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The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

Washington Post: “An early Titian masterpiece — once looted by Napolean’s troops and a part of royal collections for centuries — caused a stir when it was stolen from the home of a British marquess in 1995. Seven years later, it was found inside an unassuming white and blue plastic bag at a bus stop in southwest London by an art detective, and returned. This week, the oil painting 'The Rest on the Flight into Egypt' sold for more than $22 million at Christie’s. It was a record for the Renaissance artist, whom museums describe as the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice. Ahead of the sale in April, the auction house billed it as 'the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in more than a generation.'”

Washington Post: The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., which houses the world's largest collection of Shakespeare material, has undergone a major renovation. "The change to the building is pervasive, both subtle and transformational."

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A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves. -- Edward R. Murrow

Publisher & Editor: Marie Burns


Tuesday
Oct242017

The Commentariat -- October 25, 2017

Afternoon Update:

Betsy Woodruff of the Daily Beast: "Alexander Nix, who heads a controversial data-analytics firm that worked for ... Donald Trump’s campaign, wrote in an email last year that he reached out to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange about Hillary Clinton's missing 33,000 emails. Nix, who heads Cambridge Analytica, told a third party that he reached out to Assange about his firm somehow helping the WikiLeaks editor release Clinton's missing emails, according to two sources familiar with a congressional investigation into interactions between Trump associates and the Kremlin. Those sources also relayed that, according to Nix's email, Assange told the Cambridge Analytica CEO that he didn't want his help, and preferred to do the work on his own. If the claims Nix made in that email are true, this would be the closest known connection between Trump's campaign and Assange.... Robert and Rebekah Mercer, a billionaire father-daughter duo that spent big to boost Trump's presidential candidacy, are major investors in Cambridge Analytica." ...

... Adam Blake of the Washington Post: "The Post is reporting that the dossier's author, [Christopher] Steele, wasn't brought into the mix until after Democrats retained Fusion GPS. So while both sides paid Fusion GPS, Steele was only funded by Democrats.... Despite there being no proof the FBI actually paid Steele, Trump suggested it might have in a tweet last week -- along with 'Russia ... or the Dems (or all).' Of those three groups, only Democrats have been reported to have actually paid Steele. And again, that was already kind-of known.... Given Democrats' argument that Russia's interference on Trump's behalf was beyond the pale, the Clinton camp and the DNC paying a Brit for information would seem somewhat problematic.... But ... the British after all are, unlike the Russians, America's allies. Also, Steele was not acting as an agent of a foreign government, which is what would likely be required to prove collusion in the case of the Trump campaign and Russia. Separately, the firm that the Clinton camp and the DNC paid also has alleged ties to the Kremlin.... The firm has worked with both Democrats and Republicans over the years."

Javier Hernandez of the New York Times: "Xi Jinping of China has so many titles -- more than a dozen and counting -- that he has been called 'chairman of everything.'... On Wednesday, he gained another five-year term as the party's general secretary and introduced a new leadership team with no clear successor, prompting speculation that he intends to rule beyond the customary second term." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Look for some jealousy-fueled tweets from our own Little King, knocking Xi & threatened another international crisis between two nuclear powers. The president of us* still doesn't get why he has not been anointed the "President of Everything."

Manny Fernandez of the New York Times: "A pregnant undocumented teenager in federal custody whose attempt to have an abortion set off a monthlong legal battle with the Trump administration terminated her pregnancy on Wednesday morning. She underwent the procedure a day after a court ruling forced federal officials to allow it. The teenager, who is 17 and is identified in court documents as Jane Doe, tried to illegally cross the border in Texas in early September and was apprehended. Her pregnancy was discovered during a physical exam, and since then she had been fighting in court to have an abortion."

Flying While Black. Lori Aratani of the Washington Post: "The nation's oldest civil rights organization, citing a 'troubling pattern of disturbing incidents,' urged travelers -- particularly those who are African American -- to rethink whether they should fly with American Airlines. In a statement released Tuesday night, officials with the NAACP said the travel advisory would remain in effect 'until further notice.'... In issuing the advisory, NAACP officials cited four recent incidents of 'troublesome conduct' by the airline and said they ''suggest a corporate culture of racial insensitivity and possible racial bias on the part of American Airlines./ The incidents involved black passengers being removed from flights for various reasons...."

*****

Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "Senator Jeff Flake, the Arizona Republican who has tangled with President Trump for months, announced on Tuesday that he will not seek re-election in 2018, saying he 'will no longer be complicit or silent' in the face of the president's 'reckless, outrageous and undignified' behavior. Mr. Flake made his announcement in an extraordinary, 17-minute speech on the Senate floor, in which he challenged not only the president but also his party's leadership. He deplored 'the casual undermining of our democratic ideals, the personal attacks, the threats against principles, freedom and institutions, the flagrant disregard for truth and decency' that he said has become so prevalent in American politics. The remarkable moment came just hours after Mr. Trump had renewed his attacks on another critic in the Republican Party, Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, saying he 'couldn't get elected dog catcher in Tennessee.' Mr. Corker, appearing more weary than angry, said the president 'is debasing our country.'" ...

... Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "President Trump renewed his attacks on Senator Bob Corker on Tuesday, chastising him for his skepticism over a $1.5 trillion tax cut. Mr. Corker responded by going on national television to say that Mr. Trump was 'debasing' the United States and that the president struggled with the truth. Mr. Corker 'couldn't get elected dogcatcher in Tennessee,' Mr. Trump wrote in a Twitter post on Tuesday. Mr. Corker, a Republican from Tennessee, is not running for re-election after serving in the Senate since 2007.... Mr. Corker, who supported Mr. Trump in the 2016 presidential election, told CNN on Tuesday that he would not do that again." The story includes each of Trump's insulting tweets about Corker. Mrs. McC: Right off the bat, I spotted two lies in the tweets -- lies which the media have exposed. Another of many instances in which Trump not only lies, he sticks to his lies. ...

