;)
The Commentariat -- February 27, 2018
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Eliana Johnson & Andrew Restuccia of Politico: White House "... Jared Kushner has had his security clearance downgraded -- a move that will prevent him from viewing many of the sensitive documents to which he once had unfettered access. Kushner is not alone. All White House aides working on the highest-level interim clearances -- at the Top Secret/SCI-level -- were informed in a memo sent Friday that their clearances would be downgraded to the Secret level, according to three people with knowledge of the situation."
Captain of your new school safety patrol.An Unregulated Militia. Eric Levitz of New York: "The GOP's plan A was to sit tight until the dead of Parkland got buried by the ever-turning news cycle. But the theater kids of Marjory Stoneman Douglas refused to take thoughts and prayers for an answer. And so, Republicans moved on to plan B: Find a way to 'do something' on gun violence that didn't just leave AR-15 manufacturers and far-right firearms enthusiasts unscathed, but that actually benefited those constituencies. To that end, President Trump called last week for arming America's teachers.... Alas, liberals, teachers -- and every American who can distinguish between reality and Clint Eastwood films -- deemed this proposal insane.... Fortunately, House conservatives took these critiques to heart. And on Monday night, Freedom Caucus chair Mark Meadows floated a compromise ... 'tax credits for volunteers -- like retired law enforcement -- who want to offer security for schools,' [tweeted Tara Golshan]. This proposal ... leaves teachers unarmed, just as liberals requested, while also giving a targeted tax cut to any patriotic American with a gun, too much free time, and a longing to legally pump bullets into another human being -- or, in conservative parlance, to 'a well-regulated militia.'"
Anna Fifield of the Washington Post: "The State Department's point man on North Korea, Joseph Yun, will leave his post on Friday, amid glimmers of hope that Pyongyang might finally be willing to sit down for talks with Washington. Yun, 63, is retiring as special representative for North Korea policy and deputy assistant secretary for Korea and Japan after more than three decades of service. His departure reflects widespread frustration within the State Department at diplomats' relative lack of power in the Trump administration, according to someone familiar with Yun's thinking." Mrs McC: Probably thinks he knows more about North Korea than Ivanka Trump. Also probably has top-secret clearance.
Trump Welcomes Russian Hackers. Zachary Cohen of CNN: "US Cyber Command chief Adm. Mike Rogers told lawmakers on Tuesday that he has not been granted the authority by ... Donald Trump to disrupt Russian election hacking operations where they originate. Asked by Democratic Sen. Jack Reed if he has been directed by the President, through the defense secretary, to confront Russian cyber operators, Rogers said 'no I have not' but noted that he has tried to work within the authority he maintains as a commander.... They [the Russians] have not paid a price that is sufficient to change their behavior.'"
Dan Mangan of CNBC: "... Donald Trump on Tuesday announced the appointment of digital guru Brad Parscale to manage his bid to win re-election to the White House in 2020. Parscale was digital director of Donald Trump's successful campaign for the White House in 2016. He has been called the 'secret weapon' of that campaign." Mrs. McC: Yeah, if Parscale doesn't come under indictment for conspiring with Russians by next year.
Senate Race. To Run or Not to Run. Burgess Everett of Politico: "Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) will not run for reelection after reconsidering his decision last fall to retire, his chief of staff said Tuesday. After listening to some Tennessee Republicans and GOP senators who were privately urging him to run, the two-term senator and Foreign Relations Committee chairman decided that this will be his last year as senator, said Todd Womack, Corker's chief of staff. The move ends a period of intense speculation in Tennessee and Washington about Corker' future and avoids what could have been an ugly primary between Corker and Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn."
INS Can Habeas Your Corpus for as Long as It Wants. Domenico Montanaro & Richard Gonzales of NPR: "The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that immigrants, even those with permanent legal status and asylum seekers, do not have the right to periodic bond hearings. It's a profound loss for those immigrants appealing what are sometimes indefinite detentions by the government. Many are held for long periods of time — on average, 13 months -- after being picked up for things as minor as joyriding. Some are held even longer.... The majority opinion was penned by Justice Alito and joined by the court's conservatives. (Justice Kagan did not participate. She recused herself, stemming from work she had done as President Obama's solicitor general.) The decision reversed a Ninth Circuit ruling and the court remanded it for the Ninth to reconsider the case."
