;)
The Commentariat -- October 23, 2017
Afternoon Update:
... Kristine Phillips & Freedom du Lac of the Washington Post: "Making her first public comments since she took the call from Trump last week -- on the same day her husband's remains were flown back to the United States -- [Myeshia] Johnson recalled that the president said her husband 'knew what he signed up for, but it hurts anyways. And it made me cry. I was very angry at the tone of his voice, and how he said it.' She added: 'I didn't say anything. I just listened.' Trump on Monday disputed Johnson's account, characterizing his conversation with her as 'very respectful.' 'I had a very respectful conversation with the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, and spoke his name from beginning, without hesitation!'" ...
... Mrs McCrabbie: Let me think, whom do I believe? The apolitical new widow of an American soldier or a guy who tells a whopper -- in public -- an average of five times a day? That of course does not include the many fibs he surely tells off-the-record. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: The headline on Politico's story is "Trump spars with widow of slain soldier about condolence call." I'm no historian, but I'll bet a headline that reads "[President] spars with widow of slain soldier" is a first in American history.
Naomi Jagoda of the Hill: "President Trump on Monday tweeted that changes won't be made to 401(k) plans after reports that congressional Republicans were considering a major alteration to the retirement accounts in forthcoming tax-reform legislation." Mrs. McC: I would not count on taking this or any other Trump promise to the bank.
Tom Hunter & Julia Ainsley of NBC News: "Tony Podesta and the Podesta Group are now the subjects of a federal investigation being led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, three sources with knowledge of the matter told NBC News. The probe of Podesta and his Democratic-leaning lobbying firm grew out of Mueller's inquiry into the finances of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, according to the sources. As special counsel, Mueller has been tasked with investigating possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Manafort had organized a public relations campaign for a non-profit called the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine (ECMU). Podesta's company was one of many firms that worked on the campaign, which promoted Ukraine's image in the West.... Tony Podesta is the chairman of the Podesta Group and the brother of John Podesta, Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign chairman. John Podesta is not currently affiliated with the Podesta Group and is not part of Mueller's investigation."
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "Larry Harmon, a software engineer who lives near Akron, Ohio..., sometimes he stays home on Election Day, on purpose.... It turned out that Mr. Harmon's occasional decisions not to vote had led election officials to strike his name from the voting rolls. On Nov. 8, the Supreme Court will hear arguments about whether the officials had gone too far in making the franchise a use-it-or-lose-it proposition.... The question for the justices is whether two federal laws allow Ohio to cull its voter rolls using notices prompted by the failure to vote. The laws prohibit states from removing people from voter rolls 'by reason of the person's failure to vote.' But they allow election officials who suspect that a voter has moved to send a confirmation notice."
Paul Fahri of the Washington Post: "Megyn Kelly waded back into territory she vowed to leave behind on Monday, saying on her new NBC morning program that she complained about Bill O'Reilly while she was an anchor at Fox News but was ignored. In an extraordinary monologue, Kelly went after O'Reilly, her former bosses and colleagues, accusing the network of fostering a toxic culture for its female employees. 'O'Reilly's suggestion that no one ever complained about his behavior is false,' Kelly said during 'Megyn Kelly Today.' 'I know because I complained.'" ...
... It's All About Bill. Michael Barbaro of the New York Times: "'It's horrible what I went through, horrible what my family went through,' Bill O'Reilly said of the sexual harassment allegations that cost him his job at Fox News. Mr. O'Reilly spoke on the record to my colleagues Emily Steel and Michael S. Schmidt, addressing the latest reporting on a $32 million settlement he reached with a longtime network analyst." An audio tape of the conversation follows.
What happens when an 11-year-old Cub Scout asks a Colorado Republican state senator about her far-right votes on gun control? (a) He earns a merit badge in politics; (b) The den leader throws him out. Check the link to verify your answer, which I'm sure you got right.
