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The Commentariat -- September 1, 2017
Afternoon Update:
Julie Davis of the New York Times: "President Trump on Friday said he would announce a decision by Tuesday on whether he will end the Obama-era program that shields young undocumented immigrants from deportation, declaring 'We love the Dreamers' even as his White House grappled with how to wind down their legal status.... Several administration officials have said in recent days that Mr. Trump is likely to phase out the program, but his advisers have engaged in a vigorous behind-the-scenes debate over precisely how to do so, and the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because no decision was final, cautioned that the president was conflicted about the issue and could suddenly change his mind. As a candidate, Mr. Trump pledged to immediately terminate the program, but he has stalled for months.... He told reporters he had 'great feeling for DACA,' while declining to answer repeated questions about whether he believes the program is legal. But in recent days, Jeff Sessions, the attorney general, and Donald F. McGahn II, the White House counsel, have made it clear that they could not defend the program in court, and a group of state attorneys general have threatened to mount a legal challenge if Mr. Trump did not act to end it by Tuesday." Mrs. McC: Let's give a special shout-out to the Evil Elf.
Damian Paletta of the Washington Post: "The White House has signaled to congressional Republicans that it will not shut down the government in October if money isn't appropriated to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, potentially clearing a path for lawmakers to reach a short-term budget deal. Congress has only appropriated money to fund government operations through the end of September, and President Trump has threatened to shut down the government if lawmakers don't include $1.6 billion in new funding so that 74 new miles of wall and secondary fencing can be added to the border.... Trump could still follow through on a threat to shut down the government in December, but this marks the second time he has pulled back from the wall demand to allow lawmakers to pass a budget bill.... Trump has been threatening to shut down the government for months. In May, he said in another tweet that the government needed a 'good shutdown' to break the gridlock in Congress."
Nicole Perlroth, et al., of the New York Times: "After a presidential campaign scarred by Russian meddling, local, state and federal agencies have conducted little of the type of digital forensic investigation required to assess the impact, if any, on voting in at least 21 states whose election systems were targeted by Russian hackers, according to interviews with nearly two dozen national security and state officials and election technology specialists. The assaults on the vast back-end election apparatus -- voter-registration operations, state and local election databases, e-poll books and other equipment -- have received far less attention than other aspects of the Russian interference, such as the hacking of Democratic emails and spreading of false or damaging information about Mrs. Clinton. Yet the hacking of electoral systems was more extensive than previously disclosed, The New York Times found."
Julie Davis of the New York Times: "President Trump on Friday lashed out anew at the F.B.I. director he fired in May, charging that James B. Comey had 'exonerated' Hillary Clinton before fully completing the investigation into her use of a private email server.... 'Wow, looks like James Comey exonerated Hillary Clinton long before the investigation was over,' Mr. Trump wrote on Friday. 'A rigged system!' Two Republican senators said on Thursday that Mr. Comey had begun drafting his statement recommending not to charge Mrs. Clinton before interviewing key aides in the investigation. The president's message came at the end of a week during which Mr. Trump and his aides have worked to portray the president as singularly focused on the devastating toll of storms pummeling Texas and Louisiana, and to project a more empathetic image for Mr. Trump. Just before posting his complaint about Mr. Comey, Mr. Trump used Twitter to praise the response to the storm, although with a trademark spelling error. 'Texas is heeling fast thanks to all of the great men & women who have been working so hard,' Mr. Trump wrote. 'But still, so much to do. Will be back tomorrow!'" ...
... Michael Schmidt & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, has obtained a letter that President Trump and a top political aide drafted in the days before Mr. Trump fired the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, which explains the president's rationale for why he planned to dismiss the director. The May letter had been met with opposition from Donald F. McGahn II, the White House counsel, who believed that some of its contents were problematic, according to interviews with a dozen administration officials and others briefed on the matter. Mr. McGahn successfully blocked the president from sending Mr. Comey the letter, which Mr. Trump had composed with Stephen Miller, one of the president's top political advisers. A different letter, written by the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, and focused on Mr. Comey's handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server, was ultimately sent to the F.B.I. director on the day he was fired. The contents of the original letter appears to provide the clearest rationale that Mr. Trump had for firing Mr. Comey. It is unclear how much of Mr. Trump's rationale focuses on the Russia investigation, although Mr. Trump told aides at the time he was angry that Mr. Comey refused to publicly say that Mr. Trump himself was not under investigation."
