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The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

Washington Post: “An early Titian masterpiece — once looted by Napolean’s troops and a part of royal collections for centuries — caused a stir when it was stolen from the home of a British marquess in 1995. Seven years later, it was found inside an unassuming white and blue plastic bag at a bus stop in southwest London by an art detective, and returned. This week, the oil painting 'The Rest on the Flight into Egypt' sold for more than $22 million at Christie’s. It was a record for the Renaissance artist, whom museums describe as the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice. Ahead of the sale in April, the auction house billed it as 'the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in more than a generation.'”

Washington Post: The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., which houses the world's largest collection of Shakespeare material, has undergone a major renovation. "The change to the building is pervasive, both subtle and transformational."

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Tuesday
Oct302018

The Commentariat -- October 31, 2018

Afternoon Update:

... Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "President Trump on Wednesday bashed Speaker [linked fixed] Paul Ryan for rejecting his call to end birthright citizenship. 'Paul Ryan should be focusing on holding the Majority rather than giving his opinions on Birthright Citizenship, something he knows nothing about! Our new Republican Majority will work on this, Closing the Immigration Loopholes and Securing our Border!' Trump tweeted.... The broadside from Trump follows criticism from the speaker Tuesday of the president's suggestion that he could end birthright citizenship through an executive order." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

William Saletan of Slate "proves" that the "real victim" of the past week's attacks was Donald Trump. Saletan is kidding. Trump is not.

** The GOP's Ace Up Their Sleeve. Eliza Newlin Carney of TPM: "[Massive purges of voting rolls] are becoming all too familiar to a growing number of American voters, who are being dropped from the rolls at a rapid clip, particularly in states with histories of voter discrimination. Such purges are the new face of voter suppression, civil rights advocates say. Unlike the Jim Crow laws of yore, which blocked access to the rolls with tests and taxes, voter purges take registered voters -- often, voters of color -- and make them disappear. And unlike voter ID laws, which at least give voters advanced warning, purges can be sudden, silent, untraceable, and irremediable.... Some 16 million voters were swept off the rolls between 2014 and 2016, compared with 12.3 million between 2006 and 2008 -- an increase of almost four million, according to a July Brennan Center report. Still more voters have been purged since the 2016 election, the center found. That includes 648,598 erased in North Carolina -- a full 11.7 percent of the state's total voter roll. Florida dropped 981,569 voters from its rolls, or seven percent, in that same window. Georgia has deregistered 10.6 percent of its voters since 2016, or 692,707 -- more than 500,000 of them were wiped out in a single day. The precise number of eligible voters caught up in such purges is impossible to estimate, given that mass voter removals tend to go unannounced and leave no trace. But it's fair to say that in next week's midterm elections, tens or even hundreds of thousands of voters who believe that they are registered may turn up to the polls only to discover their names are not on the list." --s

Georgia. Bim Adewunmi of BuzzFeed News: "Oprah Winfrey ... is heading to Georgia to campaign for Stacey Abrams. The star will join Abrams, the Democratic candidate for governor, on Thursday."

Alexander Kaufman & Chris D'Angelo of the Huffington Post: "Ryan Zinke, the embattled secretary of the Interior Department, suggested in a confused comparison that Robert E. Lee, the Confederate general who fought to preserve slavery, was as much an American hero as civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. during a speech on Saturday, drawing renewed scrutiny of Zinke's record on racial issues. The secretary was speaking at a ceremony designating Camp Nelson, a Union recruitment and training depot in Kentucky for black soldiers during the Civil War, as a national monument. He compared the placement of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial to that of Arlington National Cemetery, the military burial ground located on Lee's former plantation, and that of the Lincoln Memorial. 'I like to think that Lincoln doesn't have his back to General Lee. He's in front of him. There's a difference. Similar to Martin Luther King doesn't have his back to Lincoln. He's in front of Lincoln as we march together to form a more perfect union,' Zinke said at the start of a 25-minute speech."

Sarah Okeson of DCReport: "The Trump administration is trying to a landmark set of laws that prevents doctors from jacking up healthcare costs by ordering unnecessary tests and other medical care at labs and hospitals in which they have financial interests.... Trump claims he wants to reduce healthcare costs with measures such as repealing Medicaid expansion and reducing prescription drug costs, but the proposed overhaul of the Stark law seems to contradict that." --s

Ezra Klein of Vox: "Why are Republicans spending so much time lying about their health care policy?... How did Republicans get here? I have a theory.... Republicans, under Mitch McConnell and John Boehner's leadership, decided they had to unite against Obama's [healthcare] proposal, and so they turned completely on ideas they had once supported.... [This] forced Republicans to abandon a basically reasonable vision of health care policy and left them with, well, nothing. Opposing Obamacare isn't a policy vision, but it had to be made into one, and so Republicans tried: They began attacking Obamacare's weak spots -- its high premiums and deductibles -- and proposing to lower them by permitting insurers to once again discriminate against the sick and the old...[That] was not what people were asking for. But it's what Republicans ended up embracing.... And it's left Republicans with two choices. They can level with the public about their health care plan and lose the election or they can lie to the public about their health care plan in a bid to keep their jobs. So far, they've chosen lying." --s

Nelson Cunningham, a former federal prosecutor, shuffles through Politico's reporting and writes (in Politico) that numerous clues suggest the Mueller team is using its pre-election "down time" to proceed with the steps needed to subpoena Donald Trump. Mrs. McC: The one "clue" that seems to me to make Cunningham's thesis unlikely: we haven't heard Trump screaming about it.

