To keep the Conversation going, please help me by linking news articles, opinion pieces and other political content in today's Comments section.
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OR here's a link generator. The one I had posted died, then Akhilleus found one, but it too bit the dust. He found yet another, which I've linked here, and as of September 23, 2024, it's working.
OR you can always just block, copy and paste to your comment the URL (Web address) of the page you want to link.
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Thank you to everyone who has been contributing links to articles & other content in the Comments section of each day's "Conversation." If you're missing the comments, you're missing some vital links.
New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~
~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”
New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”
Click on photo to enlarge.
~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI."
Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”
New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”
Washington Post: “An early Titian masterpiece — once looted by Napolean’s troops and a part of royal collections for centuries — caused a stir when it was stolen from the home of a British marquess in 1995. Seven years later, it was found inside an unassuming white and blue plastic bag at a bus stop in southwest London by an art detective, and returned. This week, the oil painting 'The Rest on the Flight into Egypt' sold for more than $22 million at Christie’s. It was a record for the Renaissance artist, whom museums describe as the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice. Ahead of the sale in April, the auction house billed it as'the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in more than a generation.'”
Washington Post: The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., which houses the world's largest collection of Shakespeare material, has undergone a major renovation. "The change to the building is pervasive, both subtle and transformational."
IT'S FIXED!!!! I think. At least I tried writing a comment when I was logged out & it worked.
We're now into our sixth seventh day with a non-functioning Comments section. Squarespace has quit corresponding with me said sorry, we're working on it, & it's really hard. I don't have time to look for another host & figure out how to set up a new site, something that probably would take a couple of weeks.
As much as I hate to do it, & as much as I'm philosophically opposed to forming an "exclusive" club of commenters, I don't see how to get around it but to ask those who would like to comment to sign up. I'm as pissed off as only Mrs. Bea McCrabbie can be, & I'm embarrassed to impose this anti-democratic, annoying requirement.
Nonetheless, at least for the foreseeable future, the only way to comment is to e-mail me at constantweader@gmail.com. Send me a login ID & password (I think they have to be at least 6 characters long. I don't think they're case-sensitive; that is, if you make your log-in MarieBurns, it won't matter whether or not you capitalize the "M" & the "B" as you type.) PLEASE don't give me a log-in or password you currently use anywhere else. With any luck, you won't have to use these long.
Also send a screen name -- that is, the name you want displayed on your comment. I'll send you instructions for how to log in. It is not at all difficult.
Elise Viebeck of the Washington Post: "Republicans on Wednesday expressed cautious optimism about averting a government shutdown at midnight Friday, with rank-and-file members grudgingly accepting a short-term spending bill.... If Republican leaders can quell dissent among deficit and defense hawks and pass the measure with only GOP votes, House Democrats will lose the leverage they planned to exercise on behalf of dreamers during the current round of negotiations."
Heather Caygle & Seung Min Kim of Politico: "House Democrats left a meeting with top White House officials Wednesday seemingly no closer to reaching a deal on immigration or government funding before a critical Friday deadline. Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus said their hour-long meeting with White House Chief of Staff John Kelly was 'positive' -- a dramatic change in tone from their contentious encounters with him in the past -- but mostly a rehashing of talking points that doesn't bring the two sides closer to an agreement." Mrs. McC: Maybe that's because Kelly is even more a racist than Trump.
Jordain Carney of the Hill: "GOP Sen. Jeff Flake (Ariz.) rebuked President Trump's attacks on the press from the Senate floor on Wednesday, urging his colleagues to publicly push back against the rhetoric. 'The enemy of the people was how the president of the United States called the free press in 2017. ... It is a testament to the condition of our democracy that our own president used words infamously spoken by Josef Stalin to describe his enemies," Flake said.... Flake's speech marks one of the strongest Republican rebukes of Trump from the Senate floor." Mrs. McC: See also Flake's Arizona colleague John McCain's essay, linked below.
Eamon Javers of CNBC: "The White House believed it had an agreement with the House Intelligence Committee to limit questions for Steve Bannon only to events on the presidential campaign, and not during the ousted former chief strategist's time in the Trump administration, an official told CNBC. According to the White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, staffers for the committee and the White House on Friday discussed the parameters of Bannon's testimony.... Then, hours into Bannon's closed-door testimony on Tuesday, Bannon's lawyers informed the White House from Capitol Hill that the questions would extend beyond the scope of what the White House understood the agreement to be. At that point, the White House told Bannon not to answer any further."
Ben Protess of the New York Times: "As a photographer for the Department of Energy, Simon Edelman regularly attended meetings with Secretary Rick Perry and snapped pictures for official purposes. Now he is out of a job and seeking whistle-blower protections after leaking photographs of Mr. Perry meeting with a major energy industry donor to President Trump. Late last year, Mr. Edelman said, he shared with journalists photos he shot at the private meeting between Mr. Perry and the campaign contributor, Robert E. Murray, the head of one of the country's largest coal mining companies, Murray Energy. One photo showed the two men embracing; another captured the cover sheet of a confidential 'action plan' that Mr. Murray brought to the meeting last March calling for policy and regulatory changes friendly to the coal industry.... Based on the 'action plan' and conversations he overheard, Mr. Edelman said, Mr. Perry had tilted the administration's energy policy to favor Murray Energy and other coal companies.... Mr. Murray has been a financial backer of Mr. Perry...." ...
... For more on that nice Bob Murray, let's ask John Oliver (at about 4:40 mins. in & at about 12:30 in):
Choe Sang-Hun of the New York Times: "North and South Korea agreed on Wednesday to have their athletes march together under one flag at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics next month and to field a joint women's ice hockey team, the most dramatic gesture of reconciliation between the two nations in a decade.... The two countries' delegations will march at the opening ceremony behind a 'unified Korea' flag that shows an undivided Korean Peninsula, negotiators from both sides said in a joint news release...."
*****
Michael Shear & Lawrence Altman of the New York Times: "President Trump's physician said Tuesday that the president received a perfect score on a cognitive test designed to screen for neurological impairment, which the military doctor said was evidence that Mr. Trump does not suffer from mental issues that prevent him from functioning in office. 'There's no indication whatsoever that he has any cognitive issues,' Dr. Ronny L. Jackson, a rear admiral in the Navy and the White House physician, told reporters on Tuesday. 'I've found no reason whatsoever to think the president has any issues whatsoever with his thought processes.' Dr. Jackson said that a cognitive test was not indicated for Mr. Trump when the president went underwent his annual physical on Friday, but that he conducted one anyway because the president requested it after questions from critics about his mental abilities. He said Mr. Trump received a score of 30 out of 30 on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, a well-known test used by the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and other hospitals." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: So Trump is just a lazy, ignorant narcissist? Well, good, now I don't have to feel sorry for him any more. I couldn't find a place to take the test but I found a copy on the test online & tried it. The only one I had trouble with was an easy subtraction question. It's the same trouble I would have had with the question when I was 10 years old, so probably not newly-diminished capacity. ...