Mr. P*, You Are Not the Boss of Us. John McCain in a Washington Post op-ed: "Congress will return from recess next week facing continued gridlock as we lurch from one self-created crisis to another. We are proving inadequate not only to our most difficult problems but also to routine duties.... Our entire system of government -- with its checks and balances, its bicameral Congress, its protections of the rights of the minority -- was designed for compromise.... We have to respect each other or at least respect the fact that we need each other. That has never been truer than today, when Congress must govern with a president who has no experience of public office, is often poorly informed and can be impulsive in his speech and conduct. We must respect his authority and constitutional responsibilities.... But we are not his subordinates. We don't answer to him. We answer to the American people. We must be diligent in discharging our responsibility to serve as a check on his power. And we should value our identity as members of Congress more than our partisan affiliation."
Tal Kopan & Jim Acosta of CNN: "House Speaker Paul Ryan on Friday gave a major boost to legislative efforts to preserve protections for young undocumented immigrants -- and urged ... Donald Trump to not tear up the program. Responding to a question about Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, on his hometown radio station WCLO in Janesville, Wisconsin, Ryan said Congress was working on a legislative fix to preserve the program. 'I actually don't think he should do that,' Ryan said of Trump's consideration of terminating the program. 'I believe that this is something that Congress has to fix.'" Mrs. McC: Good thing I took over here. Ryan never paid any attention to the Constant Weader, but he listened to me. ...
... Joanna Walters of the Guardian: "Many of America's world-leading technology chiefs and dozens of business leaders have sent an open letter to Donald Trump urging him not to kill off the special legal provisions offered to 'Dreamers', people brought to the US illegally as children -- in a drastic move widely expected from the White House on Friday. The Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, and other business titans such as Meg Whitman of Hewlett-Packard, Jack Dorsey of Twitter, Tim Cook of Apple and the fashion design legend Diane von Furstenburg appealed to Trump to preserve the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or Daca, the policy generated by the Obama administration to protect those who arrived in the US as undocumented children. The letter tells the president that such Dreamers are critical to the future success and competitiveness of American companies, and that the US economy will suffer if the young peoples' job security and protected residency status are stripped away." ...
... The letter, with a list of its signers, is here.
"Hi, I'm a Right-wing Nutjob!" -- Mick Mulvaney. That's how Trump's budget director introduced himself to White House economic advisor Gary Cohn. Michael Grunwald of Politico writes a longish piece that verifies Mulvaney's self-description.
Drew Harwell of the Washington Post: "The U.S. Treasury's Office of Inspector General is reviewing the flight taken by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and his wife, Louise Linton, last week to Louisville and Fort Knox, Ky., following criticism of their use of a government plane on a trip that involved viewing the solar eclipse."
*****
** The Oligarch. Jonathan Chait: "The version of Donald Trump who appeared [Wednesday] in Missouri was ... [of] a populist outsider, enemy of the Establishment, and traitor to his class. He pledged to ... protect 'ordinary Americans who don't have an army of accountants.' At one point, he claimed in an aside, 'I'm speaking against myself when I do this, I have to tell you.' The message, in other words, was almost the perfect inverse of the actual policy Trump was selling: a large regressive tax cut that has thrilled the party Establishment, the economic elite, and Washington lobbyists. Trump has done many shocking things in office, but most of them follow directly, even explicitly, from the persona he put on full display during the campaign.... His utter subservience to the party's donor class breaks from the pattern. It is a complete reversal of his promise to 'drain the swamp.'... The spectacular and telegenic failures of the Trump administration are obscuring the highly effective policies under way. Trump has transformed the government into an apparatus for protecting and enriching incumbent wealth. His chaos and incompetence are tolerable to his party because Trump is fashioning an American oligarchy."
Poor, Pitiful Me. Philip Rucker & Ashley Parker of the Washington Post: "Behind the scenes during a summer of crisis..., Trump appears to pine for the days when the Oval Office was a bustling hub of visitors and gossip, over which he presided as impresario. He fumes that he does not get the credit he thinks he deserves from the media or the allegiance from fellow Republican leaders he says he is owed. He boasts about his presidency in superlatives, but confidants privately fret about his suddenly dark moods. And some of Trump's friends fear that the short-tempered president is on an inevitable collision course with White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly.... Meanwhile, people close to the president said he is simmering with displeasure over what he considers personal disloyalty from National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn.... He also has grown increasingly frustrated with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.... This portrait of Trump as he enters what could be his most consequential month in office is based on interviews with 15 senior White House officials, outside advisers and friends of the president."