Trumpian Terror. Zach Ford of ThinkProgress: "The New York Times reported last week that the Trump administration is planning to erase any recognition of transgender people under federal law. That news prompted a massive spike in calls to mental health support networks like Trans Lifeline and The Trevor Project.... A social media post last week indicated that the number of first-time callers had, in fact, doubled. The call volume has remained high for a full week, sparked in part by additional attacks on the trans community beyond reporting on the memo." --s

Kate Riga of TPM: "Vice President Mike Pence's appearance on stage Monday with 'rabbi' Loren Jacobs, who referred to Jesus as the Messiah during his prayer, provoked widespread backlash from many Jewish communities. Now, according to a Tuesday NBC report, even members of the 'rabbi's' own community are up in arms about the appearance -- given that Jacobs was defrocked from the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations over a decade ago. 'Loren Jacobs was stripped of his rabbinic ordination by the UMJC in 2003, after our judicial board found him guilty of libel,' a Union spokesperson told NBC." --safari: Isn't being all religousy supposed to be pence's shtick? He can't even get this right? Pathetic.

Nina Totenberg of NPR: When they were both students at Stanford Law, William Rehnquist asked Sandra Day to marry him. She said no, but they remained friends. "The future chief justice of the United States was proposing to the woman who, years later, would become the first woman to serve on the nation's highest court. The reveal comes in a new book entitled First by author Evan Thomas, set to be published in March 2019. Thomas, while doing his research, found the Rehnquist letters among O'Connor's correspondence."

Kevin Poulsen of The Daily Beast: "An examination of Twitter's new dump of Russian troll data this month shows that the IRA's [Internet Research Agency] tactics worked far better in the U.S. than in Russia or the Eastern European nations where the troll farm cut its teeth. English-language tweets by the IRA's sockpuppet accounts enjoyed nine times the engagement than tweets in Russian and other languages. And, remarkably, Americans fell for the Russian interference even harder after the 2016 presidential election than before." --s

Carlotta Gall of the New York Times: "The Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi was strangled almost as soon as he stepped into the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul a month ago, and his body was then dismembered and destroyed, the chief prosecutor for Istanbul said on Wednesday, giving the first official explanation from Turkey of how Mr. Khashoggi died.... Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia..., had sent a prosecutor to Istanbul for talks this week, but a statement from Irfan Fidan, the chief prosecutor for Istanbul, said that three days of meetings with his Saudi counterpart were largely unproductive.... The decision to release information, on the record, about Mr. Khashoggi's death was an indication of Turkey's frustration with the failure of the Saudis to answer three key questions: Where was Mr. Khashoggi's body? Had the Saudi investigators uncovered evidence of premeditation? Who was the 'local collaborator' who is said to have disposed of his remains?"

Lily Kuo of the Guardian: "British diplomats who visited Xinjiang have confirmed that reports of mass internment camps for Uighur Muslims were 'broadly true', the foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has told parliament. Beijing faces mounting international criticism over its policies in Xinjiang, a far-western territory of China where researchers believe an estimated 1 million members of Muslim minorities have been detained in a network of camps.... [Hunt's] comment puts pressure on Beijing before a UN human rights panel that will on 6 November review China's human rights record." --s

*****

Just thought I'd ruin a meaningless holiday for you.

It's the thing that he does best: He's scaring the shit out of his voters. It's sort of like Halloween, but a racist Halloween. Or as Megyn Kelly calls it, Halloween. -- Trevor Noah, on Trump's campaign strategy

The campaigns have been dominated by fear and just really terrible, heartbreaking events. That's why for Halloween, instead of decorating my house with witches and goblins, I just hung up newspapers. -- Stephen Colbert

 

 

Nancy LeTourneau of the Washington Monthly: "The big story of [Tuesday was] that Trump plans to end birthright citizenship by executive order. But neither the president nor the White House made an announcement to that effect.... It was Jonathan Swan of Axios who brought up the issue of birthright citizenship and then asked the president, 'Have you thought about that?'... The president responded by saying that it is in process and that it will happen.... Pardon my skepticism, but since when do we believe what Trump says in a moment like that? This is the same man who has pretended for years that he's working on a fantastic reform of our health care system and great middle class tax cuts.... Beyond giving Trump a prompt about how to ramp things up with his base just prior to the midterms, that interview clip has put the reporters at Axios front and center of the biggest story of the day. I suppose you could suggest that I've gone from skeptical to cynical with that observation. But actual reporting on this president requires a whole new level of vigilance, which has to be grounded in something other than click bait." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...


     ... Via Steve M. ...

... Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. "Axios of Evil."* Sam Biddle of the Intercept: "... Tuesday morning held a sort of public relations convergence of interests that typifies the worst of political reporting: Axios and HBO gave viewers the first look at a new television show by teaming up with the White House to unveil a new entry in its xenophobic domestic policy lineup.... The new video clip debuted today by Axios may be the ne plus ultra of media toadying.... Today's video interview snippet, plucked from the upcoming Axios show on HBO, put the website's bright star Jonathan Swan in a chair across from Trump. Prompted by Swan, Trump announced an innovative plan to bar nonwhite infants from attaining U.S. citizenship. It was, in Swan's [Twitter] words, an 'exciting' moment to behold.... 'Excited to share' is usually how one begins a sentence about a pregnancy or a promotion, not the revelation of a plot to deny citizenship to newborns.... The video itself, however, is somehow even worse than the tweet. We see firsthand just how pumped up Swan is to discuss Trump's long-term ethnic exclusion strategies with the big man himself." ...

