;)
The Commentariat -- September 27, 2017
Late Morning Update:
Matt Bonesteel of the Washington Post: "Rick Pitino survived the tawdriest of scandals during his tenure as coach of the Louisville men's basketball team, first a 2009 extortion attempt during which he admitted to having sexual relations with the wife of his teams equipment manager, then a 2015 scandal in which a former Cardinals staffer arranged for strippers and prostitutes to have sex with players and recruits in the team's dormitory. But Pitino could not survive allegations that, in the grand scheme of college basketball scandals, barely rise above sordid: That an executive from Adidas, which outfits the Cardinals' athletic teams, and others conspired to steer top recruits to Louisville via six-figure payments to their families, in one instance enlisting the aid of one of Pitino's assistants. Those allegations, unveiled Tuesday by the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York after a years-long undercover investigation by the FBI, proved to be Pitino's undoing. On Wednesday, Pitino was placed on unpaid administrative leave by Louisville..., likely ending a career that earned him a spot in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013."
Damian Paletta & Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "Republicans on Wednesday proposed slashing tax rates for the wealthy, middle class and businesses, while also preserving popular tax deductions that encourage buying homes and giving to charity, according to a 9-page document obtained by The Washington Post. But the document, titled 'Unified Framework For Fixing Our Broken Tax Code,' leaves many key questions unanswered. In it, the White House and Republican congressional leaders do not identify the numerous tax breaks they say will be removed in order to offset some of the trillions of dollars in revenue lost by cutting tax rates. The framework is being presented to Republicans and the public Wednesday as a starting point for negotiations on revamping the U.S. tax code. Congress must vote the changes into law...." ...
... Flim Flam. Josh Barro of Business Insider: "The 'doubled standard deduction' in the GOP tax plan is a lie.... The plan would increase the standardized deductions available to taxpayers by 15% or less. Meanwhile, taxpayers who still wouldn't take the standard deduction under the Republican plan -- those who would instead deduct things like mortgage interest -- would pay tax on more of their income than they do now." Mrs. McC: I know you're shocked that Trump & the GOP would mislead you when they haven't done that since ... yesterday. Hope you didn't go out & spend your "double deduction."
No Bonus but a Helluva Consolation Prize. Liz Moyer of CNBC: "The abrupt departure of Equifax's chief executive officer on Tuesday has not dampened the criticism of the company since it disclosed a massive data breach earlier this month. As in other recent corporate scandals, the departure of Richard Smith was swift if not inevitable. The credit reporting company said he was retiring effective immediately and he wouldn't get a bonus for this year, though he is eligible to walk away with at least $18.4 million in pension benefits."
John DiStaso of WMUR (Manchester, NH): "Democrat Kari Lerner of Chester pulled off a surprising upset win in a Rockingham County special New Hampshire House election Tuesday, defeating Republican former state Rep. James Headd of Auburn by 39 votes in a district in which Republicans have a 2-1 advantage in registrations."
David Smiley of the Miami Herald: "Florida’s Democratic Party picked up a crucial seat in the Florida Senate Tuesday in a special election triggered months ago by a Miami Republican's alcohol-fueled tirade at a bar near the state Capitol. Riding an election-day and early-voting surge, Annette Taddeo topped State Rep. Jose Felix Diaz in the race to claim Senate District 40, a southwest Dade seat resigned in the spring by former Sen. Frank Artiles. The victory gives Democrats 16 seats in the chamber and hands Taddeo her first campaign win in a political career filled with second-place finishes.... Taddeo previously lost races for U.S. Congress and as Charlie Crist's running mate in the 2014 governor's election...."
Sarah Burris of the Raw Story: "Washington County (Pa.) fire chief Paul Smith has resigned in wake of his use of a racial slur to refer to Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin. 'The media dragged my fire company and township into this as well as my family,' Smith told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in a statement.... Smith ... called Tomlin a 'no good N***er' on his Facebook page. He then added 'Yes, I said it.' He also blamed the media for labeling him a racist. 'I am not the racist the media portrays me as,' Smith said." Mrs. McC: I don't know who's worse: "the very fine people" in the Charlottesville white-supremacist/neo-Nazi crowd or guys like Smith who think they're not racists. ...
... digby: Paul Smith is "He's just one guy. But there are millions like him and Trump is activating their racism for his own gain. Dividing this country is what he does."
