The Commentariat -- December 18, 2017

Afternoon Update:

David Sanger & Mark Landler of the New York Times: "President Trump's first national security strategy envisions a world in which the United States confronts two 'revisionist' powers -- China and Russia -- that are seeking to change the global status quo, often to the detriment of America's interests. But while the document outlines a detailed plan to push back against China's global economic ambitions, it says little about dealing with the kind of cyber and information warfare techniques that Moscow used to try to influence the 2016 presidential election.... The president, his aides said, enthusiastically approved the strategy and wanted to present it himself, something that his two immediate predecessors, Barack Obama and George W. Bush, did not do when their congressionally mandated strategies were published.... The document describes Russia's behavior in far more critical terms than Mr. Trump himself often does.... Mr. Trump's strategy contains more than a few hints of a return to a Cold War view of the world." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Maybe Trump is "enthusiastic" about it because his briefers, comme d'habitude, didn't tell him what-all was in it. ...

... 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

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." ...

... 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." ...

     ... 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 of our friends & donors. Our corruption is widespread.

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." ...

*****

Andrew Kramer of the New York Times: "President Vladimir V. Putin called President Trump on Sunday to thank him for the work of the Central Intelligence Agency in helping prevent an Islamic State attack in the northern Russian city of St. Petersburg. In rare words of praise for the C.I.A., Mr. Putin said the agency had provided information that 'helped detain terrorists planning explosions,' the Kremlin said in a statement posted on its website. The attackers planned to strike crowded sites including Kazan Cathedral, a landmark Orthodox Christian church, the statement said." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: This mutual admiration society is getting saccharine.

Philip Rucker, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Sunday sought to douse speculation that he may fire special counsel Robert S. Mueller III amid an intensifying campaign by Trump allies to attack the wide-ranging Russia investigation as improper and politically motivated. Returning to the White House from Camp David, Trump was asked Sunday whether he intended to fire Mueller. 'No, I'm not,' he told journalists, insisting that there was 'no collusion whatsoever' between his campaign and Russia. The president's comments came a day after a lawyer representing Trump's transition team accused Mueller of wrongfully obtaining thousands of emails sent and received by Trump officials before the start of his administration -- a legal and public relations maneuver seen as possibly laying the groundwork to oust the special counsel. Trump criticized Mueller for gaining access to those emails, telling reporters the situation was not looking good.' 'It's quite sad to see that,' Trump said. 'My people were very upset about it.'" ...

Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "For much of the seven months since Robert S. Mueller III was appointed special counsel, President Trump's lawyers have stressed their cooperation with him, believing that the more they work with his investigation, the sooner the president will have his name cleared.But in recent weeks, as the investigation has reached deeper into Mr. Trump's inner circle, that image of cooperation has begun to fracture. Mr. Trump's lawyers and supporters have significantly increased their attacks on Mr. Mueller.... Kellyanne Conway, said ... 'the fix was in against Donald Trump from the beginning.'" ...

Mommy, Why Does White Santa Go Only to Rich People's Houses? Jesse Drucker & Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "President Trump has called the $1.5 trillion tax cut that Republican lawmakers are on the verge of passing a Christmas present for the entire nation. But the fine print reveals that some will get a much nicer gift than others, the benefits will change over time, and some will be left out in the cold. Real estate developers and technology companies could see big tax cuts, while low-income households and people buying health insurance could lose out." Big Shiny Gifts go to Donald Trump & his family, big corporations, multimillionaires, private equity managers, private schools & those who can afford them, the liquor business, architects & engineers, tax accountants & lawyers. Lumps of Coal go to people buying health insurance, ordinary taxpayers, the elderly, low-income families, owners of high-end homes, people in high-property-tax states, people in high-income states, Puerto Rico, the IRS. ...

Dear Cousin Fred, I had planned to send you a beautiful Merry Christmas card with a generous greenback enclosed, but instead I'm sending you a lump of coal wrapped in this New York Times story. You are such a loser. Hope your fucking MAGA cap & T-shirt keep you warm. As affectionately as ever, Cousin Bea

... The Corker Kickback, Ctd. Judd Legum of Think Progress: Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) went on the teevee & kinda refuted Sen. Bob Corker's (R-Tenn.) claim he had no idea that the tax heist bill that came out of the House-Senate conference committee had added a big new tax break that would specifically benefit Corker (and the Trump family). Cornyn "told ABC News that the provision that benefits real estate investors [like Corker, the 4th-richest U.S. senator] was added as part of an effort to 'cobble together the votes we needed to get this bill passed.' When asked if the provision was added specifically to secure Corker's vote, Cornyn dodged the question.... Meanwhile, #CorkerKickback is trending on Twitter." Mrs. McC: If you missed the backstory on this, I linked one on Saturday & one on Sunday, but Legum writes a good summary. ...

... Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "The Republican tax bill does not pass the postcard test. It leaves nearly every large tax break in place. It creates as many new preferences for special interests as it gets rid of. It will keep corporate accountants busy for years to come. And no taxpayer will ever see the postcard-size tax return that President Trump laid a kiss on in November as Republican leaders launched their tax overhaul effort. This was not the grand simplification of the code that Republicans promised when they set out to eliminate tax breaks and cut the number of tax brackets as they lowered rates." ...

... Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "Sen. John McCain left the nation's capital Sunday to spend Christmas in Arizona with his family as he battles brain cancer, giving his Republican Party one less vote as it is expected this week to attempt to push through a contentious tax bill along party lines. President Trump told reporters Sunday that McCain (R-Ariz.) and his wife, Cindy McCain, have 'headed back [to Arizona], but I understand he'll come if we ever needed his help, which hopefully we won't.'... Trump said he spoke to Cindy McCain by phone Sunday." ...

David Horsey of the Los Angeles Times.... E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post: "The tax bill the GOP is trying to foist on the country is not only an unfair and deficit-bloating hodgepodge written on the fly. It is also deeply corrupt. Every Republican who votes for this bill will be joining a festival of venality.... The tax bill is not illegal. But it is a dishonest power and money grab by -- and on behalf of -- the already powerful. As for 'inducements,' well, there are those long-term investments of tens of millions of dollars in campaign contributions (enabled by the collapse of all the guardrails around political money) from wealthy individuals and regiments of interest groups. They will have a merry holiday season if the bill passes as expected.... The shamelessness of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's description of the bill on CNN Sunday as 'a very large tax cut for working families' is quite staggering."

Joe Davidson of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration's consideration of a wage freeze for federal employees is one piece of a renewed multifront Republican push to shrink those workers' pay, benefits and workforce....  Confidential administration information released last week by Sen. Claire McCaskill (Mo.), the leading Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, revealed an administration proposal to freeze federal salaries in fiscal 2019. That is the third piece in a pattern that includes Trump's 2018 budget proposal to cut the employer contribution to retirement benefits and the House Republican plan to have retirees pay more out of pocket for their health insurance. Congress did not approve the last two recommendations, and the pay freeze, which Trump can impose, is not beyond the leaked-document stage. Yet the proposals lurk, likely to reemerge in future budget plans after having long percolated in conservative circles."

We have seen a lot of nefarious activities from Trump. But hiring a fossil fuel front group that specializes in political hits and is doing F.O.I.A. investigations of your agency's own employees is a new low. -- Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.)

This is classic propaganda from an authoritarian regime. -- Tom Steyer, billionaire environmenalist & Democratic donor, whom America Rising is surveilling ...

... Eric Lipton & Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: Right after EPA employees complained about aspects of the agency, "requests were submitted for copies of emails written by them that mentioned either Mr. Pruitt or President Trump, or any communication with Democrats in Congress that might have been critical of the agency. The requests came from a Virginia-based lawyer working with America Rising, a Republican campaign research group that specializes in helping party candidates and conservative groups find damaging information on political rivals, and which, in this case, was looking for information that could undermine employees who had criticized the E.P.A. Now a company affiliated with America Rising, named Definers Public Affairs, has been hired by the E.P.A. to provide 'media monitoring,' in a move the agency said was intended to keep better track of newspaper and video stories about E.P.A. operations nationwide.... In addition to sharing at least nine current and former executives, Definers Public Affairs shares an office building in Arlington, Va., with the multiple arms of America Rising and NTK Network. ...

... But He's Not Watching Fake "Charities." Robert O'Harrow of the Washington Post: "Years of conservative attacks on the Internal Revenue Service have greatly diminished the ability of agency regulators to oversee political activity by charities and other nonprofits, documents and interviews show. The fall in oversight, a byproduct of repeated cuts to the IRS budget, comes at a time when the number of charities is reaching a historic high and they are becoming more partisan and financially complex. It represents a success for conservatives who have long sought to scale back the IRS and shrink the federal government.... The main part of government tasked with policing [nonprofits], the IRS's Exempt Organizations division, has seen its budget decline from a peak of $102 million in 2011 to $82 million last year. At the same time, division employees have fallen from 889 to 642. The division now lacks expertise, resources and the will needed to effectively oversee more than 1.2 million charities and tens of thousands of social welfare groups, according to interviews with two dozen nonprofit specialists and current and former IRS officials." ...

... Nor Big Pharma. Lenny Bernstein & Scott Higham of the Washington Post: "After two years of painstaking investigation..., the Drug Enforcement Administration team ... were ready to move on the biggest opioid distribution case in U.S. history. The team, based out of the DEA's Denver field division, had been examining the operations of the nation's largest drug company, McKesson Corp. By 2014, investigators said they could show that the company had failed to report suspicious orders involving millions of highly addictive painkillers.... Some of those went to corrupt pharmacies that supplied drug rings.... But ... top attorneys at the DEA and the Justice Department struck a deal earlier this year with the corporation and its powerful lawyers, an agreement that was far more lenient than the field division wanted.... Although the agents and investigators said they had plenty of evidence and wanted criminal charges, they were unable to convince the U.S. attorney in Denver that they had enough to bring a case. Discussions about charges never became part of the negotiations between the government lawyers in Washington and the company."

Jonathan Chait: Republicans can't figure out why they're so unpopular. Donald Trump knows. During the presidential campaign, he promised to be a different kind of Republican. "He promised to raise taxes on himself and other wealthy people, give everybody terrific health care, break up the big banks, take on Big Pharma, spend a trillion dollars on infrastructure, and rewrite every trade agreement. These promises played a crucial role in helping attract downscale Democrats in the Midwest who had voted for Obama but now saw Trump as the economic populist candidate. In office, he has abandoned every one of these promises. The unpopularity of Trump and his party is no mystery. Despite the continuing growth of the economy, public antipathy has swollen well beyond the normal backlash experienced by a party in control of government. The public simply hates everything they're doing.... Amazingly, passing a deeply unpopular tax cut for rich people was a consensus solution to the party's low standing with the public." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Chait is wrong about this. Republicans are perfectly aware the public hates their tax heist. That's why they crafted the bill is secret & lie every day about what's in it. More generally, Republicans know they're unpopular with ordinary people. Why else would they work so hard to suppress votes? Or gerrymander the hell out of every state they control? Or want to revoke the 17th Amendment which established the popular election of U.S. senators? Or, or, or. ...

