;)
The Commentariat -- September 16, 2019
Afternoon Update:
William Rashbaum & Ben Protess of the New York Times: "State prosecutors in Manhattan have subpoenaed President Trump's accounting firm to demand eight years of his personal and corporate tax returns, according to several people with knowledge of the matter. The subpoena opens a new front in a wide-ranging effort to obtain copies of the president's tax returns, which Mr. Trump initially said he would make public during the 2016 campaign but has since refused to disclose. The subpoena was issued by the Manhattan district attorney's office late last month, soon after it opened a criminal investigation into the role that the president and his family business played in hush-money payments made in the run-up to the election." The NBC News report is here.
Richard Pérez-Peña & David Kirkpatrick of the New York Times: "Saudi Arabia said Monday that Iranian weapons were used in aerial strikes over the weekend that interrupted much of the kingdom's oil production, and that the attacks were not launched from Yemen, home of the Houthi rebel faction that has claimed responsibility for the them. The claims, made without supporting evidence, appeared to move the Saudis closer to directly blaming Iran, a chief ally of the Houthis, for the attacks on Saturday.... United States officials the attacks on Saturday.... The Americans offered no evidence of Iranian involvement..., and they did not say who was directly involved in carrying out the strikes or from where they were launched.... President Trump on Monday took to Twitter to suggest that Tehran could not be believed...." Mrs. McC: Now there's the pot calling the kettle black. ~~~
~~~ Martha Raddatz & Katherine Faulders of ABC News: "... Donald Trump and senior administration officials met at the White House on Monday to discuss how to respond to the attack on a Saudi oil facility that the U.S. has blamed on Iran, according to three senior administration officials.... Saudi military spokesperson Col. Turki al-Malki said on Monday that initial investigations show Iranian weapons were used in the attack and that those weapons were not launched from inside Yemen." ~~~
~~~ Megan Specia of the New York Times: "Iran has dismissed the possibility of a meeting between the country's president, Hassan Rouhani, and President Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly next week, the country's state-run news media reported on Monday."
Lauren Fox, et al., of CNN: "Days before Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation, a Democratic senator [-- Chris Coons (Delaware) --] urged the FBI to reach out to a witness who had key information about alleged misconduct by the nominee while at Yale, according to a letter obtained by CNN.... An aide familiar with the letter told CNN that the FBI acknowledged receipt of Coons' letter at the time, but the senator never heard more beyond that.... The letter comes as The New York Times reported over the weekend that the Times had interviewed more individuals who had corroborated the allegation of Deborah Ramirez, a Yale classmate who alleged Kavanaugh had exposed himself to her at a dorm room party. The Times also reported that there was another previously undisclosed allegation raised by Max Stier, a Yale classmate who told the Times that he had witnessed Kavanaugh engage in another, similar incident. [CNN confirmed that the witnessed referenced in Coons' letter was Stier.] CNN is not reporting any details of the accusation and has not independently corroborated the account."
Darren Samuelsohn in Politico Magazine: "A document Hillary Clinton helped write nearly a half century ago has returned from the dead to threaten the man she couldn't vanquish in 2016. The bizarre, only-in-D.C. twist centers on a congressional report penned by a bipartisan team of young attorneys that included Hillary before she was a Clinton and written in the throes of Watergate.... [Lawmakers then] had little understanding of how to try and remove Richard Nixon from the White House. So they tapped Clinton and a team of ambitious staffers to dive into the history of impeachment, stretching back to the 14th century in England[.]... The resulting document became a centerpiece of the congressional push to drive [Nixon] from office.... Republicans [resurrected the memo in the late 1990s] to bolster their unsuccessful bid to oust Clinton's now-husband, President Bill Clinton. Then it faded from public conscience -- again.... [Today,] the 45-year-old report has become a handbook House Democratic lawmakers and aides say they are using to help determine whether they have the goods to mount a full-scale impeachment effort against ... Donald Trump...."
