;)
The Commentariat -- November 10, 2019
Afternoon Update:
GOP Prepares Looney-Tunes Trump Defense. Michael Shear & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "House Republicans on Saturday offered the latest glimpse of their strategy to fight against impeachment by demanding testimony from figures at the center of President Trump's favorite unsubstantiated theories: the son of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., a researcher loosely connected to an anti-Trump dossier, a Democratic official and a board member of a Ukrainian energy company. Rather than shy away from conspiracies that Mr. Trump's own government has repeatedly disavowed or played down, the Republicans' requests suggest their willingness to conduct a scorched-earth strategy as they respond to nearly a month of blockbuster revelations about pressure campaigns involving military aid, diplomatic shakedowns and rogue actions by the president's personal lawyer.... At the same time, the party is preparing to vigorously contest the Democratic case for impeachment on its own terms, people familiar with the plans said."
Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "Two of President Trump's senior advisers undermined and ignored him in what they claimed was an effort to 'save the country,' former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley claims in a new memoir. Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and former White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly sought to recruit her to work around and subvert Trump, but she refused, Haley writes in a new book, 'With All Due Respect.'... 'Kelly and Tillerson confided in me that when they resisted the president, they weren't being insubordinate, they were trying to save the country,' Haley wrote. 'It was their decisions, not the president's, that were in the best interests of America, they said. The president didn't know what he was doing,' Haley wrote of the views the two men held.... In the book, which was obtained by The Washington Post ahead of its release Tuesday, Haley offers only glancing critiques of her former boss, saying she and others who worked for Trump had an obligation to carry out his wishes since he was the one elected by voters."
Zack Budryk of the Hill: "National security adviser Robert O'Brien on Sunday defended the U.S. response to Turkey's incursion into northern Syria, adding that the Trump administration is 'very upset' about Ankara's purchase of Russian missiles.... O'Brien said on CBS's 'Face the Nation,' ... that 'there will likely be sanctions' if Turkey does not 'get rid of' the weapons.' 'There's no place in NATO for the S-400 [missile defense system], there's no place in NATO for significant Russian military purchases, and that's a message that the president will deliver to [President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan] very clearly when he's here in Washington,' O'Brien added. O'Brien similarly said the U.S. remains 'very concerned' about possible Turkish war crimes in northern Syria, insisting 'we're not rewarding the behavior, the president put on sanctions.' Host Margaret Brennan noted, however, that the sanctions were lifted after the U.S.-brokered ceasefire between Turkey and Kurdish forces." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: If Trump talks turkey to Erdogan this week, it will be a first. More likely, Trump with slobber all over Erdogan, who is on Trump's top-ten list of favorite autocratic world leaders.
Rishika Dugyala of Politico: "The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff doesn't see a clear end to the American presence in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria -- nations facing down the threat of the Islamic State and other dangerous groups. Gen. Mark Milley on Sunday said the mission to ensure Afghanistan isn't a terrorist haven is 'not yet complete.' That mission won't be complete until the country's government and security forces are able to sustain their own internal security, he added.... Milley said Sunday that around 500 to 600 troops remain in the area and acknowledged the possibility of an ISIS reemergence without maintaining pressure."
Stephanie Taylor of the Tuscaloosa News: "A Donald Trump supporter slashed the Baby Trump balloon on display at Monnish Park Saturday that protesters were using to protest the president's visit to Tuscaloosa. Hoyt Hutchinson, 32, was charged with felony first-degree criminal mischief Saturday after Tuscaloosa Police officers witnessed him use a knife to cut an eight-foot gash in the 20-foot-high, 13-foot-wide inflatable. The Tuscaloosa County man posted a Facebook Live video, announcing his plans to damage the inflatable that depicts Trump as a crying baby wearing a diaper and holding a cellphone. He had bonded out and was watching the game by the third quarter, asking for people to contribute to one of the many GoFundMe accounts set up for anticipated legal fees."
