The Commentariat -- December 24, 2016

Afternoon Update:

Eric Lipton & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Realizing that his presidency could face potentially crippling questions over conflicts of interest, Donald J. Trump and his family are rushing to resolve potential controversies -- like shuttering foundations and terminating development deals -- even as [Trump] ... publicly maintains that no legal conflicts exist. In recent days, [Trump] and his aides have said that he intends to distribute the assets of his personal charity and then close it down, has examined a plan to hire an outside monitor to oversee the Trump Organization and has terminated some international business projects.... And because Mr. Trump refuses to release his tax returns, the extent of his potential conflicts remains unknown." -- CW

Russell Goldman of the New York Times: "The Tunisian authorities have arrested three men 'linked to the perpetrator of the terrorist attack' at a Berlin Christmas market, including the suspect's nephew, the government said in a statement on Saturday. The three men, whose ages ranged from 18 to 27, were arrested on Friday. They were described as members of a 'cell' that had been in contact with the suspect, Anis Amri, 24, a Tunisian citizen accused of killing 12 people on Monday when he plowed a stolen truck into a crowd of holiday shoppers." -- CW

Dancing Girls! Kristine Guerra of the Washington Post: "The Radio City Rockettes will be performing at ... Donald Trump's inauguration, but its members will not be forced to do so, Madison Square Garden Co., which employs the dancers, said in a statement after concerns and calls for a boycott surfaced on social media. The company said on Thursday that the dance group will participate in inauguration festivities next month. The announcement prompted some, including one of the dancers, to voice their concerns on social media. Phoebe Pearl said in a now-deleted Instagram post that she's 'embarrassed and disappointed' by the gig, according to media reports." -- CW

Colin Woodard in Politico Magazine: Burlington, Vermont, is the nation's first all-renewable-energy city. CW: You may remember a certain former mayor of Burlington.

*****

Somini Sengupta & Rick Gladstone of the New York Times: "Defying extraordinary pressure from ... Donald J. Trump and furious lobbying by Israel, the Obama administration on Friday allowed the United Nations Security Council to adopt a resolution that condemned Israeli settlement construction. The administration's decision not to veto the measure broke a longstanding American policy of serving as Israel's sturdiest diplomatic shield at the United Nations.... Applause broke out in the 15-member Security Council's chambers following the vote on the measure, which passed 14-0, with the United States abstaining." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Peter Baker of the New York Times: "Mr. Obama's decision on Friday not to block a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements laid bare all the grievances [he & Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu] have nursed since shortly after they took office in 2009. For Mr. Netanyahu, it was the final betrayal by a president who was supposed to be an ally but never really was. For Mr. Obama, it was the inevitable result of Mr. Netanyahu's own stubborn defiance of international concerns with his policies." -- CW ...

... Mark Landler of the New York Times: "... with Mr. Trump staking out starkly different positions from Mr. Obama on Israel and other sensitive issues, and the president acting aggressively to protect his legacy, the two have become leaders of what amounts to dueling administrations.... The split widened on Friday when the Obama administration abstained from a United Nations Security Council vote that condemned Israel for Jewish settlements in the West Bank.... A day earlier, Mr. Trump had publicly demanded that Mr. Obama veto the measure, even intervening with Egypt at the request of Israel to pressure the administration to shelve the effort. 'As to the U.N.,' Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter after the vote, 'things will be different after Jan. 20.' It was the latest in a rapid-fire series of Twitter posts and public statements over the last week in which Mr. Trump has weighed in on Israel, terrorism and nuclear proliferation -- contradicting Mr. Obama and flouting the notion that the country can have only one president at a time." -- CW ...

     ... See also comments in today's thread. ...

... Uri Friedman of the Atlantic: "America has two presidents.... Donald Trump has involved himself in international affairs like no U.S. president-elect in recent memory.... [Trump's contradicting the Obama administration & general interference] have created such confusion in recent weeks that Jared Huffman, a Democratic congressman from California, has introduced legislation to amend the 1799 Logan Act, which prohibits unauthorized private citizens from conducting U.S. foreign policy. Huffman wants to clarify that the law applies to presidents-elect...." -- CW

