;)
The Commentariat -- February 7, 2018
Afternoon Update:
Maggie Haberman & Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "Rob Porter, the White House staff secretary, said Wednesday that he would resign his position, a day after a news account that quoted his two ex-wives accusing him of physical abuse during the course of their marriages. 'These outrageous allegations are simply false,' Mr. Porter said in a statement. Mr. Porter's ex-wives, Colbie Holderness and Jennifer Willoughby, both went public in The Daily Mail with accounts of what they described as physically and emotionally abusive behavior."
Richard Fausset of the New York Times: "... scandal has threatened to dim one of the Democratic Party's brightest Southern stars[: Mayor Megan Barry of Nashville, Tenn]. And though many residents of Nashville, a bastion of social liberalism in a deeply conservative state, have been willing to dismiss with a kind of Gallic shrug her admission of a monthslong extramarital affair with the police officer leading her security detail, other aspects of the episode are mounting, leading some here to wonder how long she can hang on.... [Over & above trips the couple took together at taxpayer expense,] this week, The Tennessean also reported that Ms. Barry had recommended Mr. Forrest's adult daughter, Macy Amos, for an entry-level job that Ms. Amos later landed in the city law department."
Thomas Kaplan of the New York Times: "Senate leaders, disregarding President Trump's threats to shut down the government, neared a far-reaching agreement on Wednesday to set spending levels on military and domestic spending for the next two years, breaking the cycleof fiscal crises that have bedeviled the Capitol since last summer. The accord was expected to also include disaster relief for areas hit by last year's hurricanes and wildfires. Nevertheless, it sparked immediate opposition from the leader of House Democrats, Representative Nancy Pelosi, who said she could not agree to any budget deal that was not accompanied by a promised debate over legislation to protect the fate of young immigrants brought to the country illegally as children, known as Dreamers.... 'Without a commitment from Speaker Ryan comparable to the commitment from Leader McConnell, this package does not have my support.' She was referring to a promise by Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, to begin debate on immigration soon, a commitment not matched by Speaker Paul D. Ryan." ...
... NEW LEDE: "Senate leaders, disregarding President Trump's threats to shut down the government, struck a far-reaching agreement on Wednesday that would add hundreds of billions of dollars to military and domestic programs over the next two years, breaking the cycle of fiscal crises that have bedeviled the Capitol since last summer." ...
... The Whacko in the White House, Ctd. Mark Landler of the New York Times: "A week ago, President Trump stood before Congress as an improbable unifier. 'Tonight,' he declared, 'I call upon all of us to set aside our differences, to seek out common ground and to summon the unity we need to deliver for the people.' This week, Mr. Trump is back to being a disrupter. After accusing Democrats of being un-American and even treasonous for refusing to applaud during his State of the Union speech, he said on Tuesday that he would welcome a government shutdown if he cannot reach a spending deal with Congress that tightens immigration laws. A week ago, Mr. Trump called for a grnd compromise with Democrats on the legal status of the undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers -- a deal, he said, 'where nobody gets everything they want, but where our country gets the critical reforms it needs.'... On Tuesday, his chief of staff, John F. Kelly, said that many Dreamers failed to register for protected status with the government because they were 'were too afraid to sign up' or were 'too lazy to get off their asses.' He said he doubted Mr. Trump would extend the March 5 deadline that shields them from deportation."
Greg Sargent: "No, Trump has not been 'contained.'... Trump's ongoing assaults on law enforcement, and his active encouraging of outside allied efforts such as the Nunes memo, are currently doing untold damage.... Republicans have either gone along with, or actively participated in, efforts by Trump and his allies to prepare a large swath of the country to dismiss the legitimacy of any outcome [of the Mueller investigation] in which serious wrongdoing is discovered and accountability is meted out in kind.... The only way to mitigate this is for Democrats to take back the House and demonstrate to the country what functional oversight, undertaken in good faith, really looks like."
Frank Rich: "... the immediate goal in this anti-law enforcement jihad, led by the White House and abetted by congressional stooges like Devin Nunes and Paul Ryan, is to discredit the Mueller investigation before it nails Donald Trump. But to say this cultural shift is a sudden metamorphosis for the GOP, brought on by Trump's supposed hijacking of the party, is revisionist history. Trump pushed an open door. His assault on Justice and the FBI is merely heightening and exploiting the dangerous anti-government toxins that GOP leaders humored in the Republican base well before he arrived -- much as his administration's overt white supremacism and xenophobia is the apotheosis of a racist Republican strain dating back to Barry Goldwater's opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Richard Nixon's Southern Strategy.... The GOP retreated from tacit tolerance of the crazies in their ranks only after Timothy McVeigh's bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995, leaving 168 dead. But only temporarily."