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Manu Raju, Jeremy Herb & Marshall Cohen of CNN read all 2,677 pages of witness deposition transcripts released so far, and here's what they learned from them. A pretty good summary, and when you think of the sifting & winnowing it took, a hefty effort. "Trump has continued to rail on Twitter and in public on his phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, calling it a 'perfect' call. But the Democrats' case now goes far beyond that conversation. The officials who have testified explained how the push for Ukraine to investigate the President's political opponents was already underway well before the call occurred and for weeks after the President urged Zelensky to investigate the Bidens.... One witness after another knocked down some of the core arguments that Trump and his allies have been making." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: A major complication is that all of the main guys -- Trump & those who spoke directly to him about Ukraine -- are liars and/or aren't talking. Trump of course lies more often than the sun rises; Pompeo, Mulvaney & Sondland all have been caught in lies, and Pompeo, Mulvaney & Bolton have not testified. Neither have Pence & Perry. So far, the best sources of "Trump's thinking" on the matter are Trump, Mulvaney & Sondland, and all of them have changed their stories somewhere along the line. Bolton has not told his. But then, that's what happens with conspiracies: everybody lies.
** Looks as if Trump Never Released Ukraine Aid; State Did. Rachel Frazin of the Hill: "The State Department released military aid to Ukraine before President Trump announced that he had stopped withholding it on Sept. 11, Bloomberg reported reported Saturday, citing five people familiar with the matter. State Department lawyers had found earlier this year that the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and therefore Trump could not legally block the aid, Bloomberg reported, noting that this determination resulted in the release of the $141 million. OMB spokeswoman Rachel Semmel challenged this narrative in a statement to The Hill.... Bloomberg reported that then-national security adviser John Bolton on Sept. 9 told the State Department that the funding could go ahead. It is reportedly unclear whether President Trump had approved this move. One person familiar with the matter told the news outlet that White House officials viewed the move as a protocol violation and that it had surprised acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney." ~~~
~~~ Bob Brigham of the Raw Story: "'The State Department decision, which hasn't been reported previously, stemmed from a legal finding made earlier in the year, and conveyed in a classified memorandum to Secretary of State Michael Pompeo. State Department lawyers found the White House Office of Management and Budget, and thus the president, had no legal standing to block spending of the Ukraine aid,' Bloomberg explained. The report highlights how the administration was divided over the funding, with acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney -- who is also the director of the Office of Management and budget supporting Trump's decision to block the aid, while others, including then-National Security Advisor John Bolton, reportedly wanted the funds released." More on Bolton linked under "Trump Lit Corner." Trump Lit being an oxymoron. ~~~
~~~ Mary Papenfuss of the Huffington Post: "Trump has claimed he released the aid September 11 ... after a plea from GOP Ohio Sen. Rob Portman. 'He called up, "Please let the money go,"' Trump said. But five sources told Bloomberg that $141 million of the money was actually authorized to be released several days earlier after lawyers determined that the White House Office of Management and Budget and, therefore, the president, had no legal standing to block the funds. The decision was outlined in a classified memo to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, according to Bloomberg. Other details of the memo were not revealed. The information severely undercuts Trump's insistence that there was no military aid quid pro quo when he pressed Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in a July phone call to launch a groundless investigation into his political rival Joe Biden and his son. Trump has pointed to the fact that he released the aid before a probe was begun. But Bloomberg now reports that he was no longer in control of disbursement when the money was released.... Acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor testified that it was the legal offices at ... both the State and Defense departments that decided they were 'going to move forward with this assistance -- OMB notwithstanding.'" ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: The Bloomberg story is something of a blockbuster in that it gets us closer to understanding what Politico reporters Kyle Cheney & Andrew Desiderio described as the "unsolved mystery" (also linked yesterday) of the Ukraine matter: how the freezing of the aid package was handled. We now have a better idea of how the aid was "defrosted": Bolton & some State Department lawyers just did it, in much the same way Trump officials often resolve critical matters: they defied Trump's illegal order.
