The Commentariat -- December 21, 2017

Happy Birthday, Sun Gods. Today is the day many ancient peoples, not to mention a few nutty new ones, celebrated -- or prayed for -- the rebirth of their sun gods. For a more technical explanation of the winter solstice, Justin Grieser of the Washington Post obliges. Those of us skeptical of mythology can only hope that yesterday actually was our darkest day here in the U.S. ...

Afternoon Update:

Jan Wolfe of Reuters: "Democratic-leaning states may take legal action to challenge the cap on deductions of state and local taxes under the sweeping overhaul of the U.S. tax code, and even though such lawsuits would face long odds they could help galvanize Democrats for next year's mid-term election." ...

... AND Ivanka Trump vouches for Sen. Bob Corker's "real integrity." Mrs. McC: So never mind anything negative I wrote about the Corker Kickback. And never mind that Ivanka & family will make millions on that kickback, too. ...

     ... P.S. Still looking for a holiday gift for a special lady? Here's a suggestion, (Too pricey? Just tell the clerk you'll pay for it when you big tax cut comes thru.):

Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "The selection of Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) as the ranking member on Judiciary was the clearest sign yet of how seriously House Democrats consider the possibility of a full-blown constitutional showdown with Trump. You wouldn't know it from how many of them talk. When it comes to the I-word, most Democrats have walked a tightrope -- with even Nadler hesitant to mention impeachment in interviews before votes were cast Wednesday.... Nadler won [the committee leadership post in] a secret ballot 118 to 72, demonstrating that this caucus wants to be ready to clash with Trump if it vaults into the majority after next year's midterm elections." ...

... Greg Sargent: "This is exactly what Democrats should be doing -- right now. Not just because an impeachment battle might actually happen, but also for another reason: Democrats will need to find a more effective way to talk to the American people about the serial degradation of our democracy we are seeing in the Trump era, for the good of the party, yes, but also for the good of the country.... Trump's ongoing self-dealing and abuses of power, the facts being unearthed in the Russia probes, the obvious efforts earlier this year to hamstring the FBI investigation, the blithe lack of concern about future assaults on our democracy, the uncontrollable contempt for governing norms and the rule of law, and the profound inability to grasp the most basic obligations that come with his office -- both to the public and to the integrity of our system of government -- plainly add up to an aggregate level of degradation that commands a serious effort to determine whether he is fit to continue."

Stephanie Baker & Irina Reznik of Bloomberg: Robert Mueller's team is looking into a sham U.S. foundation "financed by $500,000 in donations, mostly from wealthy Russians with ties to Petr Katsyv, deputy director of Russian Railways and a longtime acquaintance of Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika. Rather than a nonprofit helping unite Americans with Russian adoptees, the foundation was a lobbying vehicle against sanctions.... Most of the Russians financing the foundation said in interviews that they knew nothing about U.S. adoptions of Russian children, contradicting the foundation's U.S. disclosure forms.... [Robert] Akhmetshin, a former Soviet intelligence officer [who is a lobbyist for & employee of the 'foundation']..., met with senior officials of the Donald Trump campaign in New York: the candidate's son, son-in-law and campaign manager."

Cold Case Files. Tom Winter, et al., of NBC News: "On the orders of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Justice Department prosecutors have begun asking FBI agents to explain the evidence they found in a now dormant criminal investigation into a controversial uranium deal that critics have linked to Bill and Hillary Clinton, multiple law enforcement officials told NBC News. The interviews with FBI agents are part of the Justice Department's effort to fulfill a promise an assistant attorney general made to Congress last month to examine whether a special counsel was warranted to look into what has become known as the Uranium One deal, a senior Justice Department official said."

Luke Nozicka of the Des Moines Register: "... Donald Trump on Wednesday commuted the prison sentence of former Iowa slaughterhouse executive Sholom Rubashkin, who was sentenced to 27 years for bank fraud and money laundering, the White House said. In a statement, the White House said the decision, which is not a presidential pardon, had bipartisan support from leaders across the political spectrum, such as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-California) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). Trump's action does not vacate Rubashkin's conviction and leaves his term of supervised release and a restitution obligation, the White House said." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: For one thing, Trump sees nothing wrong with bank fraud & money laundering.

*****

Thomas Kaplan of the New York Times: "The House, forced to vote a second time on the $1.5 trillion tax bill, moved swiftly to pass the final version on Wednesday, clearing the way for President Trump to sign into law the most sweeping tax overhaul in decades.... The final House vote was essentially a formality, as the changes, which were made to comply with Senate budget rules, did not significantly alter the overall bill." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Trump Says He & GOP Lied to Sell Tax Bill. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "President Trump was so excited about passing his first major piece of legislation Wednesday that he blurted out that the Republican Party had misrepresented the entire bill, handing Democrats some ... talking points for the 2018 midterm elections. Speaking at the White House just before the House prepared to sign off on the tax-cuts bill one last time, Trump reveled extensively in his win before turning things over to Vice President Pence to heap praise upon him continuously for a few minutes. It was a thoroughly unique spectacle, even as victory dances and Trump Cabinet meetings go.... While talking about the corporate tax rate being cut from 35 percent to 21 percent, Trump said, 'That's probably the biggest factor in our plan.'... The problem? Republicans have been selling this legislation as a middle-class tax cut, first and foremost.... [Then Trump] argued that repealing the individual mandate was basically the same as repealing Obamacare. But, he said, he told Republicans not to talk about that. Trump said he told allies to 'be quiet with the fake news media because I don't want them talking too much about it.'" ...

     ... Dana Milbank: "With those admissions now on tape, Trump has officially claimed full ownership of the health-care system for himself and fellow Republicans. Whatever it is now -- or isn't -- is Trumpcare.... Premiums for the most popular health insurance on the individual market exchanges are estimated to rise 34 percent on average next year.... Employer-based health insurance costs are forecast to rise in 2018 by the most since 2011, at 4.3 percent, according to the human resources consulting firm Mercer, and overall medical costs will be up 6.5 percent, the first increase in the rate in three years...." ...

... Ruth Marcus assesses the bill:

... The Victory of the Kleptocracy. What Massive Corruption Looks Like. Drew Harwell of the Washington Post: "The Republicans’ first legislative triumph of 2017 will ensure a financial windfall for the president and his family in a way that is virtually unprecedented in American political history, experts said.... Exactly how much the president could save under the plan is unknown, since Trump has broken with 40 years of White House precedent by refusing to release his tax returns." Mrs. McCrabbie: This corrupt scheme involves not just the President, but about 95 percent of GOP members of Congress. It takes a conspiracy to overthrow traditional democratic norms, & that's what we're seeing: the president, the Congress, the right-wing media, and soon enough, the judiciary.

... ** Charles Pierce: "Paul Ryan dreamed of this day because Paul Ryan dreams of plutocracy. And now, with this bill, he has successfully arranged the first piece of his career-long effort to turn the clock of the American economy back to the 1890s. When he comes for what he calls 'entitlement reform' -- which he will, as soon as this idiot bill explodes the deficit -- that will be the second piece. The Supreme Court (through Citizens United, McCutcheon, and Shelby County) already has cooperated in this great project. The president* is on board because he's basically made of greed and ignorance. The large media conglomerates will go along for the ride because they are conglomerates first, and news-gathering entities second." ...

.. Eric Levitz reports on some of the grotesque compliments Republicans gave Trump yesterday for essentially doing nothing but accepting the huge tax cuts Congress gave him. Mrs. McC: mike pence & Orrin Hatch were the worst, but it was a lively contest among experienced sycophants. ...

     ... John Wagner of the Washington Post: "... the adulation from the Republican lawmakers signaled an even bigger moment: Many were embracing not only a shared accomplishment with Trump, but also his unorthodox presidency itself." ...

... Say, maybe you're all excited that some big-name corporations -- especially those that currently or often find themselves under the thumbs of federal regulators & legislators -- are indeed promising to pass their windfall on to employees: ...

... Liz Moyer of CNBC: "Fifth Third Bancorp will pay more than 13,500 employees a bonus and raise the minimum wage of its workforce to $15 an hour after the passage of the Republican tax plan that will cut the bank's corporate tax rate.... Wells Fargo ... also said it would be boosting its minimum wage for employees to $15 an hour, which was prompted by the tax plan. The San Francisco-based bank also said it would target $400 million in donations to community and nonprofit organizations next year." ...

     ... Addy Baird of ThinkProgress: "Well[s] Fargo did announce Wednesday that it will be increasing its minimum wage to $15 an hour -- an actual living wage -- but the money being funneled to stock buybacks far exceeds that being devoted to bonuses or wage increases."

... AT&T: "Once tax reform is signed into law, AT&T* plans to invest an additional $1 billion in the United States in 2018 and pay a special $1,000 bonus to more than 200,000 AT&T U.S. employees -- all union-represented, non-management and front-line managers. If the President signs the bill before Christmas, employees will receive the bonus over the holidays." ...