*****
Sayed Salahuddin of the Washington Post: "Apparent Taliban rockets targeted Kabul's international airport on Wednesday as Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and the NATO chief held talks with Afghan officials in the capital, authorities said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attacks, carried out while Mattis held meetings with President Ashraf Ghani and other Afghan leaders at the heavily fortified presidential palace. The attacks forced all flights to be canceled. Several Afghans civilians were injured after one of the rockets hit a house near the combined civil and military airport, officials said."
In American People v. GOP, Another Narrow Victory for the People. Seung Min Kim, et al., of Politico: "Senate Republicans do not intend to vote on the Graham-Cassidy bill, putting an end to their Obamacare repeal effort for now. The decision was reached Tuesday after it became clear the bill would fail. Three Senate Republicans had said they would vote against the measure, and the GOP could only afford two defections." This is an update of a story linked earlier today. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Thomas Kaplan & Robert Pear of the New York Times: "Senate Republicans on Tuesday officially abandoned the latest plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act, shelving a showdown vote on the measure and effectively admitting defeat in their last-gasp drive to fulfill a core promise of President Trump and Republican lawmakers.... Democrats, who have spent all year fighting to protect the Affordable Care Act, responded by calling for the resumption of bipartisan negotiations to stabilize health insurance markets. Republican leaders had squelched those talks as the latest repeal plan.... Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee and the chairman of the Senate health committee, and Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the senior Democrat on the panel ... both said on Tuesday that they hoped to resume those efforts." ...
... Nathaniel Weixel of the Hill: "President Trump on Tuesday said he was 'disappointed' that some 'so-called Republicans' were opposing the Senate's latest effort to repeal ObamaCare."
Glenn Thrush & Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "President Trump will propose a sweeping rewrite of the federal tax code on Wednesday, outlining a plan to reduce rates for corporations and individuals and eliminate some popular deductions, in a move that will set off a scramble among powerful groups eager to protect their tax breaks. The proposal will call for slashing the corporate tax rate to 20 percent from 35 percent, doubling the standard deduction for individual taxpayers and slightly increasing the bottom tax rate to 12 percent from 10 percent, according to two officials briefed on the details of the blueprint. The framework, which has been agreed upon by Republican leaders in the House and Senate, leaves most of the details to Congress...."
Julie Davis & Miriam Jordan of the New York Times: "President Trump plans to cap refugee admissions at 45,000 over the next year, according to current and former government officials briefed on the decision, setting a historically low limit on the number of people who can resettle in the United States after fleeing persecution in their own countries[.]" ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: I'd say Trump didn't consult the Secretary of Homeland Security before he made this decision, because there isn't one.
BBC News: "... Donald Trump has said he will travel next week to Puerto Rico amid a growing crisis in the wake of destruction caused by Hurricane Maria.... On Tuesday, Mr Trump said the US was sending food, water and supplies on 'an hourly basis'. 'Puerto Rico is very important to me,' he added. 'The people are fantastic. I grew up in New York so I know many Puerto Rican people.' Mr Trump said next Tuesday - which will be nearly a fortnight after the storm struck - was the 'earliest I can go without disrupting relief efforts'. He may also visit the US Virgin Islands, which was hit by both Hurricane Maria and Irma, he added. The White House also on Tuesday announced Mr Trump had increased federal funding and assistance for debris removal and emergency protective measures in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of the storm. Addressing criticism, the president said his administration was doing a "really good job" and that the Governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Rossello, was 'so grateful'." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "President Trumpon Tuesday rejected criticism he is preoccupied with the NFL when his administration is facing a humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico. 'I have plenty of time on my hands. All I do is work,' Trump told reporters at a White House news conference. Trump said he believes 'the NFL situation is a very important situation' and that players should be banned from kneeling during the national anthem." ...
... Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "Twice on Tuesday, President Trump offered an excuse for why government aid to Puerto Rico has been slow to arrive after Hurricane Maria: Puerto Rico is an island.... That's true.... Supplies must be transported by airplane or ship instead of by truck. But that's still not a great excuse for why the island is awaiting supplies.... So couldn't the government have either sent supplies in advance (as it did for Texas and Florida by truck) or sent cargo after the fact that could have gotten to Puerto Rico by now? The answer is yes and yes.... The government could also have stationed ships closer to Puerto Rico in expectation of needing to offer aid. By Sept. 16, the National Hurricane Center was already expecting Maria to hit Puerto Rico 'as a dangerous major hurricane....'" Mrs. McC: Maybe the problem was the language barrier. Well, okay, more likely the problem is that Puerto Ricans can't vote in presidential elections. ...
