The Commentariat -- Nov. 26, 2018

Late Morning Update:

International Diplomacy, Trump-Style. Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Monday demanded that Mexico deport the caravans of asylum-seeking migrants pressing up against the U.S. border 'anyway you want,' threatening to close off the U.S. border 'permanently if need be.' 'Mexico should move the flag waving Migrants, many of whom are stone cold criminals, back to their countries. Do it by plane, do it by bus, do it anyway you want, but they are NOT coming into the U.S.A.,' Trump tweeted, offering no evidence to support his claim that the migrants are criminals." Mrs. McC: But offering evidence that he doesn't know that "anyway" in this construction is two words: "any" and "way."

Frances Robles of the New York Times: "FEMA is spending more than $1 billion on emergency repairs to homes in Puerto Rico damaged by Hurricane Maria, but much of it is going to contractors charging steep markups and overhead.... Homeowners, who were approved for up to $20,000 each in aid, in nearly every case received less than half of what they were approved for, while layers of contractors and middlemen took the rest, a review of hundreds of invoices and contracts associated with the program shows.... Records show a large gap between the amounts FEMA contractors hired by the Department of Housing were paid and the actual cost of the work that was ultimately performed."

State TV edition of "Annals of Journalism", Ctd. --s

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: The video is informative AND hilarious. Trump-Hannity 2020!

*****

Josh Dawsey & Damian Paletta of the Washington Post: "President Trump is demanding top advisers craft a plan to reduce the country's ballooning budget deficits, but the president has flummoxed his own aides by repeatedly seeking new spending while ruling out measures needed to address the country's unbalanced budget. Trump's deficit-reduction directive came last month, after the White House reported a large increase in the deficit for the previous 12 months. The announcement unnerved Republicans and investors, helping fuel a big sell-off in the stock market. Two days after the deficit report, Trump floated a surprise demand to his Cabinet secretaries, asking them to identify steep cuts in their agencies.... When former National Economic Council director Gary Cohn's staffers prepared a presentation for Trump about deficits, Cohn told them no. It wouldn't be necessary, he said, because the president did not care about deficits, according to current and former officials. Trump also repeatedly told Cohn to print more money, according to three White House officials familiar with his comments.... Trump often uses 'debt' -- the total amount the government owes -- to refer to the deficit, the annual gap between what the government takes in and what it spends. Trump also is often not versed in the particulars of the federal budget." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: "Print more money" of course causes immediate & devastating inflation. Notice this is the same President* who suggested in a tweet this weekend (story linked below) that the Fed is causing inflation. I can just hear Steve Mnuchin trying to explain to Trump how federal income & spending work -- kinda like the way I explained to my then-five-year-old (or younger) how a checkbook works. Major difference: my little child understood the explanation. BTW, if you feel like shaking your head & muttering "What an idiot!" this is your opportunity. My favorite part: Trump guesses how much the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is paid. The exchange could help explain why Trump is no longer so enamored of "his generals."

"How About That Oil?" Jonathan Swan & Alayna Treene of Axios: "President Trump twice raised to the Iraqi prime minister the idea of repaying America for its wars with Iraqi oil, a highly controversial ask that runs afoul of international norms and logic, according to sources with direct knowledge. Trump appears to have finally given up on this idea.... Trump's desire to raid Iraq's oil is illegal and unworkable. But it reveals a great deal about his approach to the Middle East. Trump remains hellbent on extracting payments from Middle Eastern countries, in the form of natural resources, for the trillions of dollars America has spent since the early 2000s." ...

... MEANWHILE. Juan Cole: "India's imports of petroleum from Iran in October doubled in value terms to $1.42 billion in October, year over year.... Even in volume terms, imports are up 38%. These statistics raise the question of whether Trump's attempt to squeeze Iran is failing.... Iran's economic relationship with Europe became warmer in 2018, growing by 7.5%.... [S]ince the US has not in fact managed to take most Iranian oil off the market, the Saudi tactic of producing extra has just caused the price to collapse, and boy are the Saudis angry.... So the squeeze play against Iran is failing right at the beginning. In part this failure is owing to the inability of the US to bully India, China and some other countries into cutting off Iran.... Saudi over-production hurts Saudi Arabia as much as it hurts Iran[.]" --s (Also linked yesterday.)

Roey Hadar of ABC News: "Alan Dershowitz, a frequent defender of ... Donald Trump, said special counsel Robert Mueller's report will be 'devastating' for the president.... 'When I say devastating, I mean it's going to paint a picture that's going to be politically very devastating. I still don't think it's going to make a criminal case,' Dershowitz said." (Also linked yesterday.)

George Gets a Jumpsuit. Rosalind Helderman & Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "A federal judge on Sunday ruled George Papadopoulos must report to prison as scheduled on Monday, rejecting a bid from the former Trump campaign adviser to delay the start of his sentence while a constitutional challenge to the special counsel investigation into Russia's election interference remains unresolved." (Also linked yesterday.)

Joe Romm of ThinkProgress: "The 1,000-page climate report released by the White House Friday quantifies the staggering cost of President Trump's climate science denial. The congressionally-mandated National Climate Assessment (NCA) by hundreds of the country's top scientists warns that a do-nothing climate policy will end up costing Americans more than a half-trillion dollars per year in increased sickness and death, coastal property damages, loss of worker productivity, and other damages.... One final point: The report warns ominously, 'It is very likely that some physical and ecological impacts will be irreversible for thousands of years, while others will be permanent.' The choices we make today won't just determine the degree of harm we do to our children and grandchildren, but to the next 50 generations and beyond. The immorality of Trump's climate policies simply cannot be quantified." --s ...

... Rachel Gutman of The Atlantic: "Despite being released on a holiday..., the latest installment of the National Climate Assessment is, as told to my colleague Robinson Meyer, full of 'information that every human needs.'... Here are the report's three most chilling conclusions: 1. Extreme hot weather is getting more common, and cold weather more rare.... 2. Climate change has doubled the devastation from wildfires in the Southwest.... 3. Rising sea levels will necessitate mass migrations, and coastal cities aren't doing enough." --s ...

... Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "The Trump White House, which has defined itself by a willingness to dismiss scientific findings and propose its own facts, on Friday issued a scientific report that directly contradicts its own climate-change policies.... The administration is widely expected to discount or ignore the report's detailed findings of the economic strain caused by climate change, even as it continues to cut environmental regulations, while opponents use it to mount legal attacks against the very administration that issued the report.... 'This is a new frontier of disavowance of science, of disdain for facts,' said William K. Reilly, who headed the Environmental Protection Agency under the first President George Bush."

Maya Averbuch & Elisabeth Malkin of the New York Times: "A peaceful march by Central American migrants waiting at the southwestern United States border veered out of control on Sunday afternoon, as hundreds of people tried to evade a Mexican police blockade and run toward a giant border crossing that leads into San Diego. In response, the United States Customs and Border Protection agency shut down the border crossing in both directions and fired tear gas to push back migrants from the border fence. The border was reopened later Sunday evening." ...