~~~~~~~~~~
Kareem Fahim, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump said Sunday that the United States was prepared to respond to the devastating attacks on two oil installations in Saudi Arabia that halved the state oil company's production output, while Iran rejected U.S. accusations that it was responsible. 'There is reason to believe that we know the culprit,' Trump said in a tweet Sunday evening. He said the United States was 'locked and loaded depending on verification.' Trump did not name Iran, as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had on Saturday, or specify whether he was contemplating a military response. He said he was waiting to hear from the Saudis on 'who they believe was the cause of this attack, and under what terms we would proceed!'" CNN's story is here. Mrs. McC: "Locked & loaded"? There is an eight-year-old in charge of the military. He is playing president, and he's terrible at it. ~~~
~~~ Martha Raddatz of ABC News: "Iran launched nearly a dozen cruise missiles and over 20 drones from its territory in the attack on a key Saudi oil facility Saturday, a senior Trump administration official told ABC News Sunday. It is an extraordinary charge to make, that Iran used missiles and drones to attack its neighbor and rival Saudi Arabia, as the region teeters on the edge of high tensions.... The Trump administration, in particular Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, has blamed Iran for the attack since Saturday, but so far, there's been no public accusation that Iran launched missiles.... Critics condemned Trump's threat to act, especially at the Saudis' behest. Rep. Justin Amash, of Michigan, a former Republican and now Independent, tweeted, 'Under our Constitution, the power to commence war lies with Congress, not the president and certainly not Saudi Arabia. We don't take orders from foreign powers.'" ~~~
~~~ AND there's this from Raddatz's report: "The risk of conflict seemed lower less than a week ago, with the departure of hawkish National Security Adviser John Bolton and Trump seeming to embrace the possibility of talks with Iran's President Hassan Rouhani at the United Nations General Assembly later this month in New York. Pompeo said Tuesday that Trump was 'prepared to meet with no preconditions.' But in a reversal Sunday, Trump tweeted it was 'incorrect' to say he was willing to meet without conditions, blaming the 'fake news' despite his repeated statements saying so. In July 2018, the president first said 'no preconditions ... If they want to meet, I'll meet -- anytime they want.'" ~~~
~~~ Max Boot in the Washington Post: "The Houthi rebel group in Yemen assumed responsibility [for the attacks on Saudi oil installations], but Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pinned the blame on Iran. This is a claim that Iran denies and that few may take on faith given how often the administration has lied about even minor matters. President Trump and his aides just tried to falsify information about a hurricane. Why believe them about an attack in the Middle East? Nevertheless, it appears, based on the sophistication of this attack, that Iran is indeed the real culprit.... Whoever the culprit, this attack offers yet more evidence that Trump's Middle East policy has failed. At the root of the problem is Trump' decision to outsource Middle East leadership to Israel and Saudi Arabia -- unlikely allies united by their mutual (and understandable) antipathy toward the Iranian regime.... A sponsor of terrorism and a heinous human rights abuser, Iran deserves an outsize share of the blame for destabilizing the Middle East. But Trump has only aggravated the crisis by blindly backing his friends in Israel and Saudi Arabia. The attack on Saudi oil production is only the latest blowback -- and far from the last."
David Edwards of the Raw Story: "White House aide Kellyanne Conway on Sunday insisted that Democrats do not have a 'constitutional basis' to embarrass ... Donald Trump by conducting an impeachment inquiry. 'Stop the nonsense of harassing and embarrassing this president and the people around him when you have no constitutional or legal basis to do so,' she said." Mrs. McC: Maybe KellyAnne should ask her husband the lawyer about that. (Also linked yesterday.)
Alicia Cohn of the Hill: "The New York Times on Monday added a correction to a report accusing Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct. The correction notes that friends of the woman allegedly involved in the incident with Kavanaugh during law school say she does not recall it. The Times in the story published Saturday reported a former classmate of Kavanaugh's named Max Stier said he witnessed the now-judge expose himself and force another female classmate to touch his penis at a dorm party. The Times said it corroborated the story with two other officials who had heard the same report from the former classmate, Stier. However, the woman involved in the alleged incident did not speak to the Times and, according to the correction, her friends say she does not recall that it happened.... Trump also noted the story correction on Monday morning, tweeting: 'DO YOU BELIEVE WHAT THESE HORRIBLE PEOPLE WILL DO OR SAY. They are looking to destroy, and influence his opinions - but played the game badly. They should be sued!'" ~~~
~~~ Chris Rodrigo of the Hill: And Trump kept on blasting. ~~~
~~~ Sandra Garcia of the New York Times: "Several Democratic presidential candidates called for the impeachment of Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh on Sunday after The New York Times published new information about allegations of sexual misconduct against him, while Republican leaders condemned the reporting as irresponsible and defended him.... Mitch McConnell, said on Twitter, that the 'far left's willingness to seize on completely uncorroborated and unsubstantiated allegations during last year's confirmation process was a dark and embarrassing chapter for the Senate.'... [Besides Harris & Castro, whose comments are below, candidates Elizabeth Warren & Bernie Sanders also called for Kavanaugh's impeachment.] The Times was roundly criticized for a tweet -- which was later deleted -- made on its Opinion account on Saturday about the essay that read: 'Having a penis thrust in your face at a drunken dorm party may seem like harmless fun. But when Brett Kavanaugh did it to her, Deborah Ramirez says, it confirmed that she didn't belong at Yale in the first place.' [James Dao, deputy editorial page editor for The Times,] said the tweet 'was clearly offensive and never should have gone out and we sincerely apologize.'" ~~~