Jonathan Swan of Axios: "The Trump administration is urging Congress to provide $5.95 billion for response and initial recovery efforts related to Hurricane Harvey, a senior administration official told Axios. Bloomberg broke the news of the requested aid package. Budget director Mick Mulvaney is calling Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill tonight and tomorrow, asking them to support the funding. The official said the Trump administration believes the requested amount will be more than enough to support hurricane recovery efforts until the end of the year. Of the total, $5.5 billion would go to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and $450 million to the Small Business Administration for their disaster relief efforts." Emphasis original. ...
... John Wagner of the Washington Post: "President Trump is pledging to donate $1 million toward hurricane disaster relief in Texas and Louisiana, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Thursday.... Before taking office, Trump, a real estate baron and television personality, had a history of overstating his charitable giving and taking credit for donations that came from other sources, as documented in a series of stories last year in The Washington Post. [Sarah] Sanders said the president has not settled on specific charities and wants to solicit advice from the media." Sanders didn't know where the donation was coming from -- from Trump personally or from some entity he controls. Mrs. McC: Uh, Trump is asking the media to suggest worthy charities? Would that be the fake media or from the Trump media? ...
... mike pence hugs a victim of Hurricane Harvey. Mission Clean-up-apres-Trump accomplished:
... Nolan McCaskill of Politico: "Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday offered up a playbook for ... Donald Trump's follow-up visit to hurricane-ravaged Texas this weekend, hugging storm victims, directly offering words of encouragement, and dripping sweat as he helped clear debris. Pence -- who is always cautious about upstaging the president -- literally followed in Trump's footsteps, flying with his wife to Corpus Christi, Texas, two days after the president and first lady Melania Trump had flown there and received updates from officials on the response effort to Hurricane Harvey.... But while Trump courted controversy by barely mentioning the victims and boasting about the crowds who greeted him, his No. 2 took a more classic approach to offering comfort in the wake of a widespread natural disaster. Pence's trip was no-frills and low key. There was no buzz over second lady Karen Pence's footwear -- she was photographed wearing black flats -- or the vice president's headwear -- he didn't wear a hat, let alone one being advertised on the Trump campaign website. Unlike Trump, who claimed Wednesday to have witnessed 'first hand the horror & devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey,' it was Pence who actually met with storm survivors and slipped on blue gloves to help remove branches from fallen trees outside a battered home in Rockport. And unlike the first lady, the second lady didn't release a statement on the storm. She instead led a group in prayer." ...
... Julie Turkewitz, et al., of the New York Times: "A series of explosions at a flood-damaged chemical plant outside Houston on Thursday drew sharp focus on hazards to public health and safety from the city's vast petrochemical complex as the region begins a painstaking recovery from Hurricane Harvey. The blasts at the plant, owned by the French chemical company Arkema, came after its main electrical system and backups failed, cutting off refrigeration systems that kept volatile chemicals stable. While nearby residents had been evacuated, 15 public safety officers were treated at a hospital after inhaling smoke from chemical fires that followed the explosions. The Arkema plant has been identified as one of the most hazardous in the state. Its failure followed releases of contaminants from several other area petrochemical plants and systemic breakdowns of water and sewer systems in Houston and elsewhere in the storm-struck region. The explosions -- more are expected, the company said -- will bring fresh scrutiny on whether these plants are adequately regulated and monitored by state and federal safety officials." The story includes more news about the effects of the hurricane. ...
... Steve Mufson, et al., of the Washington Post: "The [Arkema Crosby] plant had 19.5 tons of organic peroxides of various strengths, all of them requiring refrigeration to prevent ignition. But the power went out, and then the floodwaters came and knocked out the plant's generators. A liquid nitrogen system faltered. In a last-ditch move, the workers transferred the chemicals to nine huge refrigerated trucks, each with its own generator, and moved the vehicles to a remote section of the plant. That was doomed to fail, too. Six feet of water swamped the trucks, and the final 11 workers gave up. At 2 a.m. Tuesday, they called for a water evacuation and left the plant to its fate." Mrs. McC: So, um, the workers didn't drive the trucks to higher ground??? You can see a total of 10 trucks in the photo accompanying the NYT story, linked above; eight are on ground that was not flooded at the time the photo was taken; two are in what I would guess is the flooded parking lot. ..."
... There's More: "In February, Arkema's Crosby plant was initially fined $107,918 for 10 OSHA violations, federal records show. The violations were marked as 'serious,' meaning they could cause serious physical injury or worker deaths if not remedied.... The government later reduced the fines to about $91,000. Arkema also agreed to a settlement with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) in January stemming from a leak of a toxic and flammable compound in June 2016, state records show. The plant released 4,800 pounds of isoamylene after workers left a valve partially open for 62 hours.... A state inspection of the facility months earlier also found seven violations. The TCEQ lists the company's overall compliance history as 'satisfactory,' however." ...