The Emperor Has No Hair. Jonathan Chait: "... it may seem cheap and low to mock Trump's absurd efforts to conceal his hair loss. But Trump is a man obsessed with image in ways that go beyond the normal human concern with looking presentable. Image is Trump's moral code. He dismisses his political rivals for being short. He sees his succession of wives as visual testament to his own status. He selects his Cabinet on the basis of their looking the part. He conscripts the military as a prop to bathe himself in an aura of presidential grandeur." ...
... Unlike Vladimir Putin, our president* is not immortal.
Preaching to the Choir. Brian Stelter of CNN: Devin "Nunes is telling people to stay tuned, promising more revelations to come -- but he's really only speaking to Trump's base. He has declined non-Fox interview requests and avoided opportunities to speak with the Capitol Hill press corps."
Jeanne Sahadi of CNN: "Trillion-dollar-plus deficits were the hallmark of the financial and economic crisis a decade ago. Now they'll be making a comeback -- this time during a very healthy economy -- and years sooner than expected."
*****
The Useless Idiot. Thomas Kaplan & Mark Landler of the New York Times: "President Trump on Tuesday called for shutting down the government if Congress does not crack down on illegal immigration, even as congressional leaders were closing in on a major budget deal to help ensure the government remains funded into 2019. 'I'd love to see a shut down if we can't get this stuff taken care of,' Mr. Trump said at a meeting with lawmakers and law-enforcement officials to discuss gang-related violence. 'If we have to shut it down because the Democrats don't want safety,' he added, 'then shut it down.' Mr. Trump's comments, though combative, had little to do with the delicate negotiations on Capitol Hill to keep the government open past Thursday, a fact that appeared to elude Mr. Trump. Congressional leaders from both parties were nearing a deal to raise statutory spending caps on military and nonmilitary spending for the current fiscal year and the next one. That agreement could ease the way to passing a temporary spending measure before the government is set to shut down on Friday. A deal on the spending caps would also clear a path for Congress, in the weeks ahead, to fund the government until the fall -- sparing the country of the fiscal showdowns that continuously bedevil the government." Emphasis added. ...
... Jacqueline Thomsen of the Hill: "Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) criticized President Trump to his face on Tuesday for saying he would 'love to see a shutdown' during a meeting with lawmakers and administration officials. 'We don't need a government shutdown on this,' Comstock said during the White House meeting with Trump, according to a pool report. But Trump interrupted her and doubled down on his willingness to have another shutdown over the immigration battle. 'You can say what you want; we are not getting support of the Democrats,' Trump said." ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: "But Trump interrupted her...." Well, of course he did. Comstock is a girl, & girls have no business disagreeing with real men. Not only that, she was suggesting compromise, which real men don't do. Plus which, Comstock is part of the committee trying to reform the way the House shoves sexual harassment complaints under the table. And worstest of all, she was one of three dozen high-profile Republicans who said they would no longer support candidate Trump after the WashPo released the "Access Hollywood" tape. ...
... Kelsey Snell & Tamara Keith of NPR: "The House passed a bill Tuesday evening to avert a government shutdown on Thursday, as Senate leaders still hope to clear the way for years of budget harmony this week with a long-term spending agreement. But as Congress worked on keeping things running, President Trump made a fresh call to shut down the government over immigration. Trump made the comments during a roundtable briefing at the White House on threats from the MS-13 criminal gang. He appeared to endorse shutting down the government if Democrats do not agree to increases in military spending and funding for a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. 'I'd love to see a shutdown if we don't get this taken care of,' Trump said. 'We need to strengthen our borders, not by a little bit but by a lot.'" ...