*****
A Hero in His Own Mind. Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Trump asserted Monday that he would have rushed in to save the students and teachers of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School from a gunman with an assault weapon, even if he was unarmed at the time of the massacre.Speaking to a meeting of the country's governors at the White House, Mr. Trump ... said he believed he would have exhibited bravery 'even if I didn't have a weapon, and I think most of the people in this room would have done that, too.'... Mr. Trump continued to grapple publicly with how best to respond to the mass shooting in Parkland, Fla., discussing such things as arming teachers and reopening mental institutions.... He mused about the 'old days,' when potential criminals could be locked in mental hospitals; he clashed with Washington State's Democratic governor about the benefits of giving guns to some teachers; and he vowed to ban 'bump stocks,' an accessory that can make a semiautomatic weapon fire rapidly, more like an automatic rifle. The president dropped any mention of raising the age required to purchase a rifle to 21 from 18, something he said last week he supported. Mr. Trump said he had lunch on Sunday with the leaders of the National Rifle Association, which vigorously opposes raising the age limit for rifles." ...
... Eli Rosenberg of the Washington Post looks at how Trump deals with possible danger to himself and/or to others nearby.
... AND as Lawrence O'Donnell pointed out last night, even though Trump claims he would risk almost-certain death to protect other people's children from organ-shattering gunfire, he won't even protect his own son (or wife, who was following Barron) from rain:
Most selfish man in the world hogs umbrella.... Callum Borchers of the Washington Post: "What we're seeing here is a White House presenting excuses, in advance, for Trump to reverse himself on increasing the age limit for purchases of assault rifles. The future spin is easy to see coming. The White House is setting itself up to say that the president supported the concept of a higher age limit but ultimately rejected a concrete proposal because of the way the change would have been implemented." Borchers lays out how Trump & Mrs. Huckleberry have set the tone for the slide into the NRA's arms. ...
... Emma González, a Douglas High student, in Harper's Bazaar: "... if I'm able to communicate one thing to adults, it would be this: it should not be easier to purchase a gun than it is to obtain a driver's license, and military-grade weapons should not be accessible in civilian settings. You don't drive a NASCAR on the street, no matter how fun it might be, just like you don't need an AR-15 to protect yourself when walking home at night." Thanks to unwashed for the link. ...
... Burgess Everett of Politico: "The Senate stumbled out of the gate Monday in its efforts to enact eve modest gun legislation, raising doubts about whether Congress can do anything in the wake of this month's massacre at a Florida high school. Senate Republicans, backed by the National Rifle Association and ... Donald Trump, are pressing to quickly pass a narrow bill aimed at improving records and information-sharing in the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System [called Fix NICS].... Senate Democrats say the Fix NICS bill falls far short of the action that Capitol Hill should take in an era of increasingly frequent mass shootings.... [MEANWHILE.] The House passed a bill in December that included [Fix NICS] language but paired it with provisions allowing people with concealed-carry weapons permits to take their firearm across state lines. Multiple sources told Politico that House leadership promised conservatives that they would not decouple the two issues." ...
... Greg Bluestein of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "The Georgia Senate vowed to block a lucrative tax break bill on Monday that would benefit Delta Air Lines after the Atlanta-based company severed ties with the National Rifle Association. Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle said he would not support tax legislation that helped the airline 'unless the company changes its position and fully reinstates its relationship with the NRA.' He echoed a growing number of conservatives who opposed the measure over the weekend." ...
... Josh Feldman of Mediaite: "FedEx put out a statement this afternoon saying they will not be cutting ties to the NRA[.]" ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: The FedEx man comes to my house fairly often. I'd like to figure out a way to get vendors to use other carriers. If I'm expecting a package, I'll ask the sender not to use FedEx. Any other ideas?
AP: "The Trump Organization said Monday it has made good on the president's promise to donate profits from foreign government spending at its hotels to the U.S. Treasury, but neither the company nor the government disclosed the amount or how it was calculated. Watchdog groups seized on the lack of detail as another example of the secrecy surrounding ... Donald Trump's pledges to separate his administration from his business empire."
Jeff Zeleny, et al., of CNN: "... inside the White House, Ivanka Trump's unique stature -- along with that of her husband, Jared Kushner -- is causing tension.... The decision to send her to South Korea did not sit well with some senior officials in the West Wing, two people familiar with the situation told CNN.... The blurred line between staffer and daughter has long irked [John] Kelly.... He often feels that she tries to have it both ways, acting as a senior adviser to the president when it suits her and then as his daughter when it doesn't. Kelly has remarked privately that Ivanka is just 'playing government.'... Ahead of her trip to South Korea, top White House aides went to lengths to insist that Ms. Trump was leading the delegation as an administration official, not as a member of Trump's family.... Despite the trip's official nature, when Ms. Trump was questioned about accusations of sexual misconduct against the President it was her role as his daughter that she leaned on." ...