... David Sirota in International Business Times: "The rules, which were set to go into effect this year, were halted by the Trump administration after a furious lobbying campaign by plant owner Arkema and its affiliated trade association, the American Chemistry Council, which represents a chemical industry that has poured tens of millions of dollars into federal elections.... While Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has given chemical companies legal cover to hide the locations of their EPA-regulated chemicals, the Associated Press reports that the imperiled Arkema facility houses large amounts of toxic sulfur dioxide and flammable methylpropene, which required Arkema to submit a risk management plan to the agency -- and which would have subjected the company to the strengthened [Obama] safety rules.... The American Chemistry Council also lauded Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton for co-authoring a letter slamming the chemical plant safety rule.... Among the 65 co-sponsors of the measure to block the rules were 10 members of the Texas Congressional delegation...."
... Matthew Daly of the AP: "The Trump administration delayed an Obama-era rule that would have tightened safety requirements for companies that store large quantities of dangerous chemicals such as the chemical plant near Houston that exploded early Thursday. The Environmental Protection Agency rule would have required chemical plants, including the now-destroyed Arkema Inc., plant outside Houston, to make public the types and quantities of chemicals stored on site. The rule was developed after a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, exploded in 2013, killing 15 people. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt prevented the safety rule from taking effect until 2019 to allow the agency time to reconsider industry objections. Chemical companies, including Arkema, said the rule could make it easier for terrorists and other criminals to target refineries, chemical plants and other facilities." ...
... Ben Lefebvre & Alex Guillen of Politico: "Explosions and fires at a Houston-area chemical plant ... generated new criticism of ... Donald Trump's efforts to repeal the industry's safety rules. Thursday morning's blasts at the plant came just a day after a federal court refused to force the Environmental Protection Agency to implement an Obama-era chemical safety regulation that the Trump administration has delayed until 2019.... [Also] Trump's proposed budget for next year would eliminate all funding for the [federal Chemical Safety B]oard, which issues safety recommendations but cannot directly enforce regulations.... Collapsed chemical tank roofs, machinery malfunctions and other accidents in the Houston area have sent more than 1,000 tons of dangerous chemicals into the air following days of pummeling from Harvey, according to a Politico analysis of incident filings with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Sometimes, toxic chemicals sit in huge storage tanks that border residents' backyards.... Texas' famously lax site regulations and inspection rates will make normally straightforward emergency response problematic, as firefighters and others may not know whether a storage site's equipment is up to date or even what chemicals it's storing, said Elena Craft, a senior health scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund in Austin."
** Anonymous Officials Say HHS Will Gut ObamaCare Funds. Amy Goldstein of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration is gutting federal funds to help Americans sign up for health coverage under the Affordable Care Act, cutting grants to grass-roots groups that assist with enrollment by 40 percent and slashing an advertising budget from $100 million to $10 million. The announcement late Thursday afternoon, just nine weeks before the start of the fifth annual enrollment season, is the first indication of how an administration determined to overturn the health-care law will oversee the window for new and returning consumers buying coverage for 2018. In a conference call with reporters, three federal health officials extended the White House's pattern of denigrating the ACA and its effectiveness. They also reversed a promise that Health and Human Services staff had made two months ago to nearly 100 organizations receiving 'navigator' grants that their funding would be renewed.... The HHS officials ... briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.... The magnitude and abruptness of the cuts sparked an immediate outcry from the Senate's top Democrats, consumer advocacy groups and members of the Obama administration, who had relentlessly championed ACA enrollment until they left office eight months ago."
** Anita Kumar & Franco Ordoñez of McClatchy News: "... Donald Trump is expected to end an Obama-era program that shielded young people from deportation, but he will likely let the immigrants known as Dreamers stay in the United States until their work permits run out, according to multiple people familiar with the policy negotiation. That plan would allow Trump to fulfill a campaign promise to end one of Barack Obama's signature initiatives while also giving the president a way to keep the pledge he made after Inauguration Day to treat the Dreamers with 'great heart,' said sources on both sides of the issue who are involved in the discussions. An announcement could come as soon as Friday, just days before a deadline imposed by 10 states that threatened to sue the U.S. government if it did not stop protecting people brought into the country illegally as children.... 'He's been advised that it's in his political interest for him to be the one to make the decision to terminate the program because he'll get the credit,' said a source who is familiar with the conversations inside the White House." ...