~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: No, what "was clearly offensive" was "having a penis thrust in your face at a drunken dorm party." What's clear to me is that Kavanaugh's purpose was to humiliate young women. While I don't know who the third woman cited in the Times report is, in Ramirez & Blasey Ford, Kavanaugh chose low-status women to humiliate. He probably would not have dared pull these grotesque stunts on the most popular girls, but a poor Hispanic student & a lower-class girl were perfect targets for sexual assaults he thought were funny. Kavanaugh is not only a serial sexual offender, a misogynist & a perjurer; he's also a bully. And bullies are horrible judges. ~~~
~~~ Chas Danner of New York: "At least six Democratic presidential candidates have released statements calling for the impeachment or removal of Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh after new details supporting and adding to the sexual misconduct allegations against him were revealed over the weekend. [That would be Castro, Harris, Warren, Sanders, O'Rourke & Buttigieg.]... Kavanaugh will in all likelihood need no rescuing from impeachment. There has only been one impeachment of a Supreme Court justice in American history, back in the 1800s, and no justice has ever been removed from the Court. It's not reasonable to expect that one could be now either -- particularly in the current political environment. The successful impeachment, conviction, and removal of Kavanaugh would require Democrats taking back the White House, keeping the House (where they already can't agree to impeach Trump,) and obtaining a like-minded supermajority in the Senate (where Democrats barely have a chance to win even a simple majority in 2020.)"
I sat through those hearings. Brett Kavanaugh lied to the U.S. Senate and most importantly to the American people. He was put on the Court through a sham process and his place on the Court is an insult to the pursuit of truth and justice. He must be impeached. -- Kamala Harris, in a tweet today
It’s more clear than ever that Brett Kavanaugh lied under oath. He should be impeached. And Congress should review the failure of the Department of Justice to properly investigate the matter. -- Julian Castro, in a tweet Saturday night ~~~
~~~ Max Burman & others of NBC News cover the basics of the NYT story & reactions. "Kavanaugh told the Senate Judiciary Committee under oath last year that the first time he heard of Ramirez's allegation was in a Sept. 23 article in The New Yorker. But according to text messages obtained last year by NBC News, in the days leading up to Ramirez' public allegation Kavanaugh and his team were communicating behind the scenes with friends to refute the claim."
Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Sunday urged President Trump to endorse House-passed gun measures and pledged to join him for a 'historic signing ceremony at the Rose Garden' if the legislation is passed. The Democratic leaders said in a joint statement that they spoke with Trump by phone Sunday morning at their request, 200 days after the House passed H.R. 8 and H.R. 1112. The two measures, which would expand federal background checks for gun purchases and transfers, represent the first major firearm restrictions to advance in a generation. Trump has threatened to veto both measures.... [This morning, we made it clear to the president that any proposal he endorses that does not include the House-passed universal background checks legislation will not get the job done, as dangerous loopholes will still exist and people who shouldn't have guns will still have access,' Pelosi and Schumer said in their statement." Politico's story is here.
Horse Bites Veep. Or Not. Lesley Clark of McClatchy News in the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer (Sept. 13): "Vice President Mike Pence says Triple Crown winner American Pharoah bit him hard enough on the arm during a 2018 visit to Kentucky that he nearly collapsed. But farm manager Dermot Ryan, who was there as Pence was presented with an American Pharoah halter, said Friday it would be out of character for a horse he described as 'sweet.'" (Also linked yesterday.)
Tom Boggioni of the Raw Story: "According to a report from Wall Street Journal, Republican lawmakers are working behind the scenes to rein in Donald Trump's penchant for declaring tariffs willy-nilly depending on how he feels about other countries and their leaders at any given time. As the president trade war rages on -- impacting manufacturers, farmers and consumers alike -- Republicans looking at the 2020 election are desperate to turn around a U.S. economy that looks headed for a recession. According to the Journal, Kansas Senator Jerry Moran (R) is deeply disturbed by the ongoing devastation due to the president's trade moves, saying, 'This has gone on longer than I think people expected it. And so the financial consequences are increasing.' Moran along with Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley (IA), who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, are meeting with other members of their party and making plans to reach out to Democrats.... According to Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA), who is pushing legislation requiring Trump to seek congressional approval before imposing tariffs, the law is on the legislator's side. 'The Constitution is very unambiguous,' he explained. 'It assigns Congress the responsibility for regulating commerce with other countries and setting tariffs, and yet we've significantly delegated that to the president.'" The Wall Street Journal report is here.