... Alex Shephard of the New Republic links Roy Moore's loss & the tax bill to announce "the end of economic nationalism.... Trump won by rejecting both liberalism and mainstream Republicans, who remain fixated on massive supply-side tax cuts for the wealthy and just as massive entitlement cuts.... [But] ... he was not interested in adhering to a coherent political philosophy, abandoning trade deals one moment only to throw his support to the Republican Party's corporate donors the next. But [Steve] Bannon continued to carry the flag, claiming he would champion those candidates who would upend mainstream Republican thinking.... While Moore didn't advocate the kind of economic policies that Bannon had claimed for his revolution, he was a rabid culture warrior unafraid to take on his own party. Bannonism isn't grounded in intellectualism; it is merely a more nihilistic variant of the right-wing rebellion that burst into the open in 2010 with the Tea Party.... After Roy Moore, it became painfully obvious that economic nationalism was a con all along."

Sens. Elizabeth Warren & Bernie Sanders, in a New York Times op-ed, encourage Congress to do right by the American people instead of just their fat-cat donors. Ho ho ho.

Edward-Isaac Dovere of Politico: "At least four senators are urging Al Franken to reconsider resigning, including two who issued statements calling for the resignation two weeks ago and said they now feel remorse over what they feel was a rush to judgment. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who urged Franken not to step down to begin with -- at least not before he went through an Ethics Committee investigation -- said the Minnesota senator was railroaded by fellow Democrats.... People familiar with Franken's plans said he has not changed his mind and intends to formally resign in early January. He praised the selection of [Tina] Smith [to replace him] and has begun working with her on the transition."

Even though Senator-elect Doug Jones won the women's vote (tho not the white women's vote), he doesn't think sexual assault is a "real issue." Mark Hand of ThinkProgress: "Speaking on CNN on Sunday, Jones emphasized he has no interest in focusing on what reporter Jake Tapper referred to as the 'horrific' allegations of sexual assault against ... Donald Trump. 'Those allegations were made before the election. So people had an opportunity to judge before that election,' Jones said in the interview. 'I think we need to move on and not get distracted by those issues. Let's get on with the real issues that are facing people of this country right now.'" And he does not think Trump should resign over those allegations.

Jourdan Rodrigue, et al., of the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer: "... Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson released a statement through the team on Sunday night that said he will put the team up for sale at the conclusion of the 2017 NFL season. The announcement came just hours after a Sports Illustrated report outlined allegations of sexual and racial misconduct by Richardson toward former Panthers employees. The team announced an investigation into the alleged misconduct on Friday evening. The NFL said Sunday that it would take over the investigation." ...

     ... The Sports Illustrated report, by Jon Wertheim & Viv Bernstein, is here.

News Lede

Seattle Times: "At least three people were killed after an Amtrak train derailed and fell off a bridge over Interstate 5 near Mounts Road between Lakewood and Olympia. Pierce County Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer told news media that there were fatalities on the train and that motorists had been injured, but not killed. The extent of the injuries is not yet known."

The Commentariat -- December 17, 2017

The Trumpification of Hate. Dan Barry & John Eligon of the New York Times: "Last year's contentious presidential election gave oxygen to hate. An analysis of F.B.I. crime data by the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, found a 26 percent increase in bias incidents in the last quarter of 2016 -- the heart of the election season -- compared with the same period the previous year. The trend has continued into 2017, with the latest partial data for the nation's five most populous cities showing a 12 percent increase.... Peppered among these incidents is a phenomenon distinct from the routine racism so familiar in this country: the provocative use of 'Trump.'... Across the country, students have used the president's name to mock or goad minority opponents at sporting events. In March, white fans at suburban Canton High School in Connecticut shouted 'Trump! Trump! Trump!' as players from Hartford's Classical Magnet School, which is predominantly black and Latino, took foul shots during a basketball playoff game." The authors cite numerous other instances, and quote a couple of experts who explain the phenomenon as one Trump invited.

Mike Allen of Axios: "Special Counsel Robert Mueller has obtained 'many tens of thousands' of Trump transition emails.... The sources say Mueller obtained the emails from the General Services Administration, the government agency that hosted the transition email system.... Charging 'unlawful conduct,' Kory Langhofer, counsel for the transition team, wrote in a letter to congressional committees Saturday that 'career staff at the General Services Administration ... have unlawfully produced [transition team] private materials, including privileged communications, to the Special Counsel's Office.'" ...

... Chris Geidner of BuzzFeed: "Officials with both the Special Counsel's Office and GSA, however, pushed back against the Trump campaign lawyer's claims.... GSA Deputy Counsel Lenny Loewentritt ... read to BuzzFeed News a series of agreements that anyone had to agree to when using GSA materials during the transition, including that there could be monitoring and auditing of devices and that, 'Therefore, no expectation of privacy can be assumed.'... A spokesperson for the Special Counsel's Office, Peter Carr, told BuzzFeed News, '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.'" ...