... Timothy Gardner of Reuters: "The Trump administration on Tuesday denied a request to waive shipping restrictions to help get fuel and supplies to storm-ravaged Puerto Rico, saying it would do nothing to address the island's main impediment to shipping, damaged ports. The Jones Act limits shipping between coasts to U.S. flagged vessels. However, in the wake of brutal storms, the government has occasionally issued temporary waivers to allow the use of cheaper, tax free, or more readily available foreign flagged ships. The Department of Homeland Security, which waived the act after hurricanes Harvey and Irma, did not agree an exemption would help this time." Emphasis added. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: How does this make sense? Even Trump knows Puerto Rico is an island, so it's harder to get supplies there from, say, Ohio, to, say, Texas & Florida, which are still attached to the mainland U.S. ...
... Press Release: "U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Acting Secretary Elaine Duke today urging the department to waive the Jones Act for Puerto Rico to aid recovery efforts in the wake of Hurricane Maria." ...
... Kyle Dropp & Brendan Nyhan of the New York Times: "A new poll of 2,200 adults by Morning Consult found that only 54 percent of Americans know that people born in Puerto Rico, a commonwealth of the United States, are U.S. citizens." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "As the devastation from Hurricane Maria became more apparent Sunday..., Hillary Clinton implored President Trump and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to help the people of Puerto Rico. Send the Navy, she tweeted, especially the hospital ship USNS Comfort.... Two days later, Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Brock Long announced that the Navy will soon do exactly that. The decision, disclosed in front of the White House on Tuesday afternoon, was later confirmed by the Navy. It comes after days of critics saying that the U.S. government isn't doing enough to support hurricane relief in Puerto Rico.... [Clinton's] call to action took off, with a petition on the website Change.org garnering more than 100,000 signatures in three days and critics expressing frustration with the hashtag #SendtheComfort. Since then, the call for the Comfort has come to symbolize something larger: A call for the Pentagon to send more. More food. More water. More generators. More aircraft. More everything." ...
... Hillary Wonders if Trump Is a 46-Percenter. Nick Visser of the Huffington Post: “'I’m not sure he knows that Puerto Ricans are American citizens,' [Hillary] Clinton told Sirius XM's Zerlina Maxwell on Monday afternoon.... During appearances on Sirius XM and MSNBC's 'All In With Chris Hayes,' Clinton described the president's approach as a political calculus and being disinterest in the fate of the 3.5 million American residents living on the island. 'He doesn't think that has any political relevance and it's certainly not personally important,' Clinton told Chris Hayes on Monday evening. 'He clearly doesn't want to talk about Puerto Rico, more than 3.5 million American citizens, along with the U.S. Virgin Islands. Not interested, doesn't say a word about it.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Dana Milbank: "... a week after the storm, the response from the American mainland has been paltry. There is no rush, as there was after Hurricane Harvey hit Texas, to approve the emergency funds that Puerto Rico will surely need. There has been no massive movement of military personnel and equipment to Puerto Rico: no aircraft carrier (one was sent to the Florida Keys in response to Hurricane Irma), no hospital ship (finally on Tuesday afternoon the Navy said it was sending one). The Post's Joel Achenbach, Dan Lamothe and Alex Horton called the three Navy amphibious ships dispatched to Puerto Rico 'a modest fleet given the scale of the crisis.'... Two Trump Cabinet members, Energy Secretary Rick Perry Ryan Zinke, made a joint public appearance Monday but didn't even mention Puerto Rico. And the Trump administration said it would not assist Puerto Rico by waiving the Jones Act, which restricts the use of foreign cargo ships, after waiving the act in response to Harvey and Irma.... The Trump administration's failure to help Americans in Puerto Rico with the same urgency it gave those in Texas and Florida furthers a sad suspicion that the disparate treatment has less to do with logistics than language and skin color." ...
... Julio Varela, in the Washington Post: "The United States may not like to see itself as the type of nation that has colonies, but if you're not treating Puerto Rico and its American citizens the same way as you treat states and theirs, that's the only explanation. The island always struggles to get federal aid for natural disasters that flows virtually automatically to people on the mainland. Maria is the worst example, but it's hardly the first. Even though Trump will tour Puerto Rico next week, the White House still seems to be taking its time asking for the money that it's obvious the island will need." ...
