American presidents get the scandals they deserve.
Richard Nixon’s paranoia produced Watergate. Ronald Reagan’s indifference contributed to Iran-contra. Bill Clinton’s appetites led to impeachment. And Donald Trump’s delusions — about his singular abilities and the impunity of his office — are propelling the crisis of legitimacy threatening his presidency.
Heartbreaking. The NYT is doing important work bringing Myanmar's genocide to light.
On a whirlwind tour around the globe, Trump’s former aide and alter ego reveals what really went down in the White House, his unfettered thoughts on Javanka, his complicated relationship with his erstwhile boss—and his own political ambitions.
By Gabriel Sherman @ VanityFair.com, Dec. 21
[....] In October, Bannon called an adviser and said he would consider running for president if Trump doesn’t run for re-election in 2020. Which Bannon has told people is a realistic possibility. In private conversations since leaving the White House, Bannon said Trump only has a 30 percent chance of serving out his term, whether he’s impeached or removed by the Cabinet invoking the 25th amendment. That prospect seemed to become more likely in early December when special counsel Robert Mueller secured a plea deal from former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Bannon has also remarked on the toll the office has taken on Trump, telling advisers his former boss has “lost a step.” “He’s like an 11-year-old child,” Bannon joked to a friend in November.
While Bannon praised Trump during our conversations—he said he’s the best orator since William Jennings Bryan—he doesn’t deny he was unhappy in the White House [....]
By Judy Kurtz @ TheHill.com, Dec. 21
Dave Chappelle says he “feels sorry” for “poor whites” who voted for President Trump in the 2016 election because the commander in chief doesn't have their best interests in mind.
[....] “You are poor,” Chappelle said, before adding of Trump, “He’s fighting for me!”
Chappelle said he encountered many Trump voters on Election Day of last year: “To my surprise, you know what I didn’t see? I didn’t see one deplorable face in that group. I saw some angry faces, and some determined faces — but they felt like decent folk.”
“In fact, I’m not even lying, not to sound f---ed up, but I felt sorry for them,” Chappelle continued. “I know the game now. I know that rich white people call poor white people ‘trash.’ And the only reason I know that, is because I made so much money last year, the rich whites told me they say it at a cocktail party,” he said to laughs. “And I’m not with that s--t.”
Chappelle, 44, reportedly inked a deal last year with Netflix worth $60 million dollars for a trio of comedy specials [....]
By Elise Viebeck @ WashingtonPost.com, Dec. 21
The House Ethics Committee expanded its investigation into Rep. Blake Farenthold to probe whether he might have lied or omitted facts while testifying before the panel and used House resources to benefit his congressional campaigns.
Ethics Committee Chairwoman Susan Brooks (R-Ind.) and ranking DemocratTed Deutch (Fla.) said the committee voted unanimously Thursday to widen its inquiry beyond allegations that Farenthold (R-Tex.) sexually harassed, discriminated or retaliated against his staff [....]
By Maggie Haberman @ NYTimes.com, Dec. 21
An Oval Office meeting involving President Trump and his top advisers on Wednesday devolved into a heated exchange between his former campaign manager and the White House political director, people briefed on the discussion said.
The meeting centered on the midterm elections and came as Republicans face a daunting landscape next year, particularly after a bruising loss in the Alabama special election this month. It also came as the White House faces an expected string of departures from the West Wing, including that of a deputy chief of staff, Rick Dearborn, on Thursday. Mr. Dearborn, who was close to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump during the transition, had been overseeing a broad cross section of departments, including the political department, which was a source of contention during the meeting.
The meeting prompted the political director, Bill Stepien, to call an official at the main political group supporting Mr. Trump, America First Policies, to say its counsel should be involved at future gatherings [.....]
By David A. Farenthold & Jonathan O'Connell @ WashingtonPost.com, Dec. 21
[.....] The plaintiffs argued that because Trump properties rent out hotel rooms and meeting spaces to other governments, the president was violating a constitutional provision that bans the acceptance of foreign emoluments, or gifts from foreign powers.
But Judge George B. Daniels of the Southern District of New York ruled that the plaintiffs, led by the government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), lacked standing to bring such a case, saying it was up to Congress to prevent the president from accepting emoluments.
CREW said it plans to appeal the verdict [.....]
The real Yule was Thursday (appropriated for Christmas by the Roman Catholics). Always darkest before this "dawn" in the north, then the light starts coming back.
This USA Today article has an astrologer predicting "worst day of the year" because Saturn lined up with the Sun and both with Capricorn, first time since 1664. Rebellion and such. We made it through.
"I think we should look at Trump's criticism.....against institutions. That's the playbook of every would-be dictator. And Trump is very consistent in his attacks against U.S. institutions, U.S. electoral system, free press, now law enforcement. And it's worrisome because that's what every dictator did starting his campaign on destroying the pillars of democracy... I think the fact is that many people are just losing their faith in the FBI, in other law enforcement offices, in the free press. They buy the concept of 'fake news' and deep state. That's a big success for Vladimir Putin, because all Putin wanted [was] to discredit democracy as an institution.."
By Jim Tankersley & Alan Rappeport @ NYTimes.com, Dec. 19
The rushed bill resulted from the failure of health care legislation — and a collective decision to block out bad news.
Op-Ed by Greg Sargent @ WashingtonPost.com, Dec. 26
[....] Should Democrats prioritize winning over college-educated whites who in 2016 didn’t quite desert Trump in large-enough numbers, but who are now deeply alienated by his racism, lawlessness and boorishness? Or should they focus harder on winning blue-collar whites by convincing them that Trump’s economic populism was a sham and sharpening their own populist message in response?