Mulvaney v. Trump. Peter Baker & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Even in a White House of never-befores, this may be one of the more head-spinning: The president's chief of staff is trying to join a lawsuit against the president. Mick Mulvaney works only about 50 steps from the Oval Office as he runs the White House staff but rather than simply obey President Trump's order to not cooperate with House impeachment investigators, he sent his lawyers to court late Friday night asking a judge whether he should or not. To obtain such a ruling, the lawyers asked to join a lawsuit already filed by a former White House official -- a lawsuit that names 'the Honorable Donald J. Trump' as a defendant along with congressional leaders.... In effect, Mr. Mulvaney hopes the court will tell him whether to listen to his own boss, who wants him to remain silent, or to comply with a subpoena from the House, which wants his testimony. That put Mr. Mulvaney at odds with some other current White House and administration officials who had simply defied the House, citing the president's order not to cooperate with what he called an illegitimate 'witch hunt.'"
Revolt of the "Deep State." Michael Crowley, et al., of the New York Times: "State Department Foreign Service officers usually express their views in formal diplomatic cables, but these days they are using closed Facebook groups and encrypted apps to convey their pride in Marie L. Yovanovitch, the ousted ambassador to Ukraine, whose House testimony opened the floodgates on the impeachment inquiry into President Trump. #GoMasha is their rallying cry. In private conversations, they trade admiring notes about career State Department officials like William B. Taylor Jr. and George P. Kent, who delivered damning testimony about a shadow Ukraine policy infected by partisan politics and presidential conspiracy theories, and William V. Roebuck, a senior diplomat in Syria who wrote a searing memo on how Mr. Trump abandoned the Kurds and upended American influence. And they are opening their wallets to help raise money -- including nearly $10,000 last Monday alone -- to offset the legal bills of department officials called to testify before Congress.... As a parade of department officials has recounted to lawmakers how policy was hijacked by partisan politics, many career diplomats say they have been inspired by their colleagues' willingness to stand up to far more powerful voices after nearly three years of being ignored or disparaged by Mr. Trump and those he has chosen to lead the department."
Daniel Dale of CNN: "... Donald Trump has made a systematic and highly dishonest attempt to discredit the whistleblower who filed the complaint about his July phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump kept it up at his campaign rally in Louisiana on Wednesday night. Appearing to break from his script, he delivered such a rapid series of false, misleading and bizarre claims about the whistleblower that we couldn't type quickly enough to keep up in real time. His barrage was in keeping with his general strategy toward the whistleblower: muddy the waters by saying such inaccurate and confusing things with such frequency that the public can't keep track of what's true and what's false." --s
Marty Johnson of The Hill: "FBI Director Christopher Wray on Tuesday appeared in front of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, where he was questioned by Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.). One of the first questions the 2020 White House hopeful asked Wray was whether he knew if President Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani 'holds any security clearance of any kind.' 'I don't know the answer to that,' Wray replied.... Giuliani ... isn't an official employee of the federal government, which is why Harris and other congressional Democrats are interested in what level of security clearance Giuliani has or previously had." --s
Kara Scannell, et al. of CNN: "The story of [Lev] Parnas' and [Igor] Fruman's unlikely path to becoming subjects of interest in the impeachment inquiry is traced through shell companies, ballooning debts, fraud allegations and interviews with more than a dozen people. There are still unanswered questions about how they bankrolled their journey.... [Rudy] Giuliani has also publicly acknowledged being paid $500,000 by Parnas' company for legal work, but has declined to provide details about the precise services for which he was being paid. An attorney for a wealthy Republican donor named Charles Gucciardo told CNN this week that Gucciardo actually paid Giuliani's firm on behalf of Parnas' company." --s