... Hey, This Isn't the First Time Trump Stiffed Puerto Rico. Lisa Needham of Shareblue: "In 2008, Trump licensed his name to a golf course in Puerto Rico. A few years later, that golf course borrowed a hefty $26.4 million in municipal bonds. A few years after that, in 2015, the golf course declared bankruptcy, leaving Puerto Rico holding the bag and the debt, because the golf course will never pay back those municipal bonds. Frankly, it's an astonishing way to conduct business: borrow money from the government, run up your debts (the golf course owed a staggering $78 million in debt when it filed for bankruptcy), and simply walk away. Rather than deal with this in an honorable fashion, the Trump family immediately tried to say that they had nothing to do with the bankruptcy, insisting the golf course had licensed their name, nothing more. Trump's eagerness to license his name -- and make money off it -- knows no bounds, but he has no interest in picking up the pieces when things go south."
Manu Raju, et al., of CNN: "... the IRS Criminal Investigation agents [have] been working with the FBI to investigate [Paul] Manafort since before the election in a ... probe that centered on possible money laundering and tax fraud issues, according to ... sources. It's unclear if [Michael] Flynn is now or was previously under investigation by the IRS. CNN has reported that [Robert] Mueller's team is examining Flynn's payments from Turkey and Russia.... The new information about the depth of IRS involvement renews questions surrounding the controversial issue of ... Donald Trump's tax returns, which he refused to release during the campaign.... It is not clear whether the special counsel has asked for or obtained Trump's tax returns." ...
... "Follow the Money." Jeff Toobin of the New Yorker: "At this point, the precise nature of Trump's connections to Russia remains a mystery, but, whether through staging a Miss Universe pageant in Moscow, or pursuing the construction of a hotel in that city, Trump hoped to profit from the oligarchs who control the Russian economy. In turn, their patron, Vladimir Putin, wanted to prevent Hillary Clinton from becoming President. At the heart of the current investigations is whether and to what extent these two objectives merged. Almost certainly, the key to answering that question is financial. Money played an important role in Watergate, but it was a means to an end -- political power. For Trump, money has been the end in itself. At the moment, it appears that he may survive his scandal in the way that Nixon could not surmount his. But if Trump is to fall, it will likely be in part because the investigators take the advice of Holbrook's Mark Felt, and really do follow the money." ...
... Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "Criminal charges against two former top advisers to ... Donald Trump are virtually certain, Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal said Tuesday. Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort are almost sure to be indicted as a result of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, the Connecticut senator told Politico. 'I'm about 99 percent sure there will be some criminal charges from this investigation,' said Blumenthal, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Blumenthal has also served as a U.S. attorney and spent 20 years as his state's attorney general." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Spicey Gets a Criminal Lawyer. Betsy Woodruff of the Daily Beast: "Sean Spicer ... has tapped Chris Mead, a high-powered criminal defense attorney ... to handle issues related to ... Robert Mueller's probe...." ...
... In Today's Funnies. Natasha Bertrand of Business Insider: "Abbe Lowell, a top Washington lawyer, exchanged emails on Monday with a prankster posing as his client Jared Kushner, at one point telling the prankster he needed to see 'all emails' sent and received from a private email account Kushner had set up in December.... On Monday, the prankster wrote to Lowell from the address kushner.jared@mail.com asking what he should do with 'some correspondence on my private email ... featuring adult content.' 'Can I remove these?' the prankster asked. 'Forwarded or received from WH officials?' Lowell responded." And so on. "Lowell's suggestion that he needs to see all emails sent or received from Kushner's private account raises questions about whether he has fully examined the messages and what kind of information they contained [before issuing a statement Sunday about the correspondence in Kushner's private account]." Mrs. McC: I'm wondering if Lowell will bill Real Kushner for time spent corresponding with Fake Kushner. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
How Trumpbots respect the American flag & various musings on the fight against social justice. Thanks to Gloria for the link:
Scaremonger-in-Chief. Louis Jacobson of Politifact: "In [a] Sept. 23 tweet, Trump wrote, 'Iran just test-fired a Ballistic Missile capable of reaching Israel. They are also working with North Korea. Not much of an agreement we have!'" There are a couple of problems with Trump's tweet. (1) Iran probably did not "just test-fire a Ballistic Missile" (Why is "Ballistic Missile" Capitalized?), and (2) the Iran nuclear agreement covers, um, nuclear stuff, not missiles. And Trump didn't even get his fake news from Fox "News"; it was Fox that reported the "test" was fake.
Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "The acting head of the Drug Enforcement Administration will resign at the end of the week, according to law enforcement officials, who said he had become convinced that President Trump had little respect for the law. The official, Chuck Rosenberg, who twice served as chief of staff to the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey and remains a close confidant, had grown disillusioned with Mr. Trump. The president ... in July told law enforcement officers 'please don't be too nice' when handling crime suspects. Mr. Rosenberg forcefully rejected Mr. Trump's comment, sending an email to all D.E.A. employees at the time to tell them that they should not mistreat suspects.... Mr. Trump has injected the White House into law enforcement matters in ways that have made many career officials uncomfortable."