... Erica Werner & Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: "White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly said Tuesday that President Trump is not expected to extend a March 5 deadline for when legal protection and work permits begin to expire for young immigrants known as 'dreamers' -- raising the stakes for lawmakers struggling to reach a solution.... Kelly's comments come as lawmakers are trying to craft a plan to grant permanent legal protections to dreamers and resolve other aspects of the immigration system. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Tuesday that a debate on immigration policy will begin once a new short-term spending agreement is passed this week.... Any immigration legislation will require the support of at least 60 senators to clear procedural hurdles and earn final passage -- putting a premium on bipartisan ideas that can prevail in the closely divided chamber." Mrs. McC: A number of Kelly's remarks were, um, nasty & untruthful. No surprise. ...
... Like This. There are 690,000 official DACA registrants, and the president sent over what amounts to be two and a half times that number, to 1.8 million. The difference between [690,000] and 1.8 million were the people that some would say were too afraid to sign up, others would say were too lazy to get off their asses.... -- John Kelly, in remarks to reporters yesterday (emphasis added) ...
... Charles Pierce: "There's a lot of the old ethnic Boston in this guy. That is not a compliment." ...
... Noah Lanard of Mother Jones: "Immigration experts cite a number of reasons why some Dreamers didn't apply for DACA before the Trump administration closed the application process last year. These include fear of telling the government they were undocumented, better options for obtaining legal status, and failure to meet the Obama administration's requirements.... Kelly's claim incorrectly implies that more than 1 million eligible Dreamers have not applied for DACA. The Migration Policy Institute estimates that 1.3 million people are eligible for DACA. Capps says more than 900,000 have applied -- meaning that the application rate is about 68 percent. He adds that the 1.3 million estimate includes people who are not eligible for DACA because of criminal convictions, so the actual application rate among eligible Dreamers is likely higher.... Donald Trump has told DACA recipients who are now losing protections 'not to worry.' Kelly repeated on Tuesday that Dreamers 'are not a priority for deportation.' Despite those assurances, former DACA recipients have already been detained. Thomas Homan, the acting director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said last week that his agency will detain any person who is in the country illegally." ...
... Also, Too. Gideon Resnick of the Daily Beast: "The fee to apply for and renew DACA is almost $500, a steep cost for an individual who might be already attending university." ...
... The Bad Sport. Amy Sorkin of the New Yorker: "Before the Super Bowl this year, Trump tweeted out demands for standing during the anthem; the players did stand, for reasons of their own, leaving him with no one, immediately, to berate.... It took him until Tuesday morning to find his true, bitter post-Super Bowl voice. The subject was ... the deaths, in the early-morning hours on Sunday, of Edwin Jackson, a linebacker for the Indianapolis Colts, and Jeffrey Monroe, a driver for a ride-hailing app.... They were struck and killed by a driver whose alcohol level ... was about three times the legal limit.... On Monday, the Indiana State Police announced that [the drunk driver's] real name was Manuel Orrego-Savala, that he was a Guatemalan who had been deported from the United States twice, and that he appeared to be in the country illegally.The President responded, 'So disgraceful that a person illegally in our country killed @Colts linebacker Edwin Jackson. This is just one of many such preventable tragedies. We must get the Dems to get tough on the Border, and with illegal immigration, FAST!'" He went on to morph this into an argument against "chain migration." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: The odds are that numerous other innocent people were killed this past weekend by documented American alcohol-impaired drivers. According to a CDC report (updated June 2017), "Every day, 28 people in the United States die in motor vehicle crashes that involve an alcohol-impaired driver. This is one death every 51 minutes." Statistically speaking, Trump should be expressing his hatred for all Americans. Yet Trump uses these two deaths to promote his racist, xenophobic political aims. ...
... Trump Has Great News for His White Supremacist Friends (Like Kelly)! Jeff Stein & Andrew Van Dam of the Washington Post: "President Trump's proposal to cut legal immigration rates would delay the date that white Americans become a minority of the population by as few as one or as many as five additional years, according to an analysis by The Washington Post. The plan, released by the White House last month, would scale back a program that allows people residing in the United States to sponsor family members living abroad for green cards, and would eliminate the 'diversity visa program' that benefits immigrants in countries with historically low levels of migration to the United States. Together, the changes would disproportionately affect immigrants from Latin America and Africa.... But by reducing the country's overall population, the plan could eventually reduce the overall growth rate of the U.S. economy. Under Trump's plan, the U.S. economy could be more than $1 trillion smaller than it would have been two decades from now. That's largely because the economy would have fewer workers."