... Warren Murray of the Guardian: "... Eric Swalwell, a Democrat on the House intelligence committee, said: 'This is another attempt to discredit Mueller as his Trump Russia probe tightens. 'Private documents' on a US government, public email system? What are they afraid was found? Baloney.' In a series of tweets, Renato Mariotti, a former federal prosecutor, said the Republicans were 'playing politics -- but this is a bad sign for them. Of course Mueller obtained emails from a third party,' he said. 'Prosecutors in most white collar criminal investigations do that. It's not "inappropriate" or even unusual. Anyone who claims otherwise has no idea what they're talking about.'... 'The reason Trump's lawyers are writing letters to Congress instead of Mueller or a court is because their legal arguments have no merit.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: The same gang now screaming "it's illegal!" to read public documents also spent several years demanding that Clinton turn over her private e-mails on her private server. Meanwhile, their capo urged Russia to hack that same private server. Just how much urging he did is a subject Mueller hopes the transition e-mails will help illuminate. There is something fundamentally wrong with these hoods.

... There's Usually a Reason for Stupid Stuff. Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "Two senior FBI officials who texted each other about President Trump and Hillary Clinton relied on work phones to try to hide their romance from a spouse and made the bureau's probe of Clinton's private email server their cover story..., according to people familiar with the matter. The two officials, senior FBI lawyer Lisa Page and senior counterintelligence agent Peter Strzok, are the subjects of an internal investigation that has roiled the FBI and emboldened its Republican critics who have accused the bureau of political bias. Had Page and Strzok used personal phones instead, people close to case say, it's unlikely their text messages would have come to the FBI's attention." ...

     ... The E-mails!!! The Texts!!! Mrs. McCrabbie: I'd guess Mrs. Strzok knows now. Not sure how this couple are supposed to be experts at covert ops. Apparently a lot of people -- including the bozos on Trump's transition team -- are unaware that government-owned devices & software belong to the people, & communications generated on these devices do, too. I'm not all concerned about these jerks' right to privacy. They gave that up as soon as they clicked "send" on their USA phones and computers. Hillary knew that. That's why she established a private server. And, yes, she was "extremely careless," as Strzok himself wrote, in also using that private server for government business. He should know from "extremely careless."

Kate Zernike & Robert Pear of the New York Times: "With [ObamaCare's] enrollment period shortened and outreach resources cut under the Trump administration this year..., [facilitators] have been working urgently to preserve one of the major achievements of the health law -- the remarkable decline it brought in the proportion of blacks and Hispanics without health insurance. 'Without question,' said Dr. David Satcher, a former surgeon general of the United States, 'the Affordable Care Act represents the biggest gain in coverage we've seen for African Americans since the creation of Medicare and Medicaid' more than a half-century ago." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: AND this is exactly the aim of Trump & the GOP in general. Their main objection to ObamaCare is "Obama," but his name also stands as a symbol for the minority groups who benefit from ObamaCare & other Obama-era programs. Opposition to ObamaCare begins with racism (or "racialism," as Omarosa would have it).

Sheila Kaplan & Donald McNeil of the New York Times: "The Department of Health and Human Services tried to play down on Saturday a report that officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had been barred from using seven words or phrases, including 'science-based,' 'fetus,' 'transgender' and 'vulnerable,' in agency budget documents. 'The assertion that H.H.S. has "banned words" is a complete mischaracterization of discussions regarding the budget formulation process,' an agency spokesman, Matt Lloyd, said in an email.... Mr. Lloyd did not respond to other questions about the news report, which was published late Friday by The Washington Post.... The Times confirmed some details of the report with several officials, although a few suggested that the proposal was ... recommendations to avoid some language to ease the path toward budget approval by Republicans." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Describing censorship as "recommendations" is even more Orwellian than flat-out censorship. In 1984, citizens don't have to adopt Newspeak; it's a "suggestion."

Helene Cooper, et al., of the New York Times: "For years, the [Pentagon's Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program has] investigated reports of unidentified flying objects, according to Defense Department officials, interviews with program participants and records.... It was run by a military intelligence official, Luis Elizondo.... The Defense Department has never before acknowledged the existence of the program, which it says it shut down in 2012. But its backers say that, while the Pentagon ended funding for the effort at that time, the program remains in existence.... The shadowy program -- parts of it remain classified -- began in 2007, and initially it was largely funded at the request of Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat who was the Senate majority leader at the time and who has long had an interest in space phenomena. Most of the money went to an aerospace research company run by a billionaire entrepreneur and longtime friend of Mr. Reid's, Robert Bigelow...." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I see no value whatsoever in all the secrecy surrounding the program & neither does Elizondo. He resigned this year, partly because of the secrecy. In the meantime, I wish the occupants of one of those UFOs would beam up Trumpy -- and keep him for observation or something.

Andrew Van Dam of the Washington Post: "Republicans are paying for a permanent cut for corporations with an under-the-radar tax increase on individuals." Van Dam explains the multiple ways the tax heist raises taxes on individuals, some now, some later, some by fake math. "... the net effect of all individual provisions in the tax bill, according to the JCT, is to raise taxes on individuals by a cumulative $83 billion in 2027. Meanwhile, businesses are getting a $49.4 billion cut that year." ...