Major Kong Learning to Love the Bomb. Michael Shear of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump on Friday welcomed a new nuclear weapons arms race, vowing in an off-camera interview with a television host that America would 'outmatch' any adversary. The comment came one day after he said in a post on Twitter that the United States should 'strengthen and expand' its own nuclear capabilities.... [Trump] escalated his comments about nuclear weapons with the show of bravado during a brief, off-air telephone conversation from his estate in Florida, according to Mika Brzezinski, a co-host of MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' program." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Trump Staff to Media: He Doesn't Mean What He Says. Philip Bump of the Washington Post: Trump's staff repeatedly pushes back against his threats to re-start a nuclear arms race. CW: The spokespeople are pretty much saying the boss in bananas. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Max Fisher of the New York Times: "If ... Donald J. Trump meant what he said, then the world may one day look back to recall that the first superpower nuclear arms race since the Cold War was announced by two pajama-clad talk show hosts. 'Let it be an arms race. We will outmatch them at every pass and outlast them all,' Mika Brzezinski, of MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' program, said on Friday. She and her co-host, curled up in holiday-themed nightwear in front of a fake fireplace, said the quote was a statement from Mr. Trump, elaborating on a Twitter message on nuclear weapons. Mr. Trump has a history of bluster and his declarations may turn out to be bluffs. But should he follow through on instigating a nuclear arms race, the consequences could be severe." -- CW ...

... CW: I think as Congressional Republicans sit around their own fake fireplaces this holiday season & contemplate Trump's threat to nuclear disarmament, it will begin to dawn on them that they have to dump Drumpf sooner rather than later. That of course means President Mike Pence, which is yet another horrifying thought. ...

... Paul Waldman: "When liberals joked during the campaign that if Donald Trump became president we might all be consumed in a nuclear apocalypse, many people considered it absurd hyperbole. They may have felt the same way about Democrats' regular criticism that someone as impulsive and vindictive as Trump shouldn't be allowed near the nuclear codes.... Trump ... seems to believe that a situation like the one we have with Russia now -- long-term nuclear stability created by mutual deterrence -- is unacceptable, probably because we're not 'winning.'... He also has a deep-seated need to display dominance.... That kind of mentality is obviously dangerous when combined with the power to initiate a nuclear cataclysm.... One thing he can do quickly and on his own is make sure that we're all living in a world of fear, where our thoughts are regularly taken over not just by the specter of terrorism, but now by nuclear holocaust as well.... And that's probably just how he wants it." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

Not as Crazy as Drumpf. Neil MacFarquhar & Ivan Nechepurenko of the New York Times: "President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia said on Friday that a statement by Donald J. Trump, the American president-elect, that the United States should expand its nuclear capabilities was not a surprise because he had said the same thing during the election campaign. Asked about the American election, Mr. Putin, who has made no secret of his distaste for Hillary Clinton, said her defeat was a 'humiliation' for the Democratic Party. The Russian president, speaking at his annual marathon news conference, also said that Russia would continue to modernize its armed forces, including nuclear weapons, but he added that the level of spending would diminish somewhat in coming years." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Update. Brook Seipel of the Hill: "Trump tweeted his praise for Russian president Vladimir Putin's criticism of Hillary Clinton Friday night, agreeing with a statement he [Putin] made earlier in the day that it was 'humiliating' Democrats did not 'lose with dignity.'... It was not the first time Friday that Trump praised Putin. Earlier in the day ... [Trump] shared a Christmas letter the Russian president sent him. 'A very nice letter from Vladimir Putin; his thoughts are so correct,' Trump said in a statement. 'I hope both sides are able to live up to these thoughts, and we do not have to travel an alternate path.'" -- CW ...

... In Like Flynn -- With the KGB. Jerry Markon of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump's nominee for national security adviser partnered in recent months with a technology company co-led by a businessman who pleaded guilty to trying to sell stolen scientific material in the 1980s to the KGB, the former Soviet intelligence service. Retired Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn joined the advisory board of Brainwave Science in February, company documents show. The Massachusetts firm develops controversial 'brain fingerprinting' technology designed to assess whether people under interrogation are being truthful by measuring their brain waves. The firm offers training in how to use the technology, in partnership with Flynn's consulting firm, Flynn Intel Group, according to Brainwave's website." -- CW