Jan Hoffman & Mary Walsh of the New York Times: "Purdue Pharma, maker of OxyContin, the drug widely seen as igniting the opioid crisis, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Sunday night, a move at the center of the company's efforts to shield itself and its owners from more than 2,600 federal and state lawsuits. The terms of the filing, which include a proposed resolution of most of those cases, are expected to be fiercely contested by a group of 26 states that have refused to settle with Purdue and are intent on pursuing the company's owners, the Sacklers, considered one of the wealthiest families in the United States. A showdown in bankruptcy court in White Plains could come as early as this week.... The filing itself comes scarcely 48 hours after an announcement late Friday afternoon by the New York attorney general, Letitia James, that her office had uncovered almost a billion dollars in previously undisclosed wire transfers from Purdue to private accounts held by one of the Sacklers." The AP story is here.
Presidential Race 2020
Allan Smith & Mike Memoli of NBC News: "Former Vice President Joe Biden on Sunday made his most expansive speech yet on race, calling on the nation to live up to its founding ideals and saying that silence on racism amounts to complicity. 'There can be no realization of the American Dream without grappling with the original sin of slavery,' Biden told churchgoers in Alabama while delivering the keynote address at services marking the 56th anniversary of the deadly bombing of Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church." ...
~~~ Charles Blow of the New York Times: "... Biden's positioning on racial issues has been problematic.... It's not what Biden says in prepared remarks that's problematic, it's what he says off the cuff and under pressure that to me reveal an antiquated view on racial matters and racial sensitivities.... His language belies a particular mind-set, one of a liberal of a particular vintage. On the issue of race, it is paternalistic and it pities...."
That Time Joe Faced Down Corn Pop. Mary Papenfuss of the Huffington Post: "Reactions on Twitter went viral Sunday after a writer challenged a story Joe Biden often tells about how he successfully confronted an armed black gang member named 'Corn Pop' at a swimming pool -- after calling him ["Esther," after swimmer Esther Williams]. Michael Harriot, a senior writer at The Root, kicked off the ruckus Saturday tweeting his suspicions about the 1962 incident involving the 'Romans' gang leader that Biden has repeated several times, including in his autobiography. The controversy was also fueled by a clip posted in a tweet by a columnist from the right-wing Daily Caller. But CNN found a 2016 obituary for 'Corn Pop' and quoted a former mayor of Wilmington, Delaware, where the pool was located, who said Corn Pop, 'real as the moon in the sky,' was confrontational. The former mayor -- and others -- also heard of the confrontation at the time. In addition, a CNN fact check by reporter Daniel Dale confirmed that the 'Romans' gang existed at the time in Wilmington.... '(The "problem" with the Corn Pop story isn't if it is true or not, but why on earth he feels the need to TELL it, repeatedly. What it means to him and why. What message is conveyed and how and at whose expense and whose gain)'" [-- Martha Crawford, in a tweet]."
Margot Sanger-Katz, et al., of the New York Times: "Early this summer, Congress appeared on its way to eradicating the large medical bills that have shocked many patients after emergency care. The legislation to end out-of-network charges was popular and had support from both sides of the aisle. President Trump promised his support. Then, in late July, a mysterious group called Doctor Patient Unity showed up. It poured vast sums of money -- now more than $28 million -- into ads opposing the legislation, without disclosing its staff or its funders. Trying to guess who was behind the ads became something of a parlor game in some Beltway circles. Now, the mystery is solved. The two largest financial backers of Doctor Patient Unity are TeamHealth and Envision Healthcare, private-equity-backed companies that own physician practices and staff emergency rooms around the country, according to Greg Blair, a spokesman for the group.... TeamHealth was acquired in 2016 by the private-equity firm Blackstone Group in a deal valued at $6.1 billion. And last fall, in one of the largest takeovers of the year, the private-equity giant KKR spent $9.9 billion to acquire Envision Healthcare.... The proposed legislation, which may advance to floor votes this year, is potentially bad for business for TeamHealth and Envision." Thanks to Patrick for the link. See also Patrick's commentary in yesterday's thread. (Also linked yesterday.)