... Calvin Woodward of the AP: "TRUMP tweets Tuesday: 'Bob Corker, who helped President O give us the bad Iran Deal & couldn't get elected dog catcher in Tennessee, is now fighting Tax Cuts.'... THE FACTS: Trump, who spelled Tennessee right the first time, continues to label Corker an enabler of the Iran nuclear deal when he was a leading critic of it.... Trump contended, also in a tweet, that Corker decided not to seek another term next year because he 'couldn't get re-elected.'... But the president has not substantiated his claim that Corker made that decision because he failed to secure his endorsement.... In fact, Trump urged Corker to run during a private meeting in September, AP learned. And Corker's chief of staff, Todd Womack, said Trump called Corker after that to ask that he reconsider his decision to leave the Senate. Trump 'reaffirmed that he would have endorsed him, as he has said many times,' the aide said." ...

... Nolan McCaskill of Politico: Sarah Sanders "on Tuesday fought back against blistering attacks from Sens. Bob Corker and Jeff Flake, calling the retiring Republicans 'petty' for their harsh words about ... Donald Trump while praising their exits as 'the right decision.'" Mrs. McC: Apparently Sanders doesn't know that "petty" means "small." Corker & Flake went big. ...

... Charles Pierce: "It is true that Flake had a long push up a dirt road to get re-elected, and it is also true that his departure, along with that of Brave Bob Corker, accelerates the process by which the Republican majority in the Senate is transforming itself into a babbling replica of the Republican majority in the House, a process that is evidence enough of the virulence and the spread of the prion disease that has been eating away at the party's higher functions for four decades.... It's hard to parse Flake's logic as anything but abject surrender to the monster that finally chewed itself out of the lab.... I find it hard to reconcile this existential threat to the country's politics with Flake's decision to leave office instead of fighting it.... His party is bound to get crazier, and the president* is completely around the bend." ...

... MEANWHILE. Three Cheers for Trump. Profiles in Cowardice. Seung Min Kim of Politico: "Just hours after publicly trading insults with a key GOP senator..., Donald Trump kept to the script and held a 'productive,' hour-long meeting with Senate Republicans, according to several senators. Trump outlined at length his accomplishments since taking office, and hen asked for Senate Republicans to help him push through a major tax-reform package. The assembled GOP senators responded to Trump's appearance with three standing ovations." Emphasis added.

Trump Sends Pence out to Help Financiers Screw Customers. Jessica Silver-Greenberg of the New York Times: "Senate Republicans voted on Tuesday to strike down a sweeping new rule that would have allowed millions of Americans to band together in class-action lawsuits against financial institutions. The overturning of the rule, with Vice President Mike Pence breaking a 50-to-50 tie, will further loosen regulation of Wall Street as the Trump administration and Republicans move to roll back Obama-era policies enacted in the wake of the 2008 economic crisis. By defeating the rule, Republicans are dismantling a major effort of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the watchdog created by Congress in the aftermath of the mortgage mess. The rule, five years in the making, would have dealt a serious blow to financial firms, potentially exposing them to a flood of costly lawsuits over questionable business practices."

E-Mails! Russia! Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "Leading House Republicans announced on Tuesday two new probes, one into how the Obama administration's Justice Department handled a deal that gave Russia control over 20 percent of the U.S. uranium supply and the other into how it investigated Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server when she was secretary of state. The parallel investigations -- both of which involve the House Oversight Committee working in cooperation with another panel -- formally revive issues that the Trump campaign used to try to discredit his Democratic rival during the 2016 presidential race and later the conduct of then-FBI Director James B. Comey. Democrats were quick to charge that the GOP-led probes were 'designed to distract attention' from the various investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, including alleged ties between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin." Mrs. McC: No kidding. Looking forward to more slapstick antics from chair Devin Nunes. ...

... Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times has a more detailed story on these farces. "Representatives Elijah E. Cummings and John Conyers Jr., the top Democrats on the Oversight and Judiciary Committees, said in a joint statement that the investigations amounted to 'a massive diversion to distract from the lack of Republican oversight of the Trump administration and the national security threat that Russia poses.'" ...

... Louis Jacobson & John Kruzel of PolitiFact attempt to explain the Russian uranium story.

A Tale of the Dossier. Adam Entous, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee helped fund research that resulted in a now-famous dossier containing allegations about President Trump's connections to Russia and possible coordination between his campaign and the Kremlin, people familiar with the matter said. Marc E. Elias, a lawyer representing the Clinton campaign and the DNC, retained Fusion GPS, a Washington firm, to conduct the research. After that, Fusion GPS hired dossier author Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence officer with ties to the FBI and the U.S. intelligence community, according to those people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.... Fusion GPS gave Steele's reports and other research documents to Elias." ...

... Ed Kilgore describes th revelation as "another blow to the reputation of the Clinton campaign, and at a minimum a distraction to the work of federal investigators looking into the Trump-Russia connection." Mrs. McC: I actually think it's great that Clinton, indirectly, introduced us to the "golden rain" story. But then I'm meaner than a junkyard dog. Too bad Hillary never used it. ...

... Kevin Drum: "This is nuts. Republicans are now planning an investigation into the ridiculous myth that Hillary Clinton turned over America's precious bodily fluids uranium to the Russians. Also Devin Nunes apparently has more to say about her emails. And I guess the infamous Steele Dossier is also up for grabs.... Has anyone notified Republicans that Hillary lost and will never be running against them again?"

Jeff Toobin expounds on Mitch McConnell's latest means of turning the federal judiciary as a bastion of right-wing ideologues. McConnell is refusing to honor the "blue slip" tradition of allowing home-state senators to effectively nix a presidential appointment. Thanks to P.D. Pepe for the link, & for her comment. Mrs. McC: There is no circumstance in which it would make sense to use the term "fair play" & "Mitch McConnell" in the same sentence. McConnell is no turtle; he's a snake.