Abby Phillip of the Washington Post: "The Hateful Racism of Team Trump. Carl Paladino, a former Republican nominee for governor of New York and an adviser to [Donald] Trump, included the death of President Obama and 'return' of first lady Michelle Obama to Africa on his list of things he wanted for 2017. Paladino was responding to a survey by an alternative weekly magazine, Artvoice. Asked what he would like to happen in 2017, he said he hopes that 'Obama catches mad cow disease' and dies after having relations with a Hereford, a type of cow. Asked what he would most like to see go, Paladino responded that Michelle Obama would 'return to being male' and be 'let loose' in Zimbabwe.... In a statement to The Post, Paladino denied that the comments were racist." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Update: Okay, the "Trump team" is not as racist as the New York co-chair of Trump's campaign. Brian Flood of the Wrap: "... Donald Trump's transition team has denounced comments made by campaign surrogate Carl Paladino, who recently wished death on President Obama and made crude comments about the First Lady. 'Carl's comments are absolutely reprehensible, and they serve no place in our public discourse,' the transition team said in a statement." -- CW ...

... What We've Come to. Emma Brown of the Washington Post: "In the wake of the presidential election, dozens of the best teachers in the nation have banded together to say with a unified voice that public schools are valuable and that they must be safe places for students of every background, ethnicity, immigration status, sexual orientation and gender identity.... The 44 teachers are all state teacher of the year award recipients. They said they were moved to speak out after a rash of troubling bullying incidents -- at their own schools, in some cases, and in news reports nationwide -- following Donald Trump's presidential election victory on Nov. 8." CW: These brave teachers are on the front lines of the resistance to Trumpism. They deserve our thanks. ...

Michelle Goldberg of Slate on lessons learned from Planned Parenthood focus groups that concentrated on Trump voters. CW: Worth reading. Here's what I learned -- Trump voters aren't all racists & misogynists. A lot of them are just woefully ignorant. Part of the reason that's so is that Hillary Clinton ran a lousy campaign, seldom mentioning Trump's horrible policies. Even so, it's difficult to run an effective one if you're committed to something approaching "reality-based" campaigning & every word your opponent utters is a lie. That's a problem for Democrats in most races because Republicans lie incessantly. They have to; their policies suck.

News Lede

New York Times: "Marion Pritchard, a gentile whose shock at watching Nazi soldiers storm a home for Jewish children in Amsterdam and load them into a truck for deportation inspired her to enter a clandestine world of rescuing Jews, died on Dec. 11 at her home in Washington. She was 96. The cause was cerebral arteriosclerosis, her family said. 'By 1945, I had lied, stolen, cheated, deceived and even killed,' Ms. Pritchard said in a lecture in 1996 at the University of Michigan, where she received the Wallenberg Medal, a humanitarian award given by the university in memory of Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who rescued tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews during World War II." -- CW

Trump's Laws of Politics

(A Riff on Newton's Laws of Physics, with apologies to Sir Isaac)

By Akhilleus

Physics, schmisics.

So. Rick Perry, eh? Energy Secretary. Does that mean he'll be taking dictation and getting coffee for the big oil and gas execs?

After all, he comes from a state where oil is king and he benefited enormously from oil industry contributions to his various political campaigns, including the one where he obsequiously meant to let all his oil pals know that he was going to kill the pesky Department of Energy, but, oops, he, um, er, he forgot what it was called. He's also, oddly enough, director of the board of the two major companies involved in the Dakota access pipeline project, a scheme in which, funnily enough, Donald Trump has invested a lot of money. But, hey, no conflict of interest there, right?

The previous two Energy secretaries were not making coffee for oil execs. They were, in fact, working physicists, both highly respected. One, Steven Chu, had a Nobel Prize in physics. Is Perry up to those guys, intellectually? Well, let's put it this way. Steve Chu figured out things that stumped BP's experts during the horrendous Deepwater Horizon oil spill (if you haven't read the piece Gloria linked yesterday, take a few minutes to do so. The name of the piece is "How Science Stopped BP's Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill"--the science didn't come from the oil industry, by the way, it came from Obama's energy secretary, Steven Chu). Rick Perry, in contrast, couldn't even remember the name of the department he will soon be running.

Hey, Ricky. I take my coffee black, please, no sugar.

But, buried in that Scientific American article is a sentence that could explain why Trump is replacing world class physicists with a guy who would have trouble getting through "Physics for Dummies": "There is something of the owl in [Steven] Chu's heart-shaped face—giving the impression of proverbial wisdom but also of a veiled raptor, ready to strike the intellectually unprepared. He may look oddly casual...but he attacks with questions...the bespectacled Energy secretary posed a danger to the oil company scientists and executives, especially as he quickly acquired knowledge about the problem posed by [the ruptured oil well]. The only question was: Whose scientific expertise would prevail?"