... Yeah, "Excellent" Health. But ...
Sleaziest President Ever, Ctd. Jacob Weisberg of Slate: Stephanie Clifford, a/k/a porn star Stormy Daniels, told me "in a series of phone conversations and text exchanges that took place between August and October of 2016... [that] she'd gone to Trump's hotel room after meeting him at a celebrity golf tournament in Nevada in 2006. There they'd begun a sexual relationship, which continued for nearly a year. They'd met in New York and more than once in Los Angeles. In early 2007, Trump had invited her to a party to promote Trump Vodka.... Daniels said she was holding back on the juiciest details, such as her ability to describe things about Trump that only someone who had seen him naked would know. She intimated that her view of his sexual skill was at odds with the remark attributed toMarla Maples.... Daniels said she was talking to me and sharing these details because Trump was stalling on finalizing the confidentiality agreement and paying her. Given her experience with Trump, she suspected he would stall her until after the election, and then refuse to sign or pay up.... About a week before the election, Daniels stopped responding to calls and text messages. A friend of hers told me Daniels had said she'd taken the money from Trump after all." ...
... Oliver Darcy of CNN: "Fox News had a story at the height of the presidential election that detailed an alleged sexual relationship between porn actress Stephanie Clifford -- whose stage name is 'Stormy Daniels' -- and Donald Trump, but opted not to publish it, four people familiar with the matter told CNN.... One of the network's reporters, Diana Falzone, had filed a story in October 2016 about an alleged sexual relationship between Clifford and Trump, people familiar with the matter said. Falzone had an on-the-record statement from Clifford's manager at the time, Gina Rodriguez, confirming that her client had engaged in a sexual relationship with Trump, three of these people said, and Falzone had even seen emails about a settlement.... Falzone is a reporter for Fox News.... She filed a lawsuit against the network in May 2017 alleging gender discrimination. Fox News has denied her allegations and the case is ongoing. In a statement, Noah Kotch, who became editor-in-chief and vice president of Fox News digital in 2017, said, 'Like many other outlets, we were working to report the story.... In doing our due diligence, we were unable to verify all of the facts and publish a story.'" ...
... Kevin Drum: "The affair itself is not that big a deal. However, the agreement to pay Daniels $130,000 to stay quiet is a very big deal. Trump's lawyer has admitted the payment was made, but refuses to say anything more about it. How is this happening? How can the president of the United States get away with what looks like hush money paid to a mistress in the middle of an election? How is it that this isn't front-page news....? ...
**Rent-a-Puppet. Matthew Yglesias of Vox: "Conservatives embrace Trump not despite his inability to conduct the functions of his office in a satisfactory manner, but because of it.... Indeed, because he is so exceptionally unwilling to put in the time to do the job properly, he ends up hewing more rigidly to conservative dogma than even the most establishment-oriented alternative you can imagine.... Donald Trump is not really running the Trump administration.... Trump spending hours a day on 'executive time' and not understanding the issues at hand is actually preferable to them than if he did the work.... The result is an administration that's been much more conventionally conservative in its policymaking than one might have expected -- and much less popular as a result. It's Trump's sloth and ignorance that makes this possible." --safari
Sen. John McCain writes a powerful condemnation of Trump's attacks on the press in today's Washington Post: "While administration officials often condemn violence against reporters abroad, Trump continues his unrelenting attacks on the integrity of American journalists and news outlets. This has provided cover for repressive regimes to follow suit. The phrase 'fake news' -- granted legitimacy by an American president -- is being used by autocrats to silence reporters, undermine political opponents, stave off media scrutiny and mislead citizens. [The Committee to Protect Journalists] documented 21 cases in 2017 in which journalists were jailed on fake news' charges. Trump's attempts to undermine the free press also make it more difficult to hold repressive governments accountable."
In case you harbored hope anybody in the Trump administration planned to allow some form of DACA to be reinstated:
... ** Maria Sacchetti of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration on Tuesday said it would appeal a federal judge's ruling that temporarily derailed plans to phase out DACA, the Obama-era deportation protections for undocumented immigrants who have lived in the United States since they were children. The Department of Justice said it filed a notice of appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit seeking to overturn the judge's order in California, and said it will also 'take the rare step' later this week of asking the Supreme Court to directly intervene. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said 'it defies both law and common sense' that a 'single district court in San Francisco' had halted the administration's plans to wind down the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program starting in March." Mrs. McC: At least Trump will have a friend in the Inferno. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: The Democrats now must shut down the government. It is beyond clear that Trump has no intention of signing a bill to grant even permanent residency status to Dreamers, much less a path to citizenship. Every suggestion that he might cave was merely a tease. Trump has the backing of hardassed bastards like Kelly, Sessions & Miller, who would knock the pen out of his hand if he tried to sign the bill. ...
... Greg Sargent: A "Post report [also linked here yesterday] confirms that despite Trump's denial of the 'shithole countries' comment, Trump did, in fact, privately conclude that the deal would result in more people coming to the United States 'from countries he deemed undesirable.' This shows that Trump rejected the deal ... because it does not do enough to reverse the current racial and ethnic mix in the U.S. But it gets worse: The Post also reports that Trump was originally favorable towards the deal, but the anti-immigration hardliners around him intervened, on the grounds that it would supposedly be 'damaging' to Trump and 'would hurt him with his political base.' This included (unsurprisingly) Stephen Miller and even (disturbingly) Chief of Staff John F. Kelly. After that, The Post reports, Trump began telling friends that the agreement was 'a terrible deal for me.'" The Post report is here. ...
... Maggie Haberman & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Over a three-day weekend at his private club in Palm Beach, Fla., President Trump showed little or no concern about the angry reaction set off by his use of obscenities to describe the third world countries he fears immigrants could come from under a new immigration bill. His base loved what he said, he told guests at the club, Mar-a-Lago, a refrain he repeated in phone calls over the holiday weekend. But back in Washington on Tuesday, his advisers and congressional allies have tried to limit the fallout from his remarks in an Oval Office meeting last week, insisting that he had never described the countries as 'shitholes.'” ...