... Emanuella Grinberg, et al., of CNN: "Tijuana police said they arrested 39 people in connection with the attempt to cross the border illegally. Those identified as trying to rush the US border illegally will be processed for deportation in their home countries, Mexico's Interior Ministry said.... Donald Trump threatened to close the border 'permanently if need be.' He also claimed many of the migrants are 'stone cold criminals, but gave zero evidence to support that claim." ...

... Mary Papenfuss of the Huffington Post: "Activists, Democratic politicians and others watching the news Sunday reacted with shock at scenes of mothers fleeing with children from tear gas fired by American officers at the Mexican border. Agents for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency fired several canisters of gas after groups of immigrants tried to squeeze through gaps or scale fences at the border crossing between Tijuana and San Diego. U.S. officials completely shut down the port of entry in both directions for several hours. Children screamed and coughed amid the gas, The Associated Press reported. The wind carried the aerosol chemicals toward people hundreds of feet away who were not attempting to enter the U.S., the wire service noted. One woman collapsed unconscious amid the chaos, and two babies sobbed with tears running down their faces from the gas, Reuters reported. A statement from the Customs and Border Patrol agency said that officers responded with tear gas as migrants threw 'projectiles,' which hit 'several agents.'"

Scott Pelley of "60 Minutes": "It's been a chaotic two years on the border as the administration imposed barriers with little consideration of their legality or consequences. The 2017 ban on travelers from Muslim countries was so abrupt it surprised the officers who had to enforce it. Before the midterm elections, President Trump ordered thousands of troops to Texas to stop what he called 'an assault' by a caravan of Central Americans. That caravan is now at the border of California. But the most tumultuous order of all, was this summer's separation of children from their parents, which Mr. Trump had to quickly withdraw. Our investigation has found that the separation of families began far earlier and detained many more children than the administration has admitted." Includes video of the "60 Minutes" segment.

Spencer Ackerman of The Daily Beast: "In 2009 and 2010, [President] Obama launched 186 drone strikes on Yemen, Somalia, and especially Pakistan. Donald Trump’s drone strikes during his own first two years on the three pivotal undeclared battlefields, however, eclipse Obama's -- but without a corresponding reputation for robot-delivered bloodshed, or even anyone taking much notice. In 2017 and 2018 to date, Trump has launched 238 drone strikes there, according to data provided to The Daily Beast.... Those numbers come with a slew of asterisks.... Additionally, the death toll from those strikes in shadow war zones, especially of civilians, is at best a rough estimate." --s

Nancy Cook & Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "The White House counsel's office is down to a skeletal staff, potentially leaving them unprepared to deal with a flood of subpoenas for documents and witnesses when Democrats take control of the House. The office has been without a permanent leader since ex-White House senior attorney Don McGahn left the administration in mid-October. His replacement, Pat Cipollone, is caught up in an extended background check that's prevented him from starting. And in the coming weeks, deputy counsel Annie Donaldson, who served as McGahn's most trusted aide and as the office's chief of staff, is expected to leave the administration.... Amid the leadership tumult, the counsel's office has shrunk to about 25 lawyers.... That's ... well short of the 40 people that some expect it will need to deal with a reinvigorated Democratic party eager to investigate the president's tax returns and business dealings in foreign countries, reopen probes into Russian election meddling and explore the behavior of a bevy of Cabinet officials." ...

... Maggie Haberman & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "When two Republican members of Congress began formally questioning last week Ivanka Trump's use of private email for government business, it was seen by people close to the White House as a sign of things to come for the president's family. One of the Republicans was Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which has conducted little oversight of the Trump White House until now. The other was Representative Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, who previously led a two-year investigation into events surrounding the attack on American diplomatic outposts in Benghazi, Libya, focusing relentlessly on the role of Hillary Clinton. His most prominent investigation as chairman has scrutinized alleged anti-Trump political bias within the F.B.I. during its inquiries related to the 2016 presidential campaign.... Mr. Gowdy ... is retiring from Congress in January..., and his role in endorsing the inquiry was seen as pro forma. In his place as chairman of the committee will be Representative Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland.... The Democrats are already laying out lines of inquiry that could quickly lead not just to Mr. Trump and his White House aides, but also to his immediate family. And Republicans returning to Capitol Hill next year may be forced by the changed political climate to take a harder line toward the Trump family."...

... Karma. Matt Shuham of TPM: "After Republican leadership on the House Oversight Committee spent two years blocking Democrats'subpoena requests related to the Trump administration and other matters, NBC News' Chuck Todd had what seemed like an unexpected question for incoming Democratic committee chairman Elijah Cummings (D-MD): 'Do you plan on granting your ranking member, whoever it is on the Republican side, subpoena authority?' 'Uh, no,' Cummings replied." --s ...

... Eric Levitz of New York: "[W]hile a majority of American voters ... want the new House majority to zealously investigate the president's malfeasance, some moderate Democrats aren't so sure.... But the idea that aggressive investigations of the Trump administration would be politically risky for Democrats -- as opposed to that scandal-plagued administration -- is absolutely bonkers.... There is simply no basis for thinking that Democrats will pay a political price for prioritizing investigations of Trump over helping the president score bipartisan policy victories." --s (Also linked yesterday.)

Maxwell Tani & Andrew Desiderio of The Daily Beast: "In recent months, many GOP lawmakers have repurposed their Twitter accounts into platforms for media criticism. Perhaps no one has been as dutiful about it as Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), who has dedicated a good deal of time nitpicking various aspects of media coverage in the Trump era.... Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) does, too. [Lindsey Graham too].... Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), the second-ranking Republican in the Senate, got into a Twitter spat last month with CNBC reporter John Harwood.... Republican lawmakers ... have targeted the broader 'mainstream media' more aggressively and personally, adopting Trump's framework that the press is, fundamentally, an enemy of conservatism.... Democrats, perhaps sensing that Republicans were trying to work the refs, have also veered into the media criticism act more directly as of late, often to criticize the coverage decisions made by newsrooms." --s

Election 2018. Martin Longman of the Booman Tribune: "I did not know that there was such a thing as The Office of the Commissioner of Major League Baseball PAC. It's a horrible idea. Politicizing baseball is foolish, and it's especially dumb to donate to individual candidates. It looks like some baseball lobbyists were asked/invited to attend an event for Cindy Hyde-Smith and got shaken down for the maximum allowable $5,000 contribution. They're returning the money* because Hyde-Smith has been exposed as a neo-confederate proto-fascist and that's a bad look for an organization that prides itself on integration and has retired Jackie Robinson's number '42' league wide." (Also linked yesterday.)

     * Mrs. McCrabbie: Actually, the MLB is asking Hyde-Smith to return the money.

David Leonardt of the New York Times: "Big companies are much more dominant than they were even 15 years ago.... The new corporate behemoths have been very good for their executives and largest shareholders -- and bad for almost everyone else. Sooner or later, the companies tend to raise prices. They hold down wages, because where else are workers going to go? They use their resources to sway government policy. Many of our economic ills -- like income stagnation and a decline in entrepreneurship -- stem partly from corporate gigantism.... Ultimately, monopolies aren't only an economic problem. They are also a political one. 'We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few,' Louis Brandeis, the Supreme Court justice and anti-monopoly crusader, said a century ago, 'but we can't have both.'"