     ... Kevin Drum: "In the most recent quarter, American companies increased their investments in equipment by 6.3 percent. AT&T appears to be planning an increase of 4.5 percent. I am unimpressed.... There's also this: December 15: 'AT&T today provided details of a tentative agreement reached with the Communications Workers of America in Mobility Orange contract negotiations.... Among provisions of the offer: Retroactive wage increases back to Feb. 12, 2017, and a $1,000 lump sum, if the agreement is ratified by Jan. 12, 2018.'... Why do I have a feeling that this $1,000 bonus was already in the works for everyone, not just Mobility Orange folks? I guess I'm just cynical. In any case, AT&T sure does seem to be going out of its way to suck up to President Trump. I wonder why that could be? It's a mystery...." ...

     ... Emily Stewart of Vox: "AT&T on Wednesday announced plans to invest an additional $1 billion in the United States after the passage of the Republican tax bill. President Trump read the announcement at a ceremony at the White House celebrating the tax bill on Wednesday afternoon. 'That's pretty good,' he said. It was also pretty good when AT&T made essentially the same announcement in November." ...

     ... Addy Baird (linked above): "... a Communication Workers of America (CWA) spokesperson told ThinkProgress Wednesday that the $1,000 [AT&T] bonus was 'a drop in the bucket compared to what was promised.'... The move is seen as an olive branch to Trump, who has been hostile to AT&T's proposed takeover of Time Warner, a merger that would be worth $84.5 billion." ...

... Brian Stelter of CNN: "Based on the passage of tax reform and the FCC's action on broadband,' Comcast is giving 'special $1,000 bonuses to more than 100,000 eligible frontline and non-executive employees.'" ...

     ... Addy Baird (linked above): "... like AT&T's bonuses, the bonuses are only temporary, one-time paycheck increases, not the investments in wages Republicans have promised." ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: Baird's main point is this: "Share buybacks are a way of enhancing the shareholder wealth, and, facing the prospect of a major tax cut, that's exactly what many large corporations have decided to do. The repurchasing does not create new jobs or increase wages for workers." Among large U.S. corporations that have announced share buyback programs in the run-up to passage of the tax heist: Home Depot, Boeing, pharmaceutical company Pfizer, banking group ANZ, Hyatt Hotels, Jet Blue, T-Mobile, Liberty Global & Wells Fargo. ...

... Josh Marshall: "There's no doubt each of these companies is, corporately, extremely happy with the passage of this bill.... It's just as obvious this is a choreographed effort to validate administration claims that the bill's payoffs to the super wealthy will actually be passed down to ordinary Americans.... Despite the President's behavior and that of his obsequious appointees and confederates, the US is not yet an authoritarian strongman government. But that is clearly what the President aspires to and feels is his right. But it is in the nature of authoritarian government's to secure lockstep alliances with major corporate entities seeking favor and preferment. This can all happen very quickly." --safari ...

... Juan Cole: "The Republican Party did not just overhaul the tax code and they did not cut 'your' taxes. They engineered a coup against the middle and working classes and they threw enormous amounts of public money to private billionaires and multi-millionaires.... Americans' wealth amounts to about $88 trillion. If you divided up all the privately held wealth equally, every household in the US would be worth $698,000.... But needless to say, the wealth isn't divided up equally. The top ten percent of households, 12.6 million households own 76% of the privately held wealth.... This tax bill won't create jobs, won't spur investment, and won't bring companies back home. It will make the 1.26 million households even more fabulously wealthy than they already are, and ensure that the rest of us get poorer." --safari ...

... Corporations Win, Sick Kids Lose. Lachlan Markay, et al., of the Daily Beast: "Shortly before [GOP lawmakers] gathered with Trump to applaud ... passing a major tax package that will, largely, benefit the wealthy and corporations..., news broke that they'd failed to advance a bill that would re-authorize a program providing healthcare to 9 million children.... But that is just one of the many pressing issues that the Congress has left for the next year. The others include protections for undocumented children, money for community health centers, and the funding of the actual government. Sources close to the White House said on Wednesday that they were fully anticipating the possibility that this brew of major items could result in a government shutdown, thereby negating some of the economic gains that the tax cuts would facilitate." ...

... Congress & Amtrak Should Have Prevented the Washington Train Accident. They Didn't. Patrick McGeehan, et al., of the New York Times: "After investigators determined that [a 2008 train] crash could have been prevented by automatic-braking technology, Congress ordered all passenger railroads to install new systems by 2016. Since then, Congress has extended that deadline and trains have kept speeding into preventable disasters, including the Amtrak derailment that killed three people in Western Washington on Monday.... Over the years since the mandate, railroads have continued to spend money on other priorities, including new trains and stations and passenger amenities. Since the Philadelphia accident [in 2015], Amtrak has put the technology into use on the Northeast Corridor, from Boston to Washington. But it is not installed on most other passenger lines, including Long Island Rail Road and New Jersey Transit.... [In this week's deadly derailment in Washington state,] the train was going 80 miles an hour into a curve with a limit of 30 miles an hour, and..., although equipment for the automatic-braking system was in place, it was not yet in use."

Trump Threatens World. Mark Landler of the New York Times: "President Trump threatened on Wednesday to cut off American aid to any country that votes in favor of a resolution at the United Nations General Assembly denouncing his recent decision to formally recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Mr. Trump's statement, delivered at his last Cabinet meeting of the year, followed a letter from the American ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki R. Haley, in which she warned that the United States would take note of any country that votes in favor of the measure." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: So now we know what Donald Grump & his elf Nikki Haley plan to do with her naughty list. In 2017's USA, threatening every nation in the U.N. is called "diplomacy."...

... Juan Cole: "The thuggish Trump and his gun moll Nikki Haley have threatened member countries of the UN General Assembly with a cut-off of US foreign aid if they vote against the US on Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.... The right wing in the United States has long spread around the false story that the US government gives away enormous amounts of money to other countries.... The actual US foreign aid budget is $41.9 billion, about one percent of the Federal budget. Having retailed a ridiculous narrative for decades, the GOP has now been caught in its own trap, making threats on the basis of facts not in evidence.... The US doesn't give out much aid, and therefore can't hold it over the heads of many other countries. The aid it does give out is for establishing US influence, and discontinuing it is an opening for China to get US clients instead. I very much doubt anyone will pay attention to Trump's threats." --safari

The Trump Russia Scandal

** Obstruction. Allegra Kirkland of TPM: "Just days after the inauguration, White House Counsel Don McGahn learned -- and warned ... Donald Trump -- that then-national security adviser Michael Flynn had probably violated federal laws, according to a new report out Wednesday. Foreign Policy reported that the Special Counsel has obtained 'records' that reveal McGahn ... conclude[d] that Flynn had likely committed a crime.... Most significantly, the records now in the possession of ... Robert Mueller indicate McGahn 'warned Trump about Flynn's possible violations' for holding those discussions and lying about them to the FBI.... Legal experts told TPM that such advance notification about Flynn's potentially criminal acts would significantly bolster the case that the President was trying to obstruct justice when he allegedly asked ... James Comey to drop the investigation into Flynn." --safari ...

... The Trump Russia Scandal, GOP Edition. Kyle Cheney & John Bresnahan of Politico: "A group of House Republicans has gathered secretly for weeks in the Capitol in an effort to build a case that senior leaders of the Justice Department and FBI improperly -- and perhaps criminally -- mishandled the contents of a dossier that describes alleged ties between ... Donald Trump and Russia, according to four people familiar with their plans. A subset of the Republican members of the House intelligence committee, led by Chairman Devin Nunes of California, has been quietly working parallel to the committee's high-profile inquiry into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. They haven't informed Democrats about their plans, but they have consulted with the House's general counsel.... GOP lawmakers have become increasingly fixated on the FBI's use of the dossier describing sometimes salacious allegations of Trump's ties to the Kremlin.... [Rep. Adam Schiff, (D-Calif.), the ranking member of the committee,] said committee rules require consultation between Republicans and Democrats, but House Speaker Paul Ryan must enforce bipartisan cooperation if he wants it to occur. 'And at this point, you have to conclude that he doesn't,' Schiff said. Ryan's office declined to comment." ...

     … Mrs. McCrabbie: So, in other words, Paul Ryan, among his many other glaring failings, is part of a plot to undermine the DOJ & FBI in furtherance of his support for the corrupt foreign activities of an unfit president. On a more humorous level, Nunes & his whack-job friends must be having great fun "studying" the "salacious details" of the Steele report. We have a two-party system, one that's populated by greedy lunatics & the other that's run by well-meaning incompetents. What an exceptional country! ...

... ** Yascha Mounk in a New York Times op-ed: "The Republican Party is no longer just obfuscating the truth or defending the president when he is accused of wrongdoing. Rather, Mr. Trump, Fox News and Republicans in Congress seem to be actively using falsehoods to prepare an assault on the institutions that allow American democracy to function.... The most puzzling thing about these claims [against the Mueller investigation & the FBI] is how patently ridiculous they are.... The construction of an alternate reality that obviates the very possibility of conducting politics on the basis of truth is a novelty in this country. And it is increasingly becoming obvious that it will serve a clear purpose: to prepare the ground for egregious violations of basic democratic norms.... The pundits and politicians who have helped to delegitimize Mr. Mueller and his investigation over the past weeks are making themselves active accomplices in a deliberate assault on our democracy. But it is also why those who have failed to condemn these attacks -- like Paul Ryan, the speaker of the House, and Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader -- are equally to blame." ...