Et Tu, Poppy? Tom Porter of Newsweek: "Former President George H.W. Bush has apologized for an 'attempt at humor' after being accused of sexual assault by actress Heather Lind. Lind, in a now-deleted Instagram post Tuesday, accused Bush, 93, of touching her from behind during a photo-op while in his wheelchair. She said Bush's wife, Barbara, was standing beside him during the 2014 photo-op for American Revolutionary War drama Turn: Washington's Spies. 'He didn't shake my hand. He touched me from behind from his wheelchair with his wife Barbara Bush by his side. He told me a dirty joke. And then, all the while being photographed, touched me again. Barbara rolled her eyes as if to say 'not again'.'" ...

     ... Akhilleus: This is an attempt at "humor"? Laugh? I thought I'd die. Even "funnier", Lind was told by Poppy's security staff that it was her fault for standing so close to the ex-president's wheelchair. She should know better. She was just egging him on. What is going on here? Old guys in wheelchairs are still grabbing women then saying it was just a joke? And Barbara was right there? Jesus.

Paul Ryan: A Tower of Jello. Bob Bryan of Business Insider: "House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday deflected questions about the escalating war of words between President Donald Trump and Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee hours ahead of a GOP policy lunch on tax reform....' So all this stuff you see on a daily basis on Twitter this and Twitter that, forget about it,' Ryan said. 'Let's focus on helping people, improving people's lives, and doing what we said we would do that accomplishes that. That's what we're focused on.'"

...Akhilleus: According to Man of the People, Lyin' Ryan, the attacks by Senators Flake and Corker on Trump amount to little more than an inconsequential dust up, a Twitter feud. First, only Trump the Coward used Twitter to express his position. Flake stood up before the entire Senate and Corker appeared live on CNN to deliver their messages. Weasels like Ryan who are not man enough to anything but grovel simply wish the whole thing can go away so they can back to the business of fleecing the voters. The last thing an amoral slug like Ryan wants is a national debate about the hollow, wretchedly deceitful state of the Republican Party.

Numbers Don't Lie: FiveThirtyEight. Tracking the pro-Trump votes taken by Bob Corker and Jeff Flake. Corker voted with Trump 86.3% of the time. Jeff Flake, 90.0%.

...Akhilleus: Their declarations of woe at the state of the nation under Trump are belied by their decisions to side with Trump on pretty much everything he wants. If these guys are the saviors, we're in bigger trouble than we imagined. And if you have a chance, run down the list of things they voted on with Trump. The vast majority are repeals of Obama era regulations and laws, things like repeals of environmental, banking, employment, healthcare, and consumer safeguards.

News Ledes

Rolling Stone: "Fats Domino, the genial, good-natured symbol of the dawn of rock and roll and the voice and piano behind enduring hits like 'Blueberry Hill' and 'Ain't That a hame,' died Tuesday at the age of 89.... A contemporary of Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis, Domino was among the first acts inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and was reportedly only second to Presley in record sales thanks to a titanic string of 11 top 10 hits between 1955 and 1960."

ABC News: "Two men were fatally shot early Wednesday morning on the campus of Grambling State University in northern Louisiana, authorities said. The suspect fled the scene, according to the Lincoln Parish Sheriff's Department, which said it doesn't believe the suspect was a GSU student. The suspect has not been apprehended. Police said they believe there was an altercation in a dorm room on campus, which led up to the shooting in a courtyard outside."

Comments Off
Tuesday
Oct242017

The Commentariat -- October 24, 2017

... Kristine Phillips & Freedom du Lac of the Washington Post: "Making her first public comments since she took the call from Trump last week -- on the same day her husband's remains were flown back to the United States -- [Myeshia] Johnson recalled that the president said her husband 'knew what he signed up for, but it hurts anyways. And it made me cry. I was very angry at the tone of his voice, and how he said it.' She added: 'I didn't say anything. I just listened.' Trump on Monday disputed Johnson's account, characterizing his conversation with her as 'very respectful.' 'I had a very respectful conversation with the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, and spoke his name from beginning, without hesitation!'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon). ...

... ** In Effect, Trump Called a Gold Star Widow a Liar. Amy Sorkin of the New Yorker: "There were no accompanying words of compassion [from Trump] for Johnson, who said that the call 'made me cry even worse.'... This is a steep escalation of Trump's claims that Representative Frederica Wilson, who was in a car with Johnson during the call, and said that the President had not been respectful, had 'totally fabricated' her account of it." ...

     ... Mrs Bea McCrabbie: Let me think, whom do I believe? The apolitical new widow of an American soldier KIA or a guy who tells a whopper -- in public -- an average of five times a day? That of course does not include the many fibs he surely tells off-the-record. ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: The headline on Politico's story is "Trump spars with widow of slain soldier about condolence call." I'm no historian, but I'll bet a headline that reads "[President] spars with widow of slain soldier" is a first in American history. ...

...Spineless. Luke Barnes of ThinkProgress: "[A]s Trump attacked a grieving military widow, Congressional Republicans were completely silent online...Several Democrats blasted Trump for attacking a Gold Star widow." --safari...

... AND Andy Borotwitz "reports," "Calling himself 'unbelievably brave,' Donald Trump said on Monday that he is the only President in U.S. history with the courage to stand up to war widows." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Since Trump thinks all the liberal media put out is "fake news," we should quit labeling the Borowitz Report as satire & just accept it as another news source. If the right can treat its nutty conspiracy theories as news, why can't we? Comedians' "reports" are more truthy than are the "reports" of some right-wing outlets. ...

... Daniella Diaz of CNN: "Some senators are saying they didn't know the US had troops in Niger as questions swirl about the raid that killed four US servicemen there earlier this month.The Pentagon, however, said Monday it has kept Congress informed of the operation." Among those who said they didn't know were Lindsey Graham & Chuck Schumer.

... Michelle Goldberg makes the case that Democrats should publicly urge Trump's impeachment now. "... as the Harvard Law scholar Cass Sunstein, author of the recent book 'Impeachment: A Citizen's Guide,' told me, that doesn't mean Congress can impeach only a president who is caught breaking the law. 'Crime is neither necessary nor sufficient,' said Sunstein.... 'If the president went on vacation in Madagascar for six months, that's not a crime, but that's impeachable.'"