Hillary Osborne of the Guardian: "One of the biggest medical companies in the world has admitted it is having to pay out to the NHS to cover the cost of monitoring and operating on patients who were given defective hip replacements.... DePuy, owned by Johnson & Johnson, would not say how much it had handed over, but it could run into millions. It recalled a metal-on-metal hip system in 2010 after it emerged that debris from wear and tear was causing damage and resulting in a large number of surgical revisions." --s

Raphael Binder, et al., of the New York Times: "Thousands of people took to the streets of countries around the globe on Sunday, a day set aside by the United Nations to raise awareness of violence against women, to protest gender violence. It was the beginning of 16-day campaign urging individuals and organizations to fight the kind violence that will affect more than a third of women globally during their lives, according to the United Nations. Michelle Bachelet, the former president of Chile and the United Nations' high commissioner for human rights..., urged women everywhere to keep telling their stories of violence and 'to demand and accountability reparation.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Wesley Lowery, et al., of the Washington Post: "Over the past decade, attackers motivated by right-wing political ideologies have committed dozens of shootings, bombings and other acts of violence, far more than any other category of domestic extremist, according to a Washington Post analysis of data on global terrorism. While the data show a decades-long drop-off in violence by left-wing groups, violence by white supremacists and other far-right attackers has been on the rise since Barack Obama's presidency -- and has surged since President Trump took office. This year has been especially deadly.... While Trump has blasted Democrats as 'an angry left-wing mob' and the 'party of crime,' researchers have identified just one fatal attack in 2018 that may have been motivated by left-wing ideologies.... Trump and his aides have continuously denied that he has contributed to the rise in violence. But experts say right-wing extremists perceive the president as offering them tacit support for their cause."

Michael Miller of the Washington Post: Vandals keep defacing a street free library on Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C., dedicated to Michelle Obama. Earlier this month, vandals crossed off Obama's name & replaced it with Trump's." Mrs. McC: Why would even a Trumpbot "dedicate" a library to Trump -- who is semi-illiterate? (Also linked yesterday.)

Jamie Doward of the Guardian: "The Conservative party [in the UK] is under pressure to reveal details about its relationship with the London arm of a US lobbying firm accused of smear tactics against critics of Facebook. UK Policy Group [UKPG], a consultancy with close links to the Conservative party, is part of Definers Public Affairs, the controversial firm ditched by Facebook earlier this month following a New York Times exposé that has further dented the social media network's image.... UKPG's only known client is the Conservative party, for which it reportedly provides research on its opponents.... Definers set up UKPG just as concerns about Facebook's relationship with the discredited data firm Cambridge Analytica reached fever pitch.... In the US, Definers was close to Cambridge Analytica. Its sister company, America Rising [financed in part by the billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Singer], with which it shares offices and some staff, held a joint Christmas party with the data firm in 2015." --s (Also linked yesterday.)

Way Beyond the Beltway

Alex Johnson of NBC News: "Ukraine convened an emergency meeting of what it called its war cabinet on Sunday after it accused Russia of having fired on three of its vessels in the Black Sea, injuring at least six sailors. Russia's Federal Security Service, or FSB, confirmed that it had seized what it called three Ukrainian 'warships,' saying they had trespassed into Russian territorial waters. It said that 'weapons were used to force the Ukrainian warships to stop' and that three Ukrainian service members were treated for minor injuries, TASS, the official Russian news agency, reported Sunday night.... The Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry said it had mobilized all naval personnel and had sent all of its ships to sea after what it described as two gunboats and a tugboat came under attack off the coast of Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014. Oleksii Makeiev, political director of Ukraine's Foreign Affairs Ministry, called the incident an act of 'warmongering' that 'undermines security of the whole region.'... The United Nations scheduled an emergency meeting of the Security Council for Monday morning, said Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N." ...

... Jon Henley & Matthew Bodner of the Guardian: "Russia's foreign ministry has accused Ukraine of coordinating with the US and the EU in a 'planned provocation' aimed at securing further sanctions against Moscow amid mounting tensions after a dangerous clash between the countries. As the United Nations security council prepared to meet later on Monday, Nato joined western calls for restraint after Russia fired on and seized three Ukrainian naval ships in the Kerch strait separating Crimea from the Russian mainland, wounding several seamen." --s

The Guardian: "A scientist in China claims to have created the world's first genetically edited babies, in a potentially ground-breaking and controversial medical first. If true, it would be a profound leap of science and ethics. This kind of gene editing is banned in most countries as the technology is still experimental and DNA changes can pass to future generations, potentially with unforeseen side-effects.... The researcher, He Jiankui of Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, said ... his goal was ... to try to bestow a trait that few people naturally have: an ability to resist possible future infection with HIV." --s

The Commentariat -- Nov. 25, 2018

Late Morning Update:

Josh Dawsey & Damian Paletta of the Washington Post: "President Trump is demanding top advisers craft a plan to reduce the country's ballooning budget deficits, but the president has flummoxed his own aides by repeatedly seeking new spending while ruling out measures needed to address the country's unbalanced budget. Trump's deficit-reduction directive came last month, after the White House reported a large increase in the deficit for the previous 12 months. The announcement unnerved Republicans and investors, helping fuel a big sell-off in the stock market. Two days after the deficit report, Trump floated a surprise demand to his Cabinet secretaries, asking them to identify steep cuts in their agencies.... When former National Economic Council director Gary Cohn's staffers prepared a presentation for Trump about deficits, Cohn told them no. It wouldn't be necessary, he said, because the president did not care about deficits, according to current and former officials. Trump also repeatedly told Cohn to print more money, according to three White House officials familiar with his comments.... Trump often uses 'debt' -- the total amount the government owes -- to refer to the deficit, the annual gap between what the government takes in and what it spends. Trump also is often not versed in the particulars of the federal budget." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: "Print more money" of course causes immediate & devastating inflation. Notice this is the same President* who suggested in a tweet this weekend (story linked below) that the Fed is causing inflation. I can just hear Steve Mnuchin trying to explain to Trump how federal income & spending work -- kinda like the way I explained to my then-five-year-old (or younger) how a checkbook works. Major difference: my little child understood the explanation. BTW, if you feel like shaking your head & muttering "What an idiot!" this is your opportunity. My favorite part: Trump guesses how much the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is paid. The exchange could help explain why Trump is no longer so enamored of "his generals."

Eric Levitz of New York: "[W]hile a majority of American voters ... want the new House majority to zealously investigate the president's malfeasance, some moderate Democrats aren't so sure.... But the idea that aggressive investigations of the Trump administration would be politically risky for Democrats -- as opposed to that scandal-plagued administration -- is absolutely bonkers.... There is simply no basis for thinking that Democrats will pay a political price for prioritizing investigations of Trump over helping the president score bipartisan policy victories. --s

Roey Hadar of ABC News: "Alan Dershowitz, a frequent defender of ... Donald Trump, said special counsel Robert Mueller's report will be 'devastating' for the president.... 'When I say devastating, I mean it's going to paint a picture that's going to be politically very devastating. I still don't think it's going to make a criminal case,' Dershowitz said."