... Murdoch Covers for the Mafia. Bob Brigham of RawStory: "Billionaire right-wing media mogul Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal delayed and then killed an editorial revealing Donald Trump's mob ties, Esquire reported. WSJ editor Paul Gigot, delayed an editorial by Ted Cruz supporter James Freeman until after Trump was the presumed nominee. Freeman's article supposedly detailed ties between Trump and organized crime. The piece was never published and Freeman became a Trump supporter." --safari...

... Sam Tanenhaus, in Esquire, has a long piece on the bitter battle being waged within the GOP: "'Conservatives have decided they are a tribe,' says Jennifer Rubin, the conservative Washington Post writer who has declared war on both Trump and his GOP. 'They're not Americans first. They're Trump defenders first.' It is ideological groupthink, the Right's own political correctness.... But in truth, 'Conservatism, Inc.' was never the luxury gravy train its critics depicted. It was closer to a Soviet-style nomenklatura, with a good deal of ideological policing." --safari

Juliet Eilperin & Lena Sun of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration is waging a linguistic battle across official Washington, seeking to shift public perception of key policies by changing the way the federal government talks about climate change, scientific evidence and disadvantaged communities.... Multiple references to [climate change] have been purged repeatedly at the Environmental Protection Agency and the Interior Department. In late summer, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention issued a document to employees and contractors bearing a column of words and phrases to be avoided, alongside a column of acceptable alternatives.... The chasm between President Trump's top deputies and the federal workers charged with carrying out government policies appears particularly wide."

Senate Race. Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill (R-Moore) is "investigating voter fraud" in the recent Senate race R-Moore lost. Charles Pierce explains Merrill's plans as only Pierce can. "Chances are this will come to nothing, but, if we've learned nothing else this year, 'chances are' is a phrase best left to Johnny Mathis. In the United States of 2017, every day is Anything Can Happen Day."

Another Senate Seat May Be about to Open. John Bresnahan of Politico: Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), chair of the Appropriations Committee, has not done any committee business in the last several months. "The 80-year-old's feeble performance has fueled expectations -- among senators and aides who've witnessed his physical and mental decline firsthand -- that Cochran will step down from the Appropriations chairmanship early next year, or resign from the Senate altogether. 'The understanding is that he will leave after Jan. 1,' said a Republican senator who serves on the Appropriations Committee.... A spokesman for the Mississippi Republican said Cochran hasn't divulged his plans."

Elana Schor of Politico: "The congressional office that handles sexual harassment complaints, along with a top Republican senator, have refused to divulge information about taxpayer dollars doled out to settle harassment claims [against senators] -- and pressure is mounting on them to come clean. Congress' Office of Compliance, which oversees payments to resolve sexual harassment claims and other workplace disputes, has given data on the Senate's taxpayer-funded settlements to Senate Rules Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.). The House has already released the compliance office's settlement totals for that chamber going back a decade. But the compliance office has ... reject[ed] a request from Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) to divulge the numbers. And Shelby ... is in talks with his Democratic counterpart on releasing the data as Kaine vows to 'start raising hell' to shake it loose." ...

... AND Paul Ryan says sexual assault allegations against Donald Trump are "other stuff... I'm not focussed on." As a bonus, he tried to shame NBC "Today" host Savannah Guthrie, who was interviewing him, by pointing out that her former co-host Matt Lauer was a serial sexual harasser, too: "... it happened in your industry, in your studio...." ...

... NYT Bars Sexual Harasser from Covering Sexual Abuser. Paul Farhi of the Washington Post: "The New York Times said it will suspend, rather than fire, political reporter Glenn Thrush, who was accused of harassing women when he worked for another publication. Following a lengthy internal investigation, the newspaper said Thursday that Thrush would be given a two-month suspension and then stripped of his prestigious beat covering the White House. He will be reassigned once his suspension is up next month, Executive Editor Dean Baquet said in a statement.... Baquet declined to explain the Times's reasoning for Thrush's suspension or why he is being removed from covering the White House, where he was among the most prominent beat reporters. But his continued presence on the beat could have raised questions about his impartiality, given that both he and President Trump have been accused of sexual harassment."

Ben Collins of The Daily Beast: "The Twitter bot @CongressEdits tracks every change made on Wikipedia from the U.S. Capitol building. Any edit made with a Capitol IP address is preserved with a screenshot and posted instantly, which has won it an avid following of 60,000 Beltway obsessives.... Days later, [intern Kate] Kohn, in a conversation with The Daily Beast, became the first member of what she says is a secret society of interns editing Wikipedia pages with political messages they know will reach some of the biggest names in Washington to out herself." --safari

Linda Greenhouse has a terrific piece on why judges matter & how the Trump administration's white, male, conservative, incompetent nominees will undermine the judiciary, which for decades had been growing more diverse.

Jessica Glenza of the Guardian: "Life expectancy in the US has declined for the second year in a row as the opioid crisis continues to ravage the nation. It is the first time in half a century that there have been two consecutive years of declining life expectancy. Drug overdoses killed 63,600 Americans in 2016, an increase of 21% over the previous year, researchers at the National Center for Health Statistics found. Americans can now expect to live 78.6 years, a decrease of 0.1 years. The US last experienced two years' decline in a row in 1963, during the height of the tobacco epidemic and amid a wave of flu." --safari: Good thing we have Kellyanne Conjob on the case.

Celeste Katz of Newsweek: "Students ripped off by for-profit college loan programs may face a painful lesson in the workings of government thanks to the federal Education Department's decision to change the rules about forgiving their debt. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced Wednesday that the department is altering the Obama Administration's promise of completely erasing loans taken out by students defrauded by the Corinthian Colleges chain. DeVos said under the new standards, forgiveness will now be tied to students' income as a way of measuring whether they did enjoy some benefit from their educations -- even if they were deceived about the worth of their diplomas." --safari

Beyond the Beltway

Ryan Poe of USA Today: "The city of Memphis sold two public parks containing Confederate monuments to a nonprofit Wednesday in a massive, months-in-the-planning operation to take the statues down overnight.The City Council unanimously approved the sale of Health Science Park, home of Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, and its easement on Fourth Bluff Park, home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, for $1,000 each to Memphis Greenspace Inc. Fourth Bluff, or Memphis Park, is owned by a group called The Overton Heirs. The sale -- which is almost certain to result in a lawsuit from statue supporters -- allows Greenspace to legally do what the city of Memphis cannot: Remove the statues from their visible perches in the parks." --safari

Corrupt Republican Judges Overturn Virginia Recount. Jim Morrison, et al., of the Washington Post: "Control of Virginia's legislature hung in limbo Wednesday after a three-judge panel declined to certify the recount of a key House race, saying that a questionable ballot should be counted in favor of the Republican and tying a race that Democrats thought they had won by a single vote. 'The court declares there is no winner in this election,' Newport News Circuit Court Judge Bryant L. Sugg said after the panel deliberated for more than two hours.... All of [the judges] were elected by a Republican-controlled legislature.... James Alcorn, chairman of the State Board of Elections, said the winner will likely be chosen by placing names on slips of papers into two film canisters and then drawing the canisters from a glass bowl (or his bowler hat). He said he is conferring with staff to figure out the date and method.... If the loser of the coin toss is unhappy with that result, he or she can seek a second recount." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Republicans argued that the voter, because s/he voted for other Republicans, intended to vote for Yancey, the Republican. Really? Take a look at the ballot, a copy of which is included in the report. The voter filled in the bubble for Republican gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie AND put an "X" over the Gillespie bubble. The House of Delegates part of the ballot says, "Vote for only one." The voter filled in the bubbles for both Yancey & the Democrat Simonds, but also appears to have put an X over the bubble for Simonds. There is no logical way you can read this ballot as a vote for Republican Gillespie (bubble + X) but not for Democrat Simonds (bubble + X). The instructions are clear. Whatever the voter's intention, s/he tried to vote for two candidates for Delegate where only one was allowed. That part of this ballot must be disregarded. These Republican judges are not stupid. They are corrupt.

The Commentariat -- December 20, 2017

Afternoon Update:

Thomas Kaplan of the New York Times: "The House, forced to vote a second time on the $1.5 trillion tax bill, moved swiftly to pass the final version on Wednesday, clearing the way for President Trump to sign into law the most sweeping tax overhaul in decades.... The final House vote was essentially a formality, as the changes, which were made to comply with Senate budget rules, did not significantly alter the overall bill."