... Paul Krugman: John "Kelly has neither admitted error nor apologized. Instead, the White House declared that it's unpatriotic to criticize generals -- which, aside from being a deeply un-American position, is ludicrous given the many times Donald Trump has done just that. But we are living in the age of Trumpal infallibility: We are ruled by men who never admit error, never apologize and, crucially, never learn from their mistakes. Needless to say, men who think admitting error makes you look weak just keep making bigger mistakes; delusions of infallibility eventually lead to disaster, and one can only hope that the disasters ahead don't bring catastrophe for all of us.... Trumpal infallibility ... is a disease that infested the modern Republican Party long before Trump. And one of the areas where the symptoms are especially severe is monetary policy." Krugman discusses some zombie errors confederate economists can never admit.

Naomi Jagoda of the Hill: "President Trump on Monday tweeted that changes won't be made to 401(k) plans after reports that congressional Republicans were considering a major alteration to the retirement accounts in forthcoming tax-reform legislation." Mrs. McC: I would not count on taking this or any other Trump promise to the bank. (Also linked yesterday afternoon). ...

... Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "President Trump said on Monday that he would oppose any effort to reduce the amount of pretax income that American workers can save in 401(k) retirement accounts, effectively killing an idea that Republicans were mulling as a way to help pay for a $1.5 trillion tax cut. The directive, issued via Twitter, underscored a growing fear among Republicans and business lobbyists that Mr. Trump's bully-pulpit whims could undermine the party's best chance to pass the most sweeping rewrite of the tax code in decades.... Mr. Trump 'can shift on a dime, and he has many unformed policy positions,' said Representative Charlie Dent, Republican of Pennsylvania. 'We have to worry about him shifting positions.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: The only "reform" bill Trump would not sign is one that had too few Tax-cuts-for-Trump provisions. Otherwise, Trump will sign any bill he can call a "win." If Republicans brought him a bill that abolished 401(k)s & confiscated all 401(k) funds which Americans had previously saved, Trump would sign it.

Best Way to Influence Trump: Appeal to His Greed. Eric Levitz: "In a perfect world, the American president would neither take foreign-policy advice from a casino magnate with ties to the Chinese government, nor give special preference to asylum-seekers who frequent his luxury properties. But sometimes, the next best option is, apparently, to have a president who does both.... The Wall Street Journal ... reports that casino tycoon Steve Wynn ... [who] owns multiple billion-dollar gambling properties in the Chinese region of Macau ... hand-delivered a letter to Trump that was written by the Chinese government. In the missive, Beijing urged the president to extradite Guo Wengui, a Chinese businessman turned vocal critic of corruption in Xi Jinping's government. Guo fled China in 2014 and is currently seeking asylum in the United States.... During an Oval Office discussion of the Guo affair in June ... the president reportedly ... [told] his top advisers, 'We need to get this criminal [Guo] out of the country.' Those advisers eventually convinced Trump not to deport the Chinese dissident -- in part, by alerting the president to the fact that Guo was a member of his Mar-a-Lago club...."

** Ignoramus-in-Chief, Ctd. Matt Yglesias of Vox: "It's not exactly a news flash at this point that Donald Trump isn't very fluent on questions of public policy, but his interview over the weekend with Fox Business Channel's Maria Bartiromo is really a sobering reminder of the levels of ignorance and dishonesty that the country is dealing with. Bartiromo is an extraordinarily soft interviewer who doesn't ask Trump any difficult questions.... That makes the extent to which he manages to flub the interview all the more striking. He's simply incapable of discussing any topic at any length in anything remotely resembling an informed or coherent way. He says the Federal Reserve is 'important psychotically' and it's part of one of his better answers, since one can at least tell that he meant to say 'psychologically.'" Do read on. Trump is so ignorant, he's funny -- until you consider the consequences. Mrs. McC: I continue to think Trump is suffering from a form of dementia. President Reagan, who had Alzheimer's, didn't mess up like this. ...

... For Instance, There's This. Apocalypse Soon. Jeet Heer of the New Republic: "The fear that ... Donald Trump is returning the world to the nightmare years of the Cold War, when nuclear annihilation was an ever-looming threat, got more intense over the weekend with the news that the United States Air Force is preparing to put B-52 bombers on 24-hour alert for the first time since 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed. According to the news site Defense One, the Air Force is anticipating an escalation in its deterrence duties as part of a general shift in America's nuclear posture, sparked by 'North Korea's rapidly advancing nuclear arsenal, President Trump's confrontational approach to Pyongyang, and Russia's increasingly potent and active armed forces.'... But the danger comes not just from Dr. Strangelove-style scenarios in which Trump lurches into the apocalypse, with his hapless military staff in tow. It also comes from a degradation of America's nuclear policy, caused by a combination of Pentagon hubris and Trump's punch-drunk diplomacy, which taken together would cause the other nations of the world to abandon diplomacy and put their faith in their own nuclear stockpiles. The longer-term danger isn't that Trump blows up the world, but that he pushes the international system towards a world with many more nukes in many more hands."

Andrew Desiderio of The Daily Beast: "When Congress sent President Donald Trump a bill in July that slapped new sanctions on Russia, the president signed the legislation reluctantly.... The administration has since blown past an October 1 deadline to implement the sanctions. Lawmakers are now searching for answers as to whether the president is even planning to follow the law.... But aside from procedural tactics, Congress is essentially powerless in compelling the executive branch to follow through on the law it forced them to sign." --safari

The Slime Always Floats on the Top of the Pond. Anita Kumar & Ben Weider of McClatchy News have a swell report on Steve Bannon's murky but lucrative ties to Middle Eastern interests. Among the names that figure into the report: Michael Flynn, Erik Prince and Robert Mercer. ...