The GOP story line is: If we cut taxes, there will be more middle-class jobs and people will get increase in their wages. Everyone knows that story is utter nonsense. I think a tax cut is absurd. -- Robert Crandall, former CEO of American Airlines ...

** Some Are Way More Equal than Others. New York Times Editors: "... growing inequality helped create the [tax heist] bill in the first place. As a smaller and smaller group of people cornered an ever-larger share of the nation's wealth, so too did they gain an ever-larger share of political power. They became, in effect, kingmakers; the tax bill is a natural consequence of their long effort to bend American politics to serve their interests.... As kingmakers, rich families have supported candidates who share their hostility to progressive taxation, welfare programs and government regulation of any kind. These big-money donors have pushed the Republican Party in particular further to the right by threatening well-funded primary challenges against anybody who doesn't toe the line on tax cuts for the rich and other pro-aristocracy policies.... Most political campaigns now rely on a small group of wealthy donors.... About 40 percent of contributions to campaigns during the 2016 federal election came from an elite group of 24,949 donors, equivalent to 0.01 percent of the adult population." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Yo, Editors, you forgot to give credit to the Roberts Court. That's okay. The Gorsuch Court is worse. ...

... Let's Call It the Trump-Corker Amendment. David Sirota in the International Business Times: "Republican congressional leaders and real estate moguls could be personally enriched by a real-estate-related provision GOP lawmakers slipped into the final tax bill released Friday evening.... The legislative language was not part of previous versions of the bill and was added despite ongoing conflict-of-interest questions about the intertwining real estate interests and governmental responsibilities of ... Donald Trump -- the bill's chief proponent.... [The Kushners also would benefit.] Sen. Bob Corker, who was considered a potential 'no' vote on the bill, abruptly switched his position upon the release of the final legislation. Federal records reviewed by IBT show that Corker has millions of dollars of ownership stakes in real-estate related LLCs that could also benefit." ...

     ... Corker to Vote for Bill He Had No Idea Benefited Him. Uh-Huh. Josh Keefe of International Business Times: "... U.S. Senator Bob Corker, R-Tenn, denied knowing about a controversial last-minute provision slipped into the Republican tax bill that could personally enrich him. Corker, the lone Republican to vote against the original Senate bill, which didn't include the provision, also admitted he has not read the final tax bill he announced he will support. A trio of Democratic Senators, meanwhile, slammed the provision, which was first reported on by IBT.... 'I had like a two-page summary I went through with leadership,' said Corker. 'I never saw the actual text.' Despite not reading the bill -- and having time to read it before the final vote scheduled for this week -- he reiterated his support for the bill to IBT, support he announced hours before bill's full text was publicly released on Friday.... Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden ... [said,] 'This new real estate carve out was airdropped in at K Street's bidding, widens the proposed passthrough loophole and gives away an even bigger tax cut to Trump and his wealthy friends.... Combined with tax cuts for the one percent, these breaks create a bonanza for the politically powerful and well-connected at the expense of the middle class.'" ...

... So Much Winning. Heather Long of the Washington Post: "Republicans are on the verge of passing a massive tax cut for businesses that is deeply unpopular with the American public. They are doing it with no Democratic votes and at a moment when the U.S. economy looks pretty healthy (typically, tax cuts are most effective when the economy is struggling and the government wants to revive it). A surprising number of chief executives admit their top plan for the extra cash is to pay shareholders more, not grow jobs and wages. Billionaire chief executive Michael Bloomberg went so far as to declare the bill a 'trillion-dollar blunder.'... Pursuing legislation that most of the country doesn't like is still very risky."

Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "Representative Ruben Kihuen, a freshman Democrat from Nevada who has been accused of sexual harassment, said Saturday that he would not seek re-election. He is the fifth member of Congress in the past two weeks whose career has been derailed as part of the national reckoning over sexual misconduct. In a statement issued by his office, Mr. Kihuen, 37, said he wanted to 'state clearly' that he denied the allegations against him. He said that he would cooperate with the House Ethics Committee, which disclosed on Friday that it had opened an investigation into him, and that he looked 'forward to clearing my name.'... Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, had repeatedly called for Mr. Kihuen to resign. But until Saturday, he had steadfastly resisted doing so, insisting he had done nothing wrong. The allegations against Mr. Kihuen, first reported by BuzzFeed News two weeks ago, involve a 25-year-old woman, identified only as Samantha, who left her job as finance director of his campaign because of what she described as repeated unwanted propositions for dates and sex. In addition, The Las Vegas Journal-Review reported this past week that a second, unnamed accuser had come forward.... On Thursday, Representative Blake Farenthold, Republican of Texas, announced that he would not seek re-election. Mr. Farenthold settled a harassment claim filed by his former communications director for $84,000, paid for with taxpayer money."

Sexual Harassment at Fox "News"? Nope, Just "a Bit of Flirting." Yashar Ali in the Huffington Post: "Current and former female Fox News employees say they are 'stunned,' 'disgusted' and 'hungry for justice' after media mogul Rupert Murdoch on Thursday dismissed allegations of sexual misconduct at the network as 'nonsense' outside of a few 'isolated incidents' with former Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes. In a televised interview, Sky News host Ian King ... asked Murdoch if sexual misconduct allegations had inflicted damage on Fox News Channel. Murdoch said, 'All nonsense, there was a problem with our chief executive [Ailes], sort of, over the years, isolated incidents. As soon as we investigated it he was out of the place in hours, well, three or four days. And there' been nothing else since then. That was largely political because were conservative. Now of course the liberals are going down the drain -- NBC is in deep trouble. CBS, their stars. I mean there are really bad cases and people should be moved aside. There are other things which probably amount to a bit of flirting.'" Read on. Mrs. McC: Murdoch has an ownership interest in Sky News; its majority owner is 21st Century Fox. It's unclear if Disney will take over Sky News in its deal to purchase most 21st Century Fox assets.