Free Speech for Me but Not for Thee. Rebecca Ruiz of the New York Times: "Attorney General Jeff Sessions dived into the debate over free speech on college campuses on Tuesday, inserting the Justice Department into a little-known lawsuit against a Georgia college and ... comparing the tactics of one student group to the Ku Klux Klan. Speaking at Georgetown University's law school, Mr. Sessions condemned the designated free-speech zones that have popped up on campuses across the country and seized on the case of an evangelical Christian student who had been restricted from speaking about his religion.... Mr. Sessions's appearance drew dozens of demonstrators who dropped to one knee ahead of his speech.... The protesters -- including Georgetown Law faculty members, more than four dozen of whom signed an open letter opposing Mr. Sessions's policies -- were themselves confined to protest zones by the university.... Mr. Sessions ... has unwound several significant civil rights initiatives of the Obama administration...." ...
The president has free speech rights, too. If they take a provocative act, they have a right to be condemned, and the president has a right to condemn them, and I would condemn their actions. -- Jeff Sessions, in response to a question about Trump's attacks on NFL protesters
Mrs. McC Translation: When the President* speaks, he is exercising his First Amendment rights. When black football players "speak" in silent protest against racist acts, they are "provocative" and should be "condemned." ...
Jonathan Chait: "Of all the ways Donald Trump has inflicted public humiliation upon his Attorney General, the most darkly amusing may be his decision to launch a high-profile campaign to censor professional athletes on the eve of Sessions's speech purporting to defend free speech.... In his speech at Georgetown Law School today, Sessions rattled off a familiar litany of pro-free-speech pieties.... The tension in the address arose from the obvious reality that Sessions serves an administration that can barely pretend to uphold them. Trump does not believe instinctively in free speech any more than he believes in any abstract ideal. His test of any issue is whether it serves his personal interests.... [Sessions] and Trump are 100 percent consistent in their unprincipled belief that speech should be heavily regulated by institutions they agree with, and unregulated by those they don't."
Paul Wiseman & Rob Gillies of the AP: "The Commerce Department slapped duties of nearly 220 percent on Canada's Bombardier C Series aircraft Tuesday in a victory for Boeing that is likely to raise tensions between the United States and its allies Canada and Britain. Commerce ruled that Montreal-based Bombardier used unfair government subsidies to sell jets at artificially low prices in the U.S. 'The U.S. values its relationships with Canada, but even our closest allies must play by the rules,' Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said. Canada responded by saying it 'strongly disagrees' with the U.S. move."
Dan Diamond & Rachana Pradhan of Politico: "Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price took a government-funded private jet in August to get to St. Simons Island, an exclusive Georgia resort where he and his wife own land, a day and a half before he addressed a group of local doctors at a medical conference that he and his wife have long attended. The St. Simons Island trip was one of two taxpayer-funded flights on private jets in which Price traveled to places where he owns property, and paired official visits with meetings with longtime colleagues and family members. On June 6, HHS chartered a jet to fly Price to Nashville, Tennessee, where he owns a condominium and where his son resides. Price toured a medicine dispensary and spoke to a local health summit organized by a longtime friend. He also had lunch with his son, an HHS official confirmed. An HHS official said both the Georgia and Tennessee trips were for official government business and were paid for by the department."
What Is Scott Pruitt Hiding? Brady Dennis of the Washington Post: "The Environmental Protection Agency is spending nearly $25,000 to construct a secure, soundproof communications booth in the office of Administrator Scott Pruitt, according to government contracting records.... Typically, such soundproof booths are used to conduct hearing tests. But the EPA sought a customized version -- one that eventually would cost several times more than a typical model -- that Pruitt can use to communicate privately.... No previous EPA administrators had such a setup." Mrs. McC: It would be such a shame if the phone line went down, Pruitt accidentally got locked in his soundproof phone booth & nobody missed him.