... Zeke Miller & Jonathan Lemire of the AP: "... Donald Trump's Homeland Security secretary became the latest GOP official to offer an inconclusive version of a meeting in which Trump is said to have used vulgar remarks that have been criticized as racist.... Under persistent questioning, [Kirstjen] Nielsen said she didn't recall the specific language used by Trump. 'What I was struck with frankly, as I'm sure you were as well, was just the general profanity used in the room by almost everyone.' New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, angrily criticized Nielsen's comments, telling her during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, 'Your silence and your amnesia is complicity.'" ...
... Ed O'Keefe & Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsenconfirmed on Tuesday that President Trump used 'tough language' in an Oval Office meeting last week, but she said she did not hear him describe some African countries and Haiti as 'shithole countries,' as has been reported.... Later, Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) began by telling Nielsen, 'I hope you remember me. We were at two meetings together' last week." A dry wit. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Yesterday I wrote that Nielsen had finally, after repeatedly questioning by Durbin, confirmed that Sen. Graham had repeated the derogatory term Trump used but that she couldn't remember. In fact, she refused to admit anything more "specific" than "tough language," & it was Durbin who informed her what Trump & Graham said. I don't know what "tough language" is. I think "tough language" could include your saying to your kid, in a stern voice, "That was a terrible thing to do! Go right to your room!" Or this is tough language: "Get over it, lunkheads. The only people who get into this country are Norwegians!" ...
... Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post: "It is almost inconceivable that the president used such damning language, and yet Kirstjen Nielsen does not recall what he said. She remembers 'tough language' but not the words, or something close, to the words that were said? This is as preposterous as her response to a question that she was unaware Norway is a predominantly white country.... When you say under oath you don't remember something when you do, that is lying under oath.... This is why you cannot serve a president who is racist, dishonest or personally corrupt. You inevitably wind up enabling racism, dishonesty and corruption. If you thought you could remain untainted, you were wrong. And now, you need to either quit or face the legal and personal consequences." ...
... Jennifer Rubin: "After dutifully lying on behalf of the president regarding his abhorrent language ('shithole countries'), Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and David Perdue (R-Ga.) were outed by the White House. The Post reports: 'Three White House officials said Perdue and Cotton told the White House that they heard 'shithouse' rather than 'shithole,' allowing them to deny the president's comments on television over the weekend. The two men initially said publicly that they could not recall what the president said. Not only did these two repeatedly lie, but Cotton also impugned the integrity of Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), who told the truth. Asked whether the accusation that Trump spoke the offending words or the sentiment was phony, Cotton lied, 'Yes.' He went on to say, 'Senator Durbin has misrepresented what happened in White House meetings before, and he was corrected by Obama administration officials by it.'... The incident is telling in many respects, but none more important for Republicans than this: They can lie and enable the president hoping to score brownie points, but this White House won't repay loyalty in kind. Instead, Republicans will find themselves humiliated." ...
... Dara Lind of Vox: "The 'shithole' comment was a clarifying moment. Such moments often make clear fundamentally contradictory visions of America. It's impossible to negotiate with people who believe any change to America-as-they-see-it is an existential threat -- and when they're direct or boorish enough to say that out loud, it saves everyone the time and trouble of trying to compromise.... You can't negotiate with people who believe that an America that lets in people from 'shithole countries' isn't the America they know or love. Either America is a nation of immigrants or it is a nation of blood and soil. It cannot be both." --safari...
... USA TodayEditors: "It's bad enough that the president of the United States is an inveterate liar. It's even worse when members of Congress and his Cabinet feel compelled to lie on his behalf.... Five days after word leaked out that President Trump used bigoted and vulgar remarks during an Oval Office meeting on immigration, it's clear who's telling the truth. Spoiler alert: It's not the president and his enablers.... It defies credulity to think that anyone else who was in the room could forget such a remarkable exchange. Yet the other participants have chosen to lie, develop amnesia, or go mute.... Truth is the great leveler.... [N]o legislative priority is worth sacrificing your credibility to protect a president with so little regard for decency and honesty." --safari
... He's in the Shithouse Now. Frank Bruni of the New York Times: "One day it's all sun and sycophantic fun on one of the president's fancy golf courses, where you're telling yourself that to marvel at his putts and swoon over his swing are small prices for influence and will pay off in the end. The next you're in the middle of a surreal feud among your fellow Republicans about whether he used 'shithole' or 'shithouse' to describe poor countries of dark-skinned people, and you look like a sellout and fool for having thought and said better about him. That's the story of Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. Its moral couldn't be clearer. There's no honor or wisdom in cozying up to Donald Trump -- just a heap of manure." ...
... Sorry, but this is too excellent to pass on:
I knew a man named Ramblin' Graham He used to steal, gamble, and scam He thought he was the smartest guy around Well, I found out last Monday That Graham got stitched up Sunday Trump's got him in the shithouse way 'cross town
He's in the shithouse now He's in the shithouse now Well I told him you're a chump Stop playin' golf with that Donald Trump He's in the shithouse now.
... ** More Cynical GOP Brinkmanship. Thomas Kaplan & Robert Pear of the New York Times: "With little hope of an immigration agreement this week, Republicans in Congress are looking to head off a government shutdown this weekend by pairing another stopgap spending measure with long-term funding for the popular Children's Health Insurance Program, daring Democrats to vote no. The bill would leave in limbo hundreds of thousands of young immigrants brought to the country illegally as children. But Democrats would still be left with a difficult political decision: withhold their votes unless the plight of such immigrants, known as Dreamers, is addressed and risk a government shutdown, or vote to keep the government open and fund the Children's Health Insurance Program, which provides coverage for nearly nine million children." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Having thwarted the Democrats' evil plot to save hundreds of thousands of young people, Republicans move on to using 9 million even younger Americans as a bargaining chip. Congratulations, GOP. You have now decisively announced that the U.S. is the Evil Empire, one that treats about 10 million of the most innocent Americans as pawns in a power game. "Shameful" is far too mild a descriptor. ...
... BUT, If You're an Itty-Bitty Fetus, You're in Luck (for 6 to 8 Months). Dan Diamond & Jennifer Haberkorn of Politico: "The Trump administration is planning new protections for health workers who don't want to perform abortions, refuse to treat transgender patients based on their gender identity or provide other services for which they have moral objections. Under a proposed rule -- which has been closely guarded at HHS and is now under review by the White House --; the HHS office in charge of civil rights would be empowered to further shield these workers and punish organizations that don't allow them to express their moral objections, according to sources on and off the Hill."
