to meet with North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un, Mr. Trump delivered a blizzard of pointed messages on Twitter, gave an interview to his preferred Fox News show and then engaged in a typically freewheeling encounter with reporters on the White House driveway.... The ]Justice Department IG's] report, he said, exposed what he called 'the scum on top' of the F.B.I. as 'total thieves,' and he insisted that Peter Strzok, a senior F.B.I. agent who had spoken privately against him, should be fired. 'They were plotting against my election,' he said. When it was pointed out that the report actually found that no decisions were made out of political bias, he dismissed the conclusion.... [In his Fox News interview, he said,] 'If you read the I.G. report, I've been totally exonerated.' But the report dealt only with the handling of the investigation into Mrs. Clinton and did not address allegations against Mr. Trump and his campaign related to contacts with Russia during the election and possible obstruction of justice after he took office." Read on, if you haven't had lunch.
Jill Abramson of the Guardian: "Reading ... the IG report and the lawsuit [against the Trump Foundation, et al.,], fills any sane person with the deepest regret that Donald Trump is president. This is a tragedy that could have been prevented, according to my reading of the Justice Department's report. And anyone needing more evidence that Trump lacks the moral or ethical moorings to be president need only peruse the New York lawsuit eviscerating the Trump Foundation. Despite his sanctimony, his best-selling book and his claims to martyrdom after Trump fired him, ames Comey is a singular villain. Though the IG report states that he had no political motive in doing so, he upended the 2016 election and all but destroyed Clinton's candidacy.... The inescapable conclusion of the report is that the FBI under Comey was a ship of fools."
Don Lee & Jonathan Kaiman of the Los Angeles Times: "China on Wednesday matched dollar for dollar the Trump administration's plan to slap tariffs on $50 billion of imported Chinese goods, issuing its own list of U.S. products of comparable value that would be subject to hefty duties should the White House follow through with its tough trade sanctions. Beijing's swift and broad retaliatory response at first seemed to confirm fears that the world's two largest economies were hurtling toward a trade war that would be costly for consumers and companies, and damage the global economy. Anxious U.S. businesses pleaded for cooler heads, and investors panicked. But after sinking sharply when markets opened Wednesday, U.S. stocks not only recovered, but the Dow ended the day up 231 points. The rebound followed assurances by White House officials that despite President Trump's sharp rhetoric and threats, chances are good that the tit-for-tat trade salvos will end in settlement rather than much further escalation." See more on Trumpy tariffs, linked below.
Today in Scott Pruitt Scandals. Eric Lipton, et al., of the New York Times: "Senior staff members at the Environmental Protection Agency frequently felt pressured by Scott Pruitt, the administrator, to help in personal matters and obtain special favors for his family, according to interviews with four current and former E.P.A. officials who served as top political aides to Mr. Pruitt. The officials said that Mr. Pruitt, who 'had a clear sense of entitlement,' in the words of one of them, indicated that he expected staff members' assistance with matters outside the purview of government, including calling on an executive with connections in the energy industry to help secure tickets to a sold-out football game in January at the Rose Bowl. The aides said the administrator ... had also made it clear that he had no hesitation in leveraging his stature as a cabinet member to solicit favors himself. As an example, Mr. Pruitt, shortly after taking the E.P.A. job, reached out to the former speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates seeking help for his daughter, McKenna, in securing admission to the University of Virginia School of Law. William Howell, the former speaker, appears on Mr. Pruitt's official E.P.A. calendar, and he confirmed in an interview that he was approached by Mr. Pruitt and subsequently wrote a letter to the school';s dean on the daughter's behalf.... Separately, at least three E.P.A. staff members were dispatched to help Ms. Pruitt obtain a summer internship at the White House, the current and former staff members said." ...
... But Pruitt still has Trump's support.
*****
Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "President Trump said he 'did a great service' to the American people by firing James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, in tweets on Friday marking his first public comments about an internal Justice Department report into the bureau's handling of an investigation of Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign.... Mr. Trump also lashed out about communications between F.B.I. agents that were disclosed in the highly anticipated report, saying, 'Doesn't get any lower than that!'" ...
... Chris Strohm of Bloomberg: "Former FBI Director James Comey 'deviated' from bureau and Justice Department procedures in handling the probe into Hillary Clinton, damaging the agencies' image of impartiality even though he wasn't motivated by politics, the department's watchdog found in a highly anticipated report.... Among topics the inspector general reviewed was Comey's announcement in July 2016 that no prosecutor would find grounds to pursue criminal charges against Clinton for improperly handling classified information on her private email server, as well as Comey's decision to inform Congress only days before the election that the Clinton investigation was being re-opened. Comey's public announcement of findings angered Republicans, while his reopening of the inquiry outraged Democrats." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... John Wagner, et al., of the Washington Post: "A highly anticipated report from the Justice Department's inspector general criticizes former FBI director James B. Comey for his actions during the Hillary Clinton email investigation and includes new text messages from FBI personnel conveying political opposition to President Trump.... Perhaps the most damaging new revelation in the report, according to multiple people familiar with it, is a previously unreported text message in which Peter Strzok, a key investigator on both the Clinton email case and the investigation of Russia and the Trump campaign, assured an FBI lawyer in August 2016 that 'we'll stop' Trump from making it to the White House.... Though the inspector general condemned individual FBI officials, the report fell significantly short in supporting the assertion by the president and his allies that the investigation was rigged in favor of Clinton, according to a person familiar with its content...." Also linked yesterday; the story has been updated, with Devlin Barrett as the lead reporter on the byline. ...
... The IG's report is 500 pages long, but the Washington Post has posted the executive summary. Update: Vox has the full report here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Matt Apuzzo, et al., of the New York Times: "The former F.B.I. director James B. Comey was insubordinate in his handling of the investigation of Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential election, a critical Justice Department report has concluded, according to officials and others who saw or were briefed on it. But the report, by the department's inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, does not challenge the decision not to prosecute Mrs. Clinton. Nor does it conclude that political bias at the F.B.I. influenced that decision, the officials said.... Then in late October, over the objection of top Justice Department officials, Mr. Comey sent a letter to Congress disclosing that agents were scrutinizing new evidence in the Clinton case. That evidence did not change the outcome of the inquiry, but Mrs. Clinton and many of her supporters blame Mr. Comey's late disclosure for her defeat.... The findings sharply criticize the judgment of Mr. Comey, who injected the F.B.I. into presidential politics in ways not seen since at least the Watergate era.... The report criticizes the conduct of F.B.I. officials who exchanged texts disparaging Mr. Trump during the campaign. The officials, Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, were involved in both the Clinton and Russia investigations, leading Mr. Trump's supporters to suspect a conspiracy against him.... The inspector general said that, because of his views, Mr. Strzok may have improperly prioritized the Russia investigation over the Clinton investigation during the final weeks of the campaign." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Dan Friedman of Mother Jones: "The FBI leaked like a sieve in 2016, and those disclosures helped Donald Trump, according to a newly released inspector general's report on former FBI Director James Comey's handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation. The 500-page report from Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz suggests anti-Clinton leaking from the bureau's New York office likely influenced Comey's decision to announce the resumption of the email probe less than two weeks before the presidential election -- a step that may have thrown the race to Trump. The FBI could be in for a bloodbath over these leaks: Horowitz says his office plans to report on multiple investigations into extensive 'unauthorized media contact by FBI personnel.'" ...
... James Comey, in a New York Times op-ed: "I do not agree with all of the inspector general's conclusions, but I respect the work of his office and salute its professionalism." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... ** David Graham of the Atlantic: "A report by the Justice Department's internal watchdog found no political bias in the conduct of an investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server and account, but it offers a scathing condemnation of how former FBI Director James Comey and other FBI employees handled aspects of the investigation, including extensive violations of Justice Department rules and protocols. The report from Inspector General Michael Horowitz is a blow to both Comey and President Trump.... For Comey, the report is a harsh indictment of his judgment and decision-making that tarnishes his long career in law enforcement. The report also criticizes former Attorney General Loretta Lynch and several other Justice Department officials.... The major takeaway is this: Trump's comments about Comey run counter to the IG report in every major respect. Trump alleged political bias where Horowitz finds none, and lauded Comey where Horowitz condemns him." This is quite a helpful summarization of the IG's findings. ...
... David Leonhardt of the New York Times: "The report addresses one question that's more important than any other: Did the Justice Department and F.B.I. use their power, as Trump has repeatedly claimed, to help Clinton's campaign and hurt his?... And the report's answer is clear: No.... The most significant mistake in the investigation ... hurt her, badly. It was James Comey's decision to violate department policy and talk publicly about the investigation. If it weren't for that decision, the polling data suggests Clinton would be president.... [The report] finds that Trump's claims of a 'rigged system' to protect Clinton are outright fabrications. They are, as is so often the case with Trump, lies." ...
... "DOJ Report Confirms That the President Is a Dishonest Conspiracy Theorist." Eric Levitz of New York: "Donald Trump has claimed that a secret cabal of 'deep state' Democrats within the FBI 'rigged' the bureau's investigation into Hillary Clinton -- thereby allowing her to escape accountability for violations of information-security protocol that should have landed her in prison -- even as said cabal orchestrated a 'WITCH HUNT' into his campaign's nonexistent ties to Russian hacking.... In light of these (alternative) 'facts,' the president maintains that the ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election -- and his own alleged attempts to interfere with that investigation -- is so 'corrupt' and baseless, it should be ended as soon as possible.... [However,] a new report from the Justice Department’s inspector general 'found no evidence that the conclusions by department prosecutors' in the Clinton email investigation 'were affected by bias or other improper considerations ... Rather, we concluded that they were based on the prosecutor's assessment of facts, the law, and past department practice.'... The broader DOJ report finds no evidence that [FBI agent Peter] Strzok did anything to undermine the integrity of the Clinton investigation.... Finally, the report concludes that [FBI Director James] Comey's decision to publicly announce the discovery of new Clinton emails in October 2016 -- a development that correlated with a drop in Clinton's poll numbers -- was an inappropriate act of insubordination. (It also, ironically, finds that Comey repeatedly conducted official FBI business from his personal Gmail account, in violation of protocol.)" Emphasis added. There's more. ...
... Steve M.: "Some liberals would now like to believe that the right has no more justification for conspiracy-mongering.... But that's silly. There are just too many anecdotes for the right to seize on, the most obvious one being this: 'Perhaps the most damaging revelation in the report is a previously unreported text message in which Strzok ... assured an FBI lawyer in August 2016 that 'we'll stop' Trump from making it to the White House.'... The report's conclusion lacks the emotional punch of the anecdotes -- and we know how much the right likes to weaponize anecdotes. (Anecdotes are the primary way they've persuaded themselves that immigrants are a criminal class.) So this is not going to be a public relations win for the forces of reason -- far from it." Mrs. McC: Steve is so right. The entire Republican political apparatus relies on "weaponizing anecdotes" to justify all forms of bad governance. ...
... Well, Okay, Some Mostly Rant Senselessly. Margaret Hartmann: "Despite the conclusion that the FBI's investigation was not influenced by political bias, and the fact that Horowitz wasn't even looking at the Mueller probe, Trump and his allies proceeded with their plan to declare that the IG report proves the special counsel's investigation should be shut down[.]... On Fox News, Giuliani and Sean Hannity tackled the broader theme of anti-Trump bias at the FBI, cherrypicking details from the IG report to make their case, while simultaneously suggesting that Horowitz can't be trusted because he didn't conclude that Clinton should have been prosecuted." Here's kinda the best part of Giuliani's rant: he wants a new investigation because Horowitz, we must infer, is not "honest": "(Giuliani explained that this investigation should be conducted by 'honest FBI agents from the New York office who I can trust implicitly.' The IG report contained details that support the rumor that the New York office was a major source of anti-Clinton leaks.)... [Peter] Strzok played a major role in the investigation into the Trump campaign and Russia. He was initially assigned to Mueller's investigation, which started in May 2017, but he was removed in July 2017, immediately after the anti-Trump texts came to light. Nevertheless, multiple Republican lawmakers argued on Wednesday that Strzok's involvement in the early days of the Trump-Russia investigation, and the few weeks he spent on Mueller's team, call the whole operation into question." ...
... Two Crazy Man Vent on National Teevee:
... The Hill: "On the eve of the release of a potentially explosive new report, Attorney General Jeff Sessions defended the termination of the FBI's top two former executives and warned that the forthcoming report on the FBI's handling of the Hillary Clinton email probe could result in more people being fired.... Sessions said he is certain that Comey's firing was justified. 'It was the right thing to do. The facts were pretty clear on it. He made a big mistake and he testified only a few weeks before that termination that he would do it again if he had the opportunity. So we felt like there was a serious breach of discipline within the department if we allowed him to continue.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "The New York State attorney general's office filed a scathingly worded lawsuit on Thursday taking aim at the Donald J. Trump Foundation, accusing the charity and the Trump family of sweeping violations of campaign finance laws, self-dealing and illegal coordination with the presidential campaign. The lawsuit, which seeks to dissolve the foundation and bar President Trump and three of his children from serving on nonprofit organizations, was an extraordinary rebuke of a sitting president. The attorney general also sent referral letters to the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Election Commission for possible further action, adding to Mr. Trump's extensive legal problems. The lawsuit, filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, culminated a nearly two-year investigation of Mr. Trump's charity, which became a subject of scrutiny during and after the 2016 presidential campaign. While such foundations are supposed to be devoted to charitable activities, the complaint asserts that Mr. Trump's was often used to curry political favor or settle legal claims against his various businesses, and even spent $10,000 on a portrait of Mr. Trump that was hung at one of his golf clubs." (Also linked yesterday.)
Whiney-Baby-in-Chief. Ashley Parker, et al., of the Washington Post: "Some of the most intense drama surrounding President Trump's summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un came not across the negotiating table, but in the days and hours leading up to Tuesday's historic meeting -- a behind-the-scenes flurry of commotion prompted by Trump himself. After arriving in Singapore on Sunday, an antsy and bored Trump urged his aides to demand that the meeting with Kim be pushed up by a day -- to Monday -- and had to be talked out of altering the long-planned and carefully negotiated summit date on the fly, according to two people familiar with preparations for the event. 'We're here now,' the president said, according to the people. 'Why can't we just do it?'... Ultimately, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders persuaded Trump to stick with the original plan, arguing that the president and his team could use the time to prepare, people familiar with the talks said. They also warned him that he might sacrifice wall-to-wall television coverage of his summit if he abruptly moved the long-planned date to Monday in Singapore...." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: It's hard to decide if Trump has delusions of grandeur or he's just reflexively lying: The WashPo team reports, "The language in the agreement that Trump announced with Kim, for instance, was almost entirely prewritten before Trump arrived in Singapore -- a standard diplomatic practice for leaders' meetings, which are normally preceded by extensive negotiations and discussions between lower-level officials. But Trump repeatedly asserted that the final agreement was based on his ability to size up Kim in person and build a working relationship with him." Also, you kinda wonder if Trump has any idea of what a "relationship" is. Nobody who has proximity to Trump likes him. He's a nasty, demanding boor. He's not someone with whom anyone has a "relationship" of the kind most of us experience, where there's mutual bonding, good will & camaraderie.
... Adam Taylor of the Washington Post: "North Korean state television aired a 42-minute documentary on Thursday that offered a different view of Kim Jong Un's meeting with President Trump in Singapore. Notably, the documentary appears to have captured several scenes that international news organizations missed -- including one awkward moment when Trump was saluted by a North Korean military leader. The U.S. president then salutes in return.... 'This is a moment that will be used over and over in North Korea's propaganda as 'proof' that the American president defers to the North Korean military,' said [Jean H. Lee, a North Korea scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington]. 'It will be treated as a military victory by the North Koreans.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie BTW: If you watch Seth's "Closer Look," you may notice that, as Steve M. asserted, Republicans rely on weaponized anecdotes to rationalize their policies, BUT if Trump doesn't have an anecdote for the occasion, he just makes up one. And it doesn't have to be plausible or even remotely possible.
Alberto Nardelli & Julia Ioffe of BuzzFeed: "... Donald Trump told G7 leaders that Crimea is Russian because everyone who lives there speaks Russian, according to two diplomatic sources. Trump made the remarks over dinner last Friday during a discussion on foreign affairs at the G7 summit in Quebec, Canada, one of the diplomats told BuzzFeed News.... During the dinner, Trump also seemed to question why the G7 leaders were siding with Ukraine. The president told leaders that 'Ukraine is one of the most corrupt countries in the world,' the source said.... Russia invaded and then annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, leading to widespread international condemnation and sanctions. It also directly led to Russia being kicked out of the then-G8." Mrs. McC: Also, England, Australia & most of Canada are U.S. territories because everyone who lives there speaks English. Anyhow, Comrade Putin thanks you, Donald, you sniveling traitor. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Susan Glasser of the New Yorker: "Fresh off his closely watched Singapore summit with the North Korean dictator, Kim Jong Un, President Trump is pushing his team to arrange another dramatic one-on-one meeting, this time with the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, as soon as this summer. Negotiations with the Kremlin have been under way for weeks. 'There’s no stopping him,' a senior Administration official familiar with the internal deliberations said.... Ever since Putin's reëlection to another six-year term in March, Trump has been pressing for a Putin summit, dismissing advisers' warnings about the political dangers of such a meeting, given the ongoing special counsel investigation.... With the Russia allegations swirling, Trump never had the formal meeting he wanted with Putin last year -- settling for just two brief encounters on the sidelines of international gatherings -- but he has clearly never given up on his campaign vision of closer ties with the Russian strongman, whose autocratic rule he has often praised."
Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "White House Counsel Don McGahn recused his entire staff last summer from working on the Russia investigation because many of his office's lawyers played significant roles in key episodes at the center of the probe, former White House attorney Ty Cobb said on Wednesday. McGahn made the decision to halt his staff's interactions with Special Counsel Robert Mueller because many of his own attorneys 'had been significant participants' surrounding the firings of national security adviser Michael Flynn and FBI Director James Comey, Cobb said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Trumpy & the Football. Nolan McCaskill of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Friday said he would not sign the compromise immigration bill House Republicans unveiled on Thursday." Mrs. McC: Trump had indicated last week that he would sign the bill if it came to his desk, & it was for that reason Paul Ryan agreed to allow the bill to move.
Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "With the number of migrant children in government custody rising fast, the Trump administration said Thursday that it will open an additional temporary shelter in the desert outside El Paso. The shelter site, at the Tornillo-Marcelino Serna port of entry, is about 20 miles east of El Paso along the Mexico border. It was last used in 2016 to house migrant children and families in large, dormitory-style canvas tents. Children will begin arriving in the next few days, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, which is responsible for their care. The site will have 360 beds, according to HHS officials, with the potential to add more. The Tornillo site will be the only location, to date, where HHS plans to put children in tents, or what the agency calls 'semi-permanent structures.'... The Tornillo site belongs to the Department of Homeland Security. It will have recreation areas and educational programming, and its tents are air-conditioned, according to HHS spokesman Kenneth Wolfe." ...
... Keith McMillan & Julie Zauzmer of the Washington Post: "Attorney General Jeff Sessions used a Bible verse on Thursday to defend his department's policy of prosecuting everyone who crosses the border from Mexico, suggesting that God supports the government in separating immigrant parents from their children. 'I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13, to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained the government for his purposes,' Sessions said during a speech to law enforcement officers in Fort Wayne, Ind. 'Orderly and lawful processes are good in themselves. Consistent and fair application of the law is in itself a good and moral thing, and that protects the weak and protects the lawful.'" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: The chapter Sessions cites forms the notorious basis for claims of the divine right of kings. Our country is founded on the rejection of these verses. ...
... Here's Colbert's take. Thanks to Nisky Guy for the link:
... Callum Borchers of the Washington Post: "White House media briefings are often contentious, but Thursday's question-and-answer session got personal.... During one exchange, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said to CNN reporter Jim Acosta, a frequent sparring partner, 'I know it's hard for you to understand even short sentences.' Acosta had asked Sanders about Attorney General Jeff Sessions's attempt, earlier in the day, to use the Bible to justify the Trump administration's immigration policies, which include splitting up families that arrive at U.S. borders seeking asylum.... On a telecast of the briefing, another reporter could be heard scolding Sanders for a 'cheap shot.' Sanders then falsely asserted that the Trump administration is separating children from their parents 'because it's the law, and that's what the law states.' In fact, separation is not required by law but is a Trump administration practice that White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly calls a 'tough deterrent.'" It got worse: ...
It's the law, and that's what the law states. -- Sarah Huckabee Sanders, at a news briefing, June 14
The Trump administration seems to be caught inside a 'Twilight Zone' episode, insisting without evidence that its own policy of separating undocumented immigrant children from their parents is somehow a long-standing law and that any blame should go to Democrats. The president got this ball rolling himself in a series of tweets and statements over the past few months.... [Here's one:] 'We have to break up families. The Democrats gave us that law,' Trump said during a roundtable on sanctuary cities in California on May 16.... These claims are violently divorced from reality.... Reporters at the June 14 briefing fact-checked Sanders on the spot, but she stuck to her guns.... The bottom line is that nothing required the Trump administration to separate children from their families until Sessions's zero-tolerance policy made it a practical necessity. -- Salvador Rizzo of the Washington Post
... Laurie Goldstein of the New York Times: "Conservative religious leaders who have long preached about the sanctity of the family are now issuing sharp rebukes of the Trump administration for immigration policies that tear families apart or leave them in danger. The criticism came after recent moves by the administration to separate children from their parents at the border, and to deny asylum on a routine basis to victims of domestic abuse and gang violence. Some of the religious leaders are the same evangelicals and Roman Catholics who helped President Trump to build his base and who have otherwise applauded his moves to limit abortion and champion the rights of religious believers.... Leaders of many faiths -- including Jews, Mainline Protestants, Muslims and others -- have spoken out consistently against the president's immigration policies. What has changed is that now the objections are coming from faith groups that have been generally friendly to Mr. Trump." ...
... Jacob Soboroff of NBC News: "Life inside the biggest licensed child care facility in the nation for undocumented immigrant children looks more like incarceration than temporary shelter. The kids, a mix of those who crossed into the U.S. unaccompanied and those who were separated from their parents under Attornye General Jeff Sessions' new zero-tolerance policy, spend 22 hours per day during the week (21 hours on weekends) locked inside a converted former Walmart, packing five into rooms built for four.... NBC News was among the first news organizations granted access to the overcrowded Casa Padre facility. The average stay at the center in Brownsville, Texas, is 52 days. Minors are subsequently placed with a sponsor.... Dr. Juan Sanchez, the president of the nonprofit that operates the facility, South West Key, warned that the temporary locations might not have to be licensed or staffed by trained child welfare professionals if they are established on federal land, which the Trump administration has been considering." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Michael Miller, et al., of the Washington Post: "Casa Padre now houses more than 1,400 immigrant boys, dozens of them forcibly separated from their parents at the border by a new Trump administration 'zero-tolerance' policy. On Wednesday, for the first time since that policy was announced, and amid intense national interest after a U.S. senator was turned away, federal authorities allowed a small group of reporters to tour the secretive shelter, the largest of its kind in the nation." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Manny Fernandez of the New York Times: "Where there were once racks of clothes and aisles of appliances, there were now spotless dorm-style bedrooms with neatly made beds and Pokemon posters on the walls. The back parking lots were now makeshift soccer fields and volleyball courts. The McDonald's was now the cafeteria. All this made it difficult to visualize what the sprawling facility used to be -- a former Walmart Supercenter. The converted retail store at the southern tip of Texas has become the largest licensed migrant children's shelter in the country -- a warehouse for nearly 1,500 boys aged 10 to 17 who were caught illegally crossing the border. The teeming, 250,000-square-foot facility is a model of border life in Trump-era America, part of a growing industry of detention centers and shelters as federal authorities scramble to comply with the president's order to end 'catch and release' of migrants illegally entering the country. Now that children are often being separated from their parents, this facility has had to obtain a waiver from the state to expand its capacity." (Also linked yesterday.)"
Noah Lanard of Mother Jones: "The [US Customs and Border Protections] agency is having so much trouble hiring enough border agents that it's now spending huge sums -- potentially hundreds of millions of dollars -- to recruit applicants and help them complete the application process.... Last November, CBP awarded a five-year, $297 million contract with Accenture Federal Services, a subsidiary of the global consulting company Accenture. That comes to nearly $40,000 for each of the 7,500 workers Accenture is supposed to help recruit and hire. The per-hire cost exceeds the base salary of many CBP officers.... But it is still not clear that CBP will be able to hire them, because Congress has refused to provide the funding." --safari (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
David J. Lynch & Damian Paletta of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Friday will announce a 25 percent tariff on $50 billion of Chinese products, the latest move in his intensifying campaign to rewrite the rules of global trade. The action will come one day after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Beijing for talks with Chinese leaders about the president's recent meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The tariffs, which Trump set in motion in March, are a response to China's practice of compulsory technology licensing for foreign companies and its efforts to steal U.S. trade secrets via cybertheft, administration officials have said." ...
... Tariffs Are Not Your Friends -- Another Stupid Trump Trick. Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post: "It seems almost quaint today, but the U.S. washer industry was one of the first sectors that Trump decided to rescue through an aggressive, no-holds-barred tariff. And now that a few months have passed, the industry offers a useful preview for how Trump's tough-on-trade strategy can backfire for many of the U.S. companies, consumers and workers...." Read on. It's quaint. Unless you want to buy a washing machine. "This spring, laundry equipment prices skyrocketed 17 percent, the biggest increase on record.... When you aggregate all those price increases across the 10 million washers sold annually in the United States, consumers will collectively pay hundreds of thousands of dollars per year for each job supposedly created or saved. Which is many multiples of what factory workers typically earn. And it's not even clear how safe their jobs are at this point, given the rest of Trump's trade agenda."
Swamp mikey. Michael Scherer, et al., of the Washington Post: "Vice President Pence has transformed his office into a new entry point for lobbyists seeking to influence the Trump administration across federal agencies, according to federal records and interviews. About twice as many companies and other interests hired lobbyists to contact the vice president's office in Pence’s first year than in any single year during the tenures of Vice Presidents Joe Biden and Richard B. Cheney, filings show.... The approach has allowed Pence, a former congressman and Indiana governor, to emerge as a key ally for corporations inside the Trump White House even as the president vows to 'drain the swamp.'... In several cases, the relationships are mutually beneficial, with lobbyists who have charged clients millions of dollars to access his office donating money to Pence-backed political causes.... Pence was also responsible for staffing many of the federal agencies that lobbyists seek to influence.... In some cases, donations to Mike Pence's political causes can provide a platform for companies seeking to influence federal policy."
** Nickles and Dimes! Ryan Koronwoski of ThinkProgress: "The federal government just admitted that workers are earning lower wages since the passage of the GOP tax cuts.... On Tuesday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics issued a new release detailing the 'real earnings summary' through May 2018...: 'From May 2017 to May 2018, real average hourly earnings decreased 0.1 percent, seasonally adjusted,' it read." --safari (Also linked yesterday.) ...
.. Josh Boak of TPM: "[On Wednesday] the head of the world's most powerful central bank was asked a question weighing on the minds -- and the checking accounts -- of Americans everywhere: When will people finally start getting meaningful pay raises? Jerome Powell, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, had no satisfactory answer. He called it a 'puzzle.' And then, as if measuring his words, he said he wasn't prepared to call it a 'mystery.'... Powell acknowledged that he couldn't say for sure why wage growth remains generally tepid. He said he 'certainly would have expected pay raises to react more' to falling unemployment." --safari (Also linked yesterday.)
Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down Minnesota's ban on wearing 'political' apparel to polling places, saying that the state's intentions may be good but that its law was too broad and open to differing interpretations. The 7-to-2 decision, written by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., was careful not to cast constitutional doubt on restrictions every state imposes to protect the solemnity of the voting booth. But Minnesota's prohibition on the wearing of a 'political badge, political button or other political insignia' raised more questions than it answered, Roberts wrote, and gave too much discretion to volunteer election judges trying to figure out what counted as 'political' and what did not. 'The state must be able to articulate some sensible basis for distinguishing what may come in from what must stay out,' Roberts wrote. 'Here, the unmoored use of the term "political" in the Minnesota law, combined with haphazard interpretations the state has provided in official guidance and representations to this court, cause Minnesota's restriction to fail even this forgiving test.'... Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Stephen G. Breyer dissented, partly because of the route the case took. The challengers went to federal court with their complaint, alleging it violated their free speech rights."
Juan Cole: "In a blow to the Trump administration and the government of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted, by 120 votes in favor, a resolution introduced by Algeria and Turkey condemning Israel for deploying excessive force against Palestinians at rallies near the border of Gaza.... In another important international vote, the 4 million strong Indian Student Federation has voted to boycott Hewlett Packard computers and other equipment on the grounds that the company is involved in the oppression of Palestinians by the Israeli occupiers. This step seems to me among the more significant victories for the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement promoted by Palestinian civil society." --safari (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
News Lede
New York Times: "Dorothy Cotton, a confidante of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who was the only woman in his inner circle of aides, marched in perilous civil rights demonstrations and was a driving force in getting Southern black people to vote, died on June 10 at a retirement home in Ithaca, N.Y. She was 88."
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Reader Comments (16)
It's a long shot, but interesting to note at least. The NY AG is capable of dissolving fraudulent foundations (like Trump's) but she also has the power to dissolve for-profit corporations that are acting illegally in NY state. Taking this action would obviously be decried as a bigger witch hunt than Mueller's and would get the whole Trump clan into a frantic frenzy, but if the Trump Org is found to be functioning illegally, then the law is the law: shut it down!
https://thinkprogress.org/buried-in-the-new-lawsuit-against-the-trump-foundation-is-a-road-map-to-something-much-bigger-66e006ffa4f9/
Colbert hits the nail on the head.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4KaLkYxMZ8
Safari,
“The Law is the law; shut it down.”
Yes, but not without a couple of weaponized anecdotes, a Bible verse or two, references to alternative facts, vague, irrational threats, weird, disconnected sidebar complaints, and some unhinged ranting on Twitter.
The proprieties of Trump World must always be observed.
I have just finished reading–-twice–-Chris Hedges' "The Coming Collapse." There are echos here of Bernie and Elizabeth, the two people who warned us over and over of the destruction of our so called democracy. But here Hedges goes many steps further, as is his wont, and reading his piece jolts one once again to take a hard look at what we have going on here.
"...the warnings from the architects of our failed democracy against creeping fascism, Madeleine Albright among them [her book, Fascism: a warning] is risible. They show how disconnected the elites have become from the zeitgeist. None of these elites have credibility. They built the edifice of lies, deceit and corporate pillage that made Trump possible. And the more Trump demeans these elites, and the more they cry out like Cassandras, the more he salvages his disastrous presidency and enables the kleptocrats pillaging the country as it swiftly disintegrates."
Last evening when the sun was sinking and its light cast a lovely glow on the trees and gardens, I stood out on our front deck and breathed deeply, thinking how moments like this are so needed at this time in our lives.
forgot the link: https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-coming-collapse/
Rudy (Am I Still Relevant???) Giuliani finds yet another reason to end the Mueller probe. Way to go, Rude.
The IG report, which doesn't touch on Mueller's work at all, comes out and basically proves that Trump was helped by Comey (not to mention the Russians) but somehow he interprets all the findings as a reason to kill the Russia-Trump collusion investigation.
The poor man. He must have a passel of reasons stocked away that must be equally valid. Let's look at some of them.
Rudy's Reasons to end the Mueller investigation, pt. 237:
I can't find my favorite rep tie.
Fox didn't call me this morning for an opinion on taking babies away from their mommas on the border.
The maid bought crunchy peanut butter. She knows I like the smooth kind. She is so fired.
Mars is in the 7th house.
My Metamucil stopped working!
There's an "E" after the "U" in his name. Why?
It's Friday.
TMI.
What?
And the number one reason for Rudy to want to end the Mueller probe?
I have nothing else to do.
Sessions invoking biblical passages to make his evil mandate credible or somehow justify it is deplorable. Where the heck is that separation of church and state thingy? It's enough we have to listen to all those "God blessings"––now we use the Bible to enact our laws?
Last night Barbara Boxer was on Hayes' program–-denouncing this immigration policy but then said at the end––"This is a sin against God," as though somehow that makes it worse. No, Barb, this separating of children from their parents is an evil procedure that only can come from those that lack any sense of humanity and empathy and decency––despots that have no ethical core; the sin, as you put it, is against human beings.
PD,
Not only has Romans 13 been used, as Marie points out, to support the divine right of kings, but was also used by the slave states to justify their ownership of other human beings. Interesting that Jefferson Beauregard Sessions chose to highlight this passage (now where did I put that picture of him dressed like a slave state southern general?).
But let me also say that the part of this passage that says "The powers that be are ordained of God" is proof of one of two things considering our current parlous state with the Trump Monster in power: either there IS no god, or s(he) is a sadist with a pretty fucking weird sense of humor.
There are some in the Christian community that believe Romans 13:1-8 is an addition to Paul's letter that was inserted to support church and civil authorities. Reading Romans 12 and Romans 13:9-14, as a whole, appears to be a contiguous passage. Paul showed little respect for either civil or ecclesiastical authority in his actions - so the referenced Romans 13:1-8 neither fits the text nor actions of Paul, leading to the belief it was a later edition to the text by others.
He Really is an Evil Prick
This morning on his very own state run propaganda media outlet, Fox "News", the little dictator lectured viewers on the proper way to acknowledge their Glorious Leader.
"'Hey, [Kim] is the head of a country and I mean he is the strong head,' Mr. Trump told Fox News' Steve Doocy on the White House lawn Friday. 'Don't let anyone think anything different. He speaks and his people sit up at attention. I want my people to do the same.'"
He wants "his people" to treat him the same way the beaten, cowed, bullied, and often imprisoned and tortured people of North Korea snap to attention whenever Kim speaks.
Later, when asked about such an outrageous admission of admiration for a vicious tyrant, he snapped at the reporter that he was "just kidding". "I'm kidding, you don't understand sarcasm..."
Wow. Okay. So a couple of things.
First, Fat Boy, we are not "your people". You are our employee. And you're a suck-ass employee at that. Second, you weren't kidding. You are incredibly jealous of the treatment that evil, murderous strongman dictators receive and you dream of being an American Stalin. Third, that wasn't sarcasm. I thought you were, like, really smart. Sarcasm, is a rhetorical device used to convey contempt. Are you saying you were employing sarcasm to display your contempt for Kim? Well, let me inform you that if you're gonna be a Kim type dictator, he banned sarcasm from public discourse in North Korea (he really did). So, if you're gonna pull that sarcasm shit, I'm letting you know that it won't fly in Pyongyang.
More importantly, however, it's painfully obvious that Trump's most desperate wish is for people to fear him, to stand at attention when he shows up, to display immediate obedience and fealty to his every whim and never, ever, ever, to question his majesty and wisdom.
He's a more dangerous psycho than most ever imagined.
Oh, yeah. And a prick too.
Brownieps makes an excellent point that goes to the question of the Bible as the inerrant, perfectly received word of god, as no doubt Jeffbo believes it to be.
It's been shown through close textual analysis that many passages in the Bible are either weirdly translated or have been "improved" or outright added in by later editors.
And it's true that Paul of Tarsus had no reason to be friendly to Roman officialdom. They hounded his ass and put him in prison more than once. Of all the Biblical writers, he certainly has a distinct personality (often irascible and not a little curmudgeonly) but who knows who really wrote those letters (and amended and updated them)?
Nonetheless, the Bible still remains one of, if not the, primary source of authority for wingers to do evil shit to other humans.
I have a question for Sessions - 'What is God's view of guns?'
Nothing? I am sure you can concoct a few words here and there to justify the murder of millions.
Then ask about computers, TV, atomic bombs?
Gee, not a word in more than 2000 years. Replaced by immoral creativity.
"The inspector general said that, because of his views, Mr. Strzok may have improperly prioritized the Russia investigation over the Clinton investigation during the final weeks of the campaign."
Okay, so you're this Peter Strzok dude. You're looking at a couple of things with not much time to spare. Do you A) spend most of your time on an email investigation that has already been pretty much cleared, or B) spend that time looking at the possibility of treason?
Class? Show of hands.
And (you're still Strzok now), once you start seeing tangible and pretty horrifying evidence that the Trumpies were working with or at the very least trying to work with Russians to ratfuck the election, would you perhaps pen a missive suggesting that keeping possible traitors out of the White House might not be a bad thing?
Just a thought.
Nobody knows who wrote the Pauline epistles or even when they were written. Seven of the 14 (I think that's the number) epistles were written by the same person -- unlikely the Paul who had that road-to-Damascus moment -- and the other seven were written by other people (not one other person, according to scholars).
And exactly how did these supposed letters get collected? The conceit is that the letters went out to various missions around the Mediterranean. I'm thinking "Paul" didn't have an office, a Xerox machine & a filing system where he kept copies of the letters all in one place, so the whole idea of the Epistles of Paul as real letters -- rather than as a literary endeavor (or rather endeavors) -- is pretty silly.
As for brownieps' suggestion that Romans 13:1-8 is a later addition, that makes sense, tho it's not a given. There's strong evidence that both the Gospels of Mark & John got "messed up" & that the versions we read now have long omissions (Mark) or verses out of order (John -- a gospel that was written by committee). The New Testament really was a "living document" for hundreds of years, and its contents changed over time, with books amended, added & deleted until the Roman church exercised its power & forced a "canon."
As for obedience to authority, this was a constant problem for the early church. The first adherents were diaspora Jews, who remained Jews. But the Pharisaic Jews decided they were heretics & kicked them out of their congregations. Judaism was an "accepted" religion within the Roman empire, but "Christianity" was not, so Christians were in danger of special taxation, persecution & other punishments. It would make sense that at some point, somebody decided his church should make a strong stance for adhering to Roman law.
It is not, however, entirely clear that "Roman law" is what Romans 13 advocates. Rather, it refers to "authorities" & that may very well mean church authorities, because there was a great deal of turmoil & rebellion within the church as a whole & within each congregation. Notice that the writer says the authorities "have been established by God." It's hard to believe the writer thought tyrants who were oppressing the righteous had been "established by God."
So whether this passage is a later addition, or was altered to meet a particular circumstance, it is simply a bit of advice to help a congregation navigate the outside world. It's somebody's pragmatic idea of what would work best for a tiny minority trying to get along in an empire over which they had no control. For Sessions to cite it in a democracy indicates he doesn't really believe in democracy. Not only did slaveholders like it, Nazi sympathizers often cited Romans 13 as their "reason" for going along with Hitler's program.
So off to the slammer for Manafort. Couldn't happen to bigger asshole. Can't trust the guy out on his own because he'll be engaging in criminal activity to try to escape the consequences of his prior criminal activity.
Criminals don't change their habits because they worked for the president*.
The perfect guy to run Trumpy's campaign. And it says so much about Trump. Here's a cheap, crooked grifter who surrounds himself with other cheap, crooked grifters. If you showed up at Trump Tower for a job and didn't have at least "money laundering", "bank fraud", and maybe "worked for assorted evil dictators" on your resume, you wouldn't even make it past the first row of fake gold pilasters.
Trump couldn't be bothered hiring a straight shooter. Straight shooters would never go along with his schemes. This is why Scott Pruitt is still boss at the EPA. This is why he used his "philanthropic foundation" as a piggy bank for his schemes. Would a straight shooter ever hire a cheap thug like Michael Cohen? First of all, anyone who wasn't a crooked, corner cutting, law breaking, pussy grabbing asshole would never need the services of a goon like Cohen.
Just look at the mess he's made of the government. He runs with chiselers, gangsters, and con men because he's one of them. They speak his language. "Find 'em, fleece 'em, fuck 'em, forget 'em" is their motto. And that's what he's trying to do to all of us.
Paul Manafort is just one of the many sleazy indices of the dark heart of corruption beating inside the Oval Office.
Mrs. Bea: you are such a really, like, smart lady! Now we get a treatise on religion, specifically the Bible, and every time you write on one subject or another, I am freshly amazed-- I bet you have lots of degrees, or at least are incredibly well-read. I couldn't tell you one factoid about the Bible. I am glad that we can depend on you for such wisdom! And NONE of this is sarcasm. I mean it sincerely, Marie-- you are a wonder.