Chris Isidore of CNN: "The United Auto Workers union said Sunday that its members at General Motors will walk out by midnight [Sunday, Sept. 15] if the automaker does not meet its demands, setting the stage for the nation's first auto strike in 12 years. A union statement suggests the two sides are still very far apart in negotiations for a new contract.... But negotiations come as the union is hit by a scandal involving misappropriation of union funds, and in some cases, union officials accepting bribes from officials at Fiat Chrysler. Nine people associated with the union or Fiat Chrysler have already pleaded guilty to federal charges. Last week, the Detroit News reported the union's president, Gary Jones, was the unnamed union official identified in the most recent indictment as 'UAW Official A.'... Experts say the scandal will make it more difficult to get rank and file union members at the automakers to ratify any tentative deal reached by union leadership." Mrs. McC: Say, maybe the Artful Dealmaker could step in & negotiate a contract. At least he knows from corruption. ~~~
~~~ Update. Tim Stelloh & Rachel Elbaum of NBC News: "Tens of thousands of auto workers across the country went on strike Sunday night after negotiations faltered between their union and General Motors. The strike began at 11:59 p.m. ET., with as many as 50,000 United Auto Workers at dozens of facilities from Michigan to Texas expected to participate. Union spokesman Brian Rothenberg told the Associated Press on Sunday night that negotiations would resume on Monday morning, even as the strike went forward."
Zach Dorfman, et al., of Yahoo! News: "On Dec. 29, 2016, the Obama administration announced that it was giving nearly three dozen Russian diplomats just 72 hours to leave the United States and was seizing two rural East Coast estates owned by the Russian government.... The Obama administration's public rationale for the expulsions and closures -- the harshest U.S. diplomatic reprisals taken against Russia in several decades -- was to retaliate for Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. But ... both compounds, and at least some of the expelled diplomats, played key roles in a brazen Russian counterintelligence operation that stretched from the Bay Area to the heart of the nation's capital, according to former U.S. officials. The operation, which targeted FBI communications, hampered the bureau's ability to track Russian spies on U.S. soil at a time of increasing tension with Moscow, forced the FBI and CIA to cease contact with some of their Russian assets, and prompted tighter security procedures at key U.S. national security facilities in the Washington area and elsewhere, according to former U.S. officials. It even raised concerns among some U.S. officials about a Russian mole within the U.S. intelligence community." ...
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: You may recall that nearly as soon as he took office, Trump began preparations for returning the two spycom centers to Russia. (I don't think this ever happened. Apparently FBI briefers convinced Trump that returning the properties would not be "America First"-y. That is, intelligence officials have to use subterfuge to manipulate Trump into doing what any real president would do as a matter of course.)
Will Climate Deniers Pay Attention Now? Thor Benson of the Daily Beast: "As climate change spurs increasingly destructive wildfires in California, insurance companies have begun to deem certain parts of the state too risky to cover. But this particular offshoot of the climate crisis isn't just a problem for residents of the Golden State. Climate experts warn that areas across the country are becoming more prone to natural disasters, putting homes at risk in more ways than one. According to new data, over 340,000 California homeowners lost property insurance coverage between 2015 and 2018 due to wildfires that are increasing in frequency and intensity. But that's just a sample of what's to come. 'We're looking at entire zones now that are just totally uninsurable,' Jesse Keenan, a Harvard lecturer who focuses on urban development and climate adaptation, told The Daily Beast. 'I see no end to the challenges for insurance when it comes to climate change,' Jason Thistlethwaite, a professor ... at the University of Waterloo, added. 'Flooding is another area where you're going to see a lack of availability and affordability.'" ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Maybe if climate change directly hits people in their pocketbooks, they'll wake up & smell the methane. If your home is uninsurable, not only are you subject to financial losses for any reason -- like, say, a car rams into your house -- but also you can't sell the house because potential buyers won't be able to obtain mortgages without property insurance.
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Reader Comments (25)
Perhaps this White House has establisbed a second requirement for potential nominees to the SCOTUS. Federalist Society approval, of course, but also the ability to lie as handily as the Pretender.
Think Kellyanne in in charge of rehearsals?
If Vlad can mis-inform trump into a war with Iran, victory would be complete.
Seems as if Trump is waiting for the okay from MBS to go into Iran.
@NiskyGuy & @Bobby Lee: Yeah, I guess I shouldn't be so worried that the boy Donald is in charge of the U.S. military when he's farmed out decision-making to MBS or even Vlad. Thanks. I feel so much better now.
Me? I’m scared shitless!
Maybe we should acknowledge progress when it occurs:
As language, "locked and loaded" is an improvement on "cocked and loaded," isn't it?
Has the Pretender really learned something during his time in office?
Not enought to justify hope, I know, but it is something.
@Nisky Guy and Bobby Lee
Good--as in frightening--points, but don't forget Bibi and his upcoming election. If there's a way for him to manipulate the willing Pretender to his advantage, he will, and could be a hotter war with Iran might cast a rosy glow on tomorrow.