Hallie Jackson, et al., of NBC News: "FBI agents showed up at Steve Bannon's Washington home last week intent on serving him with a subpoena to appear before a grand jury investigating possible ties between ... Donald Trump's campaign and Russia, according to a source familiar with the proceedings. The agents were unaware at the time that Bannon had retained Washington lawyer William Burck just hours earlier, according to two people familiar with the events that took place on Jan. 9. Once redirected, the agents sent the order to Burck, who is also representing two other witnesses in the probe being led by special counsel Robert Mueller.... Bannon ... could end up being interviewed by Mueller's team before the end of the month, according to one source...." ...
... Jeremy Herb & Manu Raju of CNN : "... Steve Bannonfaced angry lawmakers from both parties during a contentious interview that stretched more than 10 hours on Tuesday, as he was hit with subpoenas on multiple fronts and was accused by a top Democrat of agreeing to a White House 'gag order.'...Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the committee, said after the hearing that Bannon was instructed by the White House in advance of the hearing not to respond to certain topics. The California Democrat said the attorney for Bannon consulted with the White House after the committee subpoena was served Tuesday and was told his client was still not to answer questions regarding the time during the transition and in the White House. Schiff called it a 'gag order,' saying it was an 'audacious' move by the White House to assert that at a later date they may seek to invoke executive privilege." ...
... Kyle Cheney of Politico provides a conflicting account re: the invocation of executive privilege: "... Steve Bannonrefused to answer questions Tuesday from the House intelligence committee about his time in the White House, prompting panel members to subpoena him on the spot, according to a person familiar with the interview. Bannon appeared before the committee as part of its investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, speaking just weeks after a falling-out with Trump over comments he made in an explosive new book.... According to the person familiar with the interview, Bannon's attorney told the committee he wouldn't discuss anything about his time in the White House or during the transition after the 2016 election.... Bannon did not invoke executive privilege, the source said." ...
... Betsy Woodruff of the Daily Beast has yet another version: "During a closed-door hearing before the House intelligence committee today, Bannon reportedly told lawmakers that ... Donald Trumphas invoked broad executive privilege for the purposes of Congressional inquiries. Because of that, Bannon refused to answer committee members' questions about what happened during the presidential transition and in the White House.... But executive privilege -- the president's right to keep certain information from the public so he can have frank conversations with aides -- will not keep Steve Bannon from sharing information with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team, according to a person familiar with the situation.... 'He quickly informed through his counsel the committee he was not going to answer questions that pertained to meetings, conversations, events, etc., that took place either during the transition or while he was part of the administration. And what's more, we would later learn that would be extended to even after he left the White House,'Rep. Adam Schiff, the committee's top Democrat, told MSNBC." ...
... Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "Stephen K. Bannon ... was subpoenaed last week by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, to testify before a grand jury as part of the investigation into possible links between Mr. Trump's associates and Russia, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. The move marked the first time Mr. Mueller is known to have used a grand jury subpoena to seek information from a member of Mr. Trump's inner circle.... The subpoena could be a negotiating tactic. Mr. Mueller is likely to allow Mr. Bannon to forgo the grand jury appearance if he agrees to instead be questioned by investigators in the less formal setting of the special counsel's offices.... The subpoena is a sign that Bannon is not personally the focus of the investigation. Justice Department rules allow prosecutors to subpoena to the targets of investigations only in rare circumstances." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "In an ominous development for Republicans, a federal judge overseeing the upcoming trial of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and his deputy Rick GatesrejectedMueller's request to begin in May and instead outlined a scheduled start as soon as September or October -- peak election season. 'The timing of the Manafort-Gates trial will dictate major coverage going into early voting,' said veteran Republican strategist John Weaver. 'And this is without knowing for certain how many more indictments and how much closer this Siberian political cancer gets near the Oval Office.'"
Pentagon Proposes Viagra Boost to Trump's Nuclear Button. David Sanger & William Broad of the New York Times: "A newly drafted United States nuclear strategy that has been sent to President Trump for approval would permit the use of nuclear weapons to respond to a wide range of devastating but non-nuclear attacks on American infrastructure, including what current and former government officials described as the most crippling kind of cyberattacks. For decades, American presidents have threatened 'first use' of nuclear weapons against enemies in only very narrow and limited circumstances, such as in response to the use of biological weapons against the United States. But the new document is the first to expand that to include attempts to destroy wide-reaching infrastructure, like a country's power grid or communications, that would be most vulnerable to cyberweapons. The draft document, called the Nuclear Posture Review, was written at the Pentagon and is being reviewed by the White House." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Would this make the U.S. a bigger nuclear threat than North Korea? Probably so.
**Faux "Facts." Trevor Aaronson of The Intercept: "A new report from the departments of Justice and Homeland Security found that three of every four defendants convicted of international terrorism charges from September 11, 2001 to December 31, 2016 were born outside the United States.... The data in the report, released today, would appear to support Trump's policies of limiting immigration from Muslim-majority nations out of national security concerns. However, the report appears to rely on a dataset that has been carefully selected to support the Trump administration's anti-Muslim policies.... It appears that Sessions's Justice Department has edited the data to support the conclusions the president wanted -- that foreign-born individuals are the principal problem." Read on to see how Sessions appears to cherrypick his data. --safari...
... Lachlan Markay & Spencer Ackerman of The Daily Beast: "The Trump administration and its Republican allies are pointing to terrorism statistics in order to argue for ending two immigration programs. But those who study terrorism in the U.S. say that the administration cooked the numbers to arrive at its desired conclusion.... [W]hat statistics the government did produce are completely contradicted by counter-terrorism experts. The administration is trying to argue that terrorism on American soil is largely carried out by the 'foreign-born'; the experts insist that it's the other way around -- that U.S. citizens have been the majority of the offenders since 9/11." --safari ...
... "Trump's Revenge on California." David Siders of Politico: "Fear is rising among Democrats over the prospect that ... Donald Trump's hard line on immigration might ultimately cost California a seat in Congress during the upcoming round of reapportionment. Top Democrats here are increasingly worried the administration's restrictive policies -- and the potential inclusion of a question about citizenship on the next U.S. Census -- could scare whole swaths of California's large immigrant population away from participating in the decennial count, resulting in an undercount that could cost the state billions of dollars in federal funding over the next decade and, perhaps, the loss of one of its 53 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. The fears are well-founded...." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Yet another authoritarian stunt -- manipulating the census to both punish political adversaries AND frighten residents.