*****
Philip Rucker, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump campaigned as one of the world's greatest dealmakers, but after nine months of struggling to broker agreements, lawmakers in both parties increasingly consider him an untrustworthy, chronically inconsistent and easily distracted negotiator. As Trump prepares to visit Capitol Hill on Tuesday to unify his party ahead of a high-stakes season of votes on tax cuts and budget measures, some Republicans are openly questioning his negotiating abilities and devising strategies to keep him from changing his mind. The president's propensity to create diversions and follow tangents has kept him from focusing on his legislative agenda and forced lawmakers who might be natural allies on key policies into the uncomfortable position of having to answer for his behavior and outbursts."
Charles Blow: "Donald Trump has a particular taste for the degradation of racial, ethnic and religious minorities and women -- and God forbid those identities should overlap -- as a way a playing out his personal sense of racial, sexist, and patriarchal entitlement. And as he degrades, he plays to those very same entitlements in the base that elected him. This has manifested itself most recently in a despicable episode in which Trump became embroiled in a controversy -- mostly of his own making! -- over an unacceptable call he made to a pregnant widow of one of four soldiers killed in a still-murky attack in Niger." See especially Blow's analysis of how Trump uses the military as an instrument of his racism & sexism. ...
... Kali Holloway of AlterNet: "Racism is the Trump administration's magic wand, a device it uses, to great effect, to dazzle its base, whose own proud bigotry dispenses with the need for suspension of disbelief. In the face of controversies and criticism, Trump race-baits not just for cynical political reasons -- though that's part of it -- but because he, too, is deeply racist, so much that his presidency is basically a live-action fantasy against the country's first black president.... And if there was any question about whether Chief of Staff John Kelly endorses Trump's targeting of women of color, recent events show this an all-hands-on-deck team effort." --safari ...
... Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post: "In defending his boss, White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly gratuitously attacked Rep. Frederica S. Wilson (D-Fla.), derisively referred to her as being like 'empty barrels,' misrepresented her conduct at a dedication of an FBI building and, even when film of the event showed his characterization to be utterly false, did not apologize. Kelly deemed it appropriate to restrict questions to reporters with a connection to a Gold Star family, as if one group of Americans (and their readers and viewers) is more worthy than another. However, when White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders warned reporters not to criticize Kelly (or his slander of Wilson), the administration took on the creepy aura of a military junta.... Kelly and Trump seem to actually have a lot in common. They both display disdain for the press and contempt for critics. Kelly rails at treatment of ('sacred') women but enthusiastically serves a president who serially insults and abuses women. Rather than address criticism, Kelly and Trump both like to pull rank, treat critics as their lessers and react indignantly when anyone questions their motives.... Congress should ... bar generals from acting in civilian capacities in the White House." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: "Good for Rubin. It has troubled me that since Kelly's attack on Wilson, many liberal pundits have tiptoed in criticizing Kelly. Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker, for instance, framed the attack as one that was a blow to Kelly's reputation as a result of his Trumpification; that is, a blow to the way others perceive him, not as an illumination of who he is. Gene Robinson was on the teevee saying that "both sides" could be right, both sides being Kelly & Wilson. Others have knocked themselves out thanking Kelly for his military service & reiterating his laudable reluctance to speak about his son's death, before tossing in some polite criticism of his press room remarks.