And there it is, right there. Chu "...posed a danger to the oil company scientists and executives..." Trump wants to make sure that the only science that prevails is the made-to-order oil industry science. The only danger Perry might pose is substituting sugar for Sweet'N Low.

And anyway, physics, schmisics. Trumpy didn't need to understand physics to become a legend in his own mind, right? Just a lot of crazy numbers and weird symbols. Who needs it?

And so, genius that he is, he has replaced Newton's Laws with Trump's Laws. And what do those laws say? Funny you should ask:

Newton's first law: objects will remain at rest or in motion, and continue moving in a straight line, unless acted upon by an external force.

Trump's first law: Idiots will remain idiots no matter how many external facts confront their dimwitted world view (very important for getting a dangerous baboon elected president!)

Newton's second law: a force acting on a mass creates acceleration and can be determined by the expression F=ma, or force equals mass x acceleration.

Trump's second law: money acting on the ethically challenged creates an acceleration in corruption. (A most desired effect in the Trump universe.) This can be expressed as F=ma or fraud equals money x assholes.

Newton's third law: for every force, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Trump's third law: for every fact there is a ridiculously unequal and opposite reaction by wingnuts to what they see as an attack on their fact-free world view.

In light of the new rules of physics, I'd say Perry is the ideal choice. He won't vex oil companies with troublesome questions about Sciiiiiieeennnccccce, or maaaaath or lame stuff like that. Any time someone tries to do that fact thingy, he'll scream and yell and throw things, and when big oil and gas guys come around, he'll make them coffee and make sure they get whatever they want.

Intellectually unprepared? Eh, so what? Perry is the perfect Trumpian solution to a department that really should prob'ly just be mothballed completely. Because science, ya know? Who needs it?

The Standard Republican Way, as horrible as it is, is starting to look positively halcyon.

The Commentariat -- Nov. 27, 2016

David Sanger of the New York Times: "The top lawyer for Hillary Clinton's presidential bid said Saturday that the campaign would join a third-party candidate's effort to seek a full recount in Wisconsin, and potentially two other states, though he said the campaign had seen no 'actionable evidence' of vote hacking. In a post on Medium, Marc Elias, the campaign's general counsel, described an intensive behind-the-scenes effort by the campaign to look for signs of Russian hacker activity or other irregularities in the vote count." -- CW ...

... Brent Griffiths of Politico: "Trump delivered a measured response -- measured by his standards -- attacking Stein directly but refraining from criticizing Clinton.... Kellyanne Conway, Trump's campaign manager, had a sharper edge to her response to the news that the Clinton campaign would join in the Wisconsin recount process. 'What a pack of sore losers. After asking Mr. Trump and his team a million times on the trail, "Will HE accept the election results?" it turns out Team Hillary and her new BFF Jill Stein can't accept reality,' Conway said in a statement to Bloomberg." -- CW ...

... Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "... the chances that the outcome in the three decisive states will be overturned are almost nil. The odds are against Trump losing the Electoral College votes of even one state. And when the recounts validate his Electoral College in his victory, this will serve to legitimize his presidency. There might good-government reasons to do the recounts anyway. But contrary to a lot of arguments I've seen, one thing these recounts are not is good hardball politics. They will almost certainly work to Trump's benefit by suggesting that the election was on the square and serving to mask the many ways in which the election was, in fact illegitimate." -- CW ...

... CW: If past is prologue, the recounts will likely change each state's counts by somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 votes, one way or the other. BTW, pundits seldm say so, but the guy who really won the election for Trump was Trey Gowdy, with an assist from the New York Times. It was Gowdy whose probe of Clinton's Benghazi actions led to the discovery that Clinton had exclusively used a private email system during her entire tenure at State, something which the Times first reported in an infamously inaccurate story. ...