Republicans to Subpoena Bearded Lady, Tom Thumb; Sell Secret Elixer; But Ditch Ringmaster. Rachel Bade, et al., of the Washington Post: "House Republicans on Saturday pressed ahead with their efforts to move the impeachment inquiry away from President Trump, calling on Democrats to add witnesses to the probe including former vice president Joe Biden's son and the whistleblower whose initial complaint kicked off the investigation. The GOP demands were met with immediate skepticism from House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.), who warned against 'sham investigations' of the Bidens and other issues in a clear signal that many of the witnesses were unlikely to be called.... Schiff said Democrats would evaluate the requests but added in a statement that the inquiry 'will not serve ... as a vehicle to undertake the same sham investigations into the Bidens or 2016 that the President pressed Ukraine to conduct for his personal political benefit, or to facilitate the President's effort to threaten, intimidate, and retaliate against the whistleblower who courageously raised the initial alarm.'... More than 2,500 pages of interview transcripts released over the past week ... show the extent to which GOP lawmakers ... have focused on unsubstantiated conspiracy theories, Democratic political targets and other subjects favored by Trump allies -- much of it ancillary to the probe at hand...." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: In fairness to House Republicans, Democrats plan to call (non-)conjoined twins -- Alexander & Yevgeny Vindman -- and, if they can snag a booking, the Amazing Mustachioed Man. ~~~
~~~ Justin Wise of the Hill: "House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) on Saturday effectively denied Republican lawmakers' request for a government whistleblower to testify in the impeachment inquiry into President Trump. Schiff, who has helped lead the impeachment hearings of Trump and his dealings with Ukraine, said in a letter to Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), the ranking member of the Intelligence panel, that whistleblower's testimony would be 'redundant' and 'unnecessary,' according to multiple reports. 'The impeachment inquiry, moreover, has gathered an ever-growing body of evidence -- from witnesses and documents, including the President's own words in his July 25 call record -- that not only confirms, but far exceeds, the initial information in the whistleblower's complaint,' Schiff said. 'The whistleblower's testimony is therefore redundant and unnecessary.['] Schiff added that "the individual's appearance before us would only place their personal safety at grave risk' because of Trump's repeated threats." ~~~
~~~ In case you think Schiff is exaggerating: ~~~
~~~ Will Sommer of The Daily Beast: "Former Obama White House staffer R. David Edelman woke up Thursday to a bizarre new reality: Many people on the pro-Trump internet were convinced that he was the anonymous whistleblower at the heart of the impeachment proceedings. And then the death threats started.... But Edelman ... left the White House in January 2017..., meaning that he was more than two years removed from Trump's July phone call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky." --s
Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha. Justin Baragona & Asawin Suebsaeng of The Daily Beast: "Impeachment witness transcripts released Friday revealed that right-wing journalist John Solomon's outsized role in jumpstarting Trumpworld's Ukraine narrative was based on lies and false information.... National Security Council's top Ukraine expert, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman ... said that Solomon's article [in The Hill] was a 'false narrative' and that he based that assertion on 'authoritative sources.' When asked to elaborate, the NSC official said he talked to 'interagency colleagues from State and the Intelligence Community,' adding they found the claims against [Amb. to Ukraine Masha] Yovanovitch to be 'preposterous.'" --s
Harper Neidig of the Hill: "President Trump>'s personal attorneys told a federal judge on Friday that they intend to petition the Supreme Court next week to review an appeals court decision that said the Manhattan district attorney can subpoena the president's tax returns. Trump's lawyers and the district attorney's office said in a joint letter to a federal judge that the decision will be appealed to the high court by Nov. 14. The two sides had announced their agreement to fast track the case to the Supreme Court last month, before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Trump does not have the power to block the subpoena issued to his accountants."