... Mrs. McC: Here again, Congress could show its collective "great heart" & fix Trump's cold-hearted plan almost immediately. This is much simpler than comprehensive immigration reform, & most Americans -- including 75 percent of Trump voters -- favor allowing Dreamers to stay in the U.S. Indeed, there's already a GOP-backed bill -- the Recognizing America's Children Act ... sitting in some committee that would allow most Dreamers to stay in the country. Of course, any such bill would probably have to pass with a veto-proof majority unless Trump's "great heart" led him to call the bill a victory for "repealing & replacing" President Obama's DACA & then quietly signing the bill or letting the veto period pass. The Hill reported a couple of days ago that Rep. Carlos Curbelo's (R-Fla.) has attached pro-DACA "amendments to a government spending bill slated for House floor consideration next week." Also, I don't see how it's in Trump's "political interest" to deport Dreamers when even his own voters oppose the draconian policy. ...
... AND Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) said Thursday he'll attempt to force a vote on a bill that would extend protections for undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as minors. When he returns to Washington next week, Coffman said he'll file what's known as a 'discharge petition' to force action on his proposal, known as the BRIDGE Act. If he can persuade a majority of the House -- 218 members -- to join him, the House will be required to take up the measure later in September.... The measure extends protection -- similar to that afforded under DACA -- to those born after June 15, 1981, were brought to the United States before their 16th birthday and have lived in the United States since June 15, 2007. Applicants for protection must also be enrolled in school, have graduated from high school or have served honorably in the military. And those convicted of a felony or certain misdemeanors would be barred from the program. Coffman's call is likely to draw support from Democrats, as well as other Republicans...." ...
... MEANWHILE, Cristian Farias, in New York, writes that the "deadline" supposedly imposed on Trump is totally fake. "Texas's threat lacks merit, is internally inconsistent, and there's little evidence that it was dreamed up for any other reason than political grandstanding. If Trump is the grand negotiator that he claims he is, he would be well advised to ignore it. First things first: [horrible Texas AG Ken] Paxton's 'deadline' is a sham. Federal policy that applies nationwide doesn't rise or fall because someone threatens a lawsuit. And any president, no matter the party, would look weak if his decision-making depended on a cease-and-desist letter that shows up in the mail.... [To end DATA] would be a political disaster for Trump. Dreamers remain a popular group with Democrats and Republicans alike, are a boon to the economy...."
Binyamin Appelbaum of the New York Times: "The Trump administration signaled on Thursday that the black abolitionist Harriet Tubman may not replace President Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill after all. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin declined to endorse the plan for a 2020 redesign of the $20 bill that was announced by the Obama administration last year. 'People have been on the bills for a long period of time,' Mr. Mnuchin told CNBC. 'This is something we'll consider. Right now we've got a lot more important issues to focus on.' President Trump, who has described himself as a 'big fan' of the populist rabble-rousing president from Tennessee, made clear as a candidate that he didn't like the proposal to replace Jackson."
David Sanger & Rick Gladstone of the New York Times: "The world's nuclear inspectors complicated President Trump's effort to find Iran in violation of the two-year-old nuclear accord with the United States and five other world powers, declaring on Thursday that the latest inspections found no evidence that the country is breaching the agreement. Mr. Trump has made no secret of his desire to scrap the agreement, even over the objections of many of his top national security officials. But the reports of the International Atomic Energy Agency make it harder to create an argument that Iran is in violation."
Daniel Bice & Bill Glauber of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. -- the controversial, Stetson-wearing official who rose to national prominence with his no-holds-barred conservative rhetoric -- resigned his office Thursday. Clarke, who is in his fourth term, submitted a resignation letter to Milwaukee County Clerk George Christenson on Thursday. 'After almost forty years serving the great people of Milwaukee County, I have chosen to retire to pursue other opportunities,' Clarke said in a statement." ...
... Andrew Restuccia, et al., of Politico: "David Clarke, the controversial outgoing sheriff of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, is expected to take a job in the Trump administration, according to two sources familiar with the matter.... But he has come under fierce criticism amid a series of deaths in the Milwaukee County prison, including that of Terrill Thomas, who died of dehydration last year after guards turned off the water in his cell. Trump has been one of Clarke's most vocal cheerleaders, and even promoted his book on Twitter earlier this month.... Clarke likely won't be offered a Senate-confirmed role because his nomination would face opposition from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle." See also the Slate story, linked yesterday, which likens Clarke to Joe Arpaio. Mrs. McC: ... And that is what makes Clarke Trump's kind of guy.