You cannot rewrite history, Mr. Murdoch. The problem was not only with your chief executive. For example, one of your former executives trapped me in his office, pulled-out his penis and shoved my head on it. That's not 'nonsense.' That's criminal. -- Tamara Holder, a Fox News commentator

... In case you think sexual harassment is going to stop or significantly wane as the Murdoch-Ailes generation dies off ...

... Kathy Lally in the Washington Post's "Outlook": "There's more than one way to harass women.... Twenty years ago, when I was a Moscow correspondent for the Baltimore Sun, two Americans named Matt Taibbi and Mark Ames ran an English-language tabloid in the Russian capital called the eXile.... The eXile was juvenile, stunt-obsessed and pornographic, titillating for high school boys. It is back in the news because Taibbi just wrote a new book, and interviewers are asking him why he and Ames acted so boorishly back then. The eXile's distinguishing feature, more than anything else, was its blinding sexism -- which often targeted me.... 'We dragged . . . Lally's charred [corpse] through the dust-and-fly-infested streets of our newspaper for all to have a laugh,' Ames wrote [in the new book].... Bullying, treating women with contempt, freezing them out of the lunches and meetings that build networks and authority: All are damaging, insidious and difficult to root out. That will take time -- and more women who call men out. That's why I'm saying #MeToo." Mrs. McC: You have to read the whole essay to get a picture of what assholes Taibbi & Ames are. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Murdoch & Taibbi are poster boys for the way men explain away sexism: "a bit of flirting," "nonsense," liberals picking on conservatives, "satire," "a laugh."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Nicholas Kulish & Michael Forsythe of the New York Times: "The 2015 purchase [of a $300MM French chateau -- reputed to be the most expensive home in the world --] appears to be one of several extravagant acquisitions -- including a $500 million yacht and a $450 million Leonardo da Vinci painting -- by ... Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, heir to the Saudi throne ... who is leading a sweeping crackdown on corruption and self-enrichment by the Saudi elite and preaching fiscal austerity at home.... The ownership of the chateau, in Louveciennes, France, near Versailles, is carefully shrouded by shell companies in France and Luxembourg.... He has come under even more scrutiny since the arrests last month of nearly a dozen of his royal cousins and hundreds of other businessmen or officials, who have been detained at the Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh, now the world's most luxurious jail. The government characterized the arrests as a crackdown on corruption but critics have called it a political purge and a shakedown." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Let's not be all surprised when Prince Mohammed loses not only some of his money but also first place in the line of succession to the throne. After all, Mohammed just won first place in the beauty pageant this past June because King Salman deposed his predecessor. These things happen.

The Commentariat -- December 16, 2017

Late Morning Update:

Marvin S. has released the abstract of his research proposal to the CDC:

Considering that transgender people are vulnerable to many aspects of life, we believe they have an entitlement for science-based research. We are using tissue from a fetus to provide evidence-based results that will help to determine the scientific basis for this type of life. After all, transgender is just an example of human diversity.

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: You'll have to read today's "Word Nazis" story, linked below, to assess Marvin's chances of getting a grant.

*****

Jim Tankersley & Thomas Kaplan of the New York Times: "Republican lawmakers appeared to secure enough votes on Friday to pass the most sweeping tax overhaul in decades, putting them on the cusp of their first significant legislative victory as leaders geared up to pass a $1.5 trillion tax cut along party lines and send it to President Trump by Christmas. A day after the bill’s prospects wavered somewhat, Republican leaders notched two victories on Friday, when Senator Marco Rubio of Florida said he would vote yes after gaining a more generous child tax credit in the final bill and Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, who voted against the initial Senate bill over deficit concerns, said he would support the legislation. The bill also won praise from Senator Susan Collins of Maine, leaving it likely to pass with all 52 Senate Republicans in support." ...

There are no Republican heroes. They're all craven phonies, but Today's Biggest Phony is Corker. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie   

If it looks to me like we're adding one penny to the deficit, I am not going to be for it. -- Bob Corker, October 1, 2017

Bob Corker has made a career out of protesting very loudly, and then falling in line with his party's leadership when it counts. -- Brian Fallon, former spokesman for Chuck Schumer, ca. November 19, 2017

The congressional Joint Committee on Taxation analysis showed the Senate plan would add $1 trillion to the federal budget deficit. -- New York Times, December 15

After many conversations over the past several days with individuals from both sides of the aisle across Tennessee and around the country -- including business owners, farmers, chambers of commerce and economic development leaders -- I have decided to support the tax reform package we will vote on next week. -- Bob Corker, December 15, 2017

... Heather Long of the Washington Post: "Last-minute changes to the GOP's big plan give a larger tax break to the wealthy and preserves certain tax savings for the middle class, including the student-loan interest deduction, the deduction for excessive medical expenses and the tax break for graduate students. A change made Friday morning to win over [Marco] Rubio would expand the benefits of a child tax credit to give more money to working-class families. Here's a rundown of what's in the final bill. (If you want to read all 505 pages, click here.)" ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Though the final bill has not been scored (since Republicans released it only as a late Friday afternoon dump), it appears that the (rather conservative) Joint Tax Committee analysis of how much the Senate bill would add to the deficit will increase by a significant amount. So thanks again, Bob. You're a real Corker. ...