Florida Man Is Cheered at 'Bama Game. Veronica Stracqualursi of CNN: "... Donald Trump received a mostly cheerful welcome from the crowd attending Saturday's major college football game between the University of Alabama and Louisiana State University. Before the game's kickoff, the President and first lady Melania Trump received a big cheer as they waved to the crowd at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The crowd broke out in a 'USA' chant and cheers of 'Trump 2020' shortly after the Trumps were introduced.... During the game's first timeout, when the President and first lady were more formally introduced, there appeared to be some boos mixed in with the overwhelming cheers. Before kickoff, Trump mingled with the guests seated with him in the suite. The Trumps were joined in their guest box for the game by Republican politicians from Louisiana and Alabama, including GOP congressman Bradley Byrne. Byrne is running in the Alabama Republican primary for US Senate against Trump's former Attorney General Jeff Sessions." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Sadly, JeffBo's suck-up video (see yesterday's Commentariat) just wasn't enough. ~~~
Yesterday, contributor Bobby Lee was looking forward to seeing Baby Trump floating over Bryant-Denny Stadium. Alas, ~~~
~~~ AP: "A towering Baby Trump protest balloon was knifed and deflated by someone unhappy with its appearance during ... Donald Trump's Saturday trip to Alabama, organizers said.The incident occurred during Trump's visit to watch the University of Alabama football game. The balloon, which is over 20 feet tall, was set up in a nearby park. Jim Girvan, the organizer of a group that 'adopts' out Baby Trump balloons for protests, said a man charged the balloon with a knife and cut an 8-foot-long gash in the back. Girvan said the unidentified man was arrested." Mrs. McC: C'mon, Bill Barr: full investigation, please.
Asawin Suebsaeng & Sam Stein of The Daily Beast: "In early September, as Hurricane Dorian battered the East Coast..., Donald Trump didn't want to admit he was wrong about the storm's impact in a tweet he had sent, so he instead dug in, dragged senior government officials into his charade, and even hosted reporters in the Oval Office to show them a days-old forecast map that he'd personally altered to prove that Alabama was in danger when it really wasn't. It was yet another bizarre, protracted episode of the Trump presidency and one that, as emails released under the Freedom of Information Act show, created massive internal headaches for personnel at various agencies." --s
Michelle Martin of Reuters: "When Mike Pompeo was posted to Europe as a U.S. soldier in the late 1980s, he patrolled the border that marked the 'Iron Curtain' dividing East and West.... Back in Berlin on Friday as U.S. secretary of state..., Pompeo ... warned that there was still authoritarianism in the world.... In a speech in which he criticized Russia and China, he cautioned that freedom was never guaranteed in the world. 'Today authoritarianism is just a stone's throw away, it's rising and if we're honest, it never really went away completely,' he said." --s ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Apparently at West Point, they don't teach the cadets about irony. Either that, or some "deep-state" subversive wrote Pompeo's speech for him, and he didn't bother to read it before delivery.
Welcome Back, Erdogan! Laura Kelly of the Hill: "Turkish President Recep Tayipp Erdoğan's planned visit to Washington this week is raising concerns about a repeat of violent protests from his 2017 trip, as recent court documents provide new details about the clashes between U.S. and Turkish security personnel. Over a dozen Turkish security officials were first identified by the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) two years ago as instigating violence against protesters who were demonstrating outside the Turkish ambassador's residence during Erdoğan's last visit to Washington, D.C., though charges were dropped against most of them. The security officials left the country before they could be arrested. They were delivered to a waiting flight at Joint Base Andrews by State Department diplomatic security and Secret Service. One agent described it as the fastest 'joint move and departure I've ever seen in my 16 years on the job,' according to a memo sent to the State Department the day after the clashes. The memo was included in court documents in a lawsuit against Turkey on behalf of the victims of the attacks and details violent outbursts against both civilians and U.S. security personnel who are charged with coordinating protection for foreign dignitaries with visiting security officers.... Two Diplomatic Security special agents, six U.S. Secret Service officers and one MPD officer sustained multiple injuries, with at least one taken to the hospital." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: "Violent protests"? It isn't the protests that were violent; it was Erdogan's goons. Of course the more shocking aspect of Erdogan's visit is his attack on U.S./NATO-allied Kurds. But never mind all that: "President Trump tweeted on Wednesday that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erodğan has accepted his invitation to visit the White House on Nov. 13." That's the first day of public testimony in the impeachment inquiry, so I suppose Trump thinks Erdogan will provide him cover.