Update: Darryl Fears & Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post make more clear the meaning of "the flag" than did the Matthew Daly of the AP in a story I linked yesterday. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke was complaining about his staff's disloyalty to Trump & him rather than to "the flag" as a national symbol. They character "flag" as military jargon for top dogs, in this case Trump & Zinke. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Olivia Beavers of the Hill: "Rep. Mark Walker (R-N.C.), the chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee (RSC), on Tuesday described women in his conservative caucus as the group's 'eye candy.' Walker made the remark ... outside the Capitol, as other members of the group prepared to talk about their priorities. 'The accomplished men and women of the RSC. And women. If it wasn't sexist, I would say the RSC eye candy, but we'll leave that out of the record, are not attention seekers,' Walker said." Mrs. McC: Thanks,m ark. If it weren't sexist, Mark, I'd say you have a teensy, tiny shlong, but I know for sure you're still a big prick. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Senate Races
Jonathan Martin & Alexander Burns of the New York Times: "Roy S. Moore, a firebrand former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, overcame efforts by top Republicans to rescue his rival, Senator Luther Strange, defeating him on Tuesday in a special primary runoff, according to The Associated Press. The outcome in the closely watched Senate race dealt a humbling blow to President Trump and other party leaders days after the president pleaded with voters in the state to back Mr. Strange. Propelled by the stalwart support of his fellow evangelical Christians, Mr. Moore survived a multimillion-dollar advertising onslaught financed by allies of Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader. His victory demonstrated in stark terms the limits of Mr. Trump's clout.... On Dec. 12, Mr. Moore will face Doug Jones, a former federal prosecutor and the Democratic nominee, in a race that will test the party loyalties of center-right voters who may be uneasy about their nominee." ...
... Kim Chandler & Jay Reeves of the AP: "The crowd at Moore's election party broke into loud applause as media outlets called the race. Former White House strategist Steve Bannon took the stage to introduce Moore.... 'We have to return the knowledge of God and the Constitution of the United States to the United States Congress,' Moore told the crowd." ...
... Jacqueline Thomsen of the Hill: "President Trump on Tuesday began deleting his tweets supporting Sen. Luther Strange (R-Ala.) in Alabama's Senate primary after Strange lost the race to former state Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore."
Paul Kane & Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) announced Tuesday that he will not seek reelection next year, another blow to the Republican establishment on the same day the latest GOP effort to revamp the Affordable Care Act failed. Corker and other Republican leaders in Congress have come under fire from President Trump and his supporters for not delivering in the early days of the administration. Once considered an ally of Trump's national security team, Corker traded insults with the president during the August break amid chatter that staunch conservatives would mount a primary challenge to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman."
Sometimes There's a Price to Pay. Ron Lieber & Stacy Cowley of the New York Times: "The chairman and chief executive of Equifax, Richard F. Smith, stepped down on Tuesday in the aftermath of a data breach that exposed the personal information of as many as 143 million people, the credit reporting agency said. Equifax said that Paulino do Rego Barros Jr., most recently the president of its Asia-Pacific region, had been appointed interim chief executive. The company said it planned to conduct a search for a new chief executive and would consider candidates from inside and outside the company.... Mr. Smith will not receive a bonus in 2017 and will serve as an unpaid consultant to the company for up to 90 days, according to a regulatory filing. Mr. Smith will not receive a severance package or accelerated vesting of any stock that might have been due to him...." (Also linked yesterday.)
German Lopez of Vox: "Twitter is potentially doubling its character limit from 140 to 280, with the company announcing on Tuesday that it will let a small group of users test the feature before possibly rolling it out further."
Way Beyond the Beltway
Ben Hubbard of the New York Times: "Saudi Arabia announced on Tuesday that it would allow women to drive, ending a longstanding policy that has become a global symbol of the repression of women in the ultraconservative kingdom. The change, which will take effect in June of next year, was announced on state television and in a simultaneous media event in Washington.... The momentum to change the policy has picked up in recent years with the rise of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a 32-year-old son of the king who has laid out a far-reaching plan to overhaul the kingdom's economy and society. Beyond the effects it could have on Saudi Arabia's image abroad, letting women drive could help the Saudi economy." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
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Reader Comments (16)
Aside from being very funny, I think the Liberal Redneck has perfectly encapsulated the NFL/racial injustice story.
Perhaps "respecting the troops" might actually be using taxes to pay them a decent salary, so that their families don't have to depend on food stamps and payday loans. Perhaps we could use the money this maladministration burns on charter and AF1 jaunts to stop deducting the cost of their field rations from their wages, where allies are paid a bonus for field ops. US soldiers are shocked when they do joint excercises with allies at just how relatively poor their wages and conditions are. Respect only goes as far as lip service.
Just for a giggle, Chancellor Merkel trolls frumpy.
I think wingers in any sort of official capacity must have to take a kind of reverse lie detector test. If they tell the truth, a buzzer goes off and a REJECTED flag is raised.