... Eric Chenoweth in a Washington Post op-ed: "In assessing Donald Trump's presidential victory, Americans continue to look away from this election's most alarming story: the successful effort by a hostile foreign power to manipulate public opinion before the vote.... Putin is pursuing large strategic goals: recognition of the annexation of Crimea and international acceptance of foreign aggression to change state borders.... Frighteningly, Putin's worldview has resonance in the populist and nationalist fixations of Stephen K. Bannon..., whose stated mission is to 'destroy' the 'establishment' and end the domination of the 'donor class.' Bannon's 'closing argument' ad for Trump, redolent of Russian propaganda, described the United States as a corrupt and failing state because of nefarious 'global special interests.' It all points to grave danger for democracy and a world order that has kept the peace for 70 years." -- CW

Christopher Rugaber of the AP: "... Donald Trump's proposals would modestly cut income taxes for most middle-class Americans. But for nearly 8 million families -- including a majority of single-parent households -- the opposite would occur: They'd pay more. Most married couples with three or more children would also pay higher taxes, an analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center found. And while middle-class families as a whole would receive tax cuts of about 2 percent, they'd be dwarfed by the windfalls averaging 13.5 percent for America's richest 1 percent. Trump's campaign rhetoric had promoted the benefits of his proposals for middle-income Americans. 'The largest tax reductions are for the middle class,' said Trump's 'Contract With the American Voter,' released last month." ...

     ... CW: I love to see the AP calling Trump's bull, because local papers often carry the stories. If Democrats and major media would only keep highlighting what Trump, et al., are really up to, we may find that all but the most delusional Trumpbots & other assorted wingers turn on him and his Congressional buddies in the proverbial New York minute. Keep the government's hands off my tax breaks.

Hailey Branson-Potts of the Los Angeles Times: "The Council on American-Islamic Relations has called for increased police protection of local mosques after letters that threatened the genocide of Muslims and praised ... Donald Trump were sent to multiple California mosques this week. The letters were sent to the Islamic Center of Long Beach and the Islamic Center of Claremont, CAIR's greater Los Angeles chapter said in a statement. The same letter also was sent to the Evergreen Islamic Center in San Jose, according to CAIR's San Francisco Bay Area chapter. The handwritten letter, which was photocopied, was addressed to 'the children of Satan' and called Muslims a 'vile and filthy people.'" -- CW

** Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Joy-Ann Reid in the Daily Beast: "With Donald Trump about to ascend to the White House, the media risk being tamed by their devotion to access and the belligerencies of the notoriously vengeful resident of Trump Tower and his right-wing wrecking crew of a team. We face a singular test, both as a profession and as a country: will we allow ourselves to see what we see, or will we mentally drape the naked emperor in our midst?... The tug of normalization is powerful; even pleasing, when reality is unthinkable. The urge to look away, to pretend to see fine threads when the king comes strolling by, with his bare belly jutting out, can be irresistible." -- CW

Jay Michaelson of the Daily Beast: President Obama should recess-"appoint the 59 candidates for federal judgeships whose nominations, like [Judge] Garland's [Supreme Court nomination], have been left to languish. Recess-appointing Garland would "accomplish very little" & might do more harm than good. Recess appointments are good for one year. -- CW

David Ovalle, et al., of the Miami Herald: "Fidel Castro died, and Cuban Miami did what it does in times of community celebration: It spilled onto the streets of Little Havana -- and Hialeah, and Kendall -- to honk horns, bang pans, and set off more than a few fireworks, saved for exactly the sort of unexpected occasion worthy of their detonation." -- CW ...

... Here's the White House's statement on the death of Fidel Castro. -- CW ...

... Mimi Whitefield & Miguel Piedra of the Miami Herald: "In Havana, most Cubans calmly went about their daily business or just stayed home. The iconic street squares were eerily still, devoid of the heavy foot traffic normally found on a Saturday afternoon." -- CW ...

... Julie Davis of the New York Times: "The death of Mr. Castro ...  has the potential to hasten Mr. Obama's goal of cementing the historic rapprochement that he hopes will be a signature part of his legacy. But with Donald J. Trump, who has been critical of the détente, set to succeed Mr. Obama, the fate of the thaw between the United States and Cuba is far from clear. Mr. Trump's initial response on the matter Saturday morning was a four-word post on Twitter. 'Fidel Castro is dead!' he wrote." -- CW

Harper Neidig of the Hill: "Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Saturday he will introduce legislation aimed at preventing major companies from sending jobs to foreign countries, similar to what ... Donald Trump proposed on the campaign trail.... 'I will soon be introducing legislation to make sure that Donald Trump keeps his promise to prevent the outsourcing of American jobs,' Sanders said in a statement.... Sanders aims to prevent companies like Carrier from moving to foreign countries by withholding federal contracts, tax breaks, loans or grants from corporations that move more than 50 jobs overseas. His legislation, titled the Outsourcing Prevention Act, would also impose an outsourcing tax of either 35 percent of the company's profits or an amount equal to its total savings from outsourcing the jobs." -- CW