@Ken Winkes: You're right. Trump will have to order some dramatic firepower today to help Bibi's chances in tomorrow's elections. Like @Nisky Guy, I remain frightened.
To Ken...NO.
I sincerely hope Kellyanne is consigned to the fires of hell at the end of her life. Her twaddle is so enraging. The Dems are not trying to "embarrass" the presidunce. We are trying to keep from being submerged in the engulfing tide of lies and ignorance displayed by the "man" elected by the newest red states. We are drowning in his stupidity and cruelty and we could not be more specific about how we feel about the monster. The fact that the other party hacks, the Supreme Court and the Justice Department are in bed with him is just added pain for us. I am furious about Beer-rapist all over again. God, it just never ends. The corruption is covering the land.
On that NYT correction to the Kavanaugh story. Just because the victim says she doesn't remember it doesn't mean the story is false. First of all, the victim more than likely was substance-impaired at the time, and second, it's the kind of humiliating event the mind may make an effort to forget.
When I was perhaps 11 years old & minding my younger siblings, some well-dressed ladies drove up to our house in a Cadillac & openly stole massive amounts of fruit from our trees. I knew I should stop them, but I didn't dare confront these adults. I was petrified, but I told my mother what happened when she came home from visiting the neighbors.
Decades later, my mother recounted the story. She was having memory problems at the time, so I thought maybe she'd made it up. I didn't remember it at all. But my sister (who was maybe only six years old at the time of the incident) backed up my mother & was surprised I didn't remember it, as it was a big deal at the time. Gradually, largely because of my sister's verification, bits & pieces of my memory kicked in, & I do remember it now. But I had been so embarrassed by my failure to act that I blocked out the whole woulda/shoulda/coulda moment for years.
Oh, and I wasn't drunk.
The Orange Menace is directly and personally responsible for much of what's happening with Iran and Saudi Arabia right now. First, pulling out of the agreement (because horrible nee-groe) put Iran in a tough spot. Yes, other countries stayed with the pact, but Trump putting the screws to Iran gave (and gives) hard liners in that country purchase to ramp up aggression. Second, allowing the Saudis (and helping them) to bomb Yemeni villages killing tens of thousands of innocents. With an ignorant bully at the wheel, the US has been careening wildly this way and that, being used by the Saudis, the Russians, the North Koreans, the Taliban, and other dictatorial states as a witting, or unwitting, but at all times witless (but useful) idiot.
Trump is not responsible for the crisis in Yemen, but he's done nothing to make it better. Instead, he's done a lot to make it worse. Mostly by acting the fool and yelling about stuff he understands no better than the US Constitution, which is to say not at all.
And now, what? War with Iran? To help Bibi and his Saudi masters? To help himself get reelected? Bush played the War Footing card to get reelected (oh, and jimmied more than a few election precincts), so why not Fatty?
As the world burns with increasing temperatures and tempers flair on a score of international situations all made worse either by his attention (stupid) or inattention (even stupider), it's clear that people like Liz Cheney who declare the world a safer and more stable (?!?) place with Trump in the White House must be talking about some other world.
Here, in this world, Trump, with the full, unqualified support of an entire party of traitors to America, is dragging us all down like the Pequod and its crew, entombed in the deep by another fat whale.
And speaking of idiots, who the hell does Kellyanne Conway think she's talking to? Members of the moronic Trump family? When she says there's no constitutional basis for holding Trump accountable for his many high crimes and misdemeanors, she has it exactly backwards. The Constitution specifically and clearly admonishes congress to go after a crook in the White House. Not only do they have a
constitutional basis, the Constitution orders them to do it. (Nancy?)
The balls on these people.
And oh yeah, Kellyanne? Democrats aren't embarrassing your fat-ass crook of a boss. He's doing an excellent job of it himself. It's hard to embarrass a stand up, law-abiding, decent person. Not so hard with a jackass prick of a lying con man.
Will we see a sniffling, whining, red-faced douchebag of an illegitimate Supreme Court (in)justice go on Fox to yell and point fingers and cry about how he loves "coaching" the girls? Bart O'Kavanaugh's ascension to the court is the epitome (more so even than Fatty's slithering into the White House) of Confederate perfidy and win-at-all-costs schemes.
Once selected and properly vetted, a putrid, damaged, lying character like Bart should have been promptly yanked off the stage and replaced by someone who at least doesn't have enough baggage to require his own battalion of stevedores to lug it around for him. But no, because any admission of culpability or responsibility, or any acknowledgement of error of judgement is toxic to the right.
Had Trump pushed a whiny, lying rapist to be confirmed as a lifetime justice on the Supreme Court, the R's would defend him to their last breath.