     ... * Thanks, Scott Lemieux. ...

... Libby Watson of Splinter: "... as you'll see if you watch the clip itself, this is less a news story than it is a press release. This is a news outlet willingly staging a press event for a racist administration.... Axios' Jonathan Swan is eager to help the president explain this little gambit with almost no pushback -- when the president says other countries don't have birthright citizenship, which is a lie, Swan says nothing, and Axios' story was only updated after publication to reflect that reality. Be Smart! But he's also eager to prove himself as a good and clever little boy. 'Exactly,' he says, when Trump says he can change the Constitution with an executive order. It's chummy and sordid, but it's also just ... pathetic. He looks like he won a contest to be there. He's fucking laughing!... Jonathan Swan does not care if he's enabling an administration that has shown from the very beginning its determination to make racism a cornerstone of its immigration policy, and in the last few weeks has shown its intent to scale up to full-blown fascism -- deploying thousands of troops to the border and stirring up fears about migrants coming to destroy the U.S., denouncing the press as the 'Enemy of the People,' and apparently toying with the idea of amending the Constitution by executive order."

... Ha Ha. George Conway & Neal Katyal in a Washington Post op-ed: "Sometimes the Constitution's text is plain as day and bars what politicians seek to do. That's the case with President Trump's proposal to end 'birthright citizenship' through an executive order. Such a move would be unconstitutional and would certainly be challenged. And the challengers would undoubtedly win." Mrs. McC: You may recall Katyal as President Obama's acting solicitor general. You may recall George Conway as Kellyanne's husband. ...

... ** Garrett Epps of the Atlantic: "At its base, the claim [Trump & some others have made] is that children born in the U.S. are not citizens if they are born to noncitizen parents. The idea contradicts the Fourteenth Amendment's citizenship clause; it flies in the face of more than a century of practice; and it would at a stroke create a shadow population of American-born people who have no state, no legal protection, and no real rights that the government is bound to respect. It would set the stage for an internal witch hunt worse than almost anything since the anti-immigrant rage of the 1920s.... Our Constitution is a gift to us from the generations that went before, and particularly the millions who died in the Civil War; the Fourteenth Amendment is the centerpiece of that Constitution. If we let Donald Trump destroy it, then history will regard both him and us with equal contempt." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Trump Tries Fascism. Matt Ford of the New Republic: "The wave of violence and attempted assassinations have not deterred Trump. If anything, he's grown bolder in his efforts to impose a narrower, ethnocentric vision on the bounds of American civic life. By insisting that he can revise the Constitution's definition of citizenship through an executive order, the president is assuming unprecedented authority to decide who is and isn't an American. Next week's elections will technically determine the future composition of the House, the Senate, and of state governments. They may also decide the future composition of America itself."

Is Trump Really This Dumb? Or Does He Just Think His Bots Are? John Wagner of the Washington Post: "President Trump complained Monday about the news coverage he has received related to the alleged pipe bomber, saying a different standard was applied to then-President Barack Obama when nine black worshipers were killed at a church in Charleston, S.C., during his tenure. Trump highlighted the contrast during a wide-ranging interview with Laura Ingraham of Fox News.... 'I was in the headline of The Washington Post, my name associated with this crazy bomber,' Trump said. 'They didn't do that with President Obama with the church, the horrible situation with the church -- they didn't do that.' Dylann Roof, who was convicted of 33 counts of federal hate crimes in the 2015 shootings at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, was a self-described white supremacist who displayed Confederate flags on social media and expressed no affection for Obama." Wagner also shoots down the premise of Trump's Nobody-Picked-on-Bernie whine. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... ** OR, as the headline to Eric Levitz's post succinctly puts it, "Trump: The Media Is Biased Because It Didn't Blame Obama for Dylann Roof Killing Black People." Levitz's post is a devastating indictment of Trump (and reveals that Nikki Haley is as duplicitous [or dimwitted] as Trump, in case you were thinking her sweet smile meant she was a nice person).

Campbell Robertson, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump arrived in Pittsburgh on Tuesday as the city began to bury the victims of Saturday's synagogue attack and as many officials and residents made clear his visit was not welcome. As Mr. Trump arrived with the first lady, Melania Trump, as well as his daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, about 1,000 protesters gathered on a leafy street near the synagogue in opposition to his visit. Their signs read 'Words matter' and 'President Hate is not welcome in our state.' Though some people in Pittsburgh have pushed back on the idea that Mr. Trump has fomented an atmosphere of social division, many protesters had no doubt of what one called 'the dotted line' between presidential rhetoric and violence. Mr. Trump's first stop was at the Tree of Life Synagogue, where he was greeted by Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, the spiritual leader of the congregation. Mr. Trump and the members of his family who accompanied him entered a vestibule to light candles for each of the 11 shooting victims. Outside the synagogue, Mr. Trump placed stones from the White House and white roses at a makeshift memorial comprised of white Stars of David bearing the victims' names." ...