Kimberly Hefling of Politico: Candice Jackson, "who runs the Education Department's civil rights division cited her work attacking Bill and Hillary Clinton at the top of her resume when she applied to work for ... Donald Trump, according to a copy of the document obtained by Politico.... Jackson, who brought a group of women who had accused President Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct to a presidential debate last year between Trump and Hillary Clinton, listed that event as one of her 'top five qualifications' for working in the administration. At the Education Department, Jackson has taken a prominent role helping Education Secretary Betsy DeVos shape federal policy pertaining to protections for transgender students and the handling of campus sexual assault cases. She drew fire in June for telling The New York Times that 90 percent of campus sexual assault cases 'fall into the category of "we were both drunk."'" Mrs. McC: And that is what makes Jackson Trump's kind of gal.
This Should Work, Noor Al-Sibai of the Raw Story: "In a series of legal memoranda submitted on behalf of ... Donald Trump to special counsel Robert Mueller, lawyers for the president attacked fired FBI Director James Comey's character as a means of defending the president. According to sources close to the case who spoke to the Wall Street Journal, the president's legal team submitted a memo to Mueller in June that claimed Comey was an 'unreliable witness' because he is 'prone to exaggeration, unreliable in congressional testimony and the source of leaks to the news media.'" ...
... Betsy Woodruff of the Daily Beast: "Special counsel Bob Mueller has teamed up with the IRS. According to sources familiar with his investigation into alleged Russian election interference, his probe has enlisted the help of agents from the IRS' Criminal Investigations unit. This unit -- known as CI -- is one of the federal government's most tight-knit, specialized, and secretive investigative entities. Its 2,500 agents focus exclusively on financial crime, including tax evasion and money laundering. A former colleague of Mueller's said he always liked working with IRS' special agents, especially when he was a U.S. Attorney.... If [Mueller] wants to bring charges against Trump associates related to violations of tax law, he will need approval from the Justice Department's elite Tax Division. Trump hasn't yet named his pick to run the division, which is a post that requires Senate confirmation. At the moment, career officials are helming the division.... 'The fact that there is not a senate-confirmed Assistant Attorney General for the Tax Division, and that the Trump people have disregarded it despite warnings as far back as December that they needed to fill the AAG's spot ... shows what a self-created mess the Trump administration has found itself in,' said [a] former prosecutor, who requested anonymity.... 'They have no one to keep Mueller and his Brooklyn team honest. They should be concerned about that.'" ...
... Jonathan Chait (Aug. 30): Robert "Mueller is apparently handling his investigating like the prosecution of a mob boss, pressuring underlings to flip on the boss. Trump's advantage is that, unlike a mob boss, he can give out an unlimited number of get-out-of-jail-free cards. Trump has reportedly mused in public about using the pardon -- and his pardon of Joe Arpaio flaunted his willingness to use it on behalf of a political ally, even in outrageous fashion. But it turns out that there is a flaw in Trump's strategy. The presidential pardon only applies to federal crimes.... [So] Mueller is teaming up with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.... Trump can pardon anybody facing charges from Mueller, but not from Schneiderman. It is probably significant that Mueller is letting this fact be known to Trump's inner circle. Trump's biggest source of leverage over Mueller just disappeared."
... Ken Dilanian of NBC News: "Paul Manafort's notes from a controversial Trump Tower meeting with Russians during the 2016 presidential campaign included a mention of political contributions near a reference to the Republican National Committee, two sources briefed on the evidence told NBC News.... It is illegal for foreigners to donate to American elections. The meeting happened just as Trump had secured the Republican nomination for president, and he was considered a longshot to win. Manafort was the campaign chairman at the time.... Manafort spokesman Jason Maloni told NBC News that 'it is 100 percent false to suggest this meeting included any discussion of donations from Russian sources to either the Trump campaign or the Republican Party. Mr. Manafort provided the Senate Intelligence Committee with the facts and his notes so this speculation and conjecture is pointless and wrong.'"
Richard Gonzales of NPR: "A federal judge temporarily blocked an anti-abortion law set to take effect in Texas on Friday that would have limited second trimester abortions in that state. U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel issued an injunction lasting 14 days that prevents Texas from outlawing an abortion procedure known as dilation and evacuation, commonly used on women seeking to terminate their pregnancies in their second trimester. In his ruling, Yeakel wrote, 'The act leaves that woman and her physician with abortion procedures that are more complex, risky, expensive, difficult for many women to arrange, and often involve multi-day visits to physicians, and overnight hospital stays.' The ruling came in response to a lawsuit brought by abortion providers who argued that the Texas law, signed by Gov. Greg Abbott in May, would deny women access to a safe procedure."