Oh, wait...
Marie,
Trump lives to say stuff like "Locked and loaded!" It would be more accurate to say that he acts like he's loaded and should be locked up, but that ain't happenin' any time soon.
What's next? "Saddle up men!" "Fill your hands, you sons-a-bitches" or maybe just "Hasta la vista, baby." Little donnie: tough guy.
As for this business of "waiting for word from the Saudis about who's to blame..." isn't it obvious? Jamal Khashoggi! See, MBS never really chopped him up; he escaped, went to Yemen where he worked as the representative of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and he personally arranged this attack on Saudi oil fields.
And not for nothin' but if this particular facility is the Godzilla field, why isn't it better protected? I suppose drones can fly under the radar, but given the simple fact of drones, maybe they should have come up with a way to defend against some kind of drone attack.
Nonetheless, whatever bullshit the Saudis fling, Fatty will be there to scoop it up and swallow it whole. And as I mentioned before, had Trump used the Iran agreement to tamp down the more belligerent groups in Iran and support the moderates, it's very likely this wouldn't have happened. Now, in addition to Trumpy's EZ to Win trade war, which continues to knuckle the economy, we will very shortly be paying $5.00/gallon or more at the pumps.
So glad we have a "businessman" in the White House. Ain't it grand?
Akhilleus,
About that gasoline price.
Remember the Pretender has access to the US petroleum reserves. I wouldn't put it past him to tap most of it to keep the prices at the pump down until next November.
After all, like most of the cards the Pretenders prefers to play with, the reserves are someone else's, just more free stuff.
As for impeaching Bart O'Rapist, fuggedaboutit. It ain't happenin'. If Democrats can't (or won't) impeach a crook whose criminal and treasonous actions are taking place on a daily basis, they sure won't do anything to whiny rape-boy Bart.
@Ken, you can't put it past him. He already did it last night at 5:55, via tweet of course.
@unwashed: Yup. And this after a Reuters report, published in the NYT, that concluded: "Saudi Arabia should be able to keep exports flowing after attacks on vital oil infrastructure on Saturday slashed more half of its oil production, but a prolonged shutdown will rattle global oil supplies, analysts said on Monday. An industry source told Reuters on Sunday that Riyadh plans to compensate the lost production with exports from oil it holds in storage." (Couldn't find this on Reuters' site.)
President Trump says he's weighing retaliatory strikes against Iran for their (ostensible) bombing of the Saudi oil facility.
"There is reason to believe that we know the culprit, are locked and loaded depending on verification, but are waiting to hear from the Kingdom as to who they believe was the cause of this attack, and under what terms we would proceed!" Pres. DJT
1. Why would the President want the Saudis to tell us the terms under which we would proceed?
2. Does the US have some sort of mutual defense pact with the Saudis requiring we go to war on their behalf?
3. Even if we stipulate that Iran carried out the attack, where does the President claim the authority to unilaterally attack a sovereign nation in retaliation for its attack on a third party? Doesn't Congress still retain the authority to declare war? Or does that mean anything any more?
To me, this is deeply alarming. If we keep giving presidents the authority to project US force around the world without any oversight, then Article I is meaningless. It barely has any meaning as it is. Somebody has to rein in the imperial presidency.
Or am I wrong?
Wait, wait, wait...
Democrats are consulting a 45 year old document that traces the history of impeachment back to 14th C England to make sure they "have the goods" on the little king? Seriously? They're not sure now? According to the Britannica, impeachment "...became a means of initiating criminal proceedings based on 'clamour,' or outcry."
Consider me a clamourer. A big one. And I hereby demand that Democrats do their fucking duty and not continue to dick around with this thing. NOT impeaching this criminal and traitor is exactly what will help get him reelected.
Fuck's sake. If Democrats were handed the keys to the kingdom, they'd want to know the size, population, and chief economic resources of the kingdom, then they'd take the key to eighteen different locksmiths to make sure it was an actual key, after which they'd hold debates in every state to try to decide what to do when they took over the kingdom. By then, all the locks would have been changed and they'd be sitting on the sidewalk with bupkis.
Ignorant, uninformed, rash, and proud of it!
Kellyanne Conway (yes, again) announces that her boss, Mr. Big Brain, is smart because he doesn't study anything before making momentous decisions.
"What? Me study? Hell no. I just do whatever Fox assholes tell me to do. Or the Saudis, or Uncle Vlad. Or I just pull something out of my fat ass."
This is why we're considering war with Iran. No one in his administration studies anything before they act.
What we need to do is send them on a trip to an active volcano. "Oh, don't bother with the travel brochures or looking anything up. Great place. You'll love it. Don't miss peeking over the edge of the caldera. Great view. Bring slippery shoes."