*****

** Thomas Kaplan & Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Republicans took a critical step toward notching their first significant legislative victory since assuming full political control, as the House and Senate voted along party lines on Tuesday and into early Wednesday to pass the most sweeping rewrite of the tax code in decades. The $1.5 trillion tax bill, which is expected to head to President Trump's desk in the coming days, will have broad effects on the economy, making deep and lasting cuts to corporate taxes as well as temporarily lowering individual taxes.... The Senate voted 51 to 48, with no Republican defections and no Democratic support.... The day was not without hiccups, however, as several small provisions in the tax bill were found by the Senate parliamentarian to violate the budget rules that Republicans must follow to pass their bill through a process that shields it from a Democratic filibuster. As a result, the House will need to vote again on the tax bill, probably on Wednesday, since both chambers must approve identical legislation. The approval of the bill in the House on Tuesday came over the strenuous objections of Democrats, who have accused Republicans of giving a gift to corporations and the wealthy and driving up the federal debt in the process.... The House voted 227 to 203 to pass the bill, with 12 Republicans voting against it and no Democrats voting for it. Eleven of the 12 Republicans were from California, New Jersey and New York, states that would be hit hard by a provision in the bill limiting the deduction for state and local taxes.... 'Today, we are giving the people of this country their money back,' Speaker Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin said before the House vote. When the bill passed the House, a giddy Mr. Ryan smiled broadly and banged the gavel with force as he declared victory." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: You've done enough, Mr. Ryan. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency? ...

Look, we expect that it likely will, certainly on the personal side, could cost the president a lot of money. -- Sarah Sanders, yesterday

Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post already gave that one . Sometime, just to throw us off, you should try moving your lips without lying. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

... Adam Cancryn of Politico: Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) thinks criticism of her support for the tax heist is "unbelievably sexist." "She's also been criticized for conditioning her support for the Senate's tax bill on passage of a pair of bills aimed at stabilizing Obamacare markets. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has pledged to her they will pass -- but House Republicans have balked at any 'bailout' for insurers. That prompted speculation that her demands won't be met, as it's still not certain that the House will accept the insurance measures in a year-end spending bill." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Really, Senator? You're taking money out of Mainers' pockets & giving it to Donald Trump & what irritates you is that pundits have suggested GOP leaders have duped you? And that's so sexist? Well, I for one don't think you've been duped. I think you know exactly what you're doing -- transferring money from ordinary Americans to people like yourself. Your vote on this bill is conscious & unconscionable. Getting all huffy about it doesn't make your shameful act of Grand Theft America any less shameful. I'd say the same about every one of your deplorable GOP colleagues, of whatever gender. Now don't you feel a little grateful that some people think you're just a dimwitted naif & not a mean, craven hypocrite? On the other hand, I've been picking on Bob Corker just because he's a man. ...

     ... Anyway, let's find out what-all the GOP leadership is doing to keep its ObamaCare promises to you. ...

     ... Rachel Bade & Jennifer Haberkorn of Politico: "Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell are about to lock horns over Obamacare -- part of a House-Senate clash that needs to be resolved by Friday to avert a government shutdown. McConnell promised moderate GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine that he would prop up President Barack Obama's signature health law in a must-pass, year-end spending bill -- so long as she backs tax reform. But Ryan's more conservative conference is flatly rejecting that idea and urging the Wisconsin Republican to stand firm against his Senate counterpart.... If [Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer [N.Y.] doesn't back the subsidies language -- or the funding bill altogether -- it's possible that McConnell won't have the votes to move the legislation through his own chamber, letting Ryan off the hook." ...

     ... Collins Bills DOA in House. Alice Ollstein of TPM: "Just a few hours before the Senate prepares to vote on a massive overhaul of the American tax system, a host of House Republicans told reporters that the promises made to secure the vote of Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) have no chance of passing the lower chamber and becoming law. Collins announced Monday that she would vote for the tax bill based on promises from President Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to support two health care bills aimed at mitigating the expected damage from the tax bill's provision killing Obamacare’s individual mandate." ...

     ... Steven Dennis of Bloomberg: Sen. John Cornyn (Texas), the "The No. 2 Senate Republican, said Tuesday that the GOP's tax bill will make Obamacare 'unworkable,' which he hopes will force Democrats into negotiations to replace the law.... Senator John Thune [South Dakota], the No. 3 Senate Republican, also said he hoped there would be a bipartisan deal but said another option is trying to find 50 votes for a modified version of the Graham-Cassidy repeal bill." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: But you know Mitch is going to tell Susan he really, really tried to keep his promise to her & Susan is going to look "concerned" all the way to the bank. Is it "unbelievably sexist" to call this whole charade a Kabuki dance? ...

.. Alex Shephard of the New Republic: "Over the course of the year, [a few] Republicans have condemned Trump on the Sunday shows and on social media. And now they have banded together to give Trump a major victory: not only a historic restructuring of the tax system, but also a partial repeal of Obamacare.... These Republicans have alternated between bolstering Trump and chastising him, but have never acted with any larger strategy or taken any meaningful action to constrain a president they distrust.... The reason they have caved to Trump is because, for all their objections to Trump's tweeting and the innumerable ways he has damaged democratic traditions in this country, concerns about the deficit or the integrity of the Oval Office or the rule of law or the rights of minorities simply don't have much traction in the modern Republican Party. As many have noted, it has only one, unifying agenda: tax cuts and deregulation. As a result, the efforts to reform Trump's Republican Party from within have all collapsed, out of deference to these narrow policy goals." ...

... Rebecca Kysar & Linda Sugin, in a New York Times op-ed: Republicans have built a tax "system that will not last." The writers blame, in part, the GOP's choice to exclude Democrats from the process. But the writers, who are both law professors, also cite a number of the soon-to-be law's most glaring deficiencies. Most of them we know, but here's one we've missed: "On the international side, an area badly in need of permanent reforms, Republicans have erected planks that appear to violate World Trade Organization agreements. Eventually the United States is likely to have to repeal major parts of the law or face sanctions. Rather than ending tax maneuvers in which corporations shift money abroad, the international system envisioned by the bill actually loses money. What's more, the new international system arguably increases incentives for offshoring assets and income." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Pardon me for being a suspicious witch, but it seems likely that the instability of the tax heist is actually a feature -- one which benefits GOP members of Congress only (okay, and some of their lobbyist friends). Suppose Republicans had done what they campaigned on: a middle-class tax cut, a simplified tax code & a lower corporate rate, which, by eliminating loopholes more equally distributed the burden on corporations. Okay, done. Their donors AND voters are happy. But by creating tax law that Democrats are bound to dismantle ASAP, Republicans have a permanent cudgel with which to batter their donors: "If you don't support us bigly, you will lose all the generous cuts we gave you." This bill uses GOP donors' greed to satisfy the GOP Congress's greed. Neat. ...

... Mark Murray of NBC News: "The tax plan ... has grown more unpopular in the last two months, with nearly two-thirds of Americans believing it's designed mostly to help corporations and the wealthy, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. In addition, the survey finds that Democrats have overtaken Republicans on which party better handles the economy -- their first lead on this question since 2013 and their largest since 2009." ...

... "The Trump Tax." Dana Milbank: "The deeply unpopular bill has the support of only a third of Americans, most of whom (correctly) perceive that it's a giveaway to rich people and big corporations.... USA Today reported last week that the bill had 'the lowest level of public support for any major piece of legislation enacted in the past three decades, including the Affordable Care Act in 2009.'... Republicans are making impossibly high promises, and if anything goes wrong -- if the economy doesn't boom, wages don't soar and the middle class doesn't rebound -- it will be the fault of this legislation, soon to be labeled 'the Trump Tax' by Democrats.... While the 'forgotten man' Trump lured with phony populism gets little benefit, the things that bothered the forgotten man about the tax code -- a tangled mess of loopholes for businesses, the rich and Wall Street -- remain intact." ...

Why are my taxes going down and my assistant's is going up? Can someone explain how that is fair? -- Jason Harbor, a real estate investor ...

... Andrew Sorkin of the New York Times: "The tax bill soaks some ... rich Americans -- but it does not soak the richest.... Some executives are already calculating that they will be paying additional seven-figure sums in taxes. OK, you might want to get out get out your smallest violin.... The two most popular games for the very wealthy will be running their income through pass-through companies, which pay a lower rate, or using a corporation to pay themselves a tiny salary and huge dividends, which will be taxed at the lower capital gains rates.... Private equity and real estate executives, as has been well documented, will make out like bandits under the new system. According to the Tax Policy Center, 5 percent of taxpayers would pay more in taxes in 2018; 9 percent in 2025 and 53 percent in 2027." ...

"The Stealth Repeal of ObamaCare." Joanne Kenen of Politico: "Obamacare survived the first year of ... Donald Trump, but 's badly damaged. The sweeping Republican tax bill on the verge of final passage would repeal the individual mandate in 2019, potentially taking millions of people out of the health insurance market. On top of that, the Trump administration has killed some subsidies, halved the insurance enrollment period, gutted the Obamacare marketing campaign, and rolled out a regulatory red carpet for skimpy new health plans that will change the insurance landscape in ways that are harmful to former President Barack Obama's signature health care law. None of these individually represent a death blow. But in aggregate, the past year adds up to a slow, stealthy erosion of the law. 'They obviously couldn't kill it, so they're trying to starve it slowly,' said Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.), who sits on the House Ways and Means Committee, which helped write the original law."