... Charles Pierce: "One of the things that often eludes people about Steve Bannon, still apparently a presidential* adviser and the only surviving heir to House Harkonnen, is the money. For example, without the Mercer fortune, he's stapling his Deep Thoughts about world politics to a lamp post in Washington Square. He's also cozied up to people like Erik Prince, the founder of the former Blackwater murder gang and -- Bannon hopes -- possible future U.S. Senator from Wyoming."

Natasha Bertrand of Business Insider: "Banker turned human-rights activist Bill Browder says his authorization to travel to the US using his British passport via an ESTA visa was revoked on the same day that Russian prosecutors issued an Interpol warrant for his arrest on charges of tax evasion and murder. Browder tweeted over the weekend that Russian President Vladimir Putin had managed, on the fifth attempt, to place him on the Interpol list after four previous rejections by the International Police Organization.... The same day the warrant was issued, Browder said, he was notified that his ESTA had been revoked. Browder gave up his US citizenship in 1998 and became a British citizen. ESTA, or the Electronic System for Travel Authorization, is an automated system that allows tourists from a Visa Waiver Program country to travel to the US for business or pleasure for 90 days or less..... He also said the Department of Homeland Security 'refused to provide any answers' when he initially asked last week why his ESTA had been revoked. 'They suggested I file a FOIA [Freedom of Information Act] request and wait for the answer, which can take as long as six months,' Browder said.... Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya detailed Browder's alleged misconduct in a memo that she brought with her to a meeting with Donald Trump Jr., Paul Manafort, and Jared Kushner at Trump Tower last June. The document closely mirrored a memo written by the Russian prosecutor's office months earlier...." Mrs. McC: Why, you might think the whole Trump administration was still collaborating with the Russians. ...

     ... Too Hot to Handle? Dan Friedman of Mother Jones: "The Department of Homeland Security said Monday that it has restored the visa of Bill Browder, a prominent critic of Russian president Vladimir Putin, who announced Sunday that the Trump administration had prevented him from traveling to the United States, drawing sharp criticism of the department.... Browder's visa status quickly drew concern from US lawmakers and prominent former government officials." ...

... Tom Hunter & Julia Ainsley of NBC News: "Tony Podesta and the Podesta Group are now the subjects of a federal investigation being led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, three sources with knowledge of the matter told NBC News. The probe of Podesta and his Democratic-leaning lobbying firm grew out of Mueller's inquiry into the finances of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, according to the sources. As special counsel, Mueller has been tasked with investigating possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Manafort had organized a public relations campaign for a non-profit called the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine (ECMU). Podesta's company was one of many firms that worked on the campaign, which promoted Ukraine's image in the West.... Tony Podesta is the chairman of the Podesta Group and the brother of John Podesta, Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign chairman. John Podesta is not currently affiliated with the Podesta Group and is not part of Mueller's investigation." (Also linked yesterday afternoon). ...

... Daisuke Wakabayashi & Nicholas Confessore of the New York Times: "... as investigators in Washington examine the scope and reach of Russian interference in United States politics, the once-cozy relationship between RT and YouTube is drawing closer scrutiny. YouTube -- the world's most-visited video site, owned by one of the most powerful and influential corporations in America -- played a crucial role in helping build and expand RT, an organization that the American intelligence community has described as the Kremlin's 'principal international propaganda outlet' and a key player in Russia's information warfare operations around the world.... YouTube also provided RT with the kind of perks it reserved for big publishers, including custom backgrounds for its channel in the early days and a 'check mark' that designated RT as a verified news source. Until recently, RT was also among a select group of news organizations included in Google's 'preferred' news lineup, granting them access to guaranteed revenue from premium advertisers. Those advertisers, in effect, subsidized Russia's international propaganda arm. Google dropped RT from the preferred lineup last month."

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "Larry Harmon, a software engineer who lives near Akron, Ohio..., sometimes he stays home on Election Day, on purpose.... It turned out that Mr. Harmon's occasional decisions not to vote had led election officials to strike his name from the voting rolls. On Nov. 8, the Supreme Court will hear arguments about whether the officials had gone too far in making the franchise a use-it-or-lose-it proposition.... The question for the justices is whether two federal laws allow Ohio to cull its voter rolls using notices prompted by the failure to vote. The laws prohibit states from removing people from voter rolls 'by reason of the person's failure to vote.' But they allow election officials who suspect that a voter has moved to send a confirmation notice." (Also linked yesterday afternoon).

Paul Fahri of the Washington Post: "Megyn Kelly waded back into territory she vowed to leave behind on Monday, saying on her new NBC morning program that she complained about Bill O'Reilly while she was an anchor at Fox News but was ignored. In an extraordinary monologue, Kelly went after O'Reilly, her former bosses and colleagues, accusing the network of fostering a toxic culture for its female employees. 'O'Reilly's suggestion that no one ever complained about his behavior is false,' Kelly said during 'Megyn Kelly Today.' 'I know because I complained.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon). ...

... It's All About Bill. Michael Barbaro of the New York Times: "'It's horrible what I went through, horrible what my family went through,' Bill O'Reilly said of the sexual harassment allegations that cost him his job at Fox News. Mr. O'Reilly spoke on the record to my colleagues Emily Steel and Michael S. Schmidt, addressing the latest reporting on a $32 million settlement he reached with a longtime network analyst." An audio tape of the conversation follows. (Also linked yesterday afternoon). ...

... Caroline Bankoff of New York: "At one point, O'Reilly claimed that previous reporting on his history of harassment had brought 'indescribable pain' to his children (in front of whom he allegedly beat his ex-wife), and then appeared to blame journalists for the death of his former colleague Eric Bolling's son.... In a statement to Steel, Bolling called O'Reilly's behavior 'beyond inappropriate[.]'... A couple of hours later, O'Reilly apologized[.]" Mrs. McC: Which makes O'Reilly something less of an ass than is Trump. (See Krugman's "Trumpian infallibility doctrine," linked above.) ...