President Bone Spurs. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "After a week in which President Trump endured not-so-veiled criticisms from his two predecessors as president and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), McCain delivered another broadside that seems clearly aimed at Trump -- in the most personal terms yet. McCain, whose status as a war hero Trump publicly and controversially doubted as a 2016 presidential candidate, appeared to retaliate in kind against the president in a C-SPAN interview about the Vietnam War airing Sunday night. 'One aspect of the conflict, by the way, that I will never ever countenance is that we drafted the lowest-income level of America, and the highest-income level found a doctor that would say that they had a bone spur,' McCain said. 'That is wrong. That is wrong. If we are going to ask every American to serve, every American should serve.' Trump received five deferments during Vietnam: four for his studies in college, and one for -- you guessed it -- bone spurs in his heel." ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Trump's attacks, especially the pre-emptive ones, usually are backhanded compliments of sorts. He claimed McCain wasn't heroic because Trumpenheiden was & is a coward. He called Hillary crooked because Trumpencrookster is dishonest to his core. Trump's need to get up & defeat President Obama every day derives from Trump's fear that Obama represents the new U.S. -- a country where race doesn't define a person AND where black men rival white men for white women's isexual favors. All of these attacks derive from Trump's own real or perceived shortcomings.
Make Foreigners Rich Again? Rebekah Entralgo of ThinkProgress: "President Donald Trump's tax plan fulfills a request the GOP establishment has long wanted: a significantly lowered corporate tax rate.... According to new analysis from Steven Rosenthal, a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center...roughly 35 percent of U.S. corporate stock is owned by foreign investors. Slashing the corporate tax rate to 20 percent would translate to a tax cut for these investors worth $70 billion dollars, a cut three times the tax break that households in the middle income quintile would get under Trump's tax plan." --safari
John Solomon & Alison Spann in the Hill: As Hillary Clinton assumed her role as Secretary of State, FBI agents discovered that the Kremlin launched a multi-pronged effort to try to gain influence on the Clintons & infiltrate the State Department.
Robin Fields & Joe Sexton of ProPublica: "The questions are straightforward, with public health implications that would seem impossible to shrug off. How many American women die each year from causes related to pregnancy or childbirth? How many of these deaths are preventable?... The answers are central to any true picture of U.S. maternal health, and an essential tool in limiting such tragedies going forward...Yet because of flaws in the way the U.S. identifies and investigates maternal deaths.... [F]or the last decade, the U.S. hasn't had an official annual count of pregnancy-related fatalities, or an official maternal mortality rate." --safari
Today's reports of GOP tactics to knee-cap Democracy
**Ari Berman of Mother Jones: "On election night,Trump carr[ied] Wisconsin by nearly 23,000 votes. The state, which ranked second in the nation in voter participation in 2008 and 2012, saw its lowest turnout since 2000.... Clinton's stunning loss in Wisconsin was blamed on her failure to campaign in the state.... The impact of Wisconsin's voter ID law received almost no attention.... We will never be able to assign exact proportions to all the factors at play. But a year later, interviews with voters, organizers, and election officials reveal that, in Wisconsin and beyond, voter suppression played a much larger role than is commonly understood." Read on. --safari...
...Democracy alert. Ian Millhiser of ThinkProgress: "In 2010, when Republican power was at its low point, ;two GOP strategists devised a bold plan. By pouring tens of millions of dollars into state legislative races, they hoped to capture key swing states during a redistricting year -- and then draw maps that would lock in Republican control of the House and of state legislatures for a decade. They named this plan 'REDMAP.' It worked...Now, one of the architects of REDMAP -- Ed Gillespie...is running to be the governor of Virginia. Should he prevail, he will benefit from the gerrymandered maps that give his party a firm grip on the Virginia House of Delegates. And he will have the opportunity to extend REDMAP's success into another decade...." --safari...