The Trumpeteers -- All for One & (Sometimes) One for All. Jonathan Chait: "Trump and the congressional Republicans ... have essentially merged into a politically coterminous entity. Trump has absorbed all the liabilities of the congressional party, while his distinctive grossness largely extends to them. Nothing has brought together the union quite so vividly as the tax cuts, Trump's singular legislative achievement, and one the entire party has greeted almost ecstatically.... Americans see the Republican Party as enriching its donor class, and the president personally, at the expense of the broader public. Republicans have addressed these liabilities by simply lying about them.... The regular Republican Party of tax cuts for the rich and deregulation of polluters and the financial industry once seemed to be set apart from its clownish demagogue presidential candidate. In rapid order, the strands have merged together into a party disdainful of transparency and united in self-enrichment."

Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: "Democrats are backing away from a pledge to force a vote this month over the fate of thousands of undocumented immigrants brought to this country as children, angering activists but probably averting the threat of a government shutdown at a critical moment in spending negotiations with Republicans and President Trump. With a deadline of midnight Friday to pass spending legislation, dozens of Democrats had vowed to withhold support if Republicans refused to allow a vote on a measure, known as the Dream Act, that would allow roughly 1.2 million immigrants to stay legally in the United States. But a group of vulnerable Democratic senators facing reelection in conservative states next year aren't willing to go that far -- meaning the party is unlikely to muster the votes to block the spending bill." ...

... Seung Min Kim of Politico: "Top senators and White House officials are laying the groundwork for a major immigration deal in January to resolve the fate of young undocumented immigrants whose legal protections were put in limbo by ... Donald Trump." Mrs. McC: Read the story & draw your own conclusions. It looks to me as if this group of senators is acting more-or-less in good faith, while colossal dickhead John Kelly is refusing to tell them how high a U.S.-Mexico border wall he & Fuckface von Clownstick will demand in return for not deporting these young Americans.

Amanda Terkel of the Huffington Post: "The Senate banking committee rejected ... Donald Trump's choice to lead the Export-Import Bank on Tuesday, voting 10-13 against advancing his nomination to the full Senate. Two Republicans joined with Democrats in opposition. Scott Garrett, who was a tea-party-aligned Republican congressman from New Jersey until he lost his re-election bid in 2016, has faced intense opposition from the business community ― including corporations like General Electric Co. and Boeing> ― and many traditional GOP allies, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers. That's because Garrett once wanted to shutter the institution that he now is trying to run, and he consistently voted against reauthorizing it. In 2015, he lambasted the Export-Import Bank as an institution that 'embodies the corruption of the free enterprise system.'... Sens. Mike Rounds (S.D.) and Tim Scott (S.C.) were the two Republican votes against Garrett." ...

... Zachary Warmbrodt & Andrew Restuccia of Politico: "The decision by a bipartisan group of senators to block ... Donald Trump's pick to lead the Export-Import Bank marked a stinging defeat for Vice President Mike Pence, who worked for months to boost the nomination despite doubts from some administration officials. Pence continued to push senators to support former New Jersey Republican Rep. Scott Garrett's nomination to lead the bank until the final hours before the Senate Banking Committee met for a vote Tuesday morning.... [Pence & Garrett] served together in the House and are said to share similar worldviews." Mrs. McC: It is discouraging to be reminded that there are others who share pence's pinched "worldviews."

The Top Trumpeteer. Everything Good Is Because Trump. Michael Scherer & Jenna Johnson of the Washington Post: "During the first presidential debate in September 2016, then-candidate Donald Trump argued that the booming performance of the stock market under the Obama administration should not be trusted. 'Believe me: We're in a bubble right now. And the only thing that looks good is the stock market -- but if you raise interest rates even a little bit, that's going to come crashing down,' Trump said. 'We are in a big, fat, ugly bubble. And we better be awfully careful.' More than a year later, President Trump has turned similar record stock market bench marks into his favorite measure of his personal success in office. [Mrs. McCrabbie P.S.: the Fed has raised interest rates three times this year & five times since the financial crisis of 2008.]... 'DOW RISES 5000 POINTS ON THE YEAR FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER -- MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!' the president tweeted ... Tuesday, marking the 58th time he has mentioned the stock market on Twitter since taking office.... In recent weeks, the president has taken full credit for market performance, even though the recent rate of increase largely matches the bullish run under Obama, which began after the market hit bottom in 2009.... Presidents traditionally have avoided commenting directly on stock values.... Part of the reason is that stock gains typically are not felt by many voters who remain frustrated by their economic situation."

Michelle Nichols of Reuters: "The 193-member United Nations General Assembly will hold a rare emergency special session on Thursday at the request of Arab and Muslim states on ... Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, sparking a warning from Washington that it will 'take names.'... U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley, in a letter to dozens of U.N. states on Tuesday..., warned that the United States would remember those who voted for the resolution.... 'The president will be watching this vote carefully and has requested I report back on those countries who voted against us. We will take note of each and every vote on this issue,' Haley wrote. She echoed that call in a Twitter post: [']The U.S. will be taking names.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I doubt leaders of other countries care about your empty threat, Madame Ambassador. Your crazy boss has turned a once-admired great nation into a pitiful, if dangerous, rogue state. Even if & when the Congress or the voters throw him out of office, the damage he has done will be long-lasting. Who would trust a country where someone like Donald Trump can become its titular leader & a compliant legislature props him up? Rather than making a list & checking it twice, you might want to try seeing oursels as ithers see us. ...

     ... OR, as Marvin S. put it more succinctly in yesterday's thread, "... America First is working. Looks like we no longer have any allies."

What the Russia Matter Is Really About:

I think this past weekend is illustrative of what a great case officer Vladimir Putin is. He knows how to handle an asset, and that's what he's doing with the president.... You have to remember Putin's background. He's a KGB officer. That's what they do. They recruit assets. And I think some of that experience and instincts of Putin has come into play here in his managing of a pretty important account for him, if I could use that term, with our president. -- James Clapper, on CNN Sunday ...

... ** Martin Longman of Booman Tribune: "James Clapper spent over a half a century working in the American intelligence community, capping his career with a six-year stint as the Director of National Intelligence. It's true that he lied to Congress in 2013 about what kinds of information the NSA collects on U.S. citizens, a crime exposed by Edward Snowden and for which Clapper paid no price whatsoever. You shouldn't forget that when assessing his credibility, nor should you ignore the fact that career intelligence professionals aren't necessarily or generally known for being forthright and honest in their public statements.... Yet, even a skeptic has to note the highly unusual spectacle of a customarily taciturn and circumspect intelligence officer of Clapper's rank accusing the president of being a witting agent and pawn of the Russian state.... His opinion is shared widely in the intelligence community which is precisely why Clapper felt free to express it without any concern that he'd be seen as a kook or somehow shunned by his peers. He was speaking for them, or at least a large plurality of them." Longman links Clapper's remarks to the Steele dossier & points out that Robert Mueller's team "serve[s] and answer[s] to a president whom they highly suspect of being compromised at best and a witting agent of a hostile foreign power at worst." ...

... John Schindler, former National Security Agency analyst and counterintelligence officer, in the New York Observer: "... [James] Clapper went on CNN to drop an unimaginably large bombshell on ... Donald Trump.... America's most experienced spy boss publicly termed our president an asset -- that is, a witting agent -- of the Kremlin who is being controlled by Vladimir Putin. Even if meant only 'figuratively,' this is the most jaw-dropping statement ever uttered about any American president by any serious commentator.... This, of course, is precisely what Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his investigation are trying to get to the bottom of -- and, not coincidentally, what President Trump and his supporters are trying just as hard to prevent Team Mueller from unraveling.... In our Intelligence Community, it's widely understood that Donald Trump possesses longstanding ties to the Kremlin which are at best suspect and at worst reflective of an unsettling degree of Russian influence over our commander-in-chief." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Say, have we mentioned that the publisher of the New York Observer is Jared Kushner? (The site is now in a "blind" family trust, but guess what? His brother-in-law Joseph Meyer is the current publisher, making the "blindness" of the trust exactly as sight-impaired as are the doings of the Trump Organization is to one Donald Trump.) Everything is getting curiouser & curiouser. ...

... Paul Waldman: "If Trump's allies thought the facts would prove the president's innocence and that of everyone else involved, they wouldn't be in such a panic.... But there's one Republican who's convinced Trump will be fully exonerated: Donald Trump.... The latest twist, however, is one that could bring the scandal to an entirely new level. Mueller's team has obtained thousands of emails written by members of Trump's presidential transition team.... As Mueller's spokesperson said in response to the White House's assertion that the GSA shouldn't have given Mueller the emails, 'When we have obtained emails in the course of our ongoing criminal investigation, we have secured either the account owner's consent or appropriate criminal process.' The repetition of the word 'criminal' should send shivers down a few people's spines." ...