Schlub,
You ain't wrong. But who's gonna do it? Republicans? Hahahahahahahaha...never in life or death.
Democrats? Sure. Any decade now. They're wondering about thinking about considering it. Maybe.
It will come down to voters. I hope.
The recent NYT article by Blow regarding Biden's candidacy and the NYT picks of reader comments have confirmed and solidified what I think might be the zeitgeist of apprehension about the 2020 democratic race. Namely, that Biden is in the top spot because he is the living representation of the Obama ideal. That's troublesome because, while Obama was an ideal leader in so many ways, presumed transference of that ideal by association will not be proven. The Biden/Obama ideal is the important reference point by which we rank the other contenders. He is a place holder until the party solidifies a unified vision, but I doubt he will be given the torch.
One of Blow's readers commented that one of the possible reasons Obama chose Biden was to assuage the concerns of white Americans. That's probably something that we will never know and it probably should not be revealed. But similarly, I think that if we are to avoid a brokered convention (more possible if Biden declines) that Warren needs to pick a centrist running mate, preferably male with high military command experience, to assuage those independent and undecided centrist democrats who worry about a school teacher becoming commander-in-chief, and probably from the get-go the way things are developing in the middle east.
This one is firewalled but I read it in copy and paste form from my lawyer son. The headline says it all, and it's not good news.
When Congress deferred to the Executive on Wall construction (this in the mid-1990's), as it has so often on other matters, I don't think it had a Pretender in mind.
With the experience of the last three years, though, let's hope Congress never forgets again.
https://www.law360.com/articles/1198457/enviros-lose-bid-to-halt-border-wall-in-ariz-wilderness-areas
Periscope,
Your comment calls for a more detailed response, but for the nonce let me say that "zeitgeist of apprehension" aptly expresses my overarching concern about the steadiness of the Biden polling, which, even though it has waned ever so slightly, promotes serious agita should his candidacy begin to seem inevitable. Even if I believed (which baleful uncertainty curtails such confidence) that Biden could best the corpulent traitor, I am nearly positive that he lacks the wherewithal, vision, and absolutely unsympathetic, unilateral ass-kicking grit to turn back the stinking, fetid tsunami of Trumpian criminality that will be required of the next (real) president.
The Biden non-partisanship thingy is a lame, wet fart from the past.
This weekend I was reading William Hazlitt's essay "On the Pleasure of Hatred". So, for a good part of it, Hazlitt comes across as a Red Sox fan who hates, hates, hates, the Yankees. Or a former friend who has at long last rejected the stale dogma of old friends. As I read this, I was thinking "Yeah, but there are serious reasons for hating a person, a thing, an idea, aren't there?" Of course I didn't need the question. I know there are.
And then he whacked me with this:
"As to my old opinions, I am heartily sick of them. I have reason, for they have deceived me sadly. I was taught to think, and I was willing to believe, that genius was not a bawd, that virtue was not a mask, that liberty was not a name, that love had its seat in the human heart. Now I would care little if these words were struck out of the dictionary, or if I had never heard them. They are become to my ears a mockery and a dream. Instead of patriots and friends of freedom, I see nothing but the tyrant and the slave, the people linked with kings to rivet on the chains of despotism and superstition."
"...rivet on the chains of despotism and superstition."
With a rivet gun handed them by Fox. And the Times. And a hundred other media outlets, and those squealing pundits for whom chicanery, double-dealing, and perjury are the natural way of things.
My next thought was this. Whenever I read articles (from either side or the mythological middle) about "Trump hatred" I never, ever, ever read anything about why such hatred exists in the first place. What I get is "Oh, those evil, sochulist lib'ruls, they hate everything good and 'merican. That's why they hate the Dear Leader."
No. That's not it at all. If you posit yourself as a decent person, a by the book, constitutionally impregnated American, one for whom morality, ethics, civility, righteousness, and honesty are vital to the ongoing health of the Republic, how can you NOT HATE TRUMP? And everything he stands for? Lying, cheating, treason, self-dealing, greed, ignorance, racism. How can you NOT be virulently against such things?
So, no, assholes, we don't "hate Trump" because we're knee jerk sochulists and haters of 'merica. We hate Trump because he is the absolute antithesis of the American Experiment, of decency, of a moral life, of every rule of loving behavior promoted in the New Testament (for all you Evangelical Trump lovers), and of the importance of justice and truth.
He is a fucking monster. So, yeah, we hate this fucker. And my question is: why don't you?
And can Joe Biden rescue us from all of this?
The zeitgeist of apprehension, it abides.