... AND THIS. Hamed Aleaziz of the San Francisco Chronicle: "U.S. immigration officials have begun preparing for a major sweep in San Francisco and other Northern California cities in which federal officers would look to arrest more than 1,500 undocumented people while sending a message that immigration policy will be enforced in the sanctuary state, according to a source familiar with the operation. Officials at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, declined to comment Tuesday on plans for the operation. The campaign, centered in the Bay Area, could happen within weeks, and is expected to become the biggest enforcement action of its kind under President Trump, said the source...." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: All in all -- the Wall, the Muslim Ban, the support for white supremacists, the DACA recission, the Haitian & El Savadoran decisions, and, and, and -- there has not been such a massive, coordinated federal attack on people of color in my lifetime -- perhaps even since the 3/5ths compromise of 1787. Again, these moves & Trump's remarks must not be viewed only in isolation.
Hannah Levintova of Mother Jones: "Late on Tuesday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that it is planning to 'reconsider' the Payday Rule, an Obama-era rule that created the first federal restrictions on payday loans. The rule takes aim at predatory practices by payday lenders.... This is one of the first major public moves at the CFPB ... since Trump appointed Mick Mulvaney as the agency's temporary director." --safari
Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "Three-quarters of the members of a federally chartered board advising the National Park Service abruptly quit Monday night out of frustration that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke had refused to meet with them or convene a single meeting last year. The resignation of nine out of 12 National Park System Advisory Board members leaves the federal government without a functioning body to designate national historic or natural landmarks. It also underscores the extent to which federal advisory bodies have become marginalized under the Trump administration. In May 2017, Zinke suspended all outside committees while his staff reviewed their composition and work. In a letter to the secretary, departing board chairman Tony Knowles, a former Alaska governor, wrote that he and eight other members 'have stood by waiting for the chance to meet and continue the partnership ... as prescribed by law. All of the signatories had terms set to expire in May."
Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "A former C.I.A. officer suspected of helping China identify the agency's informants in that country has been arrested, the Justice Department said on Tuesday. Many of the informants were killed in a systematic dismantling of the C.I.A.'s spy network in China starting in 2010 that was one of the American government's worst intelligence failures in recent years, several former intelligence officials have said. The arrest of the former officer, Jerry Chun Shing Lee, 53, capped an intense F.B.I. investigation that began around 2012 after the C.I.A. began losing its informants in China. Mr. Lee was at the center of a mole hunt in which some intelligence officials believed that he had betrayed the United States but others thought that the Chinese government had hacked the C.I.A.'s covert communications used to talk to foreign sources of information."
A Wolff Stalks the White House. Jennifer Jacobs of Bloomberg: "Author Michael Wolff’s pitch to the White House to win cooperation for his book included a working title that signaled a sympathetic view, a counter-narrative to a slew of negative news stories early in Donald Trump's presidency. He called it 'The Great Transition: The First 100 Days of the Trump Administration.' And in part due to that title, Wolff was able to exploit an inexperienced White House staff who mistakenly believed they could shape the book to the president's liking. Nearly everyone who spoke with Wolff thought someone else in the White House had approved their participation. And it appears that not a single person in a position of authority to halt cooperation with the book -- including Trump himself -- raised any red flags, despite Wolff's well documented history. His previous work included a critical book on Trump confidant Rupert Murdoch.... After [John] Kelly replaced [Reince] Priebus as chief of staff at the end of July, Wolff was no longer allowed to linger in the West Wing lobby, a doctor's waiting room-like area where visitors come and go and staff occasionally cut through. But by then it was too late."
Robert Burns & Lolita Baldor of the AP: "Five officers involved in two Navy ship collisions last year that killed a total of 17 sailors are being charged with negligent homicide, the Navy said Tuesday. A Navy spokesman, Capt. Greg Hicks, said the charges, which also include dereliction of duty and endangering a ship, will be presented to what the military calls an Article 32 hearing to determine whether the accused are taken to trial in a court-martial."
Molly Redden of the Guardian: "The cost of childcare and the cost as a share of families' incomes have risen across the country for decades. Today, roughly one in four families spend more than 10% of their income on childcare, including more than half of families below the poverty line and two out of five families earning twice the poverty level. That's if they can find licensed childcare at all. This summer, researchers at the Center for American Progress (CAP), a progressive thinktank, analyzed census data in 22 states and found that 51% of the population resides in 'childcare deserts.'... And study after study shows the burden falling heavier on mothers.... It's women who are more likely to leave the workforce after becoming parents, often never to work full-time again." --safari: Praise the Lords Ivanka's on the case!
Beyond the Beltway
Gideon Resnick of The Daily Beast: "Democrats won a state Senate seat ;in a deeply red Wisconsin district on Tuesday night, their 34th legislative pickup since President Trump's inauguration. Patty Schachtner defeated Republican Adam Jarchow in Wisconsin's Senate District 10, flipping the seat, which has been held by Republicans since 2000." --safari: Dem candidates reportedly "overperfomed" by +21.49%. #BlueWave
Michael Shear & Lawrence Altman of the New York Times: "President Trump's physician said Tuesday that the president received a perfect score on a cognitive test designed to screen for neurological impairment, which the military doctor said was evidence that Mr. Trump does not suffer from mental issues that prevent him from functioning in office. 'There's no indication whatsoever that he has any cognitive issues,' Dr. Ronny L. Jackson, a rear admiral in the Navy and the White House physician, told reporters on Tuesday. 'I've found no reason whatsoever to think the president has any issues whatsoever with his thought processes.' Dr. Jackson said that a cognitive test was not indicated for Mr. Trump when the president went underwent his annual physical on Friday, but that he conducted one anyway because the president requested it after questions from critics about his mental abilities. He said Mr. Trump received a score of 30 out of 30 on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, a well-known test used by the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and other hospitals." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: So Trump is just an ignorant narcissist? I couldn't find a place to take the test but I found a copy on the test online & tried it. The only one I had trouble with was an easy subtraction question. It's the same trouble I would have had with the question when I was 10 years old, so probably not newly-diminished capacity.
In case you harbored hope anybody in the Trump administration planned to allow some form of DACA to be reinstated:
... ** Maria Sachetti of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration on Tuesday said it would appeal a federal judge's ruling that temporarily derailed plans to phase out DACA, the Obama-era deportation protections for undocumented immigrants who have lived in the United States since they were children. The Department of Justice said it filed a notice of appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit seeking to overturn the judge's order in California, and said it will also 'take the rare step' later this week of asking the Supreme Court to directly intervene. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said 'it defies both law and common sense' that a 'single district court in San Francisco' had halted the administration's plans to wind down the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program starting in March." Mrs. McC: At least Trump will have a friend in the Inferno. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: The Democrats now must shut down the government. It is beyond clear that Trump has no intention of signing a bill to grant even permanent residency status to Dreamers, much less a path to citizenship. Every suggestion that he might cave was merely a tease. Trump has the backing of hardassed bastards like Kelly, Sessions & Miller, who would knock the pen out of his hand if he tried to sign the bill.
Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "Stephen K. Bannon ... was subpoenaed last week by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, to testify before a grand jury as part of the investigation into possible links between Mr. Trump's associates and Russia, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. The move marked the first time Mr. Mueller is known to have used a grand jury subpoena to seek information from a member of Mr. Trump's inner circle.... The subpoena could be a negotiating tactic. Mr. Mueller is likely to allow Mr. Bannon to forgo the grand jury appearance if he agrees to instead be questioned by investigators in the less formal setting of the special counsel's offices.... The subpoena is a sign that Bannon is not personally the focus of the investigation. Justice Department rules allow prosecutors to subpoena to the targets of investigations only in rare circumstances."
Ed O'Keefe & Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsenconfirmed on Tuesday that President Trump used 'tough language' in an Oval Office meeting last week, but she said she did not hear him describe some African countries and Haiti as 'shithole countries,' as has been reported.... Later, Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) began by telling Nielsen, 'I hope you remember me. We were at two meetings together' last week." A dry wit. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Earlier I wrote that Nielsen had finally, after repeatedly questioning by Durbin, confirmed that Sen. Graham had repeated the derogatory term Trump used but that she couldn't remember. In fact, she refused to admit anything more "specific" than "tough language." It was Durbin who informed her what Trump & Graham said. I don't know what "tough language" is. I think "tough language" could include your saying to your kid, in a stern voice, "That was a terrible thing to do! Go right to your room!" Or this is tough language: "Get over it, lunkheads. The only people who get into this country are Nowegians!"
*****
** The Party of Ignorance. Paul Krugman: "One way to think of Trumpism is as an attempt to narrow regional disparities, not by bringing the lagging regions up, but by cutting the growing regions down.... Today's Republicans -- for this isn't just about Donald Trump, it's about a whole party -- aren't just Know-Nothings, they're also know-nothings. The range of issues on which conservatives insist that the facts have a well-known liberal bias just keeps widening. One result of this embrace of ignorance is a remarkable estrangement between modern conservatives and highly educated Americans, especially but not only college faculty.... Conservatives don't see the rejection of their orthodoxies by people who know what they're talking about as a sign that they might need to rethink. Instead, they've soured on scholarship and education in general. Remarkably, a clear majority of Republicans now say that colleges and universities have a negative effect on America.... The 2016 election largely pitted these rising regions against those left behind, which is why counties carried by Hillary Clinton, who won only a narrow majority of the popular vote, account for a remarkable 64 percent of U.S. G.D.P., almost twice as much as Trump counties."
Josh Dawsey, et al., of the Washington Post issue a post-mortem on Trump's DACA meeting: "When President Trump spoke by phone with Sen. Richard J. Durbin around 10:15 a.m. last Thursday, he expressed pleasure with Durbin's outline of a bipartisan immigration pact and praised the high-ranking Illinois Democrat's efforts, according to White House officials and congressional aides.... But when they arrived at the Oval Office, [Durbin & Lindsey Graham] were surprised to find that Trump was far from ready to finalize the agreement. He was 'fired up' and surrounded by hard-line conservatives such as Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who seemed confident that the president was now aligned with them, according to one person with knowledge of the meeting.... Trump told the group he wasn't interested in the terms of the bipartisan deal that Durbin and Graham had been putting together.... Trump's ping-ponging from dealmaking to feuding, from elation to fury, has come to define the contentious immigration talks between the White House and Congress, perplexing members of both parties as they navigate the president's vulgarities, his combativeness and his willingness to suddenly change his position. The blowup has derailed those negotiations yet again and increased the possibility of a government shutdown...." ...
... Mrs Bea McCrabbie: We should not lose sight of the fact that Trump -- at the urging of the equally execrable racist Jefferson Beauregard Sessions -- initiated this entire crisis by reversing President Obama's DACA program. ...
...NEW. Tom Boggioni of RawStory: "According to a moment-by-moment report of the contentious White House meeting over immigration reform, the Washington Post is reporting that White House Chief of Staff John Kelly had ... Donald Trump's ear and convinced him to scuttle a bipartisan deal on DACA. While Trump's comments about Haiti and African nations being 'sh*tholes' got all the media attention -- with the Post now reporting Kelly didn't even blink when Trump said it.... The report states that Kelly was briefed on the proposed bipartisan deal before the meeting.... According to the Post, Kelly 'talked to Trump to tell him that the proposal would probably not be good for his agenda.'" --safari: It appears Kelly is on par with Stephen Miller (a.k.a. Grand Wizard-in-training) in his dedication to the white nationalist agenda. ...
... Mrs. McC: See report by Josh Dawsey and others linked above. Since the new DHS secretary Kristjen Nielsen is Kelly's protégé, it's highly unlikely she'll be helpful in getting DACA passed.
Emily Goldberg of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Monday tweeted..., 'Senator Dicky Durbintotally misrepresented what was said at the DACA meeting. Deals can't be made when there is no trust! Durbin blew DACA and is hurting our military.'..." ...
... Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "President Trump's first stop Monday was Trump International Golf Club, apparently beginning the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday with golf rather than the charitable service the slain civil rights leader's family has urged as the best way to memorialize him. The morning after declaring 'I'm not a racist,' Trump began his Monday the same way he has begun each day of the three-day holiday weekend: with tweets sent before leaving his private Mar-a-Lago estate and then a short motorcade to the golf club. Trump returned to Mar-a-Lago hours later, and drove from there to the airport in late afternoon. He was not seen in public until he boarded Air Force One." ...
... Jamie Lovegrove of the Charleston, S.C., Post & Courier: "In his most extensive comments yet about Thursday's explosive Oval Office meeting, [Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)] again declined to confirm whether Trump specifically used the term 'shithole' to describe the countries. But, in what appeared to be a direct jab at Sens. Tom Cotton and David Perdue, Graham said, 'My memory hasn't evolved. I know what was said and I know what I said.' Sen. Tim Scott, R-North Charleston, said Friday that Graham told him media reports of what Trump said were 'basically accurate.'" After initially saying they could not recall what the president said, Perdue of Georgia and Cotton of Arkansas said Sunday that Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat who said he heard the 'shithole countries' comment, was misrepresenting Trump's remarks. They also contradicted Graham, who has not denied reports about Trump's comment.... When Trump made the incendiary remark, Graham ... [says he] 'tried to make it very clear to the president that when you say "I'm an American," what does that mean?... It doesn't mean that they're black or white, rich or poor. It means that you buy into an ideal of self-representation, compassion, tolerance, the ability to practice one's religion without interference and the acceptance of those who are different.... It's not where you come from that matters, it's what you're willing to do once you get here.'" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I wonder if new friends Trump & Graham are still BFFs or if Trump will toss the Graham cracker for not supporting this fable by the least racist person you've ever heard of.