News Lede
Washington Post: "Job growth lagged in August, with the economy adding a lower-than-projected 156,000 jobs and the unemployment rate ticking up slightly to 4.4 percent. Average hourly wages rose 3 cents last month to $26.39, up 2.5 percent from a year ago -- a raise economists call tepid and government officials say 'has room for improvement.' The growth missed expectations, as analysts thought federal economists would report approximately 200,000 new jobs in August."
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THE HYPOCRISIES OF TRUMP'S MINISKIRT CRUSADE IN AFGHANISTAN:
It is reported that McMaster convinced Trump to stay in Afghanistan by showing him an old black-&-white photo from 1972 of Afghan women in mini-skirts. He has argued that Afghans can be like us if given a chance–-the old canard of transformation cuz we be better than they in all and every way.
Juan Cole gives us a superior look back at how this country has dealt with Afghanistan and how the women in that country have fared. Blondie would blow a musical fuse.
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/hypocrisies-trumps-mini-skirt-crusade-afghanistan/
Is it me or is there something dangerously pathological about the Afghanistan troop increase? Hard facts, military, social, and realpolitik arguments don't move the king to action, but a little extra leg does the trick? President* Shiny Object is an embarrassing disgrace. What's next? Trumpy viziers keep binders full of pornographic images which can be used to sway the king's little mind during policy debates? "We know, Mr. President, that you would prefer to end the DACA program, because Obama, but many of your voters are okay with it and might think it's overly draconian. But on the other hand, check this out! Whoa! Miss September! Yeah, baby! Look at them gams!"
The downright despicable nature of Trump's evil, vindictive response to losing the ACA battle should give all decent people pause. He loses the repeal and replace fight, fair and square, in a straight up and down vote, then decides to kill the program anyway, out of spite. He's the jackass kid whose team loses a basketball game, and on the way out, he flattens the ball. Then he goes out to the parking lot to slash everyone's tires. A better, more accurate analogy, I suppose would be that he kills one of every 10 people who exit the gym afterwards. Because that's what he's doing here. Visiting death upon Americans just because he's pissed and didn't have either the energy or skill to help his side win.
Despicable.
The tortured or the torturer?
Has there ever been a more dishonest, puerile, spiteful administration in American history? Rhetorical question, that.
So now President* White Supremacy has decreed that no woman, and most certainly no black woman, will replace his favorite president, the slave owning (and slave whipping) Andrew Jackson.
Trumpy's good little doggie in Treasury, Secretary Munchkin, sniffed that "...we have more important things to do" than put Harriet Tubman on the twenty. Yeah, like give themselves enormous tax cuts, threaten nuclear war, build a useless wall costing tens of billions, and take mini-vacations flying around at taxpayers' expense so their wives can show off their latest haute couture purchases. Verrrry important things.
So after the pleasant surprise that Harriet Tubman, an escaped slave who was whipped so hard as a little girl she was afflicted with seizures for the rest of her life, would replace Andrew Jackson, who owned hundreds of slaves and once offered over $3,000 to anyone would caught one of his runaways and tortured him with 100 lashes of a bull whip just to show him that the white man rules, we find that King KKK refuses to go ahead with the change.
After escaping, Tubman risked her life repeatedly to help others on the road to freedom over the underground railway. She wasn't known as Moses for nothing.
Jackson, for all his accomplishments, was a hardened racist (like many of his era), but he was able, like Trump is today, to inject that racism into significant public policy decisions. Jackson vigorously prosecuted the Indian Removal Act which meant forced relocation of many native American tribes from the southeast United States, including the Cherokee and Choctaw nations. Thousands died of exposure and starvation along the Trail of Tears. Even more outrageous (and perhaps another reason King Trumpy loves Jackson so much), a number of tribes and individuals took the peaceful step of appealing their removal to the Supreme Court, which sided in their favor (following a similar finding by the Georgia State Supreme Court). Jackson ignored the ruling and continued with the removal. Judges. What do they know?
So who does Trumpy side with, the tortured, the downtrodden, the slave, or the torturer, the master, the slave owner?
Another rhetorical question, that. There's never any doubt. There is also the fact that the switch of Tubman the black woman, for Jackson, the white supremacist, happened during the Obama administration. Little Man Trump cannot abide that.
Jackson has been on the twenty since 1928. It's time for a change. Plus, there have been few women on US currency since the country's founding but back in the 19th century both Martha Washington and Pocahontas were so honored. Thus, 19th C Americans were more inclusive and decent than Trump. Surprised?
A disgraceful excuse for a human being. Just disgraceful.