... GOP Tax Bill Makes Puerto Rico a Foreign Country. Rebecca Spalding of Bloomberg: "The final version of the Republican tax plan would end some of the tax advantages companies with operations in Puerto Rico have long enjoyed, potentially delivering an economic blow to the territory still reeling from Hurricane Maria and a record setting bankruptcy, according to an expert who reviewed the plan Friday. Gabriel Hernandez, the head of the tax division at BDO Puerto Rico, said that under the new rules subsidiaries of U.S. companies based on the island would be treated as foreign, subject to a tax from income derived from intangible assets held offshore. Although the final plan did not include the House's proposed 20 percent excise tax, as many local officials feared, it still likely signaled sweeping changes for the commonwealth's economy, he said." ...

Mike Lucovich, AJC.     ... Mrs. McC: In the Spirit of the Season, the Party of Trump is giving tax breaks to the super-wealthy at the expense of people who would be lucky to find a stable to house themselves. Donnie, Mitch & Paulie the Three Kings of Orient Aren't.

We three kinds of 'Merica are

Bearing gifts for our donor stars,

Corporate tax cuts, pass-throughs & more,

Loaded in our clown car.

Eric Boehlert of Shareblue: "In a craven display of collective indifference [to victims of the Sandy Hook gun mass murder], [Donald] Trump hosted Wayne LaPierre, the controversial head of the NRA, at the White House on Thursday night, as families and friends of the elementary school gun massacre were remembering the victims of the horrific killing spree." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I'm familiar with Hanlon's razor. "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." Still, I'm going with malice here.

Padraig Collins of the Guardian: "The senior Democrat in a congressional Trump-Russia investigation has said he fears Republicans are manoeuvring to kill off inquiries into Moscow's interference in the 2016 US presidential election. 'I'm increasingly worried Republicans will shut down the House intelligence committee investigation at the end of the month,' said Adam Schiff, who is the leading Democrat on the House intelligence committee. Schiff suggested Republicans also had their sights on the FBI's Trump-Russia investigation overseen by special counsel Robert Mueller. The president's personal lawyers are reportedly set to meet Mueller and his team within days to ask about the next steps in his investigation. 'Beyond our investigation, here's what has me really concerned: the attacks on [Robert] Mueller, the DoJ [the Department of Justice] and FBI this week make it clear they plan to go after Mueller's investigation,' Schiff said." ...

... Pamela Brown, et al., of CNN: The Trump legal team's "goal is to help Trump begin to emerge from the cloud of the ongoing investigation, several of the sources explained. The sources acknowledge that Mueller is under no obligation to provide any information and concede they may walk away with no greater clarity.... The Trump team's hopes for an investigation nearing its end contrast with a widely held view by other lawyers representing clients who have been interviewed."

Adam Raymond of New York: "A judge on Friday said former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort will soon be released from house arrest in Virginia and allowed to relocate to his home in Florida. But Manafort, who was indicted in October on several charges including 'conspiracy against the United States,' will not be allowed to leave the Sunshine State without permission and be required to abide by a 11 p.m. curfew." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: There are hundreds of places in Broward & Palm Beach Counties (the area to which the court restricted Manafort) where Manafort could hop a yacht & escape the country. The land is crisscrossed with canals that lead to the Atlantic (and to the Gulf, for that matter).

AND. Mrs. McCrabbie: Looks as if Carter Page would rather have Dianne Feinstein grab his ass or give him a big sloppy kiss than keep up with her mean investigating harassment stuff.

Word Nazis. Lena Sun & Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration is prohibiting officials at the nation’s top public health agency from using a list of seven words or phrases ... in any official documents being prepared for next year's budget. Policy analysts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta were told of the list of forbidden words at a meeting Thursday with senior CDC officials who oversee the budget, according to an analyst who took part in the 90-minute briefing. The forbidden words are 'vulnerable,' 'entitlement,' 'diversity,' 'transgender,' 'fetus,' 'evidence-based' and 'science-based.'"

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: This is an extraordinary effort to both politicize the CDC & retard its mission. Language control is a tool totalitarian governments use to repress & redirect society. Trump can't order you not to use the word "diversity," but he can ban federal agencies from using it; as "diversity" becomes a dirty word, the goal is to remove the ideal of diversity from public discourse. This of course was exactly how the government's introduction of Newspeak (as opposed to English, a/k/a Oldspeak) worked in 1984. As Gloria wrote in yesterday's thread, "This is really serious, and unless we want to live in 1984, the fictional one that the Regressives live in, we had better fight this." Meanwhile, how the fuck is the CDC to control disease if it can't target "vulnerable" populations or use "science-based" methods? Are the scientists (already a dirty word in Right Wing World) supposed to do this in secret or just not do it? Will CDC staff be allowed to work on the opioid crisis because Trump voters are more vulnerable than Democratic voters to opioid addiction, but not on antidotes for sickle-cell diseases because more Democrats suffer from these diseases than do Republican voters? WTF is the CDC's Division of Reproductive Health supposed to do if it can't concern itself with the health of the fetus? ...