George Gets a Jumpsuit. Rosalind Helderman & Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "A federal judge on Sunday ruled George Papadopoulos must report to prison as scheduled on Monday, rejecting a bid from the former Trump campaign adviser to delay the start of his sentence while a constitutional challenge to the special counsel investigation into Russia's election interference remains unresolved."

Juan Cole: "India's imports of petroleum from Iran in October doubled in value terms to $1.42 billion in October, year over year.... Even in volume terms, imports are up 38%. These statistics raise the question of whether Trump's attempt to squeeze Iran is failing.... Iran's economic relationship with Europe became warmer in 2018, growing by 7.5%.... [S]ince the US has not in fact managed to take most Iranian oil off the market, the Saudi tactic of producing extra has just caused the price to collapse, and boy are the Saudis angry.... So the squeeze play against Iran is failing right at the beginning. In part this failure is owing to the inability of the US to bully India, China and some other countries into cutting off Iran.... Saudi over-production hurts Saudi Arabia as much as it hurts Iran[.]" --s

Raphael Binder, et al., of the New York Times: "Thousands of people took to the streets of countries around the globe on Sunday, a day set aside by the United Nations to raise awareness of violence against women, to protest gender violence. It was the beginning of 16-day campaign urging individuals and organizations to fight the kind violence that will affect more than a third of women globally during their lives, according to the United Nations. Michelle Bachelet, the former president of Chile and the United Nations' high commissioner for human rights..., urged women everywhere to keep telling their stories of violence and 'to demand and accountability reparation.'"

Martin Longman of the Booman Tribune: "I did not know that there was such a thing as The Office of the Commissioner of Major League Baseball PAC. It's a horrible idea. Politicizing baseball is foolish, and it's especially dumb to donate to individual candidates. It looks like some baseball lobbyists were asked/invited to attend an event for Cindy Hyde-Smith and got shaken down for the maximum allowable $5,000 contribution. They're returning the money because Hyde-Smith has been exposed as a neo-confederate proto-fascist and that's a bad look for an organization that prides itself on integration and has retired Jackie Robinson's number '42' league wide."

Michael Miller of the Washington Post: Vandals keep defacing a street free library on Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C., dedicated to Michelle Obama. Earlier this month, vandals crossed off Obama's name & replaced it with Trump's." Mrs. McC: Why would even a Trumpbot "dedicate" a library to Trump -- who is semi-illiterate?

Jamie Doward of the Guardian: "The Conservative party [in the UK] is under pressure to reveal details about its relationship with the London arm of a US lobbying firm accused of smear tactics against critics of Facebook. UK Policy Group [UKPG], a consultancy with close links to the Conservative party, is part of Definers Public Affairs, the controversial firm ditched by Facebook earlier this month following a New York Times exposé that has further dented the social media network's image.... UKPG's only known client is the Conservative party, for which it reportedly provides research on its opponents.... Definers set up UKPG just as concerns about Facebook's relationship with the discredited data firm Cambridge Analytica reached fever pitch.... In the US, Definers was close to Cambridge Analytica. Its sister company, America Rising [financed in part by the billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Singer], with which it shares offices and some staff, held a joint Christmas party with the data firm in 2015." --s

*****

Miranda Carter, in the New Yorker, writes of the uncanny parallels between the personalities & behavioral patterns of Kaiser Wilhelm II, who ruled Germany from 1888 to 1918, & Kaiser Donald. "I'm not suggesting that Trump is about to start the Third World War. But recent foreign developments -- the wild swings with North Korea, the ditching of the Iran nuclear deal, the threat of a trade war with China -- suggest upheavals that could quickly grow out of American control.... The real lesson of Kaiser Wilhelm II, however, may be that Trump's leaving office might not be the end of the problems he may bring on or exacerbate -- it may be only the beginning."

I, Trvmpvs. Quint Forgey of Politico: "... Donald Trump capped the Thanksgiving holiday weekend by again expressing gratitude for himself and his administration's accomplishments. 'So great that oil prices are falling (thank you President T),' Trump tweeted Sunday morning. 'Add that, which is like a big Tax Cut, to our other good Economic news. Inflation down (are you listening Fed)!'" Mrs. McC: Never mind that among the multiple reasons inflation is low is that the Fed, whom Trump repeatedly has criticized for raising interest rates, has raised interest rates.

Joshua Partlow & Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration has won the support of Mexico's incoming government for a plan to remake U.S. border policy by requiring asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their claims move through U.S. courts, according to Mexican officials and senior members of president-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador's transition team. The agreement would break with long-standing asylum rules and place a formidable new barrier in the path of Central American migrants attempting to reach the United States and escape poverty and violence. By reaching the accord, the Trump administration has also overcome Mexico's historic reticence to deepen cooperation with the United States on an issue widely seen here as America&'s problem.... The prospect of keeping thousands of Central American asylum seekers for months or years in drug cartel-dominated Mexican border states -- some of the most violent in the country -- has troubled human-rights activists and others who worry that such a plan could put migrants at risk and undermine their lawful right to apply for asylum."

... Jack Crosbie of Splinter: "On a practical level, this is a travesty for many people fleeing violence in Latin America. Many migrants have relatives already living in the United States, and before this policy, were usually allowed to find a home in the country while their asylum claim was processed. Now, they'll be forced to stay in camps. The policy comes after weeks of tension on the border, which the Trump administration stoked for political gain during the midterms. On Monday, the DHS shut down the entire Northbound section of the largest border crossing in California, citing unsubstantiated claims that migrants were planning to rush the border. The justification for the new policy, it seems, is the woeful lack of space at migrant facilities on the Southern border." ...

     ... Update. Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump asserted Saturday night that migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. will be forced to stay in Mexico while their claims are individually processed, though an incoming Mexican government official claimed his country had not agreed to such a policy. 'Migrants at the Southern Border will not be allowed into the United States until their claims are individually approved in court. We only will allow those who come into our Country legally,' Trump wrote on Twitter. 'Other than that our very strong policy is Catch and Detain. No "Releasing" into the U.S. All will stay in Mexico,' he continued. 'If for any reason it becomes necessary, we will CLOSE our Southern Border.'" ...

     ... AND. Amy Guthrie of the AP: "Mexico's incoming government denied a report Saturday that it plans to allow asylum-seekers to wait in the country while their claims move through U.S. immigration courts, one of several options the Trump administration has been pursuing in negotiations for months. The deal was seen as a way to dissuade thousands of Central American migrants from seeking asylum in the U.S., a process that can take years. In effect, Mexican border towns are already acting as waiting rooms for migrants hoping to start new lives in the U.S. due to bottlenecks at the border. 'There is no agreement of any sort between the incoming Mexican government and the U.S. government,' future Interior Minister Olga Sanchez said in a statement. Hours earlier, The Washington Post quoted her as saying that the incoming administration of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had agreed to allow migrants to stay in Mexico as a 'short-term solution' while the U.S. considered their applications for asylum. Lopez Obrador will take office on Dec. 1." ...