Your Gossip Break. Gabriel Sherman of Vanity Fair: "After the much-hyped Nunes memo failed to deliver the narrative reset that the White House hoped for, Donald Trump is discussing a shake-up to his West Wing, three sources familiar with the president's thinking told me. These people say the president is increasingly frustrated that members of his administration aren't going to war for him, and he's being encouraged by his daughter Ivanka to bring in new blood.... Trump has recently told advisers he wants a 'killer' to steer the White House's response to Robert Mueller's investigation and craft a midterm election message for him to stump on this fall.... The president's top choice for the strategist position is Jason Miller, who served as communications director for Trump's presidential campaign.... Trump had wanted Miller to join the administration during the transition, but Miller withdrew after it was revealed he had an extramarital affair during the campaign with former Trump aide A.J. Delgado.... Trump has publicly clashed with Chief of Staff John Kelly after Kelly took a more active role in White House policymaking and messaging."
Generalissimo Trumpo. Greg Jaffe & Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "President Trump's vision of soldiers marching and tanks rolling down the boulevards of Washington is moving closer to reality in the Pentagon and White House, where officials say they have begun to plan a grand military parade later this year showcasing the might of America's armed forces. Trump has long mused publicly and privately about wanting such a parade, but a Jan. 18 meeting between Trump and top generals in the Pentagon's tank -- a room reserved for top secret discussions -- marked a tipping point, according to two officials briefed on the planning. Surrounded by the military's highest ranking officials, including Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joe Dunford, Trump's seemingly abstract desire for a parade was suddenly heard as a presidential directive, the officials said. 'The marching orders were: I want a parade like the one in France,' said a military official.... 'This is being worked at the highest levels of the military.'" ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: All that pomp & circumstance should show Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) that Trumpo is no "Cadet Bone Spurs." Even Bob Mueller (who, incidentally, is an actual, much-decorated military hero) will know who's boss & drop this witch hunt thing. This is so-o-o-o-o ridiculous. ...
... Jaffe & Rucker claim last year's Bastille Day Parade was Trump's inspiration, but maybe not ...
... digby: "Remember this has nothing to do with his trip to France. He wanted it for the inauguration. ...
... Steve M. doesn't think the TrumParade is a big deal: "... he'll just spend hundreds of millions of dollars to ship weaponry to the streets of D.C. because he's an overgrown eleven-year-old boy still mentally living in the 1950s, and also because he's a crushingly insecure plutocrat who needs a steady succession of gaudy displays in order to feel that he's adequately demonstrating his own greatness to the world. This parade won't be part of a grand plan to crush democracy in America.... This will just be a pointless moment of excess, with Trump using weapons the way, in his hotels, he uses gilt." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Say, maybe the whole parade thing is a plot by "his generals" to keep Trump busy with something less alarming than fiddling with the buttons on the nuclear football. As Elliot Hannon of Slate points out, "Under normal circumstances, this doesn't seem like something that would rise to the level of the president, but Trump needs projects to keep him occupied." He could spend hours & hours picking out all the participants & tanks & bands & all. Like "House of Cards"' Frank Underwood with his toy soldiers. But BIGGER!
John McWhorter, in a New York Times op-ed, claims that the decline in quality of Trump's speech is not a sign of dementia but of settling into his comfort zone. He no longer feels a need to present himself in the trappings of "quietly composed phrasing," as he did as a young man. Or something like that. "Since he is someone who neither reads nor reflects, his linguistic comfort zone has always been the unadorned." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: So I suppose Trump's current "comfort zone" makes it okay for him to accuse half the Congress, and frankly, half the country, of treason. Very presidential. Oh wait. Apparently I have no sense of humor:
... Dan Merica & Jim Acosta of CNN: Sarah Sanders said "Donald Trump was 'clearly joking' Monday when he accused stone-faced Democrats of treason for not standing and applauding during his State of the Union address, according to multiple White House spokespeople. 'He was making the point that even when good things are happening they are still sitting there angry,' she said." Hilarious.