... Moriah Balingit, et al., of the Washington Post: "A mourning family doesn't want to meet him. Leaders of his own party declined to join him. The mayor has explicitly asked him not to come. And yet President Trump plans to visit this grief-stricken city Tuesday, amid accusations that he and his administration continue to fuel the anti-Semitism that inspired Saturday's massacre inside a synagogue.... More than 1,200 people have so far signed up for a demonstration at the same time -- declaring Trump 'unwelcome in our city and in our country.'... Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) -- have all declined invitations to join Trump on his visit." [Mrs. McC: Mitch said he was busy. Getting a haircut or raking leaves, maybe.] (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Richard Oppel of the New York Times: "The accused synagogue gunman, Robert Bowers, legally purchased the guns he used to kill 11 people in what is believed to be the deadliest attack against the Jewish community in the United States, according to the federal authorities. Officials have said Mr. Bowers used four guns -- an AR-15 assault rifle and three Glock .357 handguns -- in his shooting spree at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh on Saturday morning.... He also had a handgun license, an A.T.F. spokeswoman, Charlene Hennessy, said. Ms. Hennessy said the A.T.F.'s investigation found that Mr. Bowers owned 10 guns in total, all purchased and possessed legally: the four found at the synagogue; three handguns and two rifles recovered from his residence; and a shotgun recovered from his car outside the synagogue.... The shooting in Pittsburgh has prompted gun-control proponents to question whether someone so boiling with rage and religious hatred should have been able to acquire a small arsenal that included a civilian version of the military's primary combat rifle.... Hours after the shooting, former President Barack Obama ... tweeted: 'We have to stop making it so easy for those who want to harm the innocent to get their hands on a gun.'" ...

... Eli Rosenberg of the Washington Post: "In the emergency room when he arrived, [the (alleged mass murderer)] was shouting, 'I want to kill all the Jews,' according to the hospital's president.... At least three of the doctors and nurses who cared for Robert Bowers at the Allegheny General Hospital were Jewish, according to President Jeffrey K. Cohen.... Cohen is personally connected to the shooting beyond his role at the hospital. He lives so close to Tree of Life synagogue that he heard the gunshots as the massacre unfolded. He knew nine of the people who were killed, he told the Tribune-Review. Still that didn't stop him from going to check in on Bowers to ask him whether he was in pain. The man said he was fine. 'He asked me who I was, I said "I'm Dr. Cohen, the president of the hospital,"' Cohen said. 'And I turned around and left. And the FBI agent that was guarding him said, "I don't know that I could have done that."'... Cohen saved his harsh words for the people he said are responsible for the toxic climate in the country. 'It's time for leaders to lead,' he said. 'And the words mean things. And the words are leading to people doing things like this, and I find it appalling.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

Pharrell Williams does not think this is an appropriate response to Anti-Semitic mass murder:

... Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "On Saturday, hours after a gunman burst into Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh and killed 11..., President Trump was scheduled to appear at a convention in Indiana to address a group of student farmers. While they waited for Trump to take the stage, the crowd danced to a playlist of upbeat music, including 'Girls Just Want to Have Fun' by Cyndi Lauper and 'Happy' by Pharrell Williams. Now Williams, a popular recording artist, is threatening to take legal action for the use of his song. On Monday, his attorney Howard King issued a cease-and-desist letter to Trump, saying the use of 'Happy' constituted copyright infringement and a trademark violation. 'On the day of the mass murder of 11 human beings at the hands of a deranged "nationalist," you played his song "Happy" to a crowd at a political event in Indiana,' the letter stated. 'There was nothing "happy" about the tragedy inflicted upon our country on Saturday and no permission was granted for your use of this song for this purpose.' The letter indicated Williams's cease-and-desist would apply to all of his songs, not just 'Happy.'"

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Mrs. McCrabbie: I didn't get around to reporting this Fox "News" health alert yesterday, but Media Matters has a list of some of the diseases the Central American "invaders" are preparing to "infest" you with.

Robert Costa, et al., of the Washington Post: "As part of his investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 campaign, special counsel Robert S. Mueller III appears to be focused on the question of whether WikiLeaks coordinated its activities with [Roger] Stone and the campaign, including the group's timing.... On Friday, Mueller's team questioned Stephen K. Bannon, President Trump's former chief strategist, about claims Stone is said to have made privately about WikiLeaks before the group released emails that prosecutors say were hacked by Russian operatives, according to people familiar with the session.... Investigators have questioned witnesses about events surrounding Oct. 7, 2016, the day The Washington Post published a recording of Trump bragging about his ability to grab women by their genitals, the people said. Less than an hour after The Post published its story about Trump's crude comments..., WikiLeaks ... releas[ed] a trove of emails hacked from the account of [Hillary Clinton's] campaign chairman John Podesta." ...

The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft agley. -- Robert Burns, "To a Mouse" ...

... Natasha Bertrand of the Atlantic: "An alleged scheme to pay off women to fabricate sexual assault allegations against Special Counsel Robert Mueller has been referred to the FBI for further investigation, according to a spokesman for the special counsel's office, Peter Carr.... The special counsel's attention to this scheme -- which was brought to the office by a woman claiming she herself had been offered money to make up sexual harassment claims against Mueller -- and its decision to release a rare statement about it to reporters indicates the seriousness with which the office is taking the purported scheme.... The special counsel's office confirmed that the scheme was brought to its attention by several journalists who were told about it by a woman alleging that she herself had been offered roughly $20,000 by a GOP activist named Jack Burkman 'to make accusations of sexual misconduct and workplace harassment against Robert Mueller.' The woman told journalists that she had worked for Mueller as a paralegal at the Pillsbury, Madison, and Sutro law firm in 1974.... Around the time that the [woman began contacting journalists], Burkman released a video on his Facebook page claiming, without evidence, that Mueller 'has a whole lifetime history of harassing women.'... Burkman, a conservative radio host, is known for spreading conspiracy theories. He launched his own private investigation into the murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Here's the whistleblower's e-mail, via digby. ...

... Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "The plot appeared to be the latest, and one of the more bizarre, in a string of attempts by supporters of President Trump to discredit Mr. Mueller's investigation.... As the plan to target Mr. Mueller came to light on Tuesday, it quickly unraveled as news organizations unearthed gaps and inconsistencies in the allegations." Mrs. McC: Goldman provides various aborted efforts on the parts of some fringey -- and very clumsy -- conspirators, one of whom, when exposed, hilariously complained that the press 'has launched a coordinated smear campaign against me.'" ...

... Andrew Prokop of Vox also provides an "explainer." Mrs. McC: The good news is that you -- like the mythical 400-pound New Jersey man working out of his basement -- can single-handedly create & carry out a scheme to bring down a major public figure. (Tools of the trade include copying & pasting pictures of little-known actors & IDing them as your staff & performing a series of fake voices representing said fake staff when reporters call you on your mom's phone.) The bad news: you will be caught, get your very own FBI referral & maybe go to jail where dangerous criminal invaders from Honduras will rape you & give you leprosy & smallpox. Your limbs will fall off till you're dead.

Juliet Eilperin & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "The Interior Department's Office of Inspector General has referred one of its probes into the conduct of Secretary Ryan Zinke to the Justice Department for further investigation, according to two individuals familiar with the matter. Deputy Inspector General Mary L. Kendall, who is serving as acting inspector general, is conducting at least three probes that involve Zinke. These include his involvement in a Montana land deal and the decision not to grant two tribes approval to operate a casino in Connecticut. The individuals, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk publicly, did not specify which inquiry had been referred to the Justice Department."

Paul Krugman: "In America 2018, whataboutism is the last refuge of scoundrels, and bothsidesism is the last refuge of cowards. In case you hadn't noticed, we're in the midst of a wave of hate crimes.... All of these hate crimes seem clearly linked to the climate of paranoia and racism deliberately fostered by Donald Trump and his allies in Congress and the media.... So how are Trump apologists dealing with this ugly picture?... Trump supporters try to kill his critics? Well, some Trump opponents have yelled at politicians in restaurants!... False equivalence, portraying the parties as symmetric even when they clearly aren't, has long been the norm among self-proclaimed centrists and some influential media figures.... The fact is that one side of the political spectrum is peddling hatred, while the other isn't. And refusing to point that out for fear of sounding partisan is, in effect, lending aid and comfort to the people poisoning our politics. Yes, hate is on the ballot next week." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Election 2018

John Cassidy of the New Yorker: "Trump doesn't give a fig about the accuracy of his claims, of course. He wants to increase Republican voter turnout next week. He has a low opinion of the party's voters. And he thinks the best way to get them to the polls is to raise the spectre of white America being swamped by non-white immigrants. So, with the support of Mike Pence, Lindsey Graham, and many other Republicans, he's going at it -- pledging to send in the army, rewrite the Constitution, and who knows what else in the days ahead. As he said, there are some 'very bad people.' But they aren't in the caravan."

Georgia. Michelle Goldberg: "Right now America is tearing itself apart as an embittered white conservative minority clings to power, terrified at being swamped by a new multiracial polyglot majority. The divide feels especially stark in Georgia, where the midterm election is a battle between Trumpist reaction and the multicultural America whose emergence the right is trying, at all costs, to forestall.... Racists in Georgia, like racists all over America, are emboldened.... On Saturday morning, [Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey] Abrams closed [a campaign event] by reminding the crowd of [her Republican opponent Brian] Kemp's views on democracy. 'He said he is concerned that if everyone eligible to vote in Georgia does so, he will lose this election,' she said. 'Let's prove him right.' In a week, American voters can do to white nationalists what they fear most. Show them they're being replaced."

Iowa. Eric Levitz: "... despite this long record of overt white nationalist advocacy, Steve King [R-White Supremacy] might actually lose reelection in western Iowa this November. A poll released Tuesday by Change Research, a firm aligned with the Democratic Party, found King leading his Democratic challenger, former baseball player J.D. Scholten, by the razor-thin margin of 45 to 44 percent. King has held his seat since 2012, and won his last two reelection bids with more than 60 percent of the vote. Iowa's fourth district is heavily rural, and backed Trump in 2016 by a landslide margin. As of last month, an Emerson College poll had King up by 10 points. By all appearances, this data led King to assume that he could win again this fall -- even if he spent much of campaign season palling around with his favorite fascists in Austria, instead of shaking hands in Sioux City.... The historically Republican Sioux City Journal endorsed Scholten." ...

... Deena Shanker & Lydia Mulvany of Bloomberg: "Dairy giant Land O'Lakes announced on Tuesday that it will no longer make financial contributions to Representative Steve King of Iowa after a gun-fueled massacre at a Pittsburgh synagogue brought new attention to the Republican's incendiary comments about race and association with white nationalism. Purina PetCare made a similar announcement Tuesday afternoon.... In an extraordinary disavowal [Tuesday] afternoon, Representative Steve Stivers of Ohio, chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said in a post on Twitter that 'Steve King's recent comments, actions, and retweets are completely inappropriate. We must stand up against white supremacy and hate in all forms, and I strongly condemn this behavior.' Two days ago, however, Stivers defended the continued use of [George] Soros by Republicans in campaign ads, despite the attempted bombing of his New York home and the mass-murder in Pittsburgh."