...Andy Kroll of Mother Jones has a long piece on Sinclair Broadcasting's long-game effort to bring right-wing Fox "News"-style propaganda to your local news channels. --safari
For real? Mark Hand of ThinkProgress: "The Environmental Protection Agency is expanding the number of security personnel dedicated to protecting agency chief Scott Pruitt by 12, raising the administrator's total security detail to 30 guards.... No previous EPA administrator has ever received a 24/7 security detail." --safari
Mission Creep. Betsy Woodruff of The Daily Beast: "Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), one of the chamber's most hawkish members, told host Chuck Todd on Meet the Press that he didn't know until recently that a thousand U.S. troops are stationed in Niger.... And he made the admission when Todd pressed him on whether Congress needs to vote on an Authorization of Use of Military Force (AUMF) for that mission...That AUMF, which sailed through Congress after the attacks on 9/11 has been used as legal justification for numerous campaigns beyond counteracting the Taliban in Afghanistan; most prominently in Syria to target ISIS and, now, as far-flung as Niger." --safari
Merchants of Addiction and Overdose. Meet the Sacklers. --safari
...Name and Shame. Christopher Glazek of Esquire: "The Sacklers' philanthropy ... has donated its fortune to blue-chip brands, braiding the family name into the patronage network of the world's most prestigious, well-endowed institutions. The Sackler name is everywhere, evoking automatic reverence; the Sacklers themselves, however, are rarely seen.... That may be because the greatest part of that $14 billion fortune tallied by Forbes came from OxyContin, the narcotic painkiller regarded by many public-health experts as among the most dangerous products ever sold on a mass scale.... The family's leaders have pulled off three of the great marketing triumphs of the modern era: The first is selling OxyContin; the second is promoting the Sackler name; and the third is ensuring that, as far as the public is aware, the first and the second have nothing to do with one another." --safari
Way Beyond the Beltway
AP: "Japan's leader has scored a major victory in national elections that returned his ruling coalition to power in decisive fashion. Japanese media said Monday that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party and a small coalition partner had together secured at least 312 seats in the 465-seat lower house of parliament, passing the 310-barrier for a two-thirds majority. Four seats remained undecided."
Luke Barnes of ThinkProgress: "The President of the Czech Republic, Milos Zeman, crudely insulted reporters by showing off a replica AK-47 with the inscription 'for journalists' -- less than a week after an investigative journalist in Malta was killed by a car bomb. Zeman brandished the fake assault rifle during a press conference on Friday, as Czechs voted to elect populist billionaire Andrej Babis as prime minister.... Critics however are concerned that Babis' media dominance -- he owns two of the country's leading newspapers and a radio station -- will lead to conflicts of interest. In addition to Babis' success, the far-right Freedom and Direct Democracy party (SPD) made surprising gains in the election, potentially positioning them as the country's political kingmakers." --safari...
...Shaun Walker of the Guardian: "A well-known Russian journalist [Tatyana Felgenhauer, the deputy editor of Ekho Moskvy radio station] is in hospital after being stabbed in the neck by an intruder at work.... Ekho Moskvy is one of the few outlets for independent journalism in Russia, featuring reports and discussions sharply critical of the Kremlin.... The attacker's motivation was not immediately clear.... A news report on Russian state television this month singled out Ekho Moskvy and Felgenhauer personally as working to advance foreign interests in Russia before presidential elections next March." --safari
Sean Ingle of the Guardian: "A former doctor for the Chinese Olympic team has revealed that more than 10,000 of the country's athletes were involved in a systematic doping programme across all sports -- and that every one of China's medals in major tournaments in the 1980s and 90s came from performance‑enhancing drugs.... Xue Yinxian...is seeking political asylum in Germany...China has long been linked with accusations of doping -- although never before on this scale. In February athletes linked to the controversial track coach Ma Junren, whose athletes broke 66 national and world records, said they had been forced to take performance-enhancing drugs.... Ma always claimed his athletes' success was down to hard training at high altitude in Tibet, turtle blood and caterpillar fungus." --safari
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Reader Comments (8)
To sum it up: The entire basis for the latest (daily) screw up (talking to the wife of a dead soldier) is the fact that the POTUS is a sloppy, inarticulate moron. And don't assume a racist component because he could make a mess under any circumstances.
Morning Recommendation:
"The Once and Future Liberal" by Mark Lilla,
A short book that doesn't have all of the answers and doesn't ask all of the questions that should be asked but worth a read. I did, smiling in places, nodding in agreement at times, grumbling disagreement at others.