Trump Lit Corner
Morgan Gstalter of the Hill: "A fake jacket placed on the cover of Donald Trump Jr.'s new book in a New York City bookstore swapped the title to 'Daddy, Please Love Me: How Everything I Do Is Try To Earn My Father's Love.' The duo of artists and comedians known as T.G.L., which stands for 'The Good Liars,' took credit for the stunt days after the president's eldest son released the conservative book called 'Triggered: How the Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us.' The group said they placed a book jacket on copies at a New York Barnes and Noble location 'to make it a little more honest.'... The book was also seen in photographs placed in the Young Adult fiction section of the bookstore." Thanks to Bobby Lee for the lead. ~~~
~~~ Reis Thebault of the Washington Post (Nov. 7), republished in Stars & Stripes: "... the day before his father was inaugurated president of the United States..., [Donald Trump, Jr. traveled with Donald Trump Sr. & other members of the family to] ... Arlington National Cemetery, where Trump [Sr.] was to lay a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. 'I rarely get emotional, if ever,' Trump Jr. wrote in his new book.... 'Yet, as we drove past the rows of white grave markers, in the gravity of the moment, I had a deep sense of the importance of the presidency and a love of our country.' He also had another revelation as he watched his father standing in front of the tomb, surrounded by more than 400,000 graves, listening to the Army Band bugler playing taps: The Trump family had already suffered, he recalled thinking, and this was only the beginning. 'In that moment, I also thought of all the attacks we'd already suffered as a family, and about all the sacrifices we'd have to make to help my father succeed -- voluntarily giving up a huge chunk of our business and all international deals to avoid the appearance that we were "profiting off the office,'" Trump Jr. wrote." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Sadly, Junior says the mainstream media give the family & him no credit for their "sacrifice," and Thebault reports that some people are actually criticizing Junior for comparing his fake "sacrifices" to soldiers who died fighting for their country.
Hillel Italie of the AP: "Former national security adviser John Bolton has a book deal.... The hawkish Bolton departed in September because of numerous foreign policy disagreements with ... Donald Trump. He reached a deal over the past few weeks with Simon & Schuster, according to three publishing officials with knowledge of negotiations.... Two ... officials said the deal was worth about $2 million. Bolton was represented by the Javelin literary agency, whose clients include former FBI Director James Comey and the anonymous Trump administration official whose book, 'A Warning,' comes out Nov. 19." ~~~
~~~ Bolton's Revenge? The AP sources did not know the planned publication date of Bolton's book, but Brian Stelter & Jeremy Diamond of CNN report, "One of the sources said the book will come out sometime in 2020 before the presidential election."
Stephanie Mencimer of Mother Jones: "Last week, two of the Supreme Court's most ardent Catholic justices, Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh, met at the court with an odd trio of visitors: Brian S. Brown, who runs several anti-gay advocacy groups; German Princess Gloria von Thurn und Taxis, once known as a 1980s party girl; and Gerhard Ludwig Müller, a right-wing German cardinal who has said publicly that a 'homosexual network' inside the church is responsible for the clergy sexual abuse scandals.... While the trio may have a vested interest in the court's LGBT-rights jurisprudence..., their visit is notable for another, unexpected, reason: All three are in the vanguard of a political, right-wing movement that's been pushing to topple Pope Francis. By posing for a photo op, the powerful Catholic justices provided an all but official expression of support for their work." --s
Beyond the Beltway
** Texas. Billy Corriher of Facing South: "Voters in Houston, Texas, elected 19 black women to local judgeships last year. The new judges, all Democrats, have instituted wide-ranging reforms to the county's bail system. Voters also sent Democratic judges to the state appeals court. A few months later, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott -- a former Texas Supreme Court justice -- suggested that he wanted to change his state's system of choosing judges in partisan elections, citing concern about the courts' independence. Abbott has also appointed several judges that voters rejected last year to seats on higher courts.... This year Republican legislators introduced a bill, supported by Abbott, that would have replaced judicial elections with a system in which the governor appoints judges, subject to Senate confirmation.... However, the bill would have ended elections only in counties with more than 500,000 people, targeting urban areas like Houston. That would mean the governor would choose judges in the state's larger, more diverse counties, while rural, conservative counties could keep choosing their own judges." --s ~~~
~~~ Jordan Smith of The Intercept: Officer "Deke Pierce ... [made] an extraordinary announcement [at the state capitol last month]: He and 12 other members of law enforcement with more than 250 years of combined experience had filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in favor of a Texas death row prisoner named Rodney Reed, slated for execution on November 20.... Pierce and his fellow officers join an increasing number of high-profile voices calling for a stay of execution and a thorough review of Reed's case as a stream of new witnesses continue to come forward with revelations that cast doubt on Reed's conviction; there is one who now says another suspect confessed to the crime that put Reed on death row." --s
The New Virginia. Kate Sullivan & Ryan Nobles of CNN: "For the first time in Virginia's 400-year legislative history, a woman will become speaker of the House. Del. Eileen Filler-Corn, the current Democratic House leader, won a competitive race for the top spot after Democrats flipped both the House and Senate in Tuesday's election. For the first time in Virginia's 400-year legislative history, a woman will become speaker of the House. Filler-Corn, who will make history as the first Jewish speaker of the House, beat out three other candidates for the position. She is the first woman to serve in her current role as minority leader.... Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said in a statement: "Virginia made history again today." He congratulated Filler-Corn and Del. Charniele Herring, who was elected the first woman and African American majority leader."