... Rebecca Savransky of the Hill: "A conservative columnist said President Trumpcalled friends to brag after the meeting in which the president reportedly referred to Haiti, El Salvador and African nations as 'shithole countries.' 'It's weird that people in the room don't remember Trump using that word when Trump himself was calling friends to brag about it afterwards,' Erick Erickson, who has in the past been critical of Trump, said in a tweet. 'I spoke to one of those friends. The President thought it would play well with the base.'" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Here's why I feel confident Erickson & his source were truthful: the first story out of the White House was that the "shithole" comment would "play well with the base." The source for this "analysis" was a White House staffer (or staffers). Trump copied the rationale from the staffer & turned it into a boast. He can't come up with this stuff himself. Update: Just discovered that as early as Saturday, Jim Sciutto of CNN reported on the "victory lap" Trump took just after the "shithole" comment came to light & before the denials started. In any event, Trump has managed to deny his own racism -- "I'm the least racist person you've ever interviewed. -- and accused all his fans of being racists. Well, he's half-right. ...
... Guardian: "A Maryland pastor denounced ... Donald Trump's alleged vulgar description of African nations from the pulpit on Sunday -- while Vice-President Mike Pencewas sitting in the pews of his church.... WUSA-TV reported that Pence became red-faced at times during the sermon. In an email to the Associated Press on Monday, Pence's office denied that." Mrs. McC: So I guess we must infer that pence is okay with referring to other countries and a whole continent as "shitholes" (or "shithouses"). ...
... "Are You Effing Kidding Me?" ...
The Party of Trumpbots. Jonathan Chait: "When Robert Mueller was hired to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible connections to the Trump campaign, Republicans in Congress supported Mueller, and even warned Trump not to interfere with his work.... Many Trump critics assume at least implicitly that these conditions still pertain. But ... the Republican Party has largely coalesced around Trump. If -- or when -- Trump quashes Mueller's investigation, the veto-proof majorities to restore Mueller's power will almost certainly fail to materialize." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: The evidence Chait presents is convincing -- and troubling. Here's a part I didn't know: "The moderate columnist David Brooks recently pronounced Trump more competent and informed than widely believed, and decried the excesses of his critics." The Constitution be damned; we do not have a system of checks & balances. The only way to return the Congress to checking the president is to vote for Democrats; even if your Democratic Congressman or candidate is a jerk, hold your nose & vote for him or her. I've done it myself: I voted for Bob Torricelli (D-N.J.), even when I knew the GOP candidate Dick Zimmer was a far more decent person. I was ashamed to do so, but it was the pragmatic thing to do -- control of the Senate hung in the balance.
#MAGA. Tami Luhby of CNN: "The uninsured rate rose 1.3 percentage points to 12.2% last year, according to the Gallup-Sharecare Well-Being Index. That represents an increase of roughly 3.2 million Americans...The uninsured rate rose for all demographics last year, except for senior citizens, who all qualify for Medicare.... The rate for blacks soared 2.3 percentage points, while Hispanics saw a 2.2 percentage point jump. The annual increase is the largest single-year jump since Gallup and Sharecare began tracking the uninsured rate in 2008. The trend will likely continue this year." --safari
Republican "Leaders" Being Exposed as Moral Charlatans --safari
... ** David Corn of Mother Jones: "Trump became racist-in-chief because Republicans and conservatives embraced him and normalized his racism-driven politics.... As Trump pursued [his 'birther'] crusade, there were no Republicans and few members of the media who called out his racism -- or his nuttiness. In fact, Republicans and conservatives eagerly welcomed him into their circles.... In early 2012, Mitt Romney ... trekked to Trump's Las Vegas hotel for an event announcing Trump's endorsement.... With this meeting, Romney signaled that Trump was fine company for the GOP and that his over-the-top birtherism was no disqualification.... Hugged by Romney, cheered by CPAC, Trump the Birther was now a huge star in the Republican/conservative cosmos. His racist endeavor -- still underway -- did not matter. And Trump certainly learned a valuable lesson: Not only can I get away with this; I can bolster my political position with this schtick." --safari ...
... So There's Nothing Hypocritical about This: Mitt Romney "criticized President Trump over his alleged comment about immigration. In a tweet on the birthday of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr...., Romney wrote, 'The poverty of an aspiring immigrant's nation of origin is as irrelevant as their race. The sentiment attributed to POTUS is inconsistent w/ America's history and antithetical to American values. May our memory of Dr. King buoy our hope for unity, greatness, & 'charity for all.'" ...
... Deplorable. Brad Reed of RawStory: "Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), a hero of the civil rights movement, says that white people have now started taunting him by yelling ... Donald Trump's name whenever they see him.... Lewis revealed that he had been on the receiving end of taunts by a white man who spotted him on a flight from Atlanta back to Washington DC. 'I was on a flight from Atlanta, and I'm walking down the aisle and the gentleman said as loud as he could, "Trump!"' said Lewis. 'So I didn't ... say anything.'" --safari
Gene Robinson: "A century ago, there were nativists who railed against Irish, Italian and Eastern European immigration, claiming that unwashed hordes from poor countries were 'mongrelizing' the nation. We now have a president who rejects American ideals of diversity and inclusion in favor of racial purity.... President Trump's intent could not be more explicit: He wants immigration policies that admit white people and shut the door to black and brown people. That is pure racism -- and the Republican Party, which traces its heritage to the Abraham Lincoln era, must decide whether to go along. Silly me. The GOP seems to have made its choice, judging by the weaselly response from most of the Republicans who were in the Oval Office on Thursday when Trump made vile and nakedly racist remarks."
Slum Hotelier. Jose Lambiet of the Miami Herald: "A year after the discovery of foods that could sicken people at ... Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, his Winter White House was just cited by inspectors for poor maintenance. Never mind that it costs $200,000 in initiation fees to join the exclusive club, which has two restaurants and a bed-and-breakfast. Fresh state records show the B&B needed emergency repairs in order to pass the latest inspection in November. Trump's club, located on a beachfront property where the historic main house was built in the 1920s for cereals heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post, was cited Nov. 8 for two violations deemed high priority: the lack of smoke detectors capable of alerting the hearing impaired through flashing bright lights; and slabs of concrete missing from a staircase, exposing steel rebar that could cause someone to fall.... The November inspections of the club;s two main kitchens, meanwhile, yielded a total 15 violations."