This Russia Thing
... Tal Kopan of CNN: "Chief of staff John Kelly said the White House is reviewing a Democratic memo on the investigation into a Trump campaign associate and he has ordered authorities to give their recommendations on how to handle it by Thursday, after which the President will make his final decision on whether to release the memo and whether to redact it. Kelly said the memo came in late Monday night and on Tuesday, he and White House counsel Donald McGahn met with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein for a 'great conversation.' He said the White House was not leaning any way on the memo.... 'But at the end of it all, it'll be guys like Rod Rosenstein, Chris Wray from FBI, certainly the national security attorneys at the White House giving the President a recommendation on that,' [Kelly said.]" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Wow, that's funny -- because Trump ignored the recommendation by Rosenstein & Wray when it came to the Nunes memo. Rather, he released the memo, without redactions, over their objections. Whaddaya bet Rosenstein & Wray take the same position on the Democrats' memo, especially because it's probably accurate. ...
... Matt Ford of the New Republic: Whatever Trump decides, the Democrats have trapped him. Mrs. McC: Unless, of course, Trump releases the unredacted Democratic memo & it "totally vindicates 'Trump,'" as did, according to "Trump," the Nunes memo.
**Tom Hamburger & Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post have quite a compelling report on Christopher Steele & how he sounded the alarm to U.S. intelligence officials (& to Sen. John McCain) about Donald Trump's dangerous interactions with the Kremlin & Russian financial interests. Here's how the report ends: "... in September..., Steele spent two days behind closed doors, talking to Mueller's investigators." ...
... The Collaborators. Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "Two leading Senate Republicans released a document late Tuesday that they said bolstered Republican allegations that the Justice Department relied heavily on a politically tainted dossier in seeking permission from a secret federal court to eavesdrop on a former Trump campaign aide. The document, a letter sent last month to the F.B.I. and Justice Department by Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, quoted from Justice Department requests to the court to spy in late 2016 and last year on the former aide, Carter Page.... The letter said the Justice Department's initial application to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to spy on Mr. Page, filed in October 2016 after he had left the Trump campaign, 'appears to contain no additional information corroborating the dossier allegations' posed by Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence agent who had been working with a research firm paid by the Democrats." ...
... Here's Chuck & Lindsey's excellent memo (redacted pdf), which criminally refers Christopher Steele to the DOJ. It's practically 8 pages long (AND has small-font footnotes!), so you'll probably need the rest of the day to read it. Maybe Chuck & Lindsey can brief you with pictures of Christopher Steele in a trenchcoat, Michael Isikoff carrying a pencil & notepad & wearing a porkpie hat with a "PRESS" card tucked into the ribbon, & mean Hillary in a pantsuit. Or a sock puppet presentation could help. (Have Trump's briefers thought of sock puppets?) The memo alleges Steele lied to the FBI about talking to the press but later, in a British court case, admitted having done so. As Hamburger & Helderman report, Steele went into hiding after the dossier became public. No wonder. He had Chuck & Lindsey, among many others, on his case. ...
... In a podcast, Mike Isikoff discusses his September 2016 meeting with Steele & Glenn Simpson of Fusion GPS.
Sessions Kisses up. Maegan Vazquez of CNN: "Attorney General Jeff Sessions says he believes the FBI needs a 'fresh start' following FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe's decision to step down.'Well, I have believed it was important to have a fresh start at the FBI, and actually, it was in my letter to the President when I recommended (former FBI Director James) Comey's removal. I used the words, "fresh start," and the FBI director is Chris Wray, a very talented, smart, capable leader," Sessions told the Washington Examiner on the day McCabe left the bureau. The interview was published on Tuesday. Sessions also said there has been an 'erosion' of public trust in the DOJ, telling the Examiner that the department needs to earn that back 'because the heart and soul of the Department of Justice is very good.'"
Alex Jackson of NBC News: "Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Tuesday that Russia is already trying to influence the U.S. midterm election, warning that it will be difficult for the United States to 'preempt' it. In an interview with Fox News from Bogotá, Colombia..., Tillerson said Russia was gearing up to meddle with the 2018 U.S. elections following the playbook it used in 2016. 'I don't know that I would say we are better prepared, because the Russians will adapt, as well. The point is, if it's their intention to interfere, they are going to find ways to do that. We can take steps, but this is something that, once they decide they are going to do it, it's very difficult to preempt it.'... Tillerson's comments echoed an alarm sounded last month by CIA Director Mike Pompeo, who told the BBC, 'I have every expectation that they will continue to try and do that.'"