... "Playing the Daughter Card." Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "NBC News's Peter Alexander asked Ivanka Trump in an interview airing Monday about accusations that her father engaged in multiple affairs a decade ago and that the women were effectively paid to keep quiet.... 'I think it's a pretty inappropriate question to ask a daughter if she believes the accusers of her father when he's affirmatively stated there's no truth to it,' she said.... Trump is asking for special treatment simply by virtue of who she is.... If she were any other presidential adviser, the question would not have seemed out of bounds to anybody.... It's also hugely important to note that the interview was conducted while Ivanka Trump was on official business at the Olympics in South Korea -- during a trip, no less, in which the White House emphasized that she was acting as a diplomat rather than a daughter.... The White House also has been silent on this from the briefing room podium.... The president has also been unusually silent about this whole thing. Despite calling women who accused him of sexual harassment liars' in the past, Trump has been quieter about allegations from [porn actor Stormy] Daniels and Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Jamelle Bouie of Slate: "'I;m going to be a daughter,' Ivanka Trump said in an interview just after the election. Now, the presidents oldest daughter receives sensitive intelligence information without a proper security clearance and does work that is typically the province of experienced officials.... Either Trump is a representative of the White House, and thus should expect to be asked difficult questions about the president she serves, or she's simply a relative of the president with no particular obligation to the public, in which case, she ought to resign her position in the administration." Mrs. McC: Bouie makes another important point: previous presidents have engaged in nepotism, but -- unlike Ivanka -- the family members they appointed had relevant experience for the jobs they assumed. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Let's back up a bit: John Kelly thinks Ivanka Trump is just "playing government"? WTF does Kelly think Donald Trump is doing? He spends much of his time watching teevee shows about himself, he doesn't read his daily briefing or anything else, he knows almost nothing about policy & he is unwilling to learn, he changes the "game" from day-to-day, he approaches international crises as teevee-show cliffhangers, where he foreshadows nuclear war with "we'll see" remarks & flat-out threats of "fire & fury," he shows up mostly for public events where he is likely to receive adulation or at least polite compliments, he goes on vacation almost every weekend, & he lies to the public several times a day in furtherance of making himself seem more presidenty. Isn't that "playing president" -- even though he's a really bad actor plopped center-stage with no script & no familiarity with the character he's supposed to play?
All the Best People, Ctd. Brianna Gurciullo & Tanya Snyder of Politico: "... the notion of Trump's pilot as FAA chief is drawing skepticism from people in the industry, who note that recent leaders of the technocratic, $16 billion-a-year agency have typically been people with long experience either in the government or running large organizations. In contrast, John Dunkin's experience since 1989, according to a Smithsonian documentary, has been working 'on and off' for Trump as his personal pilot. Dunkin is the Trump Organization's director of aviation operations for a fleet that includes a Boeing 757, a Cessna Citation X business jet and three Sikorsky helicopters. 'The only person that thinks it's a good idea, from what I gather, is the president,' said one lobbyist with aviation clients.... Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.), who would take the lead in vetting any FAA nominations, said Monday evening that Dunkin may have a difficult road to confirmation if the White House chooses him." ...
... Rachel Maddow had an excellent segment on Dunkin's "expertise." It's a bit long-winded, comme d'habitude, but worth your time, both for the punchline & for your entertainment (especially if you're drawn to horror stories:
Sad. Ken Vogel & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "... Melania Trump has parted ways with an adviser after news about the adviser's firm reaping $26 million in payments to help plan President Trump's inauguration. Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, who has been friends with Mrs. Trump for years, had been working on a contract basis as an unpaid senior adviser to the office of the first lady.... [Two people] said the move was prompted by displeasure from the Trumps over the news, first reported by The New York Times, [over the news of the payment to Wolkoff's firm.]... Mr. Trump, who is notoriously tight with his money, was also enraged to learn that Ms. Winston Wolkoff brought on a close friend, David Monn, to help plan inaugural events, according to people who spoke to him. Mr. Monn's firm was paid $3.7 million, according to a tax filing by the nonprofit group, the 58th Presidential Inaugural Committee.... Ms. Winston Wolkoff said news coverage of her work was 'completely unfair,' but she did not specify any errors."