Trump-o-nomics. Paul Davidson of USA Today: "Despite an unemployment rate that has reached a 50-year low of 3.7 percent, most jobs across the U.S. don't support a middle-class or better lifestyle, leaving many Americans struggling, according to a new study. Sixty-two percent of jobs fall short of that middle-class standard when factoring in both wages and the cost of living in the metro area where the job is located, according to the study by Third Way, a think tank that advocates center-left ideas. 'There's an opportunity crisis in the country,' says Jim Kessler, vice president of policy for Third Way and editor of the report. 'It explains some of the economic uneasiness and, frankly, the political uneasiness' even amid the most robust U.S. economy and labor market since before the Great Recession of 2007 to 2009." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

It will sadden you to learn that political philosopher Kanye West is "distancing" himself from politics because he's been "used to spread messages" he doesn't believe in. TMZ reports.

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Reader Comments (12)

My son––the one in Germany–-made wonderful yearly videos depicting the life he was living there with his wife and three daughters to send to his family members back in the states. He always accompanied these videos with musical selections. The last one he made had only one song––"Happy." This was quite a few years ago and I was smitten with that song but never took the time to learn anything more about it. Then yesterday I read that Pharrell Williams was suing Trump for using a song with the same name at his rallies (obviously the campaign managers––are there any left?––neglected to get permission) and I thought–-could this be the same "Happy" song from my son's video? Well, duh! I need to get out more. I used to be hip–-used to be cool music wise–-now I'm only old––and somewhat wise.

Suffice to say this lovely man made my day with HIS video and to put some whipped cream on top of this sundae yesterday received our Greenwich Academy booklet (our son teaches there) and who is featured on the cover but Parrell Williams with a group of girls in white dresses–-"Commencement 2018–-A most "Happy" occasion. Williams gave the commencement speech in which he cited "empathy" as one of the most important traits one can possess.

Nice connections

As to the leader of the free world's snicker-snat crap about taking on the 14 amendment, I say–-go for it, you idiot–-see how far you can take it–-this tempest in a teapot is gonna burn your bum so bad it'll match the color of your fucking face!

The other thing that has got me fired up this morning is this desperate scam re" Bobby three sticks–-"he drinks on the job–-he's an alcoholic and a sexual abuser"––all this by the usual bottom feeders who would sell their own mothers if they had to and according to Rachel, one of them has. What more fresh hell are we going to experience before next Tuesday?

Right now I'm going to once again watch "Happy" and try and feel that!

October 31, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

Last night Chris Matthews hosted a U.of Houston interview with Beto O'Rourke. The crowd went wild when Beto appeared on stage. It was hard for me to keep the tears at bay while watching this beautiful man answer all the student's questions with such dignity and passion. The guy takes your breath away–-you almost have to scratch yourself and say––"Is this guy for REAL?" I cannot recall any political figure that is/was as charismatic as he–-perhaps JFK–-but in my book Beto sails way beyond. And the questions from the kids–-all so good, from gun control to climate change to women's rights etc. And interestingly when he was talking about the latter he never once used the word "abortion"–––but was advocating a woman's right to choose.

If he wins that senate seat I swear I'm going to put on my dancing shoes and sashay my way up and down in town just like those "Happy" people–-maybe even call Pharrell and see if he wants to join me.

October 31, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

@PD Pepe: You're right about Beto. He has an infectious optimism -- he turned all of the negative questions into positives. I don't know that Beto can beat Ted in Texas, but he sure can beat Trump in the USA. If not the Senate, then the presidency. BTW, Beto is not as young as he looks. In late September 2020, he'll be 48, a little older than Obama was when he won the presidency & 5 years older than JFK was when he won.

October 31, 2018 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

The Man on the Bridge

Espying the famous words of our old friend Robbie Burns out here early this morning, describing the difficulties inherent in pinning your hopes to plans that can aft gang agley, I was moved to drag out a dog-eared copy of poems of Rainer Maria Rilke, one that seems appropriate to what's happening in the Land of Trump these days.

This is "Pont du Carrousel", a reference to a bridge in Paris that's still there, near the Tuileries.

The blind man who stands on the bridge,
gray as a boundary stone of nameless realms,
he is perhaps that thing, the ever same one,
around which, from afar, the star-hour revolves,
And he, the beggar, the constellations' still center-point.
For everything around him strays and streams, and shows magnificence.

He is the immovable Righteous One,
set down into the midst of many tangled paths;
the somber entrance to the netherworld
among a superficial race of men.

In another poem Rilke attempts to explain why there are poor people in the world. After god created man, he looked away for a moment. When he looked back, he saw a multitude of humans all grabbing for gold and covering themselves with fancy clothes, Brioni suits and jackets that read "I don't care". He could no longer see their true shape. So he made poor people, people who could not afford fine clothes. Only then could god see humans as he had originally made them. Elsewhere Rilke confides his belief that poverty is a great radiance from within.

Rilke's poem, "Pont du Carrousel", puts a blind beggar at the center of the universe as the big shots and the superficial narcissists stream by, none looking at him, and certainly none looking up to see the stars revolving around the point where he stands. He is the only one who sees what is real.