What Winger Conspiracy Theorists Say the Russia Matter Is All About:

... Eli Watkins of CNN: "... Donald Trump's eldest son suggested Tuesday that the investigation around his father's campaign has been fueled by government higher-ups who have conspired to block the President's agenda. 'There is, and there are, people at the highest levels of government that don't want to let America be America,' Donald Trump Jr. told a gathering of young conservative activists in West Palm Beach, Florida.... In his remarks Tuesday, Trump Jr. railed against special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation and attacked the media's coverage of the Russia story, saying the ongoing probe was emblematic of the kind of 'rigged system' the President had railed against during the campaign." ...

... Annals of "Journalism," Fever Swamp Edition. Daily Beast: "A Fox News guest-host on Tuesday suggested the FBI plotted to assassinate ... Donald Trump before he took office. While discussing the text messages of two bureau agents formerly working on the FBI's probe of Russian election interference, right-wing radio host and Outnumbered guest-host Kevin Jackson said he hopes the Senate Judiciary Committee presses deputy FBI chief Andrew McCabe on whether certain texts point to a specific intent, 'whether it was an assassination attempt or whatever.'" Mrs. McC: Just another day at Fox "News." ...

I think ... the Clintons and their operatives in the FBI ... are going to go ahead and make their move to kill the president. I think in the next 30 days, I think they're going to make an assassination attempt. I just -- my gut -- I see all of them together, they're that desperate. They're either going to give up or they're going to activate their cells. -- Alex Jones, Monday ...

I'll take a wild guess & vote for "they're going to give up." That Hillary just has no stamina. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

... Kyle Swenson of the Washington Post: "... on Tuesday, [Republican] criticism [of Mueller's investigation] hurtled across an even more extreme line, when Fox News contributor Kevin Jackson suggested the FBI might have had plans to assassinate President Trump. It's a conspiracy theory that has already been percolating on the extreme fringe, the petri dish for much of the 'deep state' rhetoric.... By his own admission, Jackson's fears of assassination came from 'social media stuff.' But the Fox News commentator was picking up on a frequency beamed out only a day before by InfoWars's Alex Jones.

Eli Rosenberg of the Washington Post: "The White House has taken down a popular online tool created by President Barack Obama's administration that allowed the public to create online petitions, some of which required an official response. All of the petitions, including one that called on President Trump to release his tax returns -- the most popular, with more than a million signatures -- disappeared from Petitions.WhiteHouse.Gov as part of what a statement posted on the site said was part of a maintenance effort to improve its performance. The statement said that the site, as well as all of its existing petitions, would be restored by the end of January.... The Trump White House has not responded to any of the petitions that have circulated on the site since the president took office, many of which have taken a particularly grave tone." Emphasis added.

Fake News Quashes EPA Covert Ops. Rebecca Leber, et al., of Mother Jones: "The Republican PR firm that was awarded a $120,000 EPA contract for media monitoring has pulled out of the deal, days after Mother Jones first revealed the controversial arrangement. The no-bid contract drew widespread scrutiny in recent days, in part because the for-profit firm, called Definers, is overtly partisan and& is connected to a network of GOP political groups ... that have performed opposition-style research on environmentalists.... Mother Jones first reported on Definers' EPA contract on Friday. Later that day, the New York Times reported that an employee at the firm had filed a series of Freedom of Information Act requests seeking records from EPA staffers who had been critical of EPA administrator Scott Pruitt. The controversy continued to grow over the weekend. On Tuesday, two Democratic senators, Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.) and Kamala Harris(Calif.), called for the contract to be canceled. The senators quickly got their wish." ...

... MEANWHILE. AP: "The head of the Environmental Protection Agency used public money to have his office swept for hidden listening devices and bought sophisticated biometric locks for additional security. The spending items, totaling nearly $9,000, are among a string of increased counter-surveillance precautions taken by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, who also requires around-the-clock protection by an armed security team." Mrs. McC: If he can't spy on employees, employees can't spy on him. So there. Maybe living in a cloud of pollution has made Scott Pruitt crazy.

Never Mind. Josh Gerstein & Renuka Rayasam of Politico: "A looming Supreme Court showdown over abortion rights for immigrant children in federal custody appeared to be defused Tuesday night after the U.S. government released one of the pregnant teens at the center of the fight, citing new evidence that she is an adult. Lawyers for the Trump administration said a birth certificate for the immigrant known in court filings as Jane Roe shows her to be 19, not 17 as previously thought.... The Justice Department said the immigrant was turned over to ICE and released on her own recognizance. That leaves her free to seek an abortion if she wishes to do so."

Robert McFadden of the New York Times: "Cardinal Bernard F. Law, whose stature as archbishop of Boston and America's senior Roman Catholic prelate was shattered in a maelstrom of scandal, acrimony and resignation in 2002 after revelations that he had protected abusive priests for years, died Wednesday. He was 86 and lived in Rome. The Vatican confirmed the death in a news release." ...

     ... The Boston Globe, which broke the stories on how Law aided serial child molesters who were priests in the Boston diocese, has links to numerous stories about Law on its front page. They are firewalled, so you can read them only if you have a subscription.

Beyond the Beltway

Your Vote Matters. Gregory Schneider of the Washington Post: "The balance of power in Virginia’s legislature turned on a single vote in a recount Tuesday that flipped a seat in the House of Delegates from Republican to Democrat, leaving control of the lower chamber evenly split. The outcome, which reverberated across Virginia, ends 17 years of GOP control of the House and forces Republicans into a rare episode of power sharing with Democrats that will refashion the political landscape in Richmond. It was the culmination of last months Democratic wave that had diminished Republican power in purple Virginia. Democrat Shelly Simonds emerged from the recount as the apparent winner in the 94th House district, seizing the seat from Republican incumbent David Yancey. A three-judge panel still must certify the results, an event scheduled for Wednesday. Of the 23,215 votes cast in the district on Election Day, Yancey held a lead of just 10 votes going into Tuesday's recount. But five hours later, after a painstaking counting overseen by local elections officials and the clerk of court, Yancey's lead narrowed -- and then reversed. The final tally: 11,608 for Simonds to 11,607 for Yancey."

The Commentariat -- December 19, 2017

David Sanger & Mark Landler of the New York Times: "President Trump declared Monday that the United States faced growing competition from Russia and China, two great-power rivals that he said 'seek to challenge American influence, values and wealth.' But Mr. Trump, in presenting a new national security strategy that carried distinct echoes of the Cold War, said nothing about Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, even though the official strategy document itself warns briefly of 'Russia using information tools in an attempt to undermine the legitimacy of democracies. Mr. Trump referred instead to a Sunday telephone call from President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, who thanked him for intelligence that the C.I.A. had passed on to Russian authorities, which Mr. Trump said foiled a terrorist attack in St. Petersburg that could have killed thousands of people.... Mr. Trump's speech seemed oddly divorced from the 55-page document, a blueprint for American policy on issues including jihadi extremism, space exploration, bio-threats and pandemics. Speaking to an audience that included cabinet members and military officers, the president delivered a campaignlike address, with calls to build a wall along the nation's southern border with Mexico and a heavy dose of self-congratulation for the bull market, the low jobless rate and tax cuts, which he said were 'days away.'" (This is an update of a story linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I doubt Trump ever read the 55-page policy paper, that his briefers kept him in the dark on matters that might upset him, as usual, & his speechwriters tailored his remarks to suit his prejudices & predilections. ...

     ... Update. Ellen Mitchell of the Hill: "A White House spokesman on Monday couldn't say whether President Trump had read the administration's new national security strategy in its entirety. The comment came after CNN's Wolf Blitzer asked national security spokesman Michael Anton if Trump had read all of the 55-page strategy document rolled out earlier Monday. 'The president has been involved in the drafting of it from the beginning, has been presented with sections of it over the past many months and was briefed on the final document several weeks ago,' Anton replied. 'The president himself personally led the presentation of the document to his Cabinet only about a week ago,' he added. 'But has he read the whole document?' Blitzer pressed. 'I can't say that he's read every line and every word. He certainly had the document ... and has been briefed on it,' Anton said." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Anton, who is a total Trumpestuous ass, may soon find himself out of a job anyway. Instead of hedging on Trump's grasp of "his own" policy, he was supposed to tell Wolf, "Read it? He wrote it! The President is a genius, blah blah blah." ...

... Benjamin Hart of New York: "The year 2017 has seen a supercharged hurricane devastate Puerto Rico, wildfires raging out of control in California, and a catastrophic rainfall event in Houston.... There is convincing evidence that the massive amount of carbon humans are pumping into the atmosphere played a key role in all of these occurrences. The Trump administration's reaction: This is fine. In its new National Security Strategy, which President Trump will announce in a speech on Monday afternoon, the administration will drop climate change in its list of threats to the nation. Instead, it will focus on securing the country's border and a plan for 'economic security,' which involves an aggressive posture toward China and (somewhat surprisingly) Russia." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Polina Nikolskaya of Reuters: "The Kremlin dismissed ... Donald Trump's new national security strategy as imperialist on Tuesday, but welcomed Washington's willingness to cooperate in some areas."