...God drops the ball. Elizabeth Preza of RawStory: "Disgraced former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly added another figure to the cadre of people he holds responsible for his alleged sexual misconduct, telling listeners of the web series 'No Spin News' that he also blames God for how the events transpired. 'You know, am I mad at God? Yeah, I'm mad at him,' O'Reilly said, according to CNN. 'I wish I had more protection. I wish this stuff didn't happen. I can't explain it to you. Yeah, I'm mad at him.'" --safari

Bump Stock Who? Sam Stein of The Daily Beast: "Three weeks after the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history, efforts to pass even scaled-down gun-control legislation have effectively stalled on Capitol Hill. Congressional aides and issue advocates say they see no viable path for passing even the most promising bill: an effort to ban the manufacturing and sale of bump stocks." --safari

Annals of "Journalism"? Ctd.

Blame it on these bitter political times.... The nasty back-and-forth with Frederica S. Wilson, a Democratic congresswoman who is close to the soldier's family, might have dissipated had she not repeatedly disparaged Mr. Trump's intentions on national television, failing to extend him the benefit of the doubt that previous presidents had received.... And Ms. Wilson, a flamboyant, cowboy-hat-wearing Democrat, is just the kind of critic that can push Mr. Trump's buttons. -- Michael Shear, in a New York Times report, October 21 ...

... Charles Pierce: "What Congresswoman Wilson did was repeat, apparently verbatim, what the president* said to the widow of a fallen U.S. soldier. As we have come to expect, the president* sank to the occasion quite abysmally.... This, of course, was a graphic illustration, as though we needed another, that the Republic is in the hands of madmen. You have to really strain those Both Sides muscles to hang this fiasco on Wilson.... I'm just going to assume that the editors at the Times who OK'd this nonsense were sockless drunk celebrating Babbling Day and let it go at that." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: When Shear described Wilson as the kind of person who could push Trump's buttons, he, no doubt purposely, omitted her two most important qualifications – she's a woman AND she's black. For the record, Shear & Peter Baker are the NYT's top disciples of the Church of Both Sides Do It.

Casey Hopkins of Mediaite: "Fox News has parted ways with Jerusalem-based correspondent John Huddy. The timing of this news coming out is sure to raise eyebrows as it has nearly immediately followed a shocking interview that his sister Juliet Huddy had with Megyn Kelly today. Ms. Huddy appeared on the Today show to discuss her settled sexual harassment allegations against former Fox News anchor, Bill O'Reilly, a story that has led to numerous accusations leveled by O'Reilly, Kelly's husband and Fox News. Not a pretty story by any stretch." Fox claimed it fired John Huddy because of a "physical altercation earlier this month."

Beyond the Beltway

What happens when an 11-year-old Cub Scout asks a Colorado Republican state senator about her far-right votes on gun control? (a) He earns a merit badge in politics; (b) The den leader throws him out. Check the link to verify your answer, which I'm sure you got right. (Also linked yesterday.)

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Monday
Oct232017

The Commentariat -- October 23, 2017

Afternoon Update:

... Kristine Phillips & Freedom du Lac of the Washington Post: "Making her first public comments since she took the call from Trump last week -- on the same day her husband's remains were flown back to the United States -- [Myeshia] Johnson recalled that the president said her husband 'knew what he signed up for, but it hurts anyways. And it made me cry. I was very angry at the tone of his voice, and how he said it.' She added: 'I didn't say anything. I just listened.' Trump on Monday disputed Johnson's account, characterizing his conversation with her as 'very respectful.' 'I had a very respectful conversation with the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, and spoke his name from beginning, without hesitation!'" ...

     ... Mrs McCrabbie: Let me think, whom do I believe? The apolitical new widow of an American soldier or a guy who tells a whopper -- in public -- an average of five times a day? That of course does not include the many fibs he surely tells off-the-record. ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: The headline on Politico's story is "Trump spars with widow of slain soldier about condolence call." I'm no historian, but I'll bet a headline that reads "[President] spars with widow of slain soldier" is a first in American history.

Naomi Jagoda of the Hill: "President Trump on Monday tweeted that changes won't be made to 401(k) plans after reports that congressional Republicans were considering a major alteration to the retirement accounts in forthcoming tax-reform legislation." Mrs. McC: I would not count on taking this or any other Trump promise to the bank.

Tom Hunter & Julia Ainsley of NBC News: "Tony Podesta and the Podesta Group are now the subjects of a federal investigation being led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, three sources with knowledge of the matter told NBC News. The probe of Podesta and his Democratic-leaning lobbying firm grew out of Mueller's inquiry into the finances of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, according to the sources. As special counsel, Mueller has been tasked with investigating possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Manafort had organized a public relations campaign for a non-profit called the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine (ECMU). Podesta's company was one of many firms that worked on the campaign, which promoted Ukraine's image in the West.... Tony Podesta is the chairman of the Podesta Group and the brother of John Podesta, Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign chairman. John Podesta is not currently affiliated with the Podesta Group and is not part of Mueller's investigation."

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "Larry Harmon, a software engineer who lives near Akron, Ohio..., sometimes he stays home on Election Day, on purpose.... It turned out that Mr. Harmon's occasional decisions not to vote had led election officials to strike his name from the voting rolls. On Nov. 8, the Supreme Court will hear arguments about whether the officials had gone too far in making the franchise a use-it-or-lose-it proposition.... The question for the justices is whether two federal laws allow Ohio to cull its voter rolls using notices prompted by the failure to vote. The laws prohibit states from removing people from voter rolls 'by reason of the person's failure to vote.' But they allow election officials who suspect that a voter has moved to send a confirmation notice."

Paul Fahri of the Washington Post: "Megyn Kelly waded back into territory she vowed to leave behind on Monday, saying on her new NBC morning program that she complained about Bill O'Reilly while she was an anchor at Fox News but was ignored. In an extraordinary monologue, Kelly went after O'Reilly, her former bosses and colleagues, accusing the network of fostering a toxic culture for its female employees. 'O'Reilly's suggestion that no one ever complained about his behavior is false,' Kelly said during 'Megyn Kelly Today.' 'I know because I complained.'" ...