... Thought Nazis. Eric Lipton & Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "One of the top executives of a consulting firm that the Environmental Protection Agency has recently hired to help it with media affairs has spent the past year investigating agency employees who have been critical of the Trump administration, federal records show.... A vice president for the firm [Definers Public Affairs], Allan Blutstein, federal records show, has submitted at least 40 Freedom of Information Act requests to the E.P.A. since President Trump was sworn in. Many of those requests target employees known to be questioning management at the E.P.A. since Scott Pruitt, the agency's administrator, was confirmed. Mr. Blutstein, in an interview, said he was taking aim at 'resistance' figures in the federal government.... The founders of Definers, Joe Pounder and Matt Rhoades, are longtime Republican political operatives.... Mr. Blutstein..., [who works for a Pounder & Rhoades GOP-oriented PAC] said that he filed the [FOIA] requests on his own, in an effort to try to undermine people who have been critical of policy changes taking place at the agency.... Legal experts also raised questions on Friday about the nature of the agency's contract with Definers. Charles Tiefer, a professor of contract law at the University of Baltimore, said he could see no legal justification for finding that only one company had the qualifications to gather news articles." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I'm quite good at gathering news articles. I'm surprised Pruitt didn't offer me the no-bid contract. BTW, the Environmental Pollution Agency is paying Definers only $120K per year whereas it previously contracted with another firm in an open-bid process for $207K/year. You might conclude, "Wow, Scott got us taxpayers a good deal!" But whaddaya bet Definers only clips positive reports about the EPA whereas the previous firm provided a range of clippings? In other words, Definers has to do little more than have a clerk check in with Breitbart & Coal Industry Weekly.

Noam Scheiber of the New York Times: "The National Labor Relations Board on Thursday overturned a key Obama-era precedent that had given workers significant leverage in challenging companies like fast-food and hotel chains over labor practices. The ruling changes the standard for holding a company responsible for labor law violations that occur at another company, like a contractor or franchisee, with which it has a relationship. The doctrine also governs whether such a corporation would have to bargain with workers at a franchise if they unionized, or whether only the owners of the franchise would have to do so." ...

     ... Workers' Party. Eric Levitz of New York: "'Five, ten years from now — different party,' Donald Trump told Bloomberg Businessweek in 2016, explaining how he would change the GOP. 'You're going to have a worker's party.' One year from then, the Republicans remain a party for bosses."

The Best People, Ctd. John Wagner, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump's aggressive push to fill scores of federal court vacancies with conservative judges hit severe turbulence this week, as he was forced to withdraw two nominees and an embarrassing video went viral showing a third struggling to answer rudimentary questions about the law. The White House said Friday that it is standing by the nomination of Matthew Petersen, a nominee for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, despite a clip from his confirmation hearing posted on Twitter in which Petersen was unable to answer questions about legal and courtroom terms posed by a Republican senator. The episode offered more ammunition to Democrats, who have accused Trump of tapping inexperienced nominees in a rush to reshape the federal judiciary. Even some Republicans have suggested they've felt pressured by the White House to move forward with his picks." (See also Akhilleus' commentary on this in yesterday's thread.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I really don't know what everybody's complaining about. Neither Petersen nor any of the other nominees in this mass consent hearing has ever blogged in support of the KKK (or so they claim). Um, which is unlike Trump's nominee (& ghostbuster) Brett Talley, who "was reported to have posted a defense of 'the first KKK' in an online comment in 2011.... Talley also did not tell the committee that he is married to the chief of staff for White House counsel Donald McGahn." Talley was one of two nominees Grassley asked Trump to "reconsider." The ABA rated him "not qualified."

Katie Rogers & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Omarosa Manigault Newman ... is urging viewers to stay tuned to find out why she really left [the White House].... On Thursday, Ms. Newman pushed back against reports that she had caused a scene over credentials at a White House Christmas party, and that she had tried to gain access to the president's residence.... 'As the only African-American woman in this White House,' Ms. Newman said in the 'Good Morning America' interview, 'I have seen things that have made me uncomfortable, that have upset me, that have affected me deeply and emotionally, that has affected my community and my people. It is a profound story that I know the world will want to hear.'... Other than the hints she has left on national television, it is still unclear what, exactly, led to Ms. Newman's abrupt departure after a nearly yearlong tenure punctuated by conflicts with other White House aides, a lavish wedding at Trump International Hotel in Washington and a public meltdown at a conference for black journalists. Whatever the catalyst, her departure was handled by [John] Kelly; the White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II; and Joseph Hagin, a deputy chief of staff.... Ms. Newman said that [she & Kelly] 'had a very candid conversation,' and that Mr. Trump learned that she had departed while watching television news."

Robert Pear of the New York Times: "A federal court on Friday blocked Trump administration rules that made it easier for employers to deny insurance coverage of contraceptives for women. Judge Wendy Beetlestone of the Federal District Court in Philadelphia issued a preliminary injunction, saying the rules contradicted the text of the Affordable Care Act by allowing many employers to opt out of providing contraceptive coverage if they had religious or moral objections. In the lawsuit, filed by the State of Pennsylvania, the judge said the rules would cause irreparable harm because tens of thousands of women would lose contraceptive coverage. The Affordable Care Act contains no statutory language allowing federal agencies to create such 'sweeping exemptions' to the law's requirements to cover preventive services, Judge Beetlestone declared." Mrs. McC: Beetlestone is an Obama appointee.