... "The Criminalization Is Intention." Angelo Guisado in Slate: "... the Justice Department openly admitted it was diverting resources from drug-smuggling operations to incarcerate migrants. This has clearly been part of a broader political strategy of vindicating ... Donald Trump's xenophobia: The Trump administration's nativist rhetoric is more effective when our immigrants are manufactured into criminals, not portrayed as tired, huddled masses of refugees. This practice of criminalizing asylum attempts is also a classic case of entrapment. Systematically rejecting destitute asylum-seekers at the border and stranding them in life-threatening border towns forces these individuals to cross unlawfully.... The recent interim rule to deny asylum to anyone who crosses the border 'illegally' won't have its intended deterrent effect.... Under Trump's latest policy, the U.S. is criminalizing potentially thousands of individuals who have arrived at our nation's doorstep seeking asylum. Worse still, the U.S. knows that these individuals are here to seek asylum; the criminalization is intentional." ...

... Huh? Trump Thinks He Already Shut Down the Border. Or Not. Mary Papenfuss of the Huffington Post: "... Donald Trump insisted -- twice -- in an odd exchange with reporters Thursday that he already shut down the border with Mexico and even signed an order to do so. 'Actually two days ago we closed the border,' Trump said at Mar-a-Lago during a meeting with journalists. 'We actually just closed it. We said nobody's coming in because it was out of control.'... Then he walked back what he had just insisted, saying he would shut the border in the future if it's necessary.... But minutes later he returned to his insistence that he had already closed the border. 'I've already shut it down, I've already shut it down -- for short periods,' he said in response to a question to clarify the shutdown. 'I've already shut down parts of the border because it was out of control with the rioting on the other side in Mexico. And I just said, "Shut it down." You see it. I mean, it took place two days ago.' When someone asked if he had to sign an order to shut it down, Trump responded: 'Yeah, they call me up, and I sign an order.' Asked if the media could get a copy, Trump responded: 'You don't need it. Don't worry. It's not that big a deal. Maybe to some people it is.' No order on closing the border has been released by the White House." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Another White House Friday Afternoon Holiday News Dump. Jeremy Barr of the Hollywood Reporter: "Bill Shine received an $8.4 million severance package upon leaving his post as co-president of Fox News Channel in May 2017, according to a financial disclosure form he filed upon entering Donald Trump's White House as deputy chief of staff for communications. The document was released to The Hollywood Reporter on Friday, a day after Thanksgiving. Shine, who officially began working in the White House on July 5, will also receive a bonus and options of about $3.5 million from 21st Century Fox both this year and next year. That means that Shine will be paid simultaneously by both the White House and the parent company of Fox News, a network that has had close ties to the Trump administration. The severance agreement expires on May 1, 2019." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

A Must-Read for for the Lunatic Fringe. Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "Two of the president's longest-serving advisers allege in a new book that scores of officials inside the White House, Congress, the Justice Department and intelligence agencies are 'embedded enemies of President Trump' working to stymie his agenda and delegitimize his presidency. The authors, Corey R. Lewandowski and David N. Bossie, are both Republican operatives who do not work in the administration but are close to Trump and fashion themselves as his outside protectors. They portray the president as victim to disloyalty on his staff and 'swamp creatures' intent on extinguishing his political movement. Their book, 'Trump's Enemies: How the Deep State Is Undermining the Presidency,' which is being released Tuesday and was obtained in advance by The Washington Post, paints a dark and at times conspiratorial portrait of Trump's Washington. The authors identify by name a number of Trump appointees who they claim have formed a 'resistance' inside the government during the first two years of Trump's presidency.... The narrative reads in part like Trump's Twitter grievances in book form." ... Mrs. McC: Other than that, Mr. Rucker, how did you enjoy the book?

Camila Molina of the Raleigh News & Observer: "After living almost a year in a Durham church, an undocumented man was arrested Friday by immigration officers when he left the church to keep an appointment with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in Morrisville. Samuel Oliver-Bruno, 47, has been living in the basement of CityWell United Methodist Church for 11 months while he petitions to have his deportation to Mexico delayed. Churches are one of the few places where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement does not make arrests.... In a joint statement released Friday evening, Reps. David Price and G.K. Butterfield accused USCIS and ICE of coordinating the arrest.... Morrisville Police and the Wake Sheriff's Office arrested" numerous supporters of Oliver-Bruno, including the church's pastor Cleve May, "after multiple warnings to disperse. Oliver-Bruno's son, Daniel Oliver Perez, a U.S. citizen, was arrested in the parking lot after approaching the van to say goodbye to his father. He was charged by Morrisville police with assault on a government officer."

Election 2018

She's So White. Ashton Pittman of the Jackson Free Press: "U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith attended and graduated from a segregation academy that was set up so that white parents could avoid having to send their children to schools with black students, a yearbook reveals. A group photo in the 1975 edition of The Rebel -- the Lawrence County Academy Yearbook -- illustrates the point. High-school cheerleaders smile at the camera as they lie on the ground in front of their pom-poms.... In the center, the mascot, dressed in what appears to be an outfit designed to mimic that of a Confederate general, offers a salute as she holds up a large Confederate flag. Third from the right on the ground is ... Cindy Hyde. The photo ... adds historic context to comments she made in recent weeks about a 'public hanging' that drew condemnations from across the political spectrum." Hyde-Smith went on to send her daughter to another "segregation academy"; the daughter was gradated in 2017. (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Eric Bradner & Andrew Kaczynski of CNN: "Mississippi Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith once promoted a measure that praised a Confederate soldier's effort to 'defend his homeland' and pushed a revisionist view of the Civil War.... As a state senator in 2007, Hyde-Smith cosponsored a resolution that honored then-92-year-old Effie Lucille Nicholson Pharr, calling her 'the last known living "Real Daughter" of the Confederacy living in Mississippi.' Pharr's father had been a Confederate soldier in Robert E. Lee's army in the Civil War. The resolution refers to the Civil War as 'The War Between the States.' It says her father 'fought to defend his homeland and contributed to the rebuilding of the country.' It says that with 'great pride,' Mississippi lawmakers 'join the Sons of Confederate Veterans' to honor Pharr. The measure 'rests on an odd combination of perpetuating both the Confederate legacy and the idea that this was not really in conflict with being a good citizen of the nation,' said Nina Silber, the president of the Society of Civil War Historians and a Boston University history professor. 'I also think it's curious that this resolution -- which ostensibly is about honoring the "daughter" -- really seems to be an excuse to glorify the Confederate cause,' Silber said." ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: I'll dedicate this to Senator Cindy. We folks up North, we just don't understand:

Carole Cadwalladr of the Guardian: The British "Parliament has used its legal powers to seize internal Facebook documents in an extraordinary attempt to hold the US social media giant to account after chief executive Mark Zuckerberg repeatedly refused to answer MPs' questions. The cache of documents is alleged to contain significant revelations about Facebook decisions on data and privacy controls that led to the Cambridge Analytica scandal. It is claimed they include confidential emails between senior executives, and correspondence with Zuckerberg."