The poor and the rootless have played roles here and there in mythology and literature (think Dickens) but only in America has the promise of a better life for the poor been a part of the fabric of the country. Steinbeck, in "Grapes of Wrath", showed how difficult it could be to punch a ticket to the promised land. As Woody Guthrie sang about those same people, "If you ain't got the dough, re, mi" you better go back where you came from, otherwise the cops, at the behest of the rich, will bust your head open.

It's still difficult for the haves to see the have-nots as anything other than a nuisance. But for some it's much worse. For Trump and his supporters (many of whom, no doubt, are on the other end of the economic spectrum) the problem is even seeing these people as human. For Trump they are chattel, useful objects of scorn, ripe for his attacks.

The worst, arguably, are those who call themselves Christian, the ones who applauded in Boston at a meeting to fete that great Christian Warrior, Jeffbo Sessions. After being upbraided by not one, but two pastors for ignoring the word of the gospels to care for the poor and to renounce his stance in support of Trump's vicious assaults on immigrants, Sessions called these reminders of words Christians are supposed to live by an "attack". He was cheered lustily by other Christian "leaders" in attendance.

Are they willfully missing the point? Or have they really never gotten it in the first place? In Christian mythology, Jesus didn't arrive wearing cloths of gold, born into a rich, racist family. He didn't wear Brioni suits when he got older. He was born dirt poor into the midst of a despised ethnic group. Could there be a more trenchant image of solidarity with the poor and the hated? This is a central image of Christianity. How can these people miss it?

How? Because in the Age of Trump, it's all about getting and winning, and stepping on the losers. It's about cheering when those telling the truth are thrown out by security guards. No time for poor people, especially not poor people from a different, despised culture and speak a different language. For those people, we give them the business end of a rifle.

If I were a believer, I'd be very worried that god wouldn't recognize me anymore as I stood with those who spit on his creation. It's so much simpler to take the easy way, to go along with the haters and the big shots in Brioni suits who spout venom and call for those with nothing to have even more taken away.

What can you lose when you have nothing?

Hope.

And history teaches us that hopeless people with nothing to lose can be a dangerous force. See Russia, 1917.

Ask the man on the bridge.

Oh, and that bridge? The Pont du Carrousel? About twenty years ago, a right-wing white nationalist mob crossing this bridge (and not seeing anything but hate) shoved a Moroccan immigrant over the side into the Seine. He drowned.

History might be getting ready to repeat itself at another river, driven by another mob of white nationalists who see nothing but their own magnificence.

October 31, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

One more word (okay, a couple) about immigrants. Last week I heard an interview on NPR with a couple of builders (white guys) in Florida. They're having trouble handling all the new business in the wake of the recent hurricane.

One of them (both seemed to be Trump supporters, certainly not Democrats) mentioned the problem of finding good help. He said that the best workers he ever had were immigrants, the people Trump (who has never worked a hard day in his life) is now trying to boot out of the country. He said that they were the first to show up and the last to leave at night, that they had a tough work ethic that younger workers who grew up in this country just don't have.

I can testify to that. In one of my former lives I worked for a time as a maintenance supervisor for a real estate company that managed a dozen apartment buildings. During a rebuild and upgrade project, we hired three guys, all immigrants (I think they were all from Central America, but I never knew for sure).

They were the best workers I ever saw. They worked harder than anyone else and they were all amazingly skilled. They could do anything from install a new toilet to correctly mitre crown moldings. They did anything I asked. One night, after work, one of them had car trouble. Because I had been working on cars since I was a teenager, I got them going. After that, I was compadre, one of the family.

They were funny guys, even if I didn't get what they were saying all the time. But they were hard working, decent chaps, to a man. Now, does that mean that all immigrants are such fine stock? No. All cultures have their creeps and crooks and unsavory schemers.

Look at the Trump family.

October 31, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

@Akhilleus: I think Rilke's blind beggar must be a reference to the blind beggar Bartimaeus in the Gospel of Mark (10) (which, by coincidence, happens to be this week's liturgical N.T. reading) who begs Jesus to have mercy on him. The crowd -- i.e., the "well-behaved" people -- tries to shush Bartimaeus, but he shouts to Jesus all the more. Jesus heals him, apparently because Bartimaeus, like Rilke's blind beggar, "is the immovable Righteous One." Once healed, Bartimaeus is able to "see Jesus" & "follows Jesus on his way."

As you suggest, historically, society has accepted the idea that "the poor will always be with us," and "only in America has the promise of a better life for the poor been a part of the fabric of the country."

But that promise, as you say, is not part of the Republican "fabric." As Jeff Session would have it, the mere mention of the poor -- even in a Biblical citation -- is an "attack." These are the people Mitt Romney says should be spoken of only in "quiet rooms."

The party that claims it is saving the U.S. for the Christianists is peculiarly anti-Christian.

October 31, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterMrs. Bea McCrabbie

It’s hie-larious that two dimwits, Lyin’ Ryan and Fatty Trumpy, are each telling the other that they know nothing about the 14th Amendment. Even funnier because the 14th is the one amendment that wingers hate more than voting rights for non-white, non-Republican citizens. Look at all there is for a true believer authoritarian goose-stepper to hate! In addition to citizenship as a birthright, there’s due process and equal protection, rights that should only apply to their tribe. So enjoy the Punch and Judy show as these clowns battle it out to see who is the mostest konstitushonal sckolar.

(The fact that Ryan is correct that Fatty cannot change the Constitution by threatening to hold his breath until he turns green in no way means he’s an expert in all matters constitutional.)