P.S. Five other women are scheduled to make an appearance on US currency over the next few years, but all on the reverse sides of the ten and the five. In addition to Tubman, whose fate is now in the hands of a small minded, misogynistic racist pig, there are Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Alice Paul, Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth, Marion Anderson, and Eleanor Roosevelt. It's probably fifty-fifty whether this happens or not, again, because Obama. And women. And black women. Stormfront would not be pleased.
Welcome to September! Thanks to Harvey, we get to see how Republicans, led by a schmuck, respond to real chaos at the same time they plan to pass laws that will create more chaos.
As if you needed any more evidence of insanity ....Trump is allegedly donating money for the victims of Harvey. Those that don't know he is motivated purely by trying to fill his bottomless pit of need, let me get my 2X4 and awaken them. He is so blinded by insanity, that he completely misses the popularity of DACA. Keeping DACA in place would produce far more widespread approval than his purported monetary donation. Like all addicts, narcisissts develop tolerance. It takes increasing emotional intensity to fill the need. He is compelled to always choose the desires of hateful, vicious rally crowd because they provide the salve for his insatiable need. Whipping mobs into a frenzy gives him the best high he can achieve. He is unable to process others as separate beings from himself. That's why he always looks like he's acting(poorly) and he strikes all those familiar poses. Any socially normal responses are learned. Trump is insane.
Diane,
Very true. And I'll be surprised if a penny of that million comes out of his own pocket. It'll be another donation from the "Trumpy Foundation" or some other shell entity which is itself funded by donations from others. But he loves the adulation and, according to yet more leaks from inside (good job on stopping those leaks, Gen. Kelly), he stomps around the WH, pissed because people aren't properly worshiping his wonderfulness. And tendering all the honor he believes he deserves.
He is, fundamentally, a whining loser and a coward.
Oh, Mrs. M.,
Nice choice for a musical selection following the link to a piece on Bob Mueller's Javert-like pursuit of the crooked lines which all point to the king.
"One way or another, I'm gonna find ya'
I'm gonna get ya', get ya', get ya', get ya'
One way or another..."
I watched a great old cartoon a few weeks ago with my little guy. It's about an RCMP dog, a sad looking creature whose best feature is his indefatigable pursuit of the crook (a fox) and his frightening ubiquity. He's everywhere. Every time the fox thinks he's home free, there's the dog. He's even hiding in his cereal bowl, watching, always watching. Eventually, the fox can't take it anymore and he gladly locks himself up. Very funny.
It's probably too much to hope that King Trumpy would get tired of being chased by Mueller and willingly don the orange jumpsuit (maybe Ivanka can design him something special), but I'll settle for a plea bargain or resignation, once he realizes his shit is on fire and there's no way out that doesn't include impeachment. Jail time would be nice too! One way or another.
(If Trump watched this video, do you think he'd confuse Debbie Harry with one of those Finnish reporters from that presser last week? "What, again? This blonde chick is everywhere!"--he's SUCH an idiot.)
The Canadian government has been smuggling Chechnyan gays from Russia to Canada in what must be a unique refugee program. So far the government admits to 22 individuals. I can only think that the program will not survive disclosure. Vlad will not be pleased.
Donald Trump = "an insufferable prick". (Thank you Joseph Heller)
Texas wingers beg for help from the government for reconstruction from the devastation wrought from Harvey, a storm their ideological intransigence helped to create.
These are people who want to tell everyone else that government isn't worth shit and everyone should just tough it out like they do. Until they actually have to tough it out. Then it's a different story.
Governor Abbott is letting the powers that be understand that he'll probably need over $125 billion, more than double the amount that Texas pols like Ted Cruz tried to deny to those "New York attitude" types after Sandy, to help Texans recover from Harvey.
So now it's a different story. Isn't that precious?
Here's Cruz talking about how his dad was lucky he never met a liberal:
"When my father came over here penniless with $100 sewn into his underwear, thank God some well-meaning liberal didn't come put his arm around him and say, 'Let me take care of you.'"
Now Cruz is begging those liberals to help him.
Funny how that works.
JustAGuy,
We owe a lot to Joseph Heller. This may be one more thing. I don't recall the exact quote, but I'm guessing that if it's from "Catch-22", that it's probably directed at Milo Minderbender, a despicable, greedy, Trump-style douchebag, a depraved character whose prime function is to demonstrate the sort of unprincipled, opportunistic capitalism that Trump specializes in.
It's been a while since I read the book, but certain characters leave a mark. Characters like Minderbender and Trump leave the mark of the dollar sign reticulated with the number 666.
@Akhilleus, it's from Catch-22 and it probably was ascribed to Milo. I just remember that two word quote, very precise and elegant.
After suffering through a disaster, everyone's a socialist.