Jon Swaine & Ben Jacobs of the Guardian: "A senior career official in the US Department of Housing and Urban Development has alleged that she was demoted and replaced with a Donald Trump appointee after refusing to break the law by funding an expensive redecoration of Ben Carson's office. Helen Foster said she was told '$5,000 will not even buy a decent chair' after informing her bosses this was the legal price limit for improvements to the HUD secretary's suite at the department's Washington headquarters. Foster, 47, claimed that she also faced retaliation for exposing a $10m budget shortfall, and for protesting when she was barred from handling a pair of sensitive freedom of information act (FOIA) requests relating to Trump apparently because she was perceived to be a Democrat. A copy of a complaint letter filed by Foster to a watchdog for federal employees was obtained by the Guardian. It alleges that HUD violated laws protecting whistleblowers from reprisals. Foster is seeking a public apology, compensatory damages and reinstatement as HUD's chief administrative officer."
This Russia Thing
Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "Hope Hicks, one of President Trump's closest aides and advisers, is scheduled to speak behind closed doors Tuesday with the House Intelligence Committee in a meeting lawmakers fear could deepen their standoff with the White House over witnesses refusing to answer questions. Rep. K. Michael Conaway (R-Texas), who is running the panel's Russia investigation, said in an interview Monday that he 'would not be surprised' if Hicks followed the example of other close Trump aides and advisers who have simply refused to answer certain questions, arguing that the president might want to invoke executive privilege at some point in the future." ...
... Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "According to [Adam] Schiff's memo, when the Justice Department sought a warrant to surveil [Carter] Page in 2016, it presented the court with contextual information about Russian election interference. The court was told that Russian agents 'previewed their hack and dissemination of stolen emails' to George Papadopoulos, another Trump foreign policy adviser.... This is the first public confirmation that Papadopoulos had advance notice of a Russian plan to release these emails.... None of last week's new information proves that Trump is too disloyal to his own country to be president. But the only alternative is that he's too clueless." ...
... ** Elizabeth Drew in the New Republic: "Trump wasn't looking like a future president at the time that [Paul] Manafort signed up. So, what made Manafort think that Trump had a chance to win the nomination, much less the presidency?... Did he perhaps have information that the public didn't know about?... The assurances by many, in and out of the government, that Russia's efforts didn't change the outcome in 2016 are based on air. There's no knowing the answer to this.... If Trump is innocent of any involvement with Russia's activities he certainly hasn't acted like it.... It has been reported that the FBI is investigating whether Russia funneled money to the Trump campaign through the NRA.... [According to CNBC,] 'Recent reports have shown that money continues to move into Trump-branded properties from obscured sources like anonymous LLCs and shell companies. CNBC's report went on to say, 'One such report found that since Trump secured the Republican nomination in 2016, the fraction of anonymous purchases of his properties through shell companies has "skyrocketed" from 4 to 70 percent.'" Mrs. McC: I've barely scratched the surface of Drew's essay. Read it for the full effect.
Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "With lawmakers poised next month to approve new priorities for agency funding for the first time since the president took office, the bureaucratic bloodletting can officially begin.... Dozens of long-standing programs are slated for termination, and every agency, large and small, has submitted a plan to the White House for reorganization.... Until now, the administration has been largely prevented from making such moves because the government has been operating under a series of continuing budget resolutions. Those generally require agencies to maintain funding for existing programs.... The ground is about to shift, however.... Former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), who met with House Republicans this month to discuss the restructuring efforts, said in an interview that he believes President Trump and his allies in Congress are prepared to fundamentally change the way government operates." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Nothing good can come of anything Newt touches. Why isn't he in Rome? Please, Francis, make him a cardinal or something & give him a full-time job in the basement of the Vatican library.
Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "A group of mostly young veterans of the Barack Obama administration and the Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign is launching a national security political strike force aimed at countering Trump and Republicans.... Called 'National Security Action,' the group is more expressly political than many Democratic-leaning think tanks and policy shops, but it will not endorse candidates or make political donations, [Ben] Rhodes and others said. The idea is to give Democratic candidates, lawmakers and policy organizations opposing Trump a foreign policy tool kit -- everything from talking points to legal and policy expertise to campaign surrogates -- said Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser for [President] Obama."