October 31, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Sign Of The Times

I’ve just learned that my 4 1/2 year young goddaughter will not be Trick Or Treating outdoors today. Instead, she and her mates will be traveling the floors of their (NYC) apartment building ‘. . . for safety’s sake’. (Happily, I see tons of other children on the sidewalks, in costume and in search of “treats” from our neighborhood shops and restaurants.)

I’ve lived most of my lifetime in Manhattan’s West Village (AKA Greenwich Village). But as a kid, in a small New Joisey township, we freely roamed - costumed or otherwise - after dark and in search of our neighbors’ candy handouts or destinations for harmless pranks. The worst of them, punishable by mops and suds for erasing the graffiti or leftover raw egg. We also never needed to empty our sacs of booty to inspect for razors or rat poison.

Our huge annual Halloween Parade will launch in a few hours, often televised via networks outside of the Tri-State Area. Street barricades, informing its path, have been in position since the weekend. Each year has brought larger crowds to experience the artful costumes, masks and floats. And the overall joy and exhilaration. Recent years have been attended by some who wish to create chaos. Or do harm.

I attended my H.S. Reunion only a few weeks ago. And last night, our class roster of e-addresses received word that one of the 11 who were murdered in Pittsburgh was ‘one of ours’.

I did not know (Dr.) Jerry Rabinowitz, as he was in a different grade. But some of my classmates did. A photo from the school’s yearbook pictured him in the third row of The French Club. Seeing his sweet, young person’s face, juxtaposed against the “adult” photo that has appeared in the media . . . heartbreaking. He was, we were told, as kind and compassionate and likable a kid as he has been described by his Pittsburgh community.

“Why can’t we all just get along?”

(Time for my meds, me thinks.)

October 31, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterAuntHattie

Aunt Hattie,

Why can't we all just get along? Because we have a president* and a Party of Traitors who would prefer that no one get along so they can keep his fat ass in the seat of power and step on any he considers an enemy (billions of people).

I lived in the West Village for a number of years when I was in grad school at NYU (West 12th St.) and a few years thereafter. I remember kids walking the streets on Halloween, often without parents, just on their own in small groups, and this was not many years after Nixon Pardoner, Gerry Ford told NY to "Drop dead". Washington Square had a nice collection of monsters and hobos and vaguely weird creatures on that night.

Your schoolmate, Jerry Rabinowitz, was not mentioned at all by the Fat Orange Blob who shmushed his way into Pittsburgh purely to make himself look good, not to comfort the afflicted, for truly, the only one afflicted is Fat Donald. Everyone else can go hang. He's probably stewing that the families have not yet all bowed down and thanked him profusely for missing out on some Fox "news" program just so's he could show up and throw a rock or two at the commemorative site for their loved ones.

It's certainly a different world, but Republicans still suck. Big time, as Darth Cheney used to say.

October 31, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

@Aunt Hattie: I have read several tributes to Dr. Rabinowitz over the past several days, & he must have been one of the finest people to walk the earth. He spent his life in service of others' lives and died running toward a mad gunman that he might save others from the madman's gunfire.

You probably passed him in the hall in school without notice. You had no idea of his remarkable potential. Just another kid. So even if you didn't know him in school, I am sorry for your loss in the fullest sense, for he is your loss. And mine. And ours.

Our villains so often shine bright lights on themselves; we cannot help but know who they are. Many a hero walks quietly, and we pass him by, none the wiser. I once heard a rabbi say of the Holocaust, "Absent evil, there are no heroes." But some -- like Jerry Rabinowitz -- are heroes for life, whether or not a villain appears.

October 31, 2018 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

@ Akhilleus / @ Mrs. B. McC / @ All -

a few bits:

I had meant to attribute the quote to Maynard G. Krebbs by way of answering its own question. ;)

I also attended NYU. Perhaps we also passed each other unnoticed.

To clarify, in case needed: The ‘one of ours’ did not reference some exclusive (religion) club. Rather, our township and public school. Both diverse and inclusive. Thankfully, like my current ‘hood.

I hope my offering did not come across as purely “personal”. Or self-serving. I can feel most moments of most days how we *all* - from the friends in my three dimensional world, as well as from the entries of those here on RC - are profoundly impacted by what has become of our world. Learning of “Jerry” merely brought the whole bulging bag of badness a bit closer. And your kind words, appreciated and sent forward.

“What An Effing World!”
18th Century Zen Master

October 31, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterAuntHattie

I am sitting here, jumping up to offer candy and pencils to the various groups tromping up the steps, while the dog loses his mind and the husband tries to enjoy Chris Matthews (too many videos of the Great Lump for me--)but the BEST costume tonight was a tiny 8-month-old Ruth Bader Ginsberg, all dolled in a black robe with a lace collar and big round glasses that she allowed her parents to put on her-- adorable! Her folks are a pair of young lawyers...they sent a photo to a judge they know, who knows someone to show it to RBG... I am still smiling. In this red county (Lancaster, PA) we seem to have moved to a blue neighborhood, and I am happy to be here--

The happiest of Halloweens to those not in the sad city of Pittsburgh-- my sister and son both live there, and it has been very emotional, even for those not in Squirrel Hill. And I am so glad that none of the stalwarts "gifted with" bombs last week have been hurt-- and I am sure those people are thrilled that they did NOT get a phony call from the Monster. Who could believe anything human about him anymore--

October 31, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterJeanne
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