But, overall, thought-provoking and worth of attention. The subtitle "After Identity Politics" suggests its gist.
A few years ago, a journalist specializing in the Pentagon and military affairs, Thomas Ricks, penned a study of the differences between upper echelon brass during WWII and those running operations during the Decider's War of Choice. Ricks also wrote "Fiasco", a study of the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Pentagon clusterfuck in Iraq. The second book, "The Generals" points to some traits that may be influencing John Kelly's worldview.
The thesis of the book, in a nutshell, is this: During WWII, generals who fucked up got the boot right away. They might be able to regroup and get another combat command later in the war, but Army Chief of Staff, George Marshall, didn't have time to waste on screw ups. In Afghanistan and Iraq, the screw ups are promoted. The earlier approach, getting rid of guys who couldn't cut it, was seen as a sign that the plan was working. Now, firing guys who fuck up is seen as a sign of weakness, of giving in to pressure from lackeys in congress and the press. What emerges is the sense that the military is right, no matter what. Although Ricks' book concentrates on the US Army, it's reasonable to assume that similar conditions obtain in the Marine Corps.
Kelly, during his career, has been notoriously dismissive, not to say insulting to both congress and the media. You may recall him handing the little king a ceremonial sword at some sort of function and suggesting, not entirely kidding, he use it on reporters.
This brings us to the current situation in which the sense that the military is above all other organizations and thus, its members are superior, morally and otherwise, to non-military Americans reigns supreme. We are told that generals cannot be criticized or questioned. This is junta hoodoo.
When Kelly was appointed, many breathed a sigh of relief. At last, some discipline for a White House with the control of a hungry three year old sitting in a wet diaper. But Kelly also brought with him an arrogance. His belief that military personnel are above all others is dangerous. He has no compunction about insulting a member of congress. First, she is an elected official. He is not. No one elected Kelly. He may have run some gauntlets, but not that one. And in that regard, he should shut his mouth unless he has something useful to say.
But that is unlikely. As Ricks' book shows, generals, since the Marshall era, have learned that not many things will get them dismissed from command (some things, but not much). He feels completely at ease insulting millions of Americans because he feels his pedigree allows him to do so.
And Trump? He loves it. Remember, this is a guy, a coward, who hid when it was his time to serve. But he worships the image of tough guys. He has surrounded himself with generals who have never run for any office. (Interestingly, although he displays enormous disdain for politics, Kelly's career, in fact, the careers of most who rise to the rank of general these days, is one of careful politicking, of the military variety; just not the elected kind.) Having that many unelected, military types running the show, unimpressed by democratic processes, could be problematic. Maybe not in the short term, but as Kelly's true colors are now flying high, perhaps more so as events play out.
But Trump, as enamored as he is or "Real Men", has none of the traits needed to be a private peeling potatoes, never mind a general running combat operations. Don't forget, his "coat of arms" was stolen from another family and the original motto "Integrity", replaced with "Trump".
Fitting.
Trump believes he can steal manhood and toughness as easily as he purloined another family's heraldry. And Kelly believes that stars on his shoulders allow him to lord it over everyone else.
What a pair.
It's great that there is SOME information out there about how Confederates continue to hit democracy over the head, tie it up, throw it in the back of a trunk and dump it over a cliff somewhere. What I'm just as concerned about is what Democrats intend to do about it.
Leave us say that I'm less than sanguine about the condition, nay, presence, of some kind of plan to fight back against ubiquitous Confederate vote suppression and gerrymandering.
Today I read that the DNC (remember them?) and new boss, Tom Perez (remember him?) are scraping the bottom of the fundraising barrel. Funds are woefully low and donors are taking a powder. That's bad, for sure. But more than that, I'm concerned about what's the plan when and if we GET the money. For Tom Perez to be flying around the country trying to drum up contributions without having time to develop, ya know, a plan, seems off kilter. I mean, what's the pitch? Give us money, because we got our asses kicked last time? That's no pitch. But if you have a plan and go to possible donors and say "Listen, here's the idea...." followed up with a cogent, doable plan of attack, then maybe you've got something. Convince me that you know what you're doing.