The now-certain passage of the Trump/GOP tax plan — and the coming battle over it — may help Democrats take some steps toward resolving that dilemma, in ways that could give them a lift in the 2018 elections [....]
Every vote counts.
Simonds beat incumbent David Yancy in a recount held Tuesday, both parties said in statements released after the unofficial vote recount was completed by officials in Newport News.
Supporters of a proposed measure that would change the way Michigan draws its political boundaries on Monday turned in hundreds of thousands of signatures to qualify the initiative for next year's ballot.The initiative would take the power to draw political boundaries out of the hands of Michigan's state legislature. Instead, an independent commission made up of four Democrats, four Republicans and five independents would draw legislative and congressional district lines every ten years.Staffers and volunteers — including one dressed as Santa — for the group Voters Not Politicians said they were turning in 188 boxes containing more than 425,000 signatures to the state Bureau of Elections. They need 315,654 valid signatures to qualify the initiative, making it all but certain the measure will appear on the ballot next year.The initiative would not allow elected officials, lobbyists, consultants or their family members to serve on the commission [....]
Helpful because it is analysis from an Indian P.O.V., so takes it outside our political sturm and drang:
By Saikat Datta @ Asia Times Online, Dec. 18
The first National Security Strategy from the Trump administration offers lots of support to India, while taking a tough stance against Pakistan. The US National Security Strategy paper, being released by President Donald Trump on Monday Washington time, seeks to support “India’s emergence as a leading global power” and promises to “to increase quadrilateral cooperation with Japan, Australia, and India.”
On Pakistan, the paper, believed to be the defining policy statement of US strategy for the coming months, there is a lot of tough love [....]
The paper paints China and Russia as “revisionist powers” who want to shape a world that is “antithetical to US interests and values” and is part of a troika of threats alongside rogue nations such as North Korea and transnational non-state actors such as jihadi terrorists [....]
Hearings point increasingly to involvement in corruption (and a cover-up) at the highest level; key witness branded 'coup conspirator'
By Sami Moubayed @ Asia Times Online, Dec. 18
A high-profile corruption trial that began last month in New York is ruffling increasing numbers of feathers in the palace of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Big names are being dropped during the hearings – with Erdogan himself topping the list. All stand accused, in varying degrees, of fraud, money laundering, and violating US sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran [....]
By Wendy Wu @ South China Morning Post, Dec. 16
China must be ready for a war on the Korean peninsula, with the risk of conflict higher than ever before, Chinese government advisers and a retired senior military officer warned on Saturday. Beijing, once seen as Pyongyang’s key ally with sway over its neighbour, was losing control of the situation, they warned.
“Conditions on the peninsula now make for the biggest risk of a war in decades,” said Renmin University international relations professor Shi Yinhong, who also advises the State Council, China’s cabinet [....] Wang Hongguang, former deputy commander of the Nanjing Military Region, warned that war could break out on the Korean peninsula at any time from now on until March when South Korea and the United States held annual military drills.“It is a highly dangerous period,” Wang said. “Northeast China should mobilise defences for war.” [....]
Excellent "how we got here" history and, hopefully, hints for "what not to do" in response
Guest op-ed by sociology professor Isaac Martin @ NYTimes.com, Dec. 18
[....] The original American populists were the men and women of the Populist Party who demanded open government and income taxes on the rich; this tax bill is exactly the sort of thing that made them howl in outrage.
But the Republican tax strategy has roots in the American populist tradition, too. That strategy is to disregard experts and rile up the base with tax policy arguments that would not survive professional scrutiny.
Populists did this on behalf of the poor. But the man who first put this strategy to work for rich people was Andrew Mellon, the millionaire who became secretary of the Treasury after World War I. Poor veterans of the war were clamoring for expensive public benefits. Rich men wanted their income taxes rolled back.
Mellon squared the circle by inventing a supply-side argument [....] To sell his tax plan, Mellon copied the rhetoric and tactics of the original populist movement. He took the supply-side argument to the people with a mass-market book called “Taxation: The People’s Business.” The subtitle ripped off a Populist slogan [....]
I would not be surprised if Bob Mueller concludes that the Trump campaign did not violate the law with regard to its interactions with the Russians. I’m really open to that possibility. Why? Because, as you know, The New York Times, The Washington Post, every media outlet that is worth its salt has reporters digging into this, and they haven’t found anything.
And I think that, had there been something there, they would have found something. And I think Bob Mueller would have found it already and it would have leaked.
So, I’m really open to the possibility that there’s no there there on a crime being committed by the campaign and the Russians. Right? That interaction leading to criminal charges.
Uh, that applies to balls as well, in case needed saying.
And to be clear, we *do* want to see our own Mr. Day. Just not Mr. Day's little Mr. Day, if you catch my drift....
"At a time when the American economy is rigged in favor of the rich and giant corporations, the coming federal funding bill is a chance to show that our country still respects hard work. We recognize that we cannot do everything we’d like to do before the end of the year, but there is room in the budget to take real, immediate steps in this direction — by easing household costs for working parents and students, by protecting workers’ pensions and Social Security, and by improving access to health care for veterans and for people who need mental health services."
CNN - A power outage at the world's busiest airport left thousands of passengers stranded in dark terminals and in planes sitting on the tarmac, as a ground stop for Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International disrupted air travel across the United States.
The outage affected all airport operations. Georgia Power said the cause has not yet been determined...... "There were a few emergency lights on, but it was really dark -- felt totally apocalyptic," a passenger said. "I decided to get the hell out of there."
Shoulda been careful what you wrote, guys, as well as what you said you didn't know. Esp. About Russians. When talking to Congress or FBI. All those changed stories? Unh-unh. Don't look good.