Don't Stay Sick or Get a Crummy Job, People. Or Else. Tony Pugh of McClatchy News: "After allowing states to impose work requirements for Medicaid enrollees, the Trump administration is now pondering lifetime limits on adults' access to coverage. Capping health care benefits -- like federal welfare benefits -- would be a first for Medicaid, the joint state-and-federal health plan for low-income and disabled Americans. If approved, the dramatic policy change would recast government-subsidized health coverage as temporary assistance by placing a limit on the number of months adults have access to Medicaid benefits.... At least five states -- Arizona, Kansas, Utah, Maine and Wisconsin -- are seeking waivers from the Trump administration to impose lifetime Medicaid coverage limits.... However, advocates say capping Medicaid benefits would amount to a massive breach of the nation's social safety net designed to protect children, the elderly and the impoverished.... Low-wage workers who may not get health coverage through their jobs could also reach their Medicaid coverage limit 'as if it's their fault that their job isn't offering insurance,' said Leonardo Cuello, director of health policy at the National Health Law Center.... Time-limiting health coverage runs the risk of pushing sick people into costly emergency rooms where they'll receive indigent care paid for by taxpayers."
Patricia Mazzei & Agustin Armendariz of the New York Times: "Four months after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, a picture is emerging of the contracts awarded in the earliest days of the crisis. And ... lawmakers [are raising] questions about FEMA's handling of the disaster and whether the agency was adequately prepared to respond.... Lawmakers fear the agency is not lining up potential contractors in advance of natural disasters, leading it to scramble to award multimillion-dollar agreements in the middle of a crisis.... FEMA insists no Puerto Ricans missed a meal as a result of the failed agreement with ... an Atlanta entrepreneur with no experience in large-scale disaster relief and at least five canceled government contracts in her past.... FEMA relied on other suppliers that provided 'ample' food and water for distribution, said William Booher, an agency spokesman. But there is little doubt that in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Maria, Puerto Ricans struggled with access to food." ...
... Charles Pierce: "If this reminds you of that tiny Montana company that got the really big contract to restore power in Puerto Rico, that's only because it should. Seventy years ago, 70 airmen lost their lives in the effort that saved Berlin [-- the Berlin Airlift]. Today, we have substituted profiteering and ineptitude for sacrifice and creativity. Running the country like a business, as it were."
Matt Phillips, et al., of the New York Times: "After days of sometimes wild moves in stock markets, investors on Wall Street refocused on the ongoing strength in the American economy as shares of consumer companies helped lead broad indexes higher. A sometimes-panicky global market sell-off -- begun Monday when the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index lost more than 4 percent, its worst decline since August 2011 -- dissipated through the day, and the S.&P. 500 ended Tuesday's session up by about 1.7 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average gained about 2.3 percent." ...
... Matthew Nussbaum of Politico: "... Donald Trump has yet to address the swings in the stock market since Monday's plunge, the largest single-day point drop in the Dow.... Before [the Friday-Monday] drop, Trump boasted about the stock market once every 35 hours [this year]." Emphasis added.
Christian Davenport of the Washington Post: "SpaceX successfully launched what is now the world's most powerful rocket Tuesday, a towering behemoth known as the Falcon Heavy that tore through the sky with the thundering force of 18 Boeing 747 jetliners. Lifting off at 3:45 p.m. from the same launchpad that sent the crew of Apollo 11 to the moon, the rocket sent up a mountain-sized plume of smoke and a rattling roar across Florida's Space Coast, where thousands gathered to watch. The mission represented the first test of the massive rocket, powered by 27 engines in three first-stage boosters that are essentially strapped together. The maiden flight also marked the first time a privately financed venture ever attempted to launch a rocket so powerful that it was capable of hoisting a payload out of Earth's orbit. As a promotional stunt, SpaceX founder Elon Musk loaded the Falcon Heavy with his own cherry-red Tesla Roadster carrying a spacesuit-clad mannequin named 'Starman' in the driver's seat. Musk said he planned to send the convertible, built by another one of his companies, into an orbit around the sun that would take it near Mars."
Maggie Astor & Julie Creswell of the New York Times: "The casino mogul Stephen Wynn resigned Tuesday as chairman and chief executive of his company, Wynn Resorts, in response to sexual misconduct allegations spanning decades. In statement, Mr. Wynn said he was stepping down because 'an avalanche of negative publicity' had created an environment 'in which a rush to judgment takes precedence over everything else, including the facts.'" Mrs. McC: Because all the women are liars.
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