Zeeshan Aleem of Vox: "The Trump administration angered much of the world earlier this month by recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. A startling UN Security Council vote Monday showed how far America's closest allies are willing to go to try to force the White House to change course.... [Fourteen] of the 15 members of the UN Security Council approved a measure 'expressing deep regret at recent decisions concerning the status of Jerusalem,' a clear nod to the Trump administration. The US immediately vetoed the resolution, but the overwhelming margin of the initial vote highlighted the administration's growing isolation over Jerusalem. The measure was drafted by Egypt, one of the Trump administration's closest allies in the Arab world, and drew support from Britain, France, and other nations with longstanding and warm ties to Washington.... It's extremely rare for the UN Security Council to pass measures targeting the US, let alone ones that require the US to veto the resolution itself rather than assuming one of its allies would do so instead."

Ken Dilanian, et al., of NBC News: "In the weeks after he became the Republican nominee on July 19, 2016, Donald Trump was warned that foreign adversaries, including Russia, would probably try to spy on and infiltrate his campaign, according to multiple government officials.... The warning came in the form of a high-level counterintelligence briefing by senior FBI officials, the officials said. A similar briefing was given to Hillary Clinton.... The candidates were urged to alert the FBI about any suspicious overtures to their campaigns, the officials said.... Trump was 'briefed and warned' at the session about potential espionage threats from Russia, two former law enforcement officials ... told NBC News. A source close to the White House said their position is that Trump was unaware of the contacts between his campaign and Russians.... The situation was complicated by the fact that the FBI had already become aware of contacts between members of the Trump campaign and Russia, and was beginning to investigate further.... By the time of the warning in late July or August, at least seven Trump campaign officials had been in contact with Russians or people linked to Russia, according to public reports. There is no public evidence that the campaign reported any of that to the FBI." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: "The official position" is baloney. Even if Trump were unaware of his staff's contacts with Russian officials & operatives -- which I highly doubt -- he had a responsibility to take steps to ensure that the campaign was not being and had not been compromised or infiltrated by foreign adversaries. Clearly, he did not do that. ...

... Josh Marshall: "I think that tells us what we should already know: that Trump and his top advisors knew they were doing something wrong, even if it might not have gone so far as 'collusion'.... And since they knew it was wrong they worked hard to keep it secret and hidden.... FBI and FBI counter-intelligence agents knew that Trump had at least troubling ties to Russian organized crime, money-laundering and possibly intelligence operators long before the campaign." ...

... Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "... Donald Trump insists he's not going to fire Robert Mueller, but that's not stopping Republicans and others close to the president from orchestrating a relentless stream of attacks on the credibility and integrity of the special counsel and his team of Russia investigators.... The purpose of the onslaught, according to people close to the White House..., is to sow public doubt about Mueller and his prosecutors in advance of upcoming criminal trials -- and to give the president political cover if he wants to start issuing pardons to any current or former aides swept up in the Russia scandal." ...

... Jonathan Chait figures that instead of firing Robert Mueller, Trump will fire Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general who "has exercised close and frequent oversight over the special counsel. If Trump wanted to stop Mueller's work, he could replace Rosenstein with a more pliable figure." Chait suspects that one reason Rosenstein would be an easier hit is that he's Jewish. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Maybe. Trump does stereotype Jews, but that may be more because he's fairly simple-minded than because he's antisemitic. I think the real reason Trump might fire Rosenstein is the same reason he considered withdrawing Neil Gorsuch's name from consideration (story linked below) & why he fired Jim Comey & Steve Bannon: these men did not show perfect loyalty to the king. A Trump courtier can't just kiss the ring; he must prostrate himself daily. Also, Rosenstein has neither the name recognition nor the universal admiration by Republicans that Mueller once enjoyed. ...

... **Asha Rangappa in Just Security: "... Trump has recently expressed dissatisfaction with Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Rod Rosenstein, calling him 'weak' and a threat. Along with those comments, the Washington Post reports that 'Trump appeared to be contemplating changes in the Justice Department's leadership.' In short, there's a good chance that the guillotine is poised for Rosenstein, not for Mueller -- and if so, that is cause for even greater concern for all who care about the integrity of the Russia investigation and, yes, the rule of law.... The Russia investigation existed independently of Mueller before he was appointed.... Mueller simply stepped in to an already-existing investigation and carried it forward with a team of prosecutors with greater independence but still oversight from the Justice Department.... Rosenstein is effectively Mueller's boss.... In short, the president has one move he can make in which the benefits to him might outweigh the costs.... Trump has great discretion in deciding whether to remove him and can do it quickly and directly. And by removing Rosenstein but not touching Mueller, Trump can claim that he is in fact not trying to interfere with the Russia investigation at all: Indeed, it could be very hard to prove otherwise, which insulates him significantly from further obstruction charges. Firing Rosenstein but keeping Mueller gives the president the ultimate political and legal protection...." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: In addition, Rosenstein smacked Trump upside the head this week. Andrew Prokop of Vox: "Rosenstein repeated in congressional testimony last week that he believes he is the only person who has the authority to fire Mueller, that he believes he legally can't fire Mueller without 'good cause,' that he's seen no good cause to fire Mueller yet, and that he would not carry out an order to fire Mueller without that good cause." These remarks violate Trump Rule No. 1: "I'm the only one that matters." (It's true that Trump was talking about State Department policy at the time, but you can be sure that Rule No. 1 applies everywhere.) ...

... Stay Tuned. Devlin Barrett, et al., of the Washington Post: "White House lawyers are expected to meet with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's office late this week seeking good news: that his sprawling investigation's focus on President Trump will soon end and their client will be cleared. But people familiar with the probe say that such assurances are unlikely and that the meeting could trigger a new, more contentious phase between the special counsel and a frustrated president, according to administration officials and advisers close to Trump. People with knowledge of the investigation said it could last at least another year.... The special counsel's office has continued to request new documents related to the campaign, and members of Mueller's team have told others they expect to be working through much of 2018, at a minimum." ...

... All of Hillary's Opponents Were Russian Stooges. Emma Loop of BuzzFeed: "The top congressional committee investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election has set its sights on the Green Party and its nominee, Jill Stein.... Producers from RT News, the Russian state-funded media company..., booked Stein for several appearances, [a Stein campaign worker] said.... When asked Monday what the committee was looking for from the Stein campaign, North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr, the committee's chairman, responded, 'collusion with the Russians.' Burr said that the committee is 'just starting' its work investigating two campaigns, but did not elaborate.... Stein's name has also come up in the context of a 2015 dinner hosted by RT in Moscow. Stein sat at the same table as Russian President Vladimir Putin and Michael Flynn...."

** Dana Milbank has some swell suggestions not only on many words & phrases Trump should ban but also on replacements for the banned words. "... an all-out vocabulary blockade, enforced by an armada of language police -- could be Trump's ticket to survival." For instance, "Trump should probably ban the word 'irony' after his attorneys argued that the '.gov' emails from his transition team are 'private' property and not 'official' -- even though Trump's defenders argued the opposite when defending Michael Flynn's Russia contacts during the transition as 'official' and not 'private.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie BTW: I also notice that Trump's transition team lawyer was claiming "presidential communications privilege" -- even though during the transition Trump, of course, was not president. And, as we all know, he has never been "presidential." ...

... Speaking of "Not Presidential":

... Ashley Parker, et al., of the Washington Post: "For nearly eight months, President Trump has boasted that appointing Neil M. Gorsuch to the Supreme Court ranks high among his signature achievements. But earlier this year, Trump talked about rescinding Gorsuch's nomination, venting angrily to advisers after his Supreme Court pick was critical of the president's escalating attacks on the federal judiciary in private meetings with legislators. Trump, according to several people with knowledge of the discussions, was upset that Gorsuch had pointedly distanced himself from the president in a private February meeting with Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), telling the senator he found Trump's repeated attacks on the federal judiciary 'disheartening' and 'demoralizing.' The president worried that Gorsuch would not be 'loyal,' one of the people said, and told aides that he was tempted to pull Gorsuch's nomination -- and that he knew plenty of other judges who would want the job." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: So Trump not only expects the Justice Department (including the FBI) to be loyal to him, he also expects supposedly nonpartisan justices -- the leaders of a whole 'nother branch of our checks-and-balances system of government -- to be loyal. I can't decide if Trump is more mafia boss or more banana-republic-style dictator.

The Republican M.O.: Privatize the gains, socialize the losses. -- Unwashed, in today's Comments ...

... Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Republicans return to Congress this week with victory in sight on their long-awaited tax bill as the House and Senate gear up to vote on the $1.5 trillion tax overhaul as soon as Tuesday. The bill's expected passage along party lines had Democrats scrambling over the weekend to try to pressure a late supporter of the legislation, Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee, to vote against the bill. With just a 52-48 majority in the Senate, Republicans have little room for defections given that Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, is getting medical treatment in his home state and is not expected to return to Washington in time for the vote. Democrats are now looking to change the trajectory of the bill by convincing Republicans who had initially wavered on the bill to vote against it this week." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Corker Kickback, Ctd. Naomi Jagoda of the Hill: "The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee on Monday shot down reports that a tax break for real-estate developers was 'air-dropped' into the final GOP tax bill and that Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) had pushed for it. 'Both assertions are categorically false,' Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said in a letter to Corker. Hatch's letter comes after a request from Corker on Sunday to get more information about how a provision relating to pass-through businesses ended up in the final tax legislation. The provision in question allows capital-intensive pass-through businesses to receive more tax relief.... Hatch said he is 'disgusted' by press reports that have 'distorted' how the provision originated." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Yes, because many members of Congress & big donors have real-estate investments set up as pass-throughs, not just Corker. This is a gift for many GOP friends & donors. Hatch didn't want to forget any of them. Also, too, Hatch's "tell" is high dudgeon. Whenever he gets really indignant, it's because he's been caught doing something, well, "disgusting." ...

... Eric Levitz of New York: "... there is, nonetheless, a farcical aspect to the outrage that the 'Corker Kickback' has generated. The IBT story uncovered circumstantial evidence that Corker traded his vote for a tax provision that benefits him personally. This was treated as a scandal. And yet, just two weeks ago, Wisconsin senator Ron Johnson said -- publicly and repeatedly -- that he would vote against the Senate bill unless it provided a larger tax break to pass-through businesses, like the one that his family owns. Mitch McConnell relented, Johnson collected his ransom, and the whole incident was covered as a legitimate policy dispute.... The 'Corker kickback' is a small piece of the tax bill; the broader [Johnson] pass-through deduction is a pillar of it.... When lawmakers craft regressive legislation reviled by the public and [their own] experts alike, it stands to reason that their work is being corrupted by special interests." ...

... New York Times Editors: "Whatever the Republicans' protestations, this malodorous [Corker pass-through] loophole is further confirmation that congressional leaders are doing everything they can to maximize benefits for the wealthy at the expense of almost everybody else.... All told, the 20 percent deduction for pass-through income would cost the government $414.5 billion in lost revenue over 10 years, according to Congress's Joint Committee on Taxation. To put that number into context, it is about 29 times as much as the roughly $14 billion a year that the federal government spends on the Children's Health Insurance Program, which covers nearly nine million kids from low-income families. Congress let authorization for that program lapse at the end of September. The tax bill's generosity toward real estate titans stands in stark contrast to its stinginess toward the average wage earner as well as its very real damage to taxpayers in high-cost states." ...

... Trickle-Down Corruption. Paul Krugman: "Unless something drastic happens, this will be the week Republicans ram through a tax cut that adds more than a trillion dollars to federal debt while undermining health care for millions. They will do so by violating all previous norms for major legislation, having held not a single hearing and rushed to a vote before the new senator from Alabama could be seated." Krugman cites three reasons why. "The final, and most disturbing, possible explanation for the behavior of Republican legislators is that they're supporting legislation, knowing that it's bad for both the country and their party, because it's good for them personally.... [Bob] Corker denies that he had any role in adding that provision. But he has offered no coherent alternative explanation of what changed his mind about voting for a bill that explodes the deficit. We may never know exactly what happened with Corker. But there's every reason to believe that Republicans in Congress are taking their cues from a president who openly uses his office to enrich himself." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: The idea that Trump led politicians to be corrupt is farcical; however, his blatant corruption may encourage politicians to be more open about their own corruption. So you get some old hands like Hatch & Corker who still take umbrage at suggestions of impropriety; but others, like Ron Johnson (thanks, Wisconsin!) -- who is admittedly the stupidest man in the Senate -- openly demands he receive a personal kickback.

One of the Best People Is Withdrawing His Nomination. John Wagner & Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "Matthew Petersen, a nominee to the federal judiciary, has withdrawn from consideration days after a video clip showed him unable to answe basic questions about legal procedure, the White House confirmed Monday. Petersen, nominated for a seat on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, is the third Trump judicial pick to withdraw in the past week amid criticism from Democrats and others about their qualifications.... The video of Petersen that went viral Thursday captured five minutes of pointed questioning by Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-La.) at Petersen's confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee the day before." ...

... Kevin Dupuy of WWL-TV (New Orleans): "Kennedy told WWL-TV Monday that he did not know that Petersen was so inexperienced for the position. 'Just because you've seen 'My Cousin Vinny' doesn't qualify you to be a federal judge,' Kennedy said. 'And he has no litigation experience. And my job on the judiciary committee is to catch him. I would strongly suggest he not give up his day job.' Kennedy said that Trump called him Saturday to talk about the nominee. He said Trump did not personally interview Petersen and the nominations were chosen by his staff. 'He has told me, "Kennedy, when some of my guys send someone who is not qualified, you do your job,"' Kennedy said Monday." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I dunno. Petersen could have learned something about criminal procedure from Judge Chamberlain Haller (Fred Gywnne):

Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "Alex Kozinski, the powerful judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit who was facing a judicial investigation over allegations that he subjected 15 women to inappropriate sexual behavior, announced Monday that he would retire effective immediately. In a statement provided by his lawyer, Kozinski apologized, saying that he 'had a broad sense of humor and a candid way of speaking to both male and female law clerks alike' and that, 'in doing so, I may not have been mindful enough of the special challenges and pressures that women face in the workplace.'... The announcement comes just days after The Washington Post reported that nine more women had accused Kozinski of making sexual comments to them or of other conduct, including four who said he touched them inappropriately. That story followed an earlier report in The Post, which detailed the allegations of six women, including former clerks who said Kozinski showed them porn in his chambers." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

Josh Gerstein & Renuka Rayasam of Politico: "The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Monday to block an abortion for a teenage girl in immigration custody, even as federal officials gave up their fight to prevent another undocumented immigrant teen from terminating her pregnancy. The moves came just hours after a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to permit abortions as soon as Tuesday evening for both pregnant 17-year-old girls being held in federally funded shelters in different states. The Justice Department did not provide a detailed explanation of its decision to acquiesce in one girl's decision while continuing to seek to block the other teen from getting an abortion, but simply cited 'differing circumstances.'... Since the start of the legal battle, the administration has maintained that undocumented minors in federal custody have no legal rights to abortion."

"The Year in Resistance." Michelle Goldberg: "... while Trump has given his followers the liberal tears they crave, that victory contains the seeds of its own reversal. Trump has done more to spur progressive political organizing than Bernie Sanders, George Soros and Saul Alinsky combined. The president once warned that if he fell, he'd take the entire Republican Party down with him. Thanks to the Resistance, he might still have the chance."

Patricia Mazzei in the New York Times: "Facing mounting evidence that Puerto Rico has vastly undercounted the number of people who died because of Hurricane Maria, Gov. Ricardo A. Rosselló ordered on Monday that every death on the island since the calamitous storm be reviewed. Officials will look again at all deaths attributed to natural causes after the hurricane, which made landfall Sept. 20 and knocked out power to 3.4 million Puerto Ricans -- and to their hospitals and clinics. Parts of the island are still without power almost three months later, and the power grid is operating at only 70 percent of capacity. The prolonged blackout hampered critical medical treatment for some of the island's most vulnerable patients, including many who were bedridden or dependent on dialysis or respirators. But if they died as a result, the storm's role in their deaths may have gone officially unrecorded."

The Tyranny of Pharma. Carolyn Johnson of the Washington Post: "The zigzagging trajectory of the price of Daranide, now known as Keveyis, shows just how much freedom drug companies have in pricing therapies -- and what a big business opportunity selling extremely-rare-disease drugs has become. It also illustrates how well-intentioned policy to help spur the development of 'orphan' drugs for very rare diseases can have unintended consequences.... The price has been on a roller coaster in recent years -- zooming from a list price of $50 for a bottle of 100 pills in the early 2000s up to $13,650 in 2015, then plummeting back down to free, before skyrocketing back up to $15,001 after a new company, Strongbridge Biopharma, acquired the drug and relaunched it this spring."

Kristine Phillips of the Washington Post: "TV and radio personality Tavis Smiley continues to push back against allegations of sexual misconduct, accusing PBS, which has suspended distribution of his late-night talk show, of mishandling its investigation into the accusations.... He admitted he has had consensual sexual relationships with subordinates, but he said those relationships were neither prohibited nor coerced. He also denied firing or threatening employees with whom he had a relationship.... PBS fired back Monday, saying in a statement Smiley 'needs to get his story straight.' A PBS spokeswoman said Smiley's latest comments contradict a previous Facebook post in which he said he had just one relationship with an employee."

News Lede

Seattle Times: "The Amtrak train that derailed Monday morning on its inaugural trip through a faster railway route was supposed to slow dramatically before entering the curve where the crash occurred. The speed limit at the curve where the train crosses Interstate 5 is 30 miles per hour, said state transportation department spokeswoman Barbara LaBoe, while the speed limit on most of the track is 79 mph. She said speed-limit signs are posted two miles before the lowered speed zone and then just before the zone.... A late-night news conference by National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) officials verified the train was going 80 mph in the 30 mph zone. Officials said they had no other information."