... It's All About Bill. Michael Barbaro of the New York Times: "'It's horrible what I went through, horrible what my family went through,' Bill O'Reilly said of the sexual harassment allegations that cost him his job at Fox News. Mr. O'Reilly spoke on the record to my colleagues Emily Steel and Michael S. Schmidt, addressing the latest reporting on a $32 million settlement he reached with a longtime network analyst." An audio tape of the conversation follows.

What happens when an 11-year-old Cub Scout asks a Colorado Republican state senator about her far-right votes on gun control? (a) He earns a merit badge in politics; (b) The den leader throws him out. Check the link to verify your answer, which I'm sure you got right.

*****

Philip Rucker, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump campaigned as one of the world's greatest dealmakers, but after nine months of struggling to broker agreements, lawmakers in both parties increasingly consider him an untrustworthy, chronically inconsistent and easily distracted negotiator. As Trump prepares to visit Capitol Hill on Tuesday to unify his party ahead of a high-stakes season of votes on tax cuts and budget measures, some Republicans are openly questioning his negotiating abilities and devising strategies to keep him from changing his mind. The president's propensity to create diversions and follow tangents has kept him from focusing on his legislative agenda and forced lawmakers who might be natural allies on key policies into the uncomfortable position of having to answer for his behavior and outbursts."

Charles Blow: "Donald Trump has a particular taste for the degradation of racial, ethnic and religious minorities and women -- and God forbid those identities should overlap -- as a way a playing out his personal sense of racial, sexist, and patriarchal entitlement. And as he degrades, he plays to those very same entitlements in the base that elected him. This has manifested itself most recently in a despicable episode in which Trump became embroiled in a controversy -- mostly of his own making! -- over an unacceptable call he made to a pregnant widow of one of four soldiers killed in a still-murky attack in Niger." See especially Blow's analysis of how Trump uses the military as an instrument of his racism & sexism. ...

... Kali Holloway of AlterNet: "Racism is the Trump administration's magic wand, a device it uses, to great effect, to dazzle its base, whose own proud bigotry dispenses with the need for suspension of disbelief. In the face of controversies and criticism, Trump race-baits not just for cynical political reasons -- though that's part of it -- but because he, too, is deeply racist, so much that his presidency is basically a live-action fantasy against the country's first black president.... And if there was any question about whether Chief of Staff John Kelly endorses Trump's targeting of women of color, recent events show this an all-hands-on-deck team effort." --safari ...

... Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post: "In defending his boss, White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly gratuitously attacked Rep. Frederica S. Wilson (D-Fla.), derisively referred to her as being like 'empty barrels,' misrepresented her conduct at a dedication of an FBI building and, even when film of the event showed his characterization to be utterly false, did not apologize. Kelly deemed it appropriate to restrict questions to reporters with a connection to a Gold Star family, as if one group of Americans (and their readers and viewers) is more worthy than another. However, when White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders warned reporters not to criticize Kelly (or his slander of Wilson), the administration took on the creepy aura of a military junta.... Kelly and Trump seem to actually have a lot in common. They both display disdain for the press and contempt for critics. Kelly rails at treatment of ('sacred') women but enthusiastically serves a president who serially insults and abuses women. Rather than address criticism, Kelly and Trump both like to pull rank, treat critics as their lessers and react indignantly when anyone questions their motives.... Congress should ... bar generals from acting in civilian capacities in the White House." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: "Good for Rubin. It has troubled me that since Kelly's attack on Wilson, many liberal pundits have tiptoed in criticizing Kelly. Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker, for instance, framed the attack as one that was a blow to Kelly's reputation as a result of his Trumpification; that is, a blow to the way others perceive him, not as an illumination of who he is. Gene Robinson was on the teevee saying that "both sides" could be right, both sides being Kelly & Wilson. Others have knocked themselves out thanking Kelly for his military service & reiterating his laudable reluctance to speak about his son's death, before tossing in some polite criticism of his press room remarks.

President Bone Spurs. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "After a week in which President Trump endured not-so-veiled criticisms from his two predecessors as president and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), McCain delivered another broadside that seems clearly aimed at Trump -- in the most personal terms yet. McCain, whose status as a war hero Trump publicly and controversially doubted as a 2016 presidential candidate, appeared to retaliate in kind against the president in a C-SPAN interview about the Vietnam War airing Sunday night. 'One aspect of the conflict, by the way, that I will never ever countenance is that we drafted the lowest-income level of America, and the highest-income level found a doctor that would say that they had a bone spur,' McCain said. 'That is wrong. That is wrong. If we are going to ask every American to serve, every American should serve.' Trump received five deferments during Vietnam: four for his studies in college, and one for -- you guessed it -- bone spurs in his heel." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Trump's attacks, especially the pre-emptive ones, usually are backhanded compliments of sorts. He claimed McCain wasn't heroic because Trumpenheiden was & is a coward. He called Hillary crooked because Trumpencrookster is dishonest to his core. Trump's need to get up & defeat President Obama every day derives from Trump's fear that Obama represents the new U.S. -- a country where race doesn't define a person AND where black men rival white men for white women's isexual favors. All of these attacks derive from Trump's own real or perceived shortcomings.

Make Foreigners Rich Again? Rebekah Entralgo of ThinkProgress: "President Donald Trump's tax plan fulfills a request the GOP establishment has long wanted: a significantly lowered corporate tax rate.... According to new analysis from Steven Rosenthal, a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center...roughly 35 percent of U.S. corporate stock is owned by foreign investors. Slashing the corporate tax rate to 20 percent would translate to a tax cut for these investors worth $70 billion dollars, a cut three times the tax break that households in the middle income quintile would get under Trump's tax plan." --safari

John Solomon & Alison Spann in the Hill: As Hillary Clinton assumed her role as Secretary of State, FBI agents discovered that the Kremlin launched a multi-pronged effort to try to gain influence on the Clintons & infiltrate the State Department.