I know Confederates lie, cheat, steal, out-raise and out-spend us. That will never change. But doesn't that behoove us to be smarter? The Chuck and Nancy Show will only get us so far. We need a plan at state levels. We need more Democratic governors as well as senators and reps.
When you go to the plate, you shouldn't be up there flailing away. The best thing you can say to a batter going up to face a tough pitcher is "Have an idea."
So, do we?
Turtle blood? Caterpillar fungus? Sounds like a description of congress... And this administration. I think ol' Turtle Blood McConnell is safe-- he will only bring a bill to the floor of the Senate if he is sure ol' Caterpillar Fungus will sign it... Even if CF said he would, we all know he is (chortle) a "man of his word" and could reverse that so-called word if his Coke is not brought to him fast enough. It would all be funny if it weren't so horrible. I am feeling quite good about my enthusiastic, enduring hatred for all of them.
We know it, but Amis explains it very well.
"The Yahoo with the Microphone,” " writes Martin Amis over on Esquire on "Trump's perpetual-validation machine"
Amis writes: Melania was there. Trump’s wife, Melania Knauss: My wife, a keen observer of body language, says there’s no doubt at all that Melania hates Donald’s guts. So maybe POTUS brings FLOTUS along to get a kiss and a hug and a feel of her hand, which, by now, is probably the extent of his wants. Some people (including me) believe that Trump’s libido has been ridiculously overblown (not least by the germophobe himself, as self-publicist and locker-room braggart). All we know more or less for sure is that he has done it five times.
Interesting, the confrontation by Rebekah Mercer with Trump. It's how Bannon and Conway came into the picture.
President* "Cowardly Bone Spurs" today presented the Medal of Honor to a US Army medic, Gary Rose, who, unlike Trump, donned the uniform and "...risked his life several times to provide medical care to his comrades during the Vietnam War."
This is repulsive and disgusting in too many ways to count. Remember, this is a guy who whined that he too had his own Vietnam. Bedding, or attempting to bed, women (willing or not) during the 70's.
A few years ago when President Obama (the last real president) awarded a MOH to an Army staff sergeant who served in Afghanistan, Fox reported the award but couldn't resist a swipe at Obama for joking with Ryan Pitts, the sergeant, making it sound, clearly, as if he was disrespecting both the man and the ceremony.
No such whiny sniping is present in Fox's report of draft dodging coward Trump's award. Fox reports only that this is the second MOH awarded by "President Trump". There is no mention of Trump's weak-kneed, yellow-bellied, gutless past and his present hypocrisy.
Surprised?
Okay, one more. But it's a beaut.
You all know that Rupert Murdoch, hardcore, conniving, right-wing Darth Vader of the airwaves, has been trying to take over the major European satellite broadcaster, Sky. Even though there has been an agreement in principle for the Murdoch machers to take it over, the recent revelation that Loofah Boy O'Reilly, sexual abuser and disgusting, lying, scum-sucking pig, who had paid out $32 million to hide his abuse of a woman and THEN was awarded a $100 million contract by Murdoch, may deep six the entire scheme to dominate and Foxify much of European media.
A Murdoch scheme in 2011 to graft Sky onto his Fox World empire went south but his latest bid may also be upended by fears that he will Foxify and perhaps even O'Reilly-fy Sky.
It is not an empty concern. But there is no guarantee that morality will prevail. We're talking about Rupert Murdoch, after all.
Still and all, it's nice to see that someone is worried that the same brain trust that okayed a gigantic contract for a serial abuser of women might not be the best choice to control the flow of information to millions of people.
Unfortunately, we in America don't have any protection from the same lowlife maggots.