Beyond the Beltway

Avi Selk of the Washington Post: Police in Hoover, Alabama, shot dead a young black man, Emantic Fitzgerald Bradford, Jr., whom they said had shot others in a local shopping mall on Thanksgiving night. It now appears that, although he may have been involved in an altercation that led to the brief shooting spree, he was not the shooter. The gunman, police said, is still at large.

Baraboo Boys Have First-Amendment Right to Salute Nazis at School-Related Event. AP: "Students who appeared in a photograph that showed several high school boys giving what appears to be a Nazi salute are protected by free-speech rights and are unlikely to face discipline, Baraboo School District officials said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... The New York Times story, by Christina Caron, is here. Here's my favorite part: Lori Mueller, the district school superintendent, "wrote that the image had been posted on social media 'to create harm.'" Yeah, the Nazi boys are victims here.

Way Beyond

Daniel Boffey, et al., of the Guardian: "EU leaders have given their backing to the Brexit deal struck with Theresa May, firing the starting pistol on the prime minister's race to win parliamentary approval in time for the UK's withdrawal next March. At an extraordinary summit in Brussels, the bloc's 27 heads of state and government took a decisive and historic step towards sealing the terms of Britain's split from Brussels after 45 years of membership. Unanimous support was given to the terms of a voluminous draft withdrawal treaty, covering citizens' rights, the £39bn divorce bill, and the Irish border issue, along with a 26-page political declaration setting out the basis of the future relationship. In a statement, the EU's leaders stated their intention to build 'as close as possible a partnership' with the UK after Brexit, while warning that they would be 'permanently seized' in future negotiations by the principle that countries outside the bloc cannot enjoy the same rights as those within."

Marc Santora of the New York Times: "... Andrej Babis, prime minister of the Czech Republic and its second-richest person, has long been compared to Donald J. Trump for his populist politics, bombastic style and exuberant wealth. He has also been similarly besieged by opponents he accuses of being part of an organized cabal out to bring him down. On Friday, those tensions hit another high point when lawmakers held a vote of no confidence seeking to end Mr. Babis's government, the second time they have done so since he came to power more than a year ago. Though Mr. Babis survived the challenge, all sides agree that the conflict has become so venomous that it has paralyzed the politics of this small Central European country.... In the most recent and bizarre turn of the scandal [surrounding Babis], it was reported that Mr. Babis's eldest son -- Andrej Babis Jr., 35, known as Junior -- had claimed that his father had had him abducted and held outside the country against his will to prevent him from talking to investigators." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Now, that should give Trump an idea.

The Commentariat -- Nov. 24, 2018

Afternoon Update:

Joshua Partlow & Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration has won the support of Mexico's incoming government for a plan to remake U.S. border policy by requiring asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their claims move through U.S. courts, according to Mexican officials and senior members of president-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador's transition team. The agreement would break with long-standing asylum rules and place a formidable new barrier in the path of Central American migrants attempting to reach the United States.... By reaching the accord, the Trump administration has also overcome Mexico's historic reticence to deepen cooperation with the United States on an issue widely seen here as America's problem.... The prospect of keeping thousands of Central American asylum seekers for months or years in drug cartel-dominated Mexican border states -- some of the most violent in the country -- has troubled human-rights activists and others who worry that such a plan could put migrants at risk and undermine their lawful right to apply for asylum." ...

... Huh? Trump Thinks He Already Shut Down the Border. Or Not. Mary Papenfuss of the Huffington Post: "... Donald Trump insisted -- twice -- in an odd exchange with reporters Thursday that he already shut down the border with Mexico and even signed an order to do so. 'Actually two days ago we closed the border,' Trump said at Mar-a-Lago during a meeting with journalists. 'We actually just closed it. We said nobody's coming in because it was out of control.'... Then he walked back what he had just insisted, saying he would shut the border in the future if it's necessary.... But minutes later he returned to his insistence that he had already closed the border. 'I've already shut it down, I've already shut it down -- for short periods,' he said in response to a question to clarify the shutdown. 'I've already shut down parts of the border because it was out of control with the rioting on the other side in Mexico. And I just said, "Shut it down." You see it. I mean, it took place two days ago.' When someone asked if he had to sign an order to shut it down, Trump responded: 'Yeah, they call me up, and I sign an order.' Asked if the media could get a copy, Trump responded: 'You don't need it. Don't worry. It's not that big a deal. Maybe to some people it is.' No order on closing the border has been released by the White House."

Another White House Friday Afternoon Holiday News Dump. Jeremy Barr of the Hollywood Reporter: "Bill Shine received an $8.4 million severance package upon leaving his post as co-president of Fox News Channel in May 2017, according to a financial disclosure form he filed upon entering Donald Trump's White House as deputy chief of staff for communications. The document was released to The Hollywood Reporter on Friday, a day after Thanksgiving. Shine, who officially began working in the White House on July 5, will also receive a bonus and options of about $3.5 million from 21st Century Fox both this year and next year. That means that Shine will be paid simultaneously by both the White House and the parent company of Fox News, a network that has had close ties to the Trump administration. The severance agreement expires on May 1, 2019."

She's So White. Ashton Pittman of the Jackson Free Press: "U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith attended and graduated from a segregation academy that was set up so that white parents could avoid having to send their children to schools with black students, a yearbook reveals. A group photo in the 1975 edition of The Rebel -- the Lawrence County Academy Yearbook -- illustrates the point. High-school cheerleaders smile at the camera as they lie on the ground in front of their pom-poms.... In the center, the mascot, dressed in what appears to be an outfit designed to mimic that of a Confederate general, offers a salute as she holds up a large Confederate flag. Third from the right on the ground is ... Cindy Hyde. The photo ... adds historic context to comments she made in recent weeks about a 'public hanging' that drew condemnations from across the political spectrum."

Baraboo Boys Have First-Amendment Right to Be Nazis. AP: "Students who appeared in a photograph that showed several high school boys giving what appears to be a Nazi salute are protected by free-speech rights and are unlikely to face discipline, Baraboo School District officials said."

*****

Your Classic White House Friday Afternoon Holiday News Dump. Despite his natural instinct for science, everything Donald Trump says is wrong (but we knew that):

... Coral Davenport & Kendra Pierre-Louis of the New York Times: "A major scientific report issued by 13 federal agencies on Friday presents the starkest warnings to date of the consequences of climate change for the United States, predicting that if significant steps are not taken to rein in global warming, the damage will knock as much as 10 percent off the size of the American economy by century's end. The report, which was mandated by Congress and made public by the White House, is notable not only for the precision of its calculations and bluntness of its conclusions, but also because its findings are directly at odds with President Trump's agenda of environmental deregulation, which he asserts will spur economic growth. Mr. Trump has taken aggressive steps to allow more planet-warming pollution from vehicle tailpipes and power plant smokestacks, and has vowed to pull the United States out of the Paris Agreement, under which nearly every country in the world pledged to cut carbon emissions. Just this week, he mocked the science of climate change because of a cold snap in the Northeast, tweeting, 'Whatever happened to Global Warming?' But in direct language, the 1,656-page assessment lays out the devastating effects of a changing climate on the economy, health and environment, including record wildfires in California, crop failures in the Midwest and crumbling infrastructure in the South." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... David Atkins in the Washington Monthly: "... the famously climate-denying Trump administration decided that newsdump Friday would be the best time to release a damning report about the already horrific effects of climate change worldwide[.]... But there&'s a funny thing about releasing major news on a holiday when almost by definition there's almost no other news: the thing you wanted to be ignored tends to be the most important thing to cover, and people have enough free time and boredom to actually read them. So ... Black Friday became climate change day. Nearly every major newspaper led with the story. Both CNN and MSNBC covered the climate crisis more thoroughly than they have on most any other day. That's partly because the report itself is shocking and terrifying[.]... after hours and hours of being pummeled on the severity of the climate threat coupled with Trump's criminally irresponsible dismissal and neglect of the issue, they put forward a typical cruelty distraction gambit by asking the Supreme Court to uphold their ban on transgender individuals serving in the military. Gratefully, few media outlets took the bait." [Story linked below.]