This morning I heard, in the span of a few minutes, two enormous lies. One from the Trumpy White House (what else is new?), stating that under the "tax overhaul" (it's nothing of the sort--it's a tax break for the wealthy and corporations), the deficit will not be raised by a penny. Ha. And for my next magic trick, we'll end taxes on the rich and corporations altogether and tax revenues will soar!
Then another jamoke comes on to whine that the ACA is bad, bad, bad because Democrats rammed it through with no input from Republicans. Um....no. The way it worked was Republicans refused to give input, did all they could to kill it, and it was not "rammed through", there were hundreds of hours of hearings before it came up for a vote. Not the hour and a half of "hearings" they had the other day with Lindsay Graham talking about how great it will be when poor people die on schedule, like they used to back in the old days when they had no healthcare.
I won't count the part where I heard the Little King talking about how terrific and amazing the "best ever" his response to the Puerto Rico disaster has been. That's standard issue self-aggrandizing Trump lying, like the inauguration crowd laugher.
THE DEMOCRAT'S QUIET CONFUSED FOREIGN POLICY:
The party has been divided on foreign policy since Vietnam*, but Trump's reckless stance on N.K. presents an opportunity to come together. Jeet Heer
https://newrepublic.com/article/145027/democrats-quiet-confused-foreign-policy
* Am continuing watching the Burn's documentary and last night's viewing of the massacres by our military makes your blood churn all over again. I was also reminded of how many make a hell of a lot of money during a war just like they do now during our hurricane devastations which then prompts one to connect climate deniers and war hawks with foul weather and foreign policy. Who benefits? Who loses?
@Gloria: Tracey Ullman––my god, the woman is brilliant! Thanks so much for that video–-I hadn't realized she had made all these (I watched a couple more). Somehow we can still laugh–-throughout all this hell, we can still laugh!
Just a coincidence:
NJ Star Ledger Story today "Trump may pick N.J. State Police leader for top DEA job"
NJ Star Ledger Story a week ago. "Trooper Trump? State Police give the president badge number 45".
Just a coincidence!
Watching the Vietnam documentary as well.
It's astounding, the amount of lying Nixon did. We won't even go into his treasonous (and successful) attempt to deep six peace talks before he was elected in order to scuttle Humphrey's chances by using backdoor communications to let North Vietnam know that they'd get a better deal if they stalled talks with the Democratic administration. And, surprise!, he was lying to them as well. (And let's not forget that Nixon's treason was likely the trick he needed to win. He beat Humphrey by only 0.7%.)
The preponderance of straight faced lying about the war to the American public was something to behold, and yes, it did remind me of the current occupant's extreme aversion to the truth, but there's a huge difference.
As Frank Rich pointed out in his comparison between Nixon and the Little King (linked here the other day), Nixon did have a grasp of history. He was a reader. He understood politics and the legislative process. The Little King might as well get his news from the drunk guy at the end of the bar who rails about how his cheatin' wife screwed him out of everything and how blacks should all be sent back to Africa on the backs of sharks. He doesn't have a handle on any of the necessary skill sets for operating on a national and international field. Nixon's White House had access to plenty of people with deep backgrounds on Southeast Asia and he was still kicked in the ass. At one point in 1969, recounted in last night's installment, the NV negotiator, Le Duc Tho, sat across the table from war criminal Henry Kissinger. Kissinger was trying to run a scam, trying to push the north into more substantive concessions, more amenable to the Americans. Le Duc Tho looked at Kissinger and said "If you can't beat us with half a million soldiers of your own and more than a million ARVN troops, why should we give you anything?" Kissinger had no answer.
Trump's answer would probably be along the lines of "Well, then we'll nuke your whole country".
And this isn't a hypothetical. Not anymore. He's already made that threat. Now we have two thin-skinned, dangerously inexperienced, narcissistic bullies going head to head. His administration is seriously undermanned. I bet Trump hasn't spoken to a single experienced Asia hand from State to get some background on North Korea, or to run down possible scenarios. He knows it all. Remember, he once said he knows more about war than the generals. And if you recall, back in the 90's, he announced that he was available to broker an arms reduction package with the Soviets, because he was so much better at making deals than anyone on either side.
But, as is obvious to all but the Little King, international negotiations, especially in an extremely sensitive situation where both sides are talking about going to war, are not the same as passing a bag of money to some mobster who will guarantee trash pickup at your building, or getting a plumbing contractor to lower his bill by 20% then stiffing him for the entire amount. It ain't that kind of deal making.