Way Beyond
Brazil. Jonathan Watts of the Guardian: "The biggest hydroelectric project in the Amazon rainforest has a design flaw that poses a 'very serious' threat to human life and globally important ecosystems, according to documents and expert testimony received by the Guardian.... After decades of resistance and 40bn reais (£8bn) of investment, the world's fourth biggest hydropower plant is due to have the last of its 18 turbines installed this month, but lower-than-forecast water levels in the dam's reservoirs have created an unforeseen structural problem in addition to longstanding environmental, social and economic concerns." --s
Iraq. Juan Cole: "Some 17 katyusha rockets targeted a military base south of Mosul Saturday morning where US troops are based. There are no reports of casualties. In that strong Sunni area of Iraq, the attack was unlikely to be the work of Iran-backed Shiite militias, but ISIL remnants are more likely. This could be revenge for the US attack on Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in Idlib, Syria, which led to his death when he detonated a suicide bomb vest.... The turmoil in Iraq, which has seen the largest protests in modern history in the past month, may also have detracted from the readiness of its security personnel. Huge rallies have been held for the past month, demanding services and an end to corruption, as well as an end to foreign (US and Iranian) interference in the country. In fact, Iraq has become so unstable that you have to wonder if the 5,000 US troops there are really safe. Force protection is viewed as the responsibility of the host government, but Iraq barely has a functioning government." --s
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Reader Comments (9)
Think the balloon assassin really had it in for the Pretender the balloon so accurately depicted?
Secret Service ought to be on this case, too.
@KenWinkes I was wondering the same thing.
trump whines that none of the testimony is from his defenders, neglecting to point out that he has ordered his defenders not to testify.
That’s not an argument...
Since it's Sunday let's speak religion and bring in the Pope and Pompeo in for fun. When Mike was delivering his speech in Berlin did he recall what the Pope said about walls?
"Those who want to build walls cannot begin to build bridges"
Pompeo and the Pope are both under the gun for entirely different reasons. The conservative Catholics do not want Francis to get all liberal on them and Mike is now being seen as one of Trump's Lack-ees and perhaps one of the worst Secretary's of State.
It appears that any change in the Church such as the celibacy requirement, conservatives look at as a move toward a "slippery slope" into making celibacy voluntary for priests, not mandatory. That issue. says Garry Wills who periodically writes about the Church, is just one aspect of a general sex-craziness that has led the church to declare a whole series of acts to be mortal sins: Let me count the ways:
Masturbation, oral sex, anal sex, premarital sex, contraception, homosexuality, divorce, artificial insemination, abortion, stem cell research, vasectomy, tubal ligation, and coitus interruptus and thrown in for good measure==no kissing your dog on the mouth ( just kidding although I'm sure that's probably frowned upon.
Now, I ask you: don't that just make you spit in your soup? and yet, there ya go––and all the good Catholics keep crossing themselves.