Tim Egan of the New York Times: "Our A-plus president didn't even have enough of a presidential grip to get the name of the ruined town of Paradise right. (He repeatedly called it 'Pleasure.') Nor does he pretend to know the difference between sub-Arctic Finland and arid California. His administration blamed 'radical environmentalists' for the [California] fires. But it wasn't environmentalists who kicked up 50-mile-an hour winds in a state that had seen barely a whisper of rain over the last six months, hot gusts that bounced through canyons thick with man-made combustibles. The national parks, oft-called America's best idea, were created by people who looked beyond their own lives. Those people made great ancestors -- benevolent, farsighted, selfless. What they protected were islands of diversity that humans were fast destroying. Climate change has put these parks in real peril." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Trump's proposed design.A Natural Instinct for Science, Ctd. But the EMALS! Missy Ryan of the Washington Post: "President Trump this week renewed his questioning of the military's new system for launching aircraft at sea, underscoring his skepticism about a technology the Navy has put at the center of its future aircraft carrier fleet. In a call to service members on Thursday marking the Thanksgiving holiday, Trump asked the commander of the USS Ronald Reagan, a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier deployed in the Pacific, whether he supported using electromagnetics rather than the traditional steam system to catapult aircraft off carrier decks and land them safely back on board. 'Steam is very reliable, and the electromagnetic -- I mean, unfortunately, you have to be Albert Einstein to really work it properly,' Trump said. 'What would you do?' Trump has repeatedly criticized General Atomics' Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS), installed on the Navy's newest carrier and slated to be used on other new ships. The debut of that system, the culmination of years of testing and development, has been plagued by delays and technical problems. Capt. Pat Hannifin, articulating the Navy's view, responded by telling Trump that EMALS would lessen the burden that steam-powered systems exact on carriers and was within sailors' power to operate successfully. 'You sort of have to be Albert Einstein to run the nuclear power plants that we have here as well, but we're doing that very well,' Hannifin said."

Kate Sullivan & Zachary Cohen of CNN: "The top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee on Friday accused ... Donald Trump of lying about the CIA's report that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman personally ordered the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Trump said Thursday that the CIA 'did not come to a conclusion' about the crown prince's involvement in the murder. 'They have feelings certain ways, but they didn't -- I have the report,' Trump said. When asked if the President was lying about the CIA's conclusion, Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Jack Reed said, 'Yes. The CIA concluded that the crown prince of Saudi Arabia was directly involved in the assassination of Khashoggi.... They did it, as has been reported to the press, with high confidence, which is the highest level of accuracy that they will vouch for,' Reed said. 'It's based on facts, it's based on analysis. The notion that they didn't reach a conclusion is just unsubstantiated. The CIA has made that clear.'"

Greg Sargent: "President Trump has again brushed off the horrifying murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, blithely claiming that the Saudi crown prince 'vehemently denied' any role in the killing. Trump again appears to be contradicting the CIA, which has reportedly determined that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman did, in fact, order the assassination.... But, while in some ways Trump's latest comments ... reiterate his reprehensible statement from earlier this week, this time Trump went further, both in taking a cavalier stance toward the murder and in casting doubt on the CIA's reported conclusion.... This raises the questions: What did the intelligence conclude, and is Trump deliberately downplaying it, which would constitute active participation in covering up the truth...? In an interview with me, Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) -- the incoming chairman of the House Intelligence Committee -- confirmed that the committee will be examining these and other questions related to Trump's response to the Khashoggi murder and its broader implications." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Another Trump Suck-up Gets a Trump Thumbs-down. Marilyn Haigh of CNBC: "... Donald Trump has expressed dissatisfaction with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, blaming him for the appointment of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Trump, who nominated Powell a year ago to succeed Janet Yellen, has repeatedly criticized the Fed chairman for increasing interest rates. Trump fears rising rates could trigger an economic downturn that would jeopardize his 2020 re-election campaign, the Journal reported.... Trump criticized Mnuchin, pointing to recent stock market volatility.... In meetings with advisors, Trump has also expressed unhappiness with the Treasury Department's lack of support for tariffs against China, the newspaper said.... Later Friday, Trump responded to the report with a tweet criticizing the story and insisting that he supports Mnuchin. 'I am extremely happy and proud of the job being done' by Mnuchin, the president tweeted. 'The FAKE NEWS likes to write stories to the contrary, quoting phony sources or jealous people, but they aren't true. They never like to ask me for a quote b/c it would kill their story.'... The Journal did indeed reach out to the White House for comment.

The Trials of Trump

David Goodman of the New York Times: "A [New York] state judge ruled on Friday that a lawsuit by the New York State attorney general could proceed against President Trump and the Trump Foundation over allegations of misused charitable assets, self-dealing and campaign finance violations during the 2016 presidential campaign. Mr. Trump's lawyers had argued that the court did not have jurisdiction over Mr. Trump, as president, and that the statutes of limitations had expired in the case of some of the actions at issue. They also contended the attorney general's office suffered from a 'pervasive bias' against Mr. Trump. In her 27-page ruling, Justice Saliann Scarpulla [wrote,] 'I find I have jurisdiction over Mr. Trump.'..."

Ewww! Page Six of the New York Post: "The National Enquirer's long-held secrets about Donald Trump may be about to get substantially less secret. Page Six is told that the longtime executive editor of the tabloid, Barry Levine, is penning a book for Hachette about the president. A source says that the book will look into 'Trump and his women,' although other insiders tell us that it could be more wide-ranging, even looking at the formerly cozy relationship between the Enquirer's owner, David Pecker, and Trump. That said, it's unclear exactly what Levine's contract with the Enquirer would allow him to reveal about Pecker. Of course, Pecker has been at the center of an investigation into alleged hush money payouts made to Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels -- who both claim to have had affairs with Trump while he was married to First Lady Melania Trump. In August, Pecker was granted immunity in the probe." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Rosalind Helderman, et al., of the Washington Post: "Conservative writer and conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi is in plea negotiations with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, according to a person with knowledge of the talks. The talks with Corsi -- an associate of both President Trump and GOP operative Roger Stone -- could bring Mueller's team closer to determining whether Trump or his advisers were linked to WikiLeaks' release of hacked Democratic emails in 2016, a key part of his long-running inquiry. Corsi provided research on Democratic figures during the campaign to Stone, a longtime Trump adviser." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Alberto Luperon of Law & Crime has a short take on why Corsi's cooperation would be bad news for Roger Stone & the Trump No-Collusion Team. ...