Hopefully, in 20 years or so, we won't have a Peter Coyote type voice intoning, in another documentary, about the enormous mistakes made by a narcissistic little king which led to all out war that could have been avoided by experience and maturity, as opposed to bluster and lies, which didn't do us much good in Vietnam.
Estimates vary, but it seems reasonable to put the figure for total casualties in ten years of the Vietnam War, both sides, civilians and military personnel, at around 3.3 million. If Trump flips his orange lid and picks up the football because he feels his manhood threatened (and remember, he doesn't have to consult with anybody before letting the missiles fly), that many could die in ten minutes.
But don't worry. It'll all be to make us safer.
Karma be a bitch
Much hand wringing in certain Confederate circles about the big win in Alabama by a complete nut, Roy Moore, who knows even less about the Constitution and what America means than Donaldo.
Pundits are, quite understandably, pointing and laughing at Turtle Man, Mitch McConnell, who had his ass handed to him twice on the same day, the loss in Alabama of an obsequious water carrier, replaced by a Ted Cruz-like bomb thrower (except without Ted's sense of propriety and manly good looks), and a thorough drubbing in the most recent attempt by the GOP to fuck the poor and middle class out of decent healthcare.
On one hand I'm tempted to say "Serves you right, you asshole", for not just countenancing off the chain whackos from the far-right, but whipping them up into racist, anti-democratic, and anti-American frenzies for the last 10 years. He drafted the help of 'baggers and bullies and blowhards in his war on that horrible nee-groe, but the draftees burned their draft cards using his house as kindling.
Bad for him maybe, but we are the real losers, not that cynical, disgraceful excuse for a man, Mitchy McConnell. He'll retire, count his millions, write another book about how great he was, and lock on to a well paid, no show sinecure at some right-wing stink tank.
Us? We'll be left with Bannon-ites in the House and Senate, setting fire to the Constitution only to have other Confederates piss on it to quench the blaze. Not only that, but the winger attack dog he installed in the Supreme Court will be around to piss on justice for decades.
What a mess.
Thanks, Mitch. You're a credit to America haters everywhere. Maybe Putin will erect a statue in your honor in Red Square, you soulless, conniving schmuck.
One more quick one.
I hope above all else that Democrats are gearing up. The unholy evidence that's been amassed demonstrating beyond even the capacity of the most committed Both Siders to say different, of the incontrovertible inhumanity of the Republican Party and any and all connected to it (just look at this!) should be plastered across every available media space in this country until these horror shows of human beings are driven from power.
And here's one more video every Democrat in the country, those already elected and those hoping to be, should play at every rally.
Unconscionable and illegal gerrymandering notwithstanding, they have to do something with this stuff. And there's plenty more evidence of Confederate perfidy outside of these abominable examples.
Jesus!
@Gloria: "pay them a decent salary"
Newly minted private- US $19,200, Canada $28,300US. 47% more.
A differential holds for higher ranks.
I thought to mention this earlier, but better late than never.
Yesterday, Carlyle contributed a comment on the ubiquity of the Pledge of Allegiance:
"I am probably the only person in America that is pissed off at having to pledge allegiance at every meeting I attend. Summer soldiers think they are doing something patriotic and I guess this pious activity makes them feel good.
I pledged allegiance back in '52 and then ended up on a troop ship. That should be adequate."
I was reminded of the story of a Native American chief who was jailed early in the 20th century for refusing to say the Pledge of Allegiance every day. His point was that he wasn't against the pledge itself. In his mind, a pledge constituted a solemn oath.
"I said it once. Why do I need to say it again?"
Not a bad point. Do we verbally renew our marriage vows every day, those of us who are married? Do we call up the bank every day and reaffirm our intention to pay our mortgages or car loans?
More importantly, do members of congress and the president reassert, on a daily basis, their pledge to uphold the Constitution and the laws of the land?
Yeah. Never mind.
@Ak,
I don't think I've said the pledge in more than 40 years. Back in high school I asked myself the question "What is this 'under god' shit anyway?"
In case you're not already sick of me. Racism NZ style.
Perhaps the Con tax cuts won't benefit frumpy because he doesn't pay any tax??? Show us your tax returns, bum!
@unwashed: I've had many occasions to say the pledge since the "under god" language was added. I just clam up for that phrase. Lately, I've noticed some others do the same.
I'm more offended by the "justice for all " part. I spent a few minutes every a.m. in the office in HS for refusing to recite the pledge. My mother made one of her famous visits to the principal and I was allowed to sit in the classroom without participating.