Robin Fields & Joe Sexton of ProPublica: "The questions are straightforward, with public health implications that would seem impossible to shrug off. How many American women die each year from causes related to pregnancy or childbirth? How many of these deaths are preventable?... The answers are central to any true picture of U.S. maternal health, and an essential tool in limiting such tragedies going forward...Yet because of flaws in the way the U.S. identifies and investigates maternal deaths.... [F]or the last decade, the U.S. hasn't had an official annual count of pregnancy-related fatalities, or an official maternal mortality rate." --safari

Today's reports of GOP tactics to knee-cap Democracy

**Ari Berman of Mother Jones: "On election night,Trump carr[ied] Wisconsin by nearly 23,000 votes. The state, which ranked second in the nation in voter participation in 2008 and 2012, saw its lowest turnout since 2000.... Clinton's stunning loss in Wisconsin was blamed on her failure to campaign in the state.... The impact of Wisconsin's voter ID law received almost no attention.... We will never be able to assign exact proportions to all the factors at play. But a year later, interviews with voters, organizers, and election officials reveal that, in Wisconsin and beyond, voter suppression played a much larger role than is commonly understood." Read on. --safari...

...Democracy alert. Ian Millhiser of ThinkProgress: "In 2010, when Republican power was at its low point, ;two GOP strategists devised a bold plan. By pouring tens of millions of dollars into state legislative races, they hoped to capture key swing states during a redistricting year -- and then draw maps that would lock in Republican control of the House and of state legislatures for a decade. They named this plan 'REDMAP.' It worked...Now, one of the architects of REDMAP -- Ed Gillespie...is running to be the governor of Virginia. Should he prevail, he will benefit from the gerrymandered maps that give his party a firm grip on the Virginia House of Delegates. And he will have the opportunity to extend REDMAP's success into another decade...." --safari...

...Andy Kroll of Mother Jones has a long piece on Sinclair Broadcasting's long-game effort to bring right-wing Fox "News"-style propaganda to your local news channels. --safari

For real? Mark Hand of ThinkProgress: "The Environmental Protection Agency is expanding the number of security personnel dedicated to protecting agency chief Scott Pruitt by 12, raising the administrator's total security detail to 30 guards.... No previous EPA administrator has ever received a 24/7 security detail." --safari

Mission Creep. Betsy Woodruff of The Daily Beast: "Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), one of the chamber's most hawkish members, told host Chuck Todd on Meet the Press that he didn't know until recently that a thousand U.S. troops are stationed in Niger.... And he made the admission when Todd pressed him on whether Congress needs to vote on an Authorization of Use of Military Force (AUMF) for that mission...That AUMF, which sailed through Congress after the attacks on 9/11 has been used as legal justification for numerous campaigns beyond counteracting the Taliban in Afghanistan; most prominently in Syria to target ISIS and, now, as far-flung as Niger." --safari

Merchants of Addiction and Overdose. Meet the Sacklers. --safari

...Name and Shame. Christopher Glazek of Esquire: "The Sacklers' philanthropy ... has donated its fortune to blue-chip brands, braiding the family name into the patronage network of the world's most prestigious, well-endowed institutions. The Sackler name is everywhere, evoking automatic reverence; the Sacklers themselves, however, are rarely seen.... That may be because the greatest part of that $14 billion fortune tallied by Forbes came from OxyContin, the narcotic painkiller regarded by many public-health experts as among the most dangerous products ever sold on a mass scale.... The family's leaders have pulled off three of the great marketing triumphs of the modern era: The first is selling OxyContin; the second is promoting the Sackler name; and the third is ensuring that, as far as the public is aware, the first and the second have nothing to do with one another." --safari

Way Beyond the Beltway

AP: "Japan's leader has scored a major victory in national elections that returned his ruling coalition to power in decisive fashion. Japanese media said Monday that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party and a small coalition partner had together secured at least 312 seats in the 465-seat lower house of parliament, passing the 310-barrier for a two-thirds majority. Four seats remained undecided."

Luke Barnes of ThinkProgress: "The President of the Czech Republic, Milos Zeman, crudely insulted reporters by showing off a replica AK-47 with the inscription 'for journalists' -- less than a week after an investigative journalist in Malta was killed by a car bomb. Zeman brandished the fake assault rifle during a press conference on Friday, as Czechs voted to elect populist billionaire Andrej Babis as prime minister.... Critics however are concerned that Babis' media dominance -- he owns two of the country's leading newspapers and a radio station -- will lead to conflicts of interest. In addition to Babis' success, the far-right Freedom and Direct Democracy party (SPD) made surprising gains in the election, potentially positioning them as the country's political kingmakers." --safari...

...Shaun Walker of the Guardian: "A well-known Russian journalist [Tatyana Felgenhauer, the deputy editor of Ekho Moskvy radio station] is in hospital after being stabbed in the neck by an intruder at work.... Ekho Moskvy is one of the few outlets for independent journalism in Russia, featuring reports and discussions sharply critical of the Kremlin.... The attacker's motivation was not immediately clear.... A news report on Russian state television this month singled out Ekho Moskvy and Felgenhauer personally as working to advance foreign interests in Russia before presidential elections next March." --safari

Sean Ingle of the Guardian: "A former doctor for the Chinese Olympic team has revealed that more than 10,000 of the country's athletes were involved in a systematic doping programme across all sports -- and that every one of China's medals in major tournaments in the 1980s and 90s came from performance‑enhancing drugs.... Xue Yinxian...is seeking political asylum in Germany...China has long been linked with accusations of doping -- although never before on this scale. In February athletes linked to the controversial track coach Ma Junren, whose athletes broke 66 national and world records, said they had been forced to take performance-enhancing drugs.... Ma always claimed his athletes' success was down to hard training at high altitude in Tibet, turtle blood and caterpillar fungus." --safari

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