     ... Both Martin Longman here and Marcy Wheeler here suggest Corsi has a direct line to Trump.

Small Favors. Dahlia Lithwick of Slate: "... after two deeply destabilizing and in fact traumatic years of soaking in the president's ugliness and invective..., there is much to be thankful for this year. Because this year, by dint of miracle or magic or human endeavor, Donald Trump has been reduced to his actual size.... He becomes smaller every single day, and for that, we have America to thank.... Trump ... is sliding further and further off the rails. The tweets are cruder and materially less coherent, and the public performances are more frightening still. The White House staff is in turmoil, and the president seems to have aligned himself with the Saudi murderers of a Washington Post reporter.... As support for the president peels off among members of the military, conservative lawyers, and women, he finds himself ever more shrilly attacking them all. And as the president finds himself shunned and largely ignored internationally, he is left more and more alone to watch television, tweet hectically, and attempt to rewrite his own story to his satisfaction. At least we can, as Matt Yglesias smartly observes, be grateful that he can't manage to be effective and pissed off at the same time." Thanks to PD Pepe for the link.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Trump administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court to allow it to leapfrog federal appeals courts in several cases concerning the president's decision to bar transgender people from serving in the military. Federal district courts have entered injunctions against the new policy, but no appeals court has yet ruled on it. The Supreme Court does not ordinarily intercede until at least one appeals court has considered an issue, and it typically awaits a disagreement among appeals courts before adding a case to its docket.... The Supreme Court's rules say that it will review a federal trial court's ruling before an appeals court has spoken 'only upon a showing that the case is of such imperative public importance as to justify deviation from normal appellate practice and to require immediate determination in this court.'. In a brief filed Friday, [Solicitor General Noel] Francisco said, 'This case satisfies that standard.'" ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Really? You have to let me discriminate against soldiers right this minute? This is so Trumpian, you have to figure the command came from on high. I'm not sure even the Kavanaugh Court will be bullied by a bully who insists he can bully trans servicepeople any more than the New York state courts cowered when that same bully said, "Nah, nah, nah, you can't touch me; I'm president."

DeVos to Strike Again. Laura Meckler of the Washington Post: "Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has led a rescue squad for the nation's for-profit colleges. Step by step, she has dismantled an Obama-era crackdown on the industry, and she plans to deliver a set of regulations next year that many expect to again boost the industry. Critics say these schools, which enroll 2.3 million students and range from small trade schools to large multistate enterprises such as the University of Phoenix, prey on vulnerable students, leaving them with huge debts and questionable credentials.... DeVos's systematic rollback of regulations on these schools reflects the broader Trump administration agenda.... DeVos has long believed the federal government should exercise as little control as possible over the nation's schools, and she has spent a large chunk of her tenure undoing the work of her predecessors."

Lomi Kriel of the Houston Chronicle: There are "a record 14,030 immigrant children in shelters across the country as of Nov. 15, including more than 5,600 in Texas, according to new federal and state statistics released this week. It is almost three times the number of children in federal detention a year ago, and more than during the Central American child crisis in 2014 that marked the beginning of the exodus from the so-called Northern Triangle countries.... The shelters aren't near capacity because more children are arriving. They are instead being detained longer.... Advocates largely fault a new government requirement, implemented this summer, that requires all adults in a household seeking to care for an immigrant child to submit their fingerprints for a background check. That information is shared with the Department of Homeland Security and at least 41 so-called sponsors lacking legal status have been arrested, according to testimony Matthew Albence, acting deputy director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, gave to Congress in September. Previous administrations didn't look into people's immigration status when deciding whether to release children to them." (Also linked yesterday.)

Election 2018. Senator Cindy Still Fighting for Slavery Southern "Heritage." Or Something. Matt Viser of the Washington Post: Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (Rebel-Miss.) has in "several instances ... embrace[d] a pride in the Confederacy and its aftermath.... The U.S. Senate runoff on Tuesday between Hyde-Smith, the appointed Republican incumbent, and Democratic former congressman Mike Espy, who is seeking to become the first African American senator from the state since just after the Civil War, has exploded beyond the boundaries of ideology and politics. The election has turned into a contest pitting the Old South -- marked by pride in the Confederacy and resistance to tearing down monuments commemorating the Civil War -- against the New South, which has sought greater racial harmony, toppled past Confederate icons and taken pride in the surprisingly strong races run this year by several black candidates in the region, even as their contests were marred by racial epithets." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Paul Duggan of the Washington Post: "Fifteen months after an angry demonstration by white supremacists in Charlottesville erupted in deadly mayhem, a self-professed neo-Nazi is set to go on trial Monday, charged with killing a counterprotester and injuring 35 others by intentionally ramming his car into another vehicle on a crowded street. The alleged act of automotive rage by James Alex Fields Jr. on Aug. 12, 2017 -- which climaxed a day of violent clashes involving hundreds of white supremacists and their opponents -- helped make 'Charlottesville' a shorthand term for the emergence of emboldened ethno-fascists in the era of President Trump.... The counterprotester who was killed, Heather D. Heyer, 32, worked for a local law firm and was remembered by friends as a committed advocate of social justice."

Beyond the Beltway

Joel Shannon of USA Today: "A man who formerly worked as a pastor is facing murder, sodomy and kidnapping charges for allegedly attacking three women at a Catholic Supply store in the St. Louis suburb of Ballwin. On Wednesday, St. Louis County authorities charged Thomas Bruce -- 53 of Imperial, Missouri -- in connection with a deadly Monday attack at the religious supply store. Bruce, who had written on social media about his opposition to 'gun-free zones,' allegedly began the attack by retrieving a handgun after shopping in the store. He's accused of forcing three women into a back room at gunpoint. There, he allegedly exposed himself and ordered them to 'perform deviant sexual acts on him,' according to a criminal complaint. When one of the women refused to comply, Bruce allegedly shot her in the head. He allegedly ordered the other women to continue the sexual acts and he later fled the scene."

Way Beyond

Scrooge Lives! Rebecca Mead of the New Yorker: In 2010, Britain's Conservative leadership implemented "a national fiscal policy of austerity ... in response to the financial downturn that began in 2007. Spending on recreation centers, libraries, and services to the elderly and disabled has been dramatically cut back. At the same time, welfare benefits have been restructured.... Last week, a scourging indictment of Britain's austerity policies was issued by Philip Alston, the special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights for the United Nations.... In a lengthy report, Alston notes that the government's claims about the effectiveness of austerity were contradicted by evidence on a wide range of indices. Local authorities have cut spending on services by almost twenty per cent, resulting in the closure of children's centers and youth clubs that might protect vulnerable young people against recruitment into gangs. The rate of homelessness in England has increased sixty per cent since 2010, and the number of rough sleepers has increased a hundred and thirty-four per cent. The proportion of people relying upon food bank has increased dramatically.... Children in the U.K. have been hit especially hard by a policy that limits child-benefit payments to two children per family."