Senate Races
Benjamin Hart of New York: "... Mitt Romney seemingly has a clear path to becoming Utah's next senator. But a hard-right faction within the state's Republican Party has taken a drastic step that could derail him. Over the weekend, the faction passed a bylaw that allows Utah Republicans to expel any candidate that qualifies for the ballot via signatures -- the route Romney plans to take. Utahpolicy.com reports that Utah Republican Party chairman Rob Anderson, a relative moderate, is attempting to fend off repeated challenges to his leadership by a group of aggressive right-wingers in the party's Central Committee.... And, the new bylaw says, if a candidate does follow that route to the ballot, they 'immediately' lose their membership. Romney wouldn't be the only Republican affected by this drastic measure; 56 other GOP candidates in the state, including the sitting Senate president, have also announced their intention to gather signatures." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: "The devastating explosion in the Upper Big Branch coal mine killed 29 men in 2010 and scarred West Virginia like few events in modern memory. Don Blankenship, the head of the mining company, went to prison over it. Yet when Mr. Blankenship emerged last year from his one-year sentence for conspiracy to violate mine safety laws, rather than express remorse or contrition over the tragedy, he announced a run for the United States Senate, in a state where coal has been as much a cultural identity as an economic one.... He brazenly calls himself a former 'political prisoner.'... Dianne Dewey White, chairwoman of the Republican Party of Logan County, said thousands of miners who once looked to Mr. Blankenship for work are likely to support him now.... As West Virginia has become a deep-red state, the sympathies of many mine families have shifted from unions to mine operators, who are portrayed as job creators." The winner of the GOP primary will face Democratic Senator Joe Manchin.
Adam Liptak & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Monday declined an unusual White House request that it immediately decide whether the Trump administration can shut down a program that shields some 700,000 young undocumented immigrants from deportation. The move meant that the immigrants, often called 'Dreamers,' could remain in legal limbo for many months unless Congress acts to make their status permanent. The Supreme Court's decision not to hear the administration's appeal was expected, as no appeals court has yet ruled on the issue. The court's order was brief, gave no reasons and noted no dissents. It said it expected the appeals court to 'proceed expeditiously to decide this case.'" (This is an update of a story linked late yesterday morning.)
Benjamin Weiser & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "A federal appeals court in Manhattan ruled on Monday that federal civil rights law bars employers from discriminating based on sexual orientation. The case, which stemmed from the 2010 dismissal of a Long Island sky-diving instructor, was a setback for the Trump Justice Department, whose lawyers found themselves in the unusual position of arguing against government lawyers from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The E.E.O.C. had argued that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which bars workplace discrimination based on 'race, color, religion, sex or national origin,' protected gay employees from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. But the Trump Justice Department took the position that the law did not reach sexual orientation, and said the E.E.O.C. was 'not speaking for the United States.' The Justice Department and Altitude Express, the instructor's employer, could seek review of the decision by the United States Supreme Court, although neither party had any immediate comment on the ruling." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Kind of amazing what a retrograde bozo JeffBo is & how far he will push it. Let's hope this ruling is the end of the discussion.
Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "Conservative and liberal justices on Monday appeared to have hardened their views since the last time the Supreme Court considered a case that public-employee unions say poses an existential threat to organized labor. In an hour-long, often caustic oral argument, the justices largely echoed their stances from two years ago, when a shorthanded court split, 4 to 4, on whether it is unconstitutional to require government workers to pay a fee to unions representing them even when they choose not to join. But the justice likely to break the tie -- rookie Neil M. Gorsuch, who in his short time on the court has consistently sided with conservatives -- said nothing Monday to hint at his leanings in a similar case. What Gorsuch decides will have major implications for the future of organized labor, which has become a pillar of Democratic Party politics, and for millions of workers in the nearly half of the states that require payments from nonmembers to cover the cost of collective bargaining." Mrs. McC: I'm not the Oracle of Delphi, but I think I can predict what Gorsuch will decide.
Effects of the Tax Heist. Matt Phillips of the New York Times: "At a news conference Thursday, the head of the White House's Council of Economic Advisers, Kevin Hassett, acknowledged that many companies were spending their money on buying their own shares.... In 2005..., a one-time tax holiday allowed companies to repatriate money on the cheap. That plan, championed by President George W. Bush, was sold as a way to get American companies to invest more in the domestic economy. Some $300 billion came back to the United States that year. But economists estimated that as much as 92 percent of it may have been paid out to companies' shareholders -- mostly in the form of buybacks. Studies have shown that the tax change lifted companies' stock prices but did not expand their American work forces.... The vast majority of the billions of dollars in planned share purchases [now] will benefit the richest 10 percent of American households, who own 84 percent of all stocks. The top 1 percent of households own about 40 percent of all stocks."
Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. Lee Fang & Nick Surgey of the Intercept: "In the backdrop of a chaotic first year of Donald Trump's presidency, the conservative Koch brothers have won victory after victory in their bid to reshape American government to their interests. Documents obtained by The Intercept and Documented show that the network of wealthy donors led by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch have taken credit for a laundry list of policy achievements extracted from the Trump administration and their allies in Congress. The donors have pumped campaign contributions not only to GOP lawmakers, but also to an array of third-party organizations that have pressured officials to act swiftly to roll back limits on pollution, approve new pipeline projects, and extend the largest set of upper-income tax breaks in generations." See also Juan Cole's article in truthdig on our super-corrupt government, linked yesterday. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Paul Krugman: "A funny thing is happening on the American scene: a powerful upwelling of decency. Suddenly, it seems as if the worst lack all conviction, while the best are filled with a passionate intensity. We don't yet know whether this will translate into political change. But we may be in the midst of a transformative moment. You can see the abrupt turn toward decency in the rise of the #MeToo movement.... You can see it in the reactions to the Parkland school massacre.... And I'd argue that you can see it at the ballot box, where hard-right politicians in usually reliable Republican districts keep being defeated thanks to surging activism by ordinary citizens." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: We're also seeing from Democrats & liberals a bit more organizing for action than we've seen in the past. Witness the organization Ben Rhodes & others are putting together to help clueless Democratic candidates negotiate foreign policy issues (story linked above) & Eric Holder's group's challenge of autocrat Gov. Scott Walker's refusal to hold elections for open state legislature seats in Wisconsin (linked below).
Jason Samenow of the Washington Post: "The sun won't rise at the North Pole until March 20, and it's normally close to the coldest time of year, but an extraordinary and possibly historic thaw swelled over the tip of the planet this weekend. Analyses show that the temperature warmed to the melting point as an enormous storm pumped an intense pulse of heat through the Greenland Sea. Temperatures may have soared as high as 35 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) at the pole, according to the U.S. Global Forecast System model.... The temperature averaged for the entire region north of 80 degrees latitude spiked to its highest level ever recorded in February. The average temperature was more than 36 degrees (20 degrees Celsius) above normal.... Scientists were shocked in recent days to discover open water north of Greenland, an area normally covered by old, very thick ice."
Beyond the Beltway
Ari Berman of Mother Jones: "In January, Democrat Patty Schachtner won a shocking upset, winning a special election for a Wisconsin State Senate seat by 11 points. The district had been in Republican hands since 2000, and was carried by Donald Trump by 17 points in 2016. There are currently two more vacancies in Wisconsin's state legislature, created after a Republican state senator and representative both left to take jobs in Governor Scott Walker's administration in December. But Walker has so far refused to schedule special elections to fill those seats, claiming that balloting would be a waste of money, since the legislature is set to adjourn in May. Instead, the governor announced plans to pick the district's new legislators during November 2018's general election, and seat them in January 2019. On Monday afternoon, a Democratic group led by former Attorney General Eric Holder sued Walker in a Wisconsin court on behalf of voters in the two vacant districts, arguing the governor's decision would deny them representation for over a year. The motion cites the Wisconsin Constitution's language saying legislative vacancies 'shall be filled as promptly as possible by special election.' The complaint alleges 'Governor Walker has repeatedly publicly stated that he will not do so,' and seeks to force earlier elections." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: The suit would seem to be a slam-dunk for the Democrats, but as I recall, the Wisconsin state supreme court is highly corrupt.
Way Beyond
Luke Harding of the Guardian: "A Danish bank accused of money laundering shut down Russian accounts after concluding that they were being used to funnel cash through British companies by members of Vladimir Putin's family and the FSB spy agency, according to leaked reports. Danske, Denmark's biggest bank, closed 20 Russian customer accounts in 2013 following a whistleblower report alleging that its Estonian branch was involved in suspicious and possibly illegal activity. Last September it emerged that the same branch was at the centre of a secret lobbying operation in which some $2.9bn (£2.2bn) of mostly Azerbaijani money was channelled through opaque British companies." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: My suspicion is that one of the "opaque U.S. companies" through which Putin & his allies have been channelling money is called the "Trump Organization." Maybe Robert Mueller knows that; it's highly likely that Vladimir Putin knows. See Elizabeth Drew's article, linked above, for instance.
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