Candy Man. Josh Dawsey & Robert Costa of the Washington Post: House Majority Leader Kevin "McCarthy, 52, has sought to position himself as Trump's indispensable man in Congress, an easygoing Republican who gets him -- and likes him.... While at Camp David earlier this month, McCarthy took up the task of explaining the obstacles facing Republicans ahead of the midterm elections in November, walking through the financial hurdles and bleak prospects in various races. He urged the president to do everything he could to raise money for vulnerable Republicans. According to two people familiar with the presentation, Trump appreciated McCarthy's use of pictures and charts rather than a memo." ...
... Steve M.: "... how difficult are the midterms to comprehend? A traditional memo on the midterms would probably be full of bullet points -- that's not good enough for Trump? He needs huge graphs with 64-point bold type before he can take in the fact that he's unpopular in many districts and states where Republican candidates are running for reelection?... Can't anyone with a newspaper subscription or Internet connection understand the state of play and the stakes? We knew Trump was an uninformed simpleton. This suggests just how little he really comprehends." ...
... Benjamin Hart of New York: "Be wary of Trump's moods; simplify everything as much as possible; reward him with play time. The people who can best manage the president really do treat him like a capricious child. Senator Bob Corker was onto something with that 'adult day care' bit." Mrs. McC: Again, I think Trump's behavior is an amplification of his life-long personality disorders, the amplification likely caused by a severe decline of mental acuity.
Betsy Woodruff of The Daily Beast: "At 9:30 on Tuesday morning ... the staff and members of the House intelligence committee ... will question [Steve Bannon].... [T]he interview will almost certainly touch on the substance of that particular meeting, which Trump Jr. had at Trump Tower in June of 2016 with a Kremlin-linked lawyer. Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner joined that meeting.... The widespread Washington speculation is that Bannon may consider using this opportunity to damage Kushner, his former West Wing rival.... It's all but certain investigators will also have questions for Bannon on the Trump family finances.... And then there's Cambridge Analytica." --safari
Zachary Basu of Axios: "In 2017, U.S. counterintelligence officials warned Jared Kushner that Chinese-American businesswoman Wendi Deng Murdoch could be using her close relationship to Kushner and Ivanka Trumpto push the Chinese agenda, reports the Wall Street Journal.... The warning was part of an ongoing effort to alert Kushner of the risks of dealing with people with foreign connections. Murdoch, who kept her married name after divorcing Newscorp CEO Rupert Murdoch in 2013, has been on counterintelligence radars for years. U.S. officials assessed that she was lobbying for a $100 million Chinese garden at the National Arboretum in D.C., which was ultimately deemed a security risk because its 70-foot tower could be used for surveillance.... A representative for Kushner and Ivanka described the warning as a routine senior staff security briefing'...." ...
... Margaret Hartmann of New York: "... the [WSJ] report also mentions the old rumor that Wendi Deng Murdochhad an affair withTony Blair when she was still married to Rupert Murdoch. While both parties have denied having any romantic involvement, according to the Journal the story caught the attention of intelligence officials.... Michael Wolff, whose book Fire and Fury is full of wild stories about Javanka..., [tweeted], 'Since their divorce, Murdoch has been telling anybody who would listen that Wendi is a Chinese spy -- and had been throughout the marriage.'"
NEW. Chris Strohm & Greg Farrell of Bloomberg: "The Justice Department's decision to give congressional Republicans access to documents about FBI investigations risks exposing sensitive sources or material and poses a critical early test for bureau Director Christopher Wray, current and former U.S. law enforcement officials say.... One agent said he's now concerned that forms identifying FBI informants would be handed over to Congress. If that happened, he said, it would cause him to think carefully about whether to withhold sensitive information from future reports. Another agent said recent statements about the bureau by Trumpand congressional Republicans have made it more difficult for him to get informants to open up.... Other officials said they're worried about an effort by Trump and his allies to oust anyone seen as being disloyal to the president." --safari
Brian Fung of the Washington Post: "Fifty senators have endorsed a legislative measure to override the Federal Communications Commission's& recent decision to deregulate the broadband industry, top Democrats said Monday.... It has the support of all 49 Democratic senators as well as one Republican, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine.... The tally leaves supporters just one Republican vote shy of the 51 required to pass a Senate resolution of disapproval, in a legislative gambit aimed at restoring the agency's net neutrality rules. Those rules, which banned Internet providers from blocking or slowing down websites, were swept away in a December vote led by Republican FCC Chairman Ajit Pai."
Tom Lutz of the Guardian: "Simone Biles is the latest athlete to say she was sexually abused by former USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar. Biles, who lit up the Rio 2016 Olympics as she won four gold medals, described the abuse in a statement posted on Twitter on Monday.... Nassar, a longtime US women's gymnastics team physician who has been accused of sexually abusing more than 140 women and girls under the guise of medical treatment, is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to seven counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct in a Michigan court last year. He was sentenced to 60 years in federal prison in a separate case, regarding child abuse images.... Some of Biles's USA team-mates have said they were abused by Nassar, including gold medalists Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney and Gabby Douglas. Maroney filed a lawsuit against USA Gymnastics last month, alleging that officials paid her to sign a confidential financial settlement to remain silent on the abuse." --safari
Barbie Nadeau of The Daily Beast: "What is a boy to do when his spiritual mentor, part of a group that claims it is leading young people on the path of Christ, says that God, working in mysterious ways, wants him to fondle and be fondled, to lie naked with grown men, to be sodomized? Too often and for too long in too many parts of the world, those experiences have been kept as guilty secrets.... Such is the situation in Peru and Chile, where Pope Francis is paying a visit this week." --safari
Michelle Goldberghas quite a good column in today's NYT titled "The President & the Porn Star."
AFP: "In 1545 disaster struck Mexico's Aztec nation when people started coming down with high fevers, headaches and bleeding from the eyes, mouth and nose.... Within five years as many as 1 million people -- an estimated 80% of the population -- were wiped out.... Its cause, however, has been in questioned for nearly 500 years. On Monday scientists swept aside smallpox, measles, mumps, and influenza as likely suspects, identifying a typhoid-like 'enteric fever' for which they found DNA evidence on the teeth of long-dead victims.... European colonisers spread disease as they ventured into the new world, bringing germs local populations had never encountered and lacked immunity against. The 1545 cocoliztli pestilence in what is today Mexico and part of Guatemala came just two decades after a smallpox epidemic killed an estimated 5-8 million people in the immediate wake of the Spanish arrival. A second outbreak from 1576 to 1578 killed half the remaining population." --safari
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