;)
The Commentariat -- Nov. 15, 2018
Afternoon Update:
Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "Representative Nancy Pelosi asserted Thursday that she has enough support among her colleagues to become the next speaker of the House, as the first hint of opposition emerged from an Ohio Democrat, Representative Marcia Fudge, who said she is considering a run. 'Come on in, the water's warm,' Ms. Pelosi said, dismissing the notion that Ms. Fudge was a threat. Asked if she had the 218 votes necessary to win the speakership, she said emphatically, 'Yes.' Ms. Pelosi is an exceptionally skilled politician, and many Democrats say she remains the odds-on favorite to return to the post in January. Her comments came as the fight over whether she should be speaker is heating up among her colleagues, exposing deep divisions over the role of gender in leadership at a time when a so-called pink wave put the party back in the House majority."
Zachary Basu of Axios: "President Trump renewed his attacks on the credibility of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation in a series of Thursday morning tweets, using his oft-repeated refrain of 'WITCH HUNT.' 'The inner workings of the Mueller investigation are a total mess. They have found no collusion and have gone absolutely nuts. They are screaming and shouting at people, horribly threatening them to come up with the answers they want. They are a disgrace to our Nation and don't care how many lives the ruin. These are Angry People, including the highly conflicted Bob Mueller, who worked for Obama for 8 years. They won't even look at all of the bad acts and crimes on the other side. A TOTAL WITCH HUNT LIKE NO OTHER IN AMERICAN HISTORY!'" ...
... Lee Moran of the Huffington Post: "Donald Trump on Thursday sought to stifle media reports that his administration is engulfed 'in chaos' and 'in meltdown.'... 'The White House is running very smoothly and the results for our Nation are obviously very good. We are the envy of the world. But anytime I even think about making changes, the FAKE NEWS MEDIA goes crazy, always seeking to make us look as bad as possible! Very dishonest!'... But his early morning Twitter boast attacking 'the FAKE NEWS MEDIA' did not go over well, with many folks suggesting America under Trump is actually a global 'laughingstock.'" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Looks as if John Kelly didn't give Trumpy enough "policy time" today.
Sheila Kaplan & Jan Hoffman of the New York Times: "Stopping short of its threatened ban on flavored e-cigarettes, the Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday that it would allow stores to continue selling the products, but only from closed-off areas that are inaccessible to minors.At the same time, the agency moved to outlaw two traditional tobacco products that disproportionately harm African Americans: menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars.The proposed menthol ban would be the most aggressive action the F.D.A. has taken against the tobacco industry in nearly a decade, and it was notable given the Trump administration's business-friendly approach to regulatory issues. If it clears the usual federal regulatory hurdles, a process which could take at least two years, the menthol ban could make a significant dent in cigarette sales. Menthol cigarettes account for about 35 percent of cigarette sales in the United States."
Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post: "The Treasury Department has designated 17 Saudi Arabians for involvement in the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, imposing sanctions that freeze any assets under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibit Americans from dealings with them. All of the 17, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement, were 'involved in the abhorrent killing' that 'targeted and brutally killed a journalist who resided and worked in the United States [and] must face consequences for their actions.' Mnuchin indicated that the United States would continue investigating to determine whether others were also responsible and said that 'the government of Saudi Arabia must take appropriate steps to end any targeting of political dissidents or journalists.' The Treasury announcement followed the release of a statement in Riyadh saying 11 unnamed Saudi citizens had been indicted in the crime.... It said authorities would seek the death penalty against five of those indicted. Neither statement implicated Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whom Turkey has indirectly accused of ordering Khashoggi's death. A spokesman for the Saudi prosecutor, speaking at a news conference in Riyadh, said Mohammed had no knowledge of the operation."
Carol Lee, et al., of NBC News: "Trump administration officials last month asked federal law enforcement agencies to examine legal ways of removing exiled Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen in an attempt to persuade [Turkey's president Recep] Erdogan to ease pressure on the Saudi government..., four sources said. The effort includes directives to the Justice Department and FBI that officials reopen Turkey's case for his extradition, as well as a request to the Homeland Security Department for information about his legal status, the four people said.... Career officials at the agencies pushed back on the White House requests, the U.S. officials and people briefed on the requests said.... [An earlier request] took place under Trump's former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, whose ties to Turkey came under scrutiny in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election meddling."
Marshall Cohen of CNN: "A federal judge on Thursday upheld a federal indictment against the Russian troll farm accused of meddling in the 2016 election, handing a victory to special counsel Robert Mueller. In a 32-page opinion, Judge Dabney Friedrich rejected efforts by Concord Management and Consulting to dismiss the indictment, which accused the Russian company of conspiring to defraud the US government. Mueller's team says the company was involved in a well-funded 'troll farm' that pumped out political propaganda to millions of Americans throughout the 2016 presidential campaign. It was the second time that Friedrich, a Trump appointee, sided with Mueller and let the case proceed."
Erik Wemple of the Washington Post: "Justice Department lawyers, defending the Trump administration's revocation of [CNN reporter Jim] Acosta’s credentials, submitted a brief on Wednesday responding to CNN's lawsuit seeking their restoration. The network is seeking a restraining order against the White House, an action that government lawyers are opposing on a number of grounds.... In a hearing before U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly on Wednesday afternoon, Deputy Assistant Attorney General James Burnham was forced to expound upon these arguments. It was unsightly." Read on for details.
Kevin Miller of the Portland Press Herald: "Democrat Jared Golden was declared the winner of Maine's 2nd Congressional District race on Thursday following a historic tabulation of ballots using ranked-choice voting. Golden, a Marine Corps veteran and state lawmaker from Lewiston, began the day roughly 2,000 votes behind incumbent Republican Rep. Bruce Poliquin. But Golden surged past Poliquin by slightly less than 3,000 votes after the ranked-choice votes of two independents in the race were redistributed Thursday afternoon.... This is the first time in U.S. history that a congressional race was decided using ranked-choice voting, which allows voters to cast ballots for their favorite candidate but also rank other candidates in order of preference.... Poliquin is challenging the constitutionality of ranked-choice voting in federal court, and the campaign could ask for a recount of the results."
Andrew Roth of the Guardian: "Russia's repeated arrests of opposition leader Alexei Navalny are politically motivated, the European court of human rights (ECHR) has ruled, in a sharp rebuke of the Russian authorities that is sure to provoke anger in Moscow. In a ruling released on its website, the Strasbourg-based court ruled that seven arrests of the Russian corruption whistleblower dating from 2012 to 2014 were politically motivated under the terms of the European convention on human rights, to which Russia is a partner. The arrests were aimed at 'suppressing political pluralism', the ruling said. In a final, binding decision, the court's grand chamber ordered Russian authorities to pay €63,000 (£55,600) in compensation for moral harm, material damages and court costs."
*****
Kirk Semple & Elisabeth Malkin of the New York Times: "Hundreds of migrants in the caravan traveling from Central America have begun arriving in the northern Mexico border city of Tijuana, setting up a potential confrontation with the American authorities that has been brewing for weeks. Their arrival in Tijuana marked the end of one struggle -- making it safely to the United States border. But it signaled the start of another to get across that border, something that President Trump has promised to impede, even for those seeking asylum. Mr. Trump has labeled the caravan an invasion, deployed American soldiers to the border and made changes to asylum rules in efforts to confront it. A few of the migrants who have made it to Tijuana were already trying to figure out how to get appointments with American border officials to present their cases for sanctuary, migrants' advocates said. Most, however, appear to be biding their time and considering their options, including seeking sanctuary in the United States, trying to cross illegally or remaining in Mexico."
Gabriel Sherman of Vanity Fair: "... Donald Trump's West Wing [is careening] through one of the most turbulent weeks of his presidency. 'This is a level of insanity I've never seen before,' one former West Wing staffer told me.... What's surprising to some advisers about how bad the past week has been is that Trump initially seemed to take the midterm losses in stride.... Trump told people that his barnstorming rally schedule had mobilized his base and held Republican losses to historical lows, while increasing Republican gains in the Senate. 'He really thought he won the midterms,' a prominent Republican who spoke with Trump said. But by Wednesday, after hours of commentary about the suburbs' distaste for him and with seat after undecided House seat slipping toward the Democrats, his mood slid, too, hitting bottom in a bizarre and combative press conference." ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: I guess this is what happens when reality invades your delusions. As for Trump's belief that he had "held Republican losses to historical lows": Domenico Montanaro of NPR: "... more than a week after Election Day, Democrats have increased their House gains to a net of 34 seats — and, when all the vote is counted, they may get to 39. Make no mistake: That is a very big wave.... It's the most House seats gained by Democrats since the wave election following Watergate. President Richard Nixon resigned in August 1974, leading to Democrats' pickup of 49 seats that fall." ...
... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "Trump's continued foul mood about the whole thing leads to this question: Is he surprised? What happened last Tuesday and has happened since then has been very much in line with almost all of the projections. The national polls were largely right on the money, and the House had been expected to flip Democratic for months. But for months Trump publicly doubted all that. He [kept saying] there was a 'red wave' coming.... As with his myriad falsehoods and conspiracy theories, there's another option: He has crafted his own reality, which is significantly rosier than actual reality.... The totality of it suggests he wasn't exactly prepared for this outcome.... Perhaps he truly believed he was a popular president prepared to shock prognosticators again. Maybe he really thinks his approval rating among African Americans is 40 percent, even though there's no conceivable way that's true. As indicators of how insulated from reality he often finds himself, it's a pretty good case in point."
Nicholas Fandos & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "President Trump threw his support behind a substantial revision of the nation's prison and sentencing laws on Wednesday, opening a potential path to enacting the most significant changes to the criminal justice system in a generation. The tentative legislative package, developed by a bipartisan group of senators and called the First Step Act, builds on a prison overhaul bill already passed overwhelmingly by the House by adding changes that would begin to unwind some of the tough-on-crime federal policies of the 1980s and 1990s that incarcerated African-American offenders at much higher rates than white offenders."
Macron Goes High. Alissa Rubin of the New York Times: "The French president responded Wednesday evening to President Trump's scathing personal attack on him, declining to lash out and instead taking the long view. In a television interview on the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, which President Emmanuel Macron was visiting, he made clear that he was not going to respond in kind, but hew to both countries' longstanding common interests. 'I do not do policy or diplomacy by tweets,' he said.... Many French people were taken aback by the tone of Mr. Trump's comments, which the French newspaper Le Monde called 'violent.' However, some people observed that Mr. Trump was simply treating Mr. Macron the way he has treated other allies who had hosted him." ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: "Some people" are right: Trump really is the guest from hell. He behaves badly during the visit, embarrassing you in front of friends. Then -- no matter how accommodating & solicitous you were -- he slams you after he leaves. ...
... Michael Rose of Reuters: "... Donald Trump, who attacked his French counterpart in a series of tweets on Tuesday, should have shown 'common decency' instead since the country was mourning the anniversary of deadly attacks in Paris, a French government spokesman said. In five posts sent on the same day France marked the anniversary of the 2015 attacks that killed 130 people, Trump blasted the key U.S. ally over its near defeat to Germany in two world wars, its wine industry and President Emmanuel Macron's approval ratings.... 'Yesterday was November 13, we were marking the murder of 130 of our people,' [spokesman Benjamin] Griveaux said. 'So I'll reply in English: "common decency" would have been appropriate.'" (Also linked yesterday.)
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "... as the [right-wing Federalist Society] prepares to gather on Thursday for the start of this year's convention, more than a dozen prominen conservative lawyers have joined together to sound a note of caution. They are urging their fellow conservatives to speak up about what they say are the Trump administration's betrayals of bedrock legal norms.... The group, called Checks and Balances, was organized by George T. Conway III, a conservative lawyer and the husband of President Trump's counselor, Kellyanne Conway." (Also linked yesterday.)
Trump Loses Even Fox "News." Haley Britzky of Axios: "Fox News is supporting CNN's lawsuit against the Trump administration over the White House's revocation of Jim Acosta's press pass and plans to file an amicus brief in the case, according to a statement from the network's president Jay Wallace." (Also linked yesterday.)
This Russia Thing, Ctd.
Flake's Last Stand. Paul McLeod of BuzzFeed News: Outgoing "Republican Sen. Jeff Flake says he will block all of President Trump's judicial nominees until his bill to protect special counsel Robert Mueller goes to a vote. Flake's move comes after Trump forced Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign and appointed Matt Whitaker, a Trump loyalist who has repeatedly criticized Mueller's investigation, as acting attorney general.... Wednesday when Flake sought unanimous consent to bring his bill to protect Mueller forward for debate[,] Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused, blocking the bill.... Flake is the swing vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee and, with Democrats, can vote down judicial nominations. McConnell could still bring these nominations forward to the Senate floor against the will of the committee...." ...
... Eric Levitz of New York adds a little of the play-by-play: "... on Wednesday, with the midterms in the rearview mirror -- and a potential crisis of the rule of law rapidly approaching -- Republican senator Jeff Flake and his Democratic colleague Chris Coons tried, once again, to persuade McConnell to allow a vote on the Special Counsel Independence and Integrity Act. 'He's said nobody's been fired and the special counsel is not in danger. That is not the case now,' Flake reasoned on Monday evening. But, in a shocking development, the Senate Majority Leader refused to provide the unanimous consent required to advance the bill Wednesday afternoon -- a move that raises the harrowing possibility that Mitch McConnell is not always honest about the motivations behind his procedural machinations."
Catherine Garcia of the Week: "... Robert Mueller's investigators are looking into whether Republican operative Roger Stone ... attempted to intimidate a witness, people who have spoken with Mueller's team told The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.... Witnesses told the Journal they were asked by the Mueller team about allegedly threatening messages Stone sent to [Randy] Credico, telling him he was going to 'sue the f[uc]k out of him and calling him a 'loser, a liar, and a rat.'" ...
... Anna Schecter of NBC News: "Six days before WikiLeaks began releasing Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta's emails, Roger Stone had a text message conversation with a friend about WikiLeaks, according to copies of phone records obtained exclusively by NBC News.... The text messages provided by Stone to NBC News show that [friend Randy] Credico appeared to be providing regular updates to Stone on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's plans in the days before the hacked emails were released. In the texts, Credico told Stone he had insights into Assange's plans through a longtime friend, who was also Assange's lawyer, according to the text messages."
Jonathan Chait: "The point [of Robert Mueller's investigation] is to establish legal accountability for the president. Well-functioning democracies don't have criminal oligarchies running the country with legal impunity. The kind of deep systemic corruption Trump is implementing, in which establishing a political alliance with a ruling family is a key step in amassing and protecting wealth, depends on selective legal enforcement. More to the point, it requires business partners. Maybe Donald Trump can't be hauled off to prison, but his partners can. And that prospect can scare off the collaborators Trump needs. Second, and more to the point, even if Robert Mueller can't kick Trump out of the White House directly and the Senate won't, there's a body of people who can: the 2020 electorate. And the Trump investigations are building a powerful case that will be brought to bear on that election.... The breadth of Trump's legal exposure exceeds that of any president in American history.... He barely managed to win the presidency as a brash, controversial novelty. He will have to win it a second time as a known crook." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: One thing Chait is not figuring into his 2020 calculation is that Americans like to give their presidents a second term even when the president isn't especially popular. Gerald Ford lost because Richard Nixon. Jimmy Carter lost because of double-digit inflation, an energy crisis (gas lines) & other problems like the Iran hostage fiasco. Bush I lost in a three-way race; Ross Perot was the "decider" of 1992 election. (Also linked yesterday.)
Melanie Gets Her Gal. Anne Gearan, et al., of the Washington Post: "As [Melania Trump's staff] prepared the flight manifest for the [first lady's trip to Africa], deputy national security adviser Mira Ricardel became angry that [no] seats on the first lady's government jet were assigned to ... Ricardel or another NSC staffer.... [Ricardel] threatened to revoke NSC resources associated with the trip, meaning no policy staff would advise the first lady during her visits to Ghana, Kenya, Malawi and Egypt. Bad blood between Ricardel and Melania Trump and her staff continued for weeks after the trip, with the first lady privately arguing that the NSC's No. 2 official was a corrosive influence in the White House and should be dismissed. But national security adviser John Bolton rebuffed the first lady and protected his deputy, prompting the first lady's spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, to issue an extraordinary statement to reporters Tuesday effectively calling for Ricardel's firing.... The first lady's statement came after months of tension in the White House over Ricardel's abrasive interactions with staffers in both the East Wing and the West Wing, according to several current and former staffers.... After an uncomfortable day of limbo, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders announced Wednesday evening that Ricardel was leaving the White House." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: If half of Ricardel's rap sheet is accurate, she has no business working anywhere she has to deal with, you know, people. Or animals. Or plants. Whining about a seat on the plane? I guess Ricardel didn't remember what happened to crybaby Newt Gingrich.
Nicole Gaouette & Elizabeth Landers of CNN: "... Donald Trump has nominated handbag designer Lana Marks to be the next US ambassador to South Africa. Marks a Florida resident and member of Trump's exclusive Mar-a-Lago resort, according to a source familiar with the club, was born and raised in South Africa, where she attended the University of the Witwatersrand and the Institute of Personnel Management in Johannesburg, the White House said in a statement.... Marks is known for luxury handbags in exotic animal skins, such as ostrich and alligator, with prices that can hover above $19,000. One of her more expensive creations, a $400,000 clutch, has been carried on the red carpet.... Described by the Palm Beach Daily as 'like Trump, a relentless self-promoter,' Marks speaks Afrikaans and Xhosa, two of South Africa's languages, according to the White House." Mrs. McC: According to New York mag (no link), "She'll be the fourth member of the club to be picked by Trump for an ambassadorship." Anyhow, she should fit right in with South Africa's political leaders. Maybe she can sell them some nice handbags.
Shawn Boburg & Robert O'Harrow of the Washington Post: "... Matthew G. Whitaker's path to the top of the Justice Department was decidedly offbeat. Over the past two decades, Whitaker -- now the acting attorney general -- has owned a day-care center, a concrete supply business and a trailer manufacturer, state records show. He led a taxpayer-subsidized effort to build affordable housing in Des Moines, but he walked away from the stalled project two years ago after the city threatened him with a lawsuit. In 2004, when he started a five-year stint as U.S. attorney in the Southern District of Iowa, Whitaker cited a personal-injury case and a dispute involving a dry-cleaning business as some of his most consequential legal work. When he left office, he started a modest legal practice and a short-lived lobbying and consulting firm.... One White House official acknowledged that Whitaker, who had been [Jeff] Sessions's chief of staff, received little vetting.... In a statement, Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said he underwent 'all the usual vetting and procedures' and is qualified for the job. 'Acting AG Whitaker has litigated both criminal and civil cases, both as a U.S. Attorney and throughout his years in private practice,' she said." ...
... Tom Hamburger, et al., of the Washington Post: "Acting attorney general Matthew G. Whitaker received early warnings that customers were complaining that an invention-marketing company he advised might be a fraud, according to several people familiar with his role, but Whitaker vigorously defended the company and remained on its board until joining the Justice Department in 2017.... The company shut down in May and agreed to pay a settlement of nearly $26 million to resolve a wide-ranging Federal Trade Commission complaint that it bilked customers.... Ed Magedson, the founder of the Arizona-based Ripoff Report, said he received a phone call from Whitaker in early 2015 after the website posted complaints about World Patent Marketing. 'He threatened me, using foul language,' said Magedson, whose website sells companies a program to improve their reputation among consumers. 'He threatened to sue and to ruin my business if I did not remove the "false reports."' At one point, Whitaker said he would refer Ripoff Report to the Department of Homeland Security, Magedson said.... 'He was yelling.'... Justice Department officials have said Whitaker served in a limited capacity as an outside legal adviser to World Patent Marketing and was not involved in the company's day-to-day operations.... When the FTC subpoenaed Whitaker for his records related to the company in October 2017, he failed to provide any information, telling investigators that he was busy at that time moving from Iowa to Washington for a new job, the people said. At the time, Whitaker was preparing to assume his post as chief of staff to then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions." ...
... ** Jack Holmes of Esquire writes "An Exhaustive Timeline of Our New Acting Attorney General's Astoundingly Crooked Career. Year by year, the onetime Iowa tight end descended into grifting and scamming. He's a perfect match for his new boss.... Trump has appointed an unscrupulous grifter to be Acting Attorney General of the United States, because that is exactly the kind of person he attracts. He does this because he thinks he can get away with it. His base, and the spineless Republicans in the Senate, will let him. Will the rest of us?" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie Note: When I played the video, it had an ad (Elizabeth Warren scolding about something for me; maybe something different for you) halfway thru, but there was more to following.
... Ryan Reilly of the Huffington Post: "The Justice Department's quasi-judicial Office of Legal Counsel told ... Donald Trump before he forced former Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign that he could appoint an official who had not been confirmed by the Senate, like acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker, to take his place. A 20-page OLC opinion authored by Assistant Attorney General Steven Engel, released by the Justice Department on Wednesday, states that OLC had 'previously advised that the President could designate a senior Department of Justice official, such as Mr. Whitaker, as Acting Attorney General.' The OLC opinion conceded that it was rare for the acting attorney general to be an individual not confirmed by the Senate. The only example they found was from 1866, before the creation of the Justice Department. Nevertheless, the opinion concluded that Trump's appointment of Whitaker would be legitimate." The article includes a copy of the opinion. (Also linked yesterday.)
Laura Meckler of the Washington Post: "Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is set to release a sweeping overhaul of how colleges and universities must handle allegations of sexual assault and harassment, giving new rights to the accused, including the ability to cross-examine their accusers, people familiar with the matter said. The proposal is set for release before Thanksgiving, possibly this week, and replaces less formal guidance issued by the Obama administration in 2011. The new rules would reduce liability for universities, tighten the definition of sexual harassment, and allow schools to use a higher standard in evaluating claims of sexual harassment and assault.... The new direction has been welcomed by men's rights groups, who say the Obama guidelines were weighted in favor of the accusers, and by some university administrators who found the Obama version overly prescriptive and confusing. The proposed rule will dodge a related controversial matter regarding the rights of transgender students."
Suzy Khimm, et al., of NBC News: "From his earliest days in office, HUD Secretary Ben Carson has repeatedly said he joined the Trump administration to fix the 'rats, roaches, bed bugs, mold, lead and violence' that he witnessed as a surgeon in low-income communities. Under the Trump administration, the number of HUD apartments cited for unsafe, unhealthy and physically deteriorating living conditions has been on the rise. An NBC News investigation has found that more than 1,000 out of HUD's nearly 28,000 federally subsidized multifamily properties failed their most recent inspection -- a failure rate that is more than 30 percent higher than in 2016, according to an analysis of HUD records.... HUD has lost hundreds of staff members in the wake of a hiring freeze mandated by ... Donald Trump. HUD's enforcement office, tasked with going after the worst landlords, now has the lowest staff levels since 1999, according to a federal watchdog.... A dozen current and former HUD officials -- both political appointees and career staff -- also describe a climate of inertia under Carson that they say is undermining the department's work."
Bad, Worse, Worst. Ed Kilgore: "... Kevin McCarthy was elected House Minority Leader in a surprisingly easy 159-43 victory over conservative leader Jim Jordan of Ohio, a founding member of the ever-fractious House Freedom Caucus. McCarthy, previously the second-ranking House Republican, will succeed retiring Speaker Paul Ryan as leader of a diminished GOP band in the lower chamber.... House Republicans quietly lifted Steve Scalise to the No. 2 leadership position (he retains the same title, Whip), while electing Liz Cheney -- you-know-who's daughter -- to the No. 3 position as chair of the House GOP Conference." ...
... Kyle Cheney, et al., of Politico: "House Republicans immediately resumed a wartime posture Wednesday after electing their new leadership -- vowing to aggressively resist Democrats' agenda and work to recapture the House majority after being routed in last week's elections. In his first news conference after Republicans chose him to be House minority leader next year, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) largely attributed the GOP wipeout to historical trends while also repeatedly blaming spending by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg as the cause of several Republican defeats in close contests." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: According to Open Secrets, Democrats took in about $1,463MM, or nearly $1.5BB, in contributions this election cycle. Mike Bloomberg reportedly gave (or at least pledged) $100MM to Democratic candidates for the House & Senate. That is a boatload of money, but it also is less than seven percent of Democrats' total take. HOWEVER, Mike Bloomberg is Jewish. He has a "Jewish-sounding" name. He was mayor of a city with the largest Jewish population in the world. If you don't think McCarthy's fingering Bloomberg was another anti-Semitic dogwhistle to the GOP bigot base, then you don't know Kevin McCarthy.
Election 2018
Of the White Men, By the White Men, For the White Men. Ben Jacobs of the Guardian: "Pictures of the newly elected members of the House of Representatives have highlighted a stark difference between the diversity of incoming Democrats and incoming Republicans.... The proportion of white men within the Democratic caucus is set to drop from 41% to 38% next year, while the same percentage is set to rise among Republicans from 86% to 90%."
Florida. Sean Sullivan & Isaac Stanley-Becker of the Washington Post: "Florida's historic recount was thrown once more into uncertainty Thursday when a federal judge ruled that voters whose mail-in and provisional ballots were rejected because of issues with their signatures will have two more days to resolve the problems and possibly have their votes counted. The decision by Judge Mark Walker of the U.S. District Court in Tallahassee came just hours ahead of the Thursday afternoon deadline for elections officials to complete a machine recount. It is particularly notable in the too-close-to-call Senate race, in which Gov. Rick Scott (R) leads Sen. Bill Nelson (D) by fewer than 13,000 votes.... The judge concluded that mail-in voters weren't notified of the discrepancy until it was too late to fix, while state law gives provisional voters no opportunity to resolve apparent signature irregularities." ...
... Glenn Thrush, et al., of the New York Times: "At least 5,000 ballots from all voters -- and perhaps twice that many -- were left uncounted across Florida as a result of signature mismatches, according to various estimates from the Florida secretary of state and analysts examining the latest data.... A particular vulnerability was documented in a pre-election study by the American Civil Liberties Union in Florida, which found that young voters were more likely to have their mail-in ballots rejected because, in part, they did not use their handwriting enough to develop a steady signature.... Most schools, parochial or otherwise, no longer teach penmanship -- and only about 10 states still retain cursive writing requirements in their curriculum guides.... Yet the signature remains the main means of identifying voters in Florida and many other states, despite research showing that signatures change as people age, become ill, fall out of practice or are simply in a rush." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: One Floridian whose ballot was rejected because of a so-called signature mismatch: "Patrick Murphy, a former Democratic congressman from South Florida... He only found out after the 5 p.m. deadline on Nov. 6 had passed." So a former Congressman's vote didn't count. I too voted absentee, so I don't know if my vote counted (tho I did not get a reject notification). ...
... Crazy Old White Guy Invents New Voter Fraud Conspiracy Theory. David Smith of the Guardian: "Donald Trump has claimed without evidence that people wear disguises to vote illegally in Florida.... 'The Republicans don't win and that's because of potentially illegal votes,' Trump told the conservative Daily Caller website. 'When people get in line that have absolutely no right to vote and they go around in circles. Sometimes they go to their car, put on a different hat, put on a different shirt, come in and vote again. Nobody takes anything. It's really a disgrace what's going on.' He also called for new national ID laws with a bizarre assertion: 'If you buy a box of cereal -- you have a voter ID.'" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Yes, Donald, the surly clerks at the Piggly Wiggly are always making me show my voter ID card. Even when I wear my "I voted" sticker, they card-check me. This past summer, Trump falsely claimed Americans needed picture IDs to buy groceries. Now he's upped it to a voter IDs. This would mean that you have to register to vote to buy groceries. A non-citizen, an ex-felon, a 16-year-old -- anyone who is ineligible to vote -- will starve to death if he can't forage for food. The claim is beyond absurd. No one would believe this one. Well, maybe someone: if you notice a person showing his voter ID at Publix, he's a Trumpbot.
New Jersey. Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "Andy Kim, a New Jersey Democrat who had been locked in a neck-and-neck race for Congress, has defeated his Republican opponent, a two-term incumbent and staunch ally of President Trump, according to a final vote tally. After a drawn-out vote count, Mr. Kim, a former national security adviser under President Barack Obama, was declared the winner by a slim margin, beating Representative Tom MacArthur, who wrote a key amendment in the effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, according to The Associated Press. The victory by Mr. Kim caps a devastating midterm election for Republicans in New Jersey. With 11 Democrats now holding House seats, Representative Chris Smith is the lone Republican in Washington from New Jersey; the last time Democrats had such a large advantage Woodrow Wilson was in the Oval Office."
Utah. Robert Gehrke of the Salt Lake Tribune: "Since election night, [Rep.] Mia Love's [R] campaign has hung its hopes on ballots counted after election night being better for her than the ones that were reported after polls closed. So far they've been right, and Wednesday's results out of Salt Lake County were a huge blow to Democrat Ben McAdams. Love won the day, taking 6,318 of the new votes to 5,964 for McAdams. That cut McAdams' lead to 873 votes, with about 64,000 ballots still to come from both Utah and Salt Lake counties.... Love's campaign filed a lawsuit Wednesday morning, demanding they should have a right to challenge ballots in Salt Lake County -- which frankly looked like a last-ditch effort to fight off every possible Democratic ballot. But she may not need it."
Nolan McCaskill & John Bresnahan of Politico: "The Congressional Black Caucus passed a vote of no confidence in Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez on Wednesday, the latest sign of lingering bad blood between lawmakers on Capitol Hill and the Democratic Party's top official."
Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. "Delay, Deny & Deflect." Sheera Frenkel, et al., of the New York Times: "... as evidence accumulated that Facebook's power could ... be exploited to disrupt elections, broadcast viral propaganda and inspire deadly campaigns of hate around the globe, [Mark] Zuckerberg and [Sheryl] Sandberg stumbled. Bent on growth, the pair ignored warning signs and then sought to conceal them from public view. At critical moments over the last three years, they were distracted by personal projects, and passed off security and policy decisions to subordinates, according to current and former executives. When Facebook users learned last spring that the company had compromised their privacy in its rush to expand, allowing access to the personal information of tens of millions of people to a political data firm linked to President Trump, Facebook sought to deflect blame and mask the extent of the problem. And when that failed -- as the company's stock price plummeted and it faced a consumer backlash -- Facebook went on the attack.... Ms. Sandberg has overseen an aggressive lobbying campaign to combat Facebook's critics, shift public anger toward rival companies and ward off damaging regulation. Facebook employed a Republican opposition-research firm to discredit activist protesters, in part by linking them to the liberal financier George Soros. It also tapped its business relationships, lobbying a Jewish civil rights group to cast some criticism of the company as anti-Semitic." ...
... Max Read of New York: "Having heard from scores of politicians, activists, academics, and even former employees about the dangerous effects of 'fake news' influence campaigns, Facebook finally landed on a solution: Create its own. As they say, if you can't beat 'em, hire a Republican opposition-research firm to write blog posts 'play[ing] down the impact of Russians' use of Facebook.' According to the Times, in October 2017 Facebook hired a political consultancy called Definers Public Affairs -- whose Silicon Valley branch is run by Tim Miller, a former Jeb Bush staffer and contributor at Crooked Media -- to apply 'political campaign tactics' and 'campaign-style opposition research' to Facebook's public-relations campaign. One of these tactics? Seed the conservative blogosphere with 'positive content ... about your company and negative content ... about your competitor[.]'"
Michael Finnegan & James Queally of the Los Angeles Times: "Michael Avenatti, the lawyer for porn actress Stormy Daniels, has been arrested in Los Angeles on suspicion of domestic violence, police said. The celebrity attorney was arrested around 2 p.m. Wednesday ... based on allegations stemming from an incident that took place in West L.A. on Tuesday, said ... a Los Angeles Police Department spokesman. Avenatti has lived in a luxury apartment complex in that section of Century City. The allegations were made by a woman who had 'visible injuries,' including bruises, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Avenatti was released after posting $50,000 bond late Wednesday.... 'I have never struck a woman,' he said. 'I will never strike a woman.'"
Chris Mooney & Brady Dennis of the Washington Post: "Scientists behind a major study that claimed the Earth's oceans are warming faster than previously thought now say their work contained inadvertent errors that made their conclusions seem more certain than they actually are. Two weeks after the high-profile study was published in the journal Nature, its authors have submitted corrections to the publication. The Scripps Institution of Oceanography, home to several of the researchers involved, also noted the problems in the scientists' work and corrected a news release on its website, which previously had asserted that the study detailed how the Earth's oceans 'have absorbed 60 percent more heat than previously thought.'... The central conclusion of the study -- that oceans are retaining ever more energy as more heat is being trapped within Earth's climate system each year -- ... hasn't changed much despite the errors." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: This is a normal kind of error that one would expect to occur occasionally -- and is in fact one reason scientists publish their studies in popular journals like Nature. Trying to replicate results is part of the process. Unfortunately, the person who discovered the study's central error -- a British mathematician named Nic Lewis -- is a climate change skeptic. So of course wingers are having ... a day at the beach, so to speak. ...
... RAS, in yesterday's thread: "The fact that scientists didn't automatically dismiss Lewis is another point in their favor. The wingers ignore any information that doesn't come come from one of their preapproved sources. Scientists on the other hand have an open mind and are willing to accept criticism. They can adjust their views and incorporate new information no matter where it comes from. It is why one group deals in facts and the other deals mainly in fantasy."
Meet One of Trump's "Very Fine People." Jessica Schulberg, et al., of the Huffington Post: "Jeffrey Clark, the 30-year-old man federal agents arrested [in Washington, D.C.,] Friday after he called the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting a 'dry run' and his relatives worried he might try to launch a race war, wasn't shy about being a neo-Nazi. In April 2017, when someone asked Clark at a White House rally organized by 'alt-right' coiner Richard Spencer whether he considered himself a fascist, he said no ― he considered himself a Nazi. Antifa activists photographed him at the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017. He has posed for pictures in front of Nazi symbols and holding Nazi memorabilia. On Gab, the favored social network of racists and anti-Semites, Clark had the username @PureWhiteEvil and called himself 'DC Bowl Gang,' a reference to Dylann Roof, the bowl-cut racist who murdered nin black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015." (Also linked yesterday.)
Way Beyond the Beltway
Stephen Castle of the New York Times: "Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain faced down hard-line critics Wednesday and won the support of a jittery and divided cabinet for a plan to quit the European Union, preserving her push to avert an economically damaging rupture with the bloc in March. For Mrs. May, frequently criticized as wooden and lacking in strategic thinking, the victory represented a rare validation of her leadership. It also provided a glimmer of light at the end of the Brexit tunnel." ...
... Oopsy Update. William Booth & Karla Adam of the Washington Post: "The minister in charge of helping Britain leave the European Union, Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab, abruptly resigned from Prime Minister Theresa May's government on Thursday morning, saying he could not support the withdrawal agreement approved by her cabinet the night before. It was a stinging setback for May. Also quitting their posts were two other ministers and a junior minister in the Brexit ministry. The rapid-fire resignations sent shudders through London and E.U. headquarters in Brussels, raising the possibility that May does not have the support she needs to pursue her deal for a softer, slower-moving Brexit, a plan loaded with compromises that few in Britain like."
Ben Hubbard of the New York Times: "Saudi Arabia's public prosecutor said on Thursday that he was requesting the death penalty for five people suspected of involvement in the killing of the Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi at the country's consulate in Istanbul. Speaking to reporters in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, a spokesman for the public prosecutor said that the 15-man team sent to confront Mr. Khashoggi had orders to return him to the kingdom, but instead made a decision on the spot to kill him after he resisted. The statement was the kingdom's latest effort to explain the killing on Oct. 2 of Mr. Khashoggi, a Virginia resident who wrote columns for The Washington Post that were critical of some Saudi policies."
News Lede
New York Times: "Roy Clark, the country singer and multi-instrumentalist best known as a longtime host of 'Hee Haw,' the television variety show that brought country music to millions of households each week, died on Thursday at his home in Tulsa, Okla. He was 85."
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Reader Comments (16)
One of the great things about our society is how quickly many turn the outrageous into comedy. The blowback from the bombastic buffoon's voter disguise nonsense and the voter I.D. needed to buy cereal brought on some hilarious come-backs. (see Huff-po). How does the b.b. receive these twitters? Hardly can he brush them aside–-call them fake. Poor b.b., these tweets put him in a sour state of mind so that even his diet cokes taste bad.
Once when I was being questioned by a lawyer during a court proceeding for jury selection I answered the question "Do you think you have common sense?" to which I answered, "it depends on what you mean by "common sense." Because this lawyer was representing the side that was rejecting restrictions on guns near school districts I felt comfortable being a smart ass. We all know what that term means just as we know what common decency means and the fact that the French have chided Trump for his lack of it should wake him up a bit from his "we are the envy of the world" business.
Facebook's insistence it only wants to connect people (a world-wide love-in) it was in fact imitating some of the worst behavior on F.B. to counter the barrage of negative stories the company was facing. Here's a piece by Alex Shepard that spells it out:
https://newrepublic.com/article/152253/facebook-betrayed-america
Just viewed Colbert: Again–-turning the outrageous into comedy–-this is so funny and ain't it purty that Whitaker thinks so bigly jest like his boss man–-pisses in the toilet for the mushroom crowd of the frozen ball brigade. Love it!
THE EGREGIOUS LIE AMERICANS TELL THEMSELVES:
Jacob Backarach
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-egregious-lie-americans-tell-themselves/
Guys, you won't believe it, but Trump is RIGHT!
An old friend of mine now living in Florida sent me this picture of the disguise she used to vote 142 times in six different counties.
That Trump. How does he figure these things out? Must be like a stable genius or sumthin'.
PD,
I'm sure that attorney who was working for a group all in on guns for everyone hanging around a school was asking you if you had common sense because he was hoping you might lend him some. I'm guessing a second grader, upon hearing that he was helping people who wanted to decorate the school with AK's and Glocks asked him the same question and he realized that he couldn't reply in the affirmative.
Yeah, I'm sure that was it.
Can any of you guys send me a banana or an apple?
I stopped at a little store on the way into work to buy a banana for a snack but I forgot my Federal Snack ID. Sheesh.
Now I'll have to wait until lunch. Hope I can find my Federal Lunch ID by then. I might try to get away with using my Federal Dinner in a $ Restaurant ID. But maybe not. If I get caught, it'll be the big house for me. Or they might take it away and make me use my Federal Dinner in a $$$ Restaurant ID, you know, the kinda places where they charge you for water?
Luckily I still have my Federal Right to Buy a Book Approved by Trump ID. Oh, not that I ever use that one, but it serves as a handy coaster now and then which I'll use to support my $5 glass of water in the $$$ restaurant. I go to one of those secret underground bookstores where you can buy books that don't have "Patriot, patriot, patriot" and "Real American" and "How Liberals Destroy Everything" in the titles.
But dang, I'm gettin' a tad peckish here without that banana. Wish I had my Vending Machine ID.
All the Best People
So just in the last couple of days we're hearing about some of the Best People who work (or formerly worked) for Fatty.
This Whitaker character. Man he sounds like doozy. An itinerant con man and classic winger grifter. Moves from job to job, con to con, grifting all along the way with the occasional violent threats against any who try to expose his illegal rackets.
Then there's this Mira Ricardel who threatens to withhold national security support and background information if she doesn't get a seat on the plane.
Where in the holy hell do these people come from and how are they collecting a paycheck backed by my money? Did they all just rise up from some shithole when Trump was elected and stumble, zombie-like in the direction of the White House sure of a job, because all the other undead Confederate grifters were already flashing their WH credentials around at the winger zombie bars?
The Brexit mess is a perfect example of what happens when a right-wing con job comes undone. People in Britain are writhing through this jumble because far right con artists like Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson sold a large number of voters on their scam, positing it as a populist revolt. We know how bad the consequences of such lies and con artistry can be. We're going through our own fake populist revolution orchestrated by the right in order to shove a fake president into the White House. Not to help the middle class, mind you, but to belly up to the trough with their billionaire donors.
So with the Passion of Theresa May on full display, and her future as PM on the line, the Farages and Johnsons are getting another laugh at everyone's expense. Whatever happens, they make out. If Brexit does go through, they'll crow "victory" again. If it turns out to be the economic nightmare it looks to be, they'll blame Labor or some British version of the Deep State because, as we know all too well, when some right-wing scam goes awry, they are never at fault.
Just like Confederates in this country who have been trying to chloroform the ACA with no plan to replace it, the Brexit conservatives have no real plan as to what to do after the EU is in their rear view mirror. They'll declare themselves wonderful and move on to the next scam.
The universal right-wing way in the 21st century.
@Akhilleus: I'd send you a bunch of bananas, but I'm laughing too hard to drive to the grocery store. I guess that leaves you to fend for yourself on the popular Trump Diet.
The Brexit mess is a perfect example of what happens when a right-wing con job comes undone. People in Britain are writhing through this jumble because far right con artists like Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson sold a large number of voters on their scam, positing it as a populist revolt. We know how bad the consequences of such lies and con artistry can be. We're going through our own fake populist revolution orchestrated by the right in order to shove a fake president into the White House. Not to help the middle class, mind you, but to belly up to the trough with their billionaire donors.
So with the Passion of Theresa May on full display, and her future as PM on the line, the Farages and Johnsons are getting another laugh at everyone's expense. Whatever happens, they make out. If Brexit does go through, they'll crow "victory" again. If it turns out to be the economic nightmare it looks to be, they'll blame Labor or some British version of the Deep State because, as we know all too well, when some right-wing scam goes awry, they are never at fault.
Just like Confederates in this country who have been trying to chloroform the ACA with no plan to replace it, the Brexit conservatives have no real plan as to what to do after the EU is in their rear view mirror. They'll declare themselves wonderful and move on to the next scam.
The universal right-wing way in the 21st century.
Marie,
Thanks anyway. But Trump Diet? Gross. I hate McDonalds.
"The Longest Day" was a fine book and a good war movie, both presenting an America of can-do heroes who tackled high odds and magnificently succeeded.
The Longest Election is in startling contrast. I'll avoid the "if we can put a man on the moon..." trope and just say this:
A functioning democracy depends on many things, and winning a war against state autocracies has to be high on the list, but it would seem most essential to a democracy is an election system that allows all eligible voters to cast their ballots, counts them fairly, and that announces the certified results quickly, not giving time for those who don't like the results to mount extended legal and PR campaigns disputing them, casting doubt on not the results but the system itself.
This month's election tells us again how far we are from that ideal. As of yesterday, our county has counted only two-thirds of its ballots because an unfortunate ballot fold rendered the machine count inaccurate. Old machines in Florida over-heat. The tallying takes for seeming ever. And underlying it all is a growing electorate whose sheer numbers alone overburden antiquated and underfunded election infrastructures.
I understand those states with mail-in ballots have to allow two-three weeks for all ballots to trickle in, which sometimes makes determining winners even harder, but while I support the mail-in system for opening the franchise door wider, there has to be some bright idea out there somewhere that will make it function more efficiently.
That's at the receiving end. At the other is all the voter suppression measures taken by those who don't much like democracy in the first place.
Our election system is a shambles, and the worse it gets, the better it is for the enemies of democracy. I understand why the anti-democratic Repugnants like it that way. It gives them manifold opportunities to question and attack the only force that can stand against them, the people themselves.
With that said, I will not understand if the newly elected House does not sponsor a series of bills to shore up and improve our elections. Money in their budgets for equipment upgrades and the workers necessary to handle the tsunami of ballots. Legislation to standardize voting procedures across the nation. A national voting holiday. A new Voting Rights Act. All this and more.
Many of our new House Dems rode promises about healthcare to D.C. But if we can't strengthen our election system and bring it into the 21st Century, they won't be there long enough to fix healthcare or much of anything else.
2020 already looms.
Getting my 'local' news first from Bea...so Democrat Jared Golden beat Republicaan Bruce Poliquin in Maine! Yaaaaaaaah!
Do I a recall a saying, "...as Maine goes, so goes the Nation."??
Let's continue the trend....
@MAG: The upside: the Democrat won. The downside: the Republican is suing to contest the election, claiming he won because the structure of the election itself is unconstitutional. As Maine goes, so might go the nation in 2020. (At least the Republican -- so far -- has not taken up arms against the people to make sure he gets another term.)
Marie wrote:
"At least the Republican -- so far -- has not taken up arms against the people to make sure he gets another term."
Not yet, but the Glorious Leader, Fatty the Fascist, during his run to steal the White House, reflected on the possibility that "Second Amendment types" might want to help him out by assassinating his opponent, so you never know.
And don't overlook the very real possibility that should the Dear Leader lose in 2020, he won't accept the result of the election as legitimate and will call upon his brownshirts and his anti-democratic Fox allies to "help".
We are so close to true totalitarianism. We are like the frog in the boiling pot. Too many Americans (by that I mean the real real Americans, those who believe in the rule of law and constitutional democracy, not the Foxbot ignoramuses and haters) assume that all will be well, and believe there's no way we can slip into Nazi Germany style authoritarian fascism.
I'm sure plenty of Germans in 1933 felt the same way.
So did people in Franco's Spain. And Mussolini's Italy, and Japan, or contemporary Brazil.
Or the United States of Amerika in 2016.
I foolishly turned on the radio in my Nashville rental car today. They were yammering on about 77,000 "found' ballots in Florida, no chain of custody, "This is a dry run for Democrats stealing the 2020 election." It's dark and nutty out there.
As far as I can tell, the largest counties that vote blue in Florida are severely underfunded regarding voting infrastructure. The R propaganda will just write itself.