Wills tells us that this last practice––the one that says in lay language–-pull out before coming––was condemned by a scriptural citation to Onan in Pius XI's encyclical "Casti Connubii" (1930). Dorothy Parker responded to this idea by naming her pet bird Onan because he "scattered his seed to the ground."
So the questions that lay before this Church is: Can any council avoid this catalog of the absurd? And on the political front will Pompeo and his Catholic brethren on the S.C. pretend to be the good guys while keeping company with the bad. (thanks safari for that story). Open Bible on the desk gathers dust when its owner is off playing with fire.
Praise Jesus...
@P.D. Pepe: You don't directly say so, but your commentary suggests Pompeo is Roman Catholic. For clarification's sake, he is not.
Yes, Marie, you're right: Pompeo is an Evangelical Presbyterian and I knew this but somehow I lumped him in with Catholics––wonder why or why wonder? Thanks for reminding me.
The call by Republicans for the whistleblower to appear as a witness with what I assume must be the implied intent to prove he lied about the substance of his compaint prompts two or three thoughts.
First, it calls to mind the prolonged Republican attack on the Steele dossier, which while it was never intended to be a compendium of proven assertions about the Pretender's campaign connections to the Russians, was nonetheless largely confirmed by the Mueller report. Little of the dossier has proven to be false. Not bad for an olio of rumors and back channel chat.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/04/24/what-steele-dossier-said-vs-what-mueller-report-said/
Then, since the whistleblower's report has so far been corroborated in all its aspects by a bevy of first- or second-hand witnesses testifying under oath, I'd think calling the whistleblower as a witness would be another case of Republicans not being careful enough about what they wish for.
They would perhaps get another patented Nunes circus and maybe create a little distraction for the easily distracted, but to anyone paying attention the facts (more than half the country, it appears) what would emerge would paint the administration with more damning evidence of a by now prolonged and still continuing conspiracy waged against the country.
Call it a conspiracy floating pretty close to the surface. A little obscure in some of its corners, maybe, but mostly in plain view.
Downright odd, when one thinks about it, when the motive behind so many of the constant lies must be a Pretender ego so fragile he cannot admit to himself that his election was tainted by his own shenanigans, and that he did not win the popular vote, both of which rendered him less than the legitimate "winner" he deep-down wishes he were and knows he is not.
(Does that men the real "deep state conspiracy" exists only in the depth of the Pretender's murky psyche?)
Or more likely, Republicans don't really want the whistleblower to talk to the public at all. They're just blowing their usual smoke, because it's all they've got. That, a tax cut, some nutso judges, and a Pretender's tattered coattails.
Adam Serwer in the Atlantic. Using Reconstruction as a starting point, Serwer writes about Trump erasing the legacy of Obama by reversing key policies that effect LBGTQ, minorities, women.
"The election of Donald Trump, and the complete dominance of the Republican Party both in the federal government and in the states, may usher in a new era of Redemption, one which could see the seemingly astounding racial progress of having a black president relegated to little more than symbolism."
"But it seems more likely that some day, Americans will look back at the Obama era much as historians have now come to look at Reconstruction: As a tragic moment of lost promise, a failed opportunity to build a more just and equitable society."
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/11/welcome-to-the-second-redemption/507317/
@Ken Winkes: Republicans are playing from the same playbook they used -- and are using -- to try to discredit the Mueller investigation. Just as they concentrated on the Steele dossier & "rogue" DOJ/FBI leaders -- and as Barr goes around the world trying to prove Obama "spied" on Trump, or something -- so they're now going after the whistleblower & Hunter Biden. Obviously, the reason an investigation began becomes immaterial once more solid evidence is gathered.
Suppose I call 911 & say it looks like there's a peeping tom at the house across the street. By the time the cops get there, they discover the guy has broken into the house & is loading the family silverware in a pillowcase. If the case goes to court, the thief's lawyer is not going to say, "Your Honor, you have to throw this case out. The complaint was about a peeping tom, & my client is not a peeping tom